Hamilton has only held the top DEP job for a year, but he was with the agency for 13 years before that.

How’s he doing? Absolutely outstanding, according to the polluters. But if you’re interested in clean waterways, the answer is: Not so good.

Every year, Jerrel “Jerry” Phillips of the Florida chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility runs the DEP’s enforcement numbers and issues a report. The report for Hamilton’s first year, issued last month, found some major problems.

Big sewage leaks happened nearly every day around the state in 2021, noted Phillips, a former DEP enforcement attorney. Yet, he wrote, “despite a growing water quality crisis, meaningful enforcement designed to curb this major source of pollution is virtually nonexistent.”

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