May 26, 2010
 
Dear Friends of Florida’s Waters,
 
For more than a month now, we have all eagerly watched our news outlets for some shred of good news regarding the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  That good news has not materialized.  As we watch the image on TV or the internet of the millions of gallons of oil spewing into our beautiful Gulf waters, our hearts get heavier and heavier with grief and a sense of helplessness.  We are activists and helplessness is a feeling that doesn’t sit well in our hearts.
 
I have been watching and hoping to see aggressive preventive and protective measures put into place by local, state and national governments.  Some efforts are reported and some are obvious, but a full-scale, high-tech, top-shelf plan is not evident and apparently doesn’t exist.  Our Attorney General has put former Attorney General Jim Smith in a leadership role for guiding the state’s legal position.  Mr. Smith has been a registered lobbyist for BP in the recent past and clearly has a conflict of interest and has also never demonstrated any strong interest in protecting Florida’s natural resources. 
 
At DEP, Secretary Mike Sole is obviously in charge.  We know, without any doubt, that Mr. Sole has absolutely no interest in protecting Florida’s environment.  He proves that daily through his policy decisions and agency actions.  Mr. Sole has proven time and time again that his first and only allegiance is to politically powerful polluters that he has the ability to protect from us – the taxpayers and citizens of Florida who care about our resources.  In my opinion, Florida could not have a less reliable person in charge of coordinating an oil protection plan for Florida’s waters.
 
Many of you have called and emailed me to ask what I would recommend to help with this unprecedented disaster.  I’ve thought long and hard about what would be our best action, together as the Clean Water Network of Florida.  After discussing this with a number of scientists and my attorneys, we have decided that it is not good advice to encourage anyone to get personally in contact with the oil when it enters our waters.  It is toxic and hazardous to your health.  Why should you endanger your health when it is BP’s responsibility to hire professional, trained, well-supplied workers to deal with this problem?  I hope you will reconsider if you are thinking of doing anything that will put you in contact with the oil.
 
There is something you can do, however, and the Clean Water Network of Florida is happy to report that our board member and attorney Steven A. Medina has put together a citizen’s toolkit to help you have an effective voice in how Florida addresses the spill.  The toolkit provides a fill in the blank verified complaint that you can use to send a strong message to Mike Sole at DEP.  I served my complaint in person on Thursday when I was at the DEP building for the ERC meeting.  (That was the day Sole’s staff got the ERC to approve a 50 to 60 million gallon per day discharge to the Gulf of Mexico from the Buckeye Florida pulp mill and also to approve a new water classification/designated use for polluted waters that are unswimmable and barely fishable).  I hope that you will join me in filling it out, getting it notarized, and sending it to DEP.
 
 
The links to the toolkit can be found on the CWN-FL website:
 
The link to the Gulf of Mexico page is:
http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/issues_gulfmexico.php

The links to the documents themselves are:
http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/content/issues/Medina-Oil-Spill-WhitePaper-05062010.pdf
http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/content/issues/Medina-Oil-Spill-Grassroots-Kit-1-3.pdf
http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/content/issues/Medina-Oil-Spill-Grassroots-Kit-4.pdf
 
 
This complaint does not mean you have sued DEP.  It is a required first step before you can file suit against the agency.  I’m hoping that it won’t be necessary to ever file suit and that our state will get serious about making BP provide the required resources to protect our state waters before the oil gets to our shores.  I’m hoping that immediate economic assistance will be provided to all businesses and individuals who are being financially impacted by the oil spill.  BP should be doing anything and everything needed by the people of Florida to deal with the impacts of this spill. 
 
There are many lawsuits being filed in anticipation of damages that will be suffered both by businesses and individuals.  We are not interested in assessing the damages right now.  We want to prevent them.
 
I am asking you to do a few things as soon as possible to make our campaign to protect Florida from this disaster a success:
 
1) Please read the toolkit materials on our website and think through them carefully.  If you would like to do as I have done and send FDEP a verified complaint (30-day notice letter), then please follow your heart and take appropriate action.  You are not filing a lawsuit, but you are letting FDEP know that this is one of your options if they do not get serious about protecting our waters from the oil.
 
2)  If you choose not to send the notice letter then please write your own letter to FDEP and express your thoughts in that way.
 
3)  Whether or not you use our toolkit or write your own letter, please pass this campaign information on to everyone you know in Florida and encourage them to consider being a part of this statewide movement.
 
4)  If you have a website for your organization, please post a link to our campaign materials on the CWN-FL website.
 
5)  Make sure that your local government knows about the campaign and pass on the link to our materials.  We are encouraging local governments that are dissatisfied with the resources available to them for armoring their shorelines to join us in this proactive effort.
 
6)  Make a generous, special donation today to CWN-FL’s Fortress Florida Oil Disaster Fund by sending a check to the Clean Water Network of Florida, PO Box 254, Tallahassee, FL 32302.  Our legal team is working to keep the pressure on Florida officials in order to get the best possible protection for our state waters.  Remember the only rights you have are the ones you can enforce.  Your support of CWN-FL’s citizen enforcement campaign, Fortress Florida, will strengthen the only statewide effort to hold the state and BP accountable.
 
We are working on a list of pro-bono attorneys who are willing to represent citizens who want to take the next step in filing suit against the FDEP if that becomes necessary.  We hope that the Governor’s office and FDEP will make every effort to protect our waters from the oil and citizen suits will not become necessary.  You will be kept informed about everything that we learn and what we do along the way.  Please watch out website for updates in addition to email alerts that we will send to you.
 
Thank you in advance for reading this long email and for the time and attention that you devote to this matter.  Together we CAN have an impact and get better protection for our state and its amazing resources.
 
Your friend and fellow Floridian,
Linda L. Young, director