All the Waterkeepers of Florida, on one map. Green is parts of Florida with no Waterkeepers. All the other colored areas are territories of one of the members of Waterkeepers Florida.
Thanks to Jen Lomberk, Vice-Chair, Waterkeepers Florida.
Same jurisdictions with names of the Waterkeepers: Continue reading
Water quality testing for nutrients and cyanotoxins were big topics at yesterday’s Public Workshop in Tallahassee. Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman was there, but had to leave at noon. So John S. Quarterman ended up speaking as Suwannee Riverkeeper and on behalf of Waterkeepers Florida, in Florida’s Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards.
![[Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-11-04--fl-triennial-review-tlh/20191104_091957.jpg)
Apalachicola Riverkeeper Georgia Ackerman
The FDEP presenters made it pretty clear they preferred putting up warning signs based on clorophyl a measurements and whenever cyanobacteria blooms are sighted, as they ask DOH to do now, to waiting for lab tests to come back to confirm, as EPA Continue reading
Yesterday, the Chair of Waterkeepers Florida received a resolution sponsored by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried and “signed by Governor DeSantis and the full Cabinet, recognizing the month of April as Water Conservation Month in Florida.” This is a good thing, but we should keep our eyes open about Florida’s current cabinet.
![[WKA FL Chair, Governor, Cabinet]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-04-02--fl-water-conservation-month/56161722_10157635950051162_4954783867346092032_n.jpg)
Left to right: Lisa Rinaman for WKA FL, unknown, Gov. Ron DeSantis, FDEP Secretary Noah Valenstein,
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, unknown, Attorney General Ashley Moody,
and Chief Financial Office Jimmy Patronis.
Commissioner Fried presented the resolution to Lisa Rinaman, the St. Johns Riverkeeper and Chair of Waterkeepers Florida. Read the resolution declaring April as Water Conservation Month here.
“On behalf of Waterkeepers Florida, we thank Commissioner Fried, Governor DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet for designating April as Water Conservation Month. Water conservation is critical to the work we do to protect and restore Florida’s waters. We applaud this resolution and the Cabinet’s commitment to conserving Florida’s waters and the opportunity to partner with our leaders to protect our waters for future generations,” said Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper.
On St. Johns Riverkeeper’s facebook page, yesterday: Continue reading
Matanzas Riverkeeper Jen Lomberk, St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman, Miami Waterkeeper Staff Attorney Kelly Cox presented a panel on Keeping Watch Over Our Waters: Florida’s Riverkeepers, on the agenda for PIEC 25.
![[Miami Waterkeeper attorney Kelly Cox]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2019-02-08--piec-wka-fl/20190208_142126.jpg)
Miami Waterkeeper attorney Kelly Cox
Also in the room were Continue reading
In one of its first actions at its first official board meeting,
FLORIDA voted to sign the
Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida, December 19, 2018.
This opposition throughout Florida to phosphate mines anywhere in the state
is especially timely, with
public hearings and a vote coming up in January soon
in Bradford County on the HPS II phosphate mine application.
A dozen of its thirteen members had already signed for their individual organizations. According to its bylaws, all members of WATERKEEPERS Florida are now signed on with the organization. Besides, the thirteenth member, Continue reading
Seven of the fourteen Florida Waterkeepers visited the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to express our serious concern and a sense of urgency to protect and restore Florida’s rivers, coast, bays, estuaries, lakes, springs, and aquifer, especially about resiliency after hurricanes, harmful algal blooms, BMAPs, and phosphate mines. I congratulated Noah Valenstein on his meteoric rise: only two and a half years ago he was just starting as head of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD), and now he’s the head of FDEP.
L-R: Andy Hayslip (Tampa Bay Waterkeeper),
Georgia Ackerman (Apalachicola Riverkeeper),
Marty Baum (Indian Riverkeeper),
Jen Lomberk (Matanzas Riverkeeper),
Drew Bartlett (Deputy Secretary for Ecosystem Restoration, FDEP),
Whitney Gray (Administrator, Florida Resilient Coastlines, FDEP),
Rick Frey (St. Marys Riverkeeper),
Lisa Rinaman (St. Johns Riverkeeper),
Noah Valenstein (Secretary, FDEP),
Shannon Blankinship (Advocacy Director, St. Johns Riverkeeper),
John S. Quarterman (hat, Suwannee Riverkeeper),
Tom Frick (back, Director, Division of Environmental Restoration, FDEP); Photo: John S. Quarterman for WWALS
Update 2018-12-30: The new organization WATERKEEPERS Florida, as one of its first acts, on December 19, 2018, signed the Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida, thus committing all thirteen of its member organizations.
Update 2018-11-13: Miami Waterkeeper has signed, bringing it to a round dozen Florida Waterkeepers.
Update 2018-08-18: Calusa Waterkeeper has also signed, bringing it to 11 of the 14 Waterkeepers in Florida. (See also PDF.)
Update 2018-08-01: Five additional signers: Suncoast Waterkeeper, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Indian Riverkeeper, St. Marys Riverkeeper, and Collier County Waterkeeper. Seven of us delivered this resolution in person to FDEP Secretary Noah Valenstein.
Delivered via email as PDF to the Union BOCC before their phosphate mine workshop of Monday, December 18, 2017.
A Resolution
Against Phosphate Mines in Florida
WHEREAS, Waterkeeper Alliance Members are obligated and dedicated to protect the water resources, citizens’ interests, and related benefits in their jurisdictions; and
WHEREAS, phosphate mines have been shown to threaten and cause actual harm to these
resources, interest, and related benefits; and
WHEREAS, there are several phosphate mine projects in various stages of permitting in local, state, and federal agencies including county and city governments, Water Management Districts (WMDs), Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); and
WHEREAS, there seems to be no public list of current phosphate mines and related facitlities, which include at least
Continue readingFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hahira, Georgia, November 21, 2017 — Factually incorrect, failing to account for LNG export or solar power, and irresponsible for not finding or creating a method for attributing environmental effects to greenhouse gases, as the DC Circuit Court had instructed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to do: that’s what nine Riverkeepers called FERC’s Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) yesterday; see their letter to FERC. The nine include all the Riverkeepers in the path of Sabal Trail and all parts of the Southeast Market Pipelines Project (SMPP) plus others in all three states invaded by those pipelines, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, plus Oklahoma, where the SMPP instigator, Florida Power & Light (FPL), owns a fracking field, The nine, who support fishable, swimmable, drinkable water, pointed out that all of FPL’s original excuses for Sabal Trail have been proven incorrect, and asked FERC to shut it down.
Sabal Trail in green, Transco and FSC in black, in Sierra Club interactive map of gas pipelines.
The Riverkeepers weren’t buying FERC’s ignorance: Continue reading
Filed today as FERC Accession number 20171120-5130, “Opposition to the incorrect and inadequate FERC Sabal Trail SEIS and request for pipeline shut down by Suwannee Riverkeeper (WWALS) and Apalachicola, Ogeechee, Grand, Choctawhatchee, Chattahoochee, Indian, and Flint Riverkeepers.” (Or see WWALS PDF.)
From: The undersigned Waterkeepers
Date: November 20, 2017
To: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, DC 20426
Re: We oppose the incorrect and inadequate FERC Sabal Trail SEIS
FERC Docket Numbers CP14-554-002, CP15-16-003, and CP15-17-002
On September 27, 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published a draft Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).[1] That SEIS was in response to the August 27, 2017 DC Circuit Court decision[2] regarding FERC’s previous approval of Certificates of Convenience and Necessity for the three parts of the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project (SMPP), which are the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC’s (Transco) Hillabee Expansion Project in Docket No. CP15-16-000; Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC’s (Sabal Trail) Sabal Trail Project in Docket No. CP15-17-000; and Florida Southeast Connection, LLC’s (FSC) Florida Southeast Connection Project in Docket No. CP14-554-000. The judges ordered:
“The orders under review are vacated and remanded to FERC for the preparation of an environmental impact statement that is consistent with this opinion.“
The draft SEIS issued by FERC is clearly not consistent with the court’s opinion for the following reasons:
![[Jurisdictions-wkfl]](https://www.wwals.net/pictures/2020-02-07--wkfl-jurisdictions/jurisdictions-wkfl.jpg)