Floridians, you can help protect our river, springs, and Floridan Aquifer!

Please use these convenient Waterkeepers Florida forms to ask Florida Governor DeSantis to veto three bad bills:

Suwannee Riverkeeper wants you! Photo: Shirley Kokidko, Alapahoochee River 2022-07-09

Don’t forget to sign the petition for a constitutional amendment referendum on Right to Clean and Healthy Waters:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/

Georgians and everybody else, you can still send a comment to GA-EPD opposing a titanium dioxide strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov

Radioactive Roads

https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/saynotoradioactiveroads/

Senate Bill 1258 and House Bill 1191 “Use of Phosphogypsum” would approve the use of radioactive waste called “phosphogypsum” in road construction. The EPA currently prohibits using this toxic waste in roadway construction because it poses an unacceptable risk to public health, water and air quality, and road construction workers. The bill will give a free pass to industry to produce even more fertilizer that ultimately flushes into and pollutes our local waterways. At a time when waterways across the state are plagued with chronic pollution, harmful algal blooms, and fish kills—it is more urgent than ever that we prevent known sources of pollution from entering our waterways.

For much more about phosphate mines, including the Nutrien mine in Hamilton County that will close down in less than a decade, with its waste to go who knows where:
https://wwals.net/issues/phosphate-mining/

Fertilizer Ordinance Preemption

https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/stopthefertilizerpreemption/

The legislature is trying to stop local governments from protecting their waterways from nutrient pollution by adding language to the budget at the last minute that could prohibit local governments from adopting or amending fertilizer application ordinances for the next year. We need your voice to ask Governor DeSantis to VETO the fertilizer preemption.

As everyone knows, fertilizer nitrates leaching through the soil into our springs and rivers is the main cause of the algae blooms that crowd out native vegetation and starve fish and manatees in the Suwannee River Basin. The state’s Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs) won’t solve that problem. Counties and cities can pass ordinances to address the problem, but not if this bill becomes law.

For much more about phosphate mines, including the Nutrien mine in Hamilton County that will close down in less than a decade, with its waste to go who knows where:
https://wwals.net/issues/phosphate-mining/

SB 540 – Comprehensive Plans

https://waterkeepersflorida.good.do/Development_Bills/

SB 540 would threaten ordinary Floridians with financial ruin for exercising their right to legally challenge bad development decisions. Specifically, citizens who challenge Comprehensive Plan amendments would be forced to pay the attorney fees and costs of the prevailing local government and developers if they lose their challenge. Unchecked growth degrades our water quality, exacerbates flooding, and destroys our natural resources.

For more about Waterkeepers Florida, of which Suwannee Riverkeeper is a member:
https://www.waterkeepersflorida.org/

Right to Clean Water

While you’re at it, please sign the petition for a constitutional amendment referendum on Right to Clean and Healthy Waters:
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/

Meanwhile, in Georgia

Georgians, don’t feel left out. You can still send a comment to GA-EPD opposing a titanium dioxide strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp:
twinpines.comment@dnr.ga.gov
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/

And urge your friends and family in Florida to get those bills vetoed.

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/