At a spot just east of the Gandy Bridge, a small crowd of activists and officials stood where a calm, mangrove-lined waterway met a road leading to one of the area's many large apartment complexes.
Minutes prior to the press conference set to take place there, said Environment Florida spokeswoman Jennifer Rubiello, a little otter had crossed the road and disappeared into the mangroves. For Rubiello, it really drove home the point the group was about to make about federal waterways protection.
To the predictable chagrin of many Republicans, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers are trying to strengthen the Clean Water Act a decade after environmentalists say the U.S. Supreme Court "gutted" its ability to protect smaller bodies of water. This might be accomplished by an executive order signed by President Obama, but only if Congressional Republicans don't pass a law to block it first.
The expanded (restored, actually) protections would cover streams and other smaller waterways that flow into bigger ones like Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, even ones that are seasonal or rain-dependent.
Despite rumors positing otherwise, the protections wouldn't apply to driveway puddles. Nor would they make it illegal to walk one's cows across a flooded pasture. And they don't apply to rain ditches. Or ponds on private farms.
And while some of the expansion's biggest critics call it the biggest land grab in history, advocates say regulating the health of smaller waterways, which lead into the big ones everyone likes, should be a no-brainer.
“With the burgeoning development along the coastal areas of Florida, we continue to see the loss of mangroves and other wetland habitats that we need to address in a more prudent way," said Michael Connors, director of sustainability and green initiatives for the city of St. Pete. "These are waterways that are near and dear to the environment of St. Petersburg. The tributaries to our surface waters are essentially the breeding ground for a multitude of different fish, crustaceans, birds and other wildlife.”
Rubiello said such protections also have a built-in economic impact for Tampa Bay.
“As we head into the winter months, Tampa Bay and all of its connected tributaries and wetlands, including the one right behind us here, are vital resources for Florida, providing clean drinking water and drawing millions of visitors to the area each year to canoe, sail and birdwatch,” she said.
Woody Pershing, who owns a Jet-ski rental shop in John's Pass, said his business depends on environmental quality; that visitors often climb off their Jet-skis raving about the wildlife they saw on the ride, much of which was born and partly raised in the shallow estuaries that flow into Tampa Bay.
“It can include dolphin-watching, seeing a slow-moving manatee, a shy sea-turtle. We have many species of Florida birds they see, and many species of fish,” he said.
Representatives from both U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's and Congresswoman Kathy Castor's offices were at Tuesday's press conference to show their support, even as they lamented the GOP's stated opposition to the change. It's unclear when there will be any further action on the rules. Rubiello said she hopes the Obama administration will get something finalized by early 2015.
That is, if Congress doesn't pass a law preventing any changes to the Clean Water Act (something the House attempted last fall), and if it doesn't, you know, attach a rider to an appropriations bill that would prevent any money from going toward implementing it.
