The Gainesville Sun has published Jake Fuller’s message to taxpayers in the Sunday, June 28 2015 edition. This reference is to the recent article, posted by OSFR here, as it directly bears upon the Santa Fe River, since one of the largest dairies in North Florida is located near its mouth.
In summary, the issue is that the Suwannee River Water Management District and the State of Florida will spend 1.4 million dollars of public tax payer money to reduce the dairy-generated flow of nitrates into the groundwater in North Florida. Dairies put about 19 million pounds of nitrates yearly into the ground in the basins of the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers.
This is legal (approved by our Department of Environmental Protection) but it is polluting the rivers and our drinking water.
Kevin Wright, district engineer, says that public funding will be used “…because of the public interest in protecting the area’s springs and rivers.”
Wait, something is wrong here. Permits for such industry are not supposed to be issued if the activity is not in the public interest. Polluting is not in the public interest, as environmental groups have frequently told the water mangers and the DEP, who believe that jobs are more important than our water quality.
OSFR thanks Jake Fuller for his instant and enthusiastic permission to use his original and creative cash cow image-message, and the Gainesville Sun for theirs to reprint in full their environmental articles.
And Adena springs