June, 19 2012, 01:02pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Email:,info@peer.org
Pollution Enforcement Implodes Under Florida's Scott
Big Drop in Cases and Fines as DEP Staff Instructed to Avoid Enforcement
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
Basic enforcement of anti-pollution laws in Florida has nose-dived during the first full year of Governor Rick Scott's tenure, according to agency figures released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Dramatic declines in the number of cases brought and amounts of fines levied across virtually all districts and all forms of pollution appear to reflect directives that state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) staff should avoid pursuing enforcement if at all possible.
"These latest figures show significantly poorer performance in almost every major program in every district," stated Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips, a former DEP enforcement attorney, who conducted the analysis. "Due to recent relaxations in pollution discharge permit standards, there is every reason to believe this downward trend will continue, if not accelerate." The DEP figures show that in 2011 -
- The total number of enforcement cases fell by more than a fourth (28%) and the DEP Office of General Counsel received the third lowest number of case reports in agency history;
- Pollution penalty assessments dipped by a similar proportion (29%) while penalties actually collected dropped by more than half (57%). The number of big fine cases (more than $100,000) also was cut by half; and
- Enforcement actions with compliance follow-up (long-form consent orders) plummeted nearly two-thirds (62%) from 2010. Other enforcement orders sank to levels not seen since the mid-90s.
These deep, consistent drops in enforcement seem to reflect a deliberate policy shift, rather than drift. In a November 19, 2011 memo from Jeff Littlejohn, the DEP second-in-command and Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs directs staff to refrain from taking enforcement action except as a last resort:
"Where noncompliance occurs despite your best efforts at education and outreach, your first consideration should be whether you can bring about a return to compliance without enforcement."
"There are several problems with this 'enforcement last' approach; First, it rolls the dice on environmental protection. Second, there is no compensation for public resource damages, so it becomes a back-door taxpayer subsidy to polluters," Phillips said, noting this 'compliance first' approach also entails that compliance be monitored, a dubious strategy given that declining penalty revenue reduces financial support for DEP programs, making monitoring even less feasible. "In fact, DEP has no idea whether they are actually achieving greater pollution compliance. To make matters worse, the Scott administration is taking a number of steps that make it even harder to track whether compliance is maintained over time."
The extent of these problems was underlined in a new audit report from the DEP Inspector General which found a breakdown in air pollution enforcement in the Southwest (Tampa) District so severe that it "may have damaged the reputation of the Department with the local regulated community and federal regulatory agency (EPA)."
PEER also has a pending legal complaint before EPA to disqualify DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard from all clean water permitting decisions due to his prior industry ties violating federal conflict rules. "If regulated industries had a playbook for how to dismantle pollution controls, it could not have worked better than what has already taken place," Phillips concluded.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals. PEER's environmental work is solely directed by the needs of its members. As a consequence, we have the distinct honor of serving resource professionals who daily cast profiles in courage in cubicles across the country.
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Grand Jury Indicts Top Trump Aides, 11 Arizona Republicans Over 'Fake Electors' Scheme
Had it succeeded, said the state's attorney general, the scheme would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
Apr 25, 2024
A grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday charged seven aides to Donald Trump and nearly a dozen Republican officials over a "fake electors" scheme in the state that aimed to keep the former president in power after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is currently facing nearly 90 charges across four criminal cases as he runs for another White House term, was described as "unindicted co-conspirator 1" in the 58-page indictment, which was announced by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"The people of Arizona elected President Biden," Mayes, a Democrat, said Wednesday. "Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency. Whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for."
The indictment names former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, sitting state Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, and seven others as the "fake electors" who sought to declare Trump the rightful winner of the state's presidential contest.
The names of other individuals indicted by the state grand jury are redacted, but the document's descriptions make clear that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and top Trump legal strategist Boris Epshteyn are among those facing felony charges—including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
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Mayes said Wednesday that had the fake elector scheme succeeded, it would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
"It effectively would have made their right to vote meaningless," said Mayes.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2024
Alex Gulotta, state director of All Voting Is Local Action Arizona, said Wednesday that "the indictment of the eleven fake electors is one of the first steps required in holding these election deniers accountable for their alleged attempts to take power away from voters by disrupting our free and fair elections."
"Arizonans deserve to trust the election officials responsible for administering our elections and preserving our democracy," said Gulotta, "and this is a positive step forward as we continue to strengthen the foundations of our democracy and restore faith in our elections."
The Arizona Republicreported Wednesday that "several of the Arizona electors have previously claimed they were merely offering Congress a backup plan, though nothing in the documents they sent to Congress and the National Archives backs up that assertion."
"The indictment includes several statements the false electors made on social media that contradict those claims," the newspaper observed.
Jenny Guzman, director of Common Cause's Arizona program, said the indictment "marks the start of a new chapter for the fake elector scheme that has plagued Arizona."
"Arizonans are still dealing with the fallout from the false electors and the Big Lie about the 2020 elections," said Guzman. "We are relieved that the investigation by Attorney General Mayes has concluded and Arizonans can now know that what comes next is accountability. These efforts by these fake electors to undermine the will of Arizona’s voters have had implications far beyond their failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election."
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A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."
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Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.
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Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.
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"The state Senate could vote on the repeal as early as next Wednesday, after the bill comes on the floor for a 'third reading,' as is required under chamber rules," according toNBC News. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Wednesday toldThe Washington Post that "I am hopeful the Senate does the right thing and sends it to my desk so I can sign it."
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Florez noted that "even with the repeal of the Civil War-era ban, the state will still have a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that denies people access to critical care. And lawmakers continue to attack Arizonans' ability to access reproductive healthcare. Our right to control our bodies and lives is hanging on by a thread."
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