Guest Column: Mica's bill would damage state's water clean-up
There seems to be a consensus that despite improvements in some areas, water quality in Florida remains a serious problem that poses a threat to public health, wildlife, and to the huge tourist-related industry. A recent study by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection found impaired conditions due to pollution in 569 square miles of estuaries, 1,918 miles of rivers, and over 376,000 acres of lakes throughout the state. Locally, the St. Johns River has been beset by a variety of pollution-related problems, including algae blooms and fish kills. Rice Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River, has a history of high levels of industrial contaminants, including dioxins and other toxic waste, much of it linked to discharge from a Georgia-Pacific paper mill.
Now Georgia-Pacific is trying to get approval for a 3.5 mile-pipeline into the St. Johns River that would spread 23 million gallons of pollutants per day, adversely affecting marine wildlife and anybody using the river for recreational purposes. The state has already signaled that they are likely to approve the pipeline.
In light of these threats, you would think U.S. Rep. John Mica would be seeking more aggressive enforcement of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Instead, he has introduced a bill, HR 2018, that would dismantle core provisions of the CWA and prevent the United States Environmental Protection Administration from requiring Florida to adhere to reasonable standards in cleaning up waters the DOEP has acknowledged are polluted. Mica's bill, which has already passed the House, would have far reaching implications throughout the country and would be a major step backward, as it essentially turns over regulation of pollutants to individual states. One of the principal reasons for the CWA's passage in 1972 was because states were operating with no oversight, and the result was widespread pollution of waterways, including some of the Great Lakes, which had become so toxic they were unfit for human contact. Due to the successful implementation of the CWA, water quality nationwide was greatly improved. In fact, the federal Clean Water Act is one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever enacted by Congress. Mica's bill would reverse this progress under the disingenuous guise of state's rights and the familiar claim that federal regulators are "out of control," which is often a euphemism for "they have the audacity to actually try to do their jobs."
How aggressive does anybody think Rick Scott would be if given unfettered authority over the state's waterways? To give just two examples of Scott's sensitivity to environmental issues, he recently appointed Lad Daniels, President of the First Coast Manufacturer's Association, to the Board of Governors of the St. John's River Water Management District, which is supposed to protect local rivers and streams. Daniels has already supported approval of Georgia-Pacific's pipeline, which would further despoil the St. John's River. Scott also recently appointed Juan Portuondo to the board of the South Water Management District. Portuando's main qualification for the post seems to be that the company he formerly ran was fined over $640,000 for dumping mercury and a toxic stew of other pollutants into the Everglades.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Georgia-Pacific is a subsidiary of Koch Industries, a company with one of the worst environmental records in the nation, and a generous contributor to none other than John Mica. It has been reported, in fact, that Mica has received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from industries that would benefit from HR 2018.
Sen. Marco Rubio's office says he hasn't taken a formal position on the bill. It is somewhat troubling, however, that Rubio has received $31,200 in campaign contributions from Koch Industries.
*
Bruce Kading has lived in St. Augustine for three years. He is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Taos News. In 2002, he received an award for investigative journalism from the New Mexico Press Association for an article on the legal, social, and economic impacts caused by a surge in drunk driving in Taos County.
Comments (3)
The author is also apparently a big fan of the Huffington Post
All that Koch Industries thing. Never once did he mention the over 1,000 people that make their living in that plant. The pipeline will bring the plant into compliance with the standard what more does he want? Simple, he wants the plant shut down. He probably also wants the majority of us to disappear as well. All in the name of Gaia.
Gaia, hell yes!
If we do not respect our Earth and stop fouling our own nest, we will be the ones to suffer. We need to stop operating on greed. At the least our quality of life will be dramatically impaired; at worst, we'll simply cease to exist -- but that may well be a good thing for the other earthlings with whom we share the planet.
"Life does not cease to be funny when people die, any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh." G.B.Shaw
If Pat210 wants to defend the Koch Bros and their Polution...
she needs to do better than that weak response. The Koch brothers are leading the charge when it comes to destruction of our environment. All anyone needs to do, is check the amount of fines their companies have been assessed for violations of environmental policies. Tell us Pat, how you would really like to see the EPA dismantled, and the clean air and clean water acts be repealed. The two Koch brothers involved with Koch Industries are not a pair of citizens I would want to guide me in policy decisions affecting our country.
If you are willing to sell your soul for a few shekels, and follow their lead in destroying our environment, I truly do pity you. But you are not alone, Congressman Mica is right there with you.
Dr.MacMantazas