Tell DEP: Don't Allow More Toxics In Florida's Water

Who would want more dangerous, cancer causing chemical compounds in Florida’s water? It would seem Gov. Rick Scott’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does. At the behest of polluters, DEP is looking to increase the amount of toxic chemicals in our rivers, lakes, and springs.

Sign the petition to DEP: no increases in toxic chemicals in Florida’s water. We’ll deliver your petitions to the Water Quality Standards Program, which is collecting public comments and developing these new standards.

Petition To The Florida Department Of Environmental Protection

The Florida Department Of Environmental Protection's (DEP) review of water toxicity standards should be an opportunity to strengthen and improve water quality, not for industry to further pollute Florida's water.

We the undersigned urge DEP to meet or exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) minimum recommended standards for any chemicals DEP regulates. In addition, DEP should look to regulate well-known dangerous chemical compounds that it is not currently regulating, such as dioxin.

DEP should protect public health and the environment, not the wallets of big polluters.

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Subject: Don't drink that

Friends,

Who would want more dangerous, cancer causing chemical compounds in Florida’s water? It would seem Gov. Rick Scott’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does. At the behest of polluters, DEP is looking to increase the amount of toxic chemicals in our rivers, lakes and springs.

Join me and sign the petition to DEP: no increases in toxic chemicals in Florida’s water:

http://act.progressflorida.org/sign/toxicwater/?source=taf

These petitions will be delivered to DEP’s Water Quality Standards Program, which is collecting public comments and developing these new standards.

The federal Clean Water Act requires states update their water quality standards regularly, but Florida hasn’t done so since the 1990s. While DEP is proposing to expand the number of chemicals it will regulate, most of these standards would be worse than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recommended standards1.

One of the most potentially damaging changes is DEP’s proposal to allow three times the current allowable level of benzene in water. Benzene is a well-known cancer causing chemical and a common byproduct of oil and gas production. Benzene’s obvious connection to fracking in particular should raise red flags for every Floridian2.

What’s also problematic is which chemicals DEP is choosing not to regulate. This includes dioxin, a byproduct of pulp and paper production, that according to the EPA is “highly toxic and can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, and can interfere with hormones.”

Once again, Gov. Scott’s DEP is choosing sides, and it’s not the public’s or the environment’s.

Take action now and let DEP know we don’t want more toxic chemicals in our water:

http://act.progressflorida.org/sign/toxicwater/?source=taf

Please share this alert far and wide so we can get as many Floridians pushing back against this dangerous proposal as possible. Thanks for all you do to protect the Florida we love.

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