Democratic House District 68 candidate Ben Diamond announced his plans to fight Florida’s green algae crisis Tuesday while also receiving endorsement from Florida Conservation Voters, an environmental group.
“We think he is going to be an incredible friend to Florida’s environment,” Aliki Moncrief, the group's director, said.
Both the FCV and Diamond were active in passing the Land and Water Legacy amendment in 2014, something for which Diamond promises to increase funding if elected.
“We have had a real crisis with the algae blooms,” Diamond said. “They are posing a threat to our aquifer and our drinking water and you are all aware the problem started in Lake Okeechobee.”
Diamond, who is in a tough Democratic primary against Eric Lynn in the election to fill the seat of outgoing State Rep. Dwight Dudley, said that the lack of response from Florida's overwhelmingly Republican legislature (and Gov. Rick Scott and his cabinet) is a real problem and promises that if he is elected into office, it will be made a priority.
“It’s been amazing to me to see the reaction of this real crisis from Tallahassee,” Diamond said. “It has basically been a typical Tallahassee reaction. The governor has proposed really nothing in the way of solutions as far as I could tell and engaged in the usual Tallahassee finger pointing, saying that this is all Washington’s fault.”
Diamond and his campaign team released a list of proposals for cleaning up Florida's wetlands and waterways, including boosting funding to environmental projects via the Land and Water Legacy amendment (2014's Amendment 1, which voters in the state overwhelmingly approved), which Florida's Republican-led legislature has largely used for purposes other than land acquisition and protection.
His outline also proposed modernizing Florida’s stormwater management standards, which haven’t been updated in nearly 30 years. His plans include restoring oversight of septic systems, and adopting the EPA’s recommended water quality standards. According to Diamond, Florida’s standards for 89 different toxic chemicals are less stringent than what the EPA recommends.
“It’s time the legislature got going,” Diamond said.
His plan will begin by bringing the funding for Florida Forever, Florida’s conservation and recreation land acquisition program aimed at conserving the state’s natural and cultural heritage, back up to the historic levels with an appropriation of $200 million in the next fiscal year with a series of incremental appropriations following that.
Diamond also wants to focus on putting more stringent timelines on cleaning up Florida’s waters.
“We can’t give the people who are polluting our water more time to clean up their messes,” Diamond said.
St. Petersburg City Council vice-chair Darden Rice, also an ardent environmentalist, was on hand to show support for Diamond during the press conference.
“The water, our rivers, our lakes, the gulf, the bays, the estuaries; that is what makes our city, our state, such a beautiful place to live,” Rice said. “And we need elected officials on all levels of government to do all they can do to protect our drinking water, our tourism, and recreation waters.”
The biggest proposal of all from Diamond is his commitment to form a stronger partnership with the state.
“There’s the city’s piece and the state’s piece,” Diamond said. “Part of leadership is setting goals … and it has to be a true partnership.”
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2016.