CS for HM 1589 & HM 1365

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to require the United States Environmental
4	Protection Agency to subject the proposed numeric nutrient
5	criteria for Florida to review by the agency's Science
6	Advisory Board and the Government Accountability Office or
7	the Congressional Budget Office.
8
9	WHEREAS, nutrients are essential for the biological health
10	and productivity of Florida waters, and
11	WHEREAS, a delicate relationship exists between the level
12	of nutrients in a water body and its health and productivity,
13	and
14	WHEREAS, increasing the level of nutrients in combination
15	with site-specific conditions can cause impairment to a water
16	body, and
17	WHEREAS, the establishment of numeric nutrient criteria in
18	a manner that fails to take into account site-specific factors
19	may result in criteria that lack adequate scientific support and
20	cause unintended environmental and economic consequences, and
21	WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency
22	determined that the State of Florida's standards on acceptable
23	phosphorus and nitrogen levels in its waters need federal
24	intervention, even though Florida has one of the most advanced
25	water quality standards programs in the nation, and
26	WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed
27	numeric nutrient criteria for the state's streams, canals, and
28	lakes in January 2010 and intends to propose criteria for the
29	state's coastal waters and estuaries in January 2011, and
30	WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency's schedule for
31	proposing and adopting statewide numeric nutrient criteria has
32	forced the agency to use a methodology that fails to fully take
33	into account the unique characteristics of Florida's many
34	thousands of rivers, streams, canals, and lakes, and
35	WHEREAS, for nearly 10 years, the Florida Legislature has
36	allocated millions of dollars to the state's Total Maximum Daily
37	Loads Program to scientifically evaluate the quality of
38	Florida's surface waters and promote the environmentally
39	beneficial projects necessary to clean up pollution, and
40	WHEREAS, the proposed numeric nutrient criteria ignore the
41	good work of, and may undermine, the state's science-based Total
42	Maximum Daily Loads Program, and
43	WHEREAS, the proposed numeric nutrient criteria will cause
44	severe negative repercussions with respect to alternative water
45	supply programs, including the beneficial reuse of reclaimed
46	water, and
47	WHEREAS, a study commissioned by the Florida Water
48	Environment Association Utility Council estimates that
49	wastewater utilities in the state will spend between $24 billion
50	and $51 billion in capital costs for additional wastewater
51	treatment facilities and incur increases in annual operating
52	costs between $4 million and $1 billion to comply with the
53	proposed numeric nutrient criteria, and
54	WHEREAS, such costs do not consider the economic
55	implications to industrial and stormwater facilities and to
56	agriculture which are likely comparable and additive, and
57	WHEREAS, the members of the Florida Legislature value the
58	health of our waterways but also recognize that the proposed
59	regulatory changes without adequate and flexible implementation
60	mechanisms will have severe economic consequences on the state's
61	agriculture, local governments, economically vital industries,
62	small businesses, and residents living below the poverty level
63	or on fixed incomes, and
64	WHEREAS, believing that regulatory changes should be based
65	on reliable, sound scientific data and analysis, the Florida
66	Legislature is concerned that the Environmental Protection
67	Agency's failure to account for the full range of natural
68	conditions in Florida in developing numeric nutrient criteria
69	does not adequately address the unique characteristics of the
70	state's many thousands of rivers, streams, canals, and lakes,
71	NOW, THEREFORE,
72
73	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
74
75	That the Congress of the United States is urged to:
76	(1)  Require the United States Environmental Protection
77	Agency to subject the proposed numeric nutrient criteria for
78	Florida to peer review by the agency's Science Advisory Board
79	and receive the board's peer review report prior to finalization
80	of the proposed rule to ensure that the numeric nutrient
81	criteria developed for the state are necessary to protect
82	applicable designated uses, based on sound scientific rationale,
83	reflective of the range of natural variability associated with
84	the state's waters, responsive to input from Florida's water
85	quality experts, responsive to available public and stakeholder
86	input, and sufficient to be integrated with the water quality
87	management tools available to the state; and
88	(2)  Require the United States Environmental Protection
89	Agency to subject the proposed numeric nutrient criteria for
90	Florida to review by the Government Accountability Office or the
91	Congressional Budget Office to assess the economic impact of the
92	proposed rule on Florida and adjoining states, particularly
93	including impacts to Florida's local governments, small
94	businesses, and residents living below the poverty level or on
95	fixed incomes, and further require that such review compare the
96	proposed rule to current law in Florida and not assume that
97	there will only be indirect impacts and that widespread
98	variances to the rule will be granted, as the agency assumed in
99	its own economic analysis.
100	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
101	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
102	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
103	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
104	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.