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Column: Put BP oil spill money back into the environment

 
Richard D. Garrity will retire after serving for fifteen years as the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County. "I feel like I've had the time of my life here and at my previous position at The State Department of Environmental Protection. I feel like I'm leaving the agency in good hands."
Richard D. Garrity will retire after serving for fifteen years as the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County. "I feel like I've had the time of my life here and at my previous position at The State Department of Environmental Protection. I feel like I'm leaving the agency in good hands."
Published Sept. 4, 2015

The BP oil spill of 2010 was an environmental disaster of the first order. Even with the best efforts of environmental scientists, the true extent of the impact on the Gulf of Mexico's viability may never be known. What is known is that the impact to water quality and marine life was extensive, and the impact to the economies of Florida's Gulf Coast counties was enormous.

Recently, it was announced that gulf counties will receive the first settlement money from BP oil spill funds meant to compensate local communities for economic and environmental losses from the spill. Hillsborough County will receive a net award of about $22.8 million from this portion of the settlement. More funds are expected later through the Southwest Florida Regional Ecosystem Restoration Plan submitted by the local National Estuary Programs, but there is still uncertainty as to what projects will ultimately be approved and when.

How the county settlement money is spent is entirely up to the Board of County Commissioners. On behalf of the Environmental Protection Commission's Environmental Feedback Group, we strongly support using the greatest amount of this money for the Jan K. Platt Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program.

This program has been of critical importance in Hillsborough County by providing for low-cost water quantity and quality management through retention of flood waters, allowing cleansing of stormwater flows and preventing flooding, and also by providing for public use and recreation including hiking, fishing, bird watching, boating/canoeing/kayaking, camping and biking. In addition, the environmental lands acquired through the program protect wildlife populations and provide valuable wildlife corridors between parks and preserves. But the program's continued funding by the county has been affected by local economic factors.

The Environmental Protection Commission's regard for the importance of the program is reflected in the past provision of millions of dollars, through the Pollution Recovery Fund and Gardinier Settlement Trust Fund, to preserve and maintain land acquisition program properties and county parks throughout Hillsborough County. Thus, we recommend that the majority of the settlement funds be allocated for acquisition and management of conservation lands in Hillsborough County. In addition, we strongly endorse appropriating a portion of this settlement (10 percent) for important long-term monitoring programs by the environmental commission.

The commission's long-term environmental monitoring programs are among the premier programs in the country, and the scientific information and data that the monitoring programs provide have been used time and again for important regulatory and siting decisions. Directing 10 percent of the settlement funds to the commission would allow the purchase of much-needed, updated monitoring equipment, including replacement of an aging fleet of sampling boats, and would provide for state-of-the-art air and water quality laboratory equipment. These boats and equipment are vitally necessary to carry on these critical long-term environmental monitoring operations, but are currently unbudgeted.

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We thank commissioners Les Miller and Stacey White for their prudent plans to direct the county settlement money to environmental restoration programs and the full board for its continuing concern for the environment of Hillsborough County.

Our natural environment is unquestionably of great importance because it enhances the quality of life of all our citizens, but it also stokes our region's largest economic engines.

A 2014 report prepared by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council titled "Economic Valuation of Tampa Bay" indicates that:

• $22 billion in GDP for the Tampa Bay region is due to a healthy bay;

• One out of every five jobs is dependent on a healthy bay;

• 1.4 million employees work within the Tampa Bay watershed;

• A home on a healthy Tampa Bay will generate on average nearly four times the amount of taxes than the median county home.

Tampa Bay is a focal point of the region's premier industry — tourism. Ecotourism is a growing attraction to our region where sport fishing, boating, kayaking and wildlife watching are increasingly popular activities among both visitors and residents. These interests are fueled by steady improvements in water quality that continue to reap ecological and economic benefits.

Richard Garrity retired in June as executive director of Hillsborough County's Environmental Protection Commission. Jan Platt is a former Hillsborough County commissioner. They wrote this article exclusively for the Tampa Bay Times.