Debbie Wasserman Shultz Demands Action From EPA & DOJ On Water Contamination; Good Luck With That

[hatrack]

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz called out to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Attorney General’s office Tuesday, requesting they establish a proper system for regulating, monitoring and notifying people of water contamination in their area.

The Weston Democrat expressed her concern through a two-page letter to Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, detailing the toxicity of chemicals in flame retardants — and found in the water supply of some unknowing Floridians.

A Herald/Times story published last week revealed that it took four months for state health officials to notify residents in the Ocala community about potentially elevated levels of the chemicals in their well water. In August the state’s Department of Environmental Protection confirmed that the chemicals had been used at the Florida State Fire College before they were phased out of production in the early 2000s due to health concerns.

EDIT

The congresswoman’s letter, which outlined some of the specifics detailed in the Herald/Times story, was sent hours before Sen.-elect Rick Scott’s 4 p.m. swearing-in. In her letter, Wasserman Schultz said she was particularly troubled by the lack of clarity that came out of the governor’s office after the situation in Ocala made news, and was even more disturbed by how a former deputy health secretary and whistleblower was fired after pushing back. Residents were eventually notified on Nov. 5 — one day before the midterm elections.

EDIT

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article224062645.html

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

1. Add re-doing water lines to

rebuilding roads and bridges...NATIONWIDE. But hey, the rich needed that emerging tax revenue to reinsert what they never paid, to their pockets. bc, they're so deserving.

[beachbum bob]

2. not going to happen with this admin and hell, the people of Florida elected a govenor AND senator

that care little about the environmental problems hitting Florida. Karma is a bitch

[hatrack]

3. Rick deRacist was touring the Panhandle, checking the hurricane damage

And apparently he was struck by the fact that $25 million had been spent to remove hurricane debris just in Mexico Beach (with a budget of $3.5 million) - and didn't even make a dent.

Rick's reaction:

At one stop, overlooking a canal filled with debris and abandoned powerboats, Cathey told him the $25 million in debris cleanup was monstrous compared to the city's $3.5 million annual budget.
DeSantis just shook his head and said, "Wow."

He asked what else the city needs, and Cathey said he needed to immediately receive disaster money, rather than paying for it up front and billing the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Its website was down Wednesday because of the federal shutdown.

"We need up-front money to operate," Cathey told him. "That's our biggest obstacle, is money."

Other cities and counties have also complained about the slow rate of disaster reimbursement, which is emptying their reserves and leaving them vulnerable to future storms. DeSantis said he would work on that.

"We realize the financial stress, and that's something that I've told my team we need to figure out," he said.

EDIT

[beachbum bob]

4. We will see DeSantis in action as this will not be an isolated incident with cleanup efforts

now or in the future