That the BMAPS as our DEP have written them have no hope of success is disputed by no one. The DEP is fully aware and has admitted that they will fail.
This stonewalling by the DEP is both shameful and unconscionable.
This inaction follows the State’s policy of intentionally allowing the slow death of our springs and rivers.
The following was sent July 26, 2023 from the Florida Springs Council.
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
The Florida Springs Council is headed back to court… and we’re not alone.
A few days ago our attorney filed a legal challenge to the Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs) for the Santa Fe, Suwannee, Silver and Rainbow River basins. This is the second effort to force the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to follow the law in adopting water quality restoration plans for the twelve Outstanding Florida Springs in these basins, following a victory in the 1st District Court of Appeals earlier this year.
The Florida Springs Council is coordinating this return to court with our partners:
Our Santa Fe River and Ichetucknee Alliance are challenging the Santa Fe BMAP, which includes three Outstanding Florida Springs, including Devil’s Ear
Spring, Hornsby Spring, and the Ichetucknee Spring Group.
Save the Manatee Club is challenging the Silver/Rainbow BMAP on behalf of Silver, a vital habitat for manatees. Kim Dinkins with Save the Manatee Club says, “Manatees simply cannot afford another ecosystem collapse.”
Rainbow River Conservation joins Save the Manatee Club in challenging the Silver/Rainbow BMAP. “Florida law requires that DEP correct this situation, but it has failed to do so. We must challenge this ineffective order to save the health and vitality of the Rainbow,”
– Judy Lathrop, RRC.
Sierra Club Florida is joined by DEP scientist Tom Greenhalgh in challenging the Suwannee River BMAP, which includes seven Outstanding Florida Springs: Fanning, Manatee, Falmouth, Lafayette Blue, Peacock, Troy, and Madison Blue.
“It’s maddening to watch Governor DeSantis’ FDEP continue to waste our taxpayer dollars and delay justice in the courts when stopping pollution at its source should be among their highest priorities.
Sierra Club Florida will continue to marshal our resources and challenge these toothless regulations both in the courtroom and in the streets until we get BMAPs that actually work.”
-Michael McGrath, Sierra Club Florida
Dr. Burt Eno of Rainbow River Conservation testifies in 2019 in the BMAP challenge, a case in which springs groups prevailed over DEP. Photo by John Moran.
BACKGROUND
In 2018, DEP released BMAPs for 24 Outstanding Florida Springs impaired by excessive nitrogen pollution. The 2016 Springs and Aquifer Protection Act requires DEP to produce BMAPs that will achieve water quality goals for impaired springs within twenty years.
The BMAPs were so flawed, however, that they offered no credible hope of achieving water quality goals. DEP failed to follow the law.
So in 2019 Florida Springs Council members – including those listed above – took DEP to court and challenged five of the Outstanding Florida Springs BMAPs. Earlier this year, after a costly four-year legal battle, springs groups prevailed.
The 1st District Court of Appeals invalidated the BMAPs for not including detailed allocations of the pollutant load as required. Allocations are how much each type of polluter must reduce their pollution in order to achieve overall water quality goals. They should be the basis for each BMAP’s projects, practices and policies to improve water quality.
After the ruling, instead of drafting new BMAPs based on the detailed allocations, DEP proposed adopting allocations as an appendix to each BMAP. The proposed allocations were inaccurate, inconsistent with the nitrogen reduction targets in the existing BMAPs, and did nothing to improve the plans’ ability to achieve water quality goals.
The BMAPs still fail to follow the law, and are less consistent and understandable than when they were adopted four years ago. So we are going back to court.
Going to court is always our last resort.
Unfortunately our only choices are to keep fighting or accept that Florida’s springs will never be healthier than they are today.
For Florida Springs Council members, that is no choice at all.
THIS WAS NOT INEVITABLE
The Florida Springs Council created a Better BMAP for the Santa Fe River to prove it was possible to write a BMAP that complies with law and achieves water quality goals.
TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE CASE
Specific deficiencies with each BMAP, and the relief sought by petitioners, can be found in the Santa Fe, Rainbow/Silver, and Suwannee petitions filed on July 21, 2023.
Support the work we’re doing with a one-time or monthly donation at floridaspringscouncil.org/support
Read more about the BMAP challenge on our website at https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/single-post/springs-groups-are-taking-the-state-to-court-over-failed-cleanup-plans-again
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Our mailing address is:
Florida Springs Council
PO Box 358191
Gainesville, FL 32635
USA
PO Box 358191
Gainesville, FL 32635
USA
