FDEP about to let Delray/Boynton off the hook!

[Sprocket]

This is a crime happening in your own backyard


Friday, August 11, the Palm Beach Post reports the FDEP is planning to issue a new permit to discharge partially treated sewage onto our local coral reefs.
Sewage plant to test nearby sea water for pollutants
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcsouth/content/local_news/epaper/2006/08/11/s1c_reef_0811.html

We need your help! Email the FDEP and tell them not to issue a permit until the Delray sewer plant is in full compliance with the Federal Clean Water Act.

The sewer plant's permit expired December 2005, yet it continues to dump over 13 million gallons a day of nutrient polluted wastewater into the coral reef habitat. The FDEP has rejected their permit application 5 times within the last year, but may now give the plant a permit because the plant has finally agreed to do water quality testing. Something the FDEP told them to begin over one year a go.

The mere testing of the water does not get the plant into compliance with the Federal law. The Clean Water Act is clear - the plant must demonstrate they are not degrading the receiving environment before a permit can be issued. The tests the plant will perform were already completed last year by Reef Rescue, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Palm Beach County ERM and showed nutrient pollution from the sewer pipe flows north with the current causing coral killing algae blooms on the reefs.

What you need to do: send an email to the FDEP and tell them: Do not issue a discharge permit to the Delray/Boynton wastewater treatment facility (NPDES Permit Application FL0035980) until they are in full compliance with the Clean Water Act and have demonstrated the discharge is not degrading the receiving environment - a coral reef habitat.

To send an email click here: http://www.reef-rescue.org/permit_renewal_objection.htm
sign your name and feel free to add any addition comments you feel will help.

Please take a minute to help protect our endangered coral reef. It is important FDEP knows people are watching and will hold them accountable to do their job of protecting the environment.

Please distribute this email widely.

Thank you for your efforts, if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Ed Tichenor
Palm Beach County Reef Rescue
www.reef-rescue.org
561 699-8559

[SpyMax]

Done. Had to put my gray of sand.

[surfer311]

ditto, just sent an e-mail too. thanks for the heads up

[xtremeandrew]

done. that's a bunch of "crap"...literally.

[Sprocket]

Press Release:



Group to Sue to Stop Coral Killing Pollution



Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition Threatens Legal Action over Ocean Sewage Dumping



Boca Raton, Florida – August 14, 2006: Activist attorney Barry M. Silver issued a 60 day letter of intent to bring legal action against the State of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection if it issues a permit to discharge sewage into the coral reef ecosystem of Palm Beach County. The threatened action grows out of the controversy surrounding the failure of the Boynton/Delray sewage treatment plant to secure a NPDES permit as required by the federal Clean Water Act.



Sewer plant’s federal permit expired in December 2005

The sewer plant applied in June 2005 for renewal of their federal NPDES permit to dump 26 million gallons a day of partially treated sewage off the shoreline of Delray Beach, FL. The application was rejected five times in the last year by FDEP for the plant's failure to do testing necessary to assess the environmental impact from its nutrient pollutant discharge into a nearby coral reef habitat. Pollution, that the group Palm Beach County Reef Rescue claims is responsible for a coral killing algae bloom which can be directly linked to the sewer plant’s ocean outfall pipe.



Silver commended FDEP for protecting the health of Florida’s dwindling coral reef resources by taking their stand against the sewer plant, but said "issuing a permit now, before all requirements of the Clean Water Act were met would be a violation of State and Federal law."



Sewer plant’s acceptance to do testing termed “too little, too late”

“The Delray sewer plant’s acceptance to test for pollution after 12 months of requests by the FDEP still does not meet the minimum requirements of the Clean Water Act”, says Silver. “The requirements of the Act are clear; the permit applicant must demonstrate the discharge of pollutants will not unreasonably degrade the receiving environment. Something the plant has not done. The plant’s failure to provide FDEP with the requested information in a timely manner can only be viewed as foot dragging and a blatant defiance of the law and its responsibilities to the public.”



Lack of proper sewage treatment could halt future development

Silver’s letter to FDEP cites significant economic implications associated with the continued discharge of pollution into the coastal waters; to the cities of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach who share ultimate responsibility for the operation of the sewer plant and to the financial benefit derived from the coastal recreational resources of Palm Beach County. “Continued growth in these municipalities cannot be permitted without adequate infrastructure to properly and legally treat the sewage generated at present day levels”, Silver warned.



The Clean Water Act allows for substantial penalties, a minimum of $1000.00 a day per violation. Silver contends the plant has been in violation of the Act since the algae blooms first began in March 2002.



Solution to the impasse offered

The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition says plans should be made to eliminate the discharge of nutrient pollution into the ocean as quickly as possible to prevent further harm to the coral reef environment and they offer the following solution:

1) The plant should immediately reduce the discharge of nutrients into the ocean to below levels demonstrated to have fostered Lyngbya algae blooms in the down current coral reef environment.

2) The plant should immediately seek funding and develop plans to totally eliminate the ocean discharge within five years.

3) In the five-year interim, and only as a last resort, if the plant cannot meet the nutrient standards a temporary extension of the discharge outfall shall be constructed to dispose of the nutrient pollution farther offshore and away from the coral reef habitat.



Silver says if FDEP fails to exercise its judicial responsibility pursuant to the Federal Pollution Control Act and other applicable State and Federal law the Environmental Coalition will have no choice but to file suit.





Interview contact: Barry M. Silver, Esq.
Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition
Telephone: (561) 483-6900
Email: Barryboca@aol.com

[Sprocket]

FDEP has renewed the permit although they are still in violation of the clean water Act. THis is a federal offense being committed by your goverment.

[smellyfoot]

sucks for you guys, surfing with turds can get stinky....i should know, I surf with kooks all the time

[surfer311]

why do you surf with kooks?

[Fishnsurfguy]

sucks for you guys, surfing with turds can get stinky....i should know, I surf with kooks all the time
What do turds have to do with kooks?:confused: :confused: