The Floridian's Clean Water Declaration Campaign is working to bring the voices of water quality advocates in the non-profit and business worlds together to send a loud and clear message to Florida's decision-makers and water mangers. The first sign-on letter distributed and transmitted by the campaign is directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi, Governor Rick Scott, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio:
May
27, 2014
Office of Attorney General
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
RE: Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint Amicus
Brief
Dear
Attorney General Bondi:
When the leadership of six states joined the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in an historic plan to effectively
manage under-treated sewage, industrial discharges and, most important,
agricultural pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, water
managers in our state recognized that such collaborative success in the
Mid-Atlantic could lead to solutions to Florida’s fouled waters as well.
We understood why some regulated industries tied to
outdated, unsustainable business practices would fight the cleanup of the
Chesapeake, but were confounded and outraged as to why our Attorney
General would join the American
Farm Bureau Federation, National Pork Council, The Fertilizer
Institute, and the National Beef Cattleman’s Association in a
lawsuit against the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint.
This cannot be credibly portrayed as a state’s-rights
issue, as the Chesapeake Bay states signed and supported the cleanup plan. The legal
challenge also cannot be portrayed as protecting Floridians’ interests; the
demise of the Chesapeake Bay
Clean Water Blueprint would actually set a negative precedent for
the development and implementation of effective cleanup plans for
Florida’s waters.
The waters of Florida, and across the
country, suffer from the same source of pollution as Chesapeake Bay –
too much nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer, sewage and animal
manure. Algal blooms explode; toxic dead zones are created; and
waters are rendered unfit for swimming, fishing or drinking. There isn’t
one region of Florida that has escaped the impacts of this pollution – we have
the lost jobs, decreased property values, and diminished quality of life
to show for it from the Panhandle to the Keys but nowhere has the extent of
this water quality problem in Florida been more apparent than in the
Everglades ecosystem in the last 12 months.
If the Everglades is to be restored, we must
effectively deal with not only the storage and conveyance of water through the
region but also the quality of that water. Water quality in the
Everglades will never be improved if regulated industries do not stop
pollution at its source instead of sending it flowing into state waters.
The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint should
be used as a map for other states rather than be attacked because it might
actually accomplish what it proposes to do.
The Everglades is the hallmark of Florida – a unique
ecosystem found nowhere else on earth – that provides our state with clean
drinking water, incredibly biodiversity, and countless recreational
opportunities for Floridians and visitors alike that bolster our tourism
economy. We need to do everything possible to protect
the waters of the Everglades, including supporting and encouraging
fruitful collaboration between the state and the US EPA. The
State of Florida has been calling on the federal government to “do its part”
with regard to the restoration of the Everglades ecosystem; any attempt to sabotage
collaboration between the US EPA and another state or states does
nothing but hurt our endeavors here to share the burden with Florida’s federal
partners.
To show the citizens of Florida that you are committed to
ensuring Florida's water bodies are clean and healthy, we, the 50 undersigned
organizations and businesses, ask you to immediately
withdraw the state's involvement in the American Farm Bureau Federation, et. al
v. Environmental Protection Agency, (3d. Cir. 2014).
Sincerely,
Save the Manatee Club
Katie Tripp, Ph.D.
Director of Science and Conservation
St. Johns Riverkeeper
Lisa Rinaman
Riverkeeper
Putnam County
Environmental Council
Tim Keyser
President
Reef Relief
Peter Anderson
Chair
IDEAS For Us
Chris Castro
Co-founder, Vice President
Sierra Club Florida
Debbie Matthews
Chair
Lobby For Animals
Thomas Ponce
Founder
Our Santa Fe River,
Inc.
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson
President
1000 Friends of
Florida
Charles Pattison, FAICP
President
PRC Digital Media
Ray Hays
President
Paddle Florida, Inc.
Bill Richards
Executive Director
Ocean River Institute
Rob Moir Ph.D.
Director
Conservancy of Southwest Florida
Jennifer Hecker
Director of Natural Resource Policy
ECOSWF
Becky Ayech
President
Stone Crab Alliance
Karen Dwyer, Ph.D., John P. Dwyer, Ph.D.
Co-founders
Alliance for a Livable Pinellas
Bill Stokes
Founder
Adventure Kayak Tours
Stephen Cox
Owner
Center
for Biological Diversity
Jaclyn Lopez
Staff Attorney
Intracoastal Eco-Systems LLC
Lee
Shepard
President
Tropical Kayak Tours
Rhonda
Good Cox
Owner
Santa Fe Lake Dwellers Association
Jill McGuire
President
Loxahatchee
Group of the Sierra Club
Drew Martin
Conservation Chair
Suwannee St. Johns Group of the Sierra Club
Tamara Robbins
Chair
Miami Group of the Sierra Club
Jim Teas
Chair
Around the Bend Nature Tours LLC
Karen
Fraley
Manager/Naturalist
Preserve Brevard
Vince
Lamb
Chairman
Gulf Restoration Network
Cathy
Harrelson
Florida
Organizer
Suncoast Waterkeeper
Justin
Bloom
Waterkeeper
Anglers for Conservation (AFC)
Rodney
Smith
President
League of Women Voters of Florida
Rosalie
Shaffer
President,
LWV of Manatee County
Indian River Lagoon Coalition
Judy
Orcutt
Secretary
Oklawaha Valley Audubon Society (OVAS)
Linda
Bystrak
President
Matanzas Riverkeeper
Neil Armingeon
Riverkeeper
Central Florida Group of the Sierra Club
Marjorie
Holt
Chair/Conservation
Chair
Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure
John Kumiski
Founder
Agrarian
Land and Pond, LLC
Zachary Marimon
President
Solutions To Avoid Red Tide (START)
Sandy
Gilbert
Chairman
Marine Resources Council
Leesa
Souto
Executive
Director
Turtle Coast Group of the Sierra Club
Deborah
Longman-Marien
Chair
Suncoast Group of the Sierra Club
Lisa
Hinton
Executive
Committee Chair
Friends of Warm Mineral Springs, Inc.
Juliette
Jones
Secretary
Ichetucknee Alliance, Inc.
John
Jopling
President
Clean Water Action
Kathy
Aterno
National Managing Director and Florida Director
South Florida Audubon Society
Grant Campbell
Director of Wildlife Policy/Conservation Chair
Conradina Chapter of the Native Plant Society
Suzanne Valencia
President
River Kidz of St. Lucie County/Indian River County
Katy
Lewey
Head
Organizer
Carol Ann Breyer
Indian Riverkeeper
Marty Baum
Florida Defenders of
the Environment
Karen Ahlers
Ocklawaha River Restoration Coordinator
Pelican Island Audubon
Society
Richard H. Baker, Ph.D.
President
cc: Governor
Rick Scott
Commissioner of Agriculture Adam
Putnam
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio