Florida is home to 7 companies EPA says are "major polluters."

[madfloridian]

Florida is home to 7 companies EPA says are on a "major polluters" watch list. One of them is the Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The state has no authority over it so they kicked the naval air station up to the EPA who has done nothing.

Seven Fla. businesses are on EPA watch list. Lake Wales trailer manufacturer among "high-priority violators."

Eager Beaver Trailers on U.S. 27 in Lake Wales manufactures trailers that can handle construction equipment weighing up to 60 tons. Those trailers, which are sandblasted and painted at the Central Florida location, are then sold through more than 300 dealerships in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Eager Beaver Trailers isn't the type of company you'd expect to be a major air polluter. But in July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documented significant concerns about toxic emissions from the company's paints and solvents. Within the last two months, the EPA included Eager Beaver Trailers and six other Florida sites on the Facility Watch List, which names "high-priority violators" of the Clean Air Act whose violations have gone unresolved for more than 270 days.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection fined the company $17,181, and the company says it fixed the problem.

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, in partnership with the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Integrity, is disclosing for the first time the air polluters in the Sunshine State that have most concerned federal regulators. These sites were included on the EPA Watch List in July or September for having unresolved violations.

The other Florida sites on the Facility Watch List were the Brevard County Central Disposal Facility in Cocoa, the Miami-Dade County Resource Recovery Facility in Doral, Motiva Enterprises in Tampa, the Pinellas County Resource Recovery Facility in St. Petersburg, Tampa Electric Co.'s Big Bend Station in Apollo Beach, and Naval Air Station Jacksonville.

Tampa Electric Co.'s Big Bend Station, a coal-burning power plant on the eastern banks of Tampa Bay, is a persistent violator. The company says all issues have been fixed.

The Naval facility also has paint problems.

At another Facility Watch List site, environmental regulators in Florida were blocked from enforcing emission standards against a high-priority polluter. In 2009, regulators cited the U.S. Navy for unauthorized paint blasting at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The U.S. Navy did not resolve the violation, which prompted the station's inclusion on the EPA's Facility Watch List. Yet regulators in Florida remained helpless to enforce environmental standards.

Alan Fargo, president of Friends of the Everglades said it succinctly.

"It's a systemic problem," Farago said. "What we have in Florida is a state that is claiming to be too poor to protect air and water quality while making it easy for business to keep polluting the environment."

[midnight]

1. What a shame... Allowing these polluters to get away with this...

[madfloridian]

2. Florida is trying to deregulate everything as fast as they can.

More profitable that way. Yes, it's a shame.

[russspeakeasy]

6. How does this governor plan to spin his association with these

earth rapers ?

[Scuba]

3. Friends of the Everglades on one side....

...friends of Rick on the other?

[madfloridian]

4. That would not surprise me at all.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

5. Another pending environmental disaster in Florida....

http://www.theledger.com/article/20111113/NEWS/111119761?Title=Lakeland-Officials-Nervous-About-Financial-Fallout-From-Fly-Ash-Pile


Fly ash, a byproduct of the burning of coal in Lakeland's McIntosh Power Plant, is stored in a large pile across the street from the plant.
Buy Photo Ernst Peters | The Ledger

"The landmark-sized mound is made up of more than 100,000 tons of fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, produced at the nearby C.D. McIntosh Jr. Power Plant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is wrapping up an effort to collect public comment on its push to label the ash a hazardous waste, which could affect the mountain and could spark expensive changes to the way Florida power plants operate.

For most states, the new classification would mean updating the protections at existing plant landfills to ensure security against groundwater contamination. But in Florida, where state statute prohibits the operation of hazardous waste landfills, Lakeland city officials said they are nervous about potential financial repercussions, likely in the millions of dollars.

Because much of Florida has absorbent soil and high groundwater levels, state law leaves Lakeland and other cities only one choice for getting rid of the thousands of tons of ash they produce. They can ship it out of state to the nearest approved landfill, which is in Emelle, Ala., said Kevin Cook, city spokesman."

[Smilo]

7. This would explain some of the election results..........

the pollution has addled many Floridians brains.

[Puget Progressive]

8. What a ridiculous and corrupt state -

the Texas of the Southeast. Homer Simpson said it well - "Florida, it's America's wang!"