Lawmakers move to delay cleanup deadline

A political battle is likely over phosphorus pollution fouling the Florida Everglades.

By JULIE HAUSERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 10, 2003

TALLAHASSEE -- In the vast green marshes of the Florida Everglades, runoff from farms and towns has killed sawgrass and chased away many wading birds.

The pollution is also fueling a political fight in the state Legislature.

On Wednesday, a House committee voted to delay a key Everglades cleanup deadline for 20 years, with lawmakers conceding that they'll probably get sued over it.

They ignored a warning from U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, a Florida Republican, who said the state risks losing federal money to help pay for an $8-billion Everglades cleanup plan.

"This is bad legislation and an albatross around the neck of your congressional delegation, who have to advocate for federal dollars on your behalf," Shaw said in a statement his aide read to the committee. "You cannot amend this bill now, shift the responsibility for paying for the cleanup once again to the taxpayers and then expect the federal government to keep writing checks to restore the same Everglades Florida won't stop polluting."

The bill would change the Everglades Forever Act, which says Florida had to cut the amount of phosphorus going into the River of Grass by the year 2006. On Wednesday, the House Natural Resources Committee voted to change that deadline to 2026.

The effort was pushed by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Spratt, a Republican from LaBelle, the heart of Everglades sugar cane country.

Much of the phosphorus fouling the Everglades comes from sugar cane farms. The sugar industry supported delaying the deadline, and so did the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP Secretary David Struhs said he is not concerned about the delay. He said "nature has its own time frame," and it is unrealistic to think Florida could remove all the phosphorus it is supposed to by 2006.

"We're not, in any way, delaying progress," Struhs said.

Environmentalists said if the bill becomes law, they will likely sue because the delay violates a legal settlement reached years ago.

"If this bill passes as it is written today, we are seeing the beginning of the end of Everglades restoration," said Charles Lee, a lobbyist for Florida Audubon.

Several lawmakers on the committee praised sugar companies for working to clean up Everglades pollution.

"The agricultural industry is largely responsible for the gains we've made so far," said Jerry Paul, R-Port Charlotte.

The bill passed the 16-1, with Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Pompano Beach, voting no.

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