FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 14, 2015
DEP HOSTS
PUBLIC WORKSHOPS ON WATER QUALITY CREDIT TRADING
~
DEP to
expand market-driven trading pilot program statewide~
TALLAHASSEE
– The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is hosting two public workshops this week to
discuss the expansion of the state’s Water Quality Credit Trading Program from
the Lower St. Johns River Basin to statewide.
The first workshop was held today in Orlando and a second workshop will be held tomorrow in Tallahassee. Information on tomorrow's workshop follows.
WHAT: WATER QUALITY CREDIT TRADING WORKSHOP
WHEN: Jan. 15, 2015
9 a.m.Florida Department of Environmental Protection
WHERE: Bob Martinez Center, Conference Room 609
2600 Blair Stone Rd.
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Water Quality Credit Trading is a
voluntary, market-based program that establishes a financial incentive system
to ensure cost effective water quality improvement projects. Under this voluntary program, stakeholders
implementing water quality improvement projects beyond what is otherwise
required would generate credits. These
credits can be sold to other stakeholders in the basin to offset potentially
more costly but equally effective water quality improvement projects.
“Water Quality Credit Trading is a
nationally recognized tool that allows stakeholders to meet water quality goals
at the lowest possible cost,” said Tom Frick, director of DEP's Division of
Environmental Assessment and Restoration. “Expanding trading statewide provides
everyone opportunities to expedite cleaner water.”
Market-based approaches can create
economic incentives for innovation, emerging technology, voluntary pollution
reductions and greater efficiency in improving the quality of the nation’s
waters. Water Quality Credit Trading is most effective in areas where a
quantified restoration goal has been developed, such as a TMDL or total maximum
daily load. TMDLs identify the pollutant reductions necessary to restore a
water body’s health and provide the measuring stick to determine if
stakeholders have credits available. The TMDL typically also identifies
pollutant loadings, the watershed conditions, and the maximum amount of
pollutants that may be present for a water body to still be considered healthy.
All of this information is necessary for effective trading.
A Water Quality Credit Trading pilot
program was utilized in the Lower St. John’s basin, and now the department is
taking steps to implement the program statewide in areas with established
restoration plans. These meetings will solicit stakeholder and public input on
the rule language prior to adoption.
For more information on Water Quality
Credit Trading, click here.
For more information on the meeting locations
and agendas, click here and here.
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