Florida Gov. Rick Scott last week ordered the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop new rules requiring public and private facilities “to provide notification of incidents of pollution within 24 hours to DEP, local governments and the general public through the media.” DEP quickly issued an emergency order increasing notification requirements for pollution incidents, as well as a notice of rulemaking to make it permanent after the emergency expires in 90 days. Under the new rules, facility owners must notify “local broadcast television affiliates and a newspaper of general circulation in the area of the contamination.” The rules significantly change the current “patchwork quilt of notice requirements,” according to an attorney writing in the Daily Business Review (registration required).

The governor’s action came in response to the furor raised when DEP for three weeks “kept quiet about a massive sinkhole at a Polk County phosphate operation that dumped 215 million gallons of contaminated water into the (state’s) aquifer,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. Public officials originally defended the secrecy by noting that current law didn’t require the public to be informed about the incident. The governor said he will also propose a law next year to codify the new requirements.