COASTAL TASK FORCEHelp tackle the assault of oil drilling, pollution and Red Tide on our communities. Meetings: Last Wed. of the month 7p.m. @The Garden Rrestaurant 1217 Central Ave For more information please contact Cathy Harrelson @ 727-415-8805 or cathy_bam@earthlink.net |
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NEXT MEETING: NOVEMBER 11TH
Coastal Supporters
Please join Sierra Club
for our
Coastal Task Force Meeting
Wednesday, November 11th at 7PM
The Garden Restaurant, 217 Central Ave, St. Pete
Our agenda for the evening:
1. Fertilizer Ordinance Status – Pinellas County & beyond. We have hit a statewide and national nerve with this “low-hanging fruit” so don’t miss these exciting enviro-developments.
**Pinellas County Ordinance likely will be heard on Tuesday, December 1st at 9:30AM so save the date. Time to strategize.
**Hillsborough County Ordinance hearing scheduled for December 9th.
2. Federal Climate Bill accompanied by the end of the ban on NEARSHORE DRILLING. Also starring our very own FLORIDA LEGISLATURE, who don’t understand that they actually LIVE HERE TOO!
**Green Energy Jobs Now (and that pesky little problem called climate change…)
**Campaign strategies: This is a short but vital campaign, folks, so your help is needed now.
3. Senator LeMieux Energy/Climate/Oil Drilling postcard campaign status update from the lovely Britten, USF-Sierra Club intern supreme.
4. Re-Power America: You’ll have a golden opportunity to send your video message to their climate wall.
See you there. Call me if you have questions.
Cathy Harrelson
Chair
727-415-8805
Coastal Supporters:
The Suncoast Sierra Club’s monthly Coastal Task Force meeting is held on the last Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm at The Garden Restaurant in downtown St. Pete. This month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 30.
This is a great chance to get involved and learn more about important coastal and conservation issues facing Pinellas County and beyond. Please mark your calendars for our monthly meetings and attend if you can. If you can’t attend but would like to be included in our Coastal and Conservation notifications, please send an email to Cathy Harrelson @ cathy_bam@earthlink.net
The Garden Restaurant address:
217 Central Ave
St Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 896-3800
Get directions
Agenda for September:
Cathy Harrelson
Coastal Task Force Chair
VICTORY:
Big Step Forward to Cleaner Waters for Pinellas County; 10/27 workshop next! By a 9-2 vote yesterday the Pinellas County Environmental Science Forum (ESF) voted to approve the subcommittee recommendation to remove an exception to a proposed rainy season nitrogen ban in the county’s draft fertilizer management ordinance. More...
VICTORY:
Sierra Club & Earthjustice announced that the US EPA has agreed to set legal limits for the widespread nutrient poisoning that triggers harmful algae blooms in Florida waters. This trumps the decade long delay of FL Dept. of Environmental Protection, which has long promised to address unchecked water pollution by setting standards, but failed to do so.
The settlement adds strength to other efforts to reduce nutrient pollution. Strong residential fertilizer ordinances at the county and municipal levels have helped communities along the gulf coast take proactive measures to protect their water resources. Numeric criteria for Nitrogen and Phosphorous will allow for easier and faster development of “total maximum daily load” limits, more protective Clean Water Act discharge permits, and the creation of measurable, objective, water quality baselines against which to measure environmental progress.
See the attached press release, or go to WUSF-FM, WMNF-FM, Fox13, and the St. Pete Times for more information. and Jacksonville, along with a teleconference for media in other areas of Florida.
Algae bloom continues to grow, now spreading from Safety Harbor to St. Petersburg’s Riviera Bay neighborhood. Lack of quantitative nutrient standards and fertilizer management ordinances have left the Bay vulnerable to nutrient pollution that results in this now annual phenomenon. Photo taken July 24th. You can also see the bloom while driving over the Bayside, Courtney Campbell and Howard Frankland Bridges. |
Thanks to Sierra Club members & allies who showed their support for cleaner water by attending the Aug. 21, 2009 press conference. Left to right: Linda Demler, Coastal Task Force Chair Cathy Harrelson, Kathy Douglas, Dr. David Randle of Waves of Change, Phil Compton, Sally Harkness |
The AP & St. Pete Times ace environmental reporter Craig Pittman also covered the press conference. Sierra Club, Earthjustice and St. John’s Riverkeeper also held press conferences today in Vero Beach and Jacksonville, along with a teleconference for media in other areas of Florida. Above, Sierra Club Red Tide Campaign Coordinator |
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TAKE ACTION: Contact your policymakers to protest any bill which would pre-empt the efforts of our local communities from making the changes necessary to reduce this runoff into our waterways.
READ about Fertilizer Use and its Impact on Harmful Algae Blooms(Red Tide)
Most of us are aware of the effect of harmful algal blooms on our communities in Pinellas County. Even now, the bloom known as Red Tide is devastating the water quality and destroying the marine life along our coastlines. It is equally damaging to our health and our economy.
In an effort to broaden our scope of the consequences of uncontrolled and poorly planned growth and development, we must now place great importance and consideration on human activities on land, and the resulting impacts to our coastal waterways. As a result, we are beginning our efforts by focusing on curtailing storm water run-off and the nutrient infusion to our waterways from the fertilizers used on our lawns, parks, and green spaces. The increase in development has resulted in a dramatic increase in impermeable surfaces where permeable green areas once existed, causing a further increase in nutrient-rich runoff that helps feed the algal blooms.
None of this has happened overnight, but the time for solutions is now. The Coastal Task Force is reaching out to community leaders and policy-makers to change landscaping rules to require native or no maintenance plants and ground covers. So far, we have received a warm reception. But these changes won’t happen without the help of volunteers from every community in Pinellas County. We need teams to watchdog their communities and keep an eye on proposed ordinance and land use changes happening in your back yard! With your help the days of the manicured lawns of sod and impermeable cement are numbered.
Please join us
Last Wed. of the month 7p.m.
@The Garden Rrestaurant
1217 Central Ave
St Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 896-3800 Get directions
To receive our email alerts, please email Cathy Harrelson at cathy_bam@earthlink.net
