Wednesday, September 20, 2017

National Response Center Report No. 1191013: Mizell Road Pond Dam/Weir Breach Polluting Matanzas River With Untreated Stormwater

Just reported to the National Response Center the Mizell Road Pond Dam/Weir breach polluting Matanzas River with untreated storm water.  This river is "one of the last healthy rivers" in the State of Florida.

City of St. Augustine Public Works Director JOSEPH HOWELL admits the breach, during Hurricane Irma, causes continuing violations of both the City's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and its St. Johns River Water Management (SJRWMD) permit.

Yet HOWELL, City "Manager" BRUCE MAX ROYLE, et al. did not report it to the National Response Center, even though I afforded him time to do so.

Public Works seems to have spent more energy trying to excuse Mayor RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN's dumping water into the County's storm water sewer without permits, taking photos that were used in O'BRIEN's putative "public comment" Monday night.

No photos were shown Commissioners.  No SCUBA diver was hired to enter the pond to take photos.  Only a crude drawing was provided on the overhead projector.  No records have been provided. Once again, flummery, dupery and nincompoopery in the 1.87 square mile small town of St. Augustine Beach, which City "Manager" BRUCE MAX ROYLE has run as a personal fiefdom for some thirty years.

Here's the pond:

MIZELL ROAD POND
St. Augustine Beach, Florida
(St. Augustine Record photo)

Here's the e-mail correspondence:



-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: mroyle ; jhowell
Sent: Wed, Sep 20, 2017 6:32 pm
Subject: National Response Center Report No. 1191013 re: Mizell Road lake dam/weir breach & violation of NPDES and SJRWMD permits by City of St. Augustine Beach



Dear Messrs. Royle and Howell:
1. I filed at 5:39 PM tonight National Response Center Report No. 1191013 with Petty Officer Parker at Coast Guard HQ in Washington D.C., with followup by Petty Officer Tanya Mulhern in Jacksonville, Florida. The report lists the City of St. Augustine Beach as the potentially responsible party on the twenty foot Mizell Road lake weir/dam breach, which is emitting untreated stormwater into the Matanzas River.  Matanzas Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon has testified this is is "one of the few remaining healthy rivers" in the State of Florida.  

2. This emission of untreated stormwater into the Matanzas is a violation of the City's NPDES and SJRWMD permits.
2. You did not disclose this dam breach to the public for a week, providing no photos to Commissioners and citizens at the September 18, 2017 City Commission meeting, with only a crude drawing proved.
3. You Ignored my request that you self-report it to the National Response Center.  Why?
4. You did not respond to my Open Records request No. 2017-560 (below).  Why?
5. Your sloth and torpor left me no choice but to report your unpermitted stormwater pollution of the Matanzas River to federal environmental regulators.
6. Please cease and desist from your contumacy on Open Records requests.
7. Please cease and desist from your insensitivity on environmental issues.
Thank you.


With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: jhowell <jhowell@cityofsab.org>; jpwilson <jpwilson@cityofsab.org>; mroyle <mroyle@cityofsab.org>; hardwickra <hardwickra@sabpd.org>
Sent: Wed, Sep 20, 2017 4:40 pm
Subject: Mizell Road lake weir breach & violation of NPDES and SJRWMD permits -- Request No. 2017-560: FEMA and NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER REPORT ?

Good afternoon:
Have you reported the Mizell Road lake weir breach to the National Response Center yet?
____ Yes
____ No

Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: easlavin <easlavin@aol.com>; jhowell <jhowell@cityofsab.org>; jpwilson <jpwilson@cityofsab.org>; mroyle <mroyle@cityofsab.org>; hardwickra <hardwickra@sabpd.org>
Sent: Wed, Sep 20, 2017 8:27 am
Subject: Re: Request No. 2017-560: FEMA and NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER REPORT RE: Mizell Road lake weir breach & violation of NPDES and SJRWMD permits

Dear Mr. Howell:
Please respond.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: jhowell <jhowell@cityofsab.org; jpwilson <jpwilson@cityofsab.org>; mroyle <mroyle@cityofsab.org>; hardwickra <hardwickra@sabpd.org>
Sent: Mon, Sep 18, 2017 11:59 pm
Subject: Re: Request No. 2017-560: FEMA and NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER REPORT RE: Mizell Road lake weir breach & violation of NPDES and SJRWMD permits




Dear Chief Hardwick and Messrs. Howell, Wilson and Royle:
1. Please send me a copy of any reports by the City of St. Augustine Beach's to FEMA and the National Response Center re: approximately twenty foot Mizell Road lake weir breach and violation of NPDES and SJRWMD permits, as a result of damage sustained in Hurricane Irma.  
2. If no such self-reports have been filed yet, will you kindly do so on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 and please send me a confirmatory copy?  
3. This estimated twenty foot weir breach apparently violates your NPDES and SJRWMD permits and has decreased the water quality in Matanzas River, which our Matanzas Riverkeeper, Mr. Neil Armingeon, has testified is one of the last healthy rivers" in the entire State of Florida. 
4. Thus, St. Augustine Beach Public Works Director Joseph Howell's implication tonight (at the September 18, 2017 City of St. Augustine Beach City Commission meeting) that there was no urgency, and that y'all could take "the next year"  to remedy these apparent violations of your SJRWMD and NPDES permits is, at best facetious and a stench in the Nostrils of the Nation.
5. This threat to our Matanzas River water quality cannot wait -- this is a prime oystering and fishing spot, and the river is already threatened by overdevelopment.
6. This matter is "urgent," as publicly stated tonight by current St. Augustine Beach Commissioner Sherman Gary Snodgrass, former SAB Mayor and former member of the board of Directors of Exelon, a nuclear utility with nineteen (19) nuclear powerplants, who is very familiar with federal regulatory requirements.
7. Absent self-reporting by the City, I shall be reporting this pollution event to our National Response Center tomorrow night, unless I hear from you by close of business tomorrow, September 19, 2017.
8. Please govern yourselves accordingly.  Herein faileth not.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998


-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin <easlavin@aol.com>
To: jhowell <jhowell@cityofsab.org>; jpwilson <jpwilson@cityofsab.org>
Sent: Mon, Sep 18, 2017 6:18 pm
Subject: Request No. 2017-559: Mizell Road lake weir breach & violation of NPDES and SJRWMD permits


Dear Messrs. Howell, Royle and Wilson:
Please send documents.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998




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