Topic: Water Policy

Springs supporters were stymied in efforts to get more money to protect north Florida springs but a powerful ally in the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee secured funding for the Everglades and Indian River Lagoon during the 2014 Legislative Session.

Environmentalists suspected HB 601 and SB 536 were part of a water grab by utilities. But when the sponsors inserted a comma their fears about a proposal dealing with wastewater were erased.

Committee chairs are beginning to release budget recommendations and Rep. Albritton's falls short of the governor's recommendations and indicates problems for a spring proposal being considered by the Senate. One leading senator says it will take "budget magic" to hit a $378 million request by springs proponents

HB 703 by Rep. Jimmy Patronis targets two Martin County policies adopted last year. "Why should Tallahassee do a one-size-fits-all (solution) for what they were saying in 2011 was best left to local government?" asked Charles Pattison of 1000 Friends of Florida.

HB 703 by Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, would extend "right to farm" provisions in state law to prohibit enforcement of local springs and wetlands regulations that also have been modified or readopted since 2003. A revised version of the bill passed its first stop and more changes are expected, Patronis said.

Some legislative leaders and pundits say there will be a focus on water in the 2014 legislative session but it looks increasingly like the focus will be on money -- for environmental protection and restoration.

SB 536 calls for a study of treated wastewater, called "reclaimed water," and includes in the definition "stormwater and excess surface water." Audubon Florida is concerned that the language could allow water utilities in the future to claim water that is needed for Florida's environment. "All this bill does -- all -- is do a study," said Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby and the bill's sponsor. ... Related Research: 2012 DEP Water Reuse Inventory Report.

For the past four years, Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Lake City, has introduced wide-ranging permitting bills that have drawn opposition from environmental groups. This year, former Sen. Bob Graham, chairman and founder of the Florida Conservation Coalition, details opposition in a section-by-section critique of HB 703.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, having seen most of its agenda passed in recent years, will chase after bills that have stumbled in past legislative sessions.

"It's such a big issue -- it is so complex," House Speaker Will Weatherford said. "I don't know that you can bite it off in one year." And Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, in a video presentation to a Florida Chamber of Commerce event, said "This is not something that one session is going to fix."

Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been fighting in federal court since 1990 over water flow from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system. Water during droughts has to be released from the big Lake Lanier federal reservoir north of Atlanta to provide a minimum flow into Florida for threatened sturgeon and mussels. But biologists say the issue is more about the health of a river system than a few species.

AIF was among the groups this week signing onto a letter raising concerns about draft springs legislation. "Doing nothing is not an alternative -- that's what I say to people," Simmons said on Thursday. Earlier this week, the Earthjustice law firm blasted Attorney General Pam Bondi for joining 20 states trying to block water quality regulations for the Chesapeake Bay.

Florida filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 1 after Gov. Rick Scott said Georgia's unrestrained growth and use of water threatened the Apalachicola Bay oyster industry. Georgia's response said Florida officials, including Scott, now are ignoring their own explanations for the 2012 collapse of the oyster population including overfishing and climatic changes leading to less water flow.

This is the fourth consecutive session in which Rep. Jimmy Patronis has filed a bill triggering opposition from environmentalists. This year's version would allow 30-year permits for developments of regional impact, extend "right to farm" provisions to amended local springs and wetlands regulations and require DEP to consider the cost of any new greenhouse gas regulations that are required by the federal government.