SANIBEL, Fla. — One line-item in the recently passed budget by Florida state lawmakers, has sparked calls for veto by Governor Ron DeSantis from local environmental groups. The item gives the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences a quarter of a million dollars to study fertilizer bans. You might think groups like the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation would support this, but they say this might actually put some of our key waterways at risk in Southwest Florida.
“This was a surprise to all of us,” said SCCF Environmental Policy Director Matt DePaolis.
That surprise was tying UF's study of whether fertilizer bans even work, with a 1 year moratorium on governments changing existing bans or adding new ones.
DePaolis calls this connection unfortunate.
“And it is unfortunate that they are doing it this way because I think UF/IFAS should be studying the effects of fertilizer and the effects of fertilizer bans,” said DePaolis.
The reason this is such a hot topic is nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilizer can enter our local waterways and feed algae blooms like red tide and blue-green, both of which are hazardous to our health and our Southwest Florida environment.
DePaolis says while this won’t likely affect current seasonal bans in, say, Lee County, the moratorium could still impact areas upstream on the Caloosahatchee.
“There are countless counties and municipal governments that all come into play in this greater watershed,” said DePaolis. “And so, if any of them were thinking of trying to implement some sort of rainy season ban for their fertilizers, they would be prevented from doing that."
This could leave the river that flows through the heart of Ft Myers and Cape Coral at greater risk.
As of for the fertilizer study this moratorium is connected to, UF/IFAS gave Fox 4 this statement from Dr. Michael Dukes, the director of UF/IFAS Center for Land Use Efficiency:
“We anticipate this effort will point to further needed studies to determine the relationship between nutrient losses and the use of fertilizer in urban areas."
UF/IFAS pointed out that even if they can't enact their own bans, all local governments are still required to follow the state's rules for Florida Friendly fertilizer use, which they say provide protection for surface and ground waters
DePaulis is skeptical the state rules are enough.
“When you are in charge of the entire state of Florida, I don’t think you are going to be able to come in with a scalpel necessary to make this patchwork of regulations that is effective right now at protecting our water quality. And I think what you are going to up with instead is more of a sledgehammer.”
SCCF and other groups are now calling on Governor DeSantis to veto this item before approving the budget. Meantime, if you live in Lee County, Fox 4 is told that the usual seasonal fertilizer ban will go into effect on June 1st no matter what. And certainly, every little bit helps -- only 17 of 67 counties in Florida have seasonal fertilizer bans, along with about 130 cities.
