DEP chief seeks change in way companies are given permits

By CRAIG PITTMAN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 30, 2001

ST. PETE BEACH -- In a move likely to spark a major legislative battle, the state's top environmental regulator announced Wednesday that he wants to use the track record of companies in deciding whether to give them new permits.

"We are going to change the way America regulates the environment," said David Struhs, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, explaining that no other state or federal agency follows that practice.

"Your past performance should be considered in meeting permit requirements," Struhs told a DEP conference, comparing the situation to a bank looking at a loan applicant's credit record.

Yet making that change could "shut down a lot of companies in Florida," warned Jim McLellan, a spokesman for paving giant Anderson Columbia.

McLellan said Struhs' proposal could make companies less likely to agree to pay fines and admit environmental violations, since such admissions could cost them permits later on.

The notion that a company's past record could be held against it was inspired by Anderson Columbia and the most bruising fight of Struhs' tenure at the DEP helm.

Two years ago Suwannee American, a company related to Anderson Columbia, requested a DEP permit to build a cement plant 3 miles from pristine Ichetucknee Springs State Park. Struhs and Gov. Jeb Bush canoed the Ichetucknee River. Then Struhs denied the permit.

Even though the company met all the technical requirements, Struhs said that because Anderson Columbia repeatedly violated environmental laws, it could not provide "reasonable assurance" that its cement plant would not pollute.

Company officials cried foul. The list of violations Struhs cited involved six different companies, none of which were applying for the permit, they said.

And Anderson Columbia was far from the dirtiest company in the state, they noted. Yet corporations that had racked up bigger fines -- including mining competitors Rinker Materials and Florida Rock, and electric utilities Florida Power & Light and Tampa Electric Co. -- had no problem getting DEP permits.

Struhs backed down. The DEP negotiated a settlement and issued the permit last year.

Struhs said the DEP is "obligated to learn from our past experiences," and that is why he has proposed changing the law. He said DEP has tested the idea with some key legislators and found them open to the idea.

During his speech, Struhs said that most people think DEP checks a company's past record now.

"The public expects us to do that . . . so it shouldn't be that hard to convince the people's representatives in the Legislature," he said.

But Charles Lee, senior vice president of Audubon of Florida, predicted, "It's going to be a tough fight. Any environmental improvement of any worth is going to be opposed by the development and industry lobbies in Tallahassee."

Struhs conceded that plenty of questions on the plan need answering, and those matters may determine whether the Legislature goes along with his proposal. What if the company has a poor record in other states but none in Florida? What if, as with Suwannee American, it is a new company connected to others with a somewhat checkered past? How far into the past should the DEP go in checking a company's previous record?

As a flip side of the proposal, Struhs suggested rewarding companies with a sterling environmental record, perhaps by giving them permits that last longer or letting them submit applications that are not as detailed and expensive.

But Svenn Lindskold of Save Our Suwannee, one of the organizations that battled the Ichetucknee permit, criticized that part of Struhs' proposal.

"That is not a good way to do business," he said.

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