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GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,810
1,923
all the NW Florida legislators pushed for these bill I think. We who depend so much on tourists who come here for our beautiful environment for our livelihood, need to pay attention.
Here is a voice from one of Florida's most conservative newspapers:

Anti-regulation zealots jeopardize environment | jacksonville.com
Take Scott's job killers claim. The DCA hasn't halted development, as Scott suggests.

These are the facts:

In the last four years, the DCA has approved more than 2 billion square feet of non-residential development. It also has approved 1 million new residential units. And that's on top of the 300,000 to 400,000 residential units now vacant in the state.

It's not the DCA that has stopped development. It's the economy.

"We have to keep pushing the facts," Pelham told the representatives of various environmental groups attending the workshop. "Get just as much in the faces of the lawmakers as the well-paid lobbyists in Tallahassee are."

Another target of the anti-regulation crowd is a law the Legislature passed last year calling for septic tank inspections. It was supposed to go into effect Jan. 1, but during a special session in November, legislators reversed course and delayed implementation. They will likely kill the law completely this spring.

Why? The claim is the law is an expensive governmental intrusion.

Former Sen. Lee Constantine, a Republican from Altamonte Springs who left office in November because of term limits, sponsored the septic tank bill.

He also spoke at the workshop.

These are the facts:

There are 2.6 million septic tanks in Florida "that we know of," Constantine said.

Only 17,000 of those are inspected each year.

"That's how the voluntary inspection is going," he said.

The law would require an inspection every five years and likely would cost about $150 - or about $30 a year. That's overly burdensome?
 
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30A Skunkape

Skunky
Jan 18, 2006
10,279
2,320
54
Backatown Seagrove

floridafarm

Beach Comber
Mar 9, 2009
20
38
Septic tanks in Northwest Florida are more often than not on farms and rural settings, unlike Central and South Florida. Keeping a septic system and drain field functioning properly is part of being a good steward to the land and most rural inhabitants have been managing this for many years without the intrusion of big brother.
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,706
3,339
Sowal
As someone who has lived "downstream", I respectfully disagree.

This bill was not created because too many people were overly concerned with being good stewards of their land. There are many commonly accepted rural practices that are not at all good for the environment and I can name quite a few Sowal locations that have septic (many close to the lakes).

However, I did think there was a big potential for conflict of interest to have the people who would profit from servicing them do the inspections.
 
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