National Audubon Society

Audubon Advocate | Your Policy Update

Week Two Concludes in Tallahassee

Week two of the legislative session wraps up in Florida’s capital city today. This edition of the Audubon Advocate gives you the latest on the legislation impacting conservation and issues we’re working on. Thanks to your engagement with Audubon, our team serves as your voice in the Capitol and throughout the state to advance conservation and protect the natural resources we all cherish.

Thanks for reading and be sure to stay tuned to the Audubon Advocate each week to learn how you can help. Please be sure to share this update with your friends and family. If you received this edition from a friend, you can sign up to receive it weekly in your inbox by visiting FL.Audubon.org/SignUp.

Cooper's Hawk

What We're Watching...

Week two of Florida’s lawmaking session is keeping us on our toes. Legislation impacting water quality, biosolids, coastal resiliency, and Florida Forever continue to keep Audubon staff busy.

Improving Water Quality
Excess nutrients from stormwater, wastewater, and septic systems plague Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. House Bill 141 by Rep. Fine (R-Palm Bay) attempts to address these problems by implementing a program to assess civil penalties on water quality violators and creating a grant program to implement water quality improvement projects. HB 141 passed the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Tuesday. Senate Bill 216 by Senator Gruters (R-Sarasota) and Senate Bill 368 by Senator Harrell (R-Stuart) have similar intentions– to clean up waterways by focusing on the main sources of pollution. Both SB 216 and SB 368 passed the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources this week. Audubon is monitoring all legislation impacting Florida’s water quality and working to ensure that the resources needed to address these challenges are made available at state, local, and consumer levels.

Managing Harmful Sewage Sludge Spreading
Concern over water quality problems in Blue Cypress Lake in the St. John’s Basin resulted in a statewide focus on the topic of biosolids management—or how Florida disposes of the solid sludge leftover after treating wastewater. Historically, this material has been spread on agricultural lands as a means of disposal, but the phosphorus and nitrogen pollution it adds to sensitive watersheds can drive crippling algal blooms. Rep. Grall’s (R-Vero Beach) House Bill 405 and Senator Mayfield’s (R-Melbourne) Senate Bill 1278 direct the Department of Environmental Protection to improve their current biosolids management program to minimize pollution from this source that impairs waterbodies. The bills also encourage the development and implementation of innovative technologies to dispose of biosolids. This week, HB 405 passed the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee and SB 1278 passed the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Audubon continues to work closely with the sponsors of biosolids management legislation. We want to ensure the entire process from treatment to application and disposal is evaluated and addressed.

Encouraging Coastal Resiliency
Senate Bill 78 by Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez (D-Miami) picked up steam this week, passing the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday. It requires sea level impact project studies be completed before infrastructure projects in the coastal building zone are eligible for state funding. The bill also requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop a uniform standard for how the projections are to be determined. Audubon is pleased that the Legislature is engaging in a meaningful conversation on the wisdom of investing taxpayer dollars in vulnerable locations.

Senate President’s Road Proposal Gains Traction
Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) started the 2019 Session with a proposal to build new roads through some of the most rural parts of Florida. While the proposal does not yet have a House companion, the Senate version will be considered in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development next week. As communities and decision-makers have provided initial responses to the idea, voices like Tampa Senator Tom Lee have suggested these proposals be considered in the context of need and priority among all of Florida’s transportation needs. Florida has a successful history of using inclusive processes convened by DOT, like those employed in the development of the Wekiva Parkway, to ensure transparency and accountability and drive strategic conservation additions and wise growth management decisions. Stay tuned as this proposal progresses and evolves.

Outlook for Florida Forever, Land Conservation Taking Shape as Budget Picture Emerges
State economists forecasted yesterday that lawmakers will have $7 million less to work with than previously expected. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Rob Bradley (R-Orange Park) has long been a champion for Florida Forever, Everglades, Rural and Family Lands, and springs restoration funding, and we are hopeful. Separate legislation by Sen. Stewart (D-Orlando) dedicating $100 million to Florida Forever each year was celebrated as it passed through the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee this week. Regardless of this bill's passage, lawmakers can fund Florida Forever and other programs without specific legislation. Preliminary budgets are likely midway through session—stay tuned for alerts asking you to lend your voice to Florida Forever and other land conservation programs.

Downed and snapped trees in the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Michael

Audubon Asks Congress to Provide Disaster Recovery Funding for Hurricane Michael

When Hurricane Michael swept through the Panhandle, it devastated coastal communities. Further inland—well into Georgia—the effects were equally devastating, flattening large sections of working forests.

These forests are not just the foundation of an important rural economy; they are an essential part of an important rural ecology. This mosaic of conservation lands and working forests is the heartland for federally threatened Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. North Florida’s forests also protect the water quality of sapphire blue springs, recharge the aquifer, and protect the watershed health that supports the Panhandle’s vibrant coastal estuaries. Nearly five months after the disaster, the region still awaits meaningful disaster relief from federal lawmakers.

Click here to easily email U.S. Senators Rubio and Scott and your member of Congress to urge them to push for disaster relief funding that includes funding for forest recovery.

Great Egret

New Leadership at South Florida Water Management District

Yesterday, several new South Florida Water Management District Governing Board members were sworn in to lead this important water resource agency. The new board elected Chauncey Goss as the Chair and Scott Wagner as the Vice Chair. The board then appointed Drew Bartlett as the new Executive Director. Mr. Bartlett will join the District after serving many years as Deputy Secretary at the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection. The board and new executive director committed to a more inclusive, collaborative, and transparent agency.

Audubon warmly welcomes the new Governing Board members and Mr. Bartlett. Audubon Florida Everglades Policy Director Celeste De Palma said, “The public has demonstrated a hunger for interacting with the District in a meaningful way, and Drew’s long history of engaging with multiple stakeholders and the public gives us great hope. We look forward to continuing to work with him and the District to increase meaningful public participation and transparency.”

White Ibis

Proposed Federal Budget Lets Down America’s Everglades, Causes Concern for Audubon

Late Tuesday night, details emerged on the Administration's 2020 budget request for restoring America’s Everglades. Disappointingly, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 2020 Everglades budget proposal includes an anemic $63 million for construction, representing a 40 percent deep cut from 2019 enacted funding levels. Audubon Florida Director of Everglades Policy Celeste De Palma commented on the proposed cuts:

“This is the third year in a row that the White House has proposed cuts to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers budget for Everglades restoration. We need more investment in green infrastructure, not less. Everglades restoration is the blueprint to combat the harmful algal blooms that plagued South Florida last summer. Increased and steadfast commitment from the federal government at the $200 million level will ensure the completion of these critical projects now, not later. We are urging Congress to get it right, and I know we have strong leadership in the U.S. House and Senate to get us there.”

Cooper's Hawk. Photo: Charles Sperrazza/Audubon Photography Awards; Downed/snapped tree. Photo: Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services; Great Egret. Photo: Jeffery Faulkner/Great Backyard Bird Count. White Ibis. Photo: Lynne Johnson/Audubon Photography Awards.

Support Audubon's Policy Efforts

Audubon Florida
4500 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 350, Miami, FL 33137
(305) 371-6399 fl.audubon.org

© 2024 National Audubon Society, Inc.

Unsubscribe