Florida’s Green Industries
Dear Wedgworth leaders,
I know we all appreciate the deference the Department of Homeland Security’s guidance memo on “Identifying Critical Infrastructure During COVID-19” gives food production and related services. One gray area is whether Florida’s varied Green Industries are appropriately covered. I work with a national association called RISE, the Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, which lobbies on behalf of the specialty pesticide and fertilizer industry. I’m sharing their suggested language to stay-at-home orders to allow the unimpeded flow of green industries businesses.
For your reference, I attached the original RISE documents for your review and consideration of additional ideas for advocating on behalf of the green industries. Given the variations in currently adopted local stay-at-home orders (and the way they pop up with short notice feels like a Whac-a-mole game), many in the Green Industries are left with questions whether they’re covered. If it helps clear the air and lends greater certainty to continuity of operations, here’s what I pulled and rearranged from the RISE CISA letter that can be shared with your contacts at local governments :
In addition to the public works exemptions already included in the DHS March 19, 2020, CISA guidance, we ask you to also consider explicitly including the essential green industry services that protect our communities and the environment and to clearly designate them as a critical infrastructure industry. We ask you to explicitly include the green industry as part of our nation’s critical infrastructure. Specifically, we suggest amending the “Public Works” section of the Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response to read as follows:
Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, landscapers, golf course superintendents, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences, businesses, and communities
Stay healthy and keep up the great work!
Warm regards and well wishes,
Mary