Office of Governor Charlie Crist
\nState of Florida
\nPL-05 The Capitol
\nTallahassee, FL 32399-0001<\/p>\n
February 24, 2010<\/p>\n
Dear Governor Crist:<\/p>\n
We have recently been informed about the planned construction of a biomass incinerator by ADAGE, right across the street from the Gadsden Correctional Facility in Gretna, FL. As you know full well, incinerators of this type will produce extraordinary amounts of air pollution to include dioxin, one of the most toxic and carcinogenic organic chemicals released into the environment by industry. This incinerator will also significantly contribute to the total particulate matter volume which already plagues much of North Florida. We are compelled to point out that particulate matter concentration directly correlates with a whole host of upper respiratory conditions and diseases to include lung cancer, emphysema, CREST, COPD, asthma, chronic bronchitis, numerous inhalant allergies, acute\/chronic sinusitis, etc. Hence, these are the primary reasons for respectfully sending you this urgent plea and request.<\/p>\n
There are well over 1500 prison inmates currently being housed at Gadsden Correctional. They are women \u2013 all of them \u2013 in addition to being wards of the State. Most of them are also childbearing age and, therefore, likely to carry children in the future who will also be profoundly affected by this ill-conceived financial scheme. Please, Governor Crist, make no mistake about it, these women and their future children will be quite adversely affected by this air-fouling incinerator. Unfortunately, they have very little to say about where they are housed within the Florida Department of Corrections. It therefore becomes incumbent upon FL DOCS to ensure that wherever they are imprisoned is environmentally safe and free of threats to their health. For those with serious medical conditions, especially upper respiratory in nature, it becomes critical that they are kept out of harm\u2019s way so as not to advance their disease process.<\/p>\n
In your capacity as governor, you are directly responsible for the health and welfare of these very vulnerable Florida citizens. They have not chosen to live in Gretna; the State put them there. They are therefore under your care, as they are under the care of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Florida\u2019s Department of Management Services. We trust that the State of Florida will act in the best interests of these individuals who are powerless to determine where they are incarcerated.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the State is tasked with the responsibility of maintaining an environment that is safe and healthy for all of its citizens, so we are also concerned about the schools and homes and businesses that are located in close proximity to this planned incinerator. We would hope that the Department of Environmental Protection will start complying with your recent directives concerning air quality and carbon impacts. To date, they have clearly violated this mandate and shirked their responsibility to the residents of this State, as has the FL Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture. We request that rulemaking proceedings be initiated to regulate carbon dioxide from these incinerators consistent with your Executive Orders 07-126, 07-127 and 07-128, and that state subsidies be withheld from all biomass incinerators, both future and already constructed.<\/p>\n
If the State will not uphold the sacred trust that exists with its citizenry, then how can you possibly expect industry to honor it? We re-submit to you for your serious consideration the social contract which you signed when you came into office. We, likewise, submit it to the respective secretaries who are listed below, and who are empowered to quickly bring about an immediate resolution of this matter.<\/p>\n
Very sincerely,<\/p>\n
Concerned Residents of Florida<\/p>\n
Cc: Jeff Kottkamp, Lieutenant Governor
\nWalter A. McNeil, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections
\nLinda H. South, Secretary, Florida Department of Management Services
\nMichael W. Sole, Secretary, Florida Department of Environmental Protection
\nAna M. Viamonte Ross, State Surgeon General, Florida Department of Health
\nCharles H. Bronson, Commissioner, Florida Department of Agriculture
\nSenator Al Lawson
\nRepresentative Alan B. Williams
\nRepresentative Marti Coley
\nLisa Conti, Director, Division of Environmental Health
\nKendra Goff, Chief Toxicologist, Division of Environmental Health
\nJoyce Arnold, Warden, Gadsden Correctional Facility
\nMayor Anthony J. Baker, City of Gretna, FL
\nMayor Pro-Tem Willie Fagg, City of Gretna, FL
\nJohn Smith, Commissioner, City of Gretna, FL
\nHelen Franks, Commissioner, City of Gretna, FL
\nNadine Smith, Commissioner, City of Gretna, FL
\nAntonio Jefferson, Gretna City Manager
\nHarold Knowles, Gretna City Attorney
\nDr. Matthew M. Carter II
\nJohnny Williams, Gadsden County Administrator
\nEugene Lamb Jr., Chairman, Gadsden County Commission
\nPeggy E. Kassees, Aide to the Governor
\nRobert F. Kennedy, Jr., Of Counsel, Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, P.A.
\nEditor, Tallahassee Democrat
\nEditor, Miami Herald
\nEditor, St. Petersburg Times
\nEditor, Orlando Sentinel
\nEditor, Palm Beach Post
\nEditor, Florida Times Union
\nFlorida Senate
\nFlorida House of Representatives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133166,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119346\/revisions\/133166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}