Marco man moves ahead with lawsuit against EPA

Submitted

Mario Sanchez

MARCO ISLAND — A local environmental activist took his federal lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a step further this week by submitting a motion for default judgment, a move he hopes will finally compel the agency to release the entire record of its investigation into environmental violations that were allegedly committed by the City of Marco Island and its contractors during the Septic Tank Replacement Program (STRP) in 1995 and 1996.

Mario Sanchez, who is a professor of computer science and bioinformatics at Miami-Dade College, runs a blog on the issue, where he has posted what he says are photos and video with GPS and time/date stamps of illegal dumping of waste water during the de-watering portion of the STRP in its early 2005 phase.

“They pumped raw sewage into the waterways and onto peoples’ swales ... there’s no question it was toxic,” says Sanchez.

“The FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) is complicit, in my opinion. They let the city investigate [the violations] but the city had no authority to tell FDEP to stand down.”

Sanchez is also concerned that the city contractors, Quality Enterprises, which was compelled to remove and dispose of asbestos found on the site of Veteran’s Park, did so improperly. The issue was resolved in a settled lawsuit that had accused the city of violating the federal Clean Air Act.

The EPA, City of Marco Island, FDEP and the Collier County Department of Health all conducted investigations of residents’ concerns and the evidence they provided on those concerns, for both the de-watering process and the asbestos removal. All cases have been closed, and in the case of de-watering, underground water related to the sewer project is now sent to a water treatment plant.

Sanchez, however, wants the EPA to be forthcoming with the information it collected during its investigation. “I went to the EPA under FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and they gave me nothing to do with the testing they did or a criminal investigation, just some newspaper clippings and emails; it was a slap in the face.”

The EPA’s press office did not have any comment or information to share about the case at deadline.

By filing the motion for default judgment, Sanchez will be able to force to EPA to turn over the entire file, should the judge rule in his favor.

“I’m not a lawyer. I’m just a layman doing the best I can,” he says, “The EPA will throw the case out on a technicality if it can but if not, maybe the judge will rule in my favor.”

The information, he says, is for the Marco Island residents.

“We need to know if criminal investigators were involved. We need to see the report made public so residents can decide for themselves: Was the law violated? Are there any long-term health consequences? Where did the asbestos go?”