Ft. Myers hearing for new water quality standards

Supporters outnumber opponents at public hearing for new water quality standards
By ERIC STAATS
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/apr/13/supporters-outnumber-opponents-public-hearing-new-/?partner=RSS

FORT MYERS — One after another, supporters of a federal proposal to tighten water quality standards in Florida stepped to the microphone to have their say Tuesday.
Linda Mattos brought more to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearing at the Harborside Event Center in downtown Fort Myers.
Mattos, 62, plunked down a jar full of murky water, drawn from the Caloosahatchee River as it flowed past her riverfront home Tuesday morning, in front of two EPA officials sitting at a table on a stage in the front of the room.
“The people who are responsible aren’t going to do anything so they (the EPA) better,” she said. “Somebody’s got to do something.”
That something, the EPA says, are new numbers that would limit the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus, such as in wastewater and fertilizer, in canals, streams and lakes.
The nutrients cause algae blooms that turn ecosystems into slicks of green that can poison water supplies, kill fish and sicken people.
Florida law is less specific, requiring only that nutrient levels not upset the natural balance of plants and animals in a waterway.
The EPA proposed the numeric nutrient standard in January as part of a lawsuit settlement with environmental groups, who said the state of Florida has moved too slowly to set its own limits.
The proposal has touched off a big debate: Backers say the new standards are needed to protect Florida’s environment and its economy, but agriculture and business groups say the measure will cost too much and is unscientific.
Among the 150 people at Tuesday afternoon’s hearing, opponents of the proposal were badly outnumbered.
Many recalled what they said were better days in Florida, when the water was cleaner, seagrass beds more dense and wading birds more plentiful.
Sportfisherman Jim Maguire said when he moved to Marco Island in 1999, the water beneath his dock teemed with pinfish and juvenile porgy and bream.
Now all he sees is the occasional mullet — if he’s lucky, he said.
“They’re gone now,” he said. “They’re absolutely gone.”
Some said they’ve even stopped fishing altogether.
“We’re not interested in eating slimed fish,” said Becky Ayech, president of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida.
Many in the crowd wore white baseball caps with green lettering spelling out “No Slime” and neon green or pink lapel stickers that said “End the Slime.”
Neon green placards bearing the same message and poster-sized photos of algae blooms and dead fish leaned against a wall outside the hearing room.
Inside, a handful of farmers and ranchers cast themselves as good stewards of the land, not polluters who need more regulation.
They pointed to best management practices, such as using slow-release fertilizer and changing their irrigation habits.
“We have made progress,” said John Alexander, chairman of Labelle-based agribusiness giant Alico Inc. “We are making progress. We understand the problem, and we’re committed to do even more.”
The EPA has set more hearings this week in Tampa and Jacksonville, following an earlier round of hearings in March.
A public comment period ends April 28. The settlement calls for the EPA to finalize the standards by October 2010.
Standards for downstream estuaries and coastal waters are due by October 2011.
Connect with Eric Staats at www.naplesnews.com/staff/eric_staats/.

  © 2010 Scri