County Cracks Down on Water Polluters

Newly increased fines for environmental violations affecting water quality in Miami-Dade County may begin to act as a more effective deterrent against polluters – or, at the very least, will result in additional revenue allocated to address and mitigate the effects thereof.

The new fines are outlined in an ordinance that was passed unanimously by commissioners at a July 19 meeting after being introduced to the board by Commissioner Rebeca Sosa earlier last month. The ordinance sets higher costs associated with specific violations outlined in chapter 24 of county code, which dictates guidelines for environmental protection.

Examples of violations include unlawful discharge of substances into county waters or sewer systems, unauthorized developments or work on wetlands, littering, open burning and more.

“For the most part, the monetary fines have not been revised or updated in decades and have not kept pace with current dollar values,” reads a memo by the county’s chief operating officer, Jimmy Morales. “As such, the issuance of UCVNs to address violations of chapter 24 has, to some extent, lost its effectiveness as a deterrent to those that may violate the County’s environmental regulations, including repeating the same offense.”

A UCVN, or uniform civil violation notice, is a citation issued by the county in order to enforce penalties listed in county code. During the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022, Miami-Dade County issued a total of 224 UCVNs for chapter 24 violations. Most were for failures to properly secure or comply with the conditions of required operating permits, according to the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources’ Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM).

The 224 UCVNs resulted in the county collecting a total of $124,625 during the one-year period, according to the Miami-Dade Finance Department. With the newly increased fines, that number could triple.

The money acquired through enforcement of chapter 24 violations is only permitted to be used for further enforcement of the chapter, to address pollution and sanitary nuisances in the county, or to restore environmental properties to their former condition, as required by county code.

Further, money recovered by the county as a result of damage or degradation to Biscayne Bay and its surrounding coastal waters must go directly into the Biscayne Bay Environmental Enhancement Trust Fund (BBEETF).

In any case, DERM staff says they have no way of predicting the true amount of added revenue that will result from the newly increased fines, which will ultimately depend on the new level of compliance, as well as the ability of the county to properly implement its own regulations.

The primary goal is for harsher penalties to dissuade potential bad actors altogether, whereas it was previously customary “to hear violators equating the receipt of a UCVN for a chapter 24 violation as ‘the cost of doing business,’” according to Morales’ memo.

The move to increase fines came just a couple of months after the county’s annual Biscayne Bay report card was released on Earth Day, April 22. The report, which evaluates water quality and habitat across 12 regions of the bay, concluded that six of those regions have improved in the last year, while the other six remain relatively unchanged.

Still, only two regions were evaluated as being in good health –

particularly those identified as Southern North Bay-C, which roughly spans the coastal waters of Museum Park through Brickell, and North Central Outer-Bay, covering waters west of Key Biscayne but offshore from the mainland. The rest of the bay, on average, has lingered in fair health since the report card was first adopted in 2019.

The Southern North Bay-A region, defined as the area of the basin between North Bay Village to the north and I-195 to the south, has consistently received a scoring of poor health for the past four years. This same area was the epicenter of the reported fish kills that spurred local environmentalists and politicians into action in 2020.

“In 2020, we saw over 27,000 fish die, and we’ve been observing over 90% of seagrass loss in some parts of the northern bay,” said Samantha Barquin, science and policy project manager of local nonprofit Miami Waterkeeper.

Barquin believes more stringent fines are an effective way to address violations causing harm to the bay, but that the move means little without community awareness.  

The penalties are imposed by DERM staff, which responds to environmental complaints throughout the county. It also regularly inspects and monitors facilities and operations that require environmental permits – processes that Barquin says should be conducted with much more frequency.

Like Barquin, local activists applaud the county for its recent move while nonetheless seeking out more demanding regulations regarding environmental protection.

“For us, we’re looking forward to working with the community and the county to prioritize Biscayne Bay’s health and continue that discussion on the climate emergency that we’re experiencing,” said Cody Rogers, policy and campaigns manager for climate-focused nonprofit CLEO Institute. “The fees are a great start, but we still need more protections – statutorily and legislatively – for the environment in the long haul.”

Two particularly hot topics that Barquin, for one, is keeping her eye on are those related to Miami-Dade County’s Urban Development Boundary (UDB) and stormwater.

After a May 19 commission meeting resulted in two hours of public comments and the second deferral in two weeks, the county is set to vote in September on the expansion of the UDB, which limits urbanization so as to protect sensitive habitats like the Everglades. The move will decide whether or not to allow for an 800-acre industrial complex to be built near Biscayne Bay in south Miami-Dade.

“We’re hopeful that the county leaders recognize the value of keeping urban development within this boundary,” said Barquin.

Miami Waterkeeper also recently completed a stormwater report card, wherein the organization evaluated compliance with stormwater permits held by Miami-Dade County and its 32 co-permittees, as well as the cities of Miami and Hialeah. The report resulted in an average grade of C- for permit-holder compliance and an average grade of D for the quality with which that compliance was met across the county.

“When it rains, pollutants in our street such as oil, litters and fertilizers wash into our storm drains and make it to Biscayne Bay throughout the stormwater system,” Barquin said. “They can contaminate our drinking water, make our beaches unsafe for swimming and really harm our aquatic life … We would love it if the county could take a greater leadership role in managing the patchwork of municipal stormwater systems,” beyond the increased fines.