Monday, November 15, 2010

EPA unveils new pollution standards for Florida waters, then delays them

By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

For months, everyone from Florida's new Republican governor to its Democratic senator to its farmers, sewer plant operators and utilities has been trying to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to back off new water pollution standards for Florida.

Cleaning up the waterways, they warned, would ruin the state's already shaky economy.

On Monday, EPA officials announced they were ready to unveil the new pollution limits for Florida's rivers, lakes and springs — but with a catch.

The federal agency will not implement the 168 pages of new standards, which could cost residents an extra 11 to 20 cents a day per household, for another 15 months.

The delay is necessary to counteract all the "exaggerated, doomsday claims" that opponents have been spreading, explained the EPA's Atlanta regional administrator, Gwen Keyes Fleming.

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