Florida settlement on nutrient criteria has nationwide implications

If you were looking for a state more different than those in the Intermountain West, you might pick Florida. And in many ways you'd be right. But a huge decision about nutrient pollution in Florida is going to make waves as far away as our Western backyard…or our backyard rivers anyway.

In a press release titled "Judge Approves Historic EPA Settlement Addressing Limits on Fertilizer and Animal Waste Pollution in Florida Waters" Earthjustice describes a victory in federal court that will goose nutrient criteria development. The press release reads:

Today’s action has nationwide implications. Currently, Florida and most other states have only vague limits regulating nutrient pollution. The U.S. EPA will now begin the process of imposing quantifiable – and enforceable -- water quality standards to tackle nutrient pollution, using data collected by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

How did we get to this point? The same press release notes:

The EPA originally gave Florida a 2004 deadline to set limits for nutrient pollution, which the state failed to meet. The EPA was then supposed to set limits itself, but failed to do so. Under the administration of President George W. Bush, the EPA let the states off the hook by allowing them to formulate plans without deadlines for action.

So this settlement now requires U.S. EPA to step in. For more coverage, check out the AP story.

Nutrients – and related issues such as algal blooms or dissolved oxygen problems – are near the top of the impairment cause list for most states in the Intermountain West region. Although all states in the region have narrative criteria that could apply to nutrient pollution, not a single state in the region has adopted statewide nutrient criteria. In three states – Arizona, Colorado, and Montana – waterbody-specific criteria have been established for a small number of waters. Nevada has established phosphorus criteria for different classes of their waters.

So this decision truly will cause at least ripples, and likely waves, in our region.