{"id":781,"date":"2010-05-26T19:29:46","date_gmt":"2010-05-26T19:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/05\/26\/clean-water-network-of-florida-finally-theres-something-you-can-do\/"},"modified":"2010-05-26T19:33:11","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T19:33:11","slug":"clean-water-network-of-florida-finally-theres-something-you-can-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/2010\/05\/26\/clean-water-network-of-florida-finally-theres-something-you-can-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean Water Network of Florida: Finally, there’s something you can do"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0
\n\"\"<\/a>May 26, 2010
\n\u00a0
\nDear Friends of Florida\u2019s Waters,
\n\u00a0
\nFor more than a month now, we have all eagerly watched our news outlets for some shred of good news regarding the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 That good news has not materialized.\u00a0 As we watch the image on TV or the internet of the millions of gallons of oil spewing into our beautiful Gulf waters, our hearts get heavier and heavier with grief and a sense of helplessness.\u00a0 We are activists and helplessness is a feeling that doesn\u2019t sit well in our hearts.
\n\u00a0
\nI have been watching and hoping to see aggressive preventive and protective measures put into place by local, state and national governments.\u00a0 Some efforts are reported and some are obvious, but a full-scale, high-tech, top-shelf plan is not evident and apparently doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 Our Attorney General has put former Attorney General Jim Smith in a leadership role for guiding the state\u2019s legal position.\u00a0 Mr. Smith has been a registered lobbyist for BP in the recent past and clearly has a conflict of interest and has also never demonstrated any strong interest in protecting Florida\u2019s natural resources.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nAt DEP, Secretary Mike Sole is obviously in charge.\u00a0 We know, without any doubt, that Mr. Sole has absolutely no interest in protecting Florida\u2019s environment.\u00a0 He proves that daily through his policy decisions and agency actions.\u00a0 Mr. Sole has proven time and time again that his first and only allegiance is to politically powerful polluters that he has the ability to protect from us \u2013 the taxpayers and citizens of Florida who care about our resources.\u00a0 In my opinion, Florida could not have a less reliable person in charge of coordinating an oil protection plan for Florida\u2019s waters.
\n\u00a0
\nMany of you have called and emailed me to ask what I would recommend to help with this unprecedented disaster.\u00a0 I\u2019ve thought long and hard about what would be our best action, together as the Clean Water Network of Florida.\u00a0 After discussing this with a number of scientists and my attorneys, we have decided that it is not good advice to encourage anyone to get personally in contact with the oil when it enters our waters.\u00a0 It is toxic and hazardous to your health.\u00a0 Why should you endanger your health when it is BP\u2019s responsibility to hire professional, trained, well-supplied workers to deal with this problem?\u00a0 I hope you will reconsider if you are thinking of doing anything that will put you in contact with the oil.
\n\u00a0
\nThere is something you can do, however, and the Clean Water Network of Florida is happy to report that our board member and attorney Steven A. Medina has put together a citizen\u2019s toolkit to help you have an effective voice in how Florida addresses the spill.\u00a0 The toolkit provides a fill in the blank verified complaint that you can use to send a strong message to Mike Sole at DEP.\u00a0 I served my complaint in person on Thursday when I was at the DEP building for the ERC meeting.\u00a0 (That was the day Sole\u2019s staff got the ERC to approve a 50 to 60 million gallon per day discharge to the Gulf of Mexico from the Buckeye Florida pulp mill and also to approve a new water classification\/designated use for polluted waters that are unswimmable and barely fishable).\u00a0 I hope that you will join me in filling it out, getting it notarized, and sending it to DEP.
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nThe links to the toolkit can be found on the CWN-FL website:
\n\u00a0
\nThe link to the Gulf of Mexico page is:
\nhttp:\/\/www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org\/issues_gulfmexico.php<\/a><\/p>\n

The links to the documents themselves are:
\nhttp:\/\/www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org\/content\/issues\/Medina-Oil-Spill-WhitePaper-05062010.pdf<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org\/content\/issues\/Medina-Oil-Spill-Grassroots-Kit-1-3.pdf<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org\/content\/issues\/Medina-Oil-Spill-Grassroots-Kit-4.pdf<\/a>
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nThis complaint does not mean you have sued DEP.\u00a0 It is a required first step before you can file suit against the agency.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping that it won\u2019t be necessary to ever file suit and that our state will get serious about making BP provide the required resources to protect our state waters before the oil gets to our shores.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping that immediate economic assistance will be provided to all businesses and individuals who are being financially impacted by the oil spill.\u00a0 BP should be doing anything and everything needed by the people of Florida to deal with the impacts of this spill.\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nThere are many lawsuits being filed in anticipation of damages that will be suffered both by businesses and individuals.\u00a0 We are not interested in assessing the damages right now.\u00a0 We want to prevent them.
\n\u00a0
\nI am asking you to do a few things as soon as possible to make our campaign to protect Florida from this disaster a success:
\n\u00a0
\n1) Please read the toolkit materials on our website and think through them carefully.\u00a0 If you would like to do as I have done and send FDEP a verified complaint (30-day notice letter), then please follow your heart and take appropriate action.\u00a0 You are not filing a lawsuit, but you are letting FDEP know that this is one of your options if they do not get serious about protecting our waters from the oil.
\n\u00a0
\n2)\u00a0 If you choose not to send the notice letter then please write your own letter to FDEP and express your thoughts in that way.
\n\u00a0
\n3)\u00a0 Whether or not you use our toolkit or write your own letter, please pass this campaign information on to everyone you know in Florida and encourage them to consider being a part of this statewide movement.
\n\u00a0
\n4)\u00a0 If you have a website for your organization, please post a link to our campaign materials on the CWN-FL website.
\n\u00a0
\n5)\u00a0 Make sure that your local government knows about the campaign and pass on the link to our materials.\u00a0 We are encouraging local governments that are dissatisfied with the resources available to them for armoring their shorelines to join us in this proactive effort.
\n\u00a0
\n6)\u00a0 Make a generous, special donation today to CWN-FL\u2019s Fortress Florida Oil Disaster Fund by sending a check to the Clean Water Network of Florida, PO Box 254, Tallahassee, FL 32302.\u00a0 Our legal team is working to keep the pressure on Florida officials in order to get the best possible protection for our state waters.\u00a0 Remember the only rights you have are the ones you can enforce.\u00a0 Your support of CWN-FL\u2019s citizen enforcement campaign, Fortress Florida, will strengthen the only statewide effort to hold the state and BP accountable.
\n\u00a0
\nWe are working on a list of pro-bono attorneys who are willing to represent citizens who want to take the next step in filing suit against the FDEP if that becomes necessary.\u00a0 We hope that the Governor\u2019s office and FDEP will make every effort to protect our waters from the oil and citizen suits will not become necessary.\u00a0 You will be kept informed about everything that we learn and what we do along the way.\u00a0 Please watch out website for updates in addition to email alerts that we will send to you.
\n\u00a0
\nThank you in advance for reading this long email and for the time and attention that you devote to this matter.\u00a0 Together we CAN have an impact and get better protection for our state and its amazing resources.
\n\u00a0
\nYour friend and fellow Floridian,
\nLinda L. Young, director<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 May 26, 2010 \u00a0 Dear Friends of Florida\u2019s Waters, \u00a0 For more than a month now, we have all eagerly watched our news outlets for some shred of good news regarding the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 That good news has not materialized.\u00a0 As we watch the image on TV or … Continue reading Clean Water Network of Florida: Finally, there’s something you can do<\/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-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781","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=781"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781\/revisions\/784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/drilling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}