Dear Secretary Sole:
We were disturbed to learn that stormwater controls during construction of the Bay County Airport are inadequate to prevent harm to receiving waterways. We request a meeting with you or a representative of the Department to review the permits for the airport, to understand how the permitted activity was allowed to impact water resources, to learn the steps being taken to remedy and mitigate the impacts to water resources, and to urge improvements to the permits and project management.
We are deeply concerned that assurances provided to Audubon of Florida that offsite water resources would be protected from stormwater releases have not been fulfilled. The stormwater incidents reported in the news media and the resulting damage to adjacent waterways has done serious damage to public confidence in the airport relocation project.
Protecting St. Andrew Bay water quality was the primary reason Audubon and others encouraged protection of the buffer around the Bay known as the West Bay Preservation Area. We did not anticipate that poor design or construction of the airport would lead to such significant impacts. Unusual weather is not to blame.
We urge you to use all power at your disposal to force the contractors to limit construction activity to those actions that will contain and treat stormwater and protect receiving waters.
