U.S. EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Reach Agreement on Florida Numeric Nutrient Criteria

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) announced that they have reached an agreement which will allow FDEP to implement numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for Florida’s waters. This agreement represents a tremendous victory for the fertilizer industry as it will allow EPA to withdraw the federal NNC for Florida which could have cost the state’s phosphate industry $7 billion to comply.

When finalized, the agreement between EPA and FDEP will ultimately include Phase I (freshwater) and Phase II (estuarine) waters. The agreement comes as a direct result of a multifaceted effort spearheaded by The Fertilizer Institute and its members, including its legal committee and the broader agricultural community, as well as bipartisan support from the entire Florida congressional delegation. The agreement is contingent on Florida’s Legislature acting to direct FDEP to adopt by rule the “Implementation of Florida’s Numeric Nutrient Standards” document.

TFI has long argued that nutrients cannot be treated like traditional pollutants and has consistently held that strict federal NNC are not the best way to regulate them in waterways. TFI’s initial legal challenge of EPA’s efforts to impose NNC in Florida resulted in a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Hinkle to vacate the streams standard based on lack of scientific grounding. This decision set the stage for the current EPA FDEP agreement.