January 28, 2012 Legislative Update

YOU CAN GO TO THE FOLLOWING SITE TO GET A “CLICK” AND E-MAIL LINK TO SEND E-MAILS
http://www.1000fof.org/

This has been an extremely active week in the Legislature, with a number of damaging bills moving forward. While we understand you may not be able to make calls on all the bills listed below, please try to contact as many legislators as possible. Your calls are making a difference! Thanks to the public outcry, HB 1103 privatizing half a million acres of public land is now in trouble! If we keep the calls coming, perhaps we can stop other damaging legislation moving forward. Thank you for your support!

Your calls are needed on the following bills:

Fertilizer Bill -- SB 604 (general bill)/HB 421 (general bill ) – This bill preempts local government control over fertilizer application.
January 28 Update– this bill will be heard on Monday in the Senate Environment & Preservation Committee.
ACTION IS NEEDED: Contact members of the Senate Environment and Preservation Committee and your Senator and Representative this weekend to let them know that local government control over fertilizer application must not be pre-empted.

Reclaimed Water -- HB 639: Even though all the waters in Florida are a public resource, HB 639 would put reclaimed waters under the exclusive control of utilities with no oversight by the water management districts. The City of Tampa is the prime mover behind this bill.
January 28 update: After a meeting with the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Young, this week, conservation groups agreed to develop some additional language for her consideration. Our emphasis continues to remain with not altering the definition of “waters of the state” as far as reclaimed water is concerned. We will report back later on the reaction to the alternative draft language being proposed. The bill is set next for the House State Affairs Committee but no date is assigned (yet).
ACTION IS NEEDED: Please call Senator Dana Young and your Senator and tell them that you oppose the move toward privatization of water and to keep the existing definition of waters of the state unchanged.

Public Lands -- HB 1103: This bill proposes to remove half a million acres of public land and put it in private ownership by changing the definition of ordinary high water line to the low water line. This in essence will make it illegal for you to hunt, fish, camp or picnic along Florida’s freshwater bodies where these activities have traditionally taken place.
ACTION IS NEEDED: Your calls are making a difference! Please keep your calls up to your Senator and Representative! The bill is becoming toxic and has yet to have a committee meeting scheduled in the Senate. So keep at it!

Water Management District Governance -- SB 1834 – We understand the Governor’s Office is interested in and needs support for either repealing or substantially improving last year’s SB 2142 that did so much damage to the water management district.
ACTION IS NEEDED: Please contact Governor Rick Scott (850) 488-7146) and ask that he support (1) removing the caps on millage rates so that the water management districts can do their missions; and (2) allowing no further legislative involvement in the water management budgeting process.

Septic Tank Pre-Emption -- SB 820
January 28 Update: This will be heard in Health Regulation Committee on Tuesday, January 31. ACTION IS NEEDED: Please contact the members of the Senate Health Regulation Committee and let them know that the pre-emption language of local programs should be removed.

Florida Forever – January 28 Update: the House released its budget this week, and ZERO dollars were provided. The Senate has yet to present a budget.
ACTION IS NEEDED: Please contact your Senator and ask that a minimum the $15 Million as proposed in the Governor’s budget be included.

Legislative Issues for 2011

This year is going to be very important to the future of our wild lands, rivers and lakes. Policy and science are butting heads in Tallahassee, so we need to make sure that our elected officials are getting the facts. We need to make sure that they are hearing from all of us—not just industry lobby groups.

Florida’s new Governor Rick Scott has announced plans for big changes for our state. Jobs are his number one priority. Jobs are great but we need to make sure that he and the Florida Legislature don’t make new jobs at the expense of what makes Florida…Florida-- our water quantity and quality.

Our elected officials need to hear from all of us. Please take action to defend the Florida we value.

There is excellent information about the current legislative session available from Florida Audubon at: audubonoffloridanews.org

Sierra Club Florida Chapter also sends legislative updates through their site at: florida.sierraclub.org

To find out what is going on with the Florida Environment can catch updates on Florida’s Environmental News from the Capital by Bruce Ritchie log in to bruceritchie.blogspot.com

Water quantity and quality

Water has to be regulated or we will soon run out.

Running out of water? Technically Florida can’t run out of water because we are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. However, we can run out of drinkable fresh water. Today we are out of “affordable” fresh water.

The Floridan Aquifer that underlies southern Georgia and Northern Florida is one of the most productive fresh water aquifers in the world. In many places it feeds our streams, lakes and rivers via springs.

As we overuse the Floridan aquifer, salt water will creep in around the edges. Once the salt water intrudes, what will we do? They have faced this already in South Florida and all along the densely populated east and west coast.

Too many wells, too many pumped gallons and not enough rain. It’s partly a rain issue--partly. But it boils down to the fact that we are taking more out than nature is recharging.

The science is clear that Floridians need to change our ways or we will run out. However, right now, “policy” and politics seems to be winning. It just isn’t politically correct to tell a real estate developer, a mine operator, a farmer or a manufacturer that they can’t have all the water they want. We can’t have it both ways; but we do need our rivers to run to the ocean.

Water management districts are also shying away from telling existing users that they have to cut back. The Districts do ask, but there aren’t any real consequences for violators.

Lack of political will for strong rules and the pressure of growth for growth’s sake is how we have gotten into our current water mess. By ignoring the data—By continuing to issue water use permits when the “EASY” water is gone--our rule makers are engineering an expensive catastrophe.

To keep the Gulf and Atlantic waters productive for fisheries, wildlife and tourism, our rivers need to flow fresh water to the ocean.

What about the water we have left?

Fish kills, red tides, algae blooms, low dissolved oxygen, arsenic pollution, high iron and high nutrient levels are causing unsightly, expensive and dangerous conditions in our fresh water and marine systems.

Even though the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, our State Universities and all the Water Management Districts have been making an effort, pollution levels are not going down. Natural Habitat damage has already started. Florida has hundreds of “impaired waters” from top to bottom and coast to coast.

On the Suwannee and its tributaries, there are at least 7 springs that are classed as “poisonous” by the EPA drinking water standard. It’s bad enough what these springs do to natural systems, but high levels of fertilizer runoff is deadly to infants and can cause cancer over time in children and adults. How can we not be doing something about it?

It’s a shame it had to happen, but the only reason Florida is changing its water polluting rules happened because environmental groups went to court.

Even if the new EPA standard goes into effect, the FDEP is allowing “SITE SPECIFIC ALTERNATIVE CRITERIA” to exempt some worst violators in the State. Tell our Governor that this needs to stop. Pollution is pollution. Calling it Site Specific Alternative Criteria is just a way to clean up how it sounds.

If you are like me, knowing this is happening is a heavy burden. Sometimes it seems the problem is so big that there is nothing we can do about it. In the past, Florida’s citizens stood up to be counted and voted to have sensible water/pollution management. We need to bring it back.

To do this, we need to tell our Governor and Legislators to keep Florida clean. We need to manage our water sustainable or we will all pay the price. The rules have been changed for the better in the past and there is no reason to move backwards. We have to make it happen.

Call, write and visit your elected officials. Write to the Senate and House leaders and Environmental Committee Members. Professional lobbyists have their “ear” the entire legislative session. Make appointments and go to Tallahassee to get face time with your senate and house reps.

Hold picnics and special dinners for your elected officials where they can meet lots of voters in one venue. Flood their bandwidth with “our” side of the story.

Be polite, be grateful for their public service, keep to simple and specific talking points. Make sure you have your facts straight.

I would argue that Florida is one of the best places in the world to live because we have the best of all worlds here. When it comes to water quality and quantity, we don’t want to make 3rd world mistakes.

This is what gets me going in the morning. I love Florida, I love my way of life and I want future generations to have the same. Failure is not an option. We have to convince our decision makers that our “native” florida is worth protecting.

Contacts to work for our future:

Find your Florida Senator at: www.flsenate.gov/Senators/Find

Find your Florida House Representative at: www.myfloridahouse.gov and click on “Find Your Representative”

It’s important that you write to your own Senator and Representative, but also let the Senate President, House Speaker and Governor know what you want.

Governor Rick Scott:

Office of Governor Rick Scott
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
(850) 488-7146

Address letters to the Senate President as follows:

The Honorable Mike Haridopolos, President
Tallahassee Office:
409 The Capitol
404 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
(850) 487-5056
Senate VOIP: 5056
Legislative Assistants:
Rivers Buford III and Amy Bisceglia
haridopolos.mike.web@flsenate.gov

Address letters to the Speaker of the House of Representatives as follows:
The Honorable Dean Cannon, Speaker
Florida House of Representatives
420 The Capitol
402 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

General Writing Tips

• Type or print legibly. Sign your name neatly and give your address correctly so the Speaker can respond to your letter.
• Keep your letters brief. Never write more than one page. Concise written correspondence is more likely to grab and keep the reader's attention.
• Identify your issue or opinion at the beginning of the letter, don't bury your main point under trivial text.
• Cover only one issue per letter. If you have another issue to address, write another letter.
• Back up your opinions with supporting facts. Your letter should inform the reader.
• Avoid abbreviations or acronyms, and don't use technical jargon. Rather than impressing your reader, such terms will only frustrate him or her.
• Make sure you understand the legislative process. Even the most basic understanding of the process will help you effectively express your ideas.
• Contact the Speaker about a particular issue before the Legislature takes action on it. Most matters coming before the Legislature are well publicized before session.
• Use a variety of communication methods. You might choose to telephone, write, e-mail, fax, or visit the Speaker.
• You might also choose to give testimony at public hearings held by the Legislature. (To give testimony, you would need to contact the appropriate committee.)
• Tell the Speaker what effect you think a particular bill, if it becomes law, will have on you, your children, business, or community. Be concise, but specific.
• Be polite, even if you disagree strongly with the Speaker. Your communication will be more effective if you are reasonable in your approach.
• Suggest a course of action and offer assistance. Don't make promises or threats.