Last Stand - "Protecting the Keys"

Setting the record straight

One week ago, in the Saturday, August 16 edition of the KeyNoter newspaper, an editorial by the newspaper's publisher, Wane Markham, castigated Last Stand wth these statements:

Here's perfect example why government's broken

Talk about good intentions gone awry.

At Wednesday's County Commission meeting, an item listed under bulk approvals is announced innocently enough as "Approval of Engagement Agreement with Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, P.A."

Turns out that's a Palm Beach County law firm retained to defend the county in an administrative challenge over runway work done at Key West International Airport.

This was part of the county's compliance with Federal Aviation Administration rules governing runway safety. Because the airport is in an environmentally sensitive area, it took quite a bit of time and permit review to construct runway safety areas, which are designed to stop a rolling plane in a safe manner over a short distance. When the South Florida Water Management District approved the county application for the permit to relocate and fill a pond west of the existing runway, in steps Last Stand to file an appeal.

Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart will be hired to represent the county in this process if the contract is approved Wednesday.

Looking at their hourly rates, it's quite an eye-opener. Top-paid litigator listed pulls in a hefty $425 an hour. That would be Brian M. Seymour. Several other attorneys with the firm are in the $350 to $300 an hour range. And then some associates charge "only" $275 an hour on down to $200 an hour.

Here's another little wrinkle to consider.

When Monroe County applied for federal grants to make necessary runway improvements, the feds coughed up $7.5 million. Of that, the FAA sort of set aside $100,000 "for the costs of litigation."

So clearly, a portion of your federal tax dollar goes to help fund such stupid things as this.

The runway work has already been done. The pond is gone and the county did the required mitigation. Airplanes need a safe landing zone.

So one needs to ask Last Stand and others -- what's to be gained by filing an administration appeal on the Water Management District's permit approval?

If this is one of those so-called "holding actions," it strikes me as too little, too late, too expensive for us beleaguered tax payers.

And just looking at the paperwork needed to itemize the lawyers' travel expenses and per diem for lodging and a raft of other billable items makes my head hurt.

When you ask why government takes too long to accomplish so little and at such a high cost, Wednesday's agenda item on Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart gives you just one small part of the answer.

Last Stand recognized errors in the claims made in the editorial, and has problems with the implications made there. We have issued the following statement in response (which ran in today's KeyNoter):

Last Stand issues challenge to preserve environment EDITOR: Publisher Wayne Markham's Aug. 16 column about Last Stand challenging a recent South Florida Water Management District decision to issue a permit that would allow the county to fill a salt pond at Key West Internatioal Airport contained some very basic factual errors, including the bizarre statement that "the runway work has already been done. The pond is gone and the county did the required mitigation." Obviously if this were true, the county would not now be applying for the permit, and Last Stand would not be opposing it. In actuality, the wetland filling and mitigation have not already been done, and the Duck Pond has not been destroyed, but continues to provide a rare natural habitat on Key West. The Salt Ponds form Key West's largest remaining open space, and the Duck Pond is a part of the original natural salt pond, site of a salt-works industry in the early 1800s. With its limited tidal circulation and extreme seasonal variations, the Duck Pond provides a unique habitat for fish and wildlife. It continues to function as a true salt pond while all the other ponds in the Salt Ponds area are now fully tidal. In the wet season, water levels are high and salinities low, supporting flocks of teal and other migratory waterfowl that gave the pond its name. In the dry season, when water levels are low and salinities are high, it provides valuable habitat for wading birds and shorebirds. Preserving the Salt Ponds has been a goal of this community for more than 30 years. In deciding to issue the permit, the South Florida Water Management District acknowledged room to improve the project and reduce wetland impacts. It encouraged the parties to continue working toward beneficial changes to the planned project. Last Stand was instrumental in an earlier decision to use an engineered material to greatly reduce the extent of damage to mangroves at the east end of the runway and believes that by shifting the runway to the east, this project can be modified to provide the desired safety areas on the west end while avoiding all impacts to the Duck Pond. We are willing to resolve the challenge and urge the county to put the money it would spend on a private law firm and the attention it might put into defending a still-flawed project into modifying the project to one that we can all support. Albert Sullivan, President, Last Stand

Important Book Review

In today's Solares Hill newspaper there's a detailed book review by Last Stand director (and previous President) Dennis Henize.  The review and the book itself should be of intense interest to Last Stand members and anyone who doesn't like the thought of our islands disappearing below the surf in the years to come.  Here's a copy of the review....

Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming

“Censoring Science”
Mark Bowen
Penguin, $25.95

reviewed by Dennis Henize

If you have followed how the Bush administration has systematically censored government scientists whose work contradicts administration policies, particularly regarding global warming, you’ll want to read “Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming,” by Mark Bowen. It’s the story of the fight for our planet, 306 pages-long including acknowledgements and index, published in January of this year.

Censoring Science is both infuriating and compelling. It tells the story of how the Bush administration has done its best to keep the American public from hearing the bad news simply that the Earth’s climate is changing, much less that human activity, through burning of fossil fuels, is overwhelmingly likely the culprit. It also offers understandable explanations of the science behind global climate change.

The book, whose author holds a PhD in physics, chronicles the squelching of bad news related to climate change through Bush - Cheney political appointments of unqualified people to key management and public affairs positions within NASA and other agencies involved with Earth science and environment. In fact, NASA’s Mission Statement was quietly changed in 2006 to eliminate what had been its first line: “To understand and protect the home planet,” cutting the legs out from under its Earth science mission.

Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Science for the past 25 years, is regarded as the nation’s preeminent climate scientist. Since the late 1980s, Hansen has warned us that with the rate at which we’re adding CO2 to the atmosphere, we’re on a course that’s likely to change the planet in very profound, negative ways. Until fairly recently, Hansen, ever the optimist, had assumed that once mankind understood the problem, we’d demand policy changes to do something about it. But we’ve done virtually nothing and, during the past eight years, information that there even is a problem has been low-balled.

Through placement of administration cheerleaders in NASA public affairs posts, information that several recent years were among the warmest on record was suppressed. Dean Acosta, who was the head of Public Affairs at NASA headquarters, had a media background as a sportscaster. Another PA appointment in NASA, George Deutsch, who stated that his job was “to make the president look good,” eventually resigned after it was revealed that he had lied about graduating college.

Interestingly revealed in “Censoring Science,” Hansen has not always been a supporter of Al Gore’s call-to-arms on climate change. Although he recognized the problem, Hansen, during the Clinton years, was reticent to get on Gore’s bandwagon, feeling that Gore was trying too hard to spin the science. Hansen has since come to admit that Gore’s insights and intuition were on track.

Although hardcore climate skeptics probably won’t be swayed, the book offers good and clearly understandable explanations of how mankind’s burning of fossil fuels has set into motion processes that may in coming years become irreversible, leading to some very unsavory consequences...the most obvious for the Keys being significant sea-level rise. Very modest sea-level rise would make much (if not all) of the Keys uninhabitable.

Feedback mechanisms are well explained, the simplest being the change in Earth’s albedo (reflectivity) as the areal extent of ice diminishes. Ice and snow reflect sunlight, and with less surface area covered by ice and snow, Earth’s surface absorbs more sunlight, causing more heating, melting ice faster, accelerating the process. A less obvious but related and very significant feedback loop involves the release of methane (also a greenhouse gas) and CO2 gas as permafrost in arctic regions warms and melts. More greenhouse gas, more warmth is trapped (reflected back to Earth). As these and other amplifying feedbacks kick in, Hansen convincingly argues that at some point, the processes become runaway, such that reducing manmade release of greenhouse gases could not reverse the heating, i.e. the “tipping point.”

Sensitivity and time lag are also explained, sensitivity meaning how much temperature change (and its negative consequences) will result from a given increase in CO2 concentration. Time lag is significant, not only because warming lags behind increases in greenhouse gas concentration, but effects of the actual temperature change vary in the length of time to show up. Likewise but conversely, warming, as well as its negative impacts, will continue to occur for some time even if we get a handle on, and begin reducing, greenhouse gas emissions.

For specifics on how much temperature change we can expect from a “business as usual” continuation of CO2 emissions, and how much sea-level rise to expect from given amounts of warming, read the book. It’s available from the Monroe County library.

Some have said, quoting him incorrectly, that Hansen is predicting ridiculously dire consequences such as specific number of feet of sea-level rise. While he does present sealevel increases in certain ranges that have been associated with past global temperature records, he does hold out some hope that prompt and decisive actions can head off catastrophic climate change. But time’s awasting, and the past eight years certainly have been frittered away.

[There’s a bit of an epilogue to the book, which may or may not be relevant. Since the book’s publication, the Office of Inspector General of NASA in June issued a report on its investigation of claims that Hansen had been muzzled. Quoting from the IG’s report:

“Our investigation found that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public.”]

Extend the Oil Drilling Ban!

On Sept. 30, protections for America's coasts will expire, allowing oil companies to begin drilling for oil off beaches that have been protected for generations. To keep our protected coasts free of oil rigs and oil spills, Congress must act to extend the ban on new offshore oil drilling.Please consider taking action on this important topic.

More info, and assistance in writing to your representative, is available on the ENVIRONMENT AMERICA site.  Please do what you can.

Beaches water quality in the News

Yesterday television station WPLG ran a story about the National Resources Defense Council annual beaches water quality report, which they call "Testing the Waters 2008 Florida". (The report covers testing done in 2007.)  The full NRDC report is available as a 35 page PDF file, here.  Most of the report is made up of tables of beach testing data.

The Monroe County section of the report that lists how often each beach is tested and how many times it excedes standards is mostly blank (i.e., there is no testing).  Of the 45 Monroe beaches listed, only 17 are tested (once per week).  Of those 17,  ten show less than 5% "excedence" (percent of time where tests showed excess bacteria).  And only THREE showed excedence over 10%:

3. Coco Plum Beach (Marathon) - 12%
2. South Beach (Key West) - 18%
1. Higgs Beach (Key West) - 24%

Higgs Beach was ranked the worst in all of South Florida.  The WPLG report calls it "the most dangerous beach in South Florida".

South and Higgs beaches, along with Smathers beach, lead the Monroe County section of the count of Beach Advisory days, with MONTHS of advisories.  Only four other beaches (Simonton, Veterans, Sombrero, Pennekamp) had any advisories at all, and only of 1 or 2 weeks.

The WPLG video report (which mainly covers Miami-Dade county) is here: click

De-revising Bridle Path history

One week ago, in the Sunday, July 20 edition of the Key West Citizen , a guest editorial by former Key West Assistant City Manager John Jones was run under the title "Transportation Department got beach parking right the first time".   Within the editorial, John made the statement, "The small group of dissenters enlisted Last Stand and other environmental groups and packed the commission meeting that was to give final approval," and addtional comments about rudeness and strife. 

Last Stand feels the editorial was inaccurate both in portrayal and in fact, and has issued the following statement in response (which ran in today's Citizen):

State plan for beach was resolutely rejected Last Stand would like to comment on [former Key West Deputy City Manager] John Jones’ [guest column] in the July 20 Citizen. Mr. Jones states that in 2002 the state Department of Transportation (DOT) presented a redesign of South Roosevelt Boulevard that included paving the historic Bridle Path in order to shift the roadway and provide parking adjacent to Smathers’ Beach. He states that the general population approved the design. On the contrary, our community was very unified in its strong and vocal opposition (See Key West Citizen, March 31, 2002). Outrage at the unpopular plan was expressed by the City Commission, civic organizations ranging from the Chamber of Commerce to Last Stand, almost 100 individuals who turned out for the March 18 meeting, and later in newspaper articles, editorials and cartoons. This wide spectrum of opposition spoke loudly and clearly the wishes of the people, and the DOT finally listened and relented. Mr. Jones suggests returning to the rejected plan that would destroy the Bridle Path in order to provide more beachside parking. The Bridle Path was built by the WPA to beautify Key West and try to pull it out of the 1930s depression by making the island attractive to tourists. Today, the Bridle Path between the Salt Ponds and South Roosevelt continues to welcome visitors with breathtaking ocean vistas. For 80 years, Key Westers have enjoyed the double rows of tall coconut palms on the sandy path with its quiet mangrove edges where wading birds still feed. The Bridle Path is part of old Key West, its history and heritage. Last Stand remains committed to protecting the Bridle Path, our environment, and our quality of life, and we reject both Mr. Jones’ interpretation of history and his suggestions regarding paving over the Bridle Path. Albert Sullivan, President, Last Stand

Impending Events

Dear Members and Friends of Last Stand,

A couple of things coming up this week that we'd like to alert you to... one a serious upcoming issue, the other something fun and educational.  "Business" first...

(1)  Higgs Beach City Commission workshop meeting this Thursday 7/24/08 - 6PM, Old City Hall

A couple of months ago when the subject of the City's taking over Higgs Beach came up, Last Stand's board of directors objected to the City Commission's agreeing to take over Higgs Beach from Monroe County, on the grounds that not enough was known about the proposal for Commissioners, or for citizens making input to the Commissioners, to make an intelligent decision.  The City Commission then voted to place a question on the November ballot whether the City of Key West should take over Higgs Beach from the county.

The City's taking over the property, maintaining and running it, dealing with concessionaires, etc, is not without financial costs and risks, and we maintain that voters need to be informed before voting on the issue... on the costs to the city's taxpayers, and on what plans proponents of city ownership of Higgs Beach have in mind.

The Key West City Commission has scheduled a workshop session on Higgs Beach for this Thursday, July 24, at 6PM, Old City Hall at 510 Greene Street.  It is a public meeting and we urge Last Stand members to attend.  Last Stand's board of directors at this time does not have a position other than that the process should be public and transparent, with the plans and risks laid out for the voters.

Now the fun/educational event...

(2)  Reef Relief asked us to invite Last Stand members to an exhibit of rare books on corals and coral reefs, this coming Saturday (July 26), from 4 to 8PM at the Reef Relief Environmental Center, 631 Greene Street in Key West.

Quoting from Reef Relief's press release:

"The books are part of the private collection of Dr. James W. Porter, a coral reef scientist and a member of Reef Relief's Scientific Advisory Board.  He has built a professional library of more than 3,000 books and monographs on corals and coral reefs, dating from the 1500’s on.  It is the only known library of its kind dedicated to this subject, and is rich in material published in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries."

You can see the entire press release for the event here.

The exhibit is free, but Reef Relief will gladly accept donations for their educational programs.

Please say "NO" to Offshore Drilling

The following joint letter has been issued by Last Stand and Reef Relief. You will also see it in the local papers....

Speak out now on offshore drilling Last Stand and Reef Relief, two conservation organizations based in Key West, urge you to contact Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, and our congressional delegates today. Encourage them to protect our coral reefs, beaches, commercial fishing industry and tourism economy from the impacts of offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. There is more information and an online petition at www. reefrelief.org that you can sign, along with a sample letter you can send. We urge our representatives to protect Florida’s endangered coral reefs and all of America’s valuable marine environments on the outer continental shelf of America from offshore oil exploration and development. The current congressional bans on offshore drilling are there for good reason; the Keys are downstream of the toxic drilling muds. The current effort to open up these areas will neither lower gas prices nor solve our long-term energy needs. But they will jeopardize our tourism and commercial fishing industries for a few days of oil when better, renewable resources exist. Florida is the Sunshine State — let’s pursue being free of fossil fuels by investing in readily available non-polluting alternatives so that our economy and quality of life is protected for now and for future generations. Stop the oil subsidies in Congress now and invest in renewables; Congress has failed to renew legislation that provides tax credits for renewal energy, but there’s still time for that vote. If the United States had invested in renewables years ago, as other countries have done, we would not be held hostage to the oil interests today. Please consider this viewpoint as the issue of offshore oil and gas development is raised within the context of our current energy crisis. If we make wise decisions now, we can be safe, secure and healthy. Let’s restore, not risk, our oceans so that we benefit from vibrant coral reefs, clean coastal waters and abundant fisheries. Albert Sullivan, President, Last Stand DeeVon Quirolo, Executive director, Reef Relief

Several upcoming events

Three events to put on your calendar.....

Key West Green Drinks
Wednesday July 9  -- 6pm - 8pm
Poolside at "In Kahoots" (at the Holiday Inn)
3850 N. Roosevelt Boulevard

NEW THIS MONTH:  GREEN GIVE-AWAYS!

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Keyswide Sustain-Ability Project

BioDiesel Summit

This information-packed session will include:

• BioDiesel 101 (what it is, what it isn’t, where it comes from)
• BioDiesel Across the Nation (who’s using it and how)
• BioDiesel at Home (Examining self production for our government fleets, businesses and individuals)

And as always: Quarterly reports from other Keyswide Sustain-Ability Project members:

Monroe County, City of Key West, City of Marathon, City of Key Colony Beach, City of Layton, Village of Islamorada, South Florida Water Management District, Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, Florida Keys Electric Coop, Keys Energy Services, Monroe County School District, Waste Management and many more….!

Who is invited?  Anyone interested in using BioDiesel to cut carbon emissions, cut fuel costs, pamper your engines with a higher quality fuel, and support green collar jobs in the Keys.

Where?  Site to be announced.

RSVP: As soon as you wish!  Send a quick email to GLEE President: ahiggins@tnc.org

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The Florida Environmental Health Association

60th Annual Education Meeting & Trade Show

August 11 - 15, 2008

Full details available: here

The Rush To Flush

Our good friends at the Clean Water Network of Florida have been involved with extensive studies of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  Following is a recent summary of a more extensive report they have issued.  We urge everyone to understand the issues involved and assist where possible....

THE RUSH TO FLUSH
Groups call for legislation, planning and enforcement
to protect Gulf of Mexico from sewage

A report on the current condition of thousands of domestic wastewater treatment facilities along the Gulf Coast of Florida (from Pensacola to Key West) reveals that decades of poor planning and lax enforcement of the Clean Water Act has created an infrastructure meltdown in many coastal communities.  The information for the report was researched and compiled by the Clean Water Network of Florida over a two year period ending in 2008.

The research found that many of Florida's domestic wastewater facilities are either over-capacity at times or simply not performing at levels for which they are designed.  The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) frequently allows permits to expire for extended periods of time (when the plants cannot comply with previous permits), issues permits that are not protective of surface and/or groundwater standards, and is inconsistent if not lax on enforcement.

"Few people in Florida think about where their sewage ends up," says Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida and author of the report.  "We assume that the government is protecting us and the environment, but this is not always the case.  It is not uncommon for people to be swimming right next to a sewage outfall pipe and not even realize it."

In recent years Florida has seen unprecedented durations of red-tide and other harmful algal blooms, massive fish kills, and contaminated beaches - all of which can be linked to excessive nutrients and bacteria.  Sewage plant discharges contain both pollutants and while all of Florida's water quality problems do not originate from domestic wastewater facilities, the report clearly demonstrates that by its sheer volume, sewage plant discharges (to groundwater and surface waters) are a major contributor to polluted coastal waters.

As citizens across the state watch more of their local waters become unsafe for swimming and more frequent incidents of overflowing manholes, they search for elected officials who will take action to prevent or correct infrastructure problems in their communities.  While money is always an issue, some community leaders find creative ways to get much needed improvements funded and under construction.  Other utility violators get adept at the cat and mouse game with DEP.  Unfortunately, DEP is like a cat without claws or even a sense of smell - often ignoring glaring violations and cries for help from beleaguered citizens.

"In Wakulla, we sometimes see raw sewage over-flowing from manholes and running into nearby ditches and creeks," said Rich Johnson, a local concerned citizen.  "We were lucky to find a health department official who said he would help us track down the problems and start looking for solutions."

Over-whelmed or inadequate sewage systems are not just an inconvenience for would-be swimmers, they affect our fisheries, shell-fish waters and tourism industry as well. 

"Unless Florida comes to grips and acknowledges that our leaky sewage infrastructure is turning our pristine rivers into sewers, we will continue to have polluted beaches," said Jack Rudloe, director of Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory.   "We are already witnessing the demise of aquaculture with toxic dinoflagellates infecting shrimp hatchers. How can you grow shrimp, clams and oysters in waters that are over enriched by sewage, which contributes to toxic blooms of red tide organisms?" 

In a more perfect world, operators and owners of sewage treatment plants would make concerted efforts to stay within the limits of their permits and would avoid major problems with regular maintenance and prevention programs.  However, many of Florida's wastewater facilities are struggling to keep up with the over-whelming increases in flows from rampant growth and have little or no time to think about improvements.  The regulatory consequences for spills, overflows, upsets and outright destruction of important resources are minor if they exist at all.

"The results shown in this report, while troubling, are entirely expected due to years of lax enforcement," said Jerry Phillips, Director of Florida PEER and a former enforcement attorney with the FDEP.  "The FDEP's own data confirms that the agency has changed from an agency that once cared first about the environment and enforcement of Florida's laws to one that is now more concerned about quick settlements that do not require additional agency oversight.  To the great delight of polluters, 'Pay-to-Pollute' continues to be the agency's policy."

Citizens who want more information about sewage treatment and disposal in their communities can contact Clean Water Network of Florida at 850/222-8701 or cwnfl@earthlink.net.

Clean Water Network of Florida have more than 200 group members and thousands of individuals who work together to protect Florida's springs, wetlands, rivers, estuaries and coastal waters.

Oil and Water Don't Mix

Please join our friends at Reef Relief in their efforts to organize an opposition to the disastrous plans by the current administration to undo our past protections. Click the picture above (or this link) for details.