During the April-May, 2013 Florida Legislative
Session, CS/SB 1808 was passed by the Senate (on April 24) and the House (on
May 1), and is expected to be signed into law by Governor Scott.
This followed a March 15, 2013 Agreement between the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (FDEP), through which the EPA agreed to delegate
establishment of all surface water quality standards to the FDEP, provided such
standards and developed and adopted by the state within a certain time frame.
These water quality standards are referred to as
Numeric Nutrient Criteria (NNC), and focus on the primary nutrients Nitrogen (N)
and Phosphorous (P) that occur in surface waters.
The enactment of this Bill recognizes that the FDEP
has established (and EPA has approved) NNC for inland waters (including
streams, springs, lakes and some estuaries), and that these adopted standards
will be implemented in accordance with the document entitled “Implementation of
Florida’s Numeric Nutrient Standards”, which is also adopted by reference.
The Bill also provides that the FDEP will establish
NNC for coastal waters (including remaining estuaries) by December 1, 2014.
The FDEP must submit a status report on coastal NNC development to the
Governor and Legislature by August 1, 2013.
For more information on how these rule changes may
affect your interests, please contact us at depregulations@kingengineering.com
