Florida Field Office

Florida PEER is dedicated to fostering a necessary climate of oversight by helping the honest employees in those agencies to do their jobs. These employees often find themselves marginalized, even blackballed, if they try to abide by the very laws that they are sworn to uphold.
We heard a lot in the last election about a “culture of corruption” in Congress. Well, we see the same such corruption in the state environmental agencies tasked with the job of ensuring that our environment is preserved. It is a corruption at the highest levels of decision-making. A corruption that, left unabated, has lead to the destruction of the fragile environment and its natural resources. In time, this negligence will also lead to a declining economy when tourists ultimately decide that they don’t want to spend their hard-earned dollars on beaches and rivers that are choked with harmful algae and pollutants – beaches and rivers that are also devoid of much of the fish and wildlife that we cherish.
Contact
Jerry Phillips
P.O. Box 14463
Tallahassee, FL 32317
phone: (850) 877-8097
email: flpeer@peer.org
NEWS FROM FLORIDA
Major Florida Wastewater Violators Go Unpunished
Many Million Gallon/Day Dischargers Remain in Noncompliance for Years
Florida Polluters Get off Scott-Free
Eco-Penalty Assessments Drop to All-Time Low: More Than Third Not Fined at All
Florida Pollution Enforcement Plummets to Record Low
Latest Enforcement Statistics Belie Scott Campaign Pledge to Get Tough on Polluters
New Park Director Faces First Test on Gulf Islands Road
Plan to Armor Road Requires Director to Set Aside Conservation Rules
Scott Environmental Success Claims Cut out of Whole Cloth
Astronomic 96% Compliance Boast False but Statistics Highlight Rising Dysfunction
Massive Beach Replenishments Killing Florida Reefs
State Drops Reef Protections on Beach Projects; Call for Federal Intervention
Record Manatee Deaths in 2013 on Surging Red Tides
Fatalities More than Double; Red Tide Deaths Equal Combined 8 Year-Total
Florida Pollution Enforcement in Paralysis
Cases and Fines Nosedive to Record Low Levels; Penalties Collected Fall 70%
EPA Drops Conflict-Of-Interest Probe of Top Florida Officials
EPA Let Vinyard Run out the Clock on Complaint without Determining Violation
EPA Abdicates Oversight Role in Protecting Florida Waters
State Pollution Permitting Standards Warped to Accommodate Corporate Agenda
Boca Raton Drinking Water Violations Swept Under Rug
Scathing Palm Beach Health Department Findings Prompt Slap-on-Wrist Settlement
Florida Eco-Agency Cuts Muscle and Bone – Fat Long Gone
DEP Says It Has No Written Explanation of How Employees Were Selected for Firing
Four More Florida Panthers Die in November; Two This Week
With 23 Deaths So Far This Year, 2012 Could Become Deadliest on Record
Rolling Purge Ripples Through Florida Environment Agency
Staff Told to “Demonstrate Job Creation” as Colleagues Escorted Out of Building
Three Rare Florida Panthers Perish in One Week
With 19 Deaths So Far This Year, 2012 Could Become Deadliest on Record
Boca Raton Drinking Water Violations Spark Health Action
Palm Beach Health Department Notice of Violation Orders Immediate Corrections
Florida Begins Dismantling Already Anemic Eco-Program
Unilateral Environmental Disarmament Based on Myth of Universal Compliance
Florida Environment Secretary Plays Shell Game with EPA
Last Minute Attempt to Rewrite Vinyard Résumé to Avoid Federal Debarment
Manatees
The endangered Florida manatee has made only tenuous progress toward recovery, principally due to lawsuits. And that progress has been reversed in the last few years due to toxic algae and removal of protections. With a population hovering under 6000 animals,...
Pollution Enforcement Implodes Under Florida’s Scott
Big Drop in Cases and Fines as DEP Staff Instructed to Avoid Enforcement