Bruce RitchieEnvironmental issues are becoming high profile in the race for Congress in the eastern Florida Panhandle, as they should anywhere in Florida.
U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, is facing Democrat Gwen Graham of Tallahassee in the Nov. 4 general election. The district extends from the white sand beaches of Bay County east, to include the state capital and the expansive forests of Taylor County.
The environment, whether it’s clean water, beaches and wildlife and fishing, is important to all Floridians. But the issue has been buried in recent years as the economy and jobs often have taken center stage in Florida elections.
On Aug. 18, Southerland held a news conference in Tallahassee to highlight support from agriculture and business groups for a bill that he says would curb U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “overreach” with a proposed federal wetlands regulation. The EPA says it is seeking to clarify its jurisdiction over permitting.
“There are some things that not even their (EPA officials’) hands should touch, that states and local governments are sometimes better able to manage waters within their boundaries than D.C. bureaucrats a thousand miles away,” he said. “That’s just a fact.”
But Graham’s campaign responded that Southerland has been unable to get bills passed and that his press conference was about election-year politics. Graham is the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes.
Already federal fisheries management and the Apalachicola River have arisen as issues in the heated race. A Democratic poll earlier this month showed Southerland trailing Graham 45 percent to 43 percent, according to Roll Call.
The group Ocean Champions calls Southerland “Ocean Enemy #1” and said earlier this month it was airing a television advertisement against him in Panama City.
The group says Southerland is seeking to dismantle the federal Magnuson-Stevens fisheries conservation law. Southerland says coastal communities are suffering from flawed fisheries management and he is seeking a common sense approach on the issue.
“I think my actions speak far louder than my words,” Southerland said on Aug. 18.
Graham said earlier this month that she wants a debate with Southerland on the fate of the Apalachicola River. Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been fighting in federal court over water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system since 1990.
Speaking in Apalachicola on Aug. 5, Southerland touted bill language he said he got inserted in the Senate into the federal Water Resources Development Act that allows Congress to get involved if the states’ governors can’t reach an agreement over water.
But Graham said Southerland didn’t support a bill amendment that would have given Florida residents legal rights to water from the Apalachicola River that federal water managers say they don’t have.
“To me it was very disappointing when he chose not to fight for that,” she said. “That would have made a difference.”
Southerland responded through a spokesman that the proposal “never would have seen the light of day because it violated House earmark rules.”
Bruce Ritchie is an independent journalist covering environment and growth management issues in Tallahassee. He also is editor of Floridaenvironments.com. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
