Earlier this week, County Commissioner Mike Byerly, along with fellow board members Susan Baird and Lee Pinkoson, voted against formally challenging a proposed state rule that would provide protections for the Lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee Rivers and their springs.
However, by Wednesday afternoon he had changed his mind and requested the issue be placed on the agenda for next Tuesday’s Alachua County Commission meeting.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection plans to adopt a rule that would set minimum flows and levels, or MFLs, for the rivers and would also establish related recovery strategies. MFLs identify the water levels above which there can be permitting without causing significant environmental harm to a particular body of water.
The county government is concerned about the newest version of the proposal, which eliminated a potential five-year limit for some consumptive use permits and would instead allow for 20-year permits.
Here’s Byerly’s email to his fellow commissioners and members of Alachua County staff:
At the time of Tuesday’s vote, based upon that morning’s testimony and my understanding of our options, I believed that a legal challenge to the DEP’s proposed MFL rule, while emotionally satisfying, would have been a waste of money. Since then, I’ve had a number of conversations with people more familiar with the legal and administrative aspects of this issue than I, and I’ve come to believe that I made the wrong decision.
I remain deeply skeptical that even a successful challenge to the proposed rule can significantly influence ultimate, day-to-day decisions of the water management districts with regard to consumptive use permits and recovery plans, if their governing boards and the pertinent state agencies retain their current policy agenda. There’s just too much discretion built into the process at multiple points. I also think there are significant risks associated with a legal challenge. However, I do now believe that there will have been value in delaying the rule adoption until after the November elections, if the governorship changes hands; enough value to justify the county’s financial expenditure.
I’m requesting that this issue be placed on the agenda for reconsideration at the commission’s Tuesday morning meeting on April 1st. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Mike Byerly