SPEAK OUT: Proposal by EPA, Army would strip clean water protections

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of the Army are giving you until Oct. 9 to speak out on a proposed rule change that could strip Clean Water Act protections from up to 95% of wetlands and 79% of rivers and streams.

Sound like a hideous idea? Lots of people think so, but the proposal stems from a 2023 Supreme Court decision called Sackett vs. EPA, which limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over waters and wetlands covered by the Clean Water Act. Now the agencies are seeking to officially define what gets protection and what doesn't.

The agencies put forth a “Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” seeking public input on additional regulatory language.

Under this proposal, federal protections would only cover tributary rivers, streams and lakes that hold standing or flowing water year-round in ordinary conditions. This means "intermittent" streams where no water flows for periods exceeding 30 days would lose protection.

Wetlands would fare worse. They'd qualify only with a continuous, perennial surface connection to another protected water — or by being indistinguishable from a navigable water, the territorial seas, a jurisdictional impoundment or tributary.

The result: countless rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands stripped of safeguards. And for some, that's a plus.

“Landowners and developers may see significantly reduced permitting burdens for projects near intermittent or ephemeral waters and seasonally saturated wetlands,” according to some legal observers. “If adopted, this approach would mark the most significant narrowing of federal wetland jurisdiction since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, with far-reaching implications for landowners, developers, agricultural operators, and environmental compliance nationwide.”

BUT YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Click here to submit a public comment, or go find some suggested language for your letter by clicking here. You’ve got until Oct. 9 — so step on it!

Don’t miss SWFL Water Summit Sept. 19

VoteWater Executive Director Gil Smart (above) will be one of three keynote speakers at the Southwest Florida Water Summit, “Our Waters, Our Vote” from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19, at The Collaboratory, 2031 Jackson St., Fort Myers 33901. The hybrid event will also allow participation via Zoom

The event, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Lee County and the Sierra Club Calusa Group, will also feature speakers Royal C. Gardner, a Law Professor and Director of the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy at Stetson University, and Matt DePaolis, Environmental Policy Director at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

The event will offer a chance to learn about regulatory changes and what voters can do to support clean water in Southwest Florida. To register, click this link.

'Allilgator Alcatraz' bills still piling up as emergency fund runs short of cash

Hey, remember the claim that “Alligator Alcatraz,” offered an “efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility” in the Everglades?

Yeah, about that: Last week the state Legislative Budget Commission gave an extra $250 million to the Florida Department of Emergency Management because FDEM was running out of money — in part, due to that “efficient, low-cost” detention center.

Turns out, as the Miami Herald reported last week, that FDEM “has promised at least $1.4 billion to vendors who built the state’s Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot migrant lockups,” and didn’t quite have the dinero on hand to pay the tab. Indeed, according to a report submitted by FDEM to the commission — weeks late and just an hour before the commission’s meeting — the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund was down to just $6.4 million by the end of June; and by the end of the year, under the “worst-case” scenario where Florida gets slammed by two natural disasters, the fund could be $1.5 billion in the hole.

According to the Herald: “The state reported to the Legislature that its largest outstanding debts are to the portable toilet company Doodie Calls, which is still waiting for $93 million on its more than $219 million in immigration contracts, and IRG Global Emergency Management, which is waiting for $68 million — largely for the now-shuttered Alligator Alcatraz.”

Read the whole thing; this is pretty much the opposite of responsible governance.

CANDIDATES: Have you pledged to 'Rescue the River of Grass?'

Dear South Florida political candidates:

Florida has a real opportunity to finish Everglades restoration. Although work on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir continues, these projects stop short of providing enough water storage and treatment south of Lake Okeechobee.

The science is clear: Florida needs to acquire at least 100,000 additional acres in the EAA to prevent Lake O discharges to the northern estuaries; send enough clean, fresh water south to the Everglades and Florida Bay; and protect drinking water for millions of Floridians.

The funding is available, but the longer we wait, the higher the cost — to the taxpayer, and to the environment.

We're asking you to join other Florida political candidates at the county, state and federal level in signing the pledge to Rescue the River of Grass — and join more than three dozen other candidates in showing your support for Florida's Everglades — and Florida's future.

This is what we're fighting for

Postcard Florida still exists. So do the lobbyists, the sugar money, and the legislators who cash the checks. VoteWater tracks the "dirty money" and backs the candidates who'll work to protect Florida's waterways. Your support keeps us in the fight.

Become a WaveMaker!