Save Sand Hill Lakes - Protect Our Wells updated their cover photo.
Save Sand Hill Lakes - Protect Our Wells shared a link.
We would like to thank our supporters for their continued help with efforts to protect the Sand Hill Lakes area. We also want to pass along the encouraging news that Bay County has decided to end its bid to pump water from the region.
We want to thank everyone who supported our efforts to stop a plan that called for pumping millions of gallons of water a day from the Sand Hill Lakes region. It was a 2 year battle with Bay County, and it ended last week, on Sept. 27, when the Northwest Florida Water Management District's Governing Boarded voted in our favor. About 20 supporters were at that meeting, with some having driven more than 2 hours to attend. Many took advantage of the public comment period to tell... the Board, for hopefully the last time, about the grave concerns they have for their lakes and wetlands. And the Board listened, voting unanimously to deny Bay's consumptive use permit request.
This victory was due in large part to the residents of Bay and Washington counties who lent their names and voices to the Coalition's stand against Bay's well field proposal.
We were truly a grassroots movement.
Thank you for your unwavering commitment to protect the fragile environment that is the Sand Hill Lakes. !!!
Check out the news coverage of the NWFWMD board's vote that backed the Coalition's position:
http://newsherald.com/…/well-field-plan-denied-again-1.19655
We had a great victory tonight. The NW Florida Water Management District Governing Board voted unanimously to accept the judge's recommended order. The two-year fight is officially over!!! Congrats everyone.
Does the Fight End or Continue?
We Will Find Out on Sept. 27
The battle over Bay County’s request to pump millions of gallons of water a day from the Sand Hill Lakes region could end on Thursday, Sept. 27. Or it could continue. The Northwest Florida Water Management District’s Board of Governors is scheduled to vote on Bay County's permit request when it meets Thursday in Havana, starting at 4 p.m. EDT.
...The Coalition to Save Hill Lakes encourages concerned citizens to attend the meeting as a show of support for a July 26 ruling that recommended the NWFWMD deny Bay County’s request for a consumptive use permit.
That ruling has been challenged by Bay County, which, on Aug. 31, filed exceptions, or objections, to the judge’s recommended order. The county has asked the Governing Board to grant the exceptions and return the case to the Division of Administrative Hearings “for further evaluation under the correct burden of proof.”
News Report: Emergency Water Well Controversy Continues - http://beta.local.yahoo.com/news-emergency-water-well-contr…
News Report: Residents react to water well recommendation -- http://www.wjhg.com/…/Residents-React-to-Water-Well-Reccome…
WJHG News Report --
http://www.wjhg.com/…/Bay-County-Loses-First-Round-of-Water…
News coverage in the Panama City News Herald about the ruling in our favor. Please share this link: http://www.newsherald.com/…/tallahassee-104402-water-bay.ht…
Administrative Law Judge Rules Bay County Failed to Prove Need to Draw Millions of Gallons of Water
http://www.savesandhilllakes.com/2012/07/coalition-prevails-in-fight-against-proposed-well-field/
Save Sand Hill Lakes - Protect Our Wells shared a link.
Update on the well field hearing: All parties now have until February 6 to submit their Proposed Recommended Orders to Judge Maloney. We'll keep you posted on next steps as we know them!
As you know, the case regarding a petition filed against Bay County's intention to grant a permit to construct a well field was heard before an administrative law judge last fall. Judge David Maloney, presiding over the administrative hearing, heard testimony from both petitioners and the respondent, including many experts on both sides of the case. After nearly four weeks of testimony, both sides had completed their arguments. In the intervening time, both petitioners (the Knight Trust, Washington County and two pro se petitioners) and the respondents (Bay County and the NWFWMD) have been preparing Proposed Recommended Orders (PROs) to submit to the Judge.
