Loosen the rules? really Mr. Scott?

Opinion: Loosen the rules? Seriously Mr. Scott?
‘It has been a very long time since rules meant much of anything in Florida’

By Linda Young
Director, Clean Water Network of Florida
December 30, 2010

The handwriting is on the wall and if you are not yet worried about what the new Governor of Florida has in mind for you, then you must either be a developer like St. Joe Company, an electric utility or an insurance company.

Governor-elect Scott says he will loosen or fully dissolve any regulations that don’t make it quickly financially advantageous to do business in Florida.

Seriously??

It has been a very long time since rules meant much of anything in Florida.

He also wants to merge two of the state’s most corrupt agencies (Florida Department of Transportation and Florida Department of Environmental Protection) into one mega-mafia. They work hand-in-hand to cover each other’s behinds anyway, so why not?

If you think these allegations are just sour grapes from a disheartened environmentalist, then please read on and consider the following example. It offers insight into the unbridled, illegal exploitation of public money and environmental “rules” during the Bush and Crist administrations.

It should make you wonder, “how much looser can the rules get in Florida?”

On December 1, 2010 the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a report on improper payments that were made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In a 16-month period during 2007-2008, they found over $13 million (more than five percent) of payments made to 17 [of 26 tested] grantees reviewed were improper.

Topping the list of illegal payments was $6.6 million to the Panama City-Bay County Airport and Industrial District (aka the “Airport Authority”). No other project came close to this level of improper payments.

The report shows that the FAA’s Airport District Office retroactively modified records in an “overly accommodating” attempt to make previously ineligible uses of funds eligible.

“Such practices do not ensure the proper use of Federal funds,” the report points out.

One example given in the report says the Airport Authority received over $4 million for construction work on temporary pollution and erosion control. However, the Authority could not provide documentation demonstrating that the completed work met FAA and contract requirements (which includes daily inspections and tests to ensure all work conforms to the project’s technical specifications).

The fact that the construction crews had to use a barge to navigate around on the site may provide some insight to the situation.

The new airport construction environmental permits also required erosion control.

This was a critical component of this project since it was built in the headwaters of the most pristine, biologically diverse estuary in the entire Gulf of Mexico.

Pre-construction, these headwaters were a 4,000 acre, low-lying cypress swamp at the bottom of an 80,000 acre wetland. Paving over the bottom of this extremely sensitive area would obviously require a few rules to be followed, since the project was politically unstoppable.

But Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) oversight for the first year of construction was less than attentive, to say the least.

Only after the creeks and estuary were filled with several feet of mud and hundreds of aerial photos were sent to the federal government, did FDEP finally pay attention to the fiasco.

My organization sent Florida’s Department of Transportation many letters and even notices of intent to sue over the illegal funding that was being channeled through their agency.

Their response was “go ahead and sue us.” FDEP was equally cavalier about their duty to “protect” and enforce state and federal environmental laws.

They know that citizens have no way to hold them accountable and that the same politicians for whom they ignore the rules protect them.

So if Mr. Scott thinks he can further relax Florida’s environmental rules or the purse strings to our public coffers, then good luck to him.

Our two previous governors did an amazing job of dismantling what little protection we had and of making sure that money is no object for any project that has the right political backing in Florida.

For a full copy of the U.S. DOT report, go to:
http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/files/FAA%20AIP%20IPIA%20FINAL%2012-1-10.pdf

Linda Young is the Director of the Clean Water Network of Florida, a non-profit network of 300 groups working together to protect Florida’s springs, lakes, rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. Find out more at: www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org

[Editor’s note: According to the Federal report, FAA had originally rated 24 of the 26 grantees in question, including the Panama City Airport Authority, as “low-risk” for making improper payments.

Low-risk grantees can receive funding without submitting documentation or obtaining prior approval from FAA; as is required for high-risk grantees.

The U.S. DoT later determined that 15 of those “low-risk” grantees, including the Panama City Airport Authority, actually met Federal criteria for a “moderate-risk” rating.

According to FDoT, of those, 11 made improper payments totaling $12.9 million—more than 98 percent of the improper payments USDoT identified. The Panama City Airport Authority’s total was $6.6 million.]