fertilizer legislation alert:
act now to safeguard local rules

April 26, 2010 – The city of Sanibel sent out a Special Legislative Alert today asking people to add their voices to the call to stop harmful legislation currently being considered by Florida's State Legislators that would result in Sanibel waters being further polluted by fertilizers.

Also today, the city of Sanibel issued a letter in opposition of Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 1445. Click here to view the letter.

Some background:

1 - A statewide fertilizer ordinance was being considered in 2008 but never came up for a vote due to opposition from groups that felt it was not strong enough and could have pre-empted localities from enacting stronger ordinances that went beyond the provisions of the state law..

2 - A similar bill was passed in 2009, though, and signed by Gov. Crist. So there IS a statewide fertilizer bill in effect with a model ordinance for localities to follow. As written, it doesn't pre-empt stricter bills by local governments.

3 - Opponents of that bill – primarily the agriculture and fertilizer industries – are now trying to pass a different bill that would effectively pre-empt stricter local ordinances by requiring them to jump quite a hurdle before they could enact stricter fertilizer regulations; i.e., they would first have to have their local waters designated as "impaired." That bill passed the House General Government Council Friday and is moving forward in the House or Senate.

4 - Meanwhile, the 2009 state fertilizer ordinance stands.

It is PURRE's belief that a standard statewide fertilizer ordinance with regulations specifying acceptable nutrient limits, calculated to protect against degradation of water quality, should be put in place as mandatory minimum standards, with the right of localities to enact more stringent controls as they deem necessary to achieve the level of water quality that they determine appropriate for their respective communities and water bodies.

It is important to reaffirm that each community has the right to determine its own course environmentally, subject to minimum standards, much as it has the right to determine its own zoning restrictions. Local governments should not be pre-empted explicitly from setting their own, respective standards that exceed the statewide minimums.

Nor should local governments be pre-empted implicitly by being required to meet insurmountable obstacles in order to protect their respective local environments. PURRE believes that the current law is not broken and, therefore, there is no reason to revise it in any way.

The city of Sanibel in its call to action today has asked everyone to please contact the following Florida State Legislators and ask them to stop urban fertilizer preemption and protect local economies from Senate Bill 382 and House Bill 1445:

FLORIDA SENATE

Senator Jeff Atwater (Senate President) atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Thad Altman altman.thad.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Dave Aronberg aronberg.dave.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Carey Baker baker.carey.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Michael Bennett bennett.mike.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Lee Constantine constantine.lee.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Victor Crist crist.victor.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Nancy Detert detert.nancy.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Paula Dockery dockery.paula.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Mike Fasano fasano.mike.web@flsenate.gov

Senator Alfred Lawson lawson.alfred.web@flsenate.gov