Daytona Beach News Journal

January 21, 2010

EPA to Florida: No more rivers green as grass

Editorial

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN84012110.htm

Here's Florida's standard for clean water: "In no case shall nutrient concentrations of a body of water be altered so as to cause an imbalance in natural populations of aquatic flora or fauna." Pretty straightforward. No pollutants allowed that will throw off the natural balance of a lake, river or estuary in the state.

Now here's the reality. By the state's own measurements, 1,000 miles of its rivers and streams, 350,000 acres of its lakes and 900 square miles of its estuaries are impaired by pollutants (as reported in 2008). The culprits: primarily nitrogen and phosphorus in runoff from lawn and farm fertilizers; and under-treated discharges from sewage treatment plants. These reduce dissolved oxygen and make the water cloudy, preventing sunlight's penetration. This encourages algae blooms -- sometimes turning surface waters green as grass -- harmful to aquatic plants and animals, coral reefs and drinking water supplies, blooms that can cause breathing problems and skin infections for swimmers, boaters and others.

Florida's had 10 years to clean up its surface waters since the Environmental Protection Agency ordered it and other foot-dragging states to comply with federal law. The state spent millions on studies and was preparing a presentation for last August to scientists and industry leaders on how it intended to do so. But conservation groups, weary of the state's dawdling and the EPA's complacency, sued the federal government to force the issue. Under pressure, the EPA announced last January that it would impose for the first time its own nutrient-load standards on a state. Business and farm leaders in Florida sued to block the action, saying compliance would cost them billions. A federal judge last fall found their objection to EPA standards "premature" since the agency hadn't devised its standards.

On Friday, following an independent review of its methodology, the agency published its proposed standards, devised specifically for Florida. They are based, in part, on the EPA's examination of tens of thousands of water chemistry samples from throughout the state. The public will have a chance to discuss the proposal at three hearings next month. The final freshwater rule will take effect in October and a separate proposal for estuaries is anticipated next January.

Although the freshwater standards would be less restrictive than conservationists sought, they are commendably more than state regulators were planning. For instance, the EPA rule for total nitrogen volume in the St. Johns River watershed is 1.205 parts per million. The state intended to allow a more pollutant-generous 1.730 parts per million. The EPA proposes standards for South Florida canals; the state none. And unlike the state, the EPA would enforce stricter upstream nutrient levels to protect lakes and estuaries downstream.

Florida's business and farm leaders are screaming. "Onerous" and "idiotic" were two descriptions of the standards offered by Barney Bishop, president of Associated Industries of Florida, as reported by the Miami Herald. Industry leaders predict compliance will cost polluters $50 billion and stifle business recruitment and job growth in the state. EPA analysts estimate the cost at about $1.5 billion, not counting upgrades to public stormwater systems. But business, farm and growth interests in Florida decried the Clean Water Act before its adoption in 1972 along the same lines -- it will cost too much; now's not the time. They forget the economic losses this state incurs from pollution of its surface waters -- damaged fisheries, less tourism, health problems . . . . And they would have the public forget that years of delay compound the nutrient problems even as the construction costs to rid the state's waters of pollutants escalate.

If this isn't the time for Florida to clean up its waters, there won't be a better one. Too bad it took a lawsuit and a federal mandate to force the issue. The only idiocy here is to allow those who profit by polluting Florida's waters to perpetuate the lie that the state's doing all it can afford to comply with the Clean Water Act. It isn't, it wasn't and it won't unless made to. And that's what's onerous.