For decades, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has allowed the state’s largest polluters—developers and agricultural operations—to operate on an honor system. Instead of enforcing real accountability, the state simply assumes these industries are following pollution rules. No regular testing. No independent verification. No consequences when waterways grow more toxic year after year.

This hands-off approach has helped wreck some of Florida’s most iconic ecosystems. In the Indian River Lagoon, hundreds of manatees have starved to death as algae choked out seagrass. In Jackson Blue Spring, nitrate levels are more than ten times the healthy limit—even though most farms nearby claim to follow “best practices.” From Tampa Bay to Biscayne Bay to the Homosassa River, the pattern is the same: dirty water, dying wildlife, and no one held responsible.

Florida lawmakers and DEP leaders know the current system doesn’t work. A 2007 state-backed study showed that popular stormwater runoff methods remove far less pollution than claimed. Yet the state approved half a million acres of new development using those flawed methods before updating the rules—17 years later.

The science is clear. The tools exist. But the political will is missing.

We’re calling on DEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton and Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson to immediately:

• Require independent water testing for all farms and developments near impaired waterways
• Make compliance data publicly available
• End automatic pollution compliance status for self-reporting industries

Florida’s waterways belong to all of us, not just to developers and agribusinesses. The honor system has failed. It’s time for real oversight.

Add your name if you agree: Florida must stop letting polluters grade their own homework.

Photo: DIRK SHADD | Tampa Bay Times