POLITICAL WAVES
2/20/2008 11:49:36 AM by Lisa Knapp
For U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL), making waves in Florida is all in a day’s work. It’s the ripples he’s sending down through the state’s coastline that’s making boating enthusiasts take notice.
Many politicians try to identify with Florida’s electorate by feigning understanding of our water-based culture. But Senator Mel Martinez is actually a public servant who is the essence of that very culture. He’s a true-blue ocean boater who’s been immersed in the marine scene his whole life.
Now 61, Martinez is rekindling his boating life. He plans to circumnavigate Florida with his family this fall. He’s trailered many boats to central Florida’s many lakes and the Keys where he enjoys skiing and snorkeling. “I grew up in Cuba and my Dad was an avid fisherman,” he says. “Every summer I spent the better part of June, July and August on the water. I remember my 12th birthday when I got a rowing dingy and it was awesome. I knew how to cast the net and went fishing all the time.”
That was when he was a kid living in Isabella on Cuba’s central northern coast. It’s a straight shot south of Miami. “People don’t realize how big Cuba is, with its many islands and pristine beaches where I loved to swim and fish,” he says. “Of course, life became very complicated once in Florida because I was working and going to school. I took some sailing classes at FSU’s lake in Tallahassee and bought a 42 Morgan Sloop. I’m not averse to going out to trawl for hours at a time, but I don’t have a lot of time to do it now.”
That’s because Martinez is busy tackling big issues in Washington that affect 73 million boaters, many of whom live in the Sunshine State. Among his many accomplishments, he introduced the Recreational Boating of 2007 to the Senate to exempt recreational boat owners from having to secure multiple permits for the normal operation of their boats. Martinez’s bill will save boaters from new regulations and unnecessary permits stemming from the Ballast Water Court Case. He wrote the bill so that the unintended consequences of legislation won’t be increasingly costly to Joe Q. Public. “Requiring family boaters to secure a Clean Water Act permit so they can wash their boat, fish or go waterskiing is ridiculous,” says Martinez. “This permit requirement is unnecessary and onerous. Without congressional approval of the Recreational Boating Act, the court’s existing decision means that everyday boaters will have to apply for the same expensive permits as ocean-going commercial vessels.”
A court-mandated deadline is set for September 2008 that would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have the permitting requirements in place. If Martinez’s bill is passed, it will protect the 34-year old EPA exemption for non-pollutant engine cooling water, bilge water, gray water and common deck runoff. “It has big bipartisan support and I’m very hopeful we will get this done,” says Martinez. “I don’t want us to have to come into a compliance situation. I feel good about it, but it needs your support. A lot of Floridians will be impacted by it.”
Martinez is also trying to reform the Longshoreman’s Act that essentially requires all vendors to have longshoreman’s insurance to deliver soft drinks and other items to yachts under 100 feet. “I love Florida and the quality of life we enjoy,” says Martinez. “But I worry about the future. I want Florida to be for my children the type of paradise it has been for most of my life. While our state grows we need to protect our environment, habitats and coral reefs. We have to be stewards of our environment so we can safeguard it for another generation to enjoy.”