OSFR has signed on to the following letter sent by the Florida Springs Council asking our governor to veto some really bad legislation.
It is amazing that that our leaders continue to use, time and time again, the tired old non-excuse of “let’s do a study” which for a long time has fooled no one. The results of the “study” have been known for decades.
The motive for the new “study” is usually to avoid taking action while appearing to be concerned, or sometimes to monetarily reward entities for their political support.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
April 18, 2024
The Honorable Ron DeSantis
Plaza Level, The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Re: Veto Requests for Budget Line-Item 1756 and Line-Item 1543a
Governor DeSantis,
Floridians need you to use your veto power to protect our tax dollars and environment
as you have done in the past. Two FY 2024-25 Budget items relating to water quality
and supply require the stroke of your veto pen; these studies are wasteful, unnecessary,
likely harmful to our waters, and contrary to the interests of Florida:
Line-Item 1756 – $25,000,000 – Provided to the Water School at the Florida Gulf Coast
University to conduct a comprehensive water quality study to identify and analyze
impaired rivers, including upstream sources, and determine the root cause of such
impairments.
A new study, conducted by an unknown contractor, to determine the (already known)
sources of pollution to Florida’s rivers is completely unnecessary, a waste of taxpayer
dollars, and will delay important rules and projects necessary to restore Florida’s waters.
Agreement on the sources of pollution to Florida’s impaired rivers is one of the few
areas of consensus among state agencies, academics, regulated industries, and
environmental advocates. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Nitrogen
Source Inventory and Loading Tool (NSILT) has been relied on by DEP in creating more
than a dozen Outstanding Florida Springs Basin Management Action Plans and has
never been challenged. Similar tools and models, utilized in TMDLs and BMAPs across
the state, serve as the basis for determining the source of pollution within impaired
watersheds and designing projects and policies to achieve the necessary reductions
based on the contribution of each source type.
State agencies must use the best available data to make policy decisions. The NSILT and
similar models provide the best available data for determining the sources of nutrient
pollution to Florida’s waters. There is nothing in the Local Funding Initiative Request or
the Budget description to suggest how this new “study” will be conducted, who will
conduct it, how it will be different from current tools, or why it will be preferable. The
Local Funding Initiative Request, however, does show that the Department of
Environmental Protection was not contacted regarding the study and the $25,000,000
is a pass-through to an unknown contractor.
It is telling that this $25,000,000 study is not being performed at or by one of Florida’s
flagship research universities, was not sponsored by a member of the local legislative
delegation, provides no justification for the amount of funding requested, has no
timeline for completion, no deliverables, no accountability, and includes no final report
to the Governor or Legislature. The only purpose the “study” seems to have is providing
an easy payday for the consultants and lobbyists behind the request.
$25,000,000 is nearly half of what is appropriated in the FY 2024-25 budget for all
springs restoration projects across the state. Florida’s waters don’t need shady studies to
determine the sources of pollution; they need projects and policies to stop pollution at
its source with strong enforcement and penalties when water quality standards are
violated. We urge you to veto this line-item and request the Legislature use the funds to
increase springs restoration or land conservation funding.
Line-Item 1543a – $4,000,000 – University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences Fertilizer Rate Study.
This study is an attempt by the agricultural industry to circumvent the Clean Waterways
Act which you signed into law in 2020. The Clean Waterways Act required the
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to conduct implementation
verification visits to each farm enrolled in best management practices. During these
visits, DACS personnel would ensure that best management practices were being
implemented and collect fertilizer application records. As expected, the verification
visits confirmed that many intensive agricultural operations were using far more
fertilizer than recommended, leading to serious water quality problems downstream.
Instead of working with DACS, DEP, and other stakeholders to use fertilizer more
cautiously and strategically to improve the quality of Florida’s waters, industry
representatives went to the Legislature and IFAS to propose a new study to update
(increase) fertilizer rates before producers would be required to come into compliance
with the existing rules. Notably, the IFAS fertilizer rate study does not take water quality
into account. As a result, IFAS is recommending increasing fertilizer rates on many
commodities despite the incredible damage that will be done to Florida’s water
resources. For instance, initial results from the IFAS fertilizer rate study recommend
increasing the amount of nitrogen per acre applied for corn from 240 lbs per acre to 350
lbs per acre. The study design is so flawed that two University of Florida/IFAS
professors emeritus – Ph.D. scientists who spearheaded IFAS rate studies for decades –
have written in opposition to the study in its current form.
Farm fertilizer is the dominant source of nitrogen pollution to Florida’s springs, rivers,
lakes, bays, and estuaries. Florida law allows for nearly unlimited farm fertilizer
pollution by providing farmers who implement best management practices a
presumption of compliance with all water quality rules. It is well-known, and recognized
by DEP, that current best management practices are not effective in achieving water
quality goals. If this study is allowed to continue without considering the impacts on
water quality, and DACS adopts the recommendations as part of updated agricultural
best management practices, it will result in a massive increase in pollution entering
Florida’s waters. By vetoing this line-item, you can stop the legacy of the Clean
Waterways Act from being the further destruction of Florida’s waters.
The 25 below-signed organizations and businesses urge you to veto Line-Item 1756 and
Line-Item 1543a.
Sincerely,
Kim Dinkins
Policy & Planning Director
1000 Friends of Florida
Brad Rimbey
Vice-President
Homosassa River Alliance
Anne Casella
Chair, Conservation Committee
Alachua Audubon Society
Cecile Scoon, Esq.
Co-President
League of Women Voters of Florida
Mark Maloney
Captain
Barracudaville Charters LLC
Mark Ferrulo
Executive Director
Progress Florida
Lori Haus-Bulcock
Delegate
Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife
Phyllis Hall
President & Conservation Chair
Seminole Audubon Society
Maxine Connor
Co-Chair
Clean Energy Action Team, League of Women
Voters of Florida
Susannah Randolph
Chapter Director
Sierra Club Florida
Becky Ayech
President
Environmental Confederation of Southwest
Florida
Doug Young
Chief Operating Officer
South Florida Audubon Society
Jim Gross
Executive Director
Florida Defenders of the Environment
Lisa Rinaman
Riverkeeper
St. Johns Riverkeeper
Michael F. Chenoweth
President
Florida Keys Chapter of the Izaak Walton
League of America
Karen Dwyer
Co-Founder
Stone Crab Alliance
Mark Perry
Executive Director & CEO
Florida Oceanographic Society
Virginia Overstreet
President
Suncoast Chapter, Florida Native Plant Society
Joe Bonasia
Chair
Florida Rights of Nature Network
Leslie Harris-Senac
Owner/Filmmaker
Visions Unlimited Productions, Inc.
Ryan Smart
Executive Director
Florida Springs Council
Gil Smart
Executive Director
VoteWater
Eve Samples
Executive Director
Friends of the Everglades
Ursula Schwuttke
President
Withlacoochee Aquatic Restoration
Tim Glover
President
Friends of St. Sebastian River
