Red Tide
Posted: October 17th, 2006, 4:33 pm
Group faults state's red tide response
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
A government watchdog group today is saying that state agencies "are stoutly" denying connections between red tide blooms and pollution.
A red tide bloom last fall killed thousands of fish in the Big Bend area and shut down Apalachicola Bay to oyster harvesting.
The group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says despite a growing scientific consensus that such harmful algal blooms are caused by pollution, state agencies continue to deny any connection.
“Florida's public health and environmental response to algal blooms has been directed by a chamber of commerce mentality in which these outbreaks are portrayed as short-lived, weather-driven phenomena rather than as a product of pollution run amuck,â€
By Bruce Ritchie
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
A government watchdog group today is saying that state agencies "are stoutly" denying connections between red tide blooms and pollution.
A red tide bloom last fall killed thousands of fish in the Big Bend area and shut down Apalachicola Bay to oyster harvesting.
The group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says despite a growing scientific consensus that such harmful algal blooms are caused by pollution, state agencies continue to deny any connection.
“Florida's public health and environmental response to algal blooms has been directed by a chamber of commerce mentality in which these outbreaks are portrayed as short-lived, weather-driven phenomena rather than as a product of pollution run amuck,â€