A late arriving bill in the Florida House of Representatives includes changes to 29 different environmental laws and undermines the rights of citizens to protect themselves from polluting industries.
House Bill 991 by Jimmy Patronis (R-Panama City) is comprised of scores of special interest changes to long-standing environmental policies. The bill limits local regulation of mining, affirms that groundwater can be contaminated by landfills, allows increased development in wetlands, and excuses some owners of underground tanks from protecting groundwater from leaking fuel, while greatly diminishing the rights of citizens to challenge environmentally harmful projects.
In a sudden move on Thursday, House leaders removed the bill’s last two committee stops creating a smooth path to passage in the House. Although the bill’s sponsor had several stakeholder meetings to listen to objections to the bill, more offending changes were added at the last committee stop.
This bill has so many bad provisions that the House leaders should send the bill back to committee to remove offending sections and Senate leaders should resist special interest attempts to amend the bill’s bad provisions to unrelated legislation.
Audubon of Florida was part of a press conference today regarding this important issue. Please read the following press release, information sheet and bill details.
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