May 3, 2010
LOCAL FERTILIZER ORDINANCES SAFE FOR NOW
Both the Senate and House bills that threatened local fertilizer ordinances failed to win passage in the closing moments of the 2010 Florida Legislative session on Friday. Local fertilizer laws remain intact today without the threat of preemption by the state.
Fertilizer runoff is one of the most harmful pollutants PURRE and others are working to reduce. This is a victory for now but in the fight for clean water, we can never rest on a victory in one battle. And this one was close: The language containing amendments that would have overturned the strong rules regulating fertilizer pollution adopted by so many Florida counties and cities was only withdrawn from the Senate version of the bill (SB382) at the 11th hour. The House companion bill (HB 1445) still contained the preemption language and could have been sent back to the Senate. Luckily, that never happened.
This is a fight that will have to be watched closely even as we work to convince even more municipalities and communities to adopt stricter rules, higher standards, and better practices for fertilizer use.
SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE ALERT
April 26, 2010 – The city of Sanibel sent out a Special Legislative Alert today asking people to add their voices to the call to stop harmful legislation currently being considered by Florida's State Legislators that would result in Sanibel waters being further polluted by fertilizers.
Also today, the Sanibel issued a letter in opposition of Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 1445. Click here to view the letter.
Some background:
1 - A statewide fertilizer ordinance was being considered in 2008 but never came up for a vote due to opposition from groups that felt it was not strong enough and could have pre-empted localities from enacting stronger ordinances that went beyond the provisions of the state law..
2 - A similar bill was passed in 2009, though, and signed by Gov. Crist. So there IS a statewide fertilizer bill in effect with a model ordinance for localities to follow. As written, it doesn't pre-empt stricter bills by local governments.
3 - Opponents of that bill – primarily the agriculture and fertilizer industries – are now trying to pass a different bill that would effectively pre-empt stricter local ordinances by requiring them to jump quite a hurdle before they could enact stricter fertilizer regulations; i.e., they would first have to have their local waters designated as "impaired." That bill passed the House General Government Council Friday and is moving forward in the House or Senate.
4 - Meanwhile, the 2009 state fertilizer ordinance stands.
It is PURRE's belief that a standard statewide fertilizer ordinance with regulations specifying acceptable nutrient limits, calculated to protect against degradation of water quality, should be put in place as mandatory minimum standards, with the right of localities to enact more stringent controls as they deem necessary to achieve the level of water quality that they determine appropriate for their respective communities and water bodies.
It is important to reaffirm that each community has the right to determine its own course environmentally, subject to minimum standards, much as it has the right to determine its own zoning restrictions. Local governments should not be pre-empted explicitly from setting their own, respective standards that exceed the statewide minimums.
Nor should local governments be pre-empted implicitly by being required to meet insurmountable obstacles in order to protect their respective local environments. PURRE believes that the current law is not broken and, therefore, there is no reason to revise it in any way.
The city of Sanibel in its call to action today has asked everyone to please contact the following Florida State Legislators and ask them to stop urban fertilizer preemption and protect local economies from Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 1445:
FLORIDA SENATE
Senator Jeff Atwater (Senate President) atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Thad Altman altman.thad.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Dave Aronberg aronberg.dave.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Carey Baker baker.carey.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Michael Bennett bennett.mike.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Lee Constantine constantine.lee.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Victor Crist crist.victor.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Nancy Detert detert.nancy.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Paula Dockery dockery.paula.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Mike Fasano fasano.mike.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Alfred Lawson lawson.alfred.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Nan Rich rich.nan.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Garrett Richter richter.garrett.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Gary Siplin siplin.gary.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Eleanor Sobel sobel.eleanor.web@flsenate.gov
Senator Alex Villalobos villalobos.alex.web@flsenate.gov
FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Representative Larry Cretul (Speaker of the House) larry.cretul@myfloridahouse.gov
Representative Gary Aubuchon gary.aubuchon@myfloridahouse.gov
Representative Paige Kreegel paige.kreegel@myfloridahouse.gov< /span>
Representative Kenneth Roberson ken.roberson@myfloridahouse.gov
Representative Nicholas Thompson nick.thompson@myfloridahouse.gov
Representative Trudi Williams trudi.williams@myfloridahouse.gov
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!
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June 2, 2009 - Regarding the issue of a state-wide fertilizer ordinance, which some groups have lobbied against while they wait for the "perfect" bill, the ordinance that contains everything they're seeking and nothing they object to, PURRE's position was summed up nicely the first time a state-wide ordinance was defeated by now-Vice Chair Maureen Valiquette in the article below as follows:
Despite the challenges faced by PURRE on the state and local level, where they have met strong resistance to passing these laws from both the fertilizer and agriculture industries, Valiquette said their approach to pushing tougher restrictions was to appreciate even the smallest steps that were taken by officials to improve them. She believes that a weak ordinance is better than no ordinance when she referred to the recent rejection of a state-wide fertilizer bill and the decision to shut it down.
“To us, that was not a victory. That was a loss because we could have taken this ordinance and made it stronger,” said Valiquette, adding that their work is far from over as they begin to prepare for a challenge in Tallahassee and will need to work throughout the upcoming year to put together another ordinance that would help toughen state-wide restrictions.
“A bill could be amended to be stronger, and there were some good things about it. It would have been better than nothing and it could be worked on,” Valiquette said. “From the beginning, PURRE has always been an organization that meets with the decision makers and says, ‘What can we do to help and how can we make things better?’”
Island Reporter Week of May 29, 2008
PURRE APPLAUDS NEW FERTILIZER ORDINANCE
By Ida Vaynberg
They have been there all the way – helping to raise awareness about the ongoing threats to our waterways, watching the legislature as it makes critical decisions and working towards improving the policies that protect our quality of life.
Speaking on behalf of People United to Restore our Rivers and Estuaries (PURRE), Maureen Valiquette, Operations Manager for the organization, said that they were grateful that Lee County recently passed a fertilizer ordinance that is scheduled to go into effect in May 2009.
Lee County Commissioners voted unanimously on May 13 approving the new ordinance that will prohibit the use of fertilizers between June 1 and Sept. 30, or what is considered to be the rainy season.
A grace period of one year is in effect until then so that proper authorities can take their time to educate the public about the ordinance and proper use of fertilizers.
PURRE, along with other organizations who continue to monitor Florida’s waters, will help to distribute the educational information.
Once the ordinance goes into effect, violators will face fines up to $500 if caught for the offense. The first violation will cost them $100, the second $250, and anything thereafter will be subject to the maximum fine.
While it will be difficult to “police” everyone to make sure that ordinance is being followed, any police officer, inspector or Lee County official will be able to issue a fine.
Valiquette explained that when the draft fertilizer ordinance was proposed, PURRE felt that it needed to be strengthened, so she took the time to look over each section, did some research and made some suggestions.
“The idea of them doing it was fabulous and to think that the whole county would have a fertilizer ordinance – it could make such a difference to water quality,” she said, adding that it was essential to help the organization reach its goals.
When the draft of the final ordinance had arrived, Valiquette said that they were happy to see that most of the changes they had asked for had been applied.
For example, the preliminary draft suggested that the ordinance would not affect non-professional landscapers (homeowners), but PURRE recommended that it should affect all those who use fertilizers, maintaining that homeowners would be more likely to educate themselves and follow rules if they had applied to them.
PURRE also made such important suggestions as requiring all professional landscapers to make sure that there is at least one Best Management Practices (BMP) trained landscaper at the site where fertilizer is being applied, and insisted on pushing the increase of the buffer zone where no fertilizer can be applied within a certain distance of the water line from the original three feet to 10 feet.
In addition, they pointed out that the original proposal did not have limits on nitrogen and phosphorous content in fertilizers, and the ordinance was changed to reflect that suggestion.
While PURRE’s suggestion of “three strikes and you’re out” policy for violations accrued by the professional, licensed landscapers was not adopted, they succeeded in having the actual fines raised to more substantial amounts.
Also, their suggestion that the county could urge or encourage golf courses to use the Audubon International Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses, which would help them adopt greener practices, did not pass.
“We were pretty happy with the changes, and we offered our help as an organization, because we felt that the next step after this, the most important step, is going to be the education of not only homeowners but anybody that uses fertilizers,” she said. “We offered our support and help in getting the message out.”
Despite the challenges faced by PURRE on the state and local level, where they have met strong resistance to passing these laws from both the fertilizer and agriculture industries, Valiquette said their approach to pushing tougher restrictions was to appreciate even the smallest steps that were taken by officials to improve them. She believes that a weak ordinance is better than no ordinance when she referred to the recent rejection of a state-wide fertilizer bill and the decision to shut it down.
“To us, that was not a victory. That was a loss because we could have taken this ordinance and made it stronger,” said Valiquette, adding that their work is far from over as they begin to prepare for a challenge in Tallahassee and will need to work throughout the upcoming year to put together another ordinance that would help toughen state-wide restrictions.
“A bill could be amended to be stronger, and there were some good things about it. It would have been better than nothing and it could be worked on,” Valiquette said. “From the beginning, we have always been an organization that meets with the decision makers and say, ‘What can we do to help and how can we make things better?’”
