Pam Bondi: Court Slapped Down Federal 'Overreach' on Florida Rivers, Streams
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a statement Monday in the wake of a federal court decision invalidating portions of the Environmental Protection Agency's rules governing water standards in the state's river and streams.
“This ruling will give Florida an opportunity to enact rules to protect our streams without crippling our economy. Yet another instance of federal government overreach has been prevented," Bondi said.
Bondi had challenged the EPA's numeric nutrient criteria, which pre-empted Florida standards.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle upheld the state's site-specific alternative criteria for streams and rivers. Under this provision, if an applicant for a permit can show that the particular water body at issue should be governed by different numeric criteria, then a variance can be issued.
Florida is currently in the process of adopting its own numeric nutrient criteria which, if approved by EPA, would govern permitting in Florida.
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2:43PM FEB 21ST 2012
You wonder if those so concerned about water pollution know what water pollution is and how our own sewage impact open waters? If one does, it certainly would not take more than 30 years to correct an essential test that caused the failure of the Clean Water Act. When EPA implemented the CWA it used an essential test incorrectly and ignored 60% of the pollution in sewage Congress clearly intended to be 'treated' under the Act. Among this waste was all the nitrogenous (urine and protein) waste in sewage, while this waste besides exerting an oxygen demand (just like fecal waste) also is a fertilizer for algae and thus contributes to red tides and dead zones, now solely blamed to runoff from farms and storm water from cities.
When regulations are not implementing the intent of a law and we clearly witness all the problems, it is causing, one has to ask if people who are in charge really know what they are doing, especially since EPA already in 1978, in one of its reports, acknowledged that not only much better sewage treatment (including nitrogenous waste) was possible, but could be built and operated for less money, compared to the present facilities that are based on a more than a century old technology that was developed solely to control odors. As long as this essential test is not corrected we will keep wasting time and money on new programs and legal fights in courts, while our ope waters keep deteriorating.
When regulations are not implementing the intent of a law and we clearly witness all the problems, it is causing, one has to ask if people who are in charge really know what they are doing, especially since EPA already in 1978, in one of its reports, acknowledged that not only much better sewage treatment (including nitrogenous waste) was possible, but could be built and operated for less money, compared to the present facilities that are based on a more than a century old technology that was developed solely to control odors. As long as this essential test is not corrected we will keep wasting time and money on new programs and legal fights in courts, while our ope waters keep deteriorating.
