Environmentalists seek summer ban on lawn fertilizer

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Tags: fertilizers, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, seagrass, nitrogen pollution, Hillsborough County Commission, algae, Hillsborough EPC

Some local governments are trying to ban lawn fertilizing in the summer months. Runoff from lawns pollutes the bays, rivers , streams and lakes. Tomorrow, the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission will discuss the issue in a workshop.

Joining us now, Phil Compton, Regional Representative in the Sierra Club Florida Regional Office and Cathy Harrelson, chair of the Sierra Club’s Coastal Task Force.

Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s model recommendations went to all local governments in Hillsborough, Manatee & Pinellas over a year ago. So far, Gulfport and St. Petersburg have passed ordinances consistent with the recommendations. No other municipality has “jumped the gun” yet to pass its own; they are impatiently abiding by requests from the counties to wait for county action.