Washington—The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) on Jan. 8 applauded a Jan. 7 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle regarding the establishment of federal numeric nutrient criteria for Florida waters. TFI said the ruling “strongly rebuts” the arguments of environmental litigants who filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2010, which resulted in EPA publishing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to establish federal water quality standards for Florida’s lakes and flowing water. TFI said Hinkle’s ruling “puts the management of Florida’s water quality back into the hands of the state, and ensures that science takes precedent when establishing water quality standards.” TFI said EPA’s NPRM represented the first time the federal agency has attempted to displace a state’s efforts to manage nutrient impacts by establishing federal numeric nutrient criteria. TFI said Hinkle “takes great strides in the ruling to explain that the EPA takes over only if the state fails to adopt appropriate standards,” which TFI said is an important distinction as other states work to develop their own nutrient standards. “TFI strongly supports the protection of our waterways with effective water resource protection programs,” said Chris Jahn, TFI president. “We also believe that water quality criteria, especially for nutrients, needs to use the best available science and be workable and achievable for industry and agriculture while also protecting the environment. We would like to thank the Florida Congressional delegation and the state legislature for their role in supporting the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and ensuring realistic and achievable science based standards are realized,” continued Jahn. “Finally, we extend our thanks to the FDEP for its tireless work to craft strong, realistic, and achievable nutrient criteria using a science-based approach that will have a positive impact on Florida’s waters.”
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