Opinion

Legislature thwarts costly water rule change

LLOYD BROWN
Published: February 29, 2012

The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation has been working for years to determine how much nutrient runoff into freshwater lakes and streams is harmful and how to regulate it reasonably.

But "reasonably" is not in the dictionary of Big Environment. Lobbyists and lawyers who make big bucks from rushing things filed suit against the federal Environmental Protection Agency to force it to impose regulations.

There is a large constitutional question involved as to whether the federal government has such power, but it didn't matter because the EPA caved in immediately. The powerful agency is still imbued with the spirit of Carol Browner, the ultraliberal protégé of Al Gore who headed the agency during the Clinton administration.

The draconian limits subsequently drawn by the EPA would have cost $1 billion, the EPA claimed. Others said the cost was more likely to be near $50 billion. No body of water in the state would have met the new limits. One authority said 80 percent of the streams in Florida now designated "pristine" would have been declared "polluted" overnight and there was no known technology to meet the proposed standards.

Average water and sewer bills throughout the state would have had to rise $62 a month, according to one estimate.

To counter the threat, the Legislature enacted a bill, signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott two weeks ago, allowing new standards developed by the DEP and approved unanimously by the Environmental Regulatory Commission to move forward. In addition, a federal judge ruled the EPA criteria were arbitrary and capricious.

The Legislature had been precluded from approving the DEP rules because of administrative law challenges by professional environmentalists. What the bill does is waive that requirement and direct the DEP to submit its rules to the federal government for review and approval immediately. State officials hope the EPA will approve them in their entirety, without cherry-picking.

The cost won't be insignificant, but it will be far more reasonable than what the federal government had proposed and will afford adequate protection.

As a result, Florida can continue to lead other states in protecting its waters, and do so in a manner that is based on sound science, while also weighing both costs and benefits.

Lloyd Brown is a former editorial page editor of the Florida Times-Union, in Jacksonville.