The importance of the issue also brought out some emotion in Clemons, who said he is "apoplectic" about the sewage spills fouling waterways around the state. Clemons went further. Tapping his fingers on the desk to punctuate his point, he talked about how essential the work is this year of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee, which approved some big environmental regulation bills last week.
Last week provided an early glimpse of where the Legislature is headed when it comes to regulating the pollution sources that contribute to algae blooms and other water quality problems.
Substantial — and potentially costly — new regulations on polluters are on the table, something that wasn’t clear in the run-up to the 60-day session as Republican legislative leaders and new GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis talked about increasing funding for environmental remediation efforts, but largely avoided diving into the details of regulatory changes they might support.
Yet even as lawmakers began advancing tough new regulations last week on a bipartisan basis, the bills only address one of many pollution sources that contribute to algae problems. Environmental advocates continue to question whether the effort will evolve into something broader, or remain piecemeal and of limited effectiveness.
GOP leaders in both chambers say there is plenty more to come. But the clock is ticking.
DeSantis is pledging wholesale changes to how Florida approaches water quality issues.
But the biggest thing that lawmakers have delivered so far is a bill that slaps at municipal utilities for sewage spills. It would fine them $1 for each gallon spilled or force them to spend $2 on improving infrastructure. It also would require them to notify nearby homeowners when there's a spill.
The sewage spill legislation sponsored by state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, and Fine, R-Palm Bay, cleared committees in both chambers last week with the backing of environmental groups and unanimous bipartisan support, along with a bill that would boost permitting requirements for biosolids, or human waste left over from the municipal sewage treatment process.
Algae feed on the nutrients in human waste, so raw sewage spilling into waterways and biosolids leeching off farms — where they are used as fertilizer — and into groundwater or surface water can exacerbate algae problems.
Sewage spills remain a big problem across Florida, with 2.7 billion gallons of untreated human waste spilling into waterways over the last 10 years, including 33 million so far in 2019.
But municipal leaders say the sewage spill fines would be extremely costly for local taxpayers, and while environmental leaders support the legislation, they view it as just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Beyond broken sewage pipes, nutrients can wash into waterways from a wide range of sources, from fertilizer in urban stormwater runoff to leaky septic tanks and farm runoff. Legislation has been filed to address many of these issues, but has yet to advance.
Gruters also has a bill, sponsored in the House by Bradenton GOP state Rep. Will Robinson, that would require septic tanks to be inspected every five years.
Since Robinson filed his bill four months ago, it has not moved through a single committee in the Florida House or Senate.
The septic tank legislation has attracted intense scrutiny. Robinson’s HB 85 is among the most lobbied bills in the Legislature, with 100 different lobbyist appearance forms filed in the House. Entities ranging from the Association of Florida Community Developers to the Florida Association of Realtors and a range of city governments have weighed in to sway lawmakers on the bill.
The septic tank proposal illustrates why it can be so hard to address water quality issues in Florida.
The Legislature approved septic tank inspection legislation back in 2010, but it was repealed the next year under former Gov. Rick Scott after pushback from homeowners and industry groups. Since then lawmakers have tried to get the bill passed again to no avail.
Fine carried the septic tank bill in 2017.
“Two years ago there were certain industry groups that were very, very opposed to the bill,” Fine said.
Realtors worried that homes could become more difficult to sell if they failed septic tank inspections. There also were concerns raised by individual homeowners about the cost of the inspections and replacing failed septic systems or hooking up to central sewer.
“We simply can’t go and impose upon all of these people in all of their homes some tremendous cost to have to tie in to a different system,” House Speaker Jose Oliva said last week.
Clemons and his counterpart in the Senate — Environment and Natural Resources Committee Chair Bill Montford — both say they are continuing to look at the septic issue.
Montford, D-Tallahassee, represents rural areas in the Panhandle where he said the cost of replacing a septic system can be more than the value of someone’s home.
Yet Florida’s 2.6 million septic tanks represent a huge threat to water quality.
Florida Atlantic University research scientist Brian Lapointe testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government in January that much of the state’s water quality problems are related to septic tanks.
Nearly four in 10 Florida residents rely on a septic tank, and many of these tanks are failing, leaching nutrients into groundwater that migrate into surface water.
“Septic systems are one of the leading sources of pollution in many water systems in Florida and need to be addressed,” Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Rockledge, wrote in a recent op-ed that cited Lapointe’s research.
While there is GOP support for cracking down on municipal sewage spills and — to some degree — septic tanks, there has been less talk about regulating farm runoff, whether it is fertilizer or animal waste, both of which feed algae blooms.
Another issue that has not garnered much attention is urban stormwater runoff, which can carry lawn fertilizer and other nutrients into waterways. State Rep. Margaret Good, D-Siesta Key, has yet to get a hearing on her proposal to tighten stormwater regulations.
Some also would like to see a broader discussion about growth management. Many legislative leaders oppose the idea of reining in growth, even as Florida's population continues to increase at a rapid pace, straining the state's natural resources.
But with DeSantis campaiging aggressively against Big Sugar, the lack of attention to agriculture as a culprit in degraded water quality is conspicuous.
Some environmentalists see the focus on human waste as partly an effort to change the subject from agriculture, which has strong support among many Republicans in the Legislature.
Farms are getting some degree of scrutiny. The biosolids bill that advanced last week would tighten permitting requirements on the spreading of human waste on farm fields. But biosolids are just one component of how farms can impact water quality.
But Albritton added that everything is on the table this year when it comes to addressing nutrient pollution.
Environmentalists frequently say they want the Legislature to look beyond a single source of pollution and develop broad water quality rules that look at farms, lawns, septic tanks, sewage pipes and other sources of excess nutrients.
Albritton said it takes time to develop substantive legislation, and a lot of vetting. He believes lawmakers will get there.