Monitor_2015_April - Florida Defenders of the Environment

FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
TH E MO N I T O R
Newsletter of Florida Defenders of the Environment
P.O. Box 357086, Gainesville, FL 32635
309 SR 26, Melrose, FL 32666
[email protected]
352-475-1119
Volume 32, Issue 1
April, 2015
FDE CHOOSES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Florida Defenders of the Environment is pleased to
announce the appointment of Thomas Hawkins as its new
executive director. Hawkins, a Florida licensed attorney
practicing in the areas of land use and local government
law, is the fourth generation of his family born and raised
in Gainesville. As an Alachua County native, Thomas spent
weekends in the summer on Swan Lake near Melrose in
Putnam County and exploring Gainesville's Possum and
Hogtown creeks. He has brought this love for natural
Florida to his work as an attorney and Gainesville city
commissioner.
FDE’s legacy includes leading the charge to halt
completion of the Cross Florida Barge Canal under the
leadership of founder Marjorie Carr. This effort continues
today with the restoration of the Ocklawaha River and
removal of the Rodman Dam. Hawkins will guide the FDE
Board and staff on this and other projects focused on
preserving Florida’s land and water legacy. Hawkins’
interest in protecting Florida's environment includes the
desire to build our state's cities into healthier, more
sustainable places to live. He recently completed two
terms as a Gainesville city commissioner.
FDE board president, Steve Robitaille, believes, “Hawkins’
appointment will help guide one of the state’s oldest and
most respected environmental organizations through a
critical period of decision making on key issues such as
the restoration of the Ocklawaha River, the protection of
the St. Johns River watershed, and the many ongoing
threats to Florida’s land and water resources.” Robitaille
also notes, “We are seeing the graying of Florida’s
environmental leadership and Thomas Hawkins
represents the next generation of inspired and wellinformed environmental stewards.”
Hawkins has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the
University of Florida, a Master of Science from UF and a
Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law.
The Monitor
A WORD FROM EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
THOMAS HAWKINS
I am excited to join Florida Defenders of the
Environment as Executive Director. Having grown up in
Florida, I cannot separate my fond memories of my
childhood from my appreciation of Florida's natural
places. Our state is a special place and through our
stewardship of its natural treasures we can hope to build
Florida's communities while preserving the environment
that sustains us.
I am joining Florida Defenders of the Environment at an
important time for the organization. In collaboration with
organizations such as St. John Riverkeeper and The
Florida Springs Alliance, as well all who reside in the
those communities within the St. Johns watershed,
Florida Defenders of the Environment has a stronger
opportunity than ever to see the Ocklawaha River
restored. I am looking forward to working on this
important charge and to collaborating with the Board of
Trustees to chart a future course for Florida Defenders of
the Environment.
Page 1
April, 2015
FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
The Public Trust by Robert Knight
Florida’s natural resources, including abundant
wildlife, clean air, and clean water, are held as a “Public
Trust”, available to all and not owned by
anyone. Development of Florida’s environmental laws
began in 1972 at the same time the nation’s laws were
strengthened in favor of environmental protection. Our
state environmental agencies - the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection and the five
water management districts - are tasked with
enforcing the state laws that balance human activities
and their effects on the Public Trust.
Florida’s laws once provided a fairly clear recipe for balancing environmental protection and sustainable development. But Florida’s legislators write and
re-write those laws every year. With ever-mounting
pressure
from
special
interests,
Florida’s
environmental laws have been modified and
weakened since they were originally passed. In North
Florida, agriculture is exempt from paying the costs for
polluting and depleting the aquifer and springs.
Comprehensive urban planning at the state level has
been eliminated in the interest of expediting permits for
additional development. The myth that existing environm ental
laws
are
pro tecting
Flo ri da’s
environment is easily refuted by looking to the hundreds
of springs, lakes, and rivers that have been
depleted and polluted.
A second available
remedy is the courts.
But successful
environmental
challenges are very e
xpensive and
increasingly difficult
to obtain. Obstacles
to legal resolution are
due to incremental
relaxing of Florida’s once powerful environmental laws
and the legislature’s raising of the bar for citizen environmental lawsuits.
A third possible solution is to require better enforcement of existing environmental laws. Additional legislation will be needed to facilitate the public’s ability to
challenge the results of weakened laws and poor
enforcement. As an example, regulatory minimum flows
for springs and rivers are theoretically protective of
human use and water resource values. However these
threshold minimum flows are often based on incorrect
assumptions, flawed models, and are not rigorously enforced.
When Florida’s citizens become painfully aware of the
unacceptable impacts to their environment, four
possible remedies are available.
Unfortunately, there is little hope that the existing state
government will actually strengthen enforcement of
environmental laws. This session the Florida Legislature
is more concerned about the appearance of increased
water resource protection, than with passing laws that
increase safe guards that adequately protect and restore
Florida’s waters.
The first is relying on state and local agencies to
enforce laws that were originally meant to protect the
state’s environmental resources. After all, these are the
people we pay and who are supposed to work for the
public’s best interests. Unfortunately, the leadership of
these agencies is appointed by politicians and often
more responsive to political pressure than to a vocal and
well-informed public.
To say that Florida’s government is out-of-touch with
protecting the Public Trust is an understatement. The
egregious behavior of the legislature towards implementing Amendment 1, the Florida Water & Land Legacy, is the current headliner. Amendment 1 calls for the
purchase of conservation lands for the long-term
protection of Florida’s natural environmental resources.
With about 700,000 signed petitions, Florida’s voters
(Continued on page 3)
The Monitor
Page 2
April, 2015
FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Executive Committee
Steve Robitaille, President
Joseph Little, Vice President
Steve Holland, Treasurer
Lola Haskins, Secretary
Mary Jane Angelo, At Large
Jim Clugston, At Large
Trustees
Mary Jane Angelo
Roger Blackburn ● Jim Clugston
Alyson Flournoy ● Lola Haskins
Steve Holland ● Bob Knight
Joseph Little ● Steve Robitaille
Bob Simons ● Joe Siry
JoAnn Valenti
Honorary Trustees
John Kaufmann
James Layne ● Elinor Phipps
Advisors
Karen Ahlers ● Lars Anderson
Fay Baird ● Cathy DeWitt
Tom Hoctor ● Barry Jacobson
Bruce Kaster ● Tim Keyser
Clyde Kiker ● Leslie Kemp Poole
Jack Putz ● Kevin Thorpe
Susan Vince ● David White
Nick Williams
Staff
Thomas Hawkins, Executive Director
Tracy Marinello, Office Manager
Florida Defenders of the Environment
Office: 309 SR 26, Melrose, FL
Mail: P.O. Box 357086
Gainesville, FL 32635
(352) 475-1119
The Monitor is a publication of
Florida Defenders of the Environment
Send articles or images for publication
consideration to FDE at
[email protected]
The Public Trust, continued
were able to put Amendment 1 on the ballot, where it was overwhelmingly approved by 75% of the voters in November, 2014.
Instead of respecting the public’s will, the House and Senate leadership
in Tallahassee are making it clear that they are not interested in
purchasing more conservation lands. Instead they wish to use this
Amendment 1 money to create harmful alternative water supplies by
putting more pumps into depleted rivers, and to create more public
infrastructure to facilitate additional urban development. Some of
them are saying that Florida already has too much conserved land held
as a Public Trust.
Public outcry is a fourth option. The informed public has the ultimate
power, even trumping the apparent power of the governor, the
legislature, and the state agencies they direct. The Public Trust is
being violated by Florida’s government. Florida’s failure to enforce
existing environmental statutes, weakening of existing laws, and
restricting the public’s ability to challenge those bad decisions, has
seriously damaged the state’s surface and ground waters.
Drying-up springs and rivers, creation of wide spread algal blooms, and
the unnecessary death of manatees, fish, and birds, is just too much to
take. And the final straw is the legislature’s flagrant subversion of the
public’s Amendment 1 mandate. Is there no shame for the powerful?
If you voted for any of our current legislators or the governor, and if
you voted for Amendment 1, you should be outraged. Let them know
what you think. Send a strong message to them that you support
environmental protection through land and water conservation.
They need to hear from the 75%!
Robert Knight is Director of Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute in
Gainesville.
Keep up-to-date on Florida environmental
issues and our programs through our Facebook
page at www.facebook.com/Floridadefenders
Comments are always welcomed!
The Monitor
Page 3
April, 2015
FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
From the St Johns Riverkeeper by Lisa Rinaman
St. Johns RIVERKEEPER is proud to join FDE in your
efforts to free the Ocklawaha River. The Ocklawaha,
the St. Johns largest tributary, has suffered far too
long.
Based on the ecological benefits to the St. Johns River,
Ocklawaha restoration has been identified by multiple
agencies as a viable mitigation for the proposed
deepening of the St. Johns from 40 to 47-feet.
Unfortunately, the Army Corps is instead requiring
virtually no mitigation to help offset the damage. As a
result, St. Johns RIVERKEEPER is a vocal critic and will
take legal action.
Recognizing that a lawsuit could delay the dredging,
Jax Chamber offered to secure authorization and
funding to restore the Ocklawaha River. This led to a
Memorandum of Understanding between St. Johns
RIVERKEEPER, the City of Jacksonville, Jax Chamber
and Jaxport.
This partnership has expanded to include elected
officials and community leaders from Putnam, Marion,
Clay and St. Johns Counties. This group is currently developing a funding package to build a better
economy and a better environment around a restored
Ocklawaha River to be considered during the 2016 Legislative session.
While we had anticipated that this issue would be
tackled during the 2015 Session, we have extended our
agreement to withdraw our legal challenge of the Army
Corps’ Dredging Plan if the Ocklawaha restoration is
authorized AND funded. However, we are proceeding
to the federal courts to seek additional mitigation and
protections for the river and will challenge the future
permits associated with the dredging if warranted.
We will keep you all posted of both the work of the 5County Stakeholder Group and our lawsuits that could
result in the restoration of the Ocklawaha River.
Thank you all for your continuing dedication to freeing
the Ocklawaha!
Special thanks to our Corporate members!
Joining at the corporate level gives free advertising space in all our newsletters.
The Monitor
Page 4
April, 2015
FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
FDE Environmental Update by Steve Robitaille
Still no word from the judge on the Adena/Sleep Creek
consumptive use permit decision. We continue to
monitor this issue on daily basis and will inform our
members as soon as a decision has been announced. If
the decision is in our favor, it will likely prove to be an
historical landmark.
President Steve Robitaille was joined by several FDE
members, including Peggy MacDonald and Bob Knight of
the Florida Springs Institute at the Land and Water rally
in Tallahassee on February 18. Following this event, FDE
has joined with the Springs Institute and the St. Johns
Riverkeeper in monitoring legislative activity in Tallahassee and pursuing a vigorous e-mail, phone and letter
writing campaign to alert key legislators of our membership’s expectation that funds from Amendment 1 be
spent according to the expressed intention of the
Floridians who voted overwhelmingly to purchase and
preserve what remains of the best of our state.
the FDE web page. Robitaille’s quick intervention via
e-mails to Putnam County commissioners put on hold a
referendum supporting Rodman that contained many
seemingly erroneous claims.
FDE will continue its efforts on these and other new environmental fronts in the coming months and asks for
your financial support to help fund the science and legal
work required to defend Florida’s environment.
FDE is a signatory to a campaign organized in association
with St. Johns Riverkeeper, Audubon Society, Sierra
Club and others that includes a letter to Governor Scott
and key cabinet and other political leaders on behalf of
Ocklawaha River Restoration and the removal of the
Rodman Dam. FDE President Steve Robitaille’s Op Ed
piece on this topic was published in the February 25th
issue of the Jacksonville Time Union and is available on
FDE President Steve Robitaille at the Floridians
for Clean Water and Amendment 1 Rally in
Tallahassee on February 18, 2015.
Find contact information for your local elected
representatives here:
Governor: /www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor/
Florida House of Representatives: www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/representatives.aspx
Florida Senate: www.flsenate.gov/Senators
The Monitor
Page 5
April, 2015
FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
A Poem by Lola Haskins
Before I was associated with FDE, I'd been working on a poetry
manuscript set in the woods and waters of north
Florida. When I was almost finished with it, Cynthia Barnett (if you
don't know her books-- about water-- you should) heard me read
(which in this case I do with photographs) and said that even
though she doesn't read poetry, she thought those poems could
make a political difference. On reflection, I decided she might be
right, because even though the book doesn't preach, it does stir up
emotions (or I hope it does), it’s those more than facts that get us
moving. Most of us can listen to facts all day long but in the end,
though we agree with them, we tend not to turn out.
That said, when Karen Ahlers, who grew up in Putnam County and has dedicated her entire adult life to restoring the
Oklawaha, offered to send me down the river with her friend David Zeigler, I jumped on it. I've kayaked the
Oklawaha, even written about it, but I had a feeling this trip might be different. And it was. Dave belongs to the river
in a way the rest of us can't claim, however strongly we feel about saving it, and I learned more from him in a few
hours than would have been possible with anyone else...what it was like years ago, what it's like now, who lived on it,
what ran through the woods and swam in the water, what doesn't any more, how when he was a kid, the river was
crystal. That's not information. That's soul.
And when I came home, this poem followed me in the door. And something I learned as I reached the end of it, is that
what matters isn't what we say, it's the integrity of what runs through us, like water which, if we're lucky, is so clear
we can see the minnows. Here's the poem ...
The Oklawaha Divided
Between here and the Silver Run are trees drowned for the sakes
of men and women who fish not for food but trophies, who don't see
the point of anything that can't be hung gape-mouthed from a hook.
Between here and the Silver Run lie the ghosts of
dozens of green-and-russet curves lined with laurel oak and palm,
and cypresses at whose feet spider lilies gleam like stars.
Here below the dam, water thunders into the river whose
body it spread. This is the roar of the beast called money and
it believes it will always win. But not yet, for soon enough
the thunder fades, and is replaced by a pair of late owls
seeking each other through the trees -- call and throb,
call and throb, until one takes flight. Rhythmically across
the tangled bank a kingfisher rises, dips, and disappears
into cypress and switchcane. So much beauty, I think,
lies in vanishment. I pass a thickly-vined arch and this
The Monitor
Page 6
April, 2015
FLORIDA DEFENDERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
is how I would like to be married -- to take this river
as a nun takes Christ, understanding that its water will
always fall through my cupped hands. A great blue
Two meanders, and there are twenty. One
more, and I feel what I felt when I was a child
and turned a page of talk and suddenly saw
stands sentry in the spatterdock. It should never
have let me pass, nor the two men casting from
their jonboat with the radio turned up. What kind
antelopes, thousands of them, spread across
an African plain-- for suddenly too many
ibises to count swirl into the blue air and
of bird do they think they are? Twelve thousand
years ago, our elders hunted these shores. We
paddle by one of their mounds where looters
settle at the top of an oak whose limbs
spread to receive them. It's a celebration!
It makes everyone in the sky so happy
with lanterns picked through the dirt, looking for
something to sell. Perhaps when the night is full,
the bones they missed slide into the river, to spear
they shred their poems and drop them out
their windows without a thought! But soon,
as moments do, this one evanesces and
what the moon reveals, swimming over white sand.
We can't see beneath us any more, but there
are still people who remember when this water
we join the wide St. Johns, where
fish camps and houses gleam in the sun.
Some day we will follow it north to a place
ran as transparent as if it were not there,
good people raised in the woods, who
lived by poaching, who knew how to blind
we cannot see across. But not today.
Today, we have to face again what we
drowned so people who take reservoirs
the boats of the law that came in chase. A cooter
slips off an algaed log. There are only a few now,
but come summer, they will line up by size again
for nature can pull their trophies and go
home, people who, if they happen to pass
the mucky river above the dam, will not see
to plop into the dark, as they should, at the sound
of one of us. Now, slowly, the river widens.
It is dreaming of the St. Johns, magnificent to it
the connection. But it's there: a moth in Brazil,
a clutch of gator eggs in tangled grass, we
who claim to love freedom but fold our hands.
as the sea. Not yet, we tell it, don't end yet,
as on our left ibis after ibis lifts away until
there are eight, flying in close formation.
The Monitor
Page 7
April, 2015
Florida Defenders of the Environment, Inc.
309 State Road 26, Melrose, Florida 32666
Mail to: Post Office Box 357086
Gainesville, Florida 32635
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CORPORATION (REGISTRATION NO. CH 1063), MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE 1-800-HELP-FLA
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