Florida Congressman Seeks Limits on Clean Water Regs
(Posted August 11, 2011 06:15 am)
By Les Coleman
ORLANDO, FL - Sixth District Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) held House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearings this week in Orlando on the economic impact of tough new federal environmental regulations intended to protect Florida's water resources. The commercial and industrial community calls them "restrictions" that would cut financial growth and cost jobs.
Cathy Harrelson, Florida coordinator of the
Gulf
Restoration Network (GRN), characterizes Stearns'
hearing as a bit one-sided. She says one committee
member, Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas), would even like to
prohibit public interest groups from suing states over
water pollution standards.
"He also suggested we reduce Clean Water Act regulation
- in fact, that we reduce the safe drinking water
portion of the Clean Water Act regulations - which I
also found astonishing."
Opponents of tougher clean water enforcement policies
got a setback last week, when the U.S. Court of Appeals
in Atlanta, Ga., ruled that the new Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) rules to regulate clean water
standards in Florida can go forward.
Harrelson, who attended the hearing uninvited, says
Stearns was once a principal proponent of protecting
Florida's water resources. Now, however, she says
Stearns is dunking the public interest by making claims
such as, "'This is very difficult for industries in
Florida and for businesses in Florida, and it is going
to result in some sort of increased bill for Floridians,
and loss of jobs.'"
The new EPA rules came after GRN and other environmental
activists exposed state regulators for ignoring nutrient
and industrial wastes seeping into rivers and streams,
smothering fish and covering some waterways with green
slime.