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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

EPA Finalizes New Florida Clean Water Standards

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Thursday, November 18, 2010   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing new water quality rules to reduce contamination from sewage, manure and fertilizer in Florida's fresh-water streams, rivers and lakes because those pollutants can trigger toxic algae outbreaks. The green slime is harmful to people, fish and wildlife. The rules mean sewage treatment facilities will need to install new pollution-control equipment - something the industry has argued will be too expensive.

A lawsuit filed by Earthjustice resulted in the rule changes. The firm's managing attorney, David Guest, says he's happy to see the EPA stand firm.

"It's a great day when EPA simply says we are not going to cave in to fabrications on compliance costs and decide not to do what the law requires."

The sewage lobby placed the compliance price tag at $50 billion a year, saying it could mean as much as a $1,000 annual increase in sewage bills for Floridians and possibly could bankrupt some local governments. Guest counters that those figures are more than 600 times the actual cost determined by the EPA, which estimates it at $85 million a year.

According to Guest, those industry estimates are "scare tactics," preying on Floridians struggling financially due to the recession.

"That's not an exaggeration, that is a terror tactic. The threat of a $1,000 increase in their sewage bill could mean the loss of their house to some people. So it is a terror campaign, trying to convince middle-class Floridians that clean and safe water is unaffordable."

Guest says the cost of doing nothing is far greater than that of cleaning up Florida's waterways.

"There could be a toxic algae outbreak, and that will destroy the value of your property. It could be so dangerous that you can't have human contact, you can't put your hand in it; so dangerous, that if your dog went swimming in it, your dog would probably die."

The new limits go into effect in 15 months.






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