{"id":1001,"date":"2010-06-04T23:55:14","date_gmt":"2010-06-04T23:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2010-06-04T23:55:14","modified_gmt":"2010-06-04T23:55:14","slug":"oped-by-linda-young-clean-water-network-of-fl-give-florida-waters-every-possible-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/06\/04\/oped-by-linda-young-clean-water-network-of-fl-give-florida-waters-every-possible-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"OpEd by Linda Young, Clean Water Network of FL.: Give Florida Waters Every Possible Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cost to BP should not be a factor in implementing precautions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>By Linda L. Young<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0I live in the Florida Panhandle, about 200 feet from the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 Soon I will lose track of the number of times that I\u2019ve smelled the\u00a0 growing mass of oil that looms out past the southern horizon.\u00a0 When I go for my evening walk these days, I\u2019m already conditioned to check the air first to make sure that \u201cthe smell\u201d is not back.\u00a0 I learned that lesson a few weeks ago when, after walking in it for over an hour, I returned home with a splitting headache.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been almost six weeks since the BP oil well exploded and took 11 lives.\u00a0 There has been a lot of criticism of the federal government\u2019s handling of this unprecedented disaster, but my expectations are much closer to home.\u00a0 I\u2019ve waited and watched for encouraging signs that my state and local governments are gearing up to provide maximum protection for our waters.\u00a0 I do see a few oil booms stretched out here and there along shorelines and I was able to get a copy of my county\u2019s protection plan, which completely relies on these few booms..\u00a0 However, the county initially wanted more extensive protections for our fairly pristine, highly productive estuaries, bayous, marshes and rivers, but those plans were scaled back by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).\u00a0 What???\u00a0 Why would the state agency that is tasked with protecting our environment ask a county to take fewer precautions?<\/p>\n

Could it have anything to do with the fact that FDEP signed a no-bid contract with a consulting firm called WRSCompass, which was hired to work with Florida cities and counties in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster?\u00a0 This North Carolina-based company\u2019s chief executive is Kathleen Shanahan, a former chief-of-staff to Jeb Bush and former vice-president Dick Cheney. Cheney\u2019s former company, Halliburton, conducted repairs on the Deepwater site hours before the April 20 explosion which triggered the massive oil spill. Records show that on May 8th<\/sup>, FDEP awarded the contract, which is worth as much as $250,000 to the company.\u00a0 General Counsel for WRSCompass is Greg Munson, whose most recent position was General Counsel for the Florida FDEP.\u00a0 That may sound appropriate for a consulting firm now advising counties as they prepare for the onslaught of toxic oil, but Mr. Munson\u2019s litigation strategies for the Bush administration were often much more friendly to the state\u2019s polluters than to clean water and air advocates.<\/p>\n

While I am no expert on keeping oil off of our beaches and out of the intercoastal waterway, I can see from my research that we are not doing anywhere near all that we can do to prepare and protect our waters from the oil that is sure to come.\u00a0 Additionally, what plans are in place to move people who can\u2019t live in their homes when the oil moves closer and the fumes are overwhelming?\u00a0 I have heard nothing of these plans so far.<\/p>\n

On May 20th<\/sup>, I served a verified complaint on Mike Sole, Secretary of the Florida DEP.\u00a0 My complaint reminded Secretary Sole that he is obligated by Florida law to protect Florida\u2019s air, water and land from unlawful pollution.\u00a0 Our air has already been impacted by BP\u2019s disaster and soon our waters will, as well.\u00a0 It has been six weeks since this disaster began and our state has not taken enforcement action against BP.\u00a0 Is this overly-slow reaction further related to the appointment of former Attorney General Jim Smith as a key strategizer for the state\u2019s potential litigation against BP?\u00a0 Mr. Smith was a registered lobbyist for BP for several recent years.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, time is wasting and we, the taxpayers of Florida, want assurances that our state officials are doing everything in their power to protect our resources.\u00a0 As citizens we have the authority to hold the Florida DEP accountable when it fails to enforce our environmental laws.\u00a0 My verified complaint to Mr. Sole gives him notice that legal actions may result if his sluggish response to this disaster continues, and any citizen of Florida can join me in this effort.\u00a0 For more information go to my organization\u2019s website: www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Linda Young is the director of the Clean Water Network of FL, a non-profit environmental organization with 300 member groups and thousands of individuals that are working together to protect Florida\u2019s waters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cost to BP should not be a factor in implementing precautions \u00a0By Linda L. Young \u00a0I live in the Florida Panhandle, about 200 feet from the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 Soon I will lose track of the number of times that I\u2019ve smelled the\u00a0 growing mass of oil that looms out past the southern horizon.\u00a0 When … Continue reading OpEd by Linda Young, Clean Water Network of FL.: Give Florida Waters Every Possible Protection<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}