Wednesday, July 16, 2008
annexation issues
IF we annex WITHOUT control of zoning we DONT have control. IF there are significant cleanups to be done the voters SHOULD be scared as they will be the ones to pay for those cleanups. Who knows why VG, Doral, and Medley do what they do? Perhaps they are just as incompetent as MS is. Who really has a good handle on the pollution issues there? Until we get an unbiased and independent report on those issues we are just talking about buying a pig in a poke, an unknown entity, and NOT something in which to make a MILLION dollar gamble. Believe it or not, but Council is SUPPOSED to do something called DUE DILIGENCE, which entails gathering ALL the best available information about ANY project so that a well-informed decision can be made. We have hired many consultants in the past to do that for us. The Council usually DOESNT LISTEN to them if they dont come to the same conclusions as the Council would like, but that IS the theory. We need an unbiased, independent authority to tell us their current opinion of the possible pollution issues involved here. AGAIN, due diligence will NOT be done, all the facts will NOT be collected, and the Council will proceed with their own personal and political agendas with NO regard for the residents who will wind up paying the bills. Its becoming a pattern of neglect, irresponsibility, and disregard by City officials. HOPING there are no serious cleanup issues doesnt make it true, and isnt the basis for sound decision-making.
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2 comments:
Your desire to force your will on the rest of us is getting quite boring.
You speak in hysterical rants that are made to instill fear on those that make the mistake of putting any stock in what you say.
First you must be aware that there are two separate and distinct venues to address environmental issues, regulatory and criminal.
DERM is the county’s regulatory agency and derives its powers from DEP via a delegation of authority agreement. DEP retains the authority to oversee DERM as the Statutory Responsibility lies with DEP and while they can delegate authority, they can not delegate responsibility.
Annexation does NOT mean, nor does it imply, transfer of ownership of any of these properties. They simply get a new mailing address and pay taxes to a different Political Subdivision that will in turn provide basic services.
The only properties that the City bares any responsibility in clean-ups are City Properties. This includes the public right of ways, should annexation take place. If for instance, a trailer load of EthilMethalDeath was to be abandoned on the right of way and no owner could be identified, the City would contact DEP to initiate a criminal investigation and become responsible for the logistics pertaining to the removal and legal disposal of the Hazardous Waste. DERM does NOT handle hazardous waste and does not have criminal investigative authority and relies on the Miami Dade Police Department for that task
Properties are another matter. Ownership of these can be readily made available through tax records, etc. The property owners and the corporate entities, which at times are not the same, bare full responsibility of mitigation in the event of an environmental episode on said property, and then of course there is the EPA Superfund.
These matters change from regulatory to criminal depending on the circumstances. If the EPA Superfund is used for a clean up the EPA will immediately subrogate against the responsible parties in order to recover the moneys.
DERM will open cases on issues such as unlabeled used oil containers, regulatory permit violations, failure to properly maintain disposal records, etc.
Should this prevent annexation?
There are three levels of protection in Miami Dade County as it pertains to environmental violations. DERM, DEP and EPA all have over lapping jurisdiction over these matters.
As far as the landfill is concerned, be advised that there are two. One owned and operated by the County, the other in Medley owned and operated by Waste Management, Inc.
If the County owns and operates the 58th St landfill, where do you think the 5.5 mil mitigation fee comes from? Does the County print their own currency, or do they use Tax dollars? This is of course if you were referring the County landfill and not the Medley landfill.
This is as much effort as I am willing to exert in order to get the facts out there, please don’t bother coming back with another rant, for I will not engage someone without knowledge of the subject matter no matter how green you are.
The State delegates the powers to the County, blah blah blah. Spare me pointing out the painfully obvious. The information regarding the responsibilities of DERM were helpful, however, but you did NOT answer my question about private property spills and pollution. One example of what I am talking about is Aerodex. They are out of business. Tracing back generations of defunct and bankrupt companies will find someone to pay for a spill they didnt even make? Please. When you say that the Superfund will make whoever is responsible pay you are being ridiculous! By all accounts the Superfund is broke, and HAS been for many years. I too,"will not engage someone without knowledge of the subject matter no matter how green you are". Do us both a favor and dont waste any more of my time if you are clueless about the core issues and are only here to lecture, and hector. I'll pass, as I have had enough boring lectures, and yours is basically just one more. Education=yes; boring condescending lectures=no.
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