From: The News Service of Florida – Florida’s control over water standard levels would expand to nearly all of its waterways under an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday. The deal, which expands upon an agreement reached in November, would give the state Department of Environmental Protection power to set nitrogen and phosphorus levels in more than 4,300 square miles of coastal streams, estuaries and rivers, including the Intracoastal Waterway running up Florida’s east coast. The Florida Legislature has until Dec. 1, 2014 to approve the agreement, with bills on the plan expected to be put before lawmakers this session. “We can now move forward to implementing nutrient reduction criteria, rather than delaying environmental improvements due to endless litigation,” DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard said in a news release. The state DEP will also set interim standards until the legislation is approved. The announcement was applauded by two of the state’s biggest business groups, Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Florida Farm Bureau and the Florida League of Cities. But environmental-legal group EarthJustice, which has spent years in court pushing for Florida’s waters to be set to EPA standards, argued the “flawed” agreement will result in unenforceable limits on the amount of sewage and fertilizer allowed in state waters. “This is an absolute sell out,” Earthjustice attorney David Guest said in a release. “This bogus plan gives deep-pocketed polluters even more loopholes. And what do we, the public, get? More gross, slimy algae in the water.” The state would have control over 98.9 percent of the bodies of water in Florida, with the remaining waterways still under review to determine the needed standards. In November, federal environmental officials agreed to comply with a notice by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle to allow Florida to set the numeric standards for nutrient concentrations on some 100,000 miles of Florida waterways and 4,000 square miles of estuaries. “I have always maintained that Florida – not the federal government – should enact the rules and laws to protect our unique waterways,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a release Friday.