by David Ball
Staff Writer
“This is where the condoms and tampons were floating all over,” remembered Michael Howle as he pointed to a small creek extending from the Ortega River, a tributary of the St. Johns River near Westside.
It was here in 2004 where Howle, then a legal intern working with the St. Johns Riverkeeper, came face-to-face with the ugly realities of one of Florida’s most economically important, and overly polluted, waterways.
Howle and Riverkeeper members discovered a broken JEA pipeline spewing effluent into a section of the river the media dubbed “Condom Creek” due to floatables rising to the surface. They later discovered JEA knew about the leak since 2002.
JEA first said it would take more than a year to repair the pipe. Howle and the Riverkeeper sued. The repairs were finished in months, and JEA paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for in-kind services such as environmental studies and vessel pump-outs for the Super Bowl in 2005.
Howle’s pro bono work was just the beginning, as the Riverkeeper recently contracted Howle as chief prosecuting attorney and general counsel. Now, the former intern focuses nearly all of his professional energy — he keeps one day a week open for his private practice — on legal battles involving the river, and he says there are many waiting down the pipeline.
“It’s not so much the relationship with the Riverkeeper that has changed,” said Howle. “It’s a realization on both parties that the need of the organization is greater now than it has ever been. They need this kind of resource.”
The St. Johns headwaters begin at marshlands and springs near Vero Beach and flow north 310 miles before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville. Duval County contains more than 300 miles of river shoreline.
St. Johns Riverkeeper started in 2000 and is one of 160 such advocacy groups working to protect, preserve and restore the health of waterways worldwide. These groups use community outreach, governmental and regulatory watchdogging and, sometimes, litigation to advance their cause.
Leading the St. Johns Riverkeeper is the actual riverkeeper, Neil Armingeon, who is the chief environmental steward. He says the task of preserving and restoring the St. Johns is at a critical point.
“Overall, the river’s health — and I’ll use a government word — is impaired,” said Armingeon. “This time last year the river was totally green from a toxic algae bloom, and we may start seeing one again. The river can no longer handle the amount of pollution being discharged.”
Armingeon said the main sources are stormwater runoff, wastewater discharge and the many companies legally permitted to expel pollutants into the water. He said 33 wastewater treatment plants discharge more than 100 million gallons of treated water into the river each day.
“It wasn’t that long ago, in the late ‘70s, that Jacksonville was discharging raw sewage,” said Armingeon. “The products of our daily lives impact the health of the river.”
Under the leadership of Armingeon and Executive Director Jimmy Orth, the group has grown to more than 2,000 members with an annual budget of $300,000, mostly raised through contributions. Orth said legal expenses now make up nearly one-fifth of that budget.
“Why would the Riverkeeper need an attorney? Well, most of these issues have huge legal components,” said Orth. “That’s why when we looked at Michael and his passion for the river, it was the best thing we could’ve done.”
Howle, 30, earned his bachelor and law degrees from the University of Florida. He is the co-founder of the Public Trust Environmental Law Institute of Florida, a non-profit advocacy group, and is also a member of the Environmental and Land Use Section of The Florida Bar, the Jacksonville Bar Association and the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers.
But more importantly, Howle is a native of nearby St. Johns County.
“Me and my sister grew up canoeing and fishing. My parents still live out there, and now you can’t even get out of the neighborhood because of the traffic,” said Howle. “That part of Florida transformed before my eyes ... and I said I’m not going to turn a blind eye to it.”
When describing his current job, Howle sounds part attorney and part environmental scientist. Phrases like “dissolved oxygen content” and “total maximum daily load” interchange with “pending litigation” and “permitting authority.”
“There’s a lot of forensic investigating and a lot of science involved,” said Howle. “Just because Riverkeeper hired a lawyer doesn’t mean they are going to go out and sue people all day long.”
But lawsuits are still “the big stick” that Howle said occasionally needs to be swung, particularly when polluters and the agencies tasked with regulating the polluters don’t hold up their end of the law.
Howle recently spearheaded a 20-month investigation of companies that discharge pollutants and are permitted and regulated by the state Department of Environmental Protection as part of the federal Clean Water Act.
The findings: 252 violations of permit limits or conditions and 46 sanitary sewer overflows in only 20 months. Sewer overflows totaled nearly 266,000 gallons of material.
JEA’s Julington Creek Water Reclamation Facility led all facilities with 37 violations, followed closely by three other JEA wastewater treatment sites. JEA accounted for more than 90 percent of the sewage overflow violations.
In regards to enforcement, the report showed that DEP allowed some facilities to operate more than a year with “out of compliance” or “significantly out of compliance” designations.
Howle said the report will likely be the basis for upcoming litigation.
“If you don’t follow the law, then Riverkeeper has a problem with you, and if you are a regulatory agency and not enforcing the law right, Riverkeeper has a problem with you,” said Howle.
The first battle will likely be against the Georgia Pacific paper mill in Palatka, which is currently having its five-year DEP discharge permit reviewed. Howle said he will fight to have fair public hearings not only in Palatka, but in northwest St. Johns County and also in Downtown Jacksonville.
Howle said he hopes public exposure of the company’s history of river discharge can make a difference. But for a group like the St. Johns Riverkeeper, just having Howle on board appears to be already making a big difference.
“I tell people all the time I have the best job in the world,” said Howle. “There’s few lawyers out there who believe they are true advocates. Every day I promote a good cause through the Riverkeeper, and I’m doing much more fulfilling work.”
To read the entire compliance report or to find out more about the St. Johns Riverkeeper, visit www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org.