The Florida Department of Environmental Protection this week published a notice of emergency rule, 62ER16-1, titled Public Notice of Pollution that’s effective for 90 days. The emergency rule significantly increases notification requirements for property owners and operators of facilities when a pollution “incident” occurs or existing pollution is discovered.
Also on Tuesday, FDEP published a notice of development of rulemaking proposing to make permanent the emergency rule, including a draft rule with the same language as the emergency rule. The rulemaking responds to an order issued Monday by Gov. Rick Scott directing the FDEP to take such action and stating his intent to ask the Florida Legislature to enact the notification requirements into law.
