ACTION REQUEST

South Florida Free Beaches / FNA, Inc. Gov't Affairs Cmte.

Immediate Legislative Action Request Florida Senate Bill 382 - SFFB supports the Sobel amendment. Our subscribers are necessarily concerned with preserving water quality. We have just become aware of a Florida bill including an exemption for lawn care companies from pollution laws, allowing fertilizer runoff to enter our canal systems, and eventually the ocean.  Fertilizer pollutants are contributors to harmful algae blooms commonly known as "Red Tide." This exemption is buried in a 2121 line bill.  [bill text]  The Sobel amendment will eliminate this exemption. Bill info & history on FL Senate website We include an announcment on this issue from the Sierra Club with news hyperlinks for your consideration and evaluation. ACTION REQUEST: Call or email the following legislators in support of the Sobel Amendment to SB 382:  Larcenia Bullard (850) 487-5127 bullard.larcenia.web@flsenate.gov  Alex Diaz De la Portilla  (850) 487-5109 portilla.alex.web@flsenate.gov  Nan Rich  (850) 487-5103  rich.nan.web@flsenate.gov  Alex Villalobos  (850) 487-5130 villalobos.alex.web@flsenate.gov

Forwarded Message from the Sierra Club on this issue   Jon Ullman   Senior Organizer   Sierra Club   (305) 860-9888 The House version of the bad fertilizer pollution bill, HB 1445, passed on Monday, April 26. If the companion SB 382 is passed into law with the two bad fertilizer preemption amendments, it would undo ordinances passed for dozens of municipalities and counties that limit lawn fertilizer pollution and it would make it virtually impossible for other communities to enact higher standards. This pollution impacts rivers, bays, estuaries and beaches and is deadly to wildlife. When nutrients in fertilizer pollute ground and surface waters, algae devour them causing a population explosion called a "harmful algae bloom" (HAB)..  These blooms cause:   ·        Respiratory distress - Red Tide    ·        Nerve damage - Anabaena    ·        Liver damage - Microcystis /Cylindrospermopsis   It would:   ·       Invalidate existing and future rainy season bans on the application of lawn fertilizer   ·       Preempt local governments from taking the most effective and least expensive steps to protect water quality until it is too late. Here's a good blog about the state's preemption bill: http://environment.blogs.theledger.com/11214/the-fertilizer-pushers/ and a recent news story: http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/house-bill-would-stop-pinellas-fertilizer-ban/1089895

South Florida Free Beaches / FNA, Inc. Richard Mason  President Chair, Gov't Affairs Committee