The Dear Governor Crist:

This letter is written on behalf of the Sanibel Captiva Conservation
Foundation to request that you veto Senate Bill 2080.

This legislation will effectively eliminate public access to and input on
some of the most critical decisions made in the state of Florida:  water
management decisions. This legislation delegates all the authority to take
final action on environmental resource and consumptive use permits from a
nine-member volunteer, citizen governing board to a single state employee,
the Executive Director. This authority would eliminate the public process
that provides not only transparency into government activities but most
importantly provides an opportunity for the public to participate and have
input on issues that affect our daily lives and quality of our state’s most
precious resource.

In contrast to current operations where a citizen governing board operates
“in the sunshine” at meetings that have been publicly noticed, with an
agenda that advertises the issues to be discussed and voted on in a public
forum, this legislation would allow decisions to be made “behind closed
doors” between water management district staff and special interests
applying for water uses permits without public input or oversight.

Even worse, the bill allows governing board review of permit decisions only
when the staff of the agency is proposing to deny a permit, variance, or
waiver.  However, the bill removes the ability of groups and individuals to
address water management district governing boards about permits, variances,
or waivers that would be harmful to the environment. Options for affected
parties to object will be limited to a cumbersome and costly process of
filing a petition for formal hearing under FS 120, or an appeal of a
decision to the Governor and Cabinet under FS 373.114.

Water decisions are some of the most important decisions made in Florida
because they affect the sustainability of our existing communities and
direct growth patterns throughout the state.   These decisions are
fundamental in determining who has access to water, how much they can use
and when, what wetlands and natural systems will be impacted or preserved.
These basic fundamental decisions affect our communities, our natural
systems, and our economies.

The water management district governing boards have the constitutional
authority to levy ad-valorem taxes to spend on managing and protecting water
resources. If they are no longer involved in those decisions, the authority
rests with a single state employee operating without oversight to spend that
money. This is not responsible governance.

We strongly urge that you act to protect the public’s access to and ability
to participate in the water permitting process regarding our most precious
resources: wetlands, water use and environmental resource permits.