NEW FLORIDA ENVIRONMENT CHIEF HAS POOR ENFORCEMENT RECORD
— Latest Numbers Show Fewer New Cases but More Fines than Historic Lows in 2005
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337
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Alarmingly low pollution enforcement rates in
The state’s figures for 2006 pollution enforcement
reveal that –
Significantly, DEP enforcement has been under the supervision of Mike Sole, the new Environment Secretary-designate. Prior to being appointed by Governor Crist to head the agency, Secretary Sole served as the Deputy Secretary over Regulatory Programs—the same programs that produced weak results. “In Florida, it pays to pollute because the small fines and lax oversight do little to deter future violations,” stated Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips, a former DEP enforcement attorney. “Pollution violations are treated like parking infractions.”
Only three out of thirteen enforcement programs, Asbestos, Waste Cleanup and Beaches and Coastal Systems, showed increased activity in 2006. In all other program areas, such as Air Pollution and Hazardous Waste, the number of enforcement cases actually dropped from the abysmal 2005 totals.
The PEER analysis also breaks down the
performance of each of DEP’s five regional offices
(called “districts”) by violation type, with comparisons of recent performance
to historic averages. In 2006, the DEP Southwest District, located in
“We hope that Governor Charlie Crist will aspire to do better than the dismal pollution enforcement
record compiled by the Jeb Bush team,” Phillips
added. “The choice of Mike Sole to run DEP suggests that the Crist administration has not intention of embracing tough
prosecutions as a strategy for combating pollution.”
http://peer.org/docs/fl/07_26_4_analysis.pdf
Trace the seven-year decline in Florida environmental enforcement
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View the 2006 DEP law enforcement survey results showing "fear of reprisal"
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=655