Delray  Beach, Florida – June 7, 2006

Divers Request EPA Intervention to Save Threatened Corals from
Sewage

Controversy  surrounding the dumping of partially treated sewage
onto a popular coral reef in  Delray Beach, Florida, reached a
new level this week when a group of scuba  divers made a formal
request for the federal EPA to intervene and help save
threatened corals, recently added to the Endangered Species
List.  The group, Palm Beach County Reef  Rescue, has been
fighting to save their local coral reefs from algae blooms
since March 2002.
The problem; nutrient  pollutants in the sewage feed algae,
which smother and kill the coral, according  to Reef Rescue’s
director, Ed Tichenor.
The latest chain of  events began May 5, when the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric  Administration, NOAA announced
its decision to list  Elkhorn and Staghorn corals as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act.  According to NOAA, the
determination was made because these corals  are likely to
become in danger of extinction throughout all or a portion of
their range in the foreseeable future.  "This is the first time
coral species have been listed as threatened in  the United
States," said Assistant Administrator for the NOAA
Fisheries Service,  Bill Hogarth.
Reef Rescue filed their EPA request  for intervention under rule
7 of the Endangered Species Act, which requires  federal
agencies to take action 30 days after the listing to ensure
that they are not permitting activities likely to
jeopardize the continued  existence of the threatened species.
“The Delray/Boynton sewer plant must have a NPDES permit to
discharge  into the ocean and under the federal Clean Water Act
the EPA has ultimate  oversight responsibility”, Tichenor said.
The  sewer plant has been operating without a valid discharge
permit since it expired  December 2005.  The state of Florida
has rejected the plant’s permit renewal application five times
within the last  year as incomplete for failing to adequately
address DEP requests for additional  information.
Reef Rescue hopes involvement by the  federal agency will break
the impasse between the sewer plant and the Florida  DEP and
force the plant to comply with all requirements of the Clean
Water Act.  The most basic tenet of which is that the discharged
sewage must not degrade the  receiving environment, in this
case, a threatened coral reef  habitat.

Interview contact: Ed Tichenor,  Director
Palm Beach County Reef Rescue
Telephone: (561) 699-8559
Email:  etichscuba@aol.com

Palm Beach County Reef Rescue
PO Box 207
Boynton  Beach, Florida 33425
Web site: www.reef-rescue.org

Additional media  resources:
Elkhorn  and Staghorn Coral Information:
http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/protres.htm
Staghorn  Coral (Acropora cervicornis) Image:
http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/docs/05.jpg
Still photography - Delray  outfall: Steve Spring (202)
255-3113, email:
SS2PB@aol.com
Video - Delray outfall &  algae bloom: Elaine Blum (561)
523-7061, email:  divereb@adelphia.net

.............................................................

Note: In fact, there has been very little support for this
effort from divers, even those using these reefs. I believe
that, of the people on this newsgroup, only two have helped Ed
and Reef Rescue in this long and expensive project to save the
Boynton reefs (the other one may not want to be identified, but
his name rhymes with sick rims).

Non-financial supporters of Reef Rescue include the state of
Florida, Palm Beach County, the Sierra Club, several local dive
operators and shops, NOAA, and several other very legitimate
organizations.

But the cost of the effort has been largely out of Ed Tichenor's
pocket, and his pocket is not very deep.

You can help this project that is actually making a real impact
that can benefit us divers. Send Reef Rescue a check! Go buy
some stuff from the website. This project is nearing success,
don't let it die because yer to cheap to send Reef Rescue a
couple bucks!

mike gray