Wikipedia: Desalination

Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Desalination plant under construction in Perth, Australia

Desalination
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Water desalination
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Methods
Distillation
Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF)
Multiple-effect evaporator (MED|ME)
Vapor-compression (VC)
Ion exchange
Membrane processes
Electrodialysis reversal (EDR)
Reverse osmosis (RO)
Nanofiltration (NF)
Membrane distillation (MD)
Freezing
Geothermal desalination
Solar humidification (HDH, MEH)
Methane hydrate crystallization
High grade water recycling
RF Induced Hyperthermia
Seawater greenhouse

This article is about removing salt from water. For soil desalination, see Soil salinity control.
Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove excess salt and other minerals from water. More generally, desalination may also refer to the removal of salts and minerals,[1] as in soil desalination.[2][3]

Water is desalinated in order to be converted to fresh water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. Sometimes the process produces table salt as a by-product. It is used on many seagoing ships and submarines. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on developing cost-effective ways of providing fresh water for human use in regions where the availability of fresh water is limited.

Large-scale desalination typically uses extremely large amounts of energy as well as specialized, expensive infrastructure, making it very costly compared to the use of fresh water from rivers or groundwater. The large energy reserves of many Middle Eastern countries, along with their relative water scarcity, have led to extensive construction of desalination in this region. By mid-2007, Middle Eastern desalination accounted for close to 75% of total world capacity.[4]

The world's largest desalination plant is the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant (Phase 2) in the United Arab Emirates. It is a dual-purpose facility that uses multi-stage flash distillation and is capable of producing 300 million cubic meters of water per year.

The largest desalination plant in the United States is the one at Tampa Bay, Florida, which began desalinating 25 million gallons (US Gal.) (95000 m³) of water per day in December 2007.[5] The Tampa Bay plant runs at around 12% the output of the Jebel Ali Desalination Plants. A January 17, 2008, article in the Wall Street Journal states, "World-wide, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association."[6]


Schematic of a multi-stage flash desalinator
Plan of a typical reverse osmosis desalination plantContents [hide]
1 Methods
2 Considerations and criticism
2.1 Co-generation
2.2 Economics
2.3 Environmental
3 Desalination compared to other water supply options
4 Experimental techniques and other developments
4.1 LTTD Process
5 Existing facilities
5.1 Tampa Bay Water Desalination Project
5.2 El Paso (Texas) Desalination Plant
6 See also
7 References
7.1 Notes
7.2 Further reading
8 External links


[edit] Methods
As of July 2004, the leading method is Multi-stage flash distillation (85% of production world-wide).[7] The traditional process used in these operations is vacuum distillation—essentially the boiling of water at less than atmospheric pressure and thus a much lower temperature than normal. This is because the boiling of a liquid occurs when the vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure and vapor pressure increases with temperature. Thus, because of the reduced temperature, energy is saved.

In the last decade, membrane processes have developed very quickly, and most new facilities use reverse osmosis technology.[citation needed] Membrane processes use semi-permeable membranes and pressure to separate salts from water.[citation needed] Membrane systems typically use less energy than thermal distillation, which has led to a reduction in overall desalination costs over the past decade. Desalination remains energy intensive, however, and future costs will continue to depend on the price of both energy and desalination technology.[citation needed]

[edit] Considerations and criticism
[edit] Co-generation
Cogeneration is the process of using excess heat from power production to accomplish another task. In the sense of desalination, cogeneration is the production of potable water from seawater or brackish groundwater in an integrated, or "dual-purpose", facility in which a power plant is used as the source of energy for the desalination process. The facility’s energy production may be dedicated entirely to the production of potable water (a stand-alone facility), or excess energy may be produced and incorporated into the energy grid (a true cogeneration facility). There are various forms of cogeneration, and theoretically any form of energy production could be used. However, the majority of current and planned cogeneration desalination plants use either fossil fuels or nuclear power as their source of energy. Most plants are located in the Middle East or North Africa, due to their petroleum resources and subsidies. The advantage of dual-purpose facilities is that they can be more efficient in energy consumption, thus making desalination a more viable option for drinking water in areas of scarce water resources. [8][9]


Shevchenko BN350, the world's only nuclear-heated desalination unitIn a December 26, 2007 opinion column in the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nolan Hertel, a professor of nuclear and radiological engineering at Georgia Tech, wrote, "... nuclear reactors can be used... to produce large amounts of potable water. The process is already in use in a number of places around the world, from India to Japan and Russia. Eight nuclear reactors coupled to desalination plants are operating in Japan alone... nuclear desalination plants could be a source of large amounts of potable water transported by pipelines hundreds of miles inland..."[citation needed]

Additionally, the current trend in dual-purpose facilities is hybrid configurations, in which the permeate from an RO desalination component is mixed with distillate from thermal desalination. Basically, two or more desalination processes are combined along with power production. Such facilities have already been implemented in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah and Yambu-Medina.[10]

A typical aircraft carrier in the U.S. military uses nuclear power to desalinate 400,000 gallons (US Gal.) or 1514 m³ of water per day. [11]

[edit] Economics
A number of factors determine the capital and operating costs for desalination: capacity and type of facility, location, feed water, labor, energy, financing and concentrate disposal. Desalination stills now control pressure, temperature and brine concentrations to optimize the water extraction efficiency. Nuclear-powered desalination might be economical on a large scale. [12]

But, critics will point to the high costs of desalination technologies, especially for developing countries, the impracticability and cost of transporting or piping massive amounts of desalinated seawater throughout the interiors of large countries, and the byproduct of concentrated seawater, which some environmentalists have claimed "is a major cause of marine pollution when dumped back into the oceans at high temperatures"[13]

While noting that costs are falling, and generally positive about the technology for affluent areas that are proximate to oceans, one study argues that "Desalinated water may be a solution for some water-stress regions, but not for places that are poor, deep in the interior of a continent, or at high elevation. Unfortunately, that includes some of the places with biggest water problems." and "Indeed, one needs to lift the water by 2000 m, or transport it over more than 1600 km to get transport costs equal to the desalination costs. Thus, it may be more economical to transport fresh water from somewhere else than to desalinate it. In places far from the sea, like New Delhi, or in high places, like Mexico City, high transport costs would add to the high desalination costs. Desalinated water is also expensive in places that are both somewhat far from the sea and somewhat high, such as Riyadh and Harare. In many places, the dominant cost is desalination, not transport; the process would therefore be relatively less expensive in places like Beijing, Bangkok, Zaragoza, Phoenix, and, of course, coastal cities like Tripoli."[14] After being desalinized at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, water is pumped 200 miles (320 km) inland though a pipeline to the capital city of Riyadh. [15] For cities on the coast, desalination is being increasingly viewed as an untapped and unlimited water source.

Nevertheless, desalination does not take into account recycling water and broken infrastructure.[citation needed] Water is reused in Fountain Valley, CA, Fairfax, VA, El Paso, TX and Scottsdale, AZ. This process is an alternative to desalination that requires 50% less energy due to the significantly lower salt content and produces new water at 30% less cost to the consumer than desalinated sea water without the damage to marine life and ecosystems common to desalination plants.[citation needed]

Israel is now desalinating water at a cost of US$0.53 per cubic meter.[16] Singapore is desalinating water for US$0.49 per cubic meter.[17] Many large coastal cities in developed countries are considering the feasibility of seawater desalination, due to its cost effectiveness compared with other water supply options, which can include mandatory installation of rainwater tanks or stormwater harvesting infrastructure. Studies[citation needed] have shown that the desalination option is more cost-effective than large-scale recycled water for drinking, and more cost-effective in Sydney than the vastly expensive option of mandatory installation of rainwater tanks or stormwater harvesting infrastructure. The city of Perth has been successfully[citation needed] operating a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant since 2006, and the Western Australia government have announced that a second plant will be built to service the city's needs. A desalination plant is being built in Australia's largest city, Sydney, and at Wonthaggi, Victoria in the near future.[18]

The Perth desalination plant is powered partially by renewable energy from the Emu Downs Wind Farm[19]. The Sydney plant will be powered entirely from renewable sources[20], thereby eliminating harmful greenhouse gas emissions to the environment, a common argument used against seawater desalination due to the energy requirements of the technology. The purchase or production of renewable energy to power desalination plants naturally adds to the capital and/or operating costs of desalination. However, recent experience in Perth and Sydney indicates that the additional cost is acceptable to communities, as a city may then augment its water supply without doing environmental harm to the atmosphere. The Queensland state government recently announced that the Gold Coast desalination plant will be powered entirely from renewable sources, bringing its environmental footprint down, in line with the other major plants that will be operating around the same time, in Perth and Sydney.

In December 2007 the South Australian Government announced that it would build a seawater desalination plant for the city of Adelaide, Australia located at Port Stanvac. The desalination plant is to be funded by raising water rates to achieve full cost recovery. [1] [2] An online, unscientific poll showed that nearly 60% of votes cast were in favor of raising water rates to pay for desalination. [3]

A January 17, 2008 article in the Wall. St. Journal states, "In November, Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Corp. won a key regulatory approval to build a [US]$300 million water-desalination plant in Carlsbad, north of San Diego. The facility would be the largest in the Western Hemisphere, producing 50 million [U.S.] gallons [190,000 m³] of drinking water a day, enough to supply about 100,000 homes... Improved technology has cut the cost of desalination in half in the past decade, making it more competitive... Poseidon plans to sell the water for about [US]$950 per acre-foot [1200 m³]. That compares with an average [US]$700 an acre-foot [1200 m³] that local agencies now pay for water." [4] $1,000 per acre-foot works out to $3.06 for 1,000 gallons, which is the unit of water measurement that residential water users are accustomed to being billed in. [5].

While this regulatory hurdle was met, Poseidon Resources is not able to break ground until the final approval of a mitigation project for the damage done to marine life through the intake pipe, as is required by California law. Poseidon Resources has made progress in Carlsbad, CA despite its unsuccessful attempt to complete construction of Tampa Bay Desal, a desalination plant in Tampa Bay, FL in 2001. The Board of Directors of Tampa Bay Water were forced to buy Tampa Bay Desal from Poseidon Resources in 2001 to prevent a third failure of the project. Tampa Bay Water faced with 5 years of engineering problems and operation at 20% capacity due to marine life and growth captured and stuck to reverse osmosis filters prior to fully utilizing this facility in 2007. [21]

According to a May 9, 2008 article in Forbes, a San Leandro, California company called Energy Recovery Inc. has been desalinizing water for US$0.46 per cubic meter. [22]

According to a June 5, 2008 article in Globe and Mail, a Jordanian born chemical engineering Ph.D. student at the University of Ottawa named Mohammed Rasool Qtaisha has invented a new desalination technology that is alleged to be between 600% and 700% more efficient than current technology. According to the article, General Electric is looking into similar technology, and the U.S. National Science Foundation announced a grant to the University of Michigan to study it as well. Because the patents were still being worked out, the article was very vague about the details of this alleged technology. [23]

[edit] Environmental
One of the main environmental considerations of ocean water desalination plants is the impact of the open ocean water intakes[citation needed], especially when co-located with power plants. Many proposed ocean desalination plants initial plans relied on these intakes despite perpetuating ongoing impacts on marine life[citation needed]. In the United States, due to a recent court ruling under the Clean Water Act these intakes are no longer viable without reducing mortality, by ninety percent, of the life in the ocean; the plankton, fish eggs and fish larvae.[24] There are alternatives including beach wells that eliminate this concern, but require more energy and higher costs while limiting output.[25] Other environmental concerns include air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the power plants that provide electricity and/or thermal energy to the desalination plants.

Regardless of the method used, there is always a highly concentrated waste product consisting of everything that was removed from the created fresh water. This is sometimes referred to as brine, which is also a common term for the byproduct of recycled water schemes that is often disposed of in the ocean. These concentrates are classified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as industrial wastes. With coastal facilities, it may be possible to return it to the sea without harm if this concentrate does not exceed the normal ocean salinity gradients to which osmoregulators are accustomed. Reverse osmosis, for instance, may require the disposal of waste water with salinity twice that of normal seawater. The benthic community cannot accommodate such an extreme change in salinity and many filter-feeding animals would be destroyed when the water is returned to the ocean. This presents an increasing problem further inland, where one needs to avoid ruining existing fresh water supplies such as ponds, rivers and aquifers. As such, proper disposal of concentrate needs to be investigated during the design phases.

To limit the environmental impact of returning the brine to the ocean, it can be diluted with another stream of water entering the ocean, such as the outfall of a waste water treatment plant or power plant. While seawater power plant cooling water outfalls are not freshwater like waste water treatment plant outfalls, the salinity of the brine will still be reduced. If the power plant is medium to large sized and the desalination plant is not enormous, the flow of the power plant's cooling water is likely to be at least several times larger than that of the desalination plant. Another method to reduce the increase in salinity is to spread the brine over a very large area so that there is only a slight increase in salinity. For example, once the pipeline containing the brine reaches the sea floor, it can split off into many branches, each one releasing the brine gradually along its length through small holes. This method can be used in combination with the joining of the brine with power plant or waste water plant outfalls.

The concentrated seawater has the potential to harm ecosystems, especially marine environments in regions with low turbidity and high evaporation that already have elevated salinity. Examples of such locations are the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and, in particular, coral lagoons of atolls and other tropical islands around the world[citation needed]. Because the brine is denser than the surrounding sea water due to the higher solute concentration, discharge into water bodies means that the ecosystems on the bed of the water body are most at risk because the brine sinks and remains there long enough to damage the ecosystems. Careful re-introduction can minimize this problem[citation needed]. For example, for the desalination plant and ocean outlet structures to be built in Sydney from late 2007, the water authority states that the ocean outlets will be placed in locations at the seabed that will maximize the dispersal of the concentrated seawater, such that it will be indistinguishable from normal seawater between 50 meters and 75 meters from the outlet points. Sydney is fortunate to have typical oceanographic conditions off the coast that allow for such rapid dilution of the concentrated byproduct, thereby minimizing harm to the environment.

In Perth, Australia, in 2007, the Kwinana Desalination Plant was opened. The water is sucked in from the ocean at only 0.1 meter per second, which is slow enough to let fish escape. The plant provides nearly 140,000 m³ of clean water per day. [6]

[edit] Desalination compared to other water supply options
Increased water conservation and water use efficiency remain the most cost effective priority for supplying water.[26] While comparing ocean water desalination to waste water reclamation for drinking water shows desalination as the first option, using reclamation for irrigation and industrial use provides multiple benefits.[27] Urban runoff and storm water capture also provide multiple benefits in treating, restoring and recharging groundwater.[28] An emerging alternative to desalinization in the State of California and other areas in the American southwest is the commercial importation of bulk water either by very large crude carriers converted to water carriers or pipelines. The idea is presently politically unpopular in Canada where governments have been scrambling to impose trade barriers to bulk water exports as a result of a claim filed in 1999 under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by Sun Belt Water Inc. a company established in 1990 in Santa Barbara, California, to address pressing local needs due to a severe drought in that area. Sun Belt maintains a web site where documents relating to the dispute are posted online at Company website.

[edit] Experimental techniques and other developments
In the past many novel desalination techniques have been researched with varying degrees of success. Some, such as Forward osmosis are still on the drawing board now while others have attracted research funding. For example, to offset the energy requirements of desalination, the U.S. Government is working to develop practical solar desalination.

As an example of newer theoretical approaches for desalination, focusing specifically on maximizing energy efficiency and cost effectiveness, Passarell Process may be considered[citation needed].

Other approaches involve the use of geothermal energy. From an environmental and economic point of view, in most locations geothermal desalination can be preferable to using fossil groundwater or surface water for human needs, as in many regions the available surface and groundwater resources already have long been under severe stress.

Recent research in the U.S. indicates that nanotube membranes may prove to be extremely effective for water filtration and may produce a viable water desalination process that would require substantially less energy than reverse osmosis.[29]

On June 23, 2008 it was reported that Siemens Water Technologies had developed a new technology that desalinizes one cubic meter of water while using only 1.5 kWh of energy, which, according to the report, is one half the energy that other processes use. [30]

According to MSNBC, a report by Lux Research estimated that the worldwide desalinated water supply will triple between 2008 and 2020. [31]

[edit] LTTD Process
LTTD is 'Low Temperature Thermal Desalination' uses low pressures inside chambers created by vacuum pumps and the principle that water boils at low pressures, even at ambient temperature. To cool the water vapors, cold sea water located 600 metres below the sea level is pumped through coils to condense the water vapors and then collect the pure water into storage tanks. The temperature of ocean water declines with an increase in depth, the water on surface of sea water is hot and water down below 600 metres is much cooler. The NIOT, India was able to successfully commission a 1000m3/day capacity floating barge based desalination plant off the coast of Chennai. It is also possible to use the LTTD process for power plants where huge amounts of warm water are discharged continuously from the plant. An experimental plant is being set up at Chennai Thermal Power Station.
References:

LTTD Plant, Chennai
Mobile Desalination plant, India
Floating plant, India
NIOT, India
[edit] Existing facilities
[edit] Tampa Bay Water Desalination Project
The Tampa Bay Water Desalination project was originally a private venture led by Poseidon Resources. This project was delayed by the bankruptcy of Poseidon Resources successive partners in the venture, Stone & Webster, then Covanta (formerly Ogden) and its principal subcontractor Hydranautics. Poseidon's relationship with Stone & Webster through S & W Water LLC ended in June 2000 when Stone & Webster declared bankruptcy and Poseidon Resources purchased Stone & Webster's stake in S & W Water LLC. Poseidon Resources partnered with Covanta and Hydranautics in 2001, changing the consortium name to Tampa Bay Desal. Through the inability of Covanta to complete construction bonding of the project, the Tampa Bay Water agency was forced to purchase the project from Poseidon on May 15, 2002 and underwrite the project financing under its own credit rating. Tampa Bay Water then contracted with Covanta Tampa Construction, who produced a project that did not meet required performance tests, and Covanta Tampa Construction filed bankruptcy in October 2003 to prevent losing the contract with Tampa Bay Water, which resulted in nearly 6 months of litigation between Covanta Tampa Construction and Tampa Bay Water. The plant was not fully operational until 2007. [21]


The Island of Aruba has the worlds 3rd largest desalination plant.[32]

[edit] El Paso (Texas) Desalination Plant
Brackish groundwater has been treated at the El Paso Plant since around 2004. Producing 27.5 million gallons of fresh water daily (about 25% of total freshwater deliveries) by reverse osmosis, it is a crucial contribution to water supplies in this water-stressed city. [33]

[edit] See also
Salinity control
Soil salinity
Soil desalination model
Soil salinity and groundwater model
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
^ "Desalination" (definition), The American Heritage Science Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Company, via dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
^ "Australia Aids China In Water Management Project." People's Daily Online, 2001-08-03, via english.people.com.cn. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
^ There exist a new solution with the HelioTech products. HelioTech company ltd. Takashi, Kume, Amaya Takao, and Mitsuno Tooru. "The Effect of Soil Desalinization in the Hetao Irrigation District, Inner Mongolia, China." Transactions of the Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Reclamation Engineering, No. 223, pp. 133-139, 2003, abstract via sciencelinks.jp. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
^ Fischetti, Mark (September 2007), "Fresh from the Sea", Scientific American (Scientific American, Inc.) 297 (3): 118–119, http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=fresh-from-the-sea, retrieved 2008-08-03 Note: only the first two paragraphs are available on-line for no charge.
^ Applause, At Last, For Desalination Plant, The Tampa Tribune, December 22, 2007
^ Kathryn Kranhold, Water, Water, Everywhere..., The Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2008
^ Source: water-technology.net
^ Hamed, Osman A. (2005). “Overview of hybrid desalination systems – current status and future prospects.” Desalination, 186, 207-214.
^ Misra, B.M., J. Kupitz. (2004). “The role of nuclear desalination in meeting potable water needs in water scarce areas in the next decades.” Desalination, 166, 1-9.
^ Ludwig, Heinz. (2004). “Hybrid systems in seawater desalination – practical design aspects, present status and development perspectives.” Desalination, 164, 1-18.
^ How Aircraft Carriers Work
^ "Nuclear Desalination: UIC Nuclear Issues Briefing Paper #74," Uranium Information Centre Ltd., Melbourne, Australia, October 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
^ Barlow, Maude, and Tony Clarke, "Who Owns Water?" The Nation, 2002-09-02, via thenation.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
^ Zhoua, Yuan, and Richard S.J. Tolb. "Evaluating the costs of desalination and water transport." (Working paper). Via a Hamburg University website. 2004-12-09. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
^ Desalination is the Solution to Water Shortages, redOrbit, May 2, 2008
^ Sitbon, Shirli. "French-run water plant launched in Israel," European Jewish Press, via ejpress.org, 2005-12-28. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
^ "Black & Veatch-Designed Desalination Plant Wins Global Water Distinction," (Press release). Black & Veatch Ltd., via edie.net, 2006-05-04. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
^ "Sydney desalination plant to double in size," ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), via abc.net.au, 2007-06-25. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
^ Australia Turns to Desalination by Michael Sullivan and PX Pressure Exchanger energy recovery devices from Energy Recovery Inc. An Environmentally Green Plant Design. Morning Edition, National Public Radio, June 18, 2007
^ Fact sheets
^ a b http://www.tampabaywater.org/watersupply/tbdesalhistory.aspx
^ Hydro-Alchemy, Forbes, May 9, 2008
^ Ottawa student may hold secret to Water For All, Globe and Mail, June 5, 2008
^ http://www.desalresponsegroup.org/files/RiverkeepervEPA1-25-07_decision.pdf
^ untitled
^ Gleick, Peter H., Dana Haasz, Christine Henges-Jeck, Veena Srinivasan, Gary Wolff, Katherine Kao Cushing, and Amardip Mann. (November 2003.) "Waste not, want not: The potential for urban water conservation in California." (Website). Pacific Institute. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
^ Cooley, Heather, Peter H. Gleick, and Gary Wolff. (June 2006.) "Desalination, With a Grain of Salt – A California Perspective." (Website). Pacific Institute. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
^ Gleick, Peter H., Heather Cooley, David Groves. (September 2005.) "California water 2030: An efficient future." (Website). Pacific Institute. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
^ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Public Affairs (2006-05-18). "Nanotube membranes offer possibility of cheaper desalination". Press release. http://www.llnl.gov/pao/news/news_releases/2006/NR-06-05-06.html. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
^ Team wins $4m grant for breakthrough technology in seawater desalination, The Straits Times, June 23, 2008
^ A Rising Tide for New Desalinated Water Technologies, MSNBC, March. 17, 2009
^ http://www.aruba.com/news/general-news/aruba-hosts-international-desalination-conference-2007/
^ http://www.epwu.org/water/desal_info.html
[edit] Further reading
Committee on Advancing Desalination Technology, National Research Council. (2008). Desalination: A National Perspective. National Academies Press.
[edit] External links
GeoNoria Solar Desalination Process
National Academies Press | Desalination: A National Perspective
World Wildlife Fund | Desalination: option or distraction?
International Desalination Association
Desalination & Water Reuse - Official magazine of the International Desalination Association
European Desalination Society
IAEA - Nuclear Desalination
DME - German Desalination Society
Large scale desalination of sea water using solar energy
"Desalination Journal" and Desalination Directory of the European Desalination Society
Desalination by humidification and dehumidification of air: state of the art
Zonnewater - optimized solar thermal desalination (distillation)
SOLAR TOWER Project - Clean Electricity Generation for Desalination.
Solar Desalination using the MEH-Method
Article: Water issues prompt new look at desalination
Sun Belt Water Inc. Company website
Desalination bibliography Library of Congress
Water-Technology
Cheap Drinking Water from the Ocean - Carbon nanotube-based membranes will dramatically cut the cost of desalination
Water Desalination Free pdf book
Tampa Bay Water Seawater Desalination Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant on Tampa Bay
Solar thermal-driven desalination plants based on membrane distillation
Encyclopedia of Water Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources
wind-powered desalinization plant in Perth, Australia, is an example of how technology is insulating rich countries from impacts of climate change, while poor countries remain particularly vulnerable.
The Desal Response Group
Encyclopedia of Desalination and water and Water Resources
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination"

Pablo Paster: My city wants to put in a desalination plant for drinking water. Environmentalists are opposed.... What's so bad abo

Dear Pablo:

My city wants to put in a desalination plant for drinking water. Environmentalists are opposed, which makes me wonder: What's so bad about desalination?

Desalination is any process whereby salt and/or minerals are removed from water to make it potable. In most cases desalination is used in arid coastal regions to turn sea water into drinking water but it is also used inland, where local ground or surface water is brackish. The main area in the US for desalination include Southern California, the Gulf Coast and Florida but about 75% of the world's desalination capacity is located in the Middle East.


How Does Desalination Work?
Two main processes are used to desalinate water; membrane filtration and distillation. Membrane filtration is gaining popularity and includes reverse osmosis (RO) filtration. Because RO requires forcing the sea water through progressively smaller membranes it also requires a lot of energy for pumping. The other method, distillation, which currently accounts for 85% of global distillation capacity, uses heat to evaporate and condense water, leaving salt and minerals behind. This process obviously requires a lot of heat energy, but generating a vacuum in the distillation chamber can lower the boiling point of water and increase efficiency.


So What's The Problem With Desalination

It's obvious that the massive amounts of energy used in desalination contribute to climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions, possibly exacerbating the local drought conditions that require use of desalination in the first place. There are additional issues with the incoming and outgoing (waste) water. Inlet water from the ocean often contains fish and other sea life and passing through the desalination plant kills these organisms. Slowing the speed of the inlet water by using larger pipes can allow fish to escape by simply swimming back out.

On the outlet side the effluent of desalination plants is a brine that is far too salty for the marine life that it comes into contact with. Some desalination plants create sea salt for additional revenue, eliminating the need for any effluent. Another solution is to dilute the brine with the cooling water of a nearby power plant, or just with ocean water.


Are There Renewable Distillation Technologies?

Aside from the obvious use of solar photovoltaic or wind-generated electricity desalination can use waste heat from a nearby power plant or solar energy can be used directly in solar distillation. Similar to a solar still that you might use in an emergency survival situation in the desert or on a life raft, solar distillation uses the suns energy to evaporate water and then condense it. The drawback of this technology is that it yields relatively little fresh water and requires a large area. On a small scale a solar still is very effective but it isn't feasible for supplying water to a city or for irrigation of fields.

As with energy, the cheapest form of drinking water is water that is conserved. For a fraction of the cost of building and operating a desalination plant a community can support and fund water conservation efforts. These can include assistance with drought resistant landscaping, incentives for the removal of lawns, free replacement shower heads and subsidized replacement of water-using appliances, allowing and encouraging the use of graywater, and progressive water rates that punish heavy users.

Additional Articles

Florida TImes-Union: St. Johns Water Management District chairwoman: Plan more to waste less -- Opinion comes during meeting

Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Desalination plant under construction in Perth, Australia

By Steve Patterson Story updated at 6:26 AM on Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009 EMAIL PRINT

Florida needs better community planning to stop wasting dwindling water supplies, the chairwoman of the St. Johns River Water Management District told planners from across the state Friday.

"I am absolutely convinced that we can be a heck of a lot smarter about the way we use water," Susan Hughes told conventioneers from the American Planning Association's Florida chapter.

Lawn-watering and other outdoor uses take about half of the water used in many areas, she said.

"That's where some of you planners can help," Hughes said, adding: "If we could only plan our communities in a way where we would use less."

Her comments took place at a three-day annual meeting in downtown Jacksonville that focused on making communities more sustainable. About 750 planners and speakers attended, said Kim Glas-Castro, the chapter president.

Hughes' words were part of a panel talk about managing the state's water, and a former state official echoed similar views.

After years of missing chances, "it is even more important that we integrate land and water planning," said Linda Shelley, a lawyer who was secretary of Florida's Department of Community Affairs in the 1990s.

She said water can remain available in Florida even with boundless waste, but that would require building desalination plants or other new sources of water that will be vastly more expensive than the high-quality supply taken now from the aquifer.

Hughes was more pointed, saying that "water will be the oil of the future," recognized as needed for any aspect of community life.

She said heated public debate about using water from the St. Johns to supply Central Florida utility customers illustrates how passionate people can become when supplies are perceived as being threatened.

In parts of Florida, she said, "I think we're just about at that point."

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263

HELP GROW OUR ECONOMY AND SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT – WE NEED A ST. AUGUSTINE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, SEASHORE AND COASTAL PARKWAY.

How can I help?

1. Read “SAVING ST. AUGUSTINE,” backpage editorial by Faye Armitage from Folio Weekly, http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=5377.0;wap2

2. Go to www.staugustgreen.com and read the draft legislation and what the park would do and why

3. WATCH KEN BURNS’ FILM on PBS starting September 27, 2009 – six nights, twelve hours

4. Write Senators Bill Nelson and George Lemieux,
Rep. John Mica and Rep. Corrine Brown and ask them to introduce the legislation and hold hearings.

5. Contact your City and County Commissioners, Chamber of Commerce, civic, social, veterans and fraternal organizations and ask them to support it.

MIAMI HERALD EDITORIAL: FPL customers need relief

Posted on Fri, Aug. 28, 2009
FPL customers need relief

Steamy August is never a good time for an electric utility to proffer a rate hike -- even if it has kept its base rate low for decades and its average bill is cheaper than any other in Florida.

As air conditioners churn across the state and bills spike during the summer, no one wants to hear that Florida Power & Light wants to increase its rate by 30 percent -- especially not in a recession with statewide unemployment at historic levels.

Add to that angst the fight FPL waged to keep confidential the names of executives receiving top pay and benefits, which has resulted in an unnecessarily nefarious tone to the rate-increase discussion.

Many FPL ratepayers were insulted to learn this week, too, that FPL has budgeted $40.5 million for 42 executive salary and benefits packages, according to Public Service Commission documents obtained by the Herald/Times Bureau. If the PSC approves FPL's 30 percent rate increase, the pay and benefits for those 42 executives would go up by $1 million.

Asked by a PSC commissioner if FPL executives would forgo a pay raise, FPL CEO Armando Olivera said no, arguing that his is a very competitive business.

Certainly, utility managers in certain categories require special expertise beyond a business degree to run a utility that serves 4.5 million households in Florida. But you don't have to be a nuclear engineer to understand why there's a public backlash.

The PSC should look at ways to relieve FPL customers during tough economic times.

Ideally, FPL's shareholders would cover part of the salary and benefits packages for top executives. That's how it's structured in Washington state.

As it stands, FPL's 11,000 employees received an average salary increase of 2 percent this year even as many businesses were forced into pay cuts and furloughs for their employees. About 440 employees earn more than $165,000 annually.

FPL, as is the case with all electric utilities, is a monopoly. Its rates have to be approved by the state Public Service Commission, which helps add some stability for investors of the publicly traded utility. Its rate request is an effort to build a more efficient grid for the future -- a smart way to diversify away from oil dependency.

Mr. Olivera's annual salary package of $3.6 million is paid by FPL customers. By contrast, customers pay about two-thirds of the $7.4 million compensation package for Lewis Hay, who runs FPL Group, the parent company for the utility. Shareholders pay about 32 percent of Mr. Hay's compensation because he oversees private ventures for FPL group as well.

Would that type of cost-sharing between investors and customers be suitable for all top FPL executives? After all, FPL is delivering for those investors.

The question shouldn't be whether these managers deserve the money but how to do it without hurting ratepayers.

Countdown: Four Days to Ken Burns' "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea" on PBS

St. Augustine and St. Johns County residents are looking forward to the September 27th premiere on PBS of Ken Burns' film, "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea Ever." That's because when it comes to protecting history and nature, there's no substitute for the National Park Service. We badly need an increased NPS presence here in time for our City's 450th (and Spanish Florida's 500th) anniversaries.

For more, go to www.staugustgreen.com

Visual Artists Arrested on "General Principles" (or No Principles At All)?

Still no response from City burghers as to the unconstitional arrests of people for violating city ordinances. Based upon Florida AG Bill McCollum's June 15, 2009 opinion (below), there are a lot of people whose rights our City of St. Augustine has violated over the years.

That reminds me of a story. While working in East Tennessee, my friend Sam, who was the DA's criminal investigator, told me what he had found in old courthouse records researching the criminal history of a man who was being charged with being an habitual criminal. Sam found arrests from the 1940s where the only charge listed was "general principles." Apparently, the deputies and constables were empowered by the backwoods legal environment to say to some poor sclub, "I'm arresting you on general principles."

Such arrests (and convictions) on "general principles" were reported in the New York Times in the 1800s. Philadelphia Police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) is arrested by a Mississippi police chief (Rod Steiger) in the movie "In the Heat of the Night" on "general principles" because a rich white man is dead and Tibbs is African-American and not from around there.

Thankfully, thanks to the Warren Court, such police abuses have gone underground, except here in St. Augustine, where we have unjust stewards in charge of our city government in the City of St. Augustine.

Pity the poor police in St. Augustine, poorly led by City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS, poorly advised by our City Attorney and a long string of in-house and outhouse lawyers.

They must be scratching their heads and asking themselves why they were embroiled these last 24 years in arresting visual artists and entertainers for "crimes" that don't exist, "crimes" that were created ex nihilo by dint of St. Augustine City ordinance 1-8, which AG McCollum's opinion shows is a nullity, because local governments aren't allowed by the Florida Constitution to make up their own crimes.

So what's the Constitution among friends, anyway?

Our City of St. Augustine needs to make up a list of the names and addresses of everyone it has arrested based on the anti-artist ordinance and other illegal ordinances where the only "crime" is defined by City ordinance 1-8. They need to notify their victims about how they may get their criminal records expunged. They need to advise their victims about their civil rights remedies. They need to tell the world they will stop the false arrests and false imprisonments.

And then they need to apologize. Or does being the City of St. Augustine mean "never having to say you're sorry?"

Limiting Bridge of Lions Bridge Opening Times -- Petition for Rulemakikng to U.S. COast Guard to Respect Normal Commuter Hours

Dear Commandant:

I hereby respectfully petition the Commandant of the Coast Guard to change the regulations for the opening of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida, effective upon the reopening of the restored historic bridge later this year.

I request that to conserve energy and to decrease traffic snarls during commuter hours, there be no bridge openings between the hours of 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM and 4:00 to 6 PM, Monday through Friday (except on holidays and in the case of actual emergencies).

During reconstruction of the old bridge, it has become appzrent that there are long waits by commuters for bridge openings during commuter hours. This results in dozens of people being delayed for small boaters who could adjust their schedules. This also results in unnecessary, preventable emissions and pollution in our Nation's Oldest European-founded City. As we approach the 500th anniversary of the Spanish in Florida (2013) and the 450th anniversary of St. Augustine (2015), we need to clean up our town and its image, starting with a St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway.

We urgently need to adjust the bridge opening schedule on weekdays so that our downtown is attractive to tourists from around the world.

I further request that the Coast Guard environmental affairs office study the effects upon energy consumption and traffic tie-ups of bridge openings at other locations, with an eye toward reducing gasoline and diesel consumption.

Respectfully submitted,

Ed Slavin
Clean Up City of St. Augustine
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085
904-829-3877
904-471-9918 (fax)

City of St. Augustine Can't Create Misdemeanors, Ex Nihilo -- It's Unconstitutional

No response from the City of St. Augustine to State Attorney General Bill McCoillum's opinion (below) that says it is unconstitutional for cities and counties to create their own misdemeanor crimes.

City of St. Augustine ordinance 1-8 (and all ordinances based on it) are illegal.

How many hundreds of people have been illegally arrested for city-created crimes?

What will the Justice Department do about it?

What will the City Commission do about it?

What will the voters do about it?

See below.

Countdown: Five Days to Ken Burns' "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea"

It will take an Act of Congress to create our St. Augustine National Historical Park, Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway.

It will help Florida and St. Augustine celebrate their anniversaries in 2013 and 2015. It will help celebrate the anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the courageous people here, led by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who made it happen.

In five days, Ken Burns' "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea" premieres on PBS.

Watch it and learn from history. Learn how we can help write a national park bill and get it passed, to protect and perserve history and nature for future generations.

Jan Karski Told the World to Stand Up to Tyrants

Jan Karski was my Modern Foreign Governments Professor in the School of Foreign Serice at Georgetown University during early 1981.

Jan Karski's His NY Times obituary (bel0w), the documentary," "Shoah and another documentary, "Messenger from Poland" showed the world his courage and fearlessness.

In a world full of fecklessness, we need to heed Jan Karski's example.

Speak out. Speak your truth. Don't be afraid to stand up to bullies, from City Hall to Congress.

It's our boat -- don't be afraid to rock it.

As Washington Post Managing Editor Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (played by Jason Robards) says to reporters Woodward and Bernstein in the movie, All the President's Men:

Look, you're both probably a little
tired, right?
(They nod)
You should be, you've been under a
lot of pressure. So go home, have a
nice hot bath, rest up fifteen minutes
if you want before you get your asses
back in gear--
(louder now)
--because we're under a lot of
pressure, too, and you put us there--
not that I want it to worry you--
nothing's riding on you except the
First Amendment of the Constitution
plus the freedom of the press plus
the reputation of a hundred-year-old
paper plus the jobs of the two
thousand people who work there--
(still building)
--but none of that counts as much as
this: you f--- up again, I'm gonna
lose my temper.
(pause; softer)
I promise you, you don't want me to
lose my temper.
(shooing them off)
Move-move-move--what have you done
for me tomorrow...?

NY Times: Jan Karski Dies at 86; Warned West About Holocaust

JAN KARSKI (standing) in Washington, D.C., 1944

July 15, 2000


Jan Karski Dies at 86; Warned West About Holocaust

By MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN



Jan Karski, a liaison officer of the Polish underground who infiltrated both the Warsaw Ghetto and a German concentration camp and then carried the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to a mostly disbelieving West, died on Thursday in Washington. Mr. Karski, a retired professor of history at Georgetown University, was 86 years old.

He died of heart and kidney ailments at Georgetown University Hospital, the university said.

In the late summer of 1942, Mr. Karski, then a 28-year-old clandestine diplomat in Warsaw for the Polish government-in-exile in London, was preparing for a secret mission to carry information from Nazi-occupied Poland to London and Washington. Before leaving Warsaw, he was visited by two leaders of the Jewish underground who had managed to leave the Ghetto briefly to tell him about what they called "Hitler's war against the Polish Jews."

They said that by their calculations, more than 1.8 million Jews had already been killed by the Germans and that 300,000 of the 500,000 Jews jammed into the Warsaw Ghetto had been deported to an obscure village about 60 miles from Warsaw where the Germans had set up a death camp.

They asked him if he could carry their information to Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. They also asked if he would be willing to enter the Ghetto and see for himself what was happening. Mr. Karski, a Roman Catholic from a patriotic Polish family who seems to have been blessed with a photographic memory, agreed.

By that time he had already endured a horrible war.

Karski was his nom de guerre; he had been born Jan Kozielewski, the youngest of eight children, in Lodz, Poland's second-largest city, on April 24, 1914. He was a prize student and was recruited into the Polish diplomatic service, where he was quickly given coveted assignments to London and Paris.

But as war approached, he enlisted in the army and was serving as a cavalry officer in 1939 when German soldiers, followed less than two weeks later by Russian troops, invaded Poland and divided the country. Mr. Karski was captured by the Soviets and placed in a detention camp. He escaped and joined the Polish underground; most of the Polish officers imprisoned with him were later executed by Soviet troops.

Mr. Karski became a skilled courier for the underground, crossing enemy lines as a liaison between the Polish fighters and the West. He was captured by the Gestapo while on a mission in Slovakia in 1940 and was savagely tortured. Fearful that he might reveal secrets, he slashed his wrists and was put into a hospital. An underground commando team helped him escape, and he resumed his work as a clandestine liaison officer.

In October 1939, the Germans enclosed the main Jewish areas in Warsaw with barbed wire. In less than a year the Ghetto was walled in, trapping half a million Jews. By July 1942 the first mass deportations of Jews to extermination camps had begun.

In the third week of August 1942, Mr. Karski entered the cellar of an apartment house on the so-called Aryan side of the Ghetto wall and met with a youth from the Jewish Combat Organization, then secretly being formed in the Ghetto. The youth gave him some ragged clothes and an armband with a blue Star of David and led him through a recently dug tunnel. As they emerged, Mr. Karski saw the Ghetto streets and tenements crowded with haggard, hungry and dying Jews.

Where Nazi Boys Shot Jews for Sport

Decades later, when asked to describe what he had seen, Mr. Karski would usually simply say, "I saw terrible things."

But on some occasions, for example in "Shoah," Claude Lanzmann's classic documentary about the Holocaust, he would tell of seeing many naked dead bodies lying in the streets, and describe emaciated and starving people, listless infants and older children with expressionless eyes. He remembered watching from an apartment while two pudgy teenage boys in the uniforms of the Hitler Youth hunted Jews for sport, cheering and laughing when one of their rifle shots struck its target and brought screams of agony.

One of the Jews who had prompted Mr. Karski to enter the Ghetto, and who escorted him, was a lawyer named Leon Feiner. Mr. Karski recalled that Mr. Feiner kept murmuring, "Remember this, remember this." There was also another escort whose name Mr. Karski never learned. They both urged Mr. Karski to tell what he was witnessing to as many people in the West as he could, though they knew the facts would be hard to believe.

At the time of Mr. Karski's visit, the expulsions from Warsaw had temporarily subsided, but they were to intensify in September as the liquidation of the Ghetto resumed in earnest. Mr. Feiner was among the hundreds of thousands who died.

There were five points that the two men in the Ghetto asked Mr. Karski to pass on to the Allied leaders:

o Preventing the extermination of the Jews should be declared an official goal of the Allies fighting Hitler.

o Allied propaganda should be used to inform the German people of the war crimes taking place and to publicize the names of German officials taking part.

o The Allies should appeal to the German people to bring pressure on Hitler's regime to stop the slaughter.

o The Allies should declare that if the genocide continued and the German masses did not rise to stop it, the German people would be held collectively responsible.

o Finally, if nothing else worked, the Allies should carry out reprisals by bombing German cultural sites and executing Germans in Allied hands who still professed loyalty to Hitler.
Mr. Karski later said that the Jews' proposals were "bitter and unrealistic," as if they knew such a program could not and would not be carried out, and that he had told them their five points went beyond international law.

For the rest of his life he remembered the response of the man accompanying Mr. Feiner: "We don't know what is realistic, or not realistic. We are dying here! Say it!"

Mr. Karski asked what he should say to Jewish leaders abroad. Unhesitatingly his hosts told him that such leaders should consider hunger strikes, fasting to death if necessary, to shake the conscience of the world.

In Ukrainian Outfit, A Scent of Death

Mr. Feiner then asked if Mr. Karski was still ready to carry out another fact-finding mission: Would he be willing to see for himself what was happening at one of the camps to which the trainloads of Jews were being sent?

Mr. Karski consented, and a few days later he and a member of the Jewish resistance went by train from Warsaw to Izbica, a small town near Warsaw.

There, his Jewish guide turned him over to the owner of a hardware store who was a member of the Polish underground. Mr. Karski was given the uniform of a Ukrainian militiaman working under the German command who had been bribed to take the day off. Another Ukrainian guard -- also bribed -- then led him to a large area encircled by barbed wire.

Mr. Karski heard keening cries of men and women and thought he smelled burning flesh. Soon he witnessed the arrival of several thousand starving and frightened Jews who had been brought to the camp from Czechoslovakia. He watched as their valises and bags were taken away from them. Then he saw Jews being beaten and stabbed.

Ranks of uniformed men pressed the crowd onto waiting box cars that had been coated with quicklime. Those who fell or fainted or who could not move were thrown into the cars. When no more bodies could fit inside, the doors were shut. Mr. Karski was told that the trains were heading for a camp not far away where their human cargo would be led into gas chambers. But he was also told that sometimes the trains were just left on sidings until those inside starved or suffocated.

A Perilous Journey, A Bleak Reception

Mr. Karski returned to Warsaw to prepare himself for his dangerous journey to London. He was given a key whose soldered shaft contained microfilm of hundreds of documents. He went to a dentist and had several teeth pulled so that the resultant swelling could provide him with a reason why he couldn't talk if he was stopped by Germans; he was certain his Polish-accented German would give him away.

Using local trains, he went to Berlin, the capital of the Reich, then through Vichy France to Spain, where a rendezvous led to passage to Gibraltar and then to London.


He turned over the key containing the microfilm, described resistance activity and assessed as bleak the prospects of cooperation between the anti-Communist Polish underground and the partisans, who were sponsored by the same Soviets who in 1939 had joined Hitler in invading and dividing Poland.

He spoke of the Jews, saying their fate was far more perilous than that of non-Jewish Poles. But for many of his Polish diplomatic superiors, the plight of the Jews remained marginal to Poland's struggle to regain its conquered land. Some even feared that any emphasis on the victimization of the Jews might detract attention from Poland's tragedy and diminish their own appeals for help.

And when Mr. Karski carried his information about the destruction of the Jews to British authorities, he was met by even greater reluctance to act.

"In February 1943, I reported to Anthony Eden," he later wrote about a secret meeting with the British foreign secretary. "He said that Great Britain had already done enough by accepting 100,000 refugees."

In London, Mr. Karski met with Szmuel Zygelboym, who represented the Jewish Socialist Bund in the National Council of the Polish government-in-exile, to present the Polish Jews' urgings of active resistance.

Mr. Zygelboym listened in pain but then said, "It's impossible, utterly impossible." If he went on a hunger strike, he said, the authorities would send the police and drag him away to an institution. But he added: "I'll do everything I can do to help them. I'll do everything they ask."

A few months later, on May 12, 1943, just after the Germans put down the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Mr. Zygelboym sent a letter to the president and prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile, and then took his own life.

He wrote, "By my death I wish to make my final protest against the passivity with which the world is looking on and permitting the annihilation of the Jewish people."

Did Western Leaders Ignore 'Conscience'?

In July 1943, Mr. Karski arrived in the United States. Two months earlier, attempts by the Germans to liquidate those Jews still remaining in the Warsaw Ghetto was met with armed resistance. In a desperate, uneven struggle over three weeks, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, more than 10,000 Jews were killed in the fighting or in fires set by the Germans to destroy the Ghetto. The 56,000 Jews remaining were taken to the Treblinka death camp.

"Almost every individual was sympathetic to my reports concerning the Jews," Mr. Karski said. "But when I reported to the leaders of governments, they discarded their conscience, their personal feeling.

"They provided a rationale which seemed valid. What was the situation? The Jews were totally helpless. The war strategy was the military defeat of Germany and the defeat of Germany's war potential for all eternity. Nothing could interfere with the military crushing of the Third Reich. The Jews had no country, no government. They were fighting, but they had no identity."

He kept telling what he knew, honoring the promise he had given to the two men in the Ghetto. A secret meeting was arranged between Mr. Karski and President Roosevelt. He said that commanders of the underground Home Army were estimating that if there was to be no Allied intervention in the next year and a half, the Jews of Poland would "cease to exist." He did not tell Roosevelt of his own experiences or observations.

Mr. Karski believed that he failed to move Roosevelt to any real action. But John Pehle, who became head of the War Refugee Board, a federal agency that helped settle surviving Jews, said later that Roosevelt had decided to establish the board as a consequence of his talks with Mr. Karski. The mission, Mr. Pehle said, "changed U.S. policy overnight from indifference to affirmative action."

Mr. Karski was planning to return to Warsaw and resume his clandestine work, but his superiors told him that his identity had become known to the Germans and ordered him to remain in the United States.

His mission then was to promote the cause of Poland, which once freed of German occupation would have to contend with Stalin's designs. He gave interviews, wrote magazine articles and drew on his own experiences to write a book, "Story of a Secret State," which was published at the end of 1944 by Houghton Mifflin and became a Book of the Month Club selection.

Within a year the war came to an end, and so did the Polish government-in-exile that Mr. Karski had served. The Yalta agreement had consigned postwar Poland to the Soviet sphere, and Mr. Karski, who knew and scorned Communism, did not return to his native land.

A Life in Academics, A Family Tragedy

Instead, at the age of 39, he enrolled at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. He received his doctorate in two and a half years and stayed on, teaching at Georgetown until his retirement in 1984. He became a citizen in 1954.

In 1965 he married Pola Nirenska, a dancer and choreographer who had been born Pola Nirensztajn in Poland, the daughter of an observant Jewish father. All her many relatives had been killed in the Holocaust, but she had survived the war in London and had become a major force in dance in Washington -- teaching, choreographing her own work and leading her own company -- when they met.

In 1992, Pola Nirenska, then 81 years old, jumped to her death from the balcony of their apartment in Bethesda, Md. Her last dance piece, presented in Washington in 1990, was inspired by Holocaust victims she had known and was called "In Memory of Those I Loved . . . Who Are No More."

Soon after her death, Mr. Karski established a $5,000 annual prize to be awarded by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research to authors documenting or interpreting Jewish contributions to Polish culture and science.

Jan Karski leaves no immediate survivors.

Flagler College Gargoyle: Flagler College Campus Expanding

The cat is now completely out of the bag. Flagler College's campus will grow even larger. Despite repeated promises to the people of St. Augustine that Flagler College would stay at a reasonable size, Flagler is planning on growing even larger. See the Gargoyle article below, stating inter alia: "With Flagler College expanding its campus size even more in the years to come, Stewart offered a few words of advice to all students."

That means more faculty without tenure, more students at a school without academic freedom, more colllege employees without collective bargaining or a union, and more tax-exempt property making all other property owners pay higher taxes to make up for it.

They should ask residents of the CIty of St. Augustine for making their expansion plans.

Other campuses (like Yale) pay 50% of what they would pay in lieu of taxes. Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse is telling: "to whom much is given, much is expected."

We expect Flagler College to start making payments in lieu of taxes. If it takes a state law, so be it. If it takes replacing FLagler COllege Chancellor WILLIAM L. PROCTOR as our state representative, so be it.

Let PROCTOR and Flagler College lead, follow or get out of the way. It's time for Flagler College to start paying its fair share to the City of St. Augustine.

Flagler College Gargoyle:Mugging raises new concerns about student safety in downtown areas

Mugging raises new concerns about student safety in downtown areas
Submitted by Gargoyle Staff on September 19, 2006 – 1:05 amOne CommentBy Dylan Thomas

With news of an attempted mugging last week, students are beginning to take more caution while out walking late at night.
“I don’t leave campus unless I have someone with me when it gets to be really late,” said sophomore Katlyn Cinelli.

According to Daniel Stewart, Dean of Student Services, a Flagler College student was walking on the corner of Cordova and King Streets at 12:30 p.m. when a man jumped out and punched the student in the face. Before the mugger could do any more damage, the student managed to get away.

“It was the smart thing to do,” said Stewart.

“That makes me a little nervous because I walk back and forth from work at nights by myself and it happened right where I walk,” said sophomore Catherine McGlinchy. Since the college campus is so small, almost the entire student body resorts to walking.

Though this event is a little unsettling for some students, it almost never happens as according to college statistics, Flagler has very low incidents of crime. But for those rare times when something happens, Flagler has security officers on patrol 24 hours a day. Along with the campus security, the college has St. Augustine police officers on duty Mondays through Thursdays.

“Flagler College is a very safe campus,” Stewart said.

With Flagler College expanding its campus size even more in the years to come, Stewart offered a few words of advice to all students.
“Always go in groups,” he said. “Go in well lit areas and stay on well traveled streets. And if something happens, call the police immediately. If something should happen, either call the police or go straight to the security office located in the rotunda.”

Support for National Park: Gift ideas few for city's big 4-5-0

From Staff
Publication Date: 10/06/07

Gift ideas few for city's big 4-5-0



We asked readers last week to suggest the best gift for the city of St. Augustine's 450th birthday in 2015.

We got a few.

Perhaps most people don't think there's any gift to be had when you reach 450.

Here's what readers told us:

Editor: Our Minorcan family has lived here for some 230 years. For our 450th, to save St. Augustine, our city needs a national historical park, seashore and scenic coastal highway to showcase to the world and to preserve forever our precious cultural, environmental and wildlife heritage.

Drayton Manucy

St. Augustine

Editor: I support Ed Slavin's Nov. 13, 2006 proposal for a St. Augustine National Historic Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Highway. This beautiful historic place must be preserved forever (or else our history and heritage and beauty will be destroyed forever). Congress must act swiftly.

David Brian Wallace

St. Augustine

Editor: The newly formed Theatre Saint Augustine has planned a meeting for all members of the community to develop thoughts on how the artistic and historic community can work together towards events for the 450th celebration. The possible development of a revised Cross and Sword, Florida's state play, will be a focus of discussion at the St. Johns County Main Public Library, 1960 N. Ponce de Leon Blvd., for Oct. 22, at 6 p.m., For additional information visit www.theatresaintaugustine.com

Kiki Tovey

Theatre Saint Augustine

St. Augustine

Those are some good ideas.

We'd add, too, that perhaps city officials should visit Kansas City, Mo., where beautiful fountains and bronze statues of all sizes delight visitors and residents alike.

Some commemorate events, others people. We've got some statues and fountains already but nothing like you will find in KCMO.

The city is proof, you can never have too many fountains or statues.


Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/100607/opinions_10062007_037.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

Letter: City needs greater protection of resources and a national historical park, seashore and scenic coastal parkway: check out www.staugustgreen.co

Letter: City needs greater protection of resources



Judith Seraphin
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/11/07

Editor: Let's adopt a moratorium on development of our local St. Augustine area and the history, wetlands, forests, seashores and wildlife, at least until our 110th Congress holds hearings about preservation.

The alternative is developers who propose to develop housing on arsenic-contaminated lands, sewage-polluted lands and pesticide-contaminated lands that is undisclosed to buyers. The alternative to what should be a National Seashore, is daily turned into a "national sacrifice area" for developers, who systematically destroy all the reasons so many of us chose to move here in the first place.

The "alternative" is rubberstamping the short-sighted plans of those who are euchred to sell their generations-old birthright to foreign developers, destroying our region's nature for short-term profits, while refusing to disclose the owners of the sell-out organizations.

Let's follow the examples of my native Philadelphia's Independence National Historical Park, and of the Cape Cod National Seashore, and our nation's other national parks and national seashores.

Let's just say "no" to the secretive, other-directed, undisclosed, environmentally-insensitive (and foreign-funded) developers and investors who have no respect for our history, culture, wildlife and experience.

What's good enough for Boston, Philadelphia, New Bedford, Cape Cod, Washington, D.C., Guam, San Francisco and other national parklands is good enough for St. Augustine, Florida. Working with city, county and state elected representatives, the people of St. Augustine and St. Johns County must work to preserve our local/regional history and wildlife habitats inviolate, forever. I strongly support Ed Slavin's proposal for a "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore," now.

Who among us could possibly disagree?

Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/021107/opinions_439181b.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

Folio Weekly: Backpage Editorial by Faye Armitage -- "SAVING ST. AUGUSTINE"

Backpage Editorial
Faye Armitage
Saving St. Augustine
St. Augustine’s small-town Spanish Colonial charm is in
danger of being ruined by schlock. We love St. Augustine
and must preserve the beauty of endangered Matanzas Inlet
sunsets, Anastasia Island beach mice, nesting leatherback
turtles, soaring families of bald eagles and frolicking schools
of manatees and whales. Florida’s First Coast deserves a first
class National Park for the 500th anniversary of Spanish
Florida (in 2013) and 450th anniversary of St. Augustine
(in 2015).
The late U.S. Speaker of the House
Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill and Edward
Boland of Massachusetts made history in
1958, courageously working to protect
Cape Cod’s charm forever. Boland returned
in 1958 from a trip to Cape Hatteras
National Seashore. Within a fortnight, the
two Massachusetts Democrats introduced
the Cape Cod National Seashore Act
(backed by John F. Kennedy only after he
became president).
Commercial interests thought that a
national seashore would be bad for business.
They were wrong. Today we scoff at
the quaint story of O’Neill and Boland
being hung in effigy and booed in the Cape
Cod towns of Wellfleet and Truro, where
citizens, in their annual town meetings,
voted against the bill.
Even JFK, the Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of “Profiles in Courage,” feared local
commercial interests in Massachusetts
when it came to proposing a national
seashore. JFK later came aboard as president,
to consider the National Seashore the
best thing he ever did for Massachusetts.
Today’s visitors to Cape Cod come from
around the world to partake of its charm,
marshes, woodlands, beaches and towns
that were saved thanks to the vision of
Congressmen O’Neill and Boland.
A St. Augustine National Park was first
proposed before World War II. The idea is
five years older than President Harry S Truman’s
national health insurance proposal.
And as with national health care, Congress
too often resembles a herd of turtles trying
to write a symphony. It’s somewhat understandable
that our two busy U.S. Senators
(and Representative John Luigi Mica)
haven’t introduced a National Historical
Park, Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway.
Legislation moves glacially, except in emergencies.
We have one now.
Our local economy is in a state of emergency.
Businesses are dying. We’re ready for
Congress to stimulate our economy and
preserve our way of life by enacting a St.
Augustine National Historical Park,
Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway Act,
supported by a diverse group of citizens,
from octogenarian environmental activist
Robin Nadeau to former Republican
County Commission Chairperson John
Sundeman to St. Augustine Democratic
Club Chairperson Jeanne Moeller, among a
growing group of people concerned about
the declining quality of the tourist experience
in St. Johns County.
A National Historical Park would preserve
and protect St. Augustine’s historic
downtown with the dignity and experience
of the National Park Service, just as parts of
Boston, New Bedford, Philadelphia and
other historic cities are preserved. It would
step into the breach left by the Florida legislature,
Secretary of State, University of
Florida and city of St. Augustine, all of
whom have been unable to repair crumbling
buildings and historic monuments. A
national historical park would preserve
downtown streets and reduce congestion,
improving the tourist experience and making
it one that longer-staying (and biggerspending)
historic and environmental
tourists will enjoy.
A national historic park managed by the
National Park Service would portray history
and nature accurately, as done in Virginia’s
Colonial Williamsburg and the
Colonial National Historical Parkway.
There could also be a National Civil Rights
and Indigenous History Museum, aimed at
telling the region’s story of 11,000 years of
human history, honoring Native Americans,
African-Americans and the Civil
Rights movement here, which helped win
adoption of national antidiscrimination
laws in 1964. The struggles on St. Augustine’s
streets and beaches, including the
arrest of Massachusetts Governor Endicott
Peabody’s mother and Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., need to be retold and told well.
soldiers monument in St. Augustine’s Plaza
de la Constitucion, paying tribute to Civil
Rights Era activists whose efforts helped
break the Senate logjam and enact basic
nondiscrimination laws.
A national seashore and coastal parkway
designation would protect the coast from
uglification, as at other national seashores.
We have 61 miles of coast here, and the
transfer from county to federal jurisdiction
would save local tax monies and make environmental
protection a priority on beaches
where turtles land to give birth, and where
beach mice and other critters scamper.
In September, watch Ken Burns’ PBS
documentary “Our National Parks: America’s
Best Idea.” Think of how uplifting it
will be to be able to drive from Ponte Vedra
to Marineland as a tourist or resident,
secure in the knowledge that the beaches
will survive and not be turned into some
unreasonable facsimile of Miami.
Think of the economic efficiency and
environmental benefits of entrusting city
and county parks, seashore water management
district land and at least five state
parks (including Anastasia and Guana-
Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine
Reserve) to one world-class organization
(the National Park Service) to protect, preserve
and interpret, rather than allowing
the land to be ripped apart by greed.
Think of the good jobs that will encourage
young people to stay here, working as
National Park Service employees and contractors.
Think of historic interpreters and
environmental tour guides who are
rewarded with a federal showcase, inviting
the world to a world-class destination.
Let’s enlist Congress and the president
to help us tell our region’s rich history —
including the story of the Indians, African-
American slaves and Minorcan and Greek
indentured servants (who escaped to St.
Augustine from New Smyrna Beach, “voting
with their feet” against slavery by contract.
Indentured servitude was outlawed
along with regular slavery with the 13th
Amendment in 1865.
Think of how our tourist economy will
be stimulated and jobs created and preserved
by preserving the stunning vistas
that draw people here, not uglifying them
with massive high-rises, suburban sprawl
and unsafe homes built in wetlands.
Think of how fourth-graders now and
in the future, from all over Florida, will be
rewarded for their studies of Florida history
by helping preserve “the real Florida” — St.
Augustine and St. Johns County — forever.
It is up to us to learn from the young
and to protect Northeast Florida for families,
flora, fauna and the future. Visit
staugustgreen.com for more information
and let your neighbors and national and
local leaders know what you think. 

Faye Armitage lives in Fruit Cove. In 2008,
she ran against nine-term Congressional
incumbent John Mica, receiving nearly 150,000 votes.



A National Historical Park would preserve and protect
St. Augustine’s historic downtown with the dignity
and experience of the National Park Service, just as
parts of Boston, New Bedford, Philadelphia and
other historic cities are preserved.

St. Augustine must have a national historical park, seashore and scenic coastal highway -- see www.staugustgreen.com

St. Augustine must have a national historical park, seashore and scenic coastal highway -- see www.staugustgreen.com

Guest Column: St. Augustine should have a national historical park



ED SLAVIN
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 03/26/07

Real estate speculators (some foreign-funded) continue to destroy our local wildlife, habitat, nature and history. Roads are clogged. Noise abounds. Our way of life is being destroyed. Unfeeling, uncaring Philistines are turning St. Johns County into an uglier, unreasonable facsimile of South Florida. Unjust county government stewards allowed an asphalt plant near homes. Another plant reportedly emits 50 tons/year of volatile organic compounds into residents' and workers' lungs and brains.

Speculators are even trying to build homes on top of unremediated septic tanks/fields, while vacationing boaters pollute our Bay front with untreated sewage (the only boat-pumpout-station is at Conch House Marina). Our Bay front (which lacks a harbormaster) had an oil spill Jan. 15. Developers demand to build docks over city-owned State Road 312 area marshes for boat-owners' pleasure. Enough.

Let's invite environmental tourism by preserving an "emerald necklace of parks," including the city-owned marsh.

Ask Congress to hold hearings to map our "St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore" (SANHPNS), using 1928-style trolleycars to save gasoline, uniting the Castillo and Fort Matanzas National Monuments, "slave market park," downtown streets, Government House, Red House Bluff indigenous village (next to historical society), marshes, forests, National Cemetery, GTM NERR, Anastasia State Park, Fort Mose and other city, county, state and St. Johns River Water Management District lands.

Let's cancel future shock/schlock/sprawl/ugliness/skyscrapers and eliminate temptations to abuse/neglect/misuse state parks and historic buildings for golf courses and rote, rube commercialism.

In December, State Sen. Jim King suggested Florida donate "deed and title" of state buildings to our city. I suggested that we deed them to the National Park Service (NPS), with St. George Street visitor center in restored buildings, saving millions (as in the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park).

St. Augustine needs a national civil rights and indigenous history museum, celebrating local residents and national leaders, whose courage helped win passage of 1964's Civil Rights Act. Why not put the museum in the old Woolworth's building, restored to its former glory, with wood floors, lunch-counter and exhibits on the civil rights struggles that changed history (well- documented in Jeremy Dean's documentary, "Dare Not Walk Alone"), with "footsoldiers monument" across the street ?

Why not (finally) implement the 2003 National Trust for Historic Preservation and Flagler College study on how to protect our history? Let's tax tourists more to fund historic preservation, as in Charleston/elsewhere.

Let's preserve/protect the quality of our lives and visitors' experience (and property values) by preserving forever what speculators haven't destroyed (yet).

Let's adopt a three-year moratorium on growth, while we work to adopt truly comprehensive plans worthy of the name.

Colonial National Historical Park (NHP), Philadelphia's Independence NHP and NHPs in Boston, New Bedford, Valley Forge, San Francisco and Saratoga.

There's a Martin Luther King historical site in Atlanta, NHPs for "Rosie the Riveter" (California) and the "War in the Pacific" (Guam), and new parks slated for ten Japanese internment camps.

Florida hosts Everglades, Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks and Canaveral National Seashore. Let's add St. Augustine to the list.

From sea to shining sea, America's coastal areas enjoy national parks. Where's ours?

Let's make parts of State Road A1A a National Parkway and hiking/biking trail, like the Colonial National Historical Parkway and the Baltimore Washington, George Washington, Rock Creek and John D. Rockefeller (Wyoming) Parkways and the Appalachian Trial and C&O Canal.

Let's add St. Augustine to the list of our nation's most beloved national parks, joining Zion, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Florida's 500th and St. Augustine's 450th anniversaries are only six and eight years away (2013 and 2015). Enacting a national park and seashore will forever preserve the treasures that we love. It will halt the sprawl we hate, increase tourism and reduce local taxes, paying speculators to stop.

Mayor Joe Boles' mother graciously thanked me for speaking out on these issues after the Jan. 22 City Commission meeting -- issues that Mrs. Boles has been outspoken about for "30 years." Let's honor/heed Mrs. Boles' wisdom -- and those who proposed a national park before World War II. Let's save St. Augustine and our environment forever.

#

Ed Slavin lives in St. Augustine.

Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/032607/opinions_4479465.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record

AP/ABC: National Parks Headed for Banner Year

National Parks Headed for Banner Year

National parks headed for record visitation in 2009; new PBS series expected to help
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON



The national park system is headed for a record-breaking number of visitors this year if travel trends hold up.

Nearly 232 million people have already visited national park sites this year, with recreational visits in 2009 up almost 5 percent compared to the first nine months of 2008.

If visitation stays strong through year's end, the parks could see more than 288 million visitors for 2009, topping the previous records of more than 287 million visitors in 1987 and 1999, according to National Park Service spokesman Jeffrey G. Olson.

Ken Burns' new series about the national parks, "America's Best Idea," which debuts on PBS Sept. 27, is expected to help keep interest in the parks high for the rest of the year. "We think it's the neatest thing since sliced bread," Olson said.

But other factors have already contributed to bringing in 13 million more people through August of this year compared to January-August 2008.

President Obama's inauguration in January kicked off the year by bumping up tourist numbers to park sites like the National Mall and monuments in Washington D.C. Then the reopening of some portions of Gulf Islands National Seashore, off the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, added another 3 million to park visitation, according to Olson.

Low gas prices and an increased interest in regional, inexpensive vacations also brought more folks to the parks. "Generally in times of economic turmoil, national parks are seen as being a great value, and people really connect with the parks as a place to go," Olson said.

Obama's visit with his family to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone added even more buzz, and three fee-free weekends this summer encouraged more people to visit the parks too. (Fees were also being waived on Sept. 26, which is National Public Lands Day.)

Olson said October is a big month for travel as well, especially among retirees and in parts of the country where there is fall foliage.

———


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

LA Times: Visit national parks before Ken Burns’ documentary fans get there

Whether you love Ken Burns or are bored to tears by his famous documentaries (e.g., “The Civil War,” “Jazz”), you’ve no doubt heard about his soon-to-debut project, “National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” The six-part, 12-hour documentary series is set to begin airing on PBS on Sept. 27.
This means that you have exactly one week to hightail it to your favorite national park before everyone else does, if you crave anything resembling peace and quiet.
Documentarian Burns, who spoke at a Television Critics Assn. tour in Pasadena last month, is “hoping to do for the national parks what he did for its battlefields after the airing of his landmark PBS series ‘The Civil War’ when visits to sites such as Gettysburg skyrocketed by as much as 300%,” reported the Los Angeles Times.
“We want the superintendents angry at us because of all the Popsicle wrappers they’ll have to clean up,” Burns said. “It’s a good problem to have.”
I’m not going to be able to swing a spontaneous trip to Yosemite this week, but I’m certainly planning to tune in next weekend for some education, scenery and inspiration for future trips.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

City's New St. Augustine Visual Artist Suppression Ordinance Is Unconstitutional

Don't take my word for it -- this just in: three months ago, State Attorney General Bill McCollum has opined that local governments can't create their own misdemeanors. That's exactly what our City of St. Augustine did last Monday in passing its latest artist suppression ordinance after a seven hour meeting.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said this was the "most lawless" city in America.
Reading the AG's opinion (below) reminds us that this is still true today.

The artist suppression ordinance creates penalties pursuant to St. Augustine City COde Section 1-8.

The artist suppression ordinance allows jailings up to six months.

How many visual artists, entertainers and other Americans have been illegally jailed by the Jim Crow style government of the City of St. Augustine?

How many lawyers does this City have working for it on this ordinance? (three).

How many lawyers serve on the City Commission? (two more).

How many of these lawyers voted against the ordinance (none).

How many of these lawyers quoted the State Attorney General's opinion?

How many times does the City of St. Augustine go to federal court and lose on First Amendment issues and then resolve to continue what it's doing? (Too many times to keep track).

As Bill Clinton said, "the definition of insanity is doing the same 'ole things and expecting different results."

Every single one of the people arrested on bogus misdemeanor warrants pursuant to City COde Section 1-8 and progeny should: (a) consider seeking legal advice; (b) sue the City of St. Augustine, hiring skilled civil rights litigators, and (c) seek criminal indictments by a federal grand jury.

There has been a massive violtion of civil rights here, and as Bill Clinton said, "a right without a remedy is simply a suggestion."

St. Augustine patriots Roger Jolley and J.D. Pleasant have raised this misdeanor issue persistently for years. They were right. And I salute them.

Read Florida Attorney General McCollum's opinion (below). Then pray for the loss of liberty here in St. Augustine, the Nation's Oldest City -- pray that those who prey on those less powerful will be protected (once again) by federal courts.

For as Justice Justice Hugo Lafayette Black wrote for the United States Supreme Court in 1940, at a time when Nazi military victories were daily headlines, "Under our constitutional system, courts stand against any winds that blow as havens of refuge for those who might otherwise suffer because they are helpless, weak, outnumbered, or because they are nonconforming victims of prejudice and public excitement." Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 329 (1940)(reversing death penalties wrongfully inflicted upon four African-Americans in South Florida). As Justice Black wrote in Beuharnis v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250, 275 (Black, J., dissenting), "the First Amendment, with the Fourteenth Amendment," forbids First Amendment violations by state and local governments "without any 'ifs,' 'buts,' or whereases.'"

FDR appointed Justice Black, who was once a KKK member -- Justice Black recovered from it and have served our Nation admirably.

The same can't be said for those who habitually support unconstitutional ordinances proposed by St. Augustine City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS.

As time goes by, the City Manager has grown meaner and bolder violating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Kudos to AG Bill McCollum, for setting them straight.

Here is the essential point in AG McCollum's opinion:

Section 18, Article I of the Florida Constitution which provides that "[n]o administrative agency, . . . shall impose a sentence of imprisonment, nor shall it impose any other penalty except as provided by law." Section 775.08(2), Florida Statutes, defines the term "misdemeanor," as "any criminal offense that is punishable under the laws of this state, or that would be punishable if committed in this state, by a term of imprisonment in a county correctional facility, except an extended term, not in excess of 1 year." Clearly, a misdemeanor involves a potential sentence of imprisonment and would constitute a penalty. Section 775.08(2) also cautions that "[t]he term 'misdemeanor' shall not mean a conviction for any noncriminal traffic violation of any provision of chapter 316 or any municipal or county ordinance[,]"[1] thus, precluding the application of a misdemeanor charge to a violation of any municipal or county ordinance.

As Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis said it best, dissenting in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928): "The government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that the end justifies the means -- to declare that the government may commit crimes -- would bring terrible retribution."

Attorney General Bill McCollum: Local Governments Can't Create Their Own Misdemeanors

Number: AGO 2009-29
Date: June 15, 2009
Subject: County ordinance imposing criminal penalty


Mr. John K. McPherson
Gilchrist County Attorney
Post Office Box 921
Cedar Key, Florida 32625

RE: COUNTIES – CITATIONS – MISDEMEANORS – ORDINANCES – authority of county to adopt ordinance making it a misdemeanor to fail to timely pay a civil penalty. Art. I, s. 18, Fla. Const.; s. 828.27, Fla. Stat.; Part II, Ch. 162, Fla. Stat.

Dear Mr. McPherson:

On behalf of the Gilchrist County Commission, you have asked substantially the following question:

Is Gilchrist County authorized to adopt an ordinance providing that a person who fails to timely comply with the conditions of a civil citation imposed pursuant to statute, that is, fails to timely pay a civil penalty, is guilty of a misdemeanor?

In sum:

Gilchrist County has no authority to adopt an ordinance designating the failure to timely pay the civil penalty imposed pursuant to Part II, Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, as a criminal misdemeanor and is prohibited from doing so by Article I, section 18 of the Florida Constitution. Further, the clear terms of section 828.27, Florida Statutes, and the constitutional provisions discussed herein constitute a prohibition against Gilchrist County adopting an ordinance imposing a criminal penalty for failure to timely pay the civil penalty imposed pursuant to the county's animal control or cruelty ordinance adopted pursuant to section 828.27(2), Florida Statutes.

You note that Gilchrist County is authorized by various statutes to issue civil citations imposing civil penalties for violations of county regulations. You cite as examples the civil citations authorized for violations of animal control regulations under section 828.27, Florida Statutes, and the code enforcement provisions for civil citations authorized by Part II, Chapter 162, Florida Statutes. Apparently, Gilchrist County has adopted ordinances implementing both of these citation procedures, but many of those who receive citations do not pay the fine imposed. You ask whether the county is authorized to charge, as a separate misdemeanor offense, the failure to timely pay the penalty assessed pursuant to such statutes.

Resolution of your question is controlled by Section 18, Article I of the Florida Constitution which provides that "[n]o administrative agency, . . . shall impose a sentence of imprisonment, nor shall it impose any other penalty except as provided by law." Section 775.08(2), Florida Statutes, defines the term "misdemeanor," as "any criminal offense that is punishable under the laws of this state, or that would be punishable if committed in this state, by a term of imprisonment in a county correctional facility, except an extended term, not in excess of 1 year." Clearly, a misdemeanor involves a potential sentence of imprisonment and would constitute a penalty. Section 775.08(2) also cautions that "[t]he term 'misdemeanor' shall not mean a conviction for any noncriminal traffic violation of any provision of chapter 316 or any municipal or county ordinance[,]"[1] thus, precluding the application of a misdemeanor charge to a violation of any municipal or county ordinance. (e.s.)

Moreover, this office has concluded previously that a county is an "administrative agency" for purposes of section 18, Article I, Florida Constitution.[2] In Attorney General Opinion 79-109, this office concluded that a charter county does not have the authority to enact an ordinance which provides for the imposition of civil penalties by county agencies or which purports to authorize a county consumer protection board to impose a civil penalty for violation of that board's cease and desist orders.[3] Finally, section 18, Article I of the State Constitution prohibits the administrative imposition of any penalty "except as provided by law." The phrase "by law" contemplates an enactment of the Legislature.[4] It does not include or contemplate an ordinance of a noncharter county.[5] Accordingly, unless provided by law, I am of the view that a noncharter county cannot by ordinance provide that a person who fails to timely comply with the conditions of a civil citation, that is, who fails to timely pay a civil penalty, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Your question is answered by application of Section 18, Article I of the Florida Constitution and no statutory provisions can operate to abrogate that constitutional prohibition. However, you have cited several statutory provisions and the following discussion treats the application and interpretation of those provisions. Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, establishes administrative enforcement procedures and a means of imposing administrative fines by local governing bodies for violations of local codes and ordinances for which no criminal penalty has been specified. Such a mechanism is necessitated by the provisions of Article V, section 1 and Article I, section 18, Florida Constitution, which state that commissions established by law or administrative officers or bodies may be granted quasi-judicial power in matters connected with the functions of their offices, and that no administrative agency shall impose a sentence of imprisonment, nor shall it impose any other penalty except as provided by law.[6]

In a number of previous opinions, this office has stated that a local government or its governing body derives no delegated authority from Chapter 162, Florida Statutes. Further, municipalities derive no home rule power from Article VIII, section 2(b), Florida Constitution, or section 166.021, Florida Statutes, to regulate the code enforcement boards or to impose any duties or requirements on such boards or to otherwise regulate the statutorily prescribed enforcement procedure.[7] Thus, once a county has adopted the procedures of Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, to enforce its municipal codes and ordinances, it may not alter or amend those statutorily prescribed procedures but must utilize them as they are set forth in the statutes.

Your letter indicates that Gilchrist County has adopted the supplemental county code enforcement procedures of Part II, Chapter 162, Florida Statutes. Section 162.21, Florida Statutes, provides the enforcement procedures for violations of county codes or ordinances. As specifically stated in subsection (5) of the statute:

"A county or a municipality is authorized to enforce codes and ordinances under the provisions of this section and may enact an ordinance establishing procedures for the implementation of such provisions, including a schedule of violations and penalties to be assessed by code enforcement officers. If a county or municipality chooses to enforce codes or ordinances under the provisions of this section, each code or ordinance or the ordinance enacted by the county or municipality establishing procedures for implementation of this section shall provide:
(a) That a violation of a code or an ordinance is a civil infraction.
(b) A maximum civil penalty not to exceed $500.
(c) A civil penalty of less than the maximum civil penalty if the person who has committed the civil infraction does not contest the citation.
(d) For the issuance of a citation by a code enforcement officer who has reasonable cause to believe that a person has committed an act in violation of a code or an ordinance.
(e) For the contesting of a citation in county court."

Subsection (6) of the statute clearly provides that "[a]ny person who willfully refuses to sign and accept a citation issued by a code enforcement officer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree. . . ." Thus, it appears that the Legislature authorized the imposition of a criminal penalty in a situation it deemed appropriate. It is a general rule of statutory construction that a legislative direction as to how a thing shall be done is, in effect, a prohibition against its being done in any other way.[8]

Gilchrist County has adopted the provisions of Part II, Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, to enforce its county code provisions and must utilize the enforcement methods and penalties for violations of those ordinances. The county has no authority to adopt an ordinance designating the failure to timely pay the civil penalty imposed pursuant to Part II, Chapter 162, Florida Statutes, as a criminal misdemeanor and is prohibited from doing so by Article I, section 18 of the Florida Constitution.

You have also cited section 828.27, Florida Statutes, relating to local animal control or cruelty ordinances and the penalties that may be imposed for violations of these ordinances. This statute authorizes the governing body of a county to enact ordinances relating to animal control or cruelty and requires that any such local legislation provide:

"(a) That a violation of such an ordinance is a civil infraction.
(b) A maximum civil penalty not to exceed $500.
(c) A civil penalty of less than the maximum civil penalty if the person who has committed the civil infraction does not contest the citation.
(d) For the issuance of a citation by an officer who has probable cause to believe that a person has committed an act in violation of an ordinance.
(e) For the contesting of a citation in the county court.
(f) That, if a person fails to pay the civil penalty, fails to appear in court to contest the citation, or fails to appear in court as required by subsection (6), the court may issue an order to show cause upon the request of the governing body of the county or municipality. This order shall require such persons to appear before the court to explain why action on the citation has not been taken. If any person who is issued such order fails to appear in response to the court's directive, that person may be held in contempt of court.
(g) Such procedures and provisions as are necessary to implement any ordinances enacted under the authority of this section." (e.s.)

The Legislature has expressed it’s intent that local animal control or cruelty ordinances shall be civil infractions subject to civil penalties and provides an enforcement mechanism for failure to pay the civil penalty imposed for violations of any such ordinance.

Subsection (7) of this statute specifically authorizes local governments to enact animal control or cruelty ordinances that are identical to the provisions of Chapter 828, Florida Statutes, or any other state law, "except as to penalty." However, no local ordinance may conflict with the provisions of Chapter 828, Florida Statutes.[9] The statute also authorizes, "[n]otwithstanding the provisions of this subsection," the governing body of a county to enact an ordinance "prohibiting or regulating noise from any domesticated animal, violation of which shall be punishable upon conviction by a fine not to exceed $500 or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed 60 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, for each violation of such ordinance." Thus, the Legislature has provided counties with an option to impose criminal penalties for violations of section 828.27, Florida Statutes, but limited application of those penalties to situations involving violations of ordinances prohibiting or regulating noise. Where a statute sets forth exceptions, no others may be implied to be intended.[10]

Therefore, it is my opinion that the clear terms of section 828.27, Florida Statutes, and the constitutional provisions discussed above constitute a prohibition against Gilchrist County adopting an ordinance imposing a criminal penalty for failure to timely pay the civil penalty imposed pursuant to the county's animal control or cruelty ordinance adopted pursuant to section 828.27(2), Florida Statutes.

Sincerely,

Bill McCollum
Attorney General

BM/tgh

------------------------------------------------------------

[1] And see Broward County v. La Rosa, 484 So. 2d 1374 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986) (discussing the term "penalty" as used in the Florida Constitution and relying on the definition used by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Chouteau, 102 U.S. 603, 26 L. Ed. 246 (1880), wherein it was stated that the term "penalty" involves the idea of punishment and its character is not changed by the mode in which it is inflicted, whether by civil action or criminal prosecution). Cf. Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 78-111 (1978), discussing a municipal ordinance adopting or incorporating by reference the criminal or penal statutes of the state and the double jeopardy implications of any such action.

[2] See Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 79-109 (1979). See also Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 46-180 (1946), reaching the same conclusion as to prior constitutional provisions.

[3] See Broward County v. Plantation Imports, Inc., 419 So. 2d 1145 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982), expressly approving the conclusion reached in Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 79-109 (1979). Cf. Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 81-76 (1981) (discussing imposition of penalties for violations of municipal ordinances and noting that limitations provided by Legislature in statutory law setting forth penalties should serve as guidelines for municipality exercising home rule powers).

[4] Grapeland Heights Civic Association v. City of Miami, 267 So. 2d 321, 324 (Fla. 1972); Broward County v. Plantation Imports, Inc., supra, at 1148.

[5] See Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 84-51 (1984).

[6] See Ops. Att'y Gen. Fla. 85-84 (1985) (municipal code enforcement board must find that same violation has been repeated by same violator before a fine for each day the repeated violation occurred past the date set for compliance may be imposed by the board); and 79-109 (1979) (governing body of charter county prohibited in absence of statutory authorization from providing by ordinance for imposition of civil penalties by agencies); Broward County v. Plantation Imports, Inc., 419 So. 2d 1145 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) (holding that the provisions of a county ordinance authorizing assessment of penalties by county agency was unconstitutional and agreeing with conclusion in Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 79-109). See also Ops. Att'y Gen. Fla. 84-51 (1984) (ordinance of noncharter county not a "law" within the purview of s. 5(c), Art. II, State Const.); and 84-39 (1984) (municipal ordinance not a "law" within the meaning of s. 8, Art. I, State Const.)

[7] See Ops. Att'y Gen. Fla. 97-26 (1997), 86-10 (1986), 85-84 (1985), 85-27 (1985), 85-17 (1985), and 84-55 (1984).

[8] Alsop v. Pierce, 19 So. 2d 799, 805-806 (Fla. 1944); Dobbs v. Sea Isle Hotel, 56 So. 2d 341, 342 (Fla. 1952); Thayer v. State, 335 So. 2d 815, 817 (Fla. 1976).

[9] And see s. 775.04, Fla. Stat., which provides that "[a]cts or omissions to which a pecuniary penalty is attached, recoverable by action . . . for the use, in whole or in part, of the state or of a county or a public body, . . . are not public offenses within the meaning of these statutes."

[10] See Dobbs v. Sea Isle Hotel, 56 So. 2d 341, 342 (Fla. 1952); Biddle v. State Beverage Department, 187 So. 2d 65, 67 (Fla. 4th DCA 1966); Williams v. American Surety Company of New York, 99 So. 2d 877, 880 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958).

City of St. Augustine City Code Section 1-8 Is Unconstitutional

Sec. 1-8. General penalty; continuing violations.
(a) In this section "violation of this Code" means:
(1) Doing an acting that is prohibited or made or declared unlawful, an offense or a misdemeanor by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.
(2) Failure to perform an act that is required to be performed by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.
(3) Failure to perform an act if the failure is declared a misdemeanor or an offense or unlawful by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.
(b) In this section "violation of this Code" does not include the failure of a city officer or city employee to perform an official duty unless it is provided that failure to perform the duty is to be punished as provided in this section.
(c) Except as otherwise provided, a person convicted of a violation of this Code shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding sixty (60) days or any combination thereof. With respect to violations of this Code that are continuous with respect to time, each day the violation continues is a separate offense.
(d) The imposition of a penalty does not prevent revocation or suspension of a license, permit or franchise.
(e) Violations of this Code that are continuous with respect to time may be abated by injunctive or other equitable relief. The imposition of a penalty does not prevent equitable relief.
(f) The imposition of a penalty does not prevent code enforcement board proceeding or the imposition of a civil fine or civil penalty.
(Code 1964, § 1-8)

Countdown: Six Days to Ken Burns' "THE NATIONAL PARKS -- America's Best Idea"

It all starts on September 27, 2009.

It's time for a St. Augustine National Historical Park, Seashore and Scenic Coastal Parkway.

Time to review the draft legislation and talk with your government officials (and candidates). See www.staugustgreen.com

Fort Matanzas Protects Wildlife With National Monument Designation

Editor: This letter is in reference to reporter Kati Bexley's Record article "Matanzas Beach Reopens to Vehicles'' on Aug. 26.

As a former volunteer least tern monitor, I want to compliment St. Johns County Environmental Services Department for abiding by the mandates of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, which wanted the Fort Matanzas beach closed to vehicles, April 1 to Aug. 31, to protect the least terns' nesting season. It was tried to set aside a small portion for the least terns to build their nests in the sand. This didn't work well because the chicks were being run over by cars, because the drivers did not see the chicks in the sand.

Fort Matanzas is a national park, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services has jurisdiction over this park, and they wanted the least terns protected while they were nesting. The purpose of a national park is to conserve the scenery and wildlife and leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

Most Florida beaches do not allow beach driving. It doesn't seem to be a problem for beachgoers and people fishing. In fact, our neighbor to the south, Flagler County, has banned vehicular traffic on the beaches. It seems to be working, and people fishing are managing to get to the waterways to fish.

I have heard some people here in St. Johns County say "we have always driven on the beach.'' Since our national parks were created to protect our natural resources and wildlife, I am hoping that eventually driving will be prohibited at Fort Matanzas National Park beach to protect the least terns. Also, the ban would protect beachgoers from being run over by vehicles, as has happened to a few persons in the past in St. Johns County.

Gina Burrell

St. Augustine

NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER REPORT No. 918096

In St. Augustine, Florida today, there was a massive fish kill of hundreds of fish in the San Sebastian River in the vicinity of Mile Marker 37. The current and wind were flowing from the south (from the general direction of the City's formerly leaking sewage pipelines and the City's sewage treatment plant, as well as the now-abandoned Luhrs shipbuilding plant, among other large facilities).

The fish kill has been reported to the National Response Center, EPA, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and St. Augustine Record.

It is not currently known what killed the fish.

It's time for polluters to be prosecuted, instead of mollycoddled.

What do you reckon?

Bill Leary for Mayor?

Bill Leary has the environmental law experience and excellent judgement to be a great Mayor.

His column on the artists and entertainers (below) is spot-on.

He has grown enormously as a PZB member and should be drafted to run for Mayor of St. Augustine next year.

I don't always agree with Bill Leary (he's wrong on the idea of having artists rather than the market determine who should be able to sell art).

But Bill Leary's always thinking and has the best interests of our City at heart.

That can't be said of 4/5 of City Commissioners (or our estimable City Manager WILLIAM B. HARRISS).

Three cheers for Bill Leary!!!

The proposed art and vending ordinances

BILL LEARY
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 09/12/09


Author H.L. Mencken said, "There is always a well-known solution to every problem -- neat, plausible, and wrong."

Monday night, our City Commission will consider three new ordinances designed to keep our public places largely free of artists and street performers and vendors.

They may be revised for the hearing, but of the versions introduced three weeks ago, the first adds artists and street vendors to the current prohibition against street performers on and within 50 feet of St. George Street. The second limits all vending and First Amendment expression in the Plaza de la Constitucion to 12 spaces in the small covered market, as determined by a lottery. The protected area will include the plaza's adjacent streets and their abutting sidewalks. The third bans food or beverage sales in most public places, including streets and sidewalks, throughout the city.

The draft ordinances reveal just how St. George Street-centric they are. St. George Street merchants have valid points regarding street vendors and performers, but the justification incorporated into the first ordinance goes so far as to call St. George Street the most important place in America to protect and preserve. I'd put the National Cemetery above it, for starters.

This fight has lasted at least 15 years and every crisis-driven approach has resulted in litigation at great cost to everyone, including the taxpayers stuck with considerable attorney's fees. The result? We seek judicial approval rather than broad community support. Paradoxically, we keep trying to address narrow pieces of the problem (the Plaza and St. George Street) while lumping together for resolution several disparate groups: artists, performers, vendors, and expressers of opinion. To truly address these groups' issues disparately, yet comprehensively, the city should bring all the interests together, listen, and craft one broad solution.

Here's the best of what various people have suggested to me in conversation:

FIRST GRAPH MISSING. USE DROP CAP STYLE SHEET. . Ban everything you can from the plaza. It is a place of reverence not commerce. But if our Constitution says you must allow artists to create and expressers of opinion to express, so be it. This is America.

2. Open up St. George Street and related streets to performers, but limited to designated spaces and subject to approval at audition by a citizens' group of experts. Location, time and manner limitations would be imposed, which could include a lottery. Surely we have musicians and others willing to judge these competitions. This is essentially how musicians get gigs.

3. Designate the covered areas along the sides of the parking garage, or nearby grounds, for vendors and artists and, perhaps, for performers who are not selected for the other designated locations. Require permits. Contract out the management of these areas like a farmers market. Maybe have a farmers' market. Encourage downtown art galleries to sell local art. If some downtown merchants sell the same stuff these street venders seem to sell, maybe someone should upgrade.

4. Allow outdoor café tables on downtown streets where they can be accommodated, such as St. George Street between Cathedral and Hypolita. This "interference with pedestrian traffic" justification to ban street performers is now used to ban these tables. What's next? Trees? Tour groups over 25?

5. Do things to help St. George Street merchants such as better signage, lighting and beautification.

6. Proactively attract businesses locals might enjoy.

7. Expand the pedestrian-only area.

8. Remember it's not all about St. George Street. Do more for the merchants on King Street, San Marco Avenue and similar commercial areas. They need and deserve our help.

*

Bill Leary is a member of the Planning and Zoning Board of the City of St. Augustine. He invites your thoughts and comments to the Record or at bill.leary4@yahoo.com.


Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/091209/opinions_1966939.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record