140430-a
Alabama Gulf Coast, Florida Panhandle hit hard by flooding
Associated Press – by Melissa Nelson-Gabriel
April 30, 2014
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — In the latest blow from a dayslong chain of severe weather across the South and Midwest, the Florida Panhandle and Alabama Gulf Coast were hit with widespread flooding early Wednesday, with people stranded in cars and homes waiting for rescuers to find a way around impassable roads and others abandoning vehicles to walk to safety.
Crews weren’t able to respond to some calls for help because of flooding in and around Pensacola, and one woman died when she drove her car into high water, officials said. Boats and jet skis were moved from the beaches to the streets, authorities planned aerial rescues, and the National Guard sent high-wheeled vehicles.
Officials received about 300 calls for evacuation in the Pensacola area and had completed about 210, Gov. Rick Scott said at a news conference in Tallahassee. About 30,000 were without power.
Some people left their flooded cars and walked to find help on their own. “We have people at the police department,” Officer Justin Cooper said in Pensacola. “They walked up here and are hanging out until things get better.”
About 22 inches of rain had fallen by midmorning in Pensacola, with 4 more expected Wednesday. Average annual rainfall for Pensacola is 65 inches, meaning much of that area was seeing about a third of that amount in just one day.
In some neighborhood, streets flowed like rivers as water reached mailboxes. Cars were submerged in driveways, and residents paddled by on kayaks.
“We’ve seen pictures that people are posting with water halfway up their doors, front doors,” Grigsby said. “It’s going to be a big cleanup, looks like.”
The widespread flooding is the latest wallop of a storm system that still packed considerable punch days after the violent outbreak began in Arkansas and Oklahoma. More than 30 people have been killed, including the 67-year-old driver in Pensacola.
In Pensacola Beach, people woke to violent storms, heavy rain and lightning. Standing water could be seen on many parts of the beach, and a military vehicle made its way through one heavily flooded neighborhood. Pensacola Naval Air Station’s hospital was closed, as was the Air Force Special Operations center at Hurlburt Field.
Paul Schuster made an emergency run about 4 a.m. from Pensacola Beach to his mother’s flooded home in nearby Gulf Breeze. The woman, 82, had to be rescued from by an emergency official in a boat, he said.
“The water was waist high,” he said.
Ron Hruska’s neighborhood was flooded, but his home, more elevated than others nearby, was safe. Hruska said there were flash flooding warnings on television throughout the night but that the water came up faster than expected.
“I’ve never seen it this bad in 12 years here,” he said. “It wasn’t even this bad after hurricanes.”
In Gulf Shores, Ala., where nearly 21 inches of rain fell in a day’s time, the scene resembled the aftermath of a hurricane early Wednesday. The intracoastal waterway rose, reaching the canal road linking the town with neighboring Orange Beach.
There, at Sportsman Marina, employee J.J. Andrews couldn’t believe what she saw out the window.
“We’ve got water up in our parking lots,” she said. “Our docks are under water. It’s worse than during Hurricane Ivan, is what they’re saying. It’s crazy.”
Shelters opened for evacuees, but some people had difficulty traversing roads. Water covered parts of Alabama 59, the main road for beach-bound tourists.
In Mobile, a few dozen rescues were conducted, mostly on roads, the emergency management agency estimated.
“We do have a lot of roads that are still underwater,” the agency’s Glen Brannan said but noted improvements, with the worst weather to the east.
That included Baldwin County, where crews started rescues before midnight, said Mitchell Sims, emergency management director.
“As soon as we get a water rescue team in here, they’re sent back out,” he said. “We’re rescuing people from cars, from rooftops, from all over the place.
“I think we’re going to be dealing with this for days. I don’t know where the water’s going to go. Everything is saturated.”
Over the past four days, storms hit especially hard in places such as Arkansas’ northern Little Rock suburbs and the Mississippi cities of Louisville and Tupelo. Arkansas, with 15 deaths after a tornado blasted through Sunday, and Mississippi, with 12 deaths from Monday’s storms, accounted for the brunt of the death toll.
Authorities in Louisville searched until dark Tuesday for an 8-year-old boy missing since Monday’s large tornado that killed his parents and destroyed the home where they lived. Though searchers didn’t rule out finding the boy alive, officials were describing the process as one of recovery.
On Wednesday, Louisville officials said they were shifting priorities from response to cleanup. They expected volunteers to stream into the town to lend a hand.
“Today is the day we start putting Louisville back together,” said Buddy King, county emergency management director.
Related:           Epic Rains Deluge Florida Panhandle & Parts of Alabama   Climate Central
(and many other articles on “flooding” in the media)

140430-b
Everglades component could miss congressional approval
News-Press.com – by Ledyard King
April 30, 2014
WASHINGTON – A crucial component of a massive Everglades restoration plan might not be ready for review for another two months, raising concerns from environmental advocates that it could miss a crucial window for congressional approval.
Maj. Gen. John Peabody, a top official with the Army Corps of Engineers, told members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Tuesday he expects the Civil Works Review Board will approve the Central Everglades Planning Project between late May and late June.
It would then take about another month following state review before getting the favorable chief's report that would allow Congress to authorize funding, said Peabody, the deputy commanding general of the Corps' civil and emergency operations.
But it might be too late.
The head of an environmental group is worried that if the Civil Works Review Board doesn't endorse the Central Everglades Planning Project soon, the proposal could languish before it has a chance to be included in a massive water bill lawmakers are hashing out right now.
And without the project in place to divert water south from Lake Okeechobee, other restoration components already in the pipeline, notably reservoirs designed to capture and treat polluted runoff before reaching Florida's east and west coasts, won't be able to function effectively, Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said in an interview after the House hearing.
"It could set us back seven years," said Eikenberg, referring to the frequency Congress takes up reauthorization of the Water Development Resources Act. "And the biggest loser in all of this are the people of Florida."
Lawmakers are eager to approve the multibillion-dollar bill, which would authorize pet projects in home states though not provide any actual money to fund them. After both chambers agreed on their version of the measure last fall, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said in January he hoped a compromise could be reached and voted on before February.
Those closed-door negotiations between senators and House members continue. Ryan Brown, a spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson, said work should be completed by mid-May.

140430-c
Panel wants lagoon program out of water districts
Florida Today – by Jim Waymer, Brevard
April 30, 2014
FORT PIERCE – Advocates for the Indian River Lagoon hope that a change in oversight of a federal program will heighten awareness of the problems facing the ailing waterway and garner more resources to address those problems.
An advisory panel unanimously agreed Wednesday — in concept — to removethe Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program from the control of the St. Johns River and South Florida water management districts.
Members of the Indian River Lagoon Advisory Board said taking the lagoon program away from the two water management districts and creating a nonprofit or some other separate, independent entity could allow more autonomy, focus and freedom to pursue public and private money for restoring the ill estuary.
“One of my frustrations is that there’s no general leading the army to solve the problem,” Brevard County Commissioner Chuck Nelson said at Wednesday’s lagoon advisory board meeting in Fort Pierce.
Advisory board members said the time is ripe to heighten the lagoon’s profile to garner more public and private money to fix its pollution problems.
The Indian River Lagoon has been part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program since 1990.The program, administered by local sponsors, aims to restore water quality to the estuaries deemed of national significance. The St. Johns River and South Florida water management districts have been the local sponsor of the lagoon program since its inception.
The lagoon is one of four national estuary programs in Florida, including Sarasota Bay, Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. There are 28 estuaries in the program nationwide.
Ideas for restructuring the program included forming a nonprofit or a multi-government entity made up of counties, cities and other governments along the estuary, similar to how the Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay estuary programs run.
Regional planning councils and local governments play a lead role in those programs.
Lagoon advocates have long lamented that the two water management districts are not pushing hard enough for lagoon protections and funding.
The lagoon advisory board decided to approve the concept of a separate, stand-alone entity to run the lagoon program and to reconvene as soon as they get feedback from state and federal agencies currently involved.
The advisory board plans to hold a workshop in soon to weigh the pros and cons of the idea.
The advisory board, EPA and state officials would make the final decision.
Florida environmental officials at Wednesday’s meeting said they’re open to the idea but want to make sure they do what’s best for the lagoon.
“I’m not convinced it’s a good idea, yet,” said Drew Bartlett, deputy secretary for water policy and ecosystem restoration at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Some board members worried about losing the expertise of water management district staffers.
Regardless of whether the water management districts give up the program, improving lagoon water quality would still be a top priority, said Maurice Sterling, interim director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program.
“We see this as a starting point,” he said. “The two of us (water management districts) can only do so much.”
The lagoon estuary program has implemented more than $200 million in projects to improve water quality in the lagoon.
By 2009, seagrass had recovered to levels not seen since the 1940s. But in 2011, a “superbloom” of green algae killed off 60 percent of the grass, which has yet to recover. Some 135 manatees, 80 dolphins and 250 pelicans also have recently died for unexplained reasons.
Doug Bournique, executive vice president of the Indian River Citrus League and a member of the St. Johns district’s governing board, said the change in oversight of the lagoon program is necessary to seize a political opportunity. He noted that lagoon-region politicians hold or are soon to hold top legislative positions. Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, is slated to be the next Speaker of the Florida House and Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, whose district include northern Brevard County, is in line to be the next president of the Senate.
“I think the time is right to take this to the next level,” he said.
Indian River Lagoon work plan
The Indian River Lagoon Advisory Board signed off on
$1 million in proposed lagoon projects Wednesday. Which projects actually get done depends on how much money comes in this year from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and from the Indian River Lagoon specialty license plate.
EPA is expected to provide $538,000, and the other half comes from matching money from those proposing the projects and from the lagoon specialty plate revenue.
The work plan goes to the water management district’s governing board in May for submission to EPA by June 1.
Some of the high-priority projects in the plan include:
• $82,000 for the Indian River Lagoon Program to administer an education and communication plan. This is #1 on the list, followed by a $63,750 project to have Cape Canaveral Scientific Inc. continue grant writing to help local governments implement the lagoon’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.
• $143,445 for Brevard Zoo to restore and monitor oyster reefs in Mosquito Lagoon.
• $153,008 for Cocoa Beach’s “Minutemen Streetscape and Stormwater Improvement” project.
• $101,315 for Florida Tech to restore seagrass and shellfish and to test prototype designs for floating bio-remediation and restoration platforms to improve water quality.
Source: Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program

140430-d
U.S. and Florida resolve money disputes over two stalled Everglades projects
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
April 30, 2014
Florida water managers and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers resolved a two-year stalemate Wednesday that has delayed two critical Everglades restoration projects.
The projects, both authorized about two decades ago, will provide necessary links to improving and moving water through the 18,000-square-mile water system.
In one, a series of detention basins in South Miami-Dade County will keep water flowing under a new bridge on the Tamiami Trail within Everglades National Park and help replenish the parched ecosystem.
The second project, nearly 85 percent complete, restores a 9,000-acre floodplain, allowing water managers to store water in the Kissimmee River Basin rather than flush it down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, contributing to toxic algae blooms.
In recent years, both projects stalled as officials argued over land issues and costs. Both projects predate the landmark 2000 Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project intended to fix the ailing system, as well as the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP), an attempt in 2011 to carve out more manageable projects.
“Realizing our shared goals of moving these projects forward will demonstrate...the strength and success of the long-standing partnership between the state and federal government,” South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Blake Guillory said in a statement.
Just last week, an internal Corps review board failed to sign off on CEPP, frustrating South Florida supporters who hoped to include it in a congressional appropriations bill that is nearly complete. If it doesn’t make it into the bill, supporters worry congressional gridlocks could postpone CEPP for years.
At a hearing Tuesday, Major General John Peabody, the Corps’ deputy commanding general for civil and emergency operations, said he hoped to hear Friday about what issues delayed the review board’s decision.
Environmentalists hope the announcement signals new harmony between the agencies.
“It’s like a marriage,” said Jane Graham, Audubon Florida’s Everglades policy manager. “I wouldn’t say it’s unhappy, but like all marriages it has issues. And sometimes it just needs a little kick to say, ‘Stop fighting and get it done.’”
Related:           State, feds settle some of their Everglades differences          Sun-Sentinel
Funding resolved for 2 Everglades projects   Naples Daily News, NBC 6 South Florida
Funding Issue Resolved For Everglades Restoration Projects           CBS Local

140429-a
Congress considers collecting excess Caloosahatchee water
NBC-2.com - by Charlie Keegan, Reporter
April 29, 2014
LEE COUNTY, FL - More water could be coming down the Caloosahatchee River soon. And that’s a good thing during dry season. Friday, a judge sided with environmentalist advocates, saying new rules need to be changed.
A day on the water is an escape for Eddie Challinor.
“If you spend enough time on the water, you see things no one else has ever seen in their life,” said the Bonita Springs charter boat captain.
Lately, he’s seen constantly changing water quality from rainy to dry season.
“There is just too much water going down in the rainy season. So if you can cap and store some of it and send it during the dry season that would be better,” Challinor said.
That’s the plan. Congress is considering the C-43 reservoir which would collect water in the rainy season and send it down the Caloosahatchee in the dry season.
“It's either way too much or way too little water getting to the river and a lot of the organisms in the river can't survive those conditions,” said Jennifer Hecker, the director of natural resource policy at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) makes rules for water use in our area.
The Conservancy for Southwest Florida challenged the district’s rules saying they allowed some people to keep using water for their own use instead of having it go to the river.
“We read it to expand the protection to these users beyond what the law allows at the expense of the river,” Hecker said.
In order to get federal funds for the C-43 reservoir, all the water has to go to the environment.
A judge sided with the conservancy. The district insists that the intent wasn’t to keep water from the river, and says a wording change will correct the issue.
“Someone, specifically a farmer, hoarding water, it really would be impossible because they don't have anywhere to put the water and if you put a foot or two of water on your field, you're probably going to flood your crops out,” said Randy Smith with SFWMD.
Cleaner water year round means a healthier environment and business for Challinor’s Shore Catch Charters. He’s hopeful this helps the issue.

140429-b
Everglades restoration postponed by U.S. Army Corps
Bradenton Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
April 29, 2014
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to take a crucial step in the $1.9 billion plan to restore the central Everglades, a decision environmentalists say all but kills the project for years.
"This delay means Congress will be unable to act on 'the plan' for years," Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said in a statement. "Once again, the Corps is bogged down in its own bureaucracy, stumbling past important deadlines, showing an unwillingness to be creative, and determined to follow a trail of red tape that leads to public frustration."
An internal review board had needed to approve the Central Everglades Planning Project, known as CEPP, in time to get it into a federal appropriations bill this year.
The plan is an attempt to bundle connected projects in the massive Everglades restoration effort, which has been mired in delays and reviews since President Bill Clinton approved an initial $1.4 billion for restoration in 2000. Supporters hoped that CEPP, with its focus on the critical core of the 18,000-square-mile ecosystem that spans 16 counties from Orlando to Florida Bay, could clean polluted water and then move it south to the parched southern Everglades. Much of that water is now flushed east and west, fouling rivers and estuaries.
But instead -- and to the surprise of environmentalists who helped win support for the plan from the South Florida Water Management District earlier this month -- the Corps' internal review board balked. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Gov. Rick Scott and eight members of Congress also wrote letters to the Corps in the past week urging it to approve the plan before the end of April.
"Time is of the essence," an April 22 letter from congressional members insisted.
The Corps, however, refused to be rushed.
"This challenging feat has required us all to step outside of our comfort zones," Col. Alan Dodd, the Corps' Jacksonville district commander, said in a statement. "The one thing that cannot be rushed on the final report for this complex project is ensuring that it meets the Corps' required quality standard."
The Corps, which fast-tracked the plan as part of an experiment to see whether it could speed up its chronically slow pace, completed a draft in August and began holding public hearings across South Florida. But a South Florida Water Management District resolution April 10 committing the district to paying its half of the bill included language that differed from the Corps' draft, said Eric Bush, a planning and policy division chief.
Wednesday, he declined to explain the difference, instead pointing out that the 8,000-page report had moved at a faster pace than the six years previously required.
"It's not a stalling tactic," Bush said of the recent decision.
The language in dispute, he said, deals with water quality, a critical issue in the restoration project intended to send water from Lake Okeechobee south. In the past, water has been so polluted with phosphorous from fertilizers that it killed oysters and seagrass.
In a statement Wednesday, the district urged the Corps to "immediately reconvene to discuss and approve CEPP."
Bush said the Corps hopes to complete its review by June, followed by another 30-day public comment period before its chief of engineers gives a final approval and sends it to Congress.
Federal projects in the Everglades are paid for through the 1974 Water Resources and Development Act, which was intended to funnel money every two years into efforts around the country.
But in recent years, the two-year cycle has broken down, and appropriations can now drag on for years. The last time Congress approved any money under WRDA was in 2007, prompting environmentalists to demand the Corps sign off on the plan in time for an appropriations bill now being considered.
"The window for authorization of CEPP is closing," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida.
Dawn Sherriffs, a senior policy adviser for the Everglades Foundation who attended the Corps' review session Tuesday, said the board should have considered passing the plan contingent on the language being resolved.
"It is inconceivable that they felt no sense of urgency," she said.

140428-a
Budget deal disappoints groups seeking money for conservation lands and springs
Florida Current – by Bruce Ritchie
April 28, 2014
Environmentalists said Monday they were disappointed at the budget agreement reached late Sunday on agriculture and environmental spending issues.
The House on Sunday accepted a Senate offer that included $167.8 million for Lake Okeechobee and Everglades restoration projects, $25 million for springs protection and $17.5 million in new revenue for conservation lands.
Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart and chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said the budget reflected the priorities of the House and Senate, including springs and the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee projects that will help protect Indian River Lagoon.
"I feel like it's a really strong budget that we can be proud of -- plus $3 billion in reserves," Negron told reporters late Sunday.
Monitor 'Environmental Appropriations' and 100+ policy issues with Legislative IQ or LobbyTools. Login or request a demo.
Environmentalists said Monday they were disappointed at the low funding for statewide programs such as springs and conservation lands.
Gov. Rick Scott had proposed $55 million for springs protection, but House and Senate budget negotiators agreed on less than half of that. Senators were considering legislation that would provide $365 million yearly for springs but the funding language was stripped from the bill last week.
Environmental groups had requested $100 million for the Florida Forever land-buying program. 
The budget negotiators agreed on $12.5 million for Florida Forever and another $5 million for agricultural conservation easements. Another $40 million was provided from the possible sale of non-conservation lands.
"I think it's a disappointing result of the (budget) conference," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida. "The people of Florida had every reason to expect more money would be put into protecting water and land."
Draper noted that Indian River Lagoon, within Negron's Senate district, fared well. He was chairman of a special Senate select committee that responded to the ecological crisis when heavy rains caused polluted water to be discharged from Lake Okechobee into the St. Lucie River, which flows to Indian River Lagoon.
The $167.8 million for Lake Okeechobee and Everglades restoration projects includes $32 million for the governor's water quality cleanup, $30 million for Tamiami Trail bridging. 
"The only good result of this [budget agreement] is for the people Senator Negron represents who did well," Draper said. "I think for the rest of the state of Florida it's a disappointing result."
Janet Bowman, director of legislative policy and strategies for The Nature Conservancy, also said she was disappointed in the money allocated for statewide resource programs.
The $17.5 million in new revenue for conservation lands overall is less than the $31 million provided last year for Florida Forever and agricultural conservation easements.
"In general the revenue situation is better this year," Bowman said. "So one would expect a kind of a growth" based on increased tax collections. 
And Bowman said that the $25 million provided for springs protection stands in "stark contrast" to the $74 million provided for local water projects, which are championed by House members.
Negron later added $4.2 million to the total figure for Everglades and Lake Okeechobee spending, for nearly $172 million, by counting two of the statewide local water projects as Indian River Lagoon restoration. He also said springs would get $30 mllion, and a Senate spokeswoman said the $5 million would come later in proposed budget proviso language.

140428-b
Corps deals death blow to 'Glades plan
Miami Herald – by Carl Hiaasen
April 28, 2014 
Just when there seemed to be a glimmer of hope for the Everglades, along comes the lumbering U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to muck up the works.
Last week, a review board of the Corps stunned everybody by delaying the approval of the Central Everglades Planning Project, an essential and widely hailed step in saving what remains of the Everglades.
Because of the board's surprising decision not to act (which, naturally, happened on Earth Day), CEPP could be left out of the public water bill pending in Congress. New federal funding wouldn't be available for years, a potentially crippling setback for cleanup efforts from the Kissimmee River to the Keys.
At immediate risk are the Indian River Lagoon, the St. Lucie estuary at the mouth of the Atlantic and the Caloosahatchee River emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.
Every rainy season the Corps opens the floodgates from Lake Okeechobee uncorking millions of gallons of water heavily polluted by farms and ranches. The choking torrent eventually reaches both coasts.
The Atlantic side is stricken by massive algae blooms that suffocate oyster beds and sea grass flats, and turn the water slimy hues of green. On the Gulf, the polluted outflow has been linked to toxic red tides that foul the beaches with dead fish and kill manatees.
While the environmental damage is terrible, the economic impact is also grave. Tourism, the recreational marine industry and real-estate sales suffer during the months of heavy discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
CEPP is actually a collection of engineering projects designed to cleanse the polluted water from mid-Florida agricultural areas and send it south to the Everglades, instead of pumping it out toward the estuaries, inland waterways and oceans.
The concept isn't hotly disputed. Environmentalists support it, and so does Gov. Rick Scott. That's because Big Sugar is on board, too.
Last year, President Obama put CEPP on his "We Can't Wait" list of urgent public works, but evidently the Army Corps has one, too. It's called the "We Can't Get Our Act Together" list.
From one administration to the next, the Corps never changes. One of the most turgid and impenetrable bureaucracies in Washington, on a good day it moves like a turtle on Ambien.
Letters to the Corps leadership urging prompt action on CEPP were sent by Gov. Scott, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and several members of Congress. They might as well have been writing to the Tooth Fairy.
The hitch in approving CEPP by the agency's Civil Works Review Board has been blamed on a "small deviation" between the Corps' draft of CEPP and that of the South Florida Water Management District, which would pay for half the project.
At issue is the wording about water-quality standards, a subject of contention throughout the long restoration process. The differences between the Corps' version and the state's were said to be "minor," so surely they can be smoothed out after the funding for the project is secured.
A media statement from the Corps described as "extremely well done" plans laid out in the 8,000-page CEPP report, but said "additional time is needed to finalize the document assessment prior to releasing the report for the final 30-day state and agency review."
The problem is that there's hardly any time left. However, nobody speaking on behalf of the Corps has displayed much concern about the looming Congressional vote.
Although the Civil Works Review Board said the CEPP might be ready by late June, that might be too late for the House and Senate, which aren't blameless in the Everglades muddle.
It's been seven years since Congress passed a water appropriations act, and the fear is that this year's bill be the last for another long stretch.
Eric Bush, a planning and policy chief with the Corps' Jacksonville district, said the agency has moved with exceptional haste in evaluating the central Everglades plan. A project so complex typically would require half a dozen years or more of study, he added.
Which makes it merely miraculous that the Corps completes any projects at all. Of the postponement in releasing the CEPP, Bush said, "It isn't a stalling tactic."
No, it's worse than that. It's a killing tactic.
"This delay means Congress will be unable to act on (CEPP) for years," said Erik Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. "Once again the Corps is bogged down in its own bureaucracy ... and determined to follow a trail of red tape that leads to public frustration."
A blogger who attended the review board meeting wrote in the Palm Beach Post that the panel spent almost two hours discussing the history of the Everglades, rhapsodizing about its status as a national treasure on par with the Grand Canyon.
One by one, Corps officers spoke in committed tones about the importance of saving South Florida's vast and "slowly dying" watershed.
Then, in a move that may hasten the dying, they decided to go back and dawdle some more over the rescue plan.

140428-c
Florida Legislature passes bill to expand use of reclaimed water
Sunshine State News - by Allison Nielsen
April 28, 2014
A bill to direct the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a study and submit a report on expanding the use of reclaimed water in Florida passed through the Florida Legislature Monday.
SB 536, sponsored by Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, would permit the two agencies to study and submit a report on broadening the use of reclaimed water in Florida, including storm-water and excess surface water.
Floridians currently consume seven billion gallons of water a day -- a number projected to increase to nine billion gallons per day by 2030.
The bill won the support of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which called the legislation an example of "smart, sustainable planning for Florida's future."
"Providing smart solutions that will address long-term water needs are steps in the right direction to ensure adequate resources," read an email from the Chamber. "The Florida Chamber supports the expanded use of alternative water supplies such as reclaimed water and associated projects that encourage alternative water storage.  Expanding the use of alternative water supplies like reclaimed water can go a long way toward helping to conserve the state’s potable surface water and groundwater resources.
"The Florida Chamber thanks Sen. Simpson and House bill sponsor Representative Lake Ray, R-Jacksonville, for their support."

140428-d
'Funeral' for Indian River Lagoon planned for Saturday | Video
TCPalm – by Elizabeth Harrington, WPTV
April 28, 2014
Dozens of people on the Treasure Coast are getting ready for a funeral. Many activists says last week's decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to delay a solution to the discharges from Lake Okeechobee was the nail in the coffin for the Indian River Lagoon.
People are angry about the Army Corps' decision, which they believe will kill the water they live and play on. Now they're in mourning and plan to hold a public funeral.
About 3,000 people have been invited to a Facebook event called "Funeral Services for Our Indian River Lagoon." The service is Saturday.
"We are feeling that we are preparing for a funeral because we don't know what the future is," says business owner Irene Gomes.
Gomes owns the Driftwood Motel in Jensen Beach. It took a hit after last year's toxic water problems.
"Last year I lost over $2,000 per month over that time," Gomes says.
Since then she has fought for a solution to the problem. Many believe the Central Everglades Planning Project is the answer but the Army Corps has delayed its approval. Gomes and others worry it will be postponed for years.
"We need to get the attention of our politicians," Gomes says. "We need to get the attention of our local, state and federal government."
That's why they're holding a funeral.
"This is the death of the Indian River Lagoon," Gomes says. "If something isn't done and something isn't done soon we're facing death."
Advocate groups for the lagoon plan to wear black, have coffins and they're getting a hearse. There will also be plenty of signs.
The funeral for the lagoon is Saturday at 9 a.m. at the St. Lucie locks in Stuart.
Click to see the invitation for the event on Facebook.

140428-e
Senator Negron announces full funding of Lagoon recommendations
CapitalSoup.com
April 28, 2014
Budget to include more than $231 million, exceeds Select Committee Recommendations.
Tallahassee — State Senator Joe Negron (R-Stuart), chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Select Committee on Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin, today announced at the conclusion of budget negotiations between the House and Senate, lawmakers have agreed to fund a comprehensive list of the Select Committee’s short and long-term recommendations to improve the environmental and economic health of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee River systems and the Indian River Lagoon.
“I am grateful to my colleagues in the Senate and the House for not only meeting, but exceeding the level of funding originally outlined in our Senate Select Committee Report,” said Senator Negron. “The problems caused by ongoing releases from Lake Okeechobee are a plague on the environment, our economy, and the health of our friends and neighbors, and I am pleased that the Senate and House came together to lay the groundwork for a resolution.”
“This critical funding will enable our communities – including those to the North, South, and West of the lake, to address short-term water management initiatives, while continuing to pursue long-term strategies,” continued Chair Negron. “Our work does not end today, and I encourage citizens to continue providing input as we work toward finding solutions to protect our communities.”
In addition to funding recommendations of the Senate Select Committee, lawmakers agreed to fund over $2 million for the Loxahatchee River Preservation Initiative as well as more than $2 million for the St. Lucie River  and Indian River Lagoon Issues Team. Additionally, the Florida Senate will commission a study by the University of Florida Water Institute to evaluate basin wide water management policies and activities and identify options for additional state, federal and local action to improve water management, including alternatives to discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
A full breakdown of funding initiatives agreed to by the House and Senate is attached. For more information on the Select Committee Report, please click here.

140428-f
South Florida Water District overstepped law, judge says
TheLedger.com
April 28, 2014
Siding with an environmental group, a state judge has found that the South Florida Water Management District overstepped its legal authority in a proposal related to an Everglades restoration project and the Caloosahatchee River.
The district in February issued a proposed rule to create a reservation of water for an Everglades restoration project known as the Caloosahatchee River (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir. But the Conservancy of Southwest Florida filed a challenge to part of the proposal in the state Division of Administrative Hearings.
Administrative Law Judge Bram D.E. Canter, in a 12-page order issued Friday, agreed with the environmental group that the rule went too far in protecting already permitted water uses.
Related:           Fla. District's Reservoir Plan Oversteps Bounds, Judge Says            Law360 (subscription)

140427-a
Founder of Fledgling Fund joins board of Everglades Foundation
PBchDailyNews.com - by Jane Fetterly
April 27, 2014
Diana Barrett of Palm Beach, president and founder of the Fledgling Fund, has been named to the board of directors of the Everglades Foundation. She has a doctorate in business administration from Harvard University, where she taught for 25 years.
Barrett started the Fledgling Fund in 2005 to support grants, training and networking for documentary filmmakers. She also serves on the boards of Earthwatch and the Social Change Film Forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

140427-b
Lawmakers hammer out water differences at night
Orlando Sentinel - by Aaron Deslatte,Tallahassee Bureau Chief
April 27, 2014
TALLAHASSEE – Lawmakers trying to divide $1.3 billion in surplus cash haggled through the weekend over hometown water and education projects, health-care needs and hundreds of other dueling spending priorities.
The Republican-controlled Legislature has already signed off on most of the biggest-ticket priorities, such as giving $500 million in tax cuts to motorists, businesses and back-to-school shoppers.
But hammering out the finer points on a raft of other issues from higher education spending, springs and Everglades restoration, services for the disabled, school construction, and road projects have been dragging out behind closed doors all weekend.
Meeting into the late hours Sunday, negotiators reached deals on devoting more than $100 million to Lake Okeechobee and Indian River Lagoon restoration, but remained apart on millions in other water projects.
The Legislature has until its adjournment next Friday to pass its $75 billion budget, which means it has to be put together by Tuesday in order to meet a legally required, 72-hour “cooling off” period.
On Sunday, House and Senate budget chiefs met publicly for the first time this weekend and exchanged offers on health-care, economic development, and environmental spending. They returned late Sunday evening to announce deals on most of their priorities.
They agreed to provide $2 million for a massive observation tower in downtown Miami called SkyRise, if the developers can demonstrate they’ve secured $400 million in private financing for the project.
The House agreed to provide $1.5 million to meet one of the requests of incoming Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, for an Oviedo Amphitheater.
The House also agreed on a Senate request for $2 million for the Urban League of Broward County. And both sides have agreed on giving Gov. Rick Scott roughly $55 million to award to companies who pledge to create jobs – with another $16 million in tax-incentive cash from the current year rolled into next.
But water-woes remain a central point of contention.
The House wants to spend $36 million on hometown water projects for its members while the Senate has budgeted $73.9 million.
The House reduced its budget-ask for springs restoration Sunday from $45 million to $30 million, closer to the $25 million the Senate would prefer to spend in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
And the House wants to spend $35.5 million on beach restoration while the Senate prefers $47 million.
Both chambers agreed Sunday to spend $106 million on Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee restoration projects – a key priority of Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who has pushed for a total of $157 million in spending around the lake and Everglades.
“We’ve come a long way on Lagoon funding and also the environmental priorities of the House. I feel good about where we are,” Negron told reporters Sunday.
 House Speaker-designate Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, secured $10 million for muck removal in the upper Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County.
The House and Senate agrred to spend $3 million on Lake Apopka restoration, and $50 million on waterwater cleanup in the Florida Keys.
In another corner of the budget, the Senate softened its demand to allow Florida State University to create its own college of engineering separate from the joint college it currently shares with Florida A&M University. The behind-the-scenes fight has been intense on that issue – pushed by Sen. John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican and potential candidate for FSU’s presidency.
The Senate Sunday evening shifted gears to back a $500,000 study of the feasibility of keeping the universities together, having separate engineering colleges, or allowing them to establish their own distinct programs within the joint college. The Florida Board of Governors would have to vote on the matter by March 1, 2015.
House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has said he would like to see the university system’s governing board playing a central role in the decision.
“That’s something we’re looking at right now, the best way to go forward," Negron said.

140427-c
Scott, House must join Senate to protect Florida's springs
Ocal.com - by Bob Graham (Special to the Star-Banner) - founder and chairman of the Florida Conservation Coalition. He was Florida's governor from 1979-86 and a U.S. senator from 1987-2005
April 27, 2014
Let's look back in time to the early 1970s, when Florida's population was 7.5 million and growing rapidly. After Florida's lands and waters were polluted and altered for decades to make way for development, our environment was in trouble: Water quality and flow were threatened; and critical natural areas were on the verge of being lost forever.
We were fortunate when Gov. Reubin Askew took office in 1971 to have a governor who prioritized Florida's environment and provided the leadership necessary to move environmental legislation forward. Askew challenged the Legislature to set up a regulatory system and funding to protect Florida's natural resources and guide its growth.
We were equally fortunate to have leaders in both chambers of the Legislature and on both sides of the aisle with the foresight and courage to meet that challenge. In 1972, Florida passed the most comprehensive set of environmental conservation and protection laws in the nation, including legislation to protect Florida's waters, purchase environmentally sensitive lands, protect critical areas and set limits on development. Throughout the heyday of Florida growth and economic prosperity, these laws added an element of environmental protection as Florida's economy boomed as never before or since.
Unfortunately, our government is failing to build upon the foundation laid down in the 1970s and 1980s to protect Florida's environment. To the contrary, in 2011, water-management districts suffered draconian cuts to their budgets and staffs; Florida's state growth-management agency was abolished; land-acquisition funding was cut to only a small fraction of historic levels; and the Florida Springs Initiative was defunded.
Now let's come back to 2014. Florida has a population of more than 19 million, and the dire problems facing our waters from the Panhandle to the Keys have gotten worse. Many of Florida's iconic springs still do not have basic protection; springs are dying from too little flow and too many nutrients; rivers are covered in algal mats; and estuaries and coastal waters are suffering staggering losses of marine life and birds. Now when our waters need strong environmental protections the most, we no longer have them.
But this year we have a bipartisan group of senators who have spent much of the past six months working with stakeholders from every viewpoint to create significant springs legislation that could pass the Legislature this year. The Senate has demonstrated its commitment to this goal by passing Senate Bill 1576 unanimously through its first three committee stops.
Despite its progress in the Senate, the Florida House of Representatives has refused to even allow the bill to be heard in a single committee so far this session. It is clear that House leaders are listening to special-interest lobbyists, telling them to weaken and kill the bill, instead of heeding the residents of Florida, their Senate colleagues, conservation groups and newspaper editorial boards who have urged the House to take up the Senate version of the bill and pass springs legislation this session.
Equally concerning is Gov. Rick Scott's silence on this important legislation that would do so much to protect Florida's springs. If Scott followed the example of previous Florida governors to protect Florida's environment, he would bring House and Senate leaders together to make sure strong springs legislation is signed into law this year.
Although no single law can completely solve the problems facing Florida's waters, the Senate bill, which includes deadlines and common-sense regulations, will significantly enhance the state of our springs. However, the challenge lies in the House. Time is short. The House must take up the Senate bill, protect it from weakening and from extraneous amendments, and pass it.
The question is: Do this House and governor have the foresight and fortitude to stand up for Florida's springs?
My dear friend and predecessor Gov. Reubin Askew gave the 1972 Legislature the following piece of advice on the opening-day session. His words are truer today than ever.
“Your own elections are pressing down upon you telling you to try and slip through this session as quickly and as quietly and with as little action as possible ... I ask you to do your best to put aside those thoughts ... and work instead to come up with real answers to our toughest problems today ... And it begins with the environment, as indeed it must, if any of our other efforts are to have meaning for tomorrow.”

140427-d
Stop making excuses: Save state's springs now
Orlando Sentinel - Editorial
April 27, 2014
The late Florida conservationist Archie Carr, one of countless admirers of the state's natural springs, once called them "the singular blessing of the Florida landscape."
But as former Gov. Bob Graham pointed out last week in a column for the Sentinel, "springs are dying from too little flow and too many nutrients." Anyone who has visited a spring where once-clear waters are now fouled with algae and weeds knows just what Graham is talking about.
This year these imperiled environmental treasures have run into another deadly threat — this one in Tallahassee: excuses.
A bipartisan group of state senators has worked for months on a comprehensive plan to restore and protect springs that includes measures to maintain groundwater flow and reduce nutrient pollution. But that plan has been ignored in the House, and weakened in the Senate.
This past week, it got stripped of its $378 million in annual funding. The excuse? State voters this fall will be presented with a proposed constitutional amendment that could dedicate $19 billion for conservation projects over the next two decades. Presumably, its passage would provide plenty of money for springs restoration.
Lawmakers would be foolish to bank on those dollars. While current polls show strong support for the amendment, the 60 percent support needed on Election Day is by no means assured. In 2012, voters rejected eight of 11 amendments on the ballot.
But meanwhile, the lack of funding in the Senate bill is a convenient excuse for the groups that would have to comply with its more stringent pollution controls, including developers, to oppose the legislation.
"The dollars are not there," Frank Matthews, a development lobbyist, told the Sentinel. "We do not wish to trigger compliance goals that cannot be achieved."
With the funding stripped from the bill, the Senate is now proposing just $20 million next year to restore springs; the House is proposing $42 million.
If lawmakers weren't looking for excuses for inaction, they would fully fund the Senate plan and pass it. They could discontinue the dollars next year if the amendment wins voter approval, or apply the money to meeting any constitutionally required investment for conservation projects.
This latest excuse follows an earlier one from House Speaker Will Weatherford. He said the Senate bill could wait until next year because the two lawmakers in line to be Senate president and House speaker in 2015, Republicans Andy Gardiner and Steve Crisafulli, have a special interest in water policy — as if they couldn't put that interest to work this year.
Lawmakers tend to come up with excuses in election years when their campaign contributors — including the business groups that oppose the springs legislation — are unhappy.

140427-e
Volunteers scrub away Wekiwa Springs algae scum
Orlando Sentinel - by Kevin Spear
April 27, 2014
With brooms, rakes, nets and bare hands, nearly 50 volunteers on Sunday scrubbed a scum of green algae off the floor of Wekiwa Springs, hoping to bring back its white sand and blue water.
"What do you think, is it working?" said organizer Russell Bryant, up to his chest in 72-degree water and quizzing those watching from the sea wall along the most revered springs in Central Florida.
Even with sunlight drilling into the swimming area, it wasn't easy to say whether hauling away buckets of gunk would pay off. The labor had clouded the water with silt. A more vexing question was whether the unusual cleanup would last a couple of days, months or longer.
"This is an experiment," said Amy Conyers, assistant manager at Wekiwa Springs State Park. "We'll see how quickly the algae comes back."
Like many of Florida's treasured springs, Wekiwa is plagued with nitrogen pollution from septic tanks, fertilizer and street runoff. It's a trace amount but potent enough to feed excessive growth of algae.
Bryant, 73, is a regular among morning swimmers at Wekiwa and has tasked himself with brushing green fuzz off metal steps that descend into the water.
But that's too limited for his patience, and with state lawmakers dillydallying over restoring springs health, Bryant decided "it's time to do it ourselves while there is still a springs left."
He reached out to members of his college fraternity, Sigma Chi, and they came from the University of Central Florida, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida Southern College and an alumni chapter in Orlando.
Also pitching in were Apopka High School water polo players, Lake Highland Preparatory School biology students and visitors who happened upon the scene.
Many of the students had never plunged into Wekiwa or any other spring, which was an added benefit of the workday, said Deede Sharpe, president of Friends of Wekiva River.
"There are a lot of young people here and we need to get the next generations interested," Sharpe said.
Sunlight rinsing through the water projected a rippling lacework on the spring's bottom, prompting Chicago resident Renee Taborin, 30, to say she was impressed by the scenery.
"I think anybody would think it's pretty," she said.
But old-timers and biologists hate the drab green cloaked over what had been a dazzling lens of water gushing from the Floridan Aquifer. Wekiwa's flow is more than 40 million gallons a day.
Removing the green scum wasn't easy, but also wasn't tedious, given that the stuff is 95 percent water.
"Big chunks are coming up," said Justin Core, 26, president of the Sigma Chi alumni chapter in Orlando.
From dry land, mostly only heads and shoulders were visible, bobbing with the exertion of working rakes, brooms and nets under the surface.
A brigade of scum buckets led to a table, where Deborah Shelley, manager of the Wekiwa aquatic preserve, and volunteers rummaged for snails, culling the exotic species and returning natives to the water.
Some optimism about the effort stemmed from knowing tens of thousands of warm-weather swimmers will soon arrive. Their wading and shuffling around will help fend off algae.
Tammy Preble, 51, a daily swimmer at Wekiwa, said it's easy to realize when Bryant has been away on vacation. The metal steps quickly regrow their slippery beards.
She knows the algae is persistent and that getting rid of it will require far-reaching solutions. But she looks forward to seeing what difference a good scrubbing can make.
"I'll know tomorrow when I go swimming," she said.

140426-a
Corps of Engineers concerns could delay Everglades cleanup for years
KeysNet.com - by Kevin Wadlow
April 26, 2014
An unexpected delay in federal approval of a major piece of Everglades restoration stunned South Florida advocates Tuesday.
A review panel within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to hold off on a decision to move forward with the Central Everglades Planning Project, a series of projects all aimed at improving water flow toward Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
"We are losing habitat and seeing the ecosystem degrade every day," said Julie Hill-Gabriel, director of Everglades Policy for Florida Audubon.
The Central Everglades project seeks to "rehydrate the system all the way to the southern end of the state and Florida Bay," Hill-Gabriel said. "We have to do these things as quickly as possible."
The $1.9 billion Central Everglades plan would fall under reauthorization of the federal Water Resources Reform and Development Act, which Congress typically takes up once every seven years. The last passage was in 2007 and a new vote is expected this summer.
"This potential delay could push these projects back another seven years," said Caroline McLaughlin, Biscayne Bay restoration analyst for the National Parks Conservation Association. "That kind of delay would mean more suffering in the ecosystem, estuaries and surrounding communities."
Everglades Foundation Chief Executive Eric Eikenberg said, "Once again, the Corps is bogged down in its own bureaucracy, stumbling past important deadlines, showing an unwillingness to be creative, and determined to follow a trail of red tape that leads to public frustration."
The Corps' Civil Works Review Board cited technical differences in plans approved by the South Florida Water Management District, the state's lead agency on Everglades restoration, and federal plans.
"The one thing that cannot be rushed on the final report for this complex project is ensuring that it meets the Corps' required quality standard," Col. Alan Dodd, the Corps' Jacksonville district commander, said in a prepared statement.
The review board has agreed to meet again in Washington, D.C., within a few weeks but no date was available at press time.
"Some of those projects absolutely would have direct effects on Florida Bay and the nearshore waters of the Florida Keys," said Pete Frezza, research manager at Audubon Florida's Tavernier Science Center.
"We've already started to see benefits from things like the first phase of the C-111 project," said Frezza, also a part-time Florida Bay fishing guide. "We've spent a lot of time and effort showing how the lack of freshwater flow affects the bay."
Projects in the Central Everglades system include water storage areas and pumps that would simulate the natural sheet flow of water.
Hill-Gabriel said, "It looks like the Corps is trying to cross its Ts and dot the I's.... The frustration comes from the fact that every single person in the process has worked hard to push things ahead so we can get to this point."

140426-b
New online tool illustrates SouthCoast's timeframe for losing ground to the ocean
SouthCoastToday.com - by Ariel Wittenberg
April 26, 2014
http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/ssrf/florida
Just how close to home will climate change come ? Now you can find out with a new interactive online tool released Thursday by nonprofit Climate Central.
The interactive map of New England allows viewers to localize the effects of sea level rise, zooming in on their hometowns to watch what happens as they toggle between sea level rises ranging from 1 to 10 feet.
The impact to SouthCoast could be dramatic.
According to the tool, which uses data from the federally-mandated National Climate Assessment and U.S. Census, there is a 100 percent chance that sea levels near Bristol and Plymouth counties will rise five feet by 2070.
That would put 10,241 homes and 389 miles of road underwater in both counties combined. The property damaged would be worth $5.4 billion.
That means by 2070, with sea level five feet higher, the Dartmouth Police Station at Russells Mills Road will have taken on water. Getting to Horseneck Beach in Westport will be nearly impossible because the Gooseberry Causeway will be underwater. So too, will be parts of Sconticut Neck Road in Fairhaven, cutting off land access to West Island. In Wareham, many of the long peninsulas will become islands as the waters swell, submerging parts of Marion Road and Cranberry Highway.
It could be worse. If sea levels rise by 10 feet in Buzzards Bay, something Climate Central predicts there is a 40 percent chance of happening by 2100, more than 24,370 homes and 764 miles of road would be underwater in Bristol and Plymouth counties.
Asked about the maps, most SouthCoast municipalities say they have dealt with flooding issues as they happen, and have not made plans to combat or adapt to climate change and sea level rise specifically.
In Dartmouth, for example, Town Administrator David Cressman said he and the police chief are "aware of the vulnerabilities" of the police station, which was renovated 10 years ago.
"At times I wondered why they were doing that if it is in a flood zone," he said.
Cressman said the town is looking at ways to "mitigate and control" flooding there by dredging a nearby causeway but that "It's not a total solution."
Similarly, in Westport Selectman Richard Spirlet said town officials have not "given much thought" to climate change and sea level rise. But they are actively looking for ways to combat erosion around East Beach Road.
"The worry is that the causeway there isn't allowing for enough flow so the waves are eating away at the beach and not replenishing the sand," he said.
He said selectmen are looking into putting jetties out to sea to absorb the impact of waves before they get to East Beach Road.
In Fairhaven, Chairman of the Selectmen Bob Espindola said combating climate change specifically is difficult because "some people don't believe it is going to cause problems."
Town officials have so far been more concerned about newly released FEMA flood maps and making sure residents comply, Espindola said. But some residents of Sconticut Neck Road have become concerned about an area of the road, near Bonney Street, where the road dips.
Indeed, on the Climate Central interactive map, that's the area of Sconticut Neck that becomes vulnerable with a five-foot rise in sea level.
"There is a worry you would have a whole group of people stranded on Sconticut Neck," Espindola said. But, he added, it's difficult to think about investing town money in mitigating climate change.
"It's something that is not right on our doorstep and we are thinking about balancing our budget and keeping from making significant cuts," he said.
Climate Central's interactive map isn't the only one published by an environmental organization trying to raise awareness about climate change. Another published by National Geographic online shows what would happen to the United States if all of the polar ice caps melted, raising sea level 216 feet. In that map, SouthCoast disappears completely, as does Boston and the state of Florida.
While many of SouthCoast's towns have only been mitigating for symptoms of climate change, like flooding, New Bedford is further along.
There, officials are in the process of conducting a state-funded study of how climate change itself could impact the city and nearby towns of Acushnet and Fairhaven.
The study focuses on how sea level increases between one and four feet could impact water quality. Christina Connelly, assistant chief of staff to Mayor Jon Mitchell, said the city's combined sewage overflows, which in large rain events dump raw sewage into the harbor, could be a huge problem if sea level rises.
"There's the worry that you will get more in the water if we are having more rain events more often, and also that the waste will flow closer to where people live if the water is higher," she said.
She also noted that New Bedford's social justice communities populate areas that are geographically more vulnerable to climate change.
"Going forward that is something we are really going to have to look closely at," she said.
New Bedford is only in the preliminary stages of preparing for climate change, but the hurricane barrier gives the city a leg-up compared to other parts of the region.
Though the Climate Central interactive map does not take into account the barrier's effect, the state-funded study by the city does.
That study has found that if sea level rises two to three feet, it would still take a Category 3 storm to breach the barrier.
"It does provide us with quite a bit of protection," Connelly said. "That's something others don't have."

140425-a
Bureaucratic delay threatens Everglades, coastal waters
TBO.com - Editorial
April 25, 2014
It is inexcusable that a sluggish U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may sabotage a key effort to revive the Everglades and drastically reduce coastal pollution.
The Corps’ Civil Works Review Board this week surprised state officials and environmentalists by refusing to approve the Central Everglades Planning Project, which would clean up water from Lake Okeechobee and release it into the Everglades. Now excess water is dumped into the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast and the St. Lucie River on the east coast.
The delay could be devastating because Congress plans to develop a water bill this summer, and the last such bill was passed in 2007.
Florida officials were optimistic Congress would split the costs of the $2 billion project.
Now, thanks to the dawdling Corps, federal funds for the effort could be lost for years.
Gov. Rick Scott rightly urged the Corps to quickly reconsider.
Noting that the rainy season that results in harmful Okeechobee discharges is rapidly approaching, Scott said that though the state had collaborated on the cleanup plan with its federal and local partners, “the federal government added more bureaucratic hurdles in our efforts to restore water quality ...”
Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, also castigated the Corps’ lackadaisical attitude:
“Ignoring last summer’s environmental and economic destruction, caused by the Corps of Engineers dumping of billions of gallons of polluted water into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and estuaries, the Corps is showing callous disregard for the people and businesses.”
It is not as if the Army Corps did not know the importance of approving the project in time to be considered in the congressional water bill. And the agency is familiar with the plan and knows the importance of avoiding massive discharges of polluted water from the lake.
The water is dumped as a safeguard against flooding but has proved devastating to both coasts, resulting in algae blooms, fish kills, dying seagrass beds and unsafe bacteria levels. It has been blamed for the deaths of manatees, dolphins and pelicans.
Yet corps officials told a Sun Sentinel reporter that getting the review done in time to allow the project to be included in the federal water bill is not their priority.
Nobody expects a rubber stamp, but as Scott points out, Florida has worked with federal officials throughout the process. There is no need for delay.
The Central Everglades Planning Project would improve Everglades wildlife habitat and augment South Florida’s drinking water supplies.
In contrast, continuing to send the water to the coasts is damaging to the environment and the economy.
Scott is precisely right. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Review Board bureaucrats desperately need a sense of “urgency.”

140425-b
Invasive Species: Burmese pythons may be slithering up to a backyard near you
GPB.org - by Shauna Stuart
April 25, 2014
The Burmese python doesn’t belong here in Georgia, but good luck keeping it out.
The huge yellow and black snakes are invading the Everglades, but they are on the move, possible to this state.
“They are making their way out because there are so many in the Everglades right now that they need more room,” said Sharon Collins, host and executive producer of Georgia Outdoors on GPB. “They’ve just about completely wiped out the raccoon population, the possum population. If it gets under a rookery or egrets or wood storks- bye bye.”
‘Invaders”, the newest episode of Georgia Outdoors, is about species that are putting our native flora and fauna in jeopardy. One of these nefarious species is the Burmese python.
Preying on deer and alligators, the snakes can grow to massive sizes. Collins says some of the pythons have even been found with bobcat claws in their stomachs.
Hurricanes travelling to the southeastern part of Florida blew the snakes over from the east. But, pet owners in Florida are also to blame for the snakes’ Everglades invasion.
“They were very popular as pets. Even the people now trying to get rid of them say ‘I love these things’ .”
Collins traveled to Florida to learn how to capture on of the pythons.
“They have volunteers trained now so if you spot one, you can go out and bag it.”
Invasive species aren’t just slithering up from Florida. Some of the pests in Georgia are making their way down to the sunshine state.
“There’s a tiny beetle called the redbay ambrosia beetle and it carries fungus in its cheeks. It deposits that fungus into the trees,” said Collins. “ Almost all of our Red Bay Trees, sort of icons of the southern coast, are just about gone because this beetle makes burrows, deposits its fungus to eat later, and as soon as the tree attacks that fungus, it shuts the sap flow and basically starves itself to death.”
That fungus is the Laurel Wilt fungus.
The redbay ambrosia beetle has now moved down into Florida and is attacking the avocado groves. Farmers in Florida are frantically trying to stop the spread.
First detected in the U.S. in 2002, the beetles came over on a shipping crate from Port Wentworth, Georgia. Since then, they have continued to arrive on plant nursery stock and shipping crates.
Collins says the plump pests can even been transported state to state on potted plants.
“You have to think twice. Even if you have potting soil and let’s say you want to take a potted plant up to a friend in Pennsylvania, don’t do it. Because you don’t know what might be in that potting soil. Even firewood. Just don’t do it.”
Natural disasters aren’t the only cause of the species invasion. The infestation is also a result of our U.S. global economy, trading from continent to continent. And once these pests arrive here from other countries, it’s hard to get rid of them.
“So many of these things do come in on wooden shipping crates. A lot of them come from Asia. Over there, they have predators. They come here, there’s no predator. There’s nothing to balance out the ecosystem. So they just have full range,” said Collins.
One example is the woolly adelgid, a pest that invades hemlock trees.
“They’re trying to work with some beetles that might eat the wooly adelgid. But right now, there is a chemical they can inject in the roots,” said Collins. “But try to do a whole forest.”

140425-c
Silver Springs by the numbers
Ocala.com – by Fred Hiers, Staff Writer
April 25, 2014
What is causing high nitrates ?
Scientists have determined, with a greater level of precision than ever before, the sources that are polluting Silver Springs.
State experts say septic tanks account for 40 percent of the nitrogen that annually makes its way into the groundwater and eventually bubbles up from Silver Springs, according to a preliminary Florida Department of Environmental Protection study presented earlier this week.
This percentage was calculated by studying a 117,000-acre recharge area immediately surrounding the spring. It's estimated that water in this recharge area takes as long as 10 years to make its way to the spring and up to the surface.
FDEP scientists released the study during a meeting to discuss the Silver Springs Basin Management Action Plan. They cautioned that additional information will soon become available, and it could change some of their findings.
The basin management action plan is the blueprint by which Marion County and FDEP determine which activities, such as nitrogen generation, affect the springs, and spell out how such activities can be curtailed. There are basin management action plans for a number of water basins throughout Florida.
The FDEP has already designated Silver Springs as impaired, with a nitrate level that is three times beyond the acceptable range. And it is no mystery that septic tanks have been a significant culprit.
But this new study better pinpoints the extent to which septic tanks, and other sources, are contributing to the problem.
The study estimates that nearly 470,000 pounds of nitrogen annually is loaded into the 10-year capture zone around Silver Springs.
Septic tanks are responsible for 40 percent. Horse farms constitute the second highest contribution source, at 13 percent, while county drainage wells cause 12 percent and residential fertilizer causes 11 percent, the study says.
Wastewater treatment facilities contribute 8 percent, while agricultural fertilizer contributes 7 percent and cattle farms are responsible for 4 percent.
There are several other minor contributors. Naturally occurring sources, such animal waste from the surrounding forest, are not factored into the total.
The study also considers the sources of nitrogen beyond just the 10-year capture zone.
When the entire 588,000-acre basin management area is considered, septic tanks account for 36 percent of the 1.5 million pounds of nitrogen annually loaded into the groundwater. Cattle farms were the second highest contributor at 18 percent.
Agricultural fertilizer contributed 15 percent while horse farms contributed 9 percent and residential fertilizer 8 percent, that part of the study said.
It is still unknown how much nitrogen there is in the groundwater from sources originating many years ago and still travelling slowly toward Silver Springs. Such nitrogen is called "legacy nitrogen."
Brian Katz, a consultant for the FDEP, said during the meeting earlier this week that a "significant" amount of legacy nitrogen could be in groundwater.
Given the amount of estimated nitrogen in groundwater, and the additional legacy nitrogen, FDEP and Marion County will have a difficult time achieving the goal for the spring: a maximum of less than 500,000 pounds of nitrogen annually.
"It looks daunting," said Shane Williams, an engineer for Marion County.
But there are many nitrogen sources and "not one source has to take all of the responsibility," Williams said.
The next step is for FDEP to compile historical information on nitrogen sources and land use, and to compare its nitrogen data findings with those of other agencies. FDEP will also continue to study legacy nitrogen.
Rancher and farmer Richard Barber, who attended the meeting where the basin management plan was discussed, said people like him often are unfairly singled out and accused of contributing an undue amount of nitrogen to groundwater.
"It's easy because there aren't many of us to defend ourselves and we're big land users," he said. "It's easy to pick on us."
Barber, who operates 1,000-acre cattle and farming operation, said farmers use far less fertilizer than they did even a few years ago.
"We are not nearly as guilty as they want to make us," he said.

140425-d
Springs and Legislature are in a sorry state
Tallahassee.com – by Pam McVety, retired from FDEP and a former member of two Florida springs task forces
April 25, 2014
I have tried to stay out of the springs legislative process, but now I can’t.
I love the springs of my youth, and I am angry.
Some members of the Legislature are blatantly catering to special interests and ignoring the public’s interest and rights to have our springs protected and, sadly, to have them restored. Unless you have no contact with the news media or the outdoors, you know that our springs are in a sorry state. They are green and slimy — almost every one of them.
We have failed to protect them, and now as they are gasping to survive, the Legislature, on behalf of special interests, has stripped a decent springs bill of important protection and recovery measures. These same interests even have the gall to refuse to support the very bill they asked the Legislature to gut.
As a college student, I use to swim in Sulphur Springs in Tampa. Now I can barely see it through the six-foot-high fence and all the warning signs not to swim in it because it is contaminated. When I was growing up in Florida, springs were magical aqua blue pools of sparkling light, bubbles and white sand bottoms. They were stunners in the world of natural resources. Now they are sorry pools of polluted water that hold no attraction.
Over the last 20 years, before things reached such a sorry state, scientists told the Legislature that the springs were receiving too many nutrients and that flows shouldn’t be reduced and that if we didn’t stop we would destroy them.
The Legislature failed to respond, and sadly most all of the professional predictions about what would happen to our springs have come true. Springs are just one more casualty, along with education and health care, in the race to the bottom to only create jobs and lower taxes in the name of progress.
It is a sorry state of affairs when the Legislature, knowing how badly polluted our springs have become, still won’t do its job to protect them or help them recover. Springs belong to the public not special interests.
The good Senate sponsors David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, and Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, are thanked for doing the right thing, as are their associates who supported the original springs legislation. That original landmark legislation has been sliced and diced for special interests, removing many of the critical springs protection measures, such as the requirement that wastewater treatment facilities in spring zones meet a 3 milligram/liter nitrogen discharge standard and the requirement that agricultural producers in spring zones implement best-management practices. Both of these very modest but essential measures would have helped.
Legislators even removed the prohibition on new concentrated animal feeding operations and slaughterhouses in spring zones. The dedicated funding source for springs protection and restoration was also removed. Realistically, how much can you do to protect and recover springs without money or without stopping the major sources of nutrients that are destroying them?
Ask yourself which is in a sorrier state — springs or the legislative process that is supposed to protect our interests but unashamedly caters to special interests whose activities have destroyed our springs and who now oppose their restoration?
Oh, and one more thing — where are Gov. Rick Scott and Speaker Will Weatherford? Shame on both of them for failing to stand up for our springs. Weatherford, especially, should be embarrassed. He is a Floridian, not a “carpetbagger” as my grandmother would have called the governor. This is his state and his springs, and he should protect them.

140425-e
Texas cityprepares to become first U.S. city to convert sewage into water for homes
ALLGOV.com
April 25, 2014
Wichita Falls has been going through a three-year drought that is worst than anything recorded since the 19th century. The Texas city of more than 100,000 residents has tried everything from spending money to seed clouds to posting signs urging everyone to “pray for rain.” But now Wichita Falls is going one step further than any municipality ever has to survive a drought—by recycling sewage and pumping it back into homes.
Other towns have cleaned up their sewage water for urban reuse. But those cases involved sending the treated sewage water into a lake or reservoir before piping it into the city’s water supply.
If it gets state approval, Wichita Falls will become the first U.S. city to fill people’s taps with water directly from a treatment plant. About five million gallons a day will be converted and sent back into the city, which will meet about a third of its water needs. The rest will come from traditional water supplies.
Public works officials insist the reclaimed water will be completely safe to drink.
“You have people who say, ‘Ewww, I am drinking someone else’s toilet water,’” Teresa Rose, deputy director of Wichita Falls Public Works, told Bloomberg. “But when you think about it, everyone downstream is already drinking someone else’s toilet water.”
But many residents aren’t buying the PR campaign, which includes public meetings and videos providing messages of reassurance.
The plan “is a bit grotesque,” Pastor Bob McCartney of First Baptist Church told the news service.
Others, like Ronnie Deford, say they plan to stock up on bottled water. “I don’t trust politicians at any level,” the local mall manager told Bloomberg. “I’m not going to believe them even if they tell me it is good.”
Water well driller George Berre understands people’s apprehension, but thinks they should just get with the program. “Nobody is excited about taking a leak and seeing it come back at you in the shower,” he told the Star-Telegram. “But since God created the Earth, it’s pretty much been the same water ever since then. It’s been used and reused if you think about it.”
Witchita Falls’ bold foray into this uncharted territory may open the way for other thirsty cities to directly use converted sewage.
Cities in California, Florida and North Carolina are also considering direct reuse, according to Zachary Dorsey, a spokesman for the WateReuse Association in Virginia, which includes utilities, government officials and researchers.
Converting sewage into drinking water is indeed the wave of the future, Calvin Finch, director of the Water Conservation and Technology Center in San Antonio, Texas, told Bloomberg. “It’s not something that’s pleasant to think about,” he concedes. “You have to educate people to the idea.”
That may not come easy. Officials in Portland, Oregon, recently decided to dump nearly 40 million gallons of drinking water from the city’s primary reservoir because a local citizen urinated in it.

140424-a
Do Lake County's shrinking lakes portend Florida's future ?
Orlando Sentinel - by Kevin Spear
April 24, 2014
The unfunny joke heard around south Lake County's shriveled lakes is that the only things wet there are the tears of real-estate sellers because waterfronts look like the weedy edge of wasteland.
What's been happening to lakes near Clermont has been blamed on drought, waste, stealing and incompetence. But the drama 20 miles west of Orlando also may be the unfolding of a water future for much of the state, one that runs head-on into the subject of weather turmoil.
The average amount of rain each year in Florida is more than 4 feet. But during the past decade, Lake County has fallen behind by about 5 feet. The statewide amount also has been significantly less than normal since the mid-2000s.
Asked whether a changing climate is savaging south Lake's treasures, Lake County Water Authority's director shrugged.
"This could be the new normal," said Mike Perry, armed with charts showing how the area has been robbed of rain.
Revered as deep and inviting, south Lake's lakes have a history of rising overnight and falling during the course of years. There was more intense shriveling of the lakes around 2000, but it didn't last nearly as long as current miseries.
The Clermont-area lakes sit on a ridge of sand that acts like a dry sponge on a wet counter. Other lakes, such as Orange County's Butler, Conway and Winter Park chains of lakes, hold waters better because of underlying clay and soggier terrain.
But angst over Lake's lakes is a possible preview for water experts, managers and utilities. They worry that too little rain in coming years coupled with a growing thirst for aquifer and surface waters could lead to an outbreak of surly attitudes as in south Lake. Residents there have turned accusatory and are starting to take names.
When Niagara Bottling LLC moved to double the aquifer water it pumps from beneath south Lake's lakes, to a million gallons a day, residents howled at the St. Johns River Water Management District.
But the agency granted the request early this year, saying the decision was based on technical reasons, not emotional outcries. Residents can barely look at their dry lakes now and not feel a burn of resentment for state water bosses.
Bill Adamson is among them. He left Lockheed Martin after 37 years, sold his Winter Park family home and in 1992 built his retirement residence at the edge of Lake Minnehaha in south Clermont to enjoy years of boating, swimming and fishing.
Minnehaha shrank by the early 2000s from drought that led to Florida's worst wildfires. The lake restored itself and then receded again seven years ago to 100 feet from his dock and boathouse.
"I finally just sold my boat," Adamson said.
Groundwater pumping by for-profit enterprises is to blame for worsening what drought has done, he said. The decision by water bosses to let Niagara increase its consumption reveals that they don't care about Lake's lakes, Adamson said.
He fired off a letter to Gov. Rick Scott a few weeks ago, praising him for creating jobs but chastising him for appointing "rocket scientist" water managers.
"My only choice is to cast a protest 'no vote,'" Adamson wrote, promising he would not vote for Scott and would encourage family and friends to do likewise.
Adamson also thinks that critical drainage from the vast Green Swamp into south Lake's lakes has been clogged by neglect of ditches and canals.
Another common suspicion is that somebody, company or local government has been secretly siphoning water out of the Green Swamp.
The Lake County Water Authority regularly fields such calls.
"I would be happy if somebody was doing that because it would solve a whole lot of problems," said Peggy Cox, an authority trustee. "I tell people, 'Please take us to it if there's something like that going on.'"
The authority and state managers think lack of rain is about 90 percent of the reason lakes are low.
If rainfall were normal, in other words, nobody would notice the 10 percent caused by pumping water out of lakes for irrigation and pumping groundwater from beneath the lakes.
That official explanation is distrusted by many, though nobody but government has the wherewithal to analyze the relationship between aquifer pumping and lake conditions.
For now, there's no plan for refilling the lakes other than praying. Timing is everything.
State Climatologist David Zierden said the climate beast known as an El Niño is showing signs of waking up and injecting moisture into next winter.
"That could be good news for the lake levels," Zierden said.

140424-b
Pink shrimp may indicate whether or not the Everglades are healthy
WGCU.org – by Amy Tardif
April 24, 2014
For decades, scientists have been looking into whether the condition of the Gulf’s pink shrimp can show us how Everglades’ restoration is doing. However, funding for this type of research was cut a few years ago.
Now, at least one restoration task force wants data scientists don’t have. Anecdotally, bait shrimpers aren’t doing too well and Gulf shrimpers have said their catch isn’t what it used to be.
Dr. Joan Browder, a National Marine Fisheries Service fishery ecologist, started studying the effects of salinity and fresh water flow into the estuaries and Florida Bay on pink shrimp growth and survival in 1984, but her research funding was cut in 2011. So, she’s not able to tell shrimpers if issues in the nursery habitat are related to declines in their catch. 
"Could declines in the nursery grounds in Florida Bay be responsible for some of the declines we’ve seen in pink shrimp in the past years?” asked Dr. Browder. “Perhaps, because I think that the Tortugas fishery is very dependent on Florida Bay and that nursery ground.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports in 2006, more than 5 million pounds of pink shrimp, worth $11 million were off-loaded on San Carlos Island, across the bay from Fort Myers Beach. In 2013, only 2.3 million pounds of pink shrimp worth almost half that much were off-loaded there.

140424-c
Playing politics
Ocala.com - Editorial
April 24, 2014
The much-discussed Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act suffered a potentially debilitating blow Tuesday when a key state Senate committee removed the dedicated funding source from the measure.
Meanwhile, with the legislative session winding down, not a single House committee has seen the legislation, and Gov. Rick Scott has been inexplicably silent on the bill while the wholesale degradation of Florida's 900-some springs continues.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 16-0 to send its springs bill, SB 1576, for a floor vote, but not before removing the section that would have perpetually funded the measure's environmental reforms. As originally written, the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, would have tapped 20 percent of the state's annual real estate documentary stamp revenues, estimated to be $368 million next year.
That is replaced by budget line-item proposals of $30 million in the Senate and $50 million in the House. To put those numbers in perspective, last year state officials asked the five water management districts how much they would need to begin reversing the overpollution and overpumping of the state's springs. The answer: $120 million to make a dent.
Supporters of SB 1576 tried to put a good face on the setback, saying the dedicated funding is not a bill-killer, but rather a victim of the political process. The regulations, "the blueprint," as Sen. David Simmons, R-Altomonte Springs, put it, remains, although much of that also was weakened to nudge the House to act. But without recurring funding, there's no way to implement or enforce cleanup initiatives.
What to do? The Florida Water and Land Conservation Amendment, or Amendment 1 on the November ballot, could be the long-termfunding source springs cleanup will require. The amendment calls for setting aside 33 percent of the documentary stamp money for 20 years — well in excess of $10 billion — "to acquire, restore, improve, and manage conservation lands including wetlands and forests; fish and wildlife habitat; lands protecting water resources and drinking water sources, including the Everglades, and the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams; beaches and shores ...." Importantly, the amendment prohibits the Legislature from touching the fund.
So, it seems if Florida is going to be serious about cleaning up its springs, it will be left to the voters through Amendment 1.
It is frustrating such a critical and obvious piece of public policy that touches the life of virtually every Floridian every day is being nitpicked and neutered by those presumably representing our best interests.
Lest we haven't said it enough, this is not just about preserving bucolic swimming holes and beautiful landscapes, although those are part of the payoff. The cloudy, nitrate-laced water and the declining flows in our springs are nothing less than an extension of our aquifer. What we see happening to our springs is happening to our drinking water supply, too.
It is past time for our lawmakers and governor to embrace that notion. Florida is in a water quality crisis, and if they do not act quickly — including with substantial, sustained funding — the cost to repair and replenish our water supply will be far more than anything we are talking about today.

140424-d
Rising tide could swamp First Coast, Florida, members of Congress say
Jacksonville.com - by Steve Patterson
April 24, 2014
Members of Congress visited Jacksonville’s Southbank Thursday to warn about the harmful potential of rising sea levels.
“Along the Florida coast, there are places with nine to 10 inches of sea-level rise already,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told reporters before he joined Florida Democrats U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown on a boat tour of the city’s waterfront.
“The science is beyond debate, and truly the oceans don’t lie,” said Whitehouse, who has spent the week at spots along the Southeastern coast publicizing effects of changes in ocean levels. He said Floridians have a disproportionate stake in sea-level changes, he said, because the state accounts for a huge share of all the homes vulnerable to inundation when water levels change.
The state’s reliance on limestone aquifers holding drinkable fresh water magnifies the risks, lawmakers said.
“If the sea level rises, it starts pushing into the freshwater in the limestone honeycomb,” said Nelson, who this month chaired a hearing in Miami Beach on sea-level rise. “The water sources we now depend on are turning salty.”
But Nelson carefully distinguished between his warnings and concerns of some environmental advocates that deepening the St. Johns River’s shipping channel could increase salt levels in aquifers by allowing more salinity within the river.
The lawmakers had talked with administrators for the Army Corps of Engineers office on the Southbank just before
“Two different subjects,” Nelson told reporters, adding the factors going into climate change impacts and the river deepening are “separate and distinct.”
Not so, St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman said as she waited to board the boat with the lawmakers and members of garden clubs that Whitehouse praised for being attuned to environmental changes.
“You can’t separate the two,” She said. “Instead of making this river more vulnerable to sea-level rise as a result of the dredging, figure out a way to mitigate [the effects]. … They can’t have those two conversations in a silo, because they are directly connected.”
Brown, who has vigorously backed the river deepening, said she’s counting on oversight by the Corps of Engineers to consider the environmental costs of the river construction, and weigh that against the benefits that could come from port expansion.
“It’s always about balance,” she said. “We want to do the economic development. We want to do jobs. But we want to leave this environment for the future of the earth, because we have only one earth.”
Related:           Water in our shoes      MiamiHerald.com

140424-e
Sterling takes over Indian River Lagoon estuary program
Florida Today – by Jim Waymer
April 24, 2014
The Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program has a new leader at a time the lagoon is teetering under toxic algae blooms, fish kills and other wildlife die-offs.
Maurice Sterling took over this week as the lagoon program's interim director, replacing Troy Rice, who had served as director since 2000.
Rice will remain with the St. Johns River Water Management District, within the division of regulatory, engineering and environmental services, said Hank Largin, a spokesman with the district.
Hans Tanzler, the water management district's executive director, announced the change earlier this week. Sterling's appointment was part of the district's heightened focus on the lagoon, district officials said.
"It's a high priority for us," Largin said.
Some 47,000 acres of seagrass, 300 pelicans, 135 manatees, 76 dolphins and other wildlife have died since a massive "superbloom" of green algae hit the lagoon in 2011.
"He's got a lot of experience in water resource issues," Largin said of Sterling, who's been the district's ombudsman for the past nine months. "He's been in some leadership roles with the lagoon in the past."
Sterling also served as the district's long-time leader on the St. Johns River Upper Basin project. That $250 million, 30-year, 247-square-mile effort was one of the most ambitious wetland restorations of its kind and is considered a model for the Everglades restoration.
"It was an unexpected surprise, but one I accepted with enthusiasm," Sterling said of his new appointment.
The vision for restoring the lagoon won't change, Sterling said, but the next phase of restoration will require larger, more expensive and complex projects, including muck dredging.
"Our approach here has always been to let the science drive the effort," Sterling said.
"I don't come into this role with a preconceived notion," he added, "but our scientists know what needs to be done."
Related:           Lagoon program gets new leader        Florida Today

140423-a
Additional Corps briefing needed prior to release of Central Everglades final report
US-ACE Jacksonville - Press Release no. 14-020, Contact: Jenn Miller
April 23, 2014
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District will be scheduling an additional briefing to seek approval to release the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) final report for
 state and agency review. It is anticipated that the report will be released no later than the end of June 2014.
The report was presented to Corps leadership yesterday at the Civil Works Review Board (CWRB) in Washington D.C., to discuss the recommended plan to restore the central Everglades. The CWRB is part of the Corps' internal process to facilitate the review of the recommended plan to ensure it complies with all applicable federal laws and policies. It serves as a corporate check to ensure the report is ready for state and agency review. The CWRB concluded that while the analysis and project plans are extremely well done, additional time is needed to finalize the document assessment prior to releasing the report for the final 30-day state and agency review.
"The efforts made to date on CEPP are monumental. In less than three years, this team has accomplished what has previously taken six to ten years to complete. This challenging feat has required us all to step outside of our comfort zones and standard timeline durations to deliver a final plan that will set the foundation for our future restoration efforts," said Col. Alan Dodd, Jacksonville District commander. "The one thing that cannot be rushed on the final report for this complex project is ensuring that it meets the Corps’ required quality standard."
The Corps is scheduled to present the updated final report to the CWRB no later than the end of June 2014. Once approved, the report will be released for a 30-day state and agency review. After which, comments and responses will be incorporated and the Chief's Report will be finalized for signature. The signed Chief's Report will then be submitted to the administration for review. Based on this timeline, it is anticipated that the final Chief's Report will be submitted to Congress this summer.
"Completing this final report to restore a significant amount of the remaining Everglades ecosystem has been a challenging endeavor, requiring a collaborative and dedicated effort from federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations and the public," said Dodd. "The Corps is continuing to work collaboratively with our partners and stakeholders to complete this study and deliver a final Chief's Report for policy-makers' consideration."
The goal of the Central Everglades Planning Project is to capture water lost to tide and re-direct the water flow south to restore the central and southern Everglades ecosystem and Florida Bay.

140423-b
Army Corps delays key Everglades restoration project
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
April 23, 2014
Scott calls for feds to reconsider
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and environmental advocates Wednesday called for federal officials to reconsider their delay of a $2 billion plan intended to help the Everglades and lessen coastal water pollution.
In an unexpected move, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Civil Works Review Board Tuesday refused to sign off on the Central Everglades plan, which would redirect more Lake Okeechobee water south to the Everglades.
That postponement threatens to torpedo efforts to convince Congress to split the $2 billion cost with the state to help restore lake water flows to the Everglades – cut off by decades of drainage to make way for South Florida development and farming.
Sending more lake water south could boost South Florida drinking water supplies in addition to helping Everglades wildlife habitat. It could also lessen the draining of Lake Okeechobee water out to sea for flood control, which hurts coastal fishing grounds.
Gov. Rick Scott Wednesday issued a statement saying he was "extremely disappointed" in the delay and called for the board of top Army Corps' officials to immediately reconvene to reconsider the Central Everglades plan.
"We must do everything it takes to protect the natural treasures that Florida families rely on," Scott said.
The Everglades Foundation environmental group called the delay "a staggering failure of duty and responsibility" that threatens to set back the Central Everglades plan for years.
"The blame for this failure – and future damage to the environment and economy – now is squarely on the epaulets of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers," Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said.
Army Corps officials on Wednesday countered that they remain committed to the Central Everglades plan, nearly three years in the making. They said concerns about water quality issues in the Everglades need to be addressed with the state before they can give the OK to move the proposal on to Congress.
Army Corps officials say they plan to renew talks with the South Florida Water Management District to overcome the water quality hurdle and then try to sign off on the plan by the end of June.
But they also said that getting it done in time to be included in this year's water bill isn't their primary concern.
"We understand everybody's frustration," said Eric Bush, the Army Corps policy chief overseeing the crafting of the Central Everglades plan. "We haven't failed. We are very close."
The end of June could be too late, according to environmental advocates.
Florida officials are trying to get the Central Everglades project added to a list of water projects that Congress is considering this year.
Not getting that Congressional approval for the Central Everglades project this year could translate to even more years of waiting for construction that was already projected to be a decade away. About seven years passed between the previous water project bills approved by Congress.
"We just can't continue to keep the Everglades parched," said Eric Draper, Audubon Florida's executive director. "We are losing habitat every day."
Tuesday's delay out of Washington D.C. comes less than two weeks after the South Florida Water Management District endorsed the Everglades restoration plan, agreeing to potentially pay half of the nearly $2 billion cost.
The Central Everglades plan involves removing portions of levees, filling in canals and increasing pumping to redirect more Lake Okeechobee water flows toward Everglades National Park.
Moving more Lake Okeechobee water south, where it once naturally flowed, would lessen the amount of lake water that gets drained out to sea through the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers – with damaging water quality consequences along the coast.
Last summer, draining hundreds of billions of gallons of fresh water from the lake into the normally salty estuaries killed sea grass and oyster beds and scared off fish. The influx of pollutants and sediment from the lake draining also hurt water quality, fueling toxic algae blooms that made some coastal waterways unsafe for swimming.
"This (delay) could really signify a missed opportunity and lead to more suffering for ecosystems, estuary communities and local economies," said Caroline McLaughlin, of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Earlier this month, the projected cost of the Central Everglades project was bumped up about $100 million to $1.9 billion.
Florida taxpayers have already spent about $2 billion on Everglades restoration. On top of that, the Florida Legislature last year approved an $880 million ongoing plan to clean up Everglades water pollution.
The water quality concern federal officials cited Wednesday stems from the possibility that increasing the amount of water flowing to the Everglades could also bring an influx of pollutants that makes it harder for the state to meet federal water quality standards.
State officials have sought assurances that they won't ended up getting penalized for moving much-needed water south to the Everglades, but the Army Corps contends it won't roll back water quality standards.
Related:           Army Corps Delays Decision On Everglades Water Plan      Law360
Corps Want More Time On Everglades Project Report         CBS Local
Everglades restoration postponed by US Army Corps           MiamiHerald.com
Army Corps delays Everglades restoration projects   The News-Press
Delay in Everglades vote falters hundres of millions in funding       WPEC
Feds Delay Approval Of Everglades Restoration Plan          WGCU News
Massive Everglades restoration project may be in peril          Palm Beach Post
Everglades project likely out of federal water bill, Army Corps says ...        WPTV
Corps Wants More Time On Everglades Report        The Ledger

140423-c
Florida Legislature's $75 billion budget talks are all wet
Orlando Sentinel - by Aaron Deslatte,Tallahassee Bureau Chief
6:21 p.m. EDT, April 23, 2014
TALLAHASSEE – Inking a $75 billion spending plan for Florida government will require some last-minute trading over wetlands, springs, Everglades, lakes and other water-related hometown projects.
With legislative budget negotiators closing in on their weekend deadline and signaling agreement on big-ticket transportation, education and tax-cutting items, the thorniest corner of the proposed budget has been the natural resources arena, where lawmakers are pushing to bring home scores of water-projects.
“Water projects are sort of the meat and potatoes sometimes of what members hear from their constituents back home, and working on a list of water projects is often difficult,” said Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
For instance, the House has funded a much larger segment of Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s water projects, including $10 million for Lake Okeechobee farm projects, $9 million for hybrid wetlands treatment, and $7.5 million for “rural and family lands” conservation efforts.
The Senate has tucked away $81 million for lawmakers’ hometown water projects, while the House devoted only nestled away $56 million.
The Senate wants to spend $22 million on springs protection, while the House is sitting on a $45 million offer.
Both chambers are far apart on beach restoration and land-conservation, too.
Adding to the complexity this year: incoming Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and House Speaker-designate Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, have both taken a serious interest in water-policy and are weighing in heavily on that area of the budget.
Crisafulli, for instance, has secured $10 million for the upper Indian River Lagoon much removal in his home turf of Brevard County.
“Both of the next presiding officers have expressed a real personal interest in water-related issues, so I wouldn’t be surprised if those are a subject of conversation all through the weekend,” Gaetz said.
Perhaps the biggest sticking point: the Senate has allotted $82 million for Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee projects, while the House wants to spend $50 million of that on a wastewater treatment plant in the Florida Keys.
“Some of the projects will fall out during conference. Some will be added. Some will be increased. Some will be decreased,” said Senate budget chief Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who has pushed to include $127 million for Lake O restoration projects in the budget.
"One thing you learn when you get to Tallahassee is you don't leave the Capitol building the weekend before session ends," Negron told reporters. "One of your projects may have been traded for someone who is still in the Capitol."
Late Wednesday, the panel reviewing the water projects opted to "bump" most of the outstanding water projects to the top budget chiefs, Negron and House Appropriations Chairman Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland. They will work until the weekend to hash out deals.

140423-d
House, Senate environmental negotiators can't agree on most major spending items
Florida Current – by Bruce Ritchie
April 23, 2014
House and Senate budget negotiators on agriculture and environmental spending concluded their talks on Wednesday without a resolution of most major spending issues.
The differences between the chambers on issues including agricultural water programs, springs restoration, water projects and Everglades and Lake Okeechobee will now be resolved by the full budget conference committees.
"We have made significant progress but we have several items that are still unresolved," Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government, said at the final meeting of the budget conference committee for agricultural and natural resources spending.
Monitor 'Environmental Appropriations' and 100+ policy issues with Legislative IQ or LobbyTools. Login or request a demo.
Among the issues to be resolved by the House and Senate budget chairmen after the Senate's second offer:
-- Local water projects: The Senate offered $73.9 million compared to the House offer of $56.6 million.
-- Springs restoration: The Senate offered $24.3 million compared to the House offer of $50 million.
-- Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee: Neither chamber offered to move from their adopted budgets: Senate proposes $157.8 million while the House proposes $125 million. 
-- Conservation lands: The House proposes $22.5 million in new revenue while the Senate proposes no new revenue. Both include $40 million from non-conservation land sales. 
-- Beach restoration: The Senate offered $49 million while the House offered $33.9 million.
-- Agricultural water programs: The Senate offered $2.5 million compared to a House offer of $27.3 million.
Rep. Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said the big stuff was bumped up to the budget chairman.
"We couldn't find common ground," he said. "I mean, it really is as simple as we just couldn't come to an agreement on a funding level for those items."
The Everglades and Lake Okeechobee spending is a priority to Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart and the Senate's chief budget negotiator. Albritton rejected the question of whether the House was not as committed to dealing with those issues after heavy rains last summer flushed polluted water into the downstream Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee rivers .
"This is a comprehensive approach to a lot of big ticket items," Albritton said. "We'll just have to see where it goes." 

140423-e
Voters could pump cash into restoration of springs
Orlando Sentinel - by Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
April 23, 2014
TALLAHASSEE — A legislative push to save Florida's springs could hinge on whether voters this fall require policymakers to pump billions of dollars into conservation efforts.
The Senate is planning to pass a springs-protection plan that would force developers, farmers, local governments and septic-tank owners to cut pollution flowing into the state's most imperiled springs. But this week, the chamber stripped out $378 million that would have gone annually toward that cleanup.
Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said Wednesday that happened because of Amendment 1. It's a constitutional question before voters in November that could mandate an estimated $19 billion during the next two decades for conservation projects, including buying land and cleaning up polluted waterways.
"There's a very good chance that Amendment 1 potentially passes. That potentially starts the discussion of how you do springs, how you do cleanup, how you do land acquisition," Gardiner said.
As the session heads toward its May 2 adjournment, House and Senate budget writers are polishing off a $75 billion budget that increases spending on the Everglades, along with providing $500 million intax cuts to motorists, shoppers and businesses. The budget also will include $20 million to $42 million in one-time cash for springs projects.
Environmentalists and Central Florida lawmakers are also pushing a measure (SB 1576) requiring the state Department of Environmental Protection, water districts and local governments to develop "basin-management" plans. They could force ranches, farms, city wastewater-treatment plants and others to reduce the pollution they create that eventually flows into springs.
Although House Speaker-designate Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, still has to OK it, the plan has galvanized some groups. It would require state and local governments to catalog septic tanks and set minimum water-flow levels for every spring-shed — a requirement on the books for decades but never enforced.
"Clearly, something needs to be done to speed the process up," said Janet Bowman, policy director for the Nature Conservancy. "This has been a chronic problem. It's not unique to this administration. But it's going to require a substantial investment of money."
Gardiner and other lawmakers have been pushing for strong regulations in light of the deterioratinghealth and flows of once-pristine springs such as Wekiwa and Rock Springs in Orange County andSilver Springs in Marion County.
That has sparked an outcry from cities, counties and developers concerned the Legislature could pass sweeping environmental mandates without the money needed to enact them.
"The dollars are not there," said Frank Matthews, a development lobbyist whose clients include sugar growers, planned-community developers and Walt Disney World. "We do not wish to trigger compliance goals that cannot be achieved."
But that concern might become moot if voters approve Amendment 1.
The Water and Land Conservation amendment would devote to conservation 33 percent of the revenues collected from documentary-stamp taxes on real-estate transactions — a tax that generated $1.7 billion this year. If it passes, state economists estimate it would raise $648 million next year and nearly $19 billion during the next two decades.

140422-a
Earth Day: Nine ways Florida is screwing up the environment
Broward/PBchNewTimes.com - by Chris Joseph
April 22 2014
Happy Earth Day, Florida ! We're all gonna die !
Yes, today is the day we're supposed to be conserving, planting trees, turning off the lights, and collecting all that recycling. But the reality is, things are not looking as green as they should in the Sunshine State.
Florida is a land literally named for all its flowers. But the darker side of things is the reality that Florida's overall environmental state is a mess. How bad is it? So bad that we're turning the Everglades into shopping malls, spewing tons of garbage into the air, and pretty much sinking into the ocean.
So let's all gather 'round and take a gander at nine ways we're completely killing our environment down here!
See also: Eight Places in Florida to Visit on Earth Day Ranked by Outdoorsiness
9. The Slow Disappearance of Natural Habitats
Or, to use the more technical term: URBAN SPRAWL. A couple of years ago, the Florida FIsh and Wildlife Commission released a report that says the Everglades and other wild parts of the state will be nothing but roads, buildings, houses, skyscrapers, and shopping malls in the next 50 years.
We already might be seeing the effects on animals like the Florida panther being squeezed out of its natural habitat into people's property and roads, where the animals are easy targets to get killed.
Not to mention the oil companies that want to drill smack dab in the middle of the panthers' habitat. Because, PROGRESS!
8. Rising Sea Levels
The hefty combination of climate change and summer storm surges is basically slowly drowning our state. According to a recent study by the University of South Florida, sea levels have increased on Florida's Gulf Coast by four inches in the past 20 years. For years, scientists have been giving out dire warnings about how Florida is only a few decades from turning into Atlantis.
7. Power Plants
Florida doesn't only lead the U.S. in screwing up presidential votes and in moronic gun laws. It also leads the U.S. in really toxic power plants.
A recent study by the National Resources Defense Council says that Florida is the third-most-toxic state in the U.S. The main culprit for this? All the shit our power plants spew into the air every year.
Another study found that FPL's West County Energy Center in Palm Beach County is the state's third-dirtiest plant.
The power plant in St. Lucie is a damned mess. And then there's the possibility that FPL might
run power lines through Everglades National Park from Turkey Point nuclear power plant.
Sure this might cause alligators to grow a third eye and panthers to start glowing in the dark, but those things sound totally awesome!
6. Burmese Pythons
We all know about the pythons that people keep finding out in the Everglades. They don't belong there. They eat everything, kill everything, and multiply faster than Brad and Angelina's family. We've tried killing them with contests and declared open season on them, and still nothing works. Experts estimate 150,000 pythons now live in the Everglades, basically because it has no natural predators and is free to roam the state willy-nilly.
In other words, the Snakepocalypse is nearly upon us.
5. Lionfish
Native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, lionfish have no natural predators in Atlantic waters, so they've been able to swim worry-free off our coast, rummaging through our oceans like that guy no one ever met whom your uncle brought over for Thanksgiving last year and who ate all the stuffing. Lionfish have been eating all the lobster and preying on food that would normally go to our native fish, like snapper and smaller fish. These little bastards eat everything. And that's killing our local ecosystem.
Some believe that lionfish were introduced into Atlantic waters back in 1992, when Hurricane Andrew struck Miami and broke an aquarium containing the fish, releasing them into Biscayne Bay. It's also probable that owners of the fish just got tired of them and illegally released them into local waters.
According to a study by the University of Florida, it's pretty unlikely lionfish will be completely eradicated from our waters.
4. Aging Infrastructure
Just a couple of years ago, a pair of sewage pipes in Hollywood burst, spewing shit everywhere and making life toxic for all. Not much has been done to fix or update the old things in Florida, and it's only a matter of time before we get more shit in our drinking water.
3. Lack of Public Transportation
Public transportation in South Florida sucks all the balls. And this is not only an inconvenience for people who need to get around but it's also ravaging our environment.
Crappy public transportation means more people driving their own cars, which means our roads are stacked with cars spewing their carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. All you need to do to be reminded of this is look out your window on your way home from work. Traffic is JAMMED. And all the construction on I-95 and I-75 ain't helping. It's called a carbon footprint, people. And we're shoving that footprint right up the ass of future generations.
2. The Navy's Sonar Testing
Thousands of dolphins, including those that swim off the coast of Fort Lauderdale and other parts of South Florida, could be killed within the next five years via Navy military tests. This according to the Navy itself.
Basically, the Navy playing war games is a massive disruption to the environment, not just sea life like dolphins, whales, and sea turtles but also to the environment itself.
Sonar, specifically, threatens the animals by disrupting their foraging and forcing them to abandon their habitat or beach themselves. It confuses the animals, often making them swim in different directions.
Scientists have confirmed that they've found evidence of nitrogen bubbles expanding in whales that damages their organs whenever whales confuse artificial sonar for the sounds of their prey. Because they take a riskier dive than usual as they forage, the damage from the Navy's sonar has them succumb to the same decompression sickness that afflicts scuba divers when they swim to the surface too quickly.
While science is clearly catching up with the Navy, the Navy has been conducting business as usual, at the risk of torturing and killing mass numbers of marine life.
1. Rick Scott's Policies
-He's screwed our waters.
-He wouldn't sign off on saving the wildflower.
-He weakened the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
-He appointed a man who was responsible for screwing up the Everglades to protect the Everglades.
-And he pretty much gutted Florida's environmental protection programs.
HAPPY EARTH DAY, EVERYONE! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!

140422-b
Everglades restoration project may be in peril
PostOnPolitics.com - by Laura Green
April 22, 2014
An internal review board within the Army Corps of engineers failed to green light an Everglades restoration project designed to create more drinking water, save wildlife and bring water to parts of the Everglades that are being starved.
The review board is asking for more time to consider the project, which has been in the works for 18 months. That delay could imperil Congressional approval, advocates say.
“Of all things, how ironic on Earth Day, the feckless bureaucrats of the Army Corp of Engineers who have had the central everglades project since August have failed to approve it today,” said Eric Eikenberg, Chief Executive Officer of the Everglades Foundation.
During a more than four-hour meeting Tuesday, the Civil Works Review Board discussed the project meant to resuscitate the “slowly dying” Everglades which has already lost half its mass and is home to 68 federally-listed threatened or endangered species. The failing Everglades is also threatening supplies of drinking water and risking major wildfires.
The meeting started off with only a hint of what was to come. Major General John Peabody, the group’s chairman, talked about the unusual complexity of the project. His comments were followed by nearly two hours of background about the history of the Everglades, and the importance of acting to save it.
Col. Alan Dodd, district commander from Jacksonville, described the Everglades as being on the scale in importance of the Grand Canyon or redwoods in California.
“Simply stated, there is no other place like it in the world,” he said.
And yet, he said it is danger of “being lost forever.”
Dodd noted that the project had been added to President Barack Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative, meant to fast track important work.
After representatives of various agencies, including the Interior Department and the South Florida Water Management District, voiced their support, the meeting devolved into a series of technical questions about timing and agency policy.
The Civil Works Review Board decided not to recommend approval, which would have started a process aimed at putting the project in front of Congress for funding. There was some discussion of holding another meeting this spring, but none was scheduled.
Timing is crucial for the project. The last time Congress approved funding in the same category was 2007, and before that, 2000, advocates said.

140422-c
Is help on tap for Florida's springs ?
WGCU.org
April 22, 2014
A comprehensive bill to protect and restore Florida's natural springs has been moving through the state senate with strong bipartisan support. Support for springs in the Florida House, however, is far less certain. Still, it's the biggest burst of momentum and public attention concerning these natural wonders in recent memory.
James "Rip" Oldfield has been manning the concession stand at Rock Springs for the past 12 years. And he's owned the nearby inner tube rental for much longer -- 28 years.
He says he's noticed some changes at the park.
"All the algae at the bottom of the river, it grows twenty times faster than it did 28 years ago when I first came around here," Oldfield says. Back then, he says, "it was beautiful. The bottom of the river was pretty much real sandy, now it turns green pretty quick from the algae growth."
The algae is thriving on nitrates -- nutrients that seep into the water from leaky septic tanks, or from fertilizer runoff from agricultural lands and residential areas.
Rock Springs is unusual because the water doesn't bubble up from the ground, it shoots out of a cliff -- and at least there at the outflow, the algae can't take hold.
The water for Rock Springs flows from a five foot wide cavern at the bottom of a limestone cliff. The clear, blue water rushes through a forested ravine for several hundred feet, where part of the water is diverted to a wide, shallow swimming area. The run travels for several miles, before meeting up with the Wekiva River.
At the head springs, Lee Chapman gets ready to go tubing with his baby daughter. Chapman has come to Rock Springs all his life, and says it still looks good -- especially compared to some of the other springs he visits. But he's also noticed changes in the algae level, he says.
"Probably in the early nineties is when I first started noticing that," Chapman says. "But if everybody's running on septic tanks, there's no way to control it until everybody's on a system where the water's at least being treated."
Besides nitrate levels, scientists are also concerned about the amount of water coursing through the springs, or, their "minimum flow levels." The springs have to maintain a certain level of water to stay healthy -- and that level is affected by drought, but also by the amount of water that we siphon off the aquifer. Although Rock Springs water levels are okay, many springs are critically low.
Environmental officials say we need more projects that reclaim water -- so that less needs to be taken from fresh groundwater. Other priorities are treating sewage, limiting fertilizer use, and addressing septic systems used by homes near the springs.
The springs bill in the senate would devote more than $370 million to speed up those kinds of projects, while setting up protection zones around some of the more popular springs. But several prominent business groups are opposed to it, and a companion bill in the House has gone nowhere, so far.
Still, those close to the issue say there's a current groundswell of support for springs, including from Gov. Rick Scott, who requested money for the second year in a row to help the ailing waters. Drew Bartlett, deputy secretary for water policy for the state's Department of Environmental Protection, says springs are getting a lot of attention right now.
"We are setting and actively working in every springs basin right now," Bartlett says. "There's a lot of springs in the state and we're in every one of them. We're setting regulatory goals and adopting regulatory plans to get these things back into shape."
Bartlett says a lot of clean-up efforts have been put in place just within the last three years , including a $250 million dollar wastewater treatment project near Wakulla Spring that has brought the nutrient levels at that spring down nearly to restoration levels.
Bartlett says that increased funding from the legislature would definitely speed up the ability to do projects like that -- but he says the state will make progress, with or without this year's springs protection bill.
For Rip Oldfield, and his customers at Rock Springs, progress would mean an end to the algae and a return to the beautiful, clear, white sand springs that they remember.

140422-d
Miami’s tourism industry isn’t ready for dramatic effects of Climate Change
Skift.com - by Maria Gallucci
April 22, 2014
 Florida tourism and climate experts are speaking today at a U.S. Senate field hearing to discuss the threat of rising sea levels, beach erosion, inland flooding and other climate change impacts to the state’s multibillion-dollar tourism sector.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) called the Earth Day meeting in Miami Beach to underscore the need for South Florida to adapt to its changing coastline. The area “is the most threatened by sea level rise in the continental U.S.,” he said last month.
The event will also highlight resilience measures that local governments are already taking, including plans in Palm Beach County to concentrate housing and infrastructure on higher ground and an effort in Hallandale Beach to move the city’s entire drinking water supply away from the ocean.
“It’s going to cost big resources to get cities to be climate resilient, and obviously the tourism industry has a huge stake in making sure that happens so they can continue to flourish,” Christina DeConcini, director of government affairs at the World Resources Institute, told Skift.
Florida tourism—the state’s biggest economic engine—raked in nearly $72 billion in 2012, and about one-third of that money going to Miami.
The southernmost region draws tens of millions of visitors each year to its extensive beaches, swampy parks, coral reefs and luxury oceanfront properties, all areas that are particularly vulnerable to climate change. About three-fourths of Florida’s entire population lives on the coast.
Sea levels in South Florida are projected to rise between nine inches and two feet by 2060, and by up to three feet by 2100, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The rise would steadily exacerbate existing problems such as eroding beaches, powerful storm surges and salty seawater flowing into drinking water sources. Higher seas would also amplify the amount of damage from tropical storms and hurricanes.
Read More Puerto Rico Is Not Prepared to Battle Climate Change
The financial stakes for Florida’s tourism sector are high. As much as $4 billion in taxable real estate could be wiped out by a one-foot rise in sea level, according to the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, a four-county collaboration on resilience and greenhouse gas mitigation. At three feet, the loss could total $31 billion, with major sections of the Everglades, the Florida Keys and the Miami region under water.
Despite the huge risks to tourism, climate experts say that tourism leaders are not doing enough to address the threats. “The tourism industry has done very little to prepare itself for the future,” said Len Berry, who directs the Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. “They’d much rather take a short-term view … because [investors] are planning on getting their money back before sea level rise gets to be a major problem.”
Will Seccombe, who heads the state’s tourism marketing agency Visit Florida, responded in statement, writing that the organization’s 12,000 industry partners “are actively engaged with their local authorities on beautification and sustainability efforts.”
The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau did not return requests for comment by deadline. William Talbert III, the bureau’s CEO, is set to speak at the Senate hearing about the economic impacts of climate change to Florida’s tourism industry.
Such criticism of tourism leaders isn’t unique to Florida. Across the Caribbean region, “coastal tourism has its head in the sands,” said Daniel Scott, the Canada Research Chair on Global Change and Tourism at the University of Waterloo.
Scott co-authored a recent study of nearly 1,000 major coastal resorts in the Caribbean and found that, at three feet of sea level rise, more than one-quarter of the properties would be partially or fully flooded, and more than half would experience significant beach erosion damage. “We think there’s a fair bit of risk there, and [the owners] don’t seem to be looking at it either from a property value or an adaptation perspective,” he said. “Sea level rise is a mid- to late-century issue, and they’re worried about the next quarter.”
In the next few decades of climate change, coastal destinations will likely have to ramp up their beach replenishment efforts, straining existing sand supplies and creating competition for new sources. Properties and cities will have to adopt stricter building and infrastructure designs and update their emergency response plans due to increased flooding and wind damage from storms. Hotel operating expenses could rise as owners pay higher flood insurance rates and invest in expensive backup water and power systems.
Still, Scott said that the forecast is not all doom-and-gloom for coastal tourism. Destinations and properties that do prepare for climate impacts “can gain market share just by being the least impacted of a group. There is a business case for doing these things.”
He said key to climate-ready tourism is “destination resilience” planning, in which private companies collaborate with local governments on regional strategies. Property developers and municipal leaders, for instance, could develop zoning regulations to scoot all new beach resorts back from the water, eliminating concerns by proactive owners of a competitive disadvantage. Scott and his research colleagues plan to develop a first-ever destination resilience plan in Jamaica, Tobago or Saint Lucia.
Berry of Florida Atlantic University said the insurance and re-insurance industries will be critical to pushing tourism sectors to take climate action. In vulnerable coastal areas, flood insurance premiums could rise to such a degree that project economics no longer make sense, forcing developers to build on lower-risk locations.
Berry said he is hopeful that the Senate hearing can foster awareness about both risks and solutions among Florida’s tourism players. “The business folks at the hearing can’t go away feeling complacent when they hear these messages,” he said.
Related:           Sea-level rise of concern for Miami    Local 10
Earth Day: will climate change affect the First Coast?          First Coast News
Miami 'Ground Zero' for sea level rise            Local 10

140422-e
Scott, House must stand up for Florida's springs
Orlando Sentinel - by Bob Graham, Guest columnist
April 22, 2014
Let's look back in time to the early 1970s, when Florida's population was 7.5 million and growing rapidly. After Florida's lands and waters were polluted and altered for decades to make way for development, our environment was in trouble: Water quality and flow were threatened; and critical natural areas were on the verge of being lost forever.
We were fortunate when Gov. Reubin Askew took office in 1971 to have a governor who prioritized Florida's environment and provided the leadership necessary to move environmental legislation forward. Askew challenged the Legislature to set up a regulatory system and funding to protect Florida's natural resources and guide its growth.
We were equally fortunate to have leaders in both chambers of the Legislature and on both sides of the aisle with the foresight and courage to meet that challenge. In 1972, Florida passed the most comprehensive set of environmental conservation and protection laws in the nation, including legislation to protect Florida's waters, purchase environmentally sensitive lands, protect critical areas and set limits on development. Throughout the heyday of Florida growth and economic prosperity, these laws added an element of environmental protection as Florida's economy boomed as never before or since.
Unfortunately, our government is failing to build upon the foundation laid down in the 1970s and 1980s to protect Florida's environment. To the contrary, in 2011, water-management districts suffered draconian cuts to their budgets and staffs; Florida's state growth-management agency was abolished; land-acquisition funding was cut to only a small fraction of historic levels; and the Florida Springs Initiative was defunded.
Now let's come back to 2014. Florida has a population of more than 19 million, and the dire problems facing our waters from the Panhandle to the Keys have gotten worse. Many of Florida's iconic springs still do not have basic protection; springs are dying from too little flow and too many nutrients; rivers are covered in algal mats; and estuaries and coastal waters are suffering staggering losses of marine life and birds. Now when our waters need strong environmental protections the most, we no longer have them.
But this year we have a bipartisan group of senators who have spent much of the past six months working with stakeholders from every viewpoint to create significant springs legislation that could pass the Legislature this year. The Senate has demonstrated its commitment to this goal by passing Senate Bill 1576 unanimously through its first two committee stops.
Despite its progress in the Senate, the Florida House of Representatives has refused to even allow the bill to be heard in a single committee so far this session. It is clear that House leaders are listening to special-interest lobbyists, telling them to weaken and kill the bill, instead of heeding the citizens of Florida, their Senate colleagues, conservation groups and newspaper editorial boards who have urged the House to take up the Senate version of the bill and pass strong springs legislation this session.
Equally concerning is Gov. Rick Scott's silence on this important legislation that would do so much to protect Florida's springs. If Scott followed the example of previous Florida governors to protect Florida's environment, he would bring House and Senate leaders together to make sure strong springs legislation is signed into law this year.
Although no single law can completely solve the problems facing Florida's waters, the Senate bill, which includes funding, deadlines and common-sense regulations, will significantly enhance the state of our springs. However, the challenge lies in the House. Time is short. The House must take up the Senate bill, protect it from weakening and from extraneous amendments, and pass it.
The question is: Do this House and governor have the foresight and fortitude to stand up for Florida's springs?
My dear friend and predecessor Gov. Reubin Askew gave the 1972 Legislature the following piece of advice on the opening-day session. His words are truer today than ever.
"Your own elections are pressing down upon you telling you to try and slip through this session as quickly and as quietly and with as little action as possible … I ask you to do your best to put aside those thoughts … and work instead to come up with real answers to our toughest problems today … And it begins with the environment, as indeed it must, if any of our other efforts are to have meaning for tomorrow."
Bob Graham is founder and chairman of the Florida Conservation Coalition. He was Florida's governor from 1979-86 and a U.S. senator from 1987-2005.

140421-a
House, Senate close differences on citrus greening but remain apart on environmental spending
Florida Current – by Bruce Ritchie
April 21, 2014
The Senate on Monday offered to increase its proposed spending for water projects, petroleum site cleanups and springs restoration. 
But the House and Senate remained apart on those issues and several other major spending items after an initial meeting of conference committees on a 2014-15 state budget.
The House and Senate also remain apart on spending for Lake Okeechobee, Everglades and Indian River Lagoon projects along with environmental land acquisition, beach restoration projects.
On water projects, the Senate offered to increase its proposed spending to $81.1 million. The Senate had proposed 84 projects totaling $43.3 million. The House had no list of projects but had allocated $100 million, plus $500,000 for maintenance of local water utilities.
The Senate also offered $110 million for cleaning up petroleum contamination sites compared to $125 million proposed by the House. The Senate had proposed $100 million in its 2014-15 budget.
The Senate had proposed $19 million for springs restoration but increased that to $22.3 million, plus $1 million for agricultural programs. The House proposed $45 million for springs plus $5 million in agricultural programs.
On beach projects, the two chambers remain far apart with the House proposing $27.7 million and the Senate $49.2 million.
The House is proposing $15 million for the Florida Forever land-buying program and $15 million for agricultural conservation easements while the Senate offered neither. Both the House and Senate propose $40 million from the sale of non conservation lands.
The House also has proposed $50 million for wastewater treatment improvements in the Florida Keys while the Senate has proposed no spending in that area.
The Senate offered to match the House on several activities involving citrus greening. The Senate had proposed $6.5 million for citrus greening and budwood facilities while the House had $13.7 million for various citrus greening programs.
The Senate agreed to match the House proposed spending $4 million for citrus research, $7.2 million for the citrus health response program, $2 million for the citrus repository and budwood labs and $480,500 for the citrus psyllid biological control facility.
The House and Senate remained apart on other issues including the House proposal of $12.9 million for the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program grants compared to the Senate offer of nearly $2.5 million. The Senate proposed $15 million for state park facility improvements compared to $10.1 million in the House version of the budget.
It wasn't clear how far apart the House and Senate are on spending for Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and Indian River Lagoon projects. The Senate has $82.7 million in an Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee line item while the House has nothing, and the House has $53 million in an Everglades restoration line while the Senate has proposed nothing.
Related Research:       April 21, 2014 Conference Committee Senate Offer #1 budget spreadsheet

140421-b
In Miami, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson holds sea level rise hearing Tuesday
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
April 21, 2014
A day before U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is set to hold a special hearing on sea level rise in Miami Beach, environmentalists teamed up with water managers to spotlight a particularly vulnerable link in South Florida’s massive water control system.
Standing beside the C-6 canal, an industrial-looking channel carved out of the Miami River just west of the Miami Jai-Alai fronton, Jayantha “Obey” Obeysekera, the chief modeler for the South Florida Water Management District, ordered pumps fired up to demonstrate how water managers are trying to counter seas that have risen about seven inches in the last century. When the canal was dredged in the 1950s to control flooding, he said, it was outfitted with a massive steel gate that simply opened when it needed to let water out.
But if seas continue to rise, the water will be too high to open the gates, built to accommodate no more than a six-inch change in sea level. That leaves only pumps installed seven years ago to contend with flooding in western Miami-Dade County.
“That six inches is gone, or will be gone pretty soon if the projection is realized,” Obeysekera said. “The structures built in the ’50s are not functioning as expected because of sea level rise.”
For many environmentalists, South Florida’s community of 5.5 million is considered ground zero for sea level rise. Obeysekera’s demonstration on Monday was one stop on a tour organized by the World Resources Institute, Florida Atlantic University and the Miami-based nonprofit CLEO Institute — Climate Leadership Engagement Opportunities — to showcase the area’s vulnerability.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nelson will hold a hearing to address South Florida’s “changing coastline” at Miami Beach City Hall. The hearing, which will include testimony from a half dozen witnesses, is intended to give an overview of the federal government’s take on climate science and efforts to reduce carbon emissions that fuel climate change. Miami tops the list of American cities most at risk, with an estimated $416 billion in assets that could be affected by sea level rise, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“States need resources to deal with climate change. The national folks haven’t made it a priority,” said Rob Cowin, director of government affairs for the Union of Concerned Scientists, which also helped organize the tour. “We need leadership and we need help.”

140420-a
At-Risk cities may help drive climate change solutions
ClimateCentral.org - by Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
April 20th, 2014
It is already taking shape as the 21st century urban nightmare: a big storm hits a city like Shanghai, Mumbai, Miami or New York, knocking out power supply and waste treatment plants, washing out entire neighborhoods and marooning the survivors in a toxic and foul-smelling swamp.
Now the world's leading scientists are suggesting that those same cities in harm's way could help drive solutions to climate change.
A draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), obtained by the Guardian, says smart choices in urban planning and investment in public transport could help significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, especially in developing countries.
The draft is due for release in Berlin on Sunday, the third and final installment of the IPCC's authoritative report on climate change.
"The next two decades present a window of opportunity for urban mitigation as most of the world's urban areas and their infrastructure have yet to be constructed," the draft said.
Around 1 billion people live in cities and coastal areas at risk of sea-level rise and coastal flooding – and those figures are expected to rise in the coming decades.
Most of the high-risk areas are in Asia, but the U.S. East Coast, where the rate of sea level rise is three or four times faster than the global average, is also a "hotspot," with cities, beaches and wetlands exposed to flooding.
But those at-risk cities also produce a large and growing share of emissions that cause climate change – which makes them central to its solution.
"They are at the frontlines of this issue," said Seth Schultz, research director for the C40 group of mega-cities taking action on climate change. "And on the whole cities have extraordinarily strong power to deliver on these things."
Even in America, where Republican governors and members of Congress deny the existence or have rolled back action on climate change, cities are moving ahead.
South-east Florida faces a triple threat – flat, built on porous rock, and in line for high sea-level rise. Planners in four south-eastern counties are preparing for 24 inches of sea-level rise by 2060 – which could put a large area around Miami underwater.
Beaches and barrier islands are already starting to disappear. Miami and other towns flood during heavy rain storms and full-moon high tides, and saltwater is already seeping into the network of canals in the Everglades.
"Sometimes it is tempting to think those impacts just occur in small coastal areas, but they are more extensive than that," said Jennifer Jurado, director of natural resources for Broward County.
Her nightmare scenario in a future of rising sea level would be flooding from both directions – the coast and inland – with saltwater contaminating groundwater reserves, and saturating farmland.
Jurado and officials in three other south-eastern counties of Florida have teamed up on a plan to cut emissions and protect populations from future sea-level rise.
Officials started with computer modeling to draw up details plans of what Florida would look like under future sea-level rise.
Broward County is now restricting development in areas at risk of two feet of sea-level rise. Water districts in Sweetwater and other towns south of Miami are installing pumps at $70 million each to divert storm runoff water and pump it back into the ocean.
And while Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott, has put climate change efforts on hold, Broward County last month committed to getting 20 percent of electricity for county from renewable sources and increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent. Homeowners are being offered rebates on their property taxes to install solar panels.
The county has also pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Across the country in another Republican-controlled state, Salt Lake City in Utah has also been dealing with climate change.
Salt Lake City, which is at risk of running out of water because of climate change, set ambitious targets to cut emissions, and was the first city in America to commit to offsetting emissions from official travel.
Meanwhile, Utah's state legislature this month passed bills offering new financial incentives for solar panels and plug-in vehicles. The bills also require Utah to convert 50 percent of state transport vehicles to alternative fuels or plug-ins by 2018.
Such initiatives are becoming more common across America as city officials take future climate change into account for planning, zoning and land use, said Christina DeConcini, director of government affairs for the World Resources Institute.
"I think there is a growing focus on climate change," she said. "A lot of cities have sustainability departments and people focusing on it, and more and more of the work they are doing is focused on climate and climate impacts."
The reason, she said, was transparent. "Cities that are more at risk are definitely paying more attention."

140420-b
Florida lawmakers have a lengthy to-do list
Orlando Sentinel - Editorial
April 20, 2014
Like the last two minutes of a basketball game, the final two weeks of the Florida Legislature's annual two-month session are the most important to watch.
Yes, big change happened early in the session, when legislators passed several bills to protect the public from sexual predators. Gov. Rick Scott has signed those bills into law.
But the fate of other priorities is in doubt. With lawmakers having taken last week off, time is running short. Here are some of the goals we hope they reach before the last whistle blows:
•  Clean water:  Lawmakers are poised to invest big money to continue Everglades restoration and stop disastrous discharges of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee. But a crucial effort in the Senate to restore Florida's natural springs is in trouble. House Speaker Will Weatherford has called for putting off water policy changes until next year.
We urge Senate leaders to keep pushing to pass the springs plan this year. The longer Florida waits, the greater the damage and higher the cost to fix it.
•  Good government :  Before the session, Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz included ethics reform and open government among their priorities. The Senate has largely followed through, but the House is balking.
One must-pass Senate bill would ban elected officials from moonlighting as lobbyists and empower the state ethics commission to launch investigations without waiting for an outside complaint. Another would improve citizens' access to their government by strengthening the state's open-records laws.
•  Child protection :  A Miami Herald investigation recently revealed that at least 477 children died under the state's watch in the past six years. The causes included a flawed policy to keep troubled families intact and reduce the number of children in state care. More money is needed for staff, along with substance-abuse and mental-health programs. And changes are needed to the family-first policy.
•Sentencing reform: Judges should have discretion when sentencing drug abusers to prison, but current law says someone caught with as few as seven painkillers must spend at least three years in prison. Bills in the House and Senate would let nonviolent first-time offenders go into treatment. They'd benefit, and taxpayers would save $47 million in incarceration costs over five years.
•  College for "Dreamers" : The House has passed a bill to offer cheaper in-state tuition at public colleges and universities to the children of undocumented immigrants who attended high school in Florida. Gov. Rick Scott and former Govs. Jeb Bush and Bob Martinez, all Republicans, have endorsed the idea. Still, key Senate leaders are opposed.
Forcing these children to keep paying much more for tuition will make higher education — and a successful future — impossible for many of them. To improve Florida's work force and economy, lawmakers need to make this bill law.

140420-c
Lawmakers aim cash at Everglades cleanup
Sun Sentinel - by Aaron Deslatte and Tonya Alanez, Staff Writers
April 20, 2014
TALLAHASSEE—  While paying for a cleanup, the Florida Legislature is poised to adjourn May 2 without addressing some of the most persistent polluters of Florida's lakes, rivers and springs.
– Flush with cash in state coffers, Florida lawmakers are pouring money into cleaning the mucky, polluted waters surrounding the Everglades.
But the Legislature is poised to adjourn May 2 without addressing some of the most persistent polluters of Florida's lakes, rivers and springs after a contentious response from farmers, environmental groups, local governments and businesses.
Some argued the proposed regulations would impose too much cost on polluting industries at a time when the economy was struggling to regain steam. Environmental groups feared a watered-down response would set back their efforts to save Florida's waterways. Lawmakers say the rules will get re-examined next year.
A wetter-than-usual rainy season last summer prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pump billions of gallons of Lake Okeechobee water polluted by fertilizer-laden farmlands and development into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. That prompted stinky algae blooms and decimated tourism in those coastal communities.
Florida budget writers could steer more than $127 million into Everglades-related water projects designed to clean up the fouled lake waters flowing southward into the famed Everglades "River of Grass."
That money would go toward building stormwater treatment centers, reservoirs and bridges to clean the water that streams into Lake Okeechobee, and re-routing it south through the Everglades.
"It's very significant, and it's going to have a tangible effect," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart. "The releases from Lake Okeechobee can be reduced and eventually eliminated."
Right now, when the lake levels rise too high, federal managers have to discharge the dirty water into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers flowing east and west.
"Because there's no filtration system, it wrecks the economy and it wrecks the ecology of those communities," said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation. "We've seen dead manatees, dead dolphins and dead fish in the Indian River Lagoon, and the oyster population has been ravaged."
The state investment this year is a tiny fraction of the $2 billion in total South Florida water managers estimate will be required for complete Everglades restoration.
But it will go a long ways in undoing some of the damage, from restoring wetlands in the Picayune Strand in Naples to returning sea grasses, mangroves, removing muck, and building stormwater control projects in the Lake Worth Lagoon, experts say.
Oyster beds and seagrass beds in the coastal estuaries connected to the lake would get $2 million under the Senate plan to help bring them back from last summer's devastation.
The projects are so interconnected that no single job rises to the top of the priority list, said James Moran, a South Florida Water Management District board member representing Palm Beach County.
"You can't divorce one from the other," Moran said.
Even so, environmentalists say the Upper Kissimmee River restoration might be the most important re-plumbing required. For years, the state and federal governments have been trying to return the river to its former winding and bending self, which "makes it more of a natural river than a canal down to Lake Okeechobee," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida.
Lawmakers want to spend $5 million there for water storage once the river's original floodplain is restored. When it's done, that will help filter the water before it gets there.
Lawmakers last year devoted $20 million to building a massive reservoir to store runoff from the lake, and they plan to add $40 million more this year.
The roughly $500 million project will still require a sizeable federal investment to become a reality, but once it does it would capture polluted water currently going into the Indian River Lagoon, store it, and clean it before it reaches the St. Lucie estuary.
Lawmakers also are steering $30 million into Gov. Rick Scott's push to begin construction of 2.5 miles of additional bridges on the Tamiami Trail, the northern boundary of Everglades National Park.
The road now dams up water trying to flow southward into the park. The bridges would free up the water that now builds up in the central Everglades, allowing it to freely flow under the bridges, through the park, and on into Florida Bay.
A cadre of senators is still trying to pass reform forcing developers, water management districts, local governments with waste-water treatment plants, sugar farmers, and stakeholders to agree to plans to curb their pollution into Florida's springs, rivers and lakes. It's the only way, they argue, to keep future Mother Nature-induced disasters at bay.
But that effort has run into resistance from all sides, and will likely have to wait until next year when incoming Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, has committed to taking it on.
"Some people are so used to being adversaries with each other that it's just hard for them to work together," said Sen. David Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican working on the bill. "The future of our economy — the future of agriculture, the future of homebuilding, the future of tourism — is dependent upon a clean environment."

140420-d
Side with springs
Gainesville.com - Editorial
April 20, 2014
We know we’re lucky to be living in a region with numerous natural springs, but sometimes it takes a reminder from the outside world to appreciate that this area is special.
Last week, that reminder came in the form of national news stories on the springs. National Public Radio aired a story that highlighted the natural Florida experience of tubing at Ichetucknee Springs State Park.
Some area residents might not like the idea that outsiders are discovering the environmental jewels of our state. But as local nature guide Lars Anderson told NPR, the springs need all the friends they can get.
“As far as I’m concerned, the more people that discover these springs and fall in love with them, the more people will be concerned with what’s going on with them also,” he said.
Anderson was referring to the serious problems facing our springs. Excessive groundwater pumping is draining their flow and pollution-fueled algae is clouding their waters.
“You are fooling nobody but yourself to say we don’t have problems with this,” Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, told the New York Times in another story last week on springs.
Dean and four other veteran senators crafted a bill, SB 1576, that would designate protection zones around the state’s most prominent springs. It would also dedicate about $378.8 million from an existing real-estate tax toward efforts that reduce pollution in those areas.
The measure would be a good start to protecting springs along with the aquifer that provides our drinking water supply. Yet while Dean’s bill passed two committee votes and could be considered this week by the full Senate, a House version still awaits its first hearing.
House Speaker Will Weatherford recently told reporters that the measure is “very unlikely” to pass this session. Weatherford has made numerous excuses, including wanting to leave major water policy decisions to his successor.
Dean remains optimistic that something will pass this year, telling the Tampa Bay Times that he has a good way to convince reluctant lawmakers.
“It’s an election year,” he said. “Let them stand up and say, ‘I’m not for clean water.’ Then the five of us (senators) will look them in the eye and saw, ‘Friend, you wrote your own epitaph.’ ”
It’s put up or shut up time for the Legislature. Weatherford needs to hear from rank-and-file lawmakers that inaction won’t cut it. That message should be coming the loudest from lawmakers representing our region.
Rep. Clovis Watson, D-Alachua, has done his part by co-sponsoring the House springs bill. But Rep. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, and Rep. Elizabeth Porter, R-Lake City, have failed to follow suit.
Since The Sun’s Fragile Springs series last fall, we’ve been calling for increased protections for our springs. Our forum at Santa Fe College showed that there is a groundswell of local support.
Now it’s time to deliver that message to lawmakers. Contact Weatherford, Perry and Porter (will.weatherford@myfloridahouse.gov, keith.perry@myfloridahouse.gov and elizabeth.porter@myfloridahouse.gov) to let them know that the springs bill must pass this session.
The springs need all the friends they can get. Everyone from local residents to the national media knows they’re special. As Dean suggested, lawmakers who fail to show they side with the springs risk writing their political obituaries.

140419-a
Giant lasers could control the weather
UPI.com - by Brooks Hays
April 19, 2014
Researchers have created a "dressed laser" that they think might be up for the challenge of controlling the weather.
ORLANDO, Fla., April 19 (UPI) -- Zeus, God of the Sky, may be out of work, as scientists at the University of Central Florida believe they've developed a technique -- which involves pointing a high powered laser at the sky -- to induce clouds to drop rain and hurl thunderbolts.
Scientists have known that water condensation and lightning activity in storm clouds are associated with large amounts of static charged particles. In theory, stimulating those particles with a laser is the key to harnessing Zeus-like powers.
The hard part, scientists say, is creating a laser beam with the right combination of range, precision and strength.
"When a laser beam becomes intense enough, it behaves differently than usual -- it collapses inward on itself," explained Matthew Mills, a graduate student in the UCF Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers. "The collapse becomes so intense that electrons in the air’s oxygen and nitrogen are ripped off creating plasma -- basically a soup of electrons."
But students at UCF's College of Optics & Photonics have collaborated with researchers at the University of Arizona to create a "dressed laser" that they think might be up for the challenge of controlling the weather.
The dressed laser is a high-power laser beam surrounded by a second beam, which acts as a refueling agent, sustaining the strength and accuracy of the central beam over longer distances.
"Since we have control over the length of a filament with our method, one could seed the conditions needed for a rainstorm from afar," said Mills. "Ultimately, you could artificially control the rain and lightning over a large expanse with such ideas."
The students recently published their research findings in the journal Nature Photonics. Their efforts were supported by a $7.5 million grant from the Department of Defense.
Related:           'Dressed' laser may be secret to stimulating rain, lightning    Science Recorder

140419-b
Lake Henderson drawdown planned to fight hydrilla takeover
TheAdvocate.com – by Richard Burgess
April 19, 2014
LAFAYETTE -- To get an idea of what a nuisance the water weed hydrilla can be, consider its name is derived from Hydra, the mythological nine-headed creature that grew back two heads for every one that was cut off.
The monster invaded Lake Henderson in St. Martin Parish years ago — choking the popular waterway, crowding out native plants, fouling boat propellers.
Parish officials believe they now have a plan that, while not killing it off, can at least tame it.
“We have come to the realization that we are never going to get rid of all of it,” said St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier.
He said the hope is to knock back the plant’s growth by lowering water levels about 2 feet every summer, enough to dry out the shallow areas in the roughly 5,000-acre lake and kill the hydrilla lurking there.
“Just doing that will expose about 75 percent of the hydrilla,” Cormier said.
The annual drawdown also could nurture a more natural ecosystem, restoring the old cycle of flooding and drying out at Lake Henderson and other areas of the Atchafalaya Basin before flood-control projects decades ago sectioned off the swamp with levees, said Mike Wood, director of inland fisheries for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
“We would certainly like to mimic the natural fluctuation the lake had when it was connected to the Atchafalaya (River),” he said.
Hydrilla is an invasive plant from Asia that found its way into the wild after being brought to the U.S. by way of Florida in the 1950s for use as an aquarium plant.
The weed had spread throughout Louisiana by the 1980s.
It’s a particular problem at Lake Henderson because hydrilla thrives in the expanses of shallow water there, Cormier said.
The state has tried herbicide, spending more than $1 million in recent years to fight hydrilla and water hyacinth, another invasive weed at Lake Henderson.
Wood said killing of the hyacinth can actually exacerbate the hydrilla problem, because hyacinth floats on the surface and removing it allows more light to reach the hydrilla, which grows from the bottom.
The plan calls for lowering the water level at the lake to kill of the bulk of the hydrilla, then releasing grass-eating carp into the lake to dine on the remains, Wood said.
Lake Henderson has been lowered in the past to kill off the weed, but the strategy has not been sustained for several years in a row because the lower water levels can leave boat launches used by recreational boaters and swamp tour operators high and dry.
“We were having problems getting the public to the deeper water,” Cormier said.
A dredging project last year cut new channels from popular boat launches, Cormier said, allowing access to deeper areas of the lake that are still usable even if the water drops by 2 feet.
“We will have access to the lake,” said Sherbin Collette, mayor of the town of Henderson on the edge of the lake and a commercial fisherman who said he’s on the water there almost every day.
Collette said the biggest advantage he sees in drawing down the lake to control invasive weeds is that it doesn’t cost anything because the only work involved is to open up a water control gate to let the water flow out.
“All we have to do is press a button,” he said. “Mother Nature takes care of it.”
The mayor said there will likely be some concerns about the planned drawdown.
“Once people see the proof of what we’re doing, they will be for it,” Collette said.
Cormier said it can actually improve fishing because fish congregate in a smaller area when water levels are low.
St. Martin Parish Government still needs federal approval for the proposed drawdown and has applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this month for to secure a permit for the project.
The drawdown would begin this year if the Corps approves the permit, he said.

140419-c
Locals gather to fight proposed sand mine
DailyCommercial.com – by Roxanne Brown, Staff Writer
April 19, 2014
More than 100 people showed up for a meeting in Clermont this week to talk about stopping a 1,196-acre sand mine from operating in the middle of a proposed high-tech development in south Lake.
Organizers said the meeting’s intent was to kick off the formation of what they’ve dubbed “The South Lake Citizen’s Coalition,” a group of locals they hope will band together to represent common views when it comes to causes that could potentially impact residents and their communities. In this case, organizers are asking citizens to stand up publicly against the sand mine’s approval.
According to Clermont City Councilman Ray Goodgame, if Cemex is granted a zoning change for the sand and gravel operation, it could doom the 16,000-acre Wellness Way Sector Plan, an area where county officials envision companies with high-paying, medical-related jobs.
“If we let a sand mine come in and destroy the sector plan, we’d be ashamed of ourselves,” Goodgame said during the meeting.
The Clermont City Council and City Manager Darren Gray, a former Lake County manager, oppose the sand mine project. This week’s meeting at the Clermont Community Center was chaired by Jack Martin, a former past president of the King’s Ridge Homeowners Association, where residents expressed concerns about traffic, noise and dust from the sand mine.
“They (Cemex) will tell their side of the story and this is a meeting to organize a way for us to tell our side of the story,” Martin said.
Residents believe as many as 300 trucks a day will haul sand and gravel from the mine to the many road-building projects Cemex is involved with in Central Florida. The company recently asked Hernando County officials for permission to expand Cemex’s 730-acre mining operation near Brooksville to keep up with business demands.
Martin said residents are not opposed to Cemex as a company.
“But three hundred trucks making round trips per day (600 trips total) is a lot,” he said. “We don’t think it’s good for the surrounding area.”
Wellness Way received its name from the desire to attract health, fitness, biomedical research and related industries to the area, capitalizing on the existing triathlon and health/fitness industries in South Lake. County officials and key stakeholders in the area envision the area to be a major employment center for Central Florida, anchored by compact urban-growth centers, and surrounded by rolling hills and lakes.
Wellness Way covers a huge tract east of U.S. Highway 27 along the Orange County border, running from south from State Road 50 to U.S. Highway 192. It has been called the largest tract of undeveloped land left in Lake County.
Besides, traffic, noise and dust, sand-mine opponents have concerns about the project deterring other businesses from relocating to the area, and harming the environment and water table.
CEMEX’s application says the mine will be situated on abandoned agricultural land and that excavation only would occur on 623 acres of the site. Mining over 30 years will take place in phases of 100 acres or less and all mined areas will be reclaimed, the application states.
Sara Engdahl, director of communications for Cemex, previously said the mine would have no effect on water and would aid in economic development, bringing in at least $4.7 million a year.
Linda and David Hill, who own a blueberry farm adjacent to the proposed mining site, said the operation will hurt their crop, while Goodgame said 30 years of proposed mining, even after reclamation, would leave the land in sub-par condition.
County commissioners will address the sand mine at 1:30 p.m. on May 20 at the old courthouse building in Tavares.

140419-d
Opposition to inlet expansion is growing
PalmBeachDailyNews.com - by Aleese Kopf, Staff Writer
April 19, 2014
Variety of groups, individuals may form coalition to fight $88.6 million plan
A recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report supporting the project to deepen and widen portions of Lake Worth Inlet is not stopping residents, civic groups, businesses, recreational clubs and environmental groups from opposing it.
The Corps’ chief of engineers, Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, signed the report Wednesday, stating the expansion plan is “technically sound, environmentally and socially acceptable, and economically justified.”
The report will now go to the assistant secretary of the Army, then to the Office of Management and Budget, before reaching Congress. There, the project is expected to win approval as part of the Water Resources Development Act.
While the $88.6 million plan moves forward and the Port of Palm Beach works on how to pay for its $35 million share, the Palm Beach Civic Association and Mayor Gail Coniglio are working on forming an opposition coalition to possibly challenge the project in court.
In addition to the Everglades Law Center, Center for Biological Diversity, Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Citizens’ Association of Palm Beach and dozens of concerned individuals, Civic Association President Ned Barnes expects several more groups around the area to join.
Coniglio is working the political arena, contacting officials at other municipalities as well as state and federal lobbyists and local representatives.
“There are several fronts at this point that we’re working,” she said. “Whether it involves litigation or not, we’re certainly pursuing every option. Nothing has totally jelled, but there are a lot of potential avenues. We’re going to reach out and see where we have the best opportunity to make a difference, and it’s going to be a strategic, comprehensive effort.”
In addition to an administrative hearing challenging the Army Corps’ report, Barnes said the coalition also might persuade the U.S. Coast Guard to do a public safety audit: “We have options, but we just haven’t decided what we’re going to do next at this point.”
Chief Engineer Bostick’s report says the possible 4-inch sea-level rise due to the dredging would not cause “any negative flooding effects,” and mitigation would be required for loss of seagrass and hard-bottom habitat. Nevertheless, residents aren’t convinced.
“Their study was flawed in many ways,” said Bobbie Lindsay, a director of the Civic Association. “They ignored the 3.2 inches of sea-level rise that’s already occurred. Now you’re at 7.2 inches and everyone’s at risk. That alone — throwing all these homeowners into the flood zone — should have been enough to kill the project.”
Lindsay and others also do not agree with the Corps’ environmental and economic analysis.
“The federal government has no sense of Palm Beach County’s primary economic engine, which is tourism,” she said. “To severely impact our marine environment, so that a tiny port can try to compete with the infrastructure and size of ports in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, is irresponsible. For a few jobs they might get this way, they would be destroying much more.”
The unnamed opposition coalition already has submitted more than 1,000 pages of expert studies that, they believe, show that the project threatens endangered species, the environment, fishing, recreation and homeowners around the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Port officials say the project will make it easier to maneuver vessels coming into the port and that the investment would be “providing economic stimulus for both the local and state economies.”
“The evidence of the need for the project is clear,” said Julie Houston Trieste, communications and public relations spokeswoman for the port. “Obviously, we hope that the approval of all of the findings will help to calm the concerns of the residents and help us all work together to move forward with the project, so the county as a whole can realize the benefits.”
U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, who is neutral on the issue, is organizing a community meeting that will be held in May at the port. She has invited the Corps’ Jacksonville District engineer, Col. Alan Dodd, to explain his agency’s position and to answer questions from citizens. Details have not been confirmed.

140419-e
Rescuing Florida's water resources
Sun Sentinel – by Victoria Tschinkel, former secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation.
April 19, 2014
I am writing from Tallahassee where the view through of our lakes, rivers and streams is green with algae, from the Everglades where billions are being spent to combat the pollution and waste generated by millions of citizens and farmers, to our own city, where we just spent over $200 million to upgrade our sewage treatment plant with the sole purpose of protecting Wakulla Springs, a full 20 miles from city hall. We know we are in trouble.
Poll after poll, year after year shows that we identify with these resources, we love them, and we are totally reliant on them. Yet, we have a House of Representatives and a governor who will spend only enough money, when available and convenient, to try to forestall the collapse of these systems (at least until the next election), and never admit that remediation and permanent protection will only come about with careful and wise regulation.
How do I know this? Five remarkable senators, led by Sens. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs and Charles Dean, R-Inverness, all committee chairs, have spent nine months working on Springs legislation to protect the birthright we share, Florida's first magnitude springs. They have faced the same issues confronting the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary. It would not have been easy, just to say it: Septic tanks, fertilizer, poor agricultural practices, domestic wastewater plants and over withdrawals are choking out wildlife and souping up our water. So, 11 drafts, a public workshop, meetings galore and a fewpositive committee votes later, the Senate is poised to address these issues head on in a sensible and well-funded way. Despite a box load of scientific studies and information, the House is holding back, perhaps for a new Speaker who can really kill this discussion properly.
I say this because the so-called negotiators on a potential Springs bill for the House are representatives of three major and well-funded industry organizations who have objected to this effort in writing since October. Finally, in February, catching on that the citizens are demanding action, one of these groups is attempting to look responsible by short-circuiting action by announcing a private industry water initiative apparently to help the new Speaker's efforts to gain control of the issue. These individuals are not elected, not visible and are not openly debating anything.
And the governor's office seems to feel that septic tanks — a major source of this pollution — are too hot to handle directly. They prefer to hide behind an unenforceable, open-ended, obscure process that has yet to remove an ounce of nitrogen from one body of water. Although it's hard to speak for Mother Nature, I doubt she is impressed by the governor's constant message, "Well we are doing more than any other governor has done." Which is not even true.

140418-a
America's largest ecosystem restoration project is on the verge of moving ahead on Earth Day
Huffington Post – by Jane Graham, Audubon Florida
April 18, 2014
Forget the organic soy green latte or earth-toned yoga mat with a smiling bamboo tree on it, or other random schlock for Earth Day. The fate of one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in the world hangs in the balance at a meeting up in Washington D.C. on Earth Day.
Unfortunately, the average person has no idea why this is significant. And why would they? It will be a meeting of bureaucrats in suits and military regalia, fluent in the strange tongue of acronyms.
I am referring to the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Review Board at Army Corps headquarters next Tuesday, where they will be considering the fate of the Central Everglades Planning Project, a suite of critical projects within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
Let's back up. Why do we need to restore the Everglades? You like water, right? One in three Floridians depend on the Everglades for fresh drinking water. You like to live on dry land, at least most of the year ? Everglades restoration will help protect urban areas from flooding. You might even like birds and alligators? This project restores habitat for areas that have long suffered severe degradation from the lack of freshwater flows. How about a healthy economy? A study showed that for every dollar invested in Everglades restoration, four dollars are gained.
Last century, when it seemed like the logical thing to do, the government dredged thousands of miles of canals throughout South Florida to drain wetlands and pave the way for development. Unfortunately, they were too good at it. Years later, they realized that the billions of gallons flowing to tide weekly were needed to replenish our water supply.
In 2000, the Federal and Florida governments unveiled a joint plan to help restore the natural flow of water through the Everglades. It is known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, and includes over 60 projects across 18,000 square miles to store, clean and flow fresh water in the right places at the right times. Incidentally, it is the largest ecosystem restoration project in the United States.
Since then, we have made pretty good progress on the projects in the periphery of the system. But a few years ago, the National Research Council reported that classic ridge and slough landscapes through the center of the system were continuing to deteriorate, almost to the point of no return. The state and federal restoration partners sprang into action to fast track elements of the plan to re-hydrate these treasured wetlands.
They bundled several Everglades restoration projects in the plan to flow clean water south through the system to replenish Everglades National Park and Florida Bay, while helping to protect coastal estuaries from further damage.
Amidst a parade of stakeholders, agency jargon, a jungle of acronyms and platitudes that you'd need a machete to hack through, the "Central Everglades Planning Project," or "CEPP" was born.
In its simplest terms, CEPP redistributes water throughout the ecosystem for a more natural flow, rehydrating areas of the Everglades that have long thirsted for water. If the full Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan were an orchestra, the projects that have been built so far are single instruments playing a few notes. CEPP is an ensemble of various instruments, harmonizing to finally make the tune recognizable. It is the essence of restoration.
So far, the planning stage is complete. Last week, in a meeting packed with supporters, the state partner in Everglades restoration -- the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board -- unanimously approved this project. This was no small feat. The state put in an incredible effort to resolve funding, water quality, and water supply issues from concerned stakeholders to make this key vote happen.
But before it can move any further, there is yet another critical bureaucratic hoop -- the Army Corps Civil Works Review Board meeting on Earth Day.
It is important that the Corps approves CEPP now, so that Congress can include it in the current Water Resources and Redevelopment Act. What the heck is that? It is federal legislation that can authorize the project, allowing construction to move forward. If the Corps fails to meet the congressional deadline, it is likely that the action will be delayed for years. Meanwhile, the ecosystem continues to degrade, and the Everglades demands action.
No excuses, Obama Administration. CEPP must be approved on Earth Day.
So as you celebrate Earth Day this Tuesday, know that something really exciting is on the verge of happening for Everglades restoration -- even if barely anyone is watching.

140418-b
DEP fines oil company for unauthorized work on Collier oil well
Naples Daily News - by June Fletcher
April 18, 2014
NAPLES — The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has finalized a consent agreement with the Dan A. Hughes Co., fining the oil company for unauthorized activities at a well south of Lake Trafford in Collier County.
On Friday, DEP said the Beeville, Texas-based company had commenced work at the Collier–Hogan well without DEP’s permission on an enhanced extraction procedure that hadn’t previously been used in Florida. The work continued from Dec. 30, 2013, until Jan. 1, 2014.
In its settlement with the company, the DEP is assessing the maximum civil penalties of $25,000. It also is requiring the company to hire an independent expert to monitor the area to ensure no damage to the environment or public has occurred because of its actions.
Specifically, it wants the expert to assess the likelihood that the operation “will cause or contribute to a violation of any applicable groundwater standards.”
Hughes also must submit an interim spill prevention and cleanup plan.
In a news release that included a copy of its consent order, DEP said the drilling permit for the well on Hogan Island Farm was issued Dec. 18, 2012, and the operating permit for the well was issued Aug. 9, 2013.
On Dec, 23, 2013, the DEP received a well completion notice, also known as a workover notice, from the Hughes Co. The company proposed injecting the well with a dissolving solution at sufficient pressure to create openings in the oil-bearing rock formation that would be propped open with sand.
DEP asked Hughes not to move forward until it could review the process. But on Dec. 31, DEP learned that the work already had begun, and issued a cease-and-desist order.
Cape Coral attorney Ralf Brookes, attorney for residents opposing another oil well the Hughes company wants to drill in the Golden Gate Estates area, criticized the DEP’s actions Friday and called the fine a slap on the wrist.
He said the information should have been disclosed during the many hearings on the Golden Gate Estates well, including hearings in late February before an administrative judge and in March before the Environmental Protection Agency and the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee.
“It shocks the conscience,” he said, adding that it shows DEP has been acting in bad faith in its dealings with the public.
Brookes said the procedure sounds like fracking, which he contends shouldn’t be done in Southwest Florida because of its fragile limestone topography. The procedure poses a threat to the aquifers that supply the area’s drinking water. Once they are polluted, they stay polluted, he said.
“Florida is behind other states in adopting fracking prohibitions,” he said.
Dan A. Hughes Co. officials couldn’t be reached for comment Friday night after the DEP released the information at 5 p.m. The dates by the signatures on the consent order are April 7 and 8.
* * * * *
Posted earlier
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has finalized an agreement with the Dan A. Hughes Co. for fines for unauthorized activities at the Collier–Hogan well south of Lake Trafford in Collier County.
On Friday, DEP said the Beeville, Texas-based company had commenced work without DEP’s permission on an enhanced extraction procedure that had not previously been used in Florida. The work continued from Dec. 30, 2013, until Jan. 1, 2014.
The procedure involves dissolving solution at sufficient pressure to achieve some openings in the oil-bearing rock formation that would be propped open with sand, to enhance oil production.
In its settlement with the company, the DEP said it is assessing the maximum civil penalties of $25,000. It also is requiring the company to hire an independent expert to conduct groundwater monitoring of the area to ensure no damage to the environment or public has occurred because of its actions.
But Cape Coral attorney Ralf Brookes, attorney for residents opposing another oil well the Hughes company wants to drill near Golden Gate Estates, criticized the DEP’s actions.
He said the information should have been disclosed during the controversial hearings on the Golden Gate well, and said it showed the agency has been acting in bad faith in its dealings with the public.
“It shocks the conscience,” he said.
Related:           Company fined for technique consistent with 'fracking' in Collier    The News-Press

140418-c
Environmental group celebrates 50 years of conservation
News-Press.com – by Chad Gillis
April 18, 2014
Conservancy of Southwest Florida holds ribbon-cutting for new headquarters, revamped campus in North Naples.
Dozens of environmental advocates and wildlife lovers flocked to Naples on Thursday to celebrate 50 years of ecological protection and the dedication of a new headquarters for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
"Half-a-century of conservation is a big deal in a relatively new town like Naples," said Rob Moher, president and CEO of the nonprofit. "We have basically shaped the landscape of Southwest Florida in a way that makes our quality of life better."
The group had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Eva Sugden Gomez Environmental Planning Center, a 75,000-square-foot facility designed to teach the public about sustainable development. The center is the new headquarters for the Conservancy, and five more structures were built or renovated as part of the $20 million upgrade.
The 21-acre campus is just east of Coastland Center Mall and was designed to treat stormwater pollution, consume less energy than standard structures, and provide ideal rehabilitation conditions for injured and rescued wildlife.
Kathy Worley, a biologist and science director at the Conservancy, said the campus acts as a tiny drainage basin for the Conservancy and nearby lands, including the mall.
A ditch that connected the mall to the Gordon River was revamped, and the Conservancy built several water treatment functions into the landscape.
That ditch has been transformed into a wetland system, wading bird habitat and a place for children to fish and learn.
"Water would just rush through here," Worley said while mullet jumped in the man-made wetlands. "It was like you could go river rafting because the water was so fast during heavy rains."
Water draining from the immediate area now goes through several treatment stages — gravity systems and retention ponds — before flowing to the Gordon River, Naples Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida was founded in 1964 by community leaders who were fighting roadway construction around Rookery Bay.
The new facility is green in other ways, such as the LED lighting, solar energy panels, a geothermal air conditioning system and low flow plumbing.
Engineer Alex Lopez, JALRW Engineering, said the air conditioning system saves 5,400 gallons per day when compared to a standard air unit. By using a geothermal system, Lopez said, the amount of water lost to evaporation provides the savings.
Conservancy members celebrated the opening with tea, lemonade and lots of smiles and handshakes.
Nick Penniman, author of "Nature's Steward: A History of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida," said the group's focus has changed over the years, from growth management to purchasing preservation lands to education and advocacy.
"It's gone through an evolution," Penniman said. "In the last five years it's become much more of an education and advocacy group. The biggest factor (in the Conservancy's success) is the multiple generations of people who support environmental issues."
Connect with this reporter: ChadGillisNP on twitter.
IF YOU GO
Earth Day Festival
• When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday
• Where: Conservancy Nature Center, 1495 Smith Preserve Way, Naples
• Activities: Electric boat rides on Gordon River, fish fry, educational programs, ecological lectures, face painting, crafts and live music.
• Cost: $10 for adults, $5 children 3 to 12
• Information: (239) 403-4216

140418-d
Legislature appropriates money for Spring Lake, Peace River Center, AVID
Highlands Today – by Gary Pinnell
April 18, 2014
SEBRING - If both budget bills make it through the House and Senate, and if Gov. Rick Scott doesn't line-item veto the projects, AVID will receive $520,000 in state funds to help local middle school students get to college, Peace River Center will be granted $675,000 to help mentally ill kids, and Spring Lake will be able to match $416,000 to a Florida DEP grant and store millions of gallons of stormwater.
There is also $12,000 to help the Boys & Girls Club refurbish a rented building at 248 Pomegranate Ave., northwest of Sebring's downtown. However, Executive Director Woodraun Wright said that will be removed from the legislative budget. He didn't realize that the Florida Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs had also requested $84,000 for Highlands County.
As for the Advancement Via Individual Determination, the Legislature approved $523,000 last year, but Scott used his veto pen because it was a local project.
"I would point out that the same project was not vetoed with the Legislature funded it last year," Sen. Denise Grimsley emailed in 2013.
The elective program is open to the sixth, seventh, ninth and 10th grades. Students learn study, leadership and organizational skills, and they're tutored twice a week by South Florida State College students.
Taxpayers have a choice: they can arrest mentally ill people and pay to keep them behind bars, or they can pay to treat them with psychiatric services and drugs.
"Forty to 60 percent of the people in jail probably do have mental illness," said William Gardam, chief executive officer of the Peace River Center. "It's the same with prison; 40 to 60 percent will have a documented mental illness."
Peace River Center has facilities in Polk County, Gardam said, which is where one Community Action Team is also located. However, some families find that too far and too expensive to drive. If funding is approved, $675,000 would base an 11-member Community Action Team at the Children's Advocacy Center in Sebring.
"It is a mobile team that responds to cases 24/7 to remove the risk from the home instead of the individual," Gardam said. If a child is in emotional crisis, the team, which includes a psychiatrist and a psychiatric nurse practitioner, goes into the client's home "to keep the family safe and stable. We try to work with the family so they can stay together."
The result: the emotionally ill child may not be Baker Acted (involuntarily committed for 72 hours), may not stay in a long-term treatment center, may not get hooked on drugs, and may not wind up in jail.
"The team is able to reduce the necessity for a deputy to be involved," Gardam said.
At Spring Lake, improvement district manager Joe DeCerbo spends lots of time dealing with water problems.
"It's no secret how much money we've paid out of reserves for unfunded mandates," DeCerbo said.
The latest: federal efforts to keep pollution out of the Everglades.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold ordered Environmental Protection Agency Director Gina McCarthy to appear in a Miami courtroom in October to explain why the agency hasn't enforced the Clean Water Act in the Everglades for more than two decades.
DeCerbo said Spring Lake has received a $1.2 million Florida Department of Environmental Protection grant, but the district must match 40 percent.
"That would have come out of our reserves," DeCerbo said, but he and Spring Lake supervisors, at a legislative delegation meeting earlier this year, convinced Grimsley, R-Sebring, Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon, and Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, to appropriate legislative funding. "If that makes its way through, it will meet of our all water retention storage and water-quality needs."
After Spring Lake was flooded several times by summer rains and sued by a downstream neighbor, DeCerbo and the supervisors became proactive. They cleaned canals, upgraded a pump station and a built a dike to control water flows into Arbuckle Creek, then to Lake Istokpoga, Lake Okeechobee, the Everglades and the Atlantic estuaries.
Pigman, who doesn't even like talking about the three funding projects for fear he'll jinx them, called this a "far-reaching Highlands County issue, although we have water issues in Glades and the other counties in my district."
More recently, the EPA and DEP have mandated that stormwater be held long enough for phosphorus and other pollutants to sink.
"Sixty percent of the water comes from off site," said DeCerbo. Spring Lake is downhill from orange groves, cattle ranches and Sebring Regional Airport.
Even so, when wastewater reaches Spring Lake, it belongs to the district. "One point eight billion gallons, with a 'B,' went through last year. That's a lot of water."
The reserve won't be a lake, it will be an Everglades style river of grass and weeds that will filter stormwater.
"The phosphorous will be drastically reduced," DeCerbo said.
The House and Senate funding bills must survive a joint legislative budget committee, then each chamber will vote on a unified funding bill. The governor can veto any line item in the budget.

140418-e
Work to protect the environment
TampaBay.com – Letter
April 18, 2014
On Earth Day, Tuesday, we are reminded that, historically, the greatest improvements in life expectancy and quality of life have been due to advances in environmental public health. As medical students, we feel that the protection of our environment remains crucial today. In recent years, the Floridan Aquifer, a major source of our freshwater, has been in danger of depletion and saltwater intrusion, conditions linked with sinkhole formation. Our water sources are under the constant threat of agricultural and industrial pollution. This threat will increase if oil companies' attempts to curtail the EPA Clean Water Act are successful and fracking is allowed near the Everglades.
Globally, climate change is a public health emergency that pollutes the air, contaminates water, threatens the food supply, and spreads infectious disease. We already see increasing emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths.
Environmental decline is not inevitable. History has shown that people, when united, can stop the most terrible of threats. As individuals, we can increase our efforts to conserve water, recycle and reduce motor vehicle usage. As a community, we urge all citizens to stand against fracking, coal and tar sands exports and mining/drilling on public land. Let us work together to support candidates and policies that increase energy efficiency, promote renewable alternatives to fossil fuel and protect our waterways from pollution.
Cindy Nguyen, Thanhnga Doan, Manjari Pedapudi, Camille Imbo and Jennifer Le, Student Physicians for Social Responsibility, USF College of Medicine, Tampa

140417-a
A complicated argument against back-pumping, with no end in sight
Clewiston News - by Jose Jesus Zaragoza
April 17, 2014
CLEWISTON — In a recent court ruling that water managers say is much ado about nothing, environmental groups took to various platforms to announce the demise of back-pumping. If true, the ruling would leave very little choice for residents around the lake communities than to pack up and leave, since the back-pumping is the primary control method in times of rainy stormy events. Without it, water managers said, many low-lying areas would flood, endangering human health and safety.
“This victory has been a long time coming,” said Florida Wildlife Federation President Manley Fuller. “Stopping pollution at the source is the key to cleaning up South Florida’s water pollution problems – the toxic green slime in the rivers, the dead wildlife washing up on the shores, the contaminated drinking water – and this decision will make that happen at long last.”
Despite the celebratory mood of environmentalists, the primary water manager for back-pumping, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), as well as large water user U.S. Sugar Corp., have both said the ruling will not have a material effect on operations locally – adding that the ruling is simply a part of an ongoing move to threaten back-pumping as a viable means for flood control in the Everglades.
“It will have no immediate implication on the district’s operation at this time and it doesn’t bind the district,” Randy Smith, spokesperson for the South Florida Water Management District told The Clewiston News.
At the core of the ruling is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own interpretation of the Clean Water Act of 1972. That piece of federal law, intended for eliminating the release of toxic substances into water, featured vague wording addressing back-pumping that has had water managers and environmentalists battling in the court system ever since.
The issue was previously overseen by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals that handles South Florida cases. Environmental groups in the suit against the South Florida Water Management District and U.S. Sugar claimed that the water being back-pumped into the lake – having been used to irrigate fields contaminated by fertilizers and other pollutants -- contains contaminants that endanger the welfare of residents whose systems depend on Lake Okeechobee as a water supply. The argument on the other side of the legal battle centered around the opinion that the bodies of water transferring pollutants are essentially a unified system of water, and that pollution is not being added from an external source.
Chief Judge Edward Earl Carnes’ opinion offered a visual explanation: “Two buckets sit side by side, one with four marbles in it and the other with none. There is a rule prohibiting ‘any addition of any marbles to buckets by any person.’ A person comes along, picks up two marbles from the first bucket, and drops them into the second bucket. Has the marble-mover ‘added any marbles to buckets?’ On one hand, as the Friends of the Everglades might argue, there are now two marbles in a bucket where there were none before, so an addition of marbles has occurred. On the other hand, as the Water District might argue and as the EPA would decide, there were four marbles in buckets before, and there are still four marbles in buckets, so no addition of marbles has occurred. Whatever position we might take if we had to pick one side or the other of the issue, we cannot say that either side is unreasonable.”
The court favored the EPA’s own clarification of the ruling, which was delivered while that court battle was being debated by lawyers on both sides of the argument, that transferring pollutants between navigable waters is not “an addition ... to navigable waters.” The court published its opinion in June of 2009.
In the most recent ruling, delivered by U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas in the Southern District of New York on March 28, the judge sent the rule back to the EPA for clarification. The ruling does not prohibit the practice of back-pumping, said Smith.
Furthermore, according to Smith, any play on words to make the ruling seem focused on the South Florida Water Management District is misleading, as the suit actually bundled several cases together.
“The implications are much more far-reaching than the back-pumping and go far beyond the South Florida Water Management District,” said Smith. “It really affects outlets throughout the United States, and there is great interest throughout the United States. It affects a lot of water managers who move water for various reasons. They are closely following this.”
U.S. Sugar, meanwhile, takes the position that the appeals will only lead to more appeals, and no real action.
“Litigating at the drop of a hat is wasting time and resources that could be spent building projects and restoring the environment,” said Judy Sanchez, senior director of corporate communications and public affairs for U.S. Sugar. The solution environmentalists would like to see is for the farms to be flooded -- “it’s the not-in-my-backyard solution,” Sanchez added.
The truth is, Sanchez said, flood control by way of back-pumping is a system that was developed decades ago to keep the lake communities out of danger.
“To remove that means those cities would be left to flood,” she said, adding that there currently exists no more effective way of achieving local flood control. “It’s just the system we live in,” she said.

140417-b
Deep well for Piney Point waste called pending 'disaster'
Bradenton.com - by Matt M. Johnson
April 17, 2014 
MANATEE -- Half a billion gallons of contaminated water at the former Piney Point Phosphates property will be pumped thousands of feet underground if a planned Manatee County injection well plan is approved by the state.
Critics say the new well will compound the ruinous environmental pollution it is meant to contain.
"We're worried about the environmental disaster that's coming," said Alan Jones, a potato, bean, cattle and citrus farmer on Buckeye Road.
The well, in the works since 2012, took heavy criticism at a public meeting Wednesday night as state officials and engineers working for the county defended the project to several dozen Manatee and Hillsborough county residents in county commission chambers.
If built, the well would receive toxic water left on Piney Point land after a 2011 leak in a containment area allowed 170 million gallons of wastewater to flow into nearby Bishop Harbor.
Susan McMillan, president of citizens group Protect Our Waters Inc., cataloged a litany of failures at similar wells around the nation. She said one study cataloged 7,000 failures over a three-year period.
"I think we have a really good reason to be concerned," she said.
The well will be built near the southeast corner of South Dock Street and U.S. 41 in 2015 or 2016, along with two shallow fresh water recharge wells on Port Manatee property.
The crowd was less interested in the construction schedule or projected $17.2 million price tag than it was in what might be poured down the deep well and whether it would stay down.
Over the course of two hours, engineers from Englewood, Colo.-based CH2M Hill discussed how the deep well would be built and how it would contain the salty, mucky water on Piney Point land.
Critics expressed doubts about safety and questioned the well's ability to keep toxins out of aquifers.
No one opposed the recharge wells, which are being built to pump treated wastewater into the county aquifer.
It might be too late for opponents to do anything about the deep well. Joe Haberfeld, an administrator for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection aquifer protection program, said the project is moving ahead.
The county applied for permits for the deep well and two recharge wells in November. DEP recently prepared draft permits for the wells and expects to publish an "intent to issue" statement soon, he said.
If DEP issues permits, Manatee County will build the wells for two purposes:
• Two wells measuring about 1,100 feet deep will be dug near the northwest corner of Port Manatee property and used to pump up to 15 million gallons of treated wastewater into the aquifer daily from the county North Regional Water Reclamation Facility, which treats wastewater for use in irrigation. During the rainy season, the facility's water surplus will be pumped into the ground to stave off saltwater intrusion caused by overusing the aquifer.
"We're growing and we gotta look out for where our disposal options are," said Mike Gore, director of the Manatee County Utilities Department.
• A deep injection well will be drilled as deep as 3,500 feet to sequester non-hazardous industrial waste water under several hundred feet of rock CH2M Hill engineers say will isolate it from the area's drinking water aquifer.
Pete Larkin, project engineer, said the well would likely pump about 1 million gallons of wastewater into the ground daily into a plastic, steel and concrete well shaft on the way down. At the bottom, it will dump into undrinkably salty groundwater.
Over 10 years, he said the contaminated water will spread less than half a mile from the well site. Two monitoring wells will be used to determine whether waste is moving into the drinking water aquifer.
Florida is home to more than 180 deep injection wells, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection website.
The state outlawed drilling new deep injection wells for hazardous waste in 1983. However, during a Manatee County Board of Commissioners meeting in March 2013, utilities officials said deep injection wells can still accept waste from power plants, chlorine plants and reverse osmosis operations.
Amy Pilson, spokeswoman for the county utilities department, said Manatee County will foot the entire bill for the wells. The county hopes to recoup well costs from HRK and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
The deep well is planned to be built on land owned by HRK Holdings, the company that owns the former Piney Point fertilizer plant.
When Mulberry Corp. went bankrupt in 2001 it fell to taxpayers to pay for the estimated $20 million cost of the cleanup of gypsum and 1.2 billion gallons of acidic and nutrient-laden water left stagnant in the stacks.
HRK Holdings bought the site in 2006, which was expected to help defray cleanup costs, but HRK went bankrupt, too, leaving the Department of Environmental Protection and taxpayers once again on the hook for tens of millions in containment costs.
Ana Gibbs, DEP external affairs manager, said comments about the wells should be emailed ASAP to Joe Haberfield at joe.haberfeld@dep.state.fl.us, or to his attention at the Department of Environmental Protection, 2600 Blair Stone Road, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2400.

140417-c
DEP bends to oil company seeking to drill in Everglades, blows off Advisory Committee
NewTimes - by Fire Ant
April 17 2014
Department of Environmental Protection officials earlier this week told a state judge that they have no authority to deny a Texas oil company's plans to drill in the Everglades, in an area adjoining the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.
See also: DEP Advisory Committee Says No to Oil Drilling in Big Cypress Swamp
In an April 15 status report to the state's Division of Administrative Hearings, where a challenge to the permit is under review, a DEP lawyer argued that a DEP advisory committee's recommendation against the permit was "beyond the Department's purview" and that "there is no basis, under its existing regulatory authority, to deny the application."
The well is a project of the Dan A. Hughes Co. of Houston and would occupy but a small part of the 115,000 acres of mineral rights the company has leased from Collier Resources, owners of more than 800,000 acres of mineral rights in Southwest Florida.
Enviros who had long organized and fought against drilling in the environmentally sensitive land -- and many of whom live in Naples' Golden Gate neighborhood, bordering the project -- had taken heart two weeks ago when the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee voted 3-1 against the Hughes permit. The committee recommended that:
-  the [Hughes Company] bond should be increased to $1 million minimum per well and extended as indemnification for [a] period of 15 years in [the] form of [a] letter of credit from a major money center bank, or preferably from Collier Resources themselves to cover all incidents deemed harmful to any persons, property, land, or water in the area of drilling and any judgments arising therefrom. This would include private, state or federal lands.
-  the [Hughes Company] develop and submit to the Department a plan to minimize the impacts of truck traffic near the Golden Gate neighborhood, avoiding late hours and school bus pick-up and drop-off hours when possible.
-  the contingency plan be amended to include a spill plan up front to address spills both within and outside of the berm area.
And, the advisory committee concluded:
“The Committee cannot insure that the exploration and production activities will cause no permanent adverse impact on the water resources and sheet flow of the area, or on the vegetation or the wildlife of the area, with special emphasis on rare and endangered species.”
This is not the last word on the Big Cypress well, as the administrative hearings are ongoing and even the administrative judge's order is not final. DEP is required to issue a final order within 90 days of the judge's ruling, but the judge has no time clock.
In an interview with the Naples News, Matthew Schwartz, of the South Florida Wildlands Association, a plaintiff in the administrative hearing, said he was "extremely disappointed the DEP didn't listen to the advice of the experts who were brought in."
"I'm not surprised, though," he added. "DEP had the option early in the hearing to say that they blew it, but they stuck to it."

140416-a
County, water managers disagree on future sources
Ocala.com - by Bill Thompson, Staff writer
April 16, 2014
Marion County’s first step to finding water for the next generation and beyond could be to argue with state regulators about how much groundwater might be available.
A county-hired consultant thinks a recent assessment of the groundwater available for the next 20 years is flawed, and he believes St. Johns River Water Management District hydrologists will admit as much once they evaluate his data.
If that fails, however, there is Plan B, and even Plan C.
Devo Seereeram, an Orlando-based consultant with more than 30 years of experience in plotting water supplies with computer modeling, suggests the county should dig deeper wells to tap new reserves hundreds of feet below the earth’s surface — or plant dozens of new wells in the largest water recharge area in North Central Florida, the Ocala National Forest.
Seereeram told the County Commission at a workshop Tuesday that the Lower Floridan Aquifer is an underutilized source of potable water, a reservoir with both scientific and political appeal.
And beyond that, he added, the aquifer beneath the expansive vacant lands within the forest could yield up to 20 million gallons of water a day — or roughly 90 percent of what the community will need by 2035.
That water, Seereeram said, could be harvested by sinking 100 strategically placed “sipping” wells throughout the forest.
Commissioners expressed interest in Seereeram’s ideas, but took no formal action at this point.
For now, the board has instructed county staffers to work with him in further relaying the county’s position on St. Johns’ long-range water plan.
Water managers released the draft of the 2035 supply plan three months ago, detailing their efforts to combat the pending shortage.
According to the document, St. Johns’ 18-county region — including Marion County east of Interstate 75 — would need an additional 314 million gallons of water a day within two decades. That’s 26 percent above current consumption districtwide.
Greater pumping of the aquifer would supply only about one-fifth of the district’s future need, officials projected.
The rest must be found through a combination of conservation and use of recycled, surface and ocean waters.
Compared to current usage, Marion County would need another 22 million gallons a day by 2035, or an additional 45 percent, the St. Johns report said.
Yet district hydrologists maintained the county could get there through conservation and recycled supplies.
The district had backtracked on one key source that had created an uproar a decade ago — the Ocklawaha River.
St. Johns’ scientists in January expressed doubt that the river would ever be needed to supply drinking water locally, and if so, the output would remain in Marion County.
On Wednesday, Seereeram opened the commission’s 90-minute session by explaining how St. Johns had erred.
He focused only on St. Johns, saying projections by the Southwest Florida Water management District, which has jurisdiction over water usage west of I-75, would be included in future reports.
Seereeram pointed out, for example, that St. Johns had lumped Marion County into a localized subregion that included Volusia and northern Lake counties.
Volusia, he said, was a “separate island” waterwise, with no connectivity to the aquifer serving Marion County.
Seereeram maintained that the direction of the aquifer’s flow indicated that Marion instead should be aligned with the “virgin territory” of eastern Alachua County and with western Putnam County.
Another problem with that analysis, Seereeram suggested, was that the drain in Volusia, whose water supply is already “challenged,” was leading water managers to look at the problem across the subregion without considering Marion County individually.
He didn’t blame the district for that. That, Seereeram said, was St. Johns’ mission.
But proceeding as they did prevented water managers from looking at the “microscopic details” that will aid Marion County in meeting its water needs, he added.
The county, he noted, was fortunate because of its “very abundant” water supplies, exceeded in the region only by Lake County.
The consultant also argued that St. Johns had overestimated the water available from the Ocklawaha River.
State projections that showed the river could produce up to 30 million gallons a day were off by as much as half, if not by two-thirds, Seereeram said.
Drawing more than that would create adverse effects downstream, he added.
Seereeram also highlighted a St. Johns finding that he described as “weird”: some of the worst effects on wetlands from water withdrawals would appear in areas east of the Ocklawaha River, in the middle of the Ocala National Forest.
Seereeram said he found that puzzling because there are very few district-sanctioned wells east of the river, compared to west of it.
He attributed that to widespread irrigation for agriculture in northern Lake County, something the district did not seem to account for.
Lastly, he noted that St. Johns had recently released four separate reports on water bodies and supply in Marion County and they all seemed to conflict.
“This bears no resemblance to reality,” Seereeram said of the district’s analysis in the 20-year projections, which he characterized as “mathematical noise.”
To counteract that, the consultant said, Marion County ought to propose three alternatives that he developed.
In contrast to the district’s approach, pumping the Ocklawaha River would be the last-ditch maneuver.
Rather, he said, the county should argue for locating wells west of the river to utilize the Lower Floridan Aquifer — a supply sitting 600 feet below the earth’s crust, and even reaching to depths of 1,500 feet.
That is usable water that flows from Georgia, and a rock layer segregates it from the Upper Floridan Aquifer, the main source of local drinking water, Seereeram said.
Beyond the practical and scientific benefits, Seereeram said, geology enhances the political appeal of such a move.
“If we are not pulling water out of that part of the aquifer,” he said of the upper resource, “we are not impacting the flow into Silver Springs.”
“You are sitting in a pretty good spot to mine the lower aquifer,” he added. “And the springs people are not going to be mad at us.”
As an alternative, the Ocala National Forest stands ready, Seereeram said.
The county should propose a network of 100 new wells, introduced incrementally, spread 1,000 feet apart and each capable of pumping 200,000 gallons a day, he recommended.
He described them as “sipping wells” that would not affect the other water bodies within the forest.
“When we stick the straw in the milkshake, we’re not sucking on that straw too hard. . . . We’re just sipping on the milkshake,” Seereeram said.
When Commissioner Kathy Bryant questioned his opinion that it was “almost invisible intensity” on the area water reserves, Seereeram added, “A hundred of them 1,000 feet a part — nothing gets safer than that.”
Most users, he said, plant wells 500 feet from each other and pump up to 1 million gallons daily.
Seereeram said the “100-well plan” would use the upper aquifer.
If it met with blowback, then the county could react by proposing using the lower aquifer in the forest, he said.
The drawback of tapping the lower aquifer, however, is the cost.
A Lower Floridan well could cost upward of $1 million, compared to $150,000 for one in the upper aquifer, according at Seereeram.
And County Administrator Lee Niblock noted that finding sufficient parcels for the wells would be a challenge. And Commissioner Stan McClain pointed out that a distribution system was needed.
“Nobody can quarrel with us,” Seereeram offered.
“The Ocala National Forest has excellent water and no wells,” he said.
“Politically, I want to go forward with a plan with no chinks in the armor.”

140416-b
Crews work to ease Lake O releases
JRN.com – by Kelli Stegeman
CREATED Apr. 16, 2014
GLADES COUNTY, Fla. - It isn't hard to remember the dying wildlife and dirty water plaguing our coastline in Southwest Florida last year. 
Lake Okeechobee releases during the rainy season wreaked havoc on the water's ecosystem. 
So what is being done this year to keep our coast from reaching that critical point? 
FOX 4 is the first to get a look at updates this year on land in Glades County along the Caloosahatchee River meant to ease the problem. 
"It's a lot of work. It's a big undertaking," said Maco Touchet with the South Florida Water Management District. Over the last month, Touchet has been clearing, piling and burning the land, preparing for the upcoming rainy season. 
"This is just a little drop in the bucket," said Touchet. "But, this is a start."
The SFWMD used this reservoir minimally last year after the active rainy season wreaked havoc on Southwest Florida's water. They have bigger expectations this year now that it's been cleared. 
"We probably doubled the amount of storage this year based upon the improvements that we made," said Phil Flood, director of the water district. 
When it rains the Army Corps of Engineers releases water from Lake Okeechobee.  
That water rushes into the Caloosahatchee, turning the coastline brown and hurting our ecosystem. The harmful water can now be pumped into the reservoir.
"That will be water that won't be making its way to the estuary," Flood said. "Any of the nutrients that are in that water won't be making its way down estuary as well." 
Last year, the surplus of nutrients threatened marine life. Now, the ground will soak up the additional nutrients. However, experts say it is a temporary fix. 
"This is one of our interim storage measures until such time as we can construct some of the comprehensive Everglades Restoration projects," said Flood.  
Those big projects take government approval which means money and time. That is time our precious waters don't have. So, in the meantime, with the help of Lee County funds, these men are taking things into their own hands. 
This specific reservoir covers close to 1500 acres that will hold at least a foot of water.
There are several more areas like this that will be worked on in the coming months. The ultimate goal is to have 450,000 acres. 

140416-c
Experts address the water quality of the ocean and bay in the Keys
KeysNet.com
April 16, 2014 
KEYSINFONET -- Several of South Florida's environmental experts speak at two local forums April 16 and next week titled "Keys Water Quality: The Buck Stops Here."
The free sessions, hosted by the Key West-based Last Stand environmental group and the Everglades Law Center in Coral Gables, feature speakers on water quality, hydrology and coral reefs who will detail the state of water in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay.
The free two-hour forums start at 6:30 p.m. today at the Key Largo library's community room in Trade Winds Plaza at mile marker 101.4, and at 6:30 p.m. April 22 in Key West at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, 33 E. Quay Road, at the foot of Southard Street at the Truman Waterfront.
Topics cover issues including climate change, pollution sources and habitat loss.
Scheduled speakers include Jerry Lorenz, research director for Audubon Florida; Billy Causey, regional director for the National Marine Sanctuaries program; Bob Johnson, director of the South Florida Natural Resources Center in Everglades National Park; Tom Van Lent, science director for the Everglades Foundation; and Andrew Baker, associate professor at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami.

140415-b
DEP receives public input on waterway projects goals
DredgingToday.com
April 15, 2014
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection recently concluded a series of public meetings throughout the state to present information and receive input on the future priorities of water restoration.
The Department has held six public meetings in the past month to invite public comment in Live Oak, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Pensacola, Orlando and Bartow.
At each meeting, the Department’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration staff explained the assessment and restoration cycle, presented the 2014 strategic monitoring plan as well as the preliminary 2-year work plan for establishing restoration goals.
“Each year, the Department must determine how to employ our resources most effectively to address water quality restoration,” said Tom Frick, Director of DEP’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration. “Our programs achieve the greatest success when we have stakeholder engagement and we are committed to taking advantage of local perspectives and priorities to better inform our work plans.”
Through the public meetings the Department received a range of commentary from the Water Management Districts, city and county governments, environmental groups, and local residents and business owners.
Florida contains more than 17,000 square miles of water, of which approximately 40 percent are inland waters. Florida is third in the country for inland water area and relies on these water bodies as an economic and recreational resource. To protect and rehabilitate Florida’s water bodies, the Department facilitates a continuous cycle of assessment and restoration.
The Department is charged with collecting water quality data, through both its own monitoring programs and in collaboration with other agencies and monitoring groups. The Department assesses this data against state standards and determines which bodies of water are considered impaired.
To correct these impaired waters, the agency develops and adopts scientifically-based restoration goals. These goals set limits to the amount of pollutants that may be present in a water body if the water body is to be considered healthy.
In order to meet these restoration goals, the Department facilitates the development by local stakeholders of broad-based restoration plans to achieve reductions in pollutant loading.
DEP is currently finalizing its water restoration plans both in response to the commentary and through coordination with local entities that provide water quality and biological data to the agency.

140415-c
Time for action, not more studies, on lagoon
Florida Today - Letter by Curt Myers, Rockledge, FL
April 15, 2014
I have lived on the Indian River Lagoon in Rockledge for 26 years, and I cannot count how many times I have read stories in your paper about studying the lagoon's water quality.
In a perfect world, Public Interest Editor Matt Reed is probably right to call for more study, as he did in his Sunday column, " 'Think' before we act, spend on lagoon." But this is the furthest thing from a perfect world. Getting government to do anything, much less the correct thing, is a huge achievement.
I think everyone agrees time is of the essence. We know from the last couple of years that the lagoon situation is getting worse.
We should begin doing the smaller efforts, such as stormwater retention projects, that can start to reduce runoff into the lagoon. What good is de-mucking if we continue to pour more sediment into the lagoon every time it rains? If the county and municipalities had taken a steady approach to this first step during the last 20 years, imagine how much better off we would be now. Cocoa seems to have taken the initiative on this years ago. Maybe the other cities should follow their lead.
Studies are expensive, time-consuming and even flawed. We should start with what we know will make a difference and continue to study and debate what the next steps should be. We are way past the hour we had to solve the problem. Let's not wait another "55 minutes" to act.

140415-d
Two wins for the Everglades
Miami Herald - Editorial
April 15, 2014
OUR OPINION: Protecting region’s clean water supply remains a challenge.
Two decisions this month could signify eventual improvements in the health of the Everglades.
• The first decision came from U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in the Southern District of New York in a case involving regulations for “water transfer” practices throughout the country.
Part of the federal Clean Water Act case involves a decade-long suit filed by environmental groups against the South Florida Water Management District’s occasional back-pumping of polluted farmwater runoff from canals into Lake Okeechobee. The pumping is for flood control and to store water temporarily. In 2013, the district back pumped about 8 billion gallons of water into the lake between June 6 and June 12.
Judge Karas ruled that back-pumping that jeopardizes the supply of drinking water can be construed as a violation of the Clean Water Act. That includes actions that affect Lake Okeechobee.
It’s a good decision.
If upheld, the SFWMD would be required to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency for permits to allow any back-pumping into Lake O, and it would end the practice that allows the EPA to exempt the district from meeting water-quality standards when pumping water into the lake. Instead, the EPA would have to monitor the quality of any back-pumped water.
All well and good, if this is the end of the case. But things are never that simple when it comes to Everglades litigation in federal courts, where several cases have become long-running legal sagas.
In all likelihood, the district, the state of Florida or even the EPA will appeal the ruling, though it would be better for everyone, taxpayers especially, if the district were to accept the decision and end the costly litigation.
Challenging Judge Karas’ ruling means another in a series of delays to forestall a clean-up of the Everglades basin and allow untainted water to flow south into parched Everglades National Park and remove pollution threats to South Florida’s drinking-water supply. As it stands now, most of the dirty water is flushed into the sea on both Florida coasts.
•  The other decision was a vote last Thursday by the SFWMD board of governors to commit financial support to the $1.9 billion Central Everglades Planning Project, a cluster of connected endeavors that would restore as much as two-thirds of the water needed to flow south from Lake Okeechobee into the park.
The project, known as CEPP, is a crucial component of the much bigger joint state-federal plan to restore the vast Everglades system. CEPP would reconnect long-separated wetlands, but there are still major concerns about how clean the water sent to these restored wetlands would be.
That establishes a clear link to Judge Karas’ ruling, which should be put into effect right away.
The SFWMD board’s action had some urgency, as CEPP — if realized — involves federal money and the U.S. Corps of Engineers, as well as state financing of a series of linked and long-needed construction projects.
A major public works bill is winding its way through Congress this year, and if the CEPP plan isn't included in the legislation it could be years before another chance comes along to get federal funding approved.
The thorniest issue remains cleaning up polluted water in the Central Everglades.
Both stormwater runoff from development and agricultural runoff pose huge challenges to the water management district and state and federal regulators.

140414-a
Brooksville residents don't want more mining
WTSP.com – by Casey Cumley
April 14, 2014
Brooksville, Florida -- "We have seen beautiful deer out here," Kathy Tucker says of her back yard.
Kathy Tucker and husband Dewey have lived in their Brooksville home for nearly 33 years -- this is their retirement home.
"It's a nice neighborhood we like it here, we're very happy here," says Kathy.
So when Kathy received a letter in the mail informing them of a public meeting about Cemex's mining expansion, she thought, "Oh no."
The Tuckers fear the blasting from the mine could damage their home even damage their well water.
Kathy says, "I feel that you do want to be notified when there's going to be a hurricane, but to be notified when there is going to be a blast in your back yard and you have to prepare for things to maybe fall off the walls -- you don't want that."
"Cemex understands the blasting is an understandable concern. The type of blasting will be taken place will be well below levels that would cause any type of structure damage or any kind of damage to water wells," explains Sarah Engdahl, director of communications with Cemex.
"I worry about several things," says Cindy Dietrich, a retired nurse, who has her own concerns about the mine. "What they mine out of the ground, what they put into the hoppers and grind up are mercury, lead, they're all deadly to human beings, so all that goes into the air."
If the county does approve this mining expansion, Cemex tells 10 News they would start mining as early as 2019 and continue for 20 years after that.
The public meeting will be held Wednesday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m. at the Hernando County Mining Association Enrichment Center, located at 800 John Gary Grubbs Boulevard in Brooksville.

140414-b
Florida lawmakers proposing a salve for ailing springs
NY Times - by Lizette Alvarez
April 14, 2014
CHIEFLAND, Fla. — To the untrained eye, Manatee Springs is an idyllic refuge in Central Florida: The cool water is so clear in parts that the sand glistens like polished aluminum. A vast series of underwater caves beckons thousands of divers. Deer wander by as do manatees, turtles, owls. Eagles soar overhead.
But Annette and Mark Long, who live a stroll away from the cypress-filled park, know differently. The natural springs here are ailing, as are many of the 900 other springs in the state. For decades, fertilizer and cow manure from nearby dairy farms have seeped into the porous ground at Manatee Springs and by extension the aquifer, which supplies most of the state’s drinking water, scientists said. The nitrates from the fertilizer have bubbled up into the springs, killing off eelgrass and fish, and raising toxicity levels.
Today, Manatee Springs is one of the most polluted springs in the state.
“The algae floats in clumps,” said Mrs. Long, president of the environmental group Save Our Suwannee, pointing to patches near where a few swimmers braved the icy waters. “Those dark splotches are just algae sitting there. The pollution grows so fast it kills most everything else.”
After years of discussion and inaction, four influential Republican State Senate committee chairmen and one Democratic chairman have signed off on an ambitious bill that would lay the groundwork for a long-term, comprehensive approach to restoring the state’s 38 most important and threatened springs. But the proposal, which has a price tag of $380 million for next year, requires concessions from agriculture, home builders, septic tank owners, property rights advocates and other powerful interests. And the measure poses a difficult test of whether divided Republican legislators have the will to address the problems in a comprehensive way.
Considered an important feature of Florida’s landscape, the freshwater springs are reeling from decades of population growth, the spread of agriculture, lawn fertilizer, septic tanks, outmoded wastewater treatment facilities and periods of drought, scientists and lawmakers say. But the progress in the Senate, spearheaded by legislators from areas affected by a downturn in water quality, is the most significant recent campaign for a broad overhaul.
Continue reading the main story
The legislation has unanimously passed two Senate committees but must still pass one more before reaching the floor. Money for the restoration would come from an existing real estate tax.
“Five of us senators said, ‘What do we want to leave in our legacy when we leave office?’ and we all agreed that nothing would be as important as water,” said Senator Charles S. Dean Sr., a Republican and the chairman of the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee, whose district lies in a section of Florida speckled with springs. “You are fooling nobody but yourself to say we don’t have problems with this.”
The legislation would put in place a plan and a timetable for restoring the springs. It would also designate the most egregious problem for each spring — be it nitrates from fertilizer or manure, too much water pumped out of the aquifer or leaky septic tanks — and address that first.
But the measure includes several contentious provisions. It would add prohibitions on septic tanks, a volatile issue, and require more thorough wastewater treatment. It would also tighten restrictions on water-use permits, which have been doled out generously and dictate how much water that businesses and municipal utility companies can use.
 “I don’t believe there are many instances where one piece of legislation completely solves the problem, but this changes the whole dynamics of the way we look at the springs,” said Bob Graham, a former Democratic governor and United States senator who started the Florida Conservation Coalition after Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, and the Legislature weakened longstanding water protection measures in 2011. “It will dramatically enhance the quality of our springs.”
Despite the optimism, the bill, which the Republican senators say is critically important, has hit a logjam in the House, whose leaders say the $380 million price is too high.
Fixing the springs is complicated, and for many House Republicans, the remedies have long been politically unpalatable, particularly in an election year.
Rather than comprehensive changes, it is possible the House will take up modest slices of the Senate legislation and pay for small individual projects, Republican leaders said.
One thing appears certain: The springs have less money coming to them this year than Mr. Dean would like.
House budget leaders have included $50 million in their yearly appropriations bill, which is more generous than the Senate budget bill. Mr. Scott proposed $55 million to help springs. Mr. Dean’s request would come from a different pot of money altogether.
“When they get that language right, we will become partners with them to make sure we get everything done,” said Representative Jason T. Brodeur, the Republican sponsor of the House’s springs bill. “I’m making sure we are keeping it at the forefront as we go through the end of session.”
Last year was one of the worst years for Florida’s waters, with algae blooms and large fish die-offs affecting cities on both coasts and the inland springs. Oysters disappeared in Apalachicola; dolphins and manatees washed up dead in the algae-laden Indian River Lagoon; Lake Okeechobee sent polluted floodwaters rushing into two major estuaries; and more algae spread across the state’s most popular springs.
As attention to the problem mounted, residents signed protest petitions and joined rallies putting pressure on the governor and the Legislature to act.
In November, voters will choose whether to approve a proposed constitutional amendment steering significantly more money from a real estate tax into land and water protection. If the amendment passes, more money will go to the springs cleanup, which is one reason that some legislators are inclined to provide less money now.
The springs are refuges from the heat and bustle of Central and Northern Florida. More than two million people a year, including a sizable number of tourists, plunge into their typically translucent waters or scuba dive in their caves. Their deterioration is obvious, environmentalists say. A few springs have dried up altogether; others have closed because of contamination.
At Manatee Springs, swimmers are warned of the possibility of rashes. In Ginnie Springs, a popular recreation area on private land, the owner is battling the state to do more to clean up the increasingly sullied water. Up north in Wakulla Springs, glass-bottom boats, once a favorite attraction, seldom run because the water is so murky.
The decay is not new. A Florida Springs Task Force report in 2000 detailed the declining health and its causes. But the situation has grown “much worse,” said the report’s author, Jim Stevenson, who until 2003 was chief biologist for the Florida State Park System under the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“It’s become more dire — there is less wildlife, more pollution, less water flowing,” said Mr. Stevenson, who is skeptical that a legislative remedy will be reached this year. “Whatever the condition of the springs is the condition of our drinking water. Once people realize that, they may be more inclined to do what’s needed.”

140414-c
Florida senators moving on bill to protect springs, but House efforts stall
TampaBay.com – by Craig Pittman, Staff Writer
April 14, 2014
With the legislative session more than half over, lawmakers in the House and Senate remain at odds over what to do — if anything — to fix Florida's ailing springs.
In the Senate, SB 1576, sponsored by five veteran legislators, has passed two of its three committee hearings by a unanimous vote. It calls for designating protection zones around 38 of the state's most prominent springs, cutting the flow of pollution from runoff and septic tanks, and safeguarding their continued flow with limits on pumping.
But its House companion, HB 1313, sponsored by Rep. Jason Brodeur, has been about as unlucky as its number suggests. After Brodeur filed it March 3, it was referred to three committees and has yet to get a hearing in any.
Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, on Friday predicted quick approval by the full Senate as soon as lawmakers return from a week-long break for Passover and Easter. What's unknown at this point is what the House will do with it, he said, "but that's not going to stop us. We're energized."
However, House Speaker Will Weatherford questioned whether anything would pass either chamber.
"I've met with some senators and I've heard what they're working on," Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, told reporters Friday. "It's my understanding there's disagreement even within the Senate on the policy and the funding side."
Even though Gov. Rick Scott has requested $55 million for springs restoration, Weatherford wasn't certain the Legislature would come up with a dime.
"We hope we have funding this year for springs," he said. "I think the House and the Senate have some in their budgets. But the policy associated with it has yet to be determined."
The senators are willing to compromise with the House to get the springs bill passed, Dean said. But springs advocates fear the House just wants to quash the effective parts of the bill, said Estus Whitfield of the Florida Conservation Coalition. If the senators give up too much just to get a bill approved, he said, then leaders of both the House and Senate can declare victory but the springs will continue their decline.
Both bills say that "the Legislature finds that springs are a unique part of this state's scenic beauty, deserving the highest level of protection." But over the past dozen years, biologists and state officials have realized that Florida's springs are in serious trouble.
Florida has more than 1,000 freshwater springs, hailed as the greatest concentration of springs in the world. But many are suffering from nitrate pollution that fuels the growth of toxic algae blooms caused by fertilizer and septic tank waste in storm runoff.
Compounding the pollution is a decline in flow that in some cases resulted in them sputtering out completely or reversing flow. And geologists have found a disturbing increase in saltiness in a few freshwater springs, which could signal future problems with the state's drinking supply.
Because many of the springs are major tourist draws, such as Silver Springs and Ichetucknee Springs, their environmental woes have an economic impact on their nearby communities.
And because many are part of the state park system, that means they are assets belonging to the taxpayers that state officials have allowed to become degraded.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush launched an initiative to save the state's springs in 2000, but it was dismantled under Gov. Rick Scott in 2011. However, Scott now wants to emphasize his support for springs revival, setting aside money in his budget for two years in a row.
The senators' springs bill would earmark about $378 million per year for sewage hookups and septic tank improvements in springs areas. It would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to create "protection and management zones" for the state's most prominent springs, where most homes would be required to hook up to a central sewer line.
The DEP would be required to set minimum flows and levels for each of those springs, beyond which no pumping would be allowed. Local governments would be required to pass limits on fertilizer use. No one would be allowed a permit for new concentrated animal feeding or slaughterhouse operations near those springs.
However, just before the legislative session began, a cadre of business groups — including the Association of Florida Community Developers, the Florida Home Builders Association, the Florida Fertilizer and Agrichemical Association and the Florida Chamber of Commerce — announced its opposition to any bill.
"There is another way," the groups wrote in a Jan. 28 letter to the senators. "Florida has the regulatory tools it needs to meet the kinds of water supply and quality challenges this legislation seeks to address. "These programs simply need to be fully funded and conscientiously implemented."
Meanwhile Weatherford has told the senators and their staff that his successor, Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, wants to tackle water policy issues next year as his signature issue. That's why the House has been reluctant to take any action this year.
"I don't foresee any major changes to water policy this year," Crisafulli, who hails from a prominent citrus family, told the Times before the session began.
Dean predicted the House will ultimately decide to pass something to help the springs this year, even if it's not the final answer. He figures springs advocates have one major selling point for any legislator who wants to stall until the next session.
"It's an election year," Dean said. "Let them stand up and say, 'I'm not for clean water.' Then the five of us (senators) and will look them in the eye and say, 'Friend, you wrote your own epitaph.' "

140414-d
Governor Rick Scott talks lagoon on Treasure Coast
WPTV.com - by Jon Shainman
April 14, 2014
Booed by protestors last summer, Governor Rick Scott was back on the Treasure Coast talking about the Indian River Lagoon.
Sewall's Point commissioner Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch got a call last Friday to join Kevin Powers from the South Florida Water Management District at his Martin County home.
She was shocked at who was there.
"You kind of just do a double take and go that's Rick Scott," said Thurlow-Lippisch Monday.
As a local elected official, she empathized with the reception the governor got in Martin County last summer.
"Even though I believe the people had a right to be upset about the river and I think they would have been upset with any governor who had showed up," she said.
Thurlow-Lippisch explained to the governor how the Indian River Lagoon is the area's main artery.
"He goes, 'you know Martin County is really tough.' And I go 'Martin County is tough but let me tell you they're tough because we love our river'," she explained.
The commissioner said what she wanted to impress upon the governor is that the rivers aren't just important now but for future generations as well.
"It's our economy, it's our quality of life, it's how our children have fun growing up," said Thurlow-Lippisch.
The governor also saw first hand the muck that coats the bottom of the lagoon.
As weekly water testing continues, Thurlow-Lippisch says while it would have been nicer a year ago to have this conversation, she'll take it anyway she can get it.
NewsChannel 5 asked the governors office the reason behind this visit that also had the Lt. Governor and the DEP Secretary in town. 
A spokesman said in part, "Ensuring the needs of Stuart and other communities facing water challenges are met has been a critical part of the governor's agenda to send the water south and away from the St. Lucie Estuary."

140414-e
Long-term predictions for Miami sea level rise could be available relatively soon
NSF.gov
April 14, 2014
City could know as early as 2020 how high sea level will go in the next century
Miami could know as early as 2020 how high sea levels will rise into the next century, according to a team of researchers including Florida International University scientist Rene Price.
Price is also affiliated with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, one of 25 such NSF LTER sites in ecosystems from coral reefs to deserts, mountains to salt marshes around the world.
Scientists conclude that sea level rise is one of the most certain consequences of climate change.
But the speed and long-term height of that rise are unknown. Some researchers believe that sea level rise is accelerating, some suggest the rate is holding steady, while others say it's decelerating.
With long-term data showing that global sea levels are steadily rising at 2.8 millimeters per year, and climate models indicating that the rate could accelerate over time, Price posed a question to colleagues: How soon will Miami residents know what sea levels will be in the year 2100?
"In Miami, we're at the forefront of sea level rise," Price says. "With the uncertainty in what we currently know, I was looking for information that could help us plan better for the long-term."
Price and a team of international researchers set out to answer the question.
They analyzed data from 10 sea level monitoring stations throughout the world.
They looked into the future by analyzing the past.
The researchers examined historical data to identify the timing at which accelerations might first be recognized in a significant manner and extended projections through 2100.
The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal Nature Communications.
"Sea level rise will have major effects on natural and built coastal environments," says David Garrison, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences, which co-funds the NSF LTER network with NSF's Division of Environmental Biology.
"Being able to detect and predict the pace of sea level rise is critical to being able to adapt to future changes in coastal regions," says Garrison.
Price says the information provided should offer some comfort to those living with this uncertainty.
"Our results show that by 2020 to 2030, we could have some statistical certainty of what the sea level rise situation will look like," she says.
"That means we'll know what to expect and have 70 years to plan. In a subject that has so much uncertainty, this gives us the gift of long-term planning."
Conservative projections suggest that sea level could rise by .3 meters by 2100, but with acceleration, some scientists believe that number will be closer to 1 meter.
"Areas of Miami Beach could experience constant flooding," says Price.
"The Everglades and mangroves may not be able to keep up. Mangroves are very important to South Florida, and their loss would likely mean more land erosion.
"We could see large portions of the Everglades taken over by the ocean. Areas that are freshwater today could become saltwater by 2100."
As cities, including Miami, continue to plan for long-term solutions to sea level rise, Price says she was surprised to discover that in the span of 20 years, scientists would be in a position to predict the long-term situation for Miami and other coastal areas across the planet.
Scientists should continue to crunch the numbers every decade, says Price, creating more certainty in long-term planning--and helping develop solutions for a changing planet.

140414-f
Plenty of data shows nitrogen hurting lagoon
Florida Today - Letter by Judy McCluney, Cocoa, FL
April 14, 2014
Matt Reed's Sunday column, " 'Think' before we act, spend on lagoon," questioning whether fertilizer bans and dredging will restore health to the Indian River Lagoon, due to "having no data to identify the worst pollutants," misses some important points.
For one, substantial data exists on nitrogen and phosphorus loads in each lagoon area.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's 2009 report detailing why the lagoon was officially classified as "impaired" lists 649,715 pounds of dissolved nitrogen in the lagoon from Melbourne to the Sebastian Inlet area alone. Studies, such as in Lake Tarpon, have linked a lot of nitrogen in waterways to lawn fertilizer use. Other studies show how this kills and harms marine organisms.
Could we use more data? Sure. But the cry for needing more studies is often simply a delaying tactic to real steps for stopping pollution.
Indeed, Scott's Miracle-Gro company has led efforts for decades to block limits on fertilizer use. It's good the company is now changing product formulations and funding some lagoon water quality research. I hope Scott's main motive is to restore our lagoon and not just to help its image, delay regulations and exonerate itself from contributing to the problem.

140414-g
Water managers update Strategic Plan
DailyCommercial.com
April 14, 2014
The St. Johns River Water Management District set a road map for meeting the district’s water resource challenges over the next five years when the governing board recently approved an update to its Strategic Plan.
With the governing board’s endorsement of the plan, which sets goals and strategic priorities, the district will continue its focus on 12 key initiatives and eight continuing core programs.
The district covers all or part of 18 counties in northeast and east-central Florida, including Lake.
The Strategic Plan includes the following 12 key initiatives:
Develop and implement sound science-based solutions to ensure the availability of sufficient water for existing and future uses
Protect water resources from significant harm due to water withdrawals by establishing necessary and sufficient minimum flows and levels
Ensure sustainable water supplies and protect groundwater systems in the district’s north Florida region
Work in partnership with the Central Florida Water Initiative to identify and further develop the Regional Water Supply Plan
Protect the water quality and ecological value of the middle and lower St. Johns River
Enhance and protect the water quality and ecological habitat of the coastal basins of northeast Florida
Restore the ecological, recreational and economic value of Lake Apopka and the Upper Ocklawaha River Basin
Optimize flood control, protect and enhance natural ecosystems and improve water quality in the upper St. Johns River
Protect and restore the water quality and ecological habitat of the Indian River Lagoon
Utilize district resources to develop and coordinate the protection and restoration of major springs
Develop a framework for levee and water-control structure maintenance and restoration
Identify and implement restoration and vegetation management projects on district-owned lands
More about Florida Aquifer :
ARTICLE: Lake levels are up but nowhere near normal
ARTICLE: S Fla water managers may appeal Clean Water ruling
ARTICLE: Senate recommends full funding for south Lake water study
ARTICLE: Funding for south Lake water study passes Senate

140413-a
Environmental services draws investor attention
InvestmentNews.com - by Craig Lawson, managing director at MHT MidSpan Securities
April 13, 2014 \
Progress, the needs of an expanding population and globalization bode well for this sector
Investors don't have to be of a socially conscious bent or have strong views on climate change to see intriguing long-term investment opportunities in environmental services, particularly in environmental sciences and management.
The environmental-services sector is already a $55 billion industry, spanning everything from protecting the water supply to the disposal of nuclear waste.
The science and management subsegments of this industry together make up an $8 billion market. These are the firms that handle all the analysis and research that needs to take place before regulators will allow projects and developments of all kinds to move forward.
CONSULTING FIRMS
Companies specializing in environmental science and management often operate as consulting firms. They will typically have offices in various locations, but many of these can have a single staff member, working out of his or her home.
As personnel-intensive businesses, they often employ “____ologists” with advanced degrees (e.g., biologists, toxicologists, agronomists, etc.), and they depend heavily on specific expertise and local relationships.
We are all familiar, in one way or another, with the kinds of studies and analysis these firms provide, as they are pervasive. Environmental regulations focused on everything from clean air to endangered species are inescapable, and the rules and regulations tend to move in one direction: toward more stringency.
If a state department of transportation wants to add a lane to a highway, it needs an environmental-impact study.
If a developer wants to buy a plot of land and entitle it for residential development, a study is needed for that, too.
Studies also are needed prior to constructing a new factory, or putting in place a wind farm or natural-gas pipeline.
Both public- and private-equity investors like these businesses for their low capital intensity and high return on assets. Typical revenue growth can vary widely but is often a healthy 5% to 15% and sometimes much more.
Businesses focusing on environmental science and management can be stand-alone enterprises or segments of larger companies, such as Australia's Cardno.
Other companies in this arena, all of which have been showing revenue growth and share price appreciation over the past year, include Exponent Inc., Stantec Inc., TRC Cos. Inc. and WS Atkins.
FRAGMENTED MARKET
Notwithstanding some larger players, the market is still highly fragmented. Some smaller shops can be regional, focused on key local issues.
By way of example, you may have one specializing in superfund cleanups in the Rust Belt, another in Florida doing aquifer and water quality testing, and another on the West Coast studying erosion impacts after wildfires.
In terms of mergers-and-acquisitions activity, there is a proliferation of deals in this sector as larger players buy smaller ones, often to fill a void in expertise, to access new customers or to expand geographically.
Adding to the attractiveness of the sector are some long-term trends.
In the energy industry, depending on location, stresses on natural resources are pushing industries toward hydraulic fracturing and deep-water drilling, both of which have controversial elements and require a great deal of research. There is additional study required on the impact of the infrastructure and services built around these efforts as well, such as housing, roads, pipelines and waste disposal sites.
MORE STUDIES
As urban and suburban areas sprawl further into undeveloped territory, and as the impact on everything from waterways to bird migration patterns becomes more intense, there will be more studies undertaken both by those looking to develop and those looking to stymie such efforts.
Other global long-arc trends include the scarcity of fresh water (depleted aquifers, pollution and rising sea levels), arable land, food production and safety, and carbon emissions.
The immutable drumbeat of progress, the needs of an ever-expanding population and globalization, among other macro trends, bode well for a sector tackling the associated complex issues that are here for eternity.

140413-b
Forums talk water quality in Everglades
KeysNews.com - by Timothy O’Hara, Citizen Staff
April 13, 2014
The Florida Keys environmental group Last Stand and the Everglades Law Center have scheduled two public forums starting this week.
A panel of leading experts in the field of water quality, hydrology and coral reef ecology will discuss restoration projects in the Everglades and the Keys that are designed to improve water quality.
"It (water) all makes its way down to the Keys," Last Stand board member Mark Songer said. "The better the water quality on the mainland, the better it will be for the Keys."
The first forum will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Key Largo Library, 101485 Overseas Highway. A second will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 22 at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center on the East Quay Wall in Key West.
The forums are held as federal and state officials are in the middle of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project, and the Florida Keys have embarked on a series of ambitious wastewater and canal restoration projects.
A 2007 study, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revealed that fecal bacteria and viruses from sewage has made its way to some Keys coral reefs, including Molasses Reef, one of the Keys' most pristine reefs and popular dive spots.
"We have to make our canals more healthy," said Billy Causey, Southeast regional director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. Causey is the former superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and a speaker at the forums.
"Without good clean water, our marine environment would not support our tourist economy," Causey said. "The environment and the economy are inextricably linked."
The ocean, reefs and backcountry waters off the Keys alone generate more than $140 million a year directly through fishing and diving, according to NOAA statistics.
The Florida Keys is also the highest grossing commercial seafood hub in the state, in terms of revenue, and third largest in the country, bringing in more than $100 million a year, according to the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association.
However, Keys reefs have experienced a 37 percent decline in living coral cover since 1996, and an increase in coral bleaching and coral diseases, according to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The reefs are affected by overuse, pollution, ocean acidification and global warming, Causey said.

140413-c
In the window to the aquifer
Ocala.com - Editorial
April 13, 2014
If Floridians remember one thing about our springs, it should be the words of Jim Stevenson, a longtime state biologist and springs advocate who came to be affectionately known as “Mr. Springs.”
Stevenson, who headed the now-disbanded Florida Springs Initiative under former Gov. Jeb Bush, once famously stated, “Our springs are windows to the aquifer.” It was a colorful and accurate reminder that what we see happening to our springs also is happening to our groundwater supply.
So, we were given pause this week when reading the recent Florida Parks Service draft development plan for Silver Springs State Park, which cited a “preliminary” report on the minimum flows and levels study of Silver Springs and the Silver River.
Under Florida’s 1972 water management law, water districts were mandated to determine “the minimum flows and levels” of the state’s springs and rivers in order to know at what level significant environmental harm would begin occurring.
It took the St. Johns River Water Management District 40 years to get around to measuring Silver Springs’ MFLs, but when they did last year, the findings were disturbing, although, frankly, not really surprising.
They measured the springs and river flow for wet, average and dry periods. During the average and low periods, St. Johns scientists concluded the springs and river already are at near-minimum levels. At “average” levels, set at 708 cubic feet per second, the water flow could drop 31 cfs before hitting the MFL, or about 4 percent. At the low level, 677 cfs, the cushion is a negligible 2 cfs.
In other words, Silver Springs and the Silver River — at least at the time of the study, using St. Johns’ “most restrictive analysis” — are already at their minimum healthy levels.
And these words of warning in the report’s executive summary: “However, current uses are below permitted allocations. Full use of the existing permitted allocations would cause exceedence (sic) of the recommended MFLs. Therefore, reduction of the existing permitted allocation needs to be a part of the required prevention strategy.”
So, if the springs is a window to the aquifer, we all need to cut back on our water usage if we are to ensure an adequate water supply in the future — and preserve Silver Springs and the Silver River.
There is still more study to be done before the final MFL is determined. But the preliminary analysis, again, using “the most restrictive analysis,” should clearly give the St. Johns staff and board hesitation when considering whether to grant nearby Adena Springs Ranch its multimillion-gallon-a-day consumptive use permit.
Scientists, private and public, have been documenting the decline in Silver Springs’ flow for years. Now, the water management district’s official MFL analysis is confirming what they have been saying.
The numbers may change, a bit. And there will be wet spells and droughts. But the numbers don’t lie, and the time has come to quit talking about water conservation, and curbing new water permits, and saving Silver Springs and begin taking aggressive and measurable steps to reduce our water consumption. A look in the window is all you need to know why.

140413-d
Lake levels are up but nowhere near normal
Daily Commercial – by Livi Stanford, Staff Writer
April 13, 2014
While lake levels on the Harris Chain of Lakes have recovered slightly, they continue to be below regulatory levels, water experts say.
Mike Perry, executive director of the Lake County Water Authority, said lack of rainfall is the main cause of low lake levels, while groundwater withdrawals from the Floridan Aquifer also play a role.
 “Rainfall has been below average since 2005 and that results in the lower lake levels simply due to lack of rain,” Perry said.
Hank Largin, spokesman for the St. Johns River Water Management District, agreed.
“By far the largest factor on lake levels, in particular those that exist in south Lake County is rainfall,” he said. “Estimates of the percentage of current groundwater pumping on lake levels is estimated to be about 5 to 15 percent. Current pumping is very close to the allowable sustainable limit.”
Perry said the cumulative rainfall deficit since 2005 is 63.28 inches, equivalent to 5.2 feet. All lakes in the Harris Chain are below the regulatory level as adopted by the St. Johns River Water Management District, Perry confirmed.
“Lake Apopka is currently 1.8 feet below the regulatory level,” he said.
Further, there is particular concern about Lake Griffin, which is at 56.95 feet.
“We hope it doesn’t get much lower,” Perry said. “Otherwise, there could be potentially environmental damage.”
Perry shared the latest numbers on lake levels at the Lake County Commission meeting this week.
The Clermont Chain of Lakes has seen some increases in its lake levels.
“Lake Minnehaha is about a foot and a quarter higher than it was at this time last year,” he said. “The downside is it is slightly 3 feet below the bottom end of our regulatory range.”
In addition, because the water district wanted to keep as much water as possible in the Harris Chain of Lakes, officials have closed the three dams between the lakes, which has resulted in no water moving through the chain of lakes, Perry said.
“We have not been able to take advantage of the nutrient reduction facility and its ability to send high quality water downstream from Lake Apopka because there has been no flow from the system,” he added.
Water experts have cautioned that Central Florida has just five years or so to find an alternative water supply before withdrawals from the Floridan Aquifer could begin impacting lakes, wetlands and springs.
There will be a demand of an additional 300 million gallons of water by 2035 and there is only an additional 50 million gallons that can be met from the aquifer, water experts have said.
Perry said currently withdrawals are a minor component in relation to lake levels, explaining water taken from the lakes for irrigation purposes has an impact, too.
For example, he said, if all 259 homes around Lake Minnehaha irrigated from the lake two days a week year round, the loss would result in the use of 202 million gallons per year, amounting to 1.7 percent of the lake’s volume.
“Withdrawals are a component,” he said, explaining those who take water from the lakes for irrigation purposes are also contributing to low lake levels.
Commissioner Sean Parks said he is concerned there may be other things that are blocking or altering the flow of water into the Clermont Chain of Lakes, resulting in potentially lower lake levels.
Perry said the LCWA is unaware of any of these.
“We are still evaluating the area, but we have not found anything at this time,” he said.
Commissioner Leslie Campione also expressed concern about low levels in the Holly Chain.
“I do wonder about withdrawals happening with the sand mine in the area,” she said.
Perry said there is no indication sand mines have an effect on lake levels.
However, he said northern Lake County, where the Holly Chain is located, has had the least amount of rainfall throughout the entire county.

140413-
Newsmaker Q&A with Rob Moher
News-Press.com
April 13, 2014
The Conservancy is a nonprofit organization focused on the critical environmental issues related to Southwest Florida, with a mission to protect our water, land and wildlife. The organization is focused on promoting and protecting these natural resources through with a staff of 55 professionals in the area of environmental scientific research, public policy and advocacy, education and native wildlife protection and rehabilitation. The goal of this work is to protect a high quality of life for current residents and generations to come.
The Conservancy of Southwest Florida began in 1964 when community leaders came together to defeat a proposed "Road to Nowhere" and spearheaded the acquisition and protection of Rookery Bay.
Q: What sorts of injuries or health problems does the Wildlife Rehabilitation Team deal with on a daily basis? How much of these injuries are man-made and what can we do to prevent them?
A: Providing medical care to injured native wildlife has been a priority of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida since 1979. Caring citizens rescue bobcats, rabbits, pelicans, hawks, gopher tortoises and many other species of native animals that are injured, sick or orphaned and bring them to the Conservancy for treatment. Approximately 90 percent of the injuries seen are human related. Common causes of injury include collisions with windows, domestic pet attacks, gunshot, hit by cars, pesticide poisoning, habitat destruction and fish hook and line.
The key to preventing injuries is education. We've recently experienced an influx in the number of pelicans treated for hook- and line-related injuries as a result of angling activities at Naples Pier. We've worked hard to educate the anglers, posted signage and advocated for a new ordinance banning more than one hook while fishing on the pier. These are preventable by following safe angling guidelines that can be found at www.conservancy.org.
Other simple changes in behavior can prevent many common causes of injury. Monitor pets while they are allowed outdoors – don't allow them to roam free, check trees and lawns for nests before conducting any landscaping activities, never use a wild animal as target practice and slow down while driving, especially at night.
Q: What are some of the educational programs available to adults and children and what would they learn in the program?
A: The Conservancy offers a variety of educational programs for children and adults, we call it "Pre-K through Gray" education. Our STEM-based (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs are individualized to provide age-appropriate activities and meet Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. Each program features a hands-on science experience or lab exercise. We host field trips at our Nature Center and offer programs for home-school groups, summer camps and more. Adult programs are offered for civic groups, businesses, and individuals on a variety of topics including sea turtles, panthers, water quality and more. Programs can be customized to best meet the needs and goals of attendees.
Q: How will your role as President and CEO differ from that of Vice President of Development and Marketing?
A: The transition from VP of Development and Marketing to President and CEO came at an opportune time for me and the organization. We'd just completed our "Saving Southwest Florida Capital Campaign" and reopened the renovated Nature Center and were preparing for our 50th anniversary celebration. It was somewhat of a natural transition to move from leading the campaign to overseeing the organization. My passion for the organization and the people has grown with this transition as well. With our 50th anniversary, it's been a time to celebrate our past while looking ahead to plan and shape our future. In my role as President, I have the opportunity to build and grow collaborative partnerships with local individuals, businesses and community groups to help further the Conservancy mission. I also work hard to empower the staff, volunteers and board with the direction and resources to positively impact the organization and the greater Southwest Florida community.
Q: How do you see the organization growing or evolving in the future?
A: With our 50th anniversary season upon us, it is a good time to reflect on our accomplishments as a conservation community as well as to challenge ourselves to advance the mission of the Conservancy to preserve our quality of life in Southwest Florida. I see us continuing to take an aggressive stance to protect water, land and wildlife. The southwest Florida environment faces enormous challenges right now including: exploratory oil drilling and mining in environmentally sensitive and inappropriate lands, tremendous water pollution that is negatively impacting our beaches and tourism industry, but more importantly, threatening our drinking water and finally, in the face of renewed pressure from growth, to continuing to help shape the scale, location, amount and type of development that will be built in Southwest Florida so that we do not ruin the ecological underpinnings which provides us with our quality of life.
Q: How can businesses and the community support the Conservancy?
A: Join us for our 50th Anniversary Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 19, from 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Admission is free for members and reduced for the general public. (Note: This will be at the organzatuion's Nature Center in Naples, 1495 Smith Preserve Way, off Goodlette Frank Road).
Rob Moher, age: 48:
Family: One of two boys, Moher grew up in Toronto, Canada. He lives in Naples with his wife of 18 years, Sandra and their 13 year old daughter, Amaya.
Career: Moher is the president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. This is his 16th year with the Conservancy including his prior position as Vice-President of Development and Marketing. Prior to the Conservancy, Moher served as Regional Director for Bahamas National Trust and as Research Officer for the International Development Research Center in Ottawa, Canada.
Education: Moher earned a Masters of Arts in International Affairs from Carleton University and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Queen's University.
Awards and Recognition: Moher is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and has completed his Certificate in Fundraising Management from Indiana University Fundraising School. In 2012, Moher was named Fundraising Executive of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Everglades Chapter. He was the senior staff person who worked with the Conservancy's capital campaign cabinet in leading the Saving Southwest Florida $38.8 million capital campaign – one of the largest capital campaigns ever completed in Collier County.
Did you know ?
100-percent of the money donated to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida stays in our area. The Conservancy's sole focus is on protecting the natural resources of our five-county area (Collier, Lee, Hendry, Charlotte and Glades).
The Conservancy's science department has biologists that are experts regarding sea turtles, panthers and mangroves and we also have expertise in assessing the success of mangrove restoration.
The Conservancy policy teams advocate for Western Everglades restoration, threatened species conservation, smart growth and water quality. They are called upon to provide expert testimony on environmental issues that have helped protect our water, land and wildlife in Southwest Florida.
The Education team provides award-winning environmental science programs to thousands of students each year at our world-class Nature Center and in local schools.
The von Arx Wildlife Hospital treats in excess of 3,600 injured, sick and orphaned animals each year and releases about half of them back into their native habitats.

140413-e
'Think' before we act, spend on lagoon
Florida Today – by Matt Reed
April 13, 2014
Scientists have chronicled more dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon with lesions, cancer and viruses. But there are few if any measures of pollution that may be causing
Marine scientist Edie Widder, Ph.D., quoted Albert Einstein in urging a smarter approach to saving the Indian River Lagoon:
"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions."
In other words, our precious estuary is quickly losing plant and animal life. But we could save it faster if leaders wait and first sponsor research that defines the worst sources of pollution from Titusville to Stuart.
"We're killing the lagoon," Widder said, pointing to an alarming statistic for Brevard. "Losing 47,000 acres of seagrass? That's like losing a rain forest."
Here, scientists and leaders have spent months describing the symptoms and enacting summertime bans on lawn fertilizer. The state Legislature plans to steer millions to Brevard to dredge up muck.
Better safe than sorry, the thinking goes.
But we still have no data to identify the worst pollutants, no funding to map the sources of those pollutants, no "baseline data" to help measure improvement.
We have no idea how well the bans and spending will work.
We need numbers, and fast.
Corporate citizen
Enter one of the so-called bad guys, leading the way in doing some good.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro fertilizer company has committed $500,000 for a two-year study to be led by Widder's nonprofit, the Ocean Research & Conservation Association. Joining the study will be scientists from the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce and the University of Georgia.
The research will analyze water flowing from two canals near Fort Pierce, at the southern end of the lagoon. Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn lives in nearby Stuart and reached out to Widder.
"We can't sit idly by anymore," said Mark Slavens, Ph.D., company vice president for environmental affairs. "We need to be part of the conversation. We know there are ways our product can have an impact."
The study will track water quality over the seasons using devices called Kilroys. It also will test muck and sediment for toxins. It will map likely pollution sources. It should help distinguish how much comes from storm runoff versus historic buildup in the earth and water table.
Scotts will have no involvement in the data collection or analysis, the participants said. An independent committee will oversee the project. The scientists will release the results. Scotts will cope with whatever they show.
In an editorial board meeting with FLORIDA TODAY, Slavens acknowledged that the company has hired lobbyists to oppose local fertilizer ordinances because it didn't believe the rules were based on real water-quality data (they weren't). To comply with state rules, the company had already reformulated its products to cut nitrogen by 30 percent and phosphorus by 50 percent while increasing the portion that is slow-release, Slavens said.
"We wanted a different approach, a collaborative approach," Slavens said. "We wanted to team with a conservation and scientific organization."
More needed
It's a start. And as a model for corporate involvement, it deserves a chance.
Such testing in Brevard County would costs $25,000 per square mile, Widder said. Brevard County has applied for $380,000 in state funding to test three areas: The Haulover Canal at the north end, Dragon Point at the confluence of the Banana and Indian rivers and the Melbourne (U.S. 192) Causeway.
Target date for a final report: August 2016, more than two years of "thinking about the problem."
And experience on the Treasure Coast has exposed other issues that need improvement if we want Einstein's full five minutes left to think about solutions:
• Faster permitting. It can take three months to obtain the various permits for one Kilroy monitor from the U.S. Coast Guard, the state Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies, Widder said.
• A lead agency to serve as a war room and clearinghouse for research, plans and funding. Here, the St. Johns River Water Management District has led estuary planning and dredging projects for years.
• More money from local governments and corporate partners for further research.
"This isn't an experiment," Widder said. "This is finally monitoring the real world."
$5 million effort
The Scotts Miracle-Gro lagoon-research grant is part of a $5 million, three-year program by the company to sponsor water-quality research and produce advertisements that educate residents on responsible garden care.

140412-a
Judge decision a victory for south Florida's water
News-Press.com - by Rae Ann Wessel, natural resource policy director, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation
April 12, 2014
In a landmark ruling on March 28, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas in the Southern District of New York, ruled that the practice of back pumping polluted water from the Everglades Agricultural Area into Lake Okeechobee was a violation of the Clean Water Act.
The challenge, filed by Earthjustice in 2002, contended that the South Florida Water Management District was violating the Clean Water Act by allowing the agricultural companies to send fertilizer-laden water into public water supplies, without first requiring it to be cleaned.
Erecting a dike around Lake Okeechobee was just the first step in transforming the nation's second-largest, natural, freshwater lake into a reservoir. The dike interrupted the natural, gravity flow of water south out of the lake into the Everglades and enabled the conversion of 700,000 acres of historic Everglades into the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). And it changed the future of south Florida.
First heralded for its "black gold," the muck soils of the northern Everglades provided tremendous conditions for growing winter vegetable crops in the dry season. Today, the majority of land in the EAA has been converted to sugar cane, a year-round crop that thrives on organic soils but needs drier soil conditions than are naturally present in the historic Everglades muck.
So with the conversion to sugar cane, producers expanded drainage operations to lower the water level in the Everglades muck by 18 inches. And where did this pumped-down natural groundwater go? It was pumped uphill into Lake Okeechobee so that it could be available for sugar producers to use for irrigation during dry times. The lake became a reservoir.
Two critical consequences resulted: the back-pumped water loaded with excess nitrogen and phosphorus was added to the lake ecosystem; and the dried-out organic soils disappeared due to subsidence, wildfires and oxidation. The excess nutrient load caused algal blooms and fed an explosion of exotic plants. As the algae and plant matter dies, it falls to the bottom of the lake and creates a muck layer of organic material that steals oxygen from the water that is needed by fish and aquatic organisms. When that muck layer gets stirred up during storms, it once again releases the excess nutrients — which causes another round of algae blooms and reduces oxygen.
Of major concern to our local waters is the fact that, when water is discharged from the lake, the gates that release the water open from the bottom. What comes down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers is not water from the surface of the Lake, it is the accumulated, polluted muck sediments that wind up in our estuaries.
This water draw-down in the EAA also caused the loss of 9 feet of muck soil in the growing fields due to wildfires and subsidence. And despite these negative consequences, the practice has been endorsed, codified and protected through permits and operational protocols of the SFWMD.
So this important decision by the court, 11 years in the making, that pitted Earthjustice, Friends of the Everglades, the Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, and Miccosukee Tribe against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, SFWMD and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is, might we say, a sweet victory?
Our thanks and congratulations to the groups that persevered. The case ended up in New York because clean-water groups and several states also challenged the practice of allowing dirty water transfers into public water supplies without Clean Water Act protections. All the cases were bundled together.

140412-b
State officials approve Everglades restoration plan
CBSlocal.com
April 12, 2014
WEST PALM BEACH (CBSMiami/AP) —  The process to get federal funding for the Everglades restoration projects is underway after the state agency which oversees those projects approved the $1.9 billion plan.
This week, the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board approved a resolution signing on as the local sponsor of the Central Everglades Planning Project. That’s a plan to redirect more water south of Lake Okeechobee into the central Everglades and south into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
The vote affirms the district’s ability to meet its financial responsibilities for the projects that will take more than a decade to complete. The costs are to be split evenly between the state and the federal government.
The plan is now being reviewed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

140411-a
At-risk cities hold solutions to climate change: UN report
The Guardian – by Suzanne Goldenberg
April 11. 2014
Smart choices by cities such as Miami in planning and investment could hold key to cutting emissions, IPCC draft says
It is already taking shape as the 21st century urban nightmare: a big storm hits a city like Shanghai, Mumbai, Miami or New York, knocking out power supply and waste treatment plants, washing out entire neighbourhoods and marooning the survivors in a toxic and foul-smelling swamp.
Now the world's leading scientists are suggesting that those same cities in harm's way could help drive solutions to climate change.
A draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), obtained by the Guardian, says smart choices in urban planning and investment in public transport could help significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions, especially in developing countries.
The draft is due for release in Berlin on Sunday, the third and final instalment of the IPCC's authoritative report on climate change.
"The next two decades present a window of opportunity for urban mitigation as most of the world's urban areas and their infrastructure have yet to be constructed," the draft said.
Around 1 billion people live in cities and coastal areas at risk of sea-level rise and coastal flooding – and those figures are expected to rise in the coming decades.
Most of the high-risk areas are in Asia, but the US east coast, where the rate of sea level rise is three or four times faster than the global average, is also a "hotspot", with cities, beaches and wetlands exposed to flooding.
But those at-risk cities also produce a large and growing share of emissions that cause climate change – which makes them central to its solution.
"They are at the frontlines of this issue," said Seth Schultz, research director for the C40 group of mega-cities taking action on climate change. "And on the whole cities have extraordinarily strong power to deliver on these things."
Even in America, where Republican governors and members of Congress deny the existence or have rolled back action on climate change, cities are moving ahead.
South-east Florida faces a triple threat – flat, built on porous rock, and in line for high sea-level rise. Planners in four south-eastern counties are preparing for 24 inches of sea-level rise by 2060 – which could put a large area around Miami underwater.
Beaches and barrier islands are already starting to disappear. Miami and other towns flood during heavy rain storms and full-moon high tides, and saltwater is already seeping into the network of canals in the Everglades.
"Sometimes it is tempting to think those impacts just occur in small coastal areas, but they are more extensive than that," said Jennifer Jurado, director of natural resources for Broward county.
Her nightmare scenario in a future of rising sea level would be flooding from both directions – the coast and inland – with saltwater contaminating groundwater reserves, and saturating farmland.
Jurado and officials in three other south-eastern counties of Florida have teamed up on a plan to cut emissions and protect populations from future sea-level rise.
Officials started with computer modelling to draw up details plans of what Florida would look like under future sea-level rise.
Broward county is now restricting development in areas at risk of two feet of sea-level rise. Water districts in Sweetwater and other towns south of Miami are installing pumps at $70m each to divert storm run off water and pump it back into the ocean.
And while Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, has put climate change efforts on hold, Broward county last month committed to getting 20% of electricity for county from renewable sources and increasing energy efficiency by 20%. Homeowners are being offered rebates on their property taxes to install solar panels.
The county has also pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.
Across the country in another Republican-controlled state, Salt Lake City in Utah has also been dealing with climate change.
Salt Lake City, which is at risk of running out of water because of climate change, set ambitious targets to cut emissions, and was the first city in America to commit to offsetting emissions from official travel.
Meanwhile, Utah's state legislature this month passed bills offering new financial incentives for solar panels and plug-in vehicles. The bills also require Utah to convert 50% of state transport vehicles to alternative fuels or plug-ins by 2018.
Such initiatives are becoming more common across America as city officials take future climate change into account for planning, zoning and land use, said Christina DeConcini, director of government affairs for the World Resources Institute.
"I think there is a growing focus on climate change," she said. "A lot of cities have sustainability departments and people focusing on it, and more and more of the work they are doing is focused on climate and climate impacts."
The reason, she said, was transparent. "Cities that are more at risk are definitely paying more attention."

140411-b
Everglades booster pitches Tamiami bridge project in DC
Sun Sentinel - by William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
April 11, 2014
WASHINGTON – Everglades advocates urged Congress on Thursday to pump millions of dollars this year into an expanded bridge above Tamiami Trail, a project considered essential to moving water into Everglades National Park and nurture its endangered wildlife.
Florida officials have committed to spend $90 million of state money over three years to match proposed federal spending for the bridge project.
"Restoration provides thousands of jobs, from construction workers to engineers," Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, told members of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. "As work is completed, jobs are increased in the fishing, hunting, boating, tourism, real estate and other industries."
It was the opening round of this year's pitch for Everglades funding in Congress.
Florida members and Everglades advocates face a perennial challenge to persuade members from Idaho, California, Maine and other states to keep pouring federal dollars into what proponents call "America's Everglades" – depicted as a national treasure, not just a South Florida concern.
The Obama administration has proposed $62.4 million this year of Interior Department spending to maintain Everglades National Park and the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge and to meet other needs, including the control of invasive species.
Another $65.5 million was proposed for the Army Corps of Engineers to restore the polluted Indian River Lagoon in Martin County, complete a Picayune Strand project in Collier County and build a reservoir in southern Palm Beach County.
Eikenberg focused on the Tamiami Trail, known to motorists as U.S. 41, a roadway across the Everglades in Miami-Dade County that blocks the natural flow of water into the national park. A one-mile bridge completed last year already allows more water to pass into the park. Engineers plan to add another 5.5 miles of bridge, starting with a 2.6-mile segment.
If Congress approves, federal funding to match the state's $90 million over three years would come from the National Park Service's road budget.
Proponents say the roadbed must be raised to prevent water from backing up north of the trail, which impairs attempts to relieve pressure on Lake Okeechobee farther north.
During wet seasons, federal engineers release billions of gallons of polluted water from the lake into estuaries, killing fish and damaging the environment. Restoration plans call for moving the lake water south – filtering out pollution along the way -- while lifting the Tamiami Trail roadbed to allow cleaner water to pass underneath it into Everglades National Park.
"All these restoration projects to move water south and reduce discharges can't be effective unless you uncork the bottom part of the system," Eikenberg said after the appropriations hearing.
He said he was confident that Congress will approve the administration's funding request, which could allow the bridge construction to begin as early as October and be completed in two or three years.

140410-a
A plan to move runoff water away from the St. Lucie Estuary is a step closer to reality
WPTV.com – by Chris Stewart
April 10, 2014
A plan to move runoff water away from the St. Lucie Estuary is a step closer to reality.
The South Florida Water Management District approved the plan to move Lake Okeechobee runoff to the south. 
That would prevent a repeat of last year's situation when the polluted runoff caused toxic water conditions in the St. Lucie Estuary.
It's now up to the Army Corps of Engineers to approve the final plan and Congress to pledge money for the more than one-billion dollar project.
Supporters hope that happens this year. They say the runoff water is hurting the environment.
"It's important this water remains clean for all the species and the fish and the turtles that come to the shore. it's just important we keep it clean,” said project supporter Don Voss.
Under the plan, the water would not start moving south for another fifteen years.
The district says decisions need to be made now to get the area ready for the project.
Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

140410-b









Central Everglades
would benefit from
the CEPP

140410-b
Central Everglades pollution plan gets key go-ahead
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
April 10, 2014
Cost to taxpayers could reach $1 billion.
A nearly $2 billion plan to help the Everglades and ease coastal pollution stayed alive Thursday when the South Florida Water Management District agreed to potentially pay half of the steep cost.
That could make South Florida property taxpayers, with help from state coffers, responsible for paying for much of the Central Everglades plan (CEPP) — aimed at moving more Lake Okeechobee water south to Florida's famed "River of Grass."
The next tricky step involves persuading Congress to pay for the other half of the project so that a final deal can be OK'd by the district. Then the lengthy construction work can begin.
Seeing the Central Everglades plan through to completion is vital to Everglades restoration and getting Thursday's go-ahead was "a little touch and go" for a while, according to Eric Draper, executive director of Florida Audubon.
"Water that would be dumped to tide [instead] comes into the Everglades," Draper said about the potential of the Central Everglades plan. "If this project doesn't get done, then we continue to have too much water in some places and not nearly enough water in other places."
In addition to helping protect dwindling wildlife habitat, Everglades restoration boosts South Florida's drinking water supply.
The Central Everglades plan calls for getting more Lake Okeechobee water flowing south to the Everglades — like it used to before development and farming got in the way — instead of draining lake water out to sea and hurting coastal fishing grounds.
The Central Everglades plan calls for removing portions of levees, filling in canals and increasing pumping to get more Lake Okeechobee water moving south toward Everglades National Park.
In addition to replenishing the Everglades, the Central Everglades plan would lessen the amount of lake water that gets drained out to sea through the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, with damaging environmental consequences.
The large flood-control discharges of fresh water from the lake into normally salty estuaries kill sea grass and oyster beds and scare off fish. Also an influx of pollutants and sediment from the lake draining fouls coastal water quality, fueling toxic algae blooms that can make waterways unsafe for swimming.
Those problems resurfaced last summer after hundreds of billions of gallons of lake water was dumped toward the coast, prompting outrage from fishermen, business leaders and coastal residents.
The Central Everglades plan could lessen those lake discharges to the coast by redirecting that water south to help the replenish the Everglades, which has been starved through decades of draining land to make way for sugar cane fields and subdivisions.
Even with Thursday's approval, construction of the Central Everglades plan could be a decade away.
"It's imperative that we keep moving forward to [improving] the health of the estuaries and the Everglades," said Danny Barrow, a fishing guide from West Palm Beach who heads the East Coast branch of the Florida Guides Association.
The Central Everglades plan is now projected to cost about $1.9 billion, about $100 million more than once expected.
Florida has already spent about $2 billion on Everglades restoration. In addition, the state last year approved an $880 million ongoing effort to clean up Everglades water pollution.
The state cost of the Central Everglades plan is "troubling" and it may never happen if Congress says no, according to water district Board Member James Moran.
"The taxpayers of Florida are going to have to come up with that extra $1 billion," Moran said about the state's share of the Central Everglades plan. "I have serious concerns."
Future hurdles remain for the Central Everglades plan (CEPP), in addition to getting congressional approval. While moving more water south could boost the amount of water in the parched Everglades, pollution in that water could end up violating federal water quality standards.
Before the water management district in the years ahead starts playing for its share of the Central Everglades plan, district officials want an agreement with the federal government to avoid breaking water quality rules by delivering more water.
Environmental advocates warn that water quality standards targeting the elevated levels of phosphorus, primarily coming from stormwater washing off sugar cane fields and other farmland, shouldn't be eased to accomplish the Central Everglades plan.
"We have got a lot of work to do," said Shannon Estenoz, the U.S. Department of Interior's director of Everglades restoration initiatives and a former water district board member.
The South Florida Water Management District, which has a $622 million annual budget, projects it will need about $100 million a year for 20 years from Florida's Save Our Everglades Trust Fund to pay for the Central Everglades plan, while keeping other restoration efforts going.
The problem is that the amount of money the district gets from the trust fund has fluctuated through the years, often rising and falling based on the state's budget situation. The district received $67 million from the trust fund this year, after ranging from $176 million in 2008 and down to $27 million in 2013.
If the state can't deliver its share of the funding, work on the Central Everglades project could be delayed.
"Any delay diminishes the ability to achieve restoration," said Lisa Interlandi of the Everglades Law Center. "The Everglades simply cannot wait."
Related:           Everglades restoration clears hurdle   MiamiHerald.com
$1.9 billion central Everglades project OK'd  Palm Beach Post
Everglades Water Circulation Program May Move Forward WLRN
State Water Managers Approve Key Piece of Everglades' Restoration         WGCU News
Rick Scott Praises SFWMD for Approving Everglades Plan Sunshine State News (blog)

140410-c
Eikenberg presses for more Everglades funding in D.C.
TampaBay.com – by Alex Leary, Times Washington Bureau Chief
April 10, 2014
Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, testified today before the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee, and declared that "Everglades restoration is working" while pressing $62.4 million in additional funding.
"All authorized projects are underway," Eikenberg said, according to prepared remarks. "Several significant projects are in the final stages and we are seeing success. The endangered Florida Panther is returning to the Picayune Strand. Scientists report that the C-111 Western Project is already exceeding expectations - restoring freshwater prey fish and habitat for the American Crocodile and Roseate Spoonbill – just one year into operations.
"These examples remind us that nature will rebound when we take steps to undo the damage."
More of his testimony below. Eikebgerg comments:
With your sustained commitment, the largest ecosystem restoration project ever undertaken is poised for success in protecting 68 endangered species, a World Heritage Site in Danger, International Biosphere Reserve and the third largest National Park in the United States.
As you consider fiscal year 2015 appropriations for the Department of the Interior, we ask that you invest in restoring America’s Everglades at the level included in the President’s budget request of $62.4 million. 
This will be money well spent. An independent report by the Research Triangle based Mather Economics found that for every dollar spent on Everglades restoration there is a four dollar return to the economy.
Restoration provides thousands of jobs from construction workers to engineers. As work is completed jobs are increased in the fishing, hunting, boating, tourism, real estate and other industries. I am also pleased to report that with the leadership of Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature, our state-federal partnership has renewed strength. As a former Chief of Staff under Governor Charlie Crist’s administration, I understand how important it is that the state and federal partnership remain strong. 
Recently, Governor Scott matched National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis’ $90 million spending plan, with $90 million from the state to pay for the next 2.6 miles of Tamiami Trail bridging. Director Jarvis and Governor Scott should be applauded for working together and demonstrating a willingness to remove obstacles and get the job done.
The Everglades Foundation also supports the increase in the Federal Lands Transportation program to pay for nationally significant transportation infrastructure within federal or tribal lands.
While we have made significant progress, the greater Everglades ecosystems continues to suffer from projects not yet completed. During the summer, billions of gallons of polluted water were dumped from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers causing environmental and economic destruction. Children were told to stay out of the water. The solution is within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the funding needed to complete it. Sustained funding to keep restoration projects on schedule is critical to avoiding collapse of the ecosystem, economy, and the water supply of more than 7 million Floridians and millions of tourists.
The Everglades Foundation appreciates your continued support and commitment to restoring and protecting America’s Everglades.

140410-d
Mayors hook up on Okeechobee water releases
News-Press.com – by Kevin Lollar
April 10, 2014
Like a team of politically savvy Oliver Twists, Lee County's five mayors have joined forces to ask the South Florida Water Management District for more.
In a letter to district governing board chairman Daniel O'Keefe, mayors Ben Nelson of Bonita Springs, Randy Henderson of Fort Myers, Marni Sawicki of Cape Coral, Kevin Ruane of Sanibel and Alan Mandel of Fort Myers Beach stated that the Caloosahatchee River needs increased releases from Lake Okeechobee during dry periods to maintain a healthy ecosystem.
"It's about solidarity: We are all, so to speak, in the same boat when it comes to the Caloosahatchee River and water quality," Nelson said. "Water is our common thread, the tie that binds us together. So we're standing together."
Since the letter was sent last month, Anita Cereceda has replaced Mandel as mayor of Fort Myers Beach — Mandel is now a city council member.
MORE:Tribes prepared to fight over water quality
"I don't know yet what to expect of this, but I think it's wonderful," Cereceda said. "Thinking about five mayors from five communities coming together to trouble-shoot and problem-solve, I'm totally on board."
At the center of the mayors' request is the policy for releasing water from Lake Okeechobee.
South Florida's water managers — the water district and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — want to keep the lake's water levels between 12.5 and 15.5 feet.
If lake levels go above 15.5 feet, pressure from the extra water could breach the aging Herbert Hoover Dike, so the Army Corps, with recommendations from the water district, releases water down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.
When water levels drop during dry periods, water managers must decide how much water to release and how much should go to permitted users such as the agricultural industry.
In 2008, the water district developed the Adaptive Protocols for Lake Okeechobee Operations, which clarifies how much water should be released from the lake during different lake levels.
MORE: State senator: Loosen Corps' control over Lake O releases
Because the Caloosahatchee from the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam to the Gulf of Mexico is an estuary, it needs a mixture of salt and fresh water; when too much or too little water is released from the lake, the balance of fresh and salt water is upset.
Large releases from the lake make water in the estuary too fresh, which can harm seagrasses and oysters; nutrients in large releases can cause algal blooms, which can smother sea grasses and cause fish kills.
When too little water is released during dry periods, high salinties can kill freshwater grasses and other freshwater organisms.
Under state law, water districts must set minimum flows and levels for water bodies (a minimum flow is the least amount of water necessary to prevent environmental damage to the water body). The Caloosahatchee's minimum flow is 300 cubic feet per second (8 billion gallons per hour).
In certain circumstances, the adaptive protocols call for no releases to the Caloosahatchee, while water continues to be released to permitted users.
In the letter, the mayors pointed out that lack of releases to the Caloosahatchee have violated the minimum flows and levels rule and caused "serious harm" to the river for seven consecutive years.
To remedy the situation, the letter states that when other users are getting water during dry periods, "the Caloosahatchee should continue to receive flows that meet the minimum ecological needs of the estuary."
MORE: Caloosahatchee reservoir project clears hurdle
"There's an awful lot of operational flexibility here," Ruane said. "We're looking at management so no users are harmed, not farming or the environment.
"We're putting pressure on them. The environment is what's at stake here, and we can tie the environment to our economy, from fishing to tourism to real estate values."
The adaptive protocols were created through an extensive process involving stakeholders such as the agricultural industry, the business community and environmental groups, and changes in policy would involve a similar process, water district chief of staff Dan DeLisi said.
In addition, the adaptive protocols are based in part on average lake levels dating back to 1965.
In other words, changing the way the water district and Army Corps manage the lake is more complicated than simply deciding to give more water to the Caloosahatchee when lake levels are low.
"The reason we can't work that way is because, without understanding the possible implications, we could be doing greater harm to the system that we don't know about," DeLisi said. "We don't want to help one system at the expense of everything else.
"We only know for sure in hindsight. Two months in the future, we can look back and say, 'We could have released water and done nobody harm.' But when we're operating, we don't have hindsight. We only know how the system has functioned over the last 48 years."
For their part, the five Lee County mayors are going to press the issue.
"We have a lot of political will to drive this home," Henderson said. "The mayors are playing their role to keep the movement afoot.
"Thankfully and randomly, we have elected officials who have the old-fashioned common sense to work together. That may be unprecedented. It's a beautiful thing."

140410-e
South Florida trying hard to catch up on rising seas
Sun-Sentinel.com - by Phil Latzman
April 10, 2014
"May you live in interesting times" is my favorite fortune cookie.
We do in South Florida, where we are witnessing our dawdling destruction, dripping down on us like a game of Chinese water torture.
Sea-level rise is the vexatious reality of our times, and we have a front row seat as spectators but are powerless to prevent it.
The Sun-Sentinel's terrifically reported Rising Seas: Inching Towards Disaster, spelled that unfortunate truth out for us again this week. Sometime in the future, whether its decades or sooner, we'll be submerged into the sea. And all we can do is watch.
Take a drive through Hollywood, Hallandale, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach or just about any town or city in our region, and the evidence is everywhere. Large chunks of pavement and pipe are being frantically replaced as streets flood with more frequency. Million-dollar beachfront properties are eroding into sandcastles. Roads become tributaries during heavy downpours. Street flooding often occurs even when there is no rain, especially during equinox tides in the spring and fall.
That is just a preview of the slow motion destruction. Although no one can accurately predict how much and when, as the paper's series reported, a one foot rise in sea-level (entirely possible in many of our lifetimes) would permanently submerge an area totaling six square miles in southeast Broward containing some of the region's most valuable real estate.
According to Dr. Hal Wanless, who chairs the University of Miami's Geological Sciences Department, a five foot rise (possible by the end of this century) would render the county a "wetland." Wanless warns that rapid ice melt occurring Greenland could accelerate a process that has already started. The World Resources Institute reports that average annual sea-level rise was 78 percent higher between 1993 and 2011 than it was in the period between 1961 and 1993.
Since Palm Beach County lies on significantly higher ground than Broward or Miami-Dade, the rising seas should eventually force a mass migration of our population to the north.
Not even our water supply is safe. Ninety percent of South Florida gets its fresh water from aquifers below ground. However, salt water will continue seeping up from underneath us, through the porous limestone that supports our flat peninsula, spoiling that supply.
A powerful hurricane or long rain event would expedite the process. Sandy did that in 2012, just by brushing by us. Despite passing 200 miles offshore, its edges took out parts of A1A in Fort Lauderdale,and decimated already eroded coastlines everywhere. If Sandy had taken a path slightly more towards the west, it might have doomed us completely.
A Rolling Stone article from 2013 paints a hypothetically grim picture, depicting a category 5 system that renders the region uninhabitable, leaving watery and sandy remnants and a radioactive cloud.
But the reality — even without a storm — is scary is enough.
Cities and counties are spending millions, even billions in mitigation efforts. Our underground pipes and infrastructure are being re-retrofitted for the inevitable onslaught of waters. In many low lying communities, old water supplies and tanks are being abandoned, sending municipalities in mad scrambles to rebuild them or find new water supplies. Have you seen your utility bill lately?
There are some forward thinkers. The four-county Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact collaborative has been a positive since its formation in 2010.
A catalyst for that effort, Broward commissioner and two-time mayor Kristin Jacobs has been vocal and proactive, appointed last fall to President Obama's Task Force on Climate Change and Preparedness.
Longtime Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin was considered heretical when he first broached the topic and spoke out on sea-level rise in South Florida more than 30 years ago.
We should have listened and been ready. We should have stopped constructing houses, condos and buildings that encroach the sea and improved our infrastructure in advance.
Now all we can do is try to catch up. A new generation of leaders on the local, state and national level are needed to bring attention to the slowest moving, yet most important story of a generation.
Too bad we missed the boat. Because we could really use one now.

140409-b
Florida officials prefer dirty coal to clean sunshine for energy sources
Cox Newspapers, Bradenton Herald - by Frank Cerabino
April 9, 2014 
WEST PALM BEACH -- When it comes to a revered source of energy in Florida, do you think of sunshine or coal?
Hint: Here's what state Rep. John Wood, R-Winter Haven, said this week about coal:
"God gave us this resource. Until we have better technology at some point in the future we need to use it to keep our economy going."
Leaning on God to validate coal, the dirty-energy source that produces more greenhouse gas pollution than other source of fossil fuels, might seem like an odd position to take for an elected official in Florida.
After all, it's those greenhouse gases that are helping to accelerate the climate change that is melting the polar ice caps and leading to rises in ocean levels that will one day submerge Florida's coastline and threaten its drinking water.
So you might think Florida lawmakers would embrace clean energy at every turn. But Wood was the point man in a legislative initiative to exempt Florida from complying with a federally proposed Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants.
"The United States has abundant supplies of coal that provide economic and energy security benefits, including affordable and reliable electricity," reads the proposed Florida missive to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Carbon regulation for existing coal-fueled electric generating units could threaten the affordability and reliability of Florida's electric supply."
Florida doesn't mine any coal. It's hauled here on trains from Kentucky and West Virginia, and it accounts for about 21 percent of Florida's electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
As long as God is apparently involved in this process, I would think The Almighty might wonder why we need to do all this out-of-state mining and hauling when He gave Florida so much sun.
But the Sunshine State doesn't use much sun at all. Renewable energy in Florida accounts for only about 2.2 percent of its energy sources, with biomass plants that burn plants, wood and garbage accounting for most of that number.
So you might imagine that legislators might be eager to find more avenues for expanding solar energy.
But instead, while they were propping up coal, they were turning away from solar energy.
The Florida House is blocking a voter initiative that could remove the tangible property tax on rooftop solar systems, a move would make such systems more affordable in Florida.
"The Legislature has done virtually nothing to encourage private investment in solar development in the state," complained Wayne Wallace, president of the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association.
The reason for that is probably best explained by a report issued last week by Integrity Florida, a non-partisan research and government watchdog group.
The report, "Power Play: Political Influence of Florida's Top Energy Corporations," outlined the efforts by the state's four largest power utilities -- Florida Power and Light, Progress Energy/Duke Energy, Tampa Electric and Gulf Power -- to get their way with state lawmakers.
From 2002 to 2012, those four companies gave $18 million in political contributions to state-level candidates, making them among the top donors, the report said. And they employ, on average, one lobbyist for every two legislators.
Expanding solar power by making it cost-efficient for third parties to lease solar panels to Florida homeowners and businesses isn't part of the business model for the state's power monopolies. Burning dirty coal is.
So that's why God loves coal so much in Florida.
Frank Cerabino, writes for The Palm Beach Post.

140409-c
Give springs the right to use their own water
Tallahassee.com – by Buddy MacKay, former Florida governor, lieutenant governor and senator, as well as a former U.S representative
April 9, 2014
For centuries, people from across the world have been attracted to Florida by the beauty of its springs, rivers and lakes. In addition, water flowing from these springs is the essential life blood in the circulatory system that supports natural Florida.
The clear purpose of Florida’s 1972 Water Law, in mandating that minimum flows and levels (MFLs) be determined and set, was to guarantee preferential water rights not only to Florida’s springs, but also to the natural ecosystems they support.
Four decades have passed, and MFLs have only recently been established in a few sensitive areas around springs, and in several situations where ecosystem collapse was eminent. For the vast majority of Florida — including the watersheds of most of Florida’s springs — MFLs have not been established. By contrast, holders of existing Consumptive Use Permits not only are protected but also are loudly insisting on the setting aside of free water for future expansion of their uses.
As an exercise in public policy, think about pumping Florida’s springs dry, while ensuring unlimited free water to Niagara Inc. to be sold in plastic bottles across America. This makes no sense at all, except that free water from Florida’s springs ensures more corporate profit than water from Niagara Falls.
This kind of perverted policy leads to the upside-down thinking behind the state Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed rule establishing MFLs (and a “Recovery Plan”) for the lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee rivers and their springs.
In nonbureaucratic terms, the rule begins by acknowledging that the available water supply is already insufficient to meet the minimum needs of the springs, their rivers and the natural ecosystems they support. The rule then proposes to grandfather in all existing Consumptive Use Permits at their current maximum allowable withdrawal rates for at least five years. Finally, to add insult to injury, the rule proposes to continue issuing more Consumptive Use Permits for at least the next five years.
The water needed by the springs, rivers and lakes in the lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee will be last in line, behind not only existing permit holders, but also any new ones that come along.
Here is a simple proposal: Give Florida springs Consumptive Use Permits with priority rights over existing holders of Consumptive Use Permits. If new permits are issued, reduce existing CUPs proportionately, until flows to the springs are restored.
Assuming an existing shortfall of 20 percent, all existing CUPS should be reduced by 20 percent until the minimum flows are restored.
Related:           Editorial: Our duty to springs Gainesville Sun

140409-d
Good news on 11-year legal battle over Lake O back-pumping
Fort Myers Beach Bulletin, Fort Myers Beach Observer - Guest commentary by By Rae Ann Wessel, director of Natural Resource Policy for Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation
April 9, 2014
In a landmark ruling on March 28, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas in the Southern District of New York ruled that the practice of back-pumping polluted water from the Everglades Agricultural Area into Lake Okeechobee is a violation of the Clean Water Act.
The challenge, filed by Earthjustice in 2002, contended that the South Florida Water Management District was violating the Clean Water Act by allowing the agricultural companies to send fertilizer-laden water into public water supplies, without first requiring it be cleaned.
Erecting a dike around Lake Okeechobee was just the first step in transforming the nation's second largest, natural, freshwater lake into a reservoir. The dike interrupted the natural, gravity flow of water south out of the Lake into the Everglades and enabled the conversion of 700,000 acres of historic Everglades into the Everglades Agricultural Area. And changed the future of south Florida.
First heralded for its "black gold," the muck soils of the northern Everglades provided tremendous conditions for growing winter vegetable crops in the dry season. Today the majority of land in the EAA has been converted to sugar cane, a year-round crop that thrives on organic soils but needs drier soil conditions than are naturally present in the historic Everglades muck. So with the conversion to sugar cane, producers expanded drainage operations to lower the water level in the historic Everglades muck by 18 inches. And where did this pumped-down natural groundwater go? It was pumped uphill into Lake Okeechobee so that it could be available for sugar producers to use for irrigation during dry times. The lake became a reservoir.
Two critical consequences resulted: the back-pumped water loaded with excess nitrogen and phosphorus was added to the lake ecosystem; and the dried-out organic soils disappeared due to subsidence, wildfires and oxidation. The excess nutrient load caused algal blooms and fed an explosion of exotic plants. As the algae and plant matter dies, it falls to the bottom of the lake and creates a muck layer of organic material that steals oxygen from the water that is needed by fish and aquatic organisms. When that muck layer gets stirred up during storms, it once again releases the excess nutrients which causes another round of algal blooms and reduces oxygen. Of major concern to our local waters is the fact that, when water is discharged from the lake, the gates that release the water open from the bottom. What comes down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers is not water from the top of the Lake, it is the accumulated, polluted muck sediments that wind up in our estuaries.
This water drawdown in the EAA is simultaneously caused the loss of nine feet of muck soil in the growing fields due to wildfires and subsidence. And despite these negative consequences the practice has been endorsed, codified and protected through permits and operational protocols of the SFWMD.
As recently as 2012 during the drought, the practice of back-pumping polluted water into the lake was heralded as a solution for meeting Caloosahatchee dry season and drought water supply needs. Imagine!
The SFWMD even appealed to the Florida Legislature for $3.5 million to build a new water treatment plant for communities south of the lake because according to their budget request, "Belle Glade, Pahokee and South Bay use Lake Okeechobee as a source of raw water for drinking water. Lake Okeechobee receives storm water inflows from major agricultural areas and is heavily nutrient enriched as well as highly colored, having the potential for pesticide and herbicide contamination. Organic material in the water gives rise to trihalomethanes in the water upon treatment with chlorine."
Yet the District seems unconcerned that this same polluted water - and, even worse, the polluted muck -- is being released east and west where, in some cases, it is also being used as drinking water.
So this important decision by the court, 11 years in the making, that pitted Earthjustice, Friends of the Everglades, Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club and the Miccosukee Tribe against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, SFWMD and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is, might we say, a sweet victory?
Our thanks and congratulations to the groups that persevered. The case ended up in New York because clean-water groups and several states also challenged the practice of allowing dirty water transfers into public water supplies without Clean Water Act protections. All the cases were bundled together. You can find more information in the Earthjustice press release, posted on our website, sccf.org. Look for the "Current Issues" green box on the right side and click on Victory on Backpumping.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation is dedicated to the conservation of coastal habitats and aquatic resources on Sanibel and Captiva and in the surrounding watershed through environmental education, land acquisition, landscaping for wildlife, marine research, natural resource policy, sea turtle conservation and wildlife habitat management. Community support through membership dues and tax-deductible contributions, in addition to grants and staff-generated revenue, makes this work possible.

140409-e
Polluting of Lake Okeechobee must end, court rules
Earthjustice.com – by David Guest
April 9, 2014
Big-Ag backpumping allows pollutant-laden waters into drinking water sources.
For more than 30 years, the big lake that looks like a hole on the Florida map at the top of the Everglades—714-square-mile Lake Okeechobee—has been wrecked by government-sanctioned pollution.
But we won a decision in federal court March 28 that, we hope, will put a stop to it. Florida’s biggest newspaper, The Tampa Bay Times, called the ruling “long-awaited clarity and common sense” and “a victory for public health and the environment.”
We agree.
Our case was 11 years in the making—we first filed it in 2002 to challenge the practice of “backpumping.” Backpumping works like this: South Florida sugar and vegetable growers pump the public’s waters out of Lake Okeechobee to irrigate fields. They wash the water over their industrial-sized crops, where it gets contaminated with fertilizers and other pollutants. Then, the agribusinesses get taxpayers in the South Florida Water Management District to pay to pump the contaminated water—along with some polluted run-off from industrial areas and city streets—back into Lake Okeechobee, where it pollutes public drinking water supplies for West Palm Beach, Fort Myers and the entire Lower East Coast metropolitan area.
In our case, we contended that the South Florida Water Management District is violating the Clean Water Act by allowing the agricultural companies to send fertilizer-laden water into public water supplies, instead of cleaning it up first.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas in the Southern District of New York ruled that the water transfer practice does, indeed, violate the Clean Water Act. The case ended up in New York because clean water groups and several states also challenged the practice of allowing dirty water transfers into public water supplies without Clean Water Act protections. All the cases—including Earthjustice’s Florida case on behalf of Friends of the Everglades, Florida Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club—were bundled together.
As I told reporters: It’s well established by now that a city can’t just dump sewage into a river—they’ve got to clean it first. The same principal applies here with water pumped from contaminated drainage canals.
“The ruling puts the water management district and the EPA on notice that their first obligation is to public health, not to agribusiness,” The Tampa Bay Times wrote in an editorial. “The excessive nutrients wouldn't flow to the lake without the state pumping them there. And recirculating these excessive nutrients hurts the entire basin.
The ruling affirms the role the federal government needs to play in ensuring state compliance with the Clean Water Act. And it should crack down on future abuses by clarifying when operators must seek a discharge permit.”
We now hear that the South Florida Water Management District is planning an appeal. That’s a shame. They should be using our tax money to clean up the drinking water instead of going to court to fight for agribusinesses to keep polluting.

140409-f
Project to move water through Everglades may move forward
WLRN.org - by Wilson Sayre
April 9, 2014
The South Florida Water Management District will decide Thursday whether to OK an Everglades restoration project it designed.
Since 2011, the District has been working to develop a $1.9 billion plan to put some circulation back into the heart of the Everglades.
"It is going to require removing lot of things that have been put in," says Randy Smith, a representative for the Water District. "[It will require] creating new water-flow projects and water storage projects. The landscape is going to more closely resemble what it was originally."
Since the late 1800s, South Floridians have tried to turn the marshy Everglades into livable, arable land.
While that change has created a population boom, it has also strained the ecosystems of the everglades. The biggest culprit is lack of water movement.
If the management district board decides to move the project forward, it will be reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers and then move on to Washington for congressional funding approval.

140409-g
Senate, House differ widely on water projects spending
Florida Current – by Bruce Ritchie
April 9. 2014
Heading into negotiations on a 2014-15 state budget, the House and Senate are far apart on the amount each would spend on local water projects.
In both chambers, the amount requested by cities and counties and other local agencies far exceeded the amount budgeted.
Water projects include stormwater treatment ponds, sewage plant upgrades, environmental restoration studies or restoration projects and water supply projects.
The Senate in its budget has a list of 84 projects totaling $43.3 million. But the Senate received requests for $326 million for more than 230 projects, said Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government.
"Many, many members have come to me about their water projects," Hays told senators last week. "And I regret to tell them, 'Sorry but I ran out of money.'"
Monitor 'Environmental Appropriations' and 100+ policy issues with Legislative IQ or LobbyTools. Login or request a demo.
The House received 265 requests for $443 million, said Rep. Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula and chairman of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee.
The House has no list of approved projects but has allocated $100 million, he said, plus $500,000 for local water utilities to do system maintenance and cleaning to improve efficiencies.
"For me it ($100 million) was a round number, it was an aggressive number," Albritton said.
"I would encourage the Senate to join me there," he said. "The world looks pretty good from a $100 million perspective."
Albritton said he also had no list of projects when the House budget was approved and he isn't sure if he will prioritize them before conference committees begin meeting.
He and Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart and chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said the House speaker and Senate president first will reset allocations. Negron said that agreement could result in the amount available for environmental spending going up or down.
He said while the House has more than the Senate on water projects, the Senate has about $33 million more for projects to protect springs and to protect the Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee River from excessive discharges from Lake Okeechobee. "But given the total amount that is involved that's not really that big a chasm between the two chambers," Negron said.
A list of proposed House water projects could be developed once that overall environmental spending is reset through an allocation agreement, Albritton said.
"I would argue that until we know what the dollar value is it would be difficult to prioritize projects," he said.
Many of the projects benefit small, struggling communities, said Ryan Matthews, legislative advocate for the Florida League of Cities.
"If you are working on a $6 million or $7 million budget, for a smaller community $1.2 million or $1.5 million becomes a very big deal," Matthews said.
Last year the House and Senate proposed $59.3 million in water projects but Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $27.3 million. 
Related Research: April 9, 2014 Proposed water projects in Senate FY 2014-15 budget SB 2500

140409-h
TECO breaks ground on $700 million project in Polk
The Ledger - by Kevin Bouffard
April 9, 2014
Company Says Construction Will Bring 500 Construction Jobs
Groundbreaking for expansion of Polk Power Station
MULBERRY | The $700 million expansion of Tampa Electric Co.’s Polk Power Station will bring 500 new construction jobs to the local economy over the next two years and environmental benefits with local and potentially global impacts.
“This is another great event that will contribute to the economic development of Polk County,” said County Commissioner Ed Smith, one of about 100 people at the Wednesday ground breaking ceremonies at the Power Station south of Mulberry. “The future of Polk County is so bright, we need to be wearing sunglasses.”
The expansion, scheduled for completion in January 2017, will increase the efficiency of the station’s four natural gas power plants by redirecting waste steam into power generation, TECO officials said. That will generate another 450 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 100,000 homes.
TECO serves 69,000 customers in Auburndale, Eagle Lake, Lake Alfred, Mulberry, Polk City and Winter Haven.
Company officials also touted an innovative $110 million reclaimed water project scheduled to begin operating this summer. It was built in cooperation with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which contributed $41 million toward the construction.
Under a 30-year supply agreement signed with the City of Lakeland, the TECO plants will pump wastewater to a municipal treatment plant 15 miles away, said Cherie Jacobs, a company spokeswoman. Treated wastewater will be pumped back to the Power Station for use in electricity generation.
Once the system begins operating, it will initially supply TECO with 5 million gallons per day in reclaimed water, she said. Over the next 10 to 15 years, the system could be expanded to 17 million gallons per day, or about 70 percent of the station’s water use.
Part of that expansion includes adding the City of Mulberry and other southwest Polk areas to the system next year, which will increase capacity to 8 million gallons per day, said Susanna Martinez Tarokh, a Swiftmud spokeswoman.
The water project will conserve the area’s water supplies and reduce nutrient discharges into public waterways, said Robert Beltran, Swiftmud executive director, at the groundbreaking ceremony.
“These projects are crucial to improving our environmental footprint and energy supplies,” said Thomas Hernandez, TECO vice president of energy supply, at the ceremony.
The event also celebrated a third project aimed at improving TECO energy production and environmental stewardship.
RTI International, a research institute in Durham, N.C., in January completed construction of a $168 million demonstration plant at the Power Station site that could make coal-based electricity production more environmentally friendly and improve the efficiency of current technology.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, more popularly known as President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, financed construction of the pilot plant, which is scheduled to begin operations this month.
“This pilot represents exactly what the Recovery Act is meant to do ­— release new technology,” said S. Julio Friedmann, deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Clean Coal at the U.S. Department of Energy. “What happens here opens up a world of possibilities.”
TECO agreed to host the demonstration plant because its first plant at the Power Station, which opened in 1996, uses coal-gasification technology. The Energy Department also contributed funding toward building that TECO plant.
The RTI pilot culminates a 20-year research effort on the new technology, said CEO Wayne Holden.
One drawback of the current technology is that very hot “syngas” used by the power plant must be cooled down before extracting sulfur, an environmentally harmful contaminant, said David Denton, RTI senior director of business development. The extracted sulfur goes toward producing sulfuric acid sold for industrial purposes.
While RTI’s new technology removes both sulfur and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, the syngas is still hot, he said.
“Our technology is also cheaper than traditional technology,” said Denton, who estimated a 10 percent to 15 percent savings on the cost of producing electricity. “You lower the cost of generating electricity by 10 (percent) to 15 percent, your power bill just went down 10 (percent) to 15 percent.”
The RTI process also increases the efficiency of sulfuric acid production and removes about 90 percent of carbon dioxide, currently vented into the atmosphere, he said.
RTI and other researchers are exploring ways to use the captured carbon dioxide in other products or storing it to prevent release into the atmosphere, Denton said.
Until then, the captured carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere, resulting in no increased in emissions.
The pilot plant, which will operate to June 2015, will demonstrate the feasibility of scaling up the technology by 10 times or more for use at a power plant, he said.
“We believe this project is a trifecta, a win-win-win,” said Gordon Gillette, TECO president. “It’s a win for the economy; it’s a win for our customers; and it’s a win for the environment.”

140409-i
Treat Florida's environment as a treasure
TampaBay.com - Thursday letter by Julie Wert, Aripeka, FL
April 9, 2014
Reading about the Florida Legislature can be like reading a Carl Hiaasen novel, especially concerning water quality issues.
A Senate bill proposes to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to clean up our neglected springs and water sources. Meanwhile, the House is trying to eviscerate the Senate bill and working hard to allow the causes of the problems to continue or even expand. Their bill would get rid of regulations and make the problem worse.
Gov. Rick Scott applauds himself after announcing he's requesting $55 million in taxpayer money for springs and water cleanup. Meanwhile, his Department of Environmental Protection is allowing millions more gallons of water to be pumped from our aquifer, while industry and agriculture runoff into our water sources will need to be cleaned up with more dollars.
I can't figure out why legislators behave in ways that jeopardize the future quality of life of their children. I don't understand why the elected few are unable to see the environment in Florida as the treasure, and source for the treasury, that it is.
But I can recognize when their ignorant behavior affects me, my money, my quality of life and the state I care about. It's time the whole Legislature did their job and behaved as if they were acting on behalf of all Floridians, not just the ones who have the most coins to throw in their collection plates.

On water, time to take stand
TampaBay.com - Editorial
April 6, 2014
Another embarrassment
This legislative session was initially billed as the "Year of Water," aiming to strengthen state protection of Florida's 700-plus natural springs. Instead, it appears the Legislature's annual embarrassing and inadequate environmental performance is right on track.
House Speaker Will Weatherford is blocking badly needed legislation, kicking the can down the road for another year and claiming that his successor, Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, has more "expertise on the issue."
More troubling, Weatherford doesn't even want to consider the Senate Springs Protection Bill, claiming disingenuously that the House has its own legislation when in fact it has nothing like the comprehensive Senate plan.
Normally, in an election year, the Legislature's mantra is to "do no harm." Weatherford's doing nothing, calling for another study and refusing to consider legislation, when the reasons and solution to our water woes have long been well known and scientifically demonstrated.

140408-a
Everglades oil drilling plans spark contamination concerns
Aljazeera.com - by Bryan Myers
April 8, 2014 4:00PM ET
As the oil industry eyes Florida's Everglades, are residents' environmental fears justified ?
NAPLES, Fla. – For their retirement, Pamela and Jaime Duran chose a cottage in Southwest Florida. Here, they could raise chickens, savor the quiet and enjoy the lush backdrop of the historic Everglades. They call it "a little piece of paradise."
"There are no noises out here," said Jaime Duran. "You don't hear anything at night. You hear crickets, and that's about as loud as it gets at night."
But the oil industry has set its sights on this swath of the state, with a proposed drill site just 1,000 feet from the Durans' house. That would mean noise, dust and dozens of trucks passing each day. But the Durans are most concerned about their drinking water, which they fear could be poisoned by toxic waste from the well.
Many environmental groups say they have reason to be worried given Florida’s unique geology. As part of the drilling process, millions of gallons of wastewater laced with chemicals would be injected back into the ground.
“In this case, they’re injecting into an area called the boulder zone,” said Jennifer Hecker of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the region’s biggest environmental group. “Those boulders have a lot of holes in them in Florida. We’re sitting on top of very porous limestone.”
Hecker also worries about the impact on the endangered Florida panther. One of the proposed wells would be less than a mile from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, one of the last sanctuaries for these big cats. More traffic in the area could mean more panthers killed by cars and trucks.
It's already happening
What a lot of people don't know – not even in Florida – is that there's already oil drilling in the greater Everglades.
About 25 miles from the proposed wells, around seven or eight wells pump day and night in the heart of the Big Cypress National Preserve, a wetlands that is part of the greater Everglades ecosystem. The area isn't open to the public, but the National Park Service gave America Tonight a special tour.
"I think they've done a good job over the years," said Don Hargrove, who oversees oil and gas operations here. "Any impact on the surface, any pad that has been constructed, you can consider this as an impact. However, they are used temporarily, they're not forever. They're removed and restored at some point."
America Tonight visited an area of Big Cypress National Preserve, which was the site of oil drilling less than 40 years ago. All the equipment had been removed, and the site turned back to nature – proof to some that oil drilling can be done in an environmentally responsible manner.
Asked whether the ecosystem could handle dozens of more operations, Hargrove responded: "It depends on the operator and how responsible they are. It really does."
There's no telling if the company drilling the new wells would be equally responsible, and there have been reports of leaks at some injection sites across the country. But here, the park service regularly tests the water and said it's never seen any evidence of contamination. At worst, Hargrove said these wells are a short-term eyesore. 
Why is it allowed?
It may seem curious that drilling is even allowed on national park land at all, especially in such a sensitive ecosystem, home to the Florida panther, one of America's most endangered species.
It's because the rights to the oil under much of Big Cypress, and to some 800,000 acres of southwest Florida, belong to the descendants of Barron Collier, once the largest landowner in the state. The Collier Companies are behind the new plans to drill.
America Tonight left several messages for the Collier Companies, but they didn't respond. So we came to their headquarters in Naples and tracked down a spokeswoman, who said they had no comment.
However, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection did comment, assuring us that the wells meet its requirements "designed to protect freshwater aquifers." As for the panthers, it said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the panther refuge, didn't have any objections to the proposed drilling.
But the Durans aren't buying it, pointing out that other states that have allowed drilling in sensitive areas have later suffered polluted water.
"This is a special place," Pamela Duran said. "Would they let oil drilling at the Grand Canyon? Where do we stop, you know? Is there anything sacred?"
Related:           Everglades Oil Drilling Plans Spark Contamination Concerns           InsideClimate News

140408-b
Potential algae bloom sighted near Cocoa
Florida Today – by Jim Waymer
April 8, 2014
Regional water managers are investigating a possible algae bloom in the Indian River Lagoon just south of the State Road 520 Causeway, near Cocoa
Scientists with the St. Johns River Water Management District are conducting water quality sampling of the possible bloom, reported on April 2.
"Water clarity is good in Mosquito Lagoon and the northern Indian River Lagoon," according to the district's web site.
But in the south-central lagoon, from about Sebastian through Vero Beach, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has received a report of a fish kill in a large area of "milky-colored water" in the Sebastian Inlet area. The Sebastian Inlet District has collected water samples.
Related: Algae-related fish kills plague Indian River Lagoon

The heaviest particulate
matter (sludge) in the waste sinks to the
bottom of a tank.
The average septic tank
requires pumping at
least every three years.
Lawmakers are debating restrictions on
how the sludge may be
used.

140407-a
Bills delaying ban on spreading septic waste are moving with environmental support
Florida Current – by Bruce Ritchie
April 7, 2014
A pair of bills that would delay a ban on spreading septic tank waste on land as required in 2010 springs legislation are moving through the House and Senate with environmental opposition having been dropped.
SB 550 in 2010, a springs protection bill, banned the land application effective on Jan. 1, 2016. About 100 million gallons of waste is pumped out of Florida's 2.5 million septic tanks each year and some is spread at 92 regulated sites, according to the Florida Department of Health.
This year, HB 1113 and SB 1160 would have delayed the ban by four years while a study of waste disposal options was conducted. But environmentalists opposed the delay and said there was time to study the options and have the Legislature take action next year.
SB 1160 has been amended to provide only a one-year delay and to expand the study to include the environmental effects of waste-spreading. 
Monitor 'Water Quality' and 100+ policy issues with Legislative IQ or LobbyTools. Login or request a demo.
Audubon Florida and Sierra Club Florida dropped their opposition to the bill. SB 1160 on Monday passed the last of its three committee stops, the Senate Committee on Agriculture.
"We accept the pushing back the ban on the application until 2017 because we recognize the importance of doing the study and actually preparing for the ban on the land application of septage," said David Cullen, lobbyist for Sierra Club Florida.
Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker and sponsor of SB 1160, on Monday proposed an amendment that would have required utilities to offer water and sewer services to those requesting it within 1,000 feet of their service area. But the amendment was withdrawn in the face of opposition from utility groups, the Florida League of Cities, the Florida Association of Counties and Audubon Florida.
HB 1113 is expected to be amended at its final remaining committee stop to match the one-year delay in the Senate bill. 
Some owners of businesses that maintain septic tanks have told legislators that the ban would force them to take the waste to landfills or wastewater treatment plants if the practice is banned. 
They said the longer travel would raise the average $200 cost to pump out septic tanks and that would create a financial hardship for rural homeowners.
"Right now we're trading chickens with folks because they can't afford the $200," Jeff Mann, who operates a septic tanks service in Polk County, said Monday. "They don't wake up in the morning thinking I'm going to pay the septic tank guy. It just happens."
Meanwhile, SB 1306 and HB 1055, which would allow for operating septic systems that are hooked to central sewers, are moving through committees without opposition. Building owners could connect to sewer systems to pump liquid from septic tanks at less cost than a full hook-up, and the septic system could be used if power to operate the pump goes out, according to a bill analysis.

140407-b
Foundation releases Everglades lesson plans for K-12 students
Palm Beach Post - by Christine Stapleton, Staff Writer
April 7, 2014
Teachers throughout Florida now have a state-approved curriculum to teach kindergarten-12th grade students about the Everglades. The Everglades Foundation unveiled its online teaching plans at a press conference Monday, recognized in Florida Everglades Day, at the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, 6301 Summit Blvd., west of West Palm Beach.
Would students in Arizona not learn the importance of the Grand Canyon ?” asked James Kushlan, a foundation board member who headed the education committee that created the curriculum. “We have found that not everyone understands the importance of the Everglades.”
The curriculum provides teachers with three lesson plans for each grade level that teachers can download for free from the foundation’s website. It was designed through a partnership of the foundation, the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University, the Pine Jog education center and a panel of Florida teachers.
Pilot programs in five counties — Palm Beach, Martin, Broward, Miami-Dade and Collier counties — tested the curriculum, which incorporates science, math and social studies in lesson plans developed in accordance with the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards and Common Core Standards.
It’s our goal that by the time every student graduates they will be Everglades literate,” Kushlan said.
Attending the event were FAU President John Kelly, Palm Beach County School Board Chairman Chuck Shaw and Freddy the Alligator, the mascot of the South Florida Water Management District, and 16 first graders from nearby Pine Jog Elementary who are learning about the Everglades.
SOME LESSON PLANS
Kindergarten: ‘What is the Everglades’ — Students introduced to the Everglades as special place for plants and animals unlike anywhere else on Earth. Watch a presentation on some of the animals and plants there and start working on Everglades Class Book.
8th grade: ‘Human use of the Everglades’ — Students participate in activity showing how water from the Everglades is used by humans in different capacities, learn how to conserve water and discuss why water conservation is important to the Everglades. They make an informational brochure.
12th grade: ‘In the Year 2030’ — Students compare a description of Everglades in Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s ‘The Everglades: The River of Grass,’ to the present day Everglades and evaluate which way the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) will take the Everglades.
Related:           New curriculum guides on Everglades available to teachers; was ...  The Republic
Everglades lessons pushed for Florida students         Sun-Sentinel
New Everglades Curriculum Available To Teachers  WCTV
Everglades now in teacher lesson plans across Florida           St. Augustine Record
FAU, Everglades Foundation join forces in Palm Beach County ...  WPBF West Palm Beach
New Everglades curriculum available to teachers      MiamiHerald.com

140407-c
Protecting our vital water supply
Miami Herald - by M. Hurchalla
April 7, 2014
A great debate has been raging between those who favor an Everglades flow-way from Lake Okeechobee south and those who say it can’t work and it’s just an hysterical, unwarranted attack on Big Sugar
The reasons for sending water south are pretty clear:
• If you send it anywhere else — like the coastal estuaries — it causes lots of damage.
• Everglades National Park and parts of the Water Conservation Areas need lots more water. They are burning too fiercely and changing the topography and the vegetation.
Sending water south does not have to be an attack on sugar growers. It does have to involve lands that are currently growing sugar cane in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).
Why?
Thousands of acres have gone into building shallow stormwater treatment areas in the EAA. Flow Equalization basins (FEBs) are under construction under Gov. Scott’s commitment to clean up the water to federal standards. The Central Everglades Plan is hopefully on its way to congressional authorization. They are raising the Tamiami Trail.
All that will move more water south, but not nearly enough.
What’s missing is a reservoir at the top of the system. That meets resistance from sugar interests because it will take even more land out of production. They react by suggesting improvements in other locations.
There are lots of improvements that need to be made north and east and west of Lake Okeechobee, but it’s hard to get away from the need for a really big reservoir just south of the lake.
That’s where the demand is. That’s why we save water and keep the lake two feet higher in the dry season. Sugar is the biggest water user in all of South Florida. That’s not an insult. It’s a fact.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) calls for reservoirs east and west of the lake. They will hold runoff from the surrounding watershed and allow it to be re-cycled for agricultural use in the same area. That means we don’t have to store water in the lake to meet their water allocations.
We need the same thing in the EAA.
Besides needing a lot of water, the EAA has another unique problem. The muck soil has oxidized over the years and left sugarcane fields at the bottom of a big shallow dish. Every time it rains at all, they need to pump water off the fields. Every time it doesn’t rain for a week, they need to pump water onto the fields from Lake Okeechobee.
By pumping water from sugarcane fields into a reservoir when it rains in the EAA and back on the fields when it’s dry, you get much greater efficiency in stormwater treatment. You don’t have to clean water you are going to re-use for irrigation.
By adding extra storage and re-use in the EAA, you don’t have to keep Lake Okeechobee too full in the dry season and you don’t have to dump it on the estuaries when the wet season gets too wet.
Why not build a big reservoir somewhere else, like in the Kissimmee Valley ? Because you can’t get that re-use efficiency from a distant reservoir. You can’t pump from the sugar cane fields up to the Kissimmee when it rains in the EAA. You can’t get the immediate water supply benefits of an on-site reservoir from a reservoir that’s 100 miles away.
When it comes to sending more water south, arguing about flow-ways vs. reservoirs vs. doing nothing has ended in doing nothing. We need to find the best way to send water south. If it’s through a flow-way, let’s do it. If the reservoir idea works better, let’s do it.
State Sen. Joe Negron has proposed a budget allocation of $250,000 so the University of Florida Water Institute can develop a plan for moving water south.
All of South Florida needs to get behind that proposal. For the urban areas, it’s your water supply. It’s freedom from smoke that blankets the coast in a west wind.
For the coastal estuaries, it’s survival. They will die if we don’t send more water south.
For the world, it’s the wonder and diversity of America’s Everglades.
Maggy Hurchalla is a Miami native and a former Martin County commissioner. She served on the Governor's Commission for a Sustainable South Florida, which developed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

140407-d









Blake GUILLORY
Executive Director of
the SFWMD

140407-d
Second Senate panel grills SFWMD chief Guillory in confirmation hearing
Palm Beach Post - by Christine Stapleton, Staff Writer
April 7, 2014
After seven months on the job, Blake Guillory — executive director of the South Florida Water Management District — has passed his second confirmation hearing before a Senate committee in two weeks after being grilled on how and when he intends to pay for Everglades restoration and hire more minorities.
Guillory next goes before the full Senate, which will have the final say on whether his Sept. 5, 2013 appointment by Gov. Rick Scott to head the district is confirmed.
Just as he had on March 26, Guillory on Monday responded to questions posed by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, about the district’s ability to deliver on the financial commitment it will make later this week to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Latvala said during the Ethics and Elections Committee meeting that he was “a little bothered” by the district’s intention to sign a letter guaranteeing that the district has the financial wherewithal to pay its portion of the Central Everglades Planning Project. CEPP is a multi-year, $1.8 billion collection of water storage and restoration projects in the heart of the Everglades.
During Guillory’s first confirmation hearing before the Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee, Latvala wondered where the district would get the estimated $100 million it needs every year to fulfill its commitment “if we have another recession or you have a Legislature that’s not committed to the Everglades or maybe there is some new emergency somewhere.”
“Can the water management district promise $100 million a year without state help?” asked Latvala, who is competing with Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, for the 2016-18 Senate presidency. Negron hosted hearings during last summer’s water crisis in the St. Lucie Estuary and urged Gov. Rick Scott to pledge millions of dollars for water quality and storage projects.
“Are you forced to raise the (district’s property tax rate) then to come up with the money?” Latvala asked Guillory. “Are we getting a letter from the feds promising they’re going to give us $100 million a year?”
Guillory said that raising taxes could be an option. However, the commitment letter the district’s governing board will consider signing on Thursday is a “financial capability” statement and not a “financial commitment” contract, Guillory said.
Guillory also was pressed Monday on why the district had discontinued its community outreach programs and how it would encourage minority hiring.
Also during the first committee hearing, Guillory was questioned about his involvement in the Ten Mile Creek reservoir in St. Lucie County. The reservoir was completed in 2006 but cannot be used to hold water because of construction flaws. Guillory, who was working for a private engineering firm at the time, was the design project manager. In a federal court, the corps has demanded the private engineering firm return $15 million.
Guillory said the ongoing litigation prevented him from answering questions in detail, but he has not been asked to give a deposition in the 7-year-old lawsuit. As recently as last week he talked with the corps about possible solutions, including turning the project into a shallow water reservoir.

140407-e
South Florida gets $29 million in clean-water loans
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
April 7, 2014
Sewer treatment plants and systems in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys to get federal loans as part of the Clean Water Act.
Gov. Rick Scott has awarded $29 million in federal loans to 10 South Florida water projects ranging from an overworked treatment plant in Miami-Dade County’s crumbling sewer system to a much-needed system in the lower Florida Keys.
The money comes from a program established under the landmark Clean Water Act of 1987, and is intended to help states meet the law’s requirements. Over the years, the program has provided more than $100 billion in loans.
In his announcement, Scott said he was giving Miami-Dade County an additional $6 million to increase capacity at its South District Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has already received a $120 million loan. The bulk of the remaining money awarded Friday, more than $19 million, goes to projects in Monroe County.
“We must continue our focus to improve water quality throughout the state to ensure that Florida remains the best place in the country to live, work and raise a family,” said Scott, who has come under fire by environmentalists for cuts to water management districts and the state’s environmental regulatory agency, which laid off almost 60 workers in 2012. Last month, Scott awarded $27 million in loans to Central Florida projects.
Miami-Dade’s decades-old sewer system has in recent years been plagued by problems. In May 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, along with the Justice Department and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection sued Miami-Dade for failing to comply with the Clean Water Act.
A few months later, the county issued a building moratorium in Coconut Grove, saying the overburdened system could not handle any more hook-ups. Last year, the county settled the federal lawsuit by agreeing to make $1.6 billion in repairs to the aging system.
Among the projects slated for loans in the Keys are: $6 million to build a treatment plant and pipes to serve the lower Keys; $6 million for a collection and transmission system in Islamorada; $2.6 million for an advanced water treatment plant that has already been built in Key Largo, as well as $4.2 million for “digesters“ — devices that help treat waste — in Key Largo’s treatment plant. The improvements are needed to deal with the increased effluent that will be coming from Islamorada’s new system.
Marathon received almost $550,000 for stormwater collection and sewage treatment.
The city of North Miami also received $3.5 million to correct the flow of stormwater in 13 storage basins. Miramar was awarded $560,000 to construct sewers and a lift station, while Dania Beach received $286,000 to correct flow problems at its plant.
The loans are typically used to build or improve wastewater treatment plants, according to the EPA, but can also be used to improve estuaries, address runoff from farms or cities, and pay for conservation projects.

140406-a
Give priority to Florida's springs, reduce pumping
Ocala.com - by Kenneth H. “Buddy” MacKay Jr., Special to the Star-Banner
April 6, 2014
For centuries, people from around the world have been attracted to Florida by the beauty of its springs, rivers and lakes. In addition, water flowing from these springs is the essential lifeblood in the circulatory system which supports natural Florida.
The clear purpose of Florida’s 1972 water law, in mandating that minimum flows and levels (MFLs) be determined and set, was to guarantee preferential water rights not only to Florida’s springs, but also to the natural ecosystems they support.
Four decades have passed, and MFLs have only recently been established in a few sensitive areas around springs, and in several situations where ecosystem collapse was imminent. For the vast majority of Florida, including the watersheds of most of Florida’s springs, MFLs have not been established. By contrast, holders of existing consumptive-use permits are not only protected, but are loudly insisting on the setting aside of free water for future expansion of their uses.
As an exercise in public policy, think about pumping Florida’s springs dry, while assuring unlimited free water to Niagara Inc. to be sold in plastic bottles across America. This makes no sense at all, except that free water from Florida’s springs assures more corporate profit than water from Niagara Falls.
This kind of perverted policy leads to the upside-down thinking behind, most recently, the Department of Environmental Protection’s proposed rule establishing MFLs (and a “recovery plan”) for the lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee rivers and their springs.
In nonbureaucratic terms, the rule begins by acknowledging the available water supply already is insufficient to meet the minimum needs of the springs, their rivers and the natural ecosystems they support. The rule then proposes to grandfather in all existing consumptive-use permits at their current maximum allowable withdrawal rates for at least five years.
Finally, to add insult to injury, the rule proposes to continue issuing more consumptive-use permits for at least the next five years. The water needed by the springs, rivers and lakes in the lower Santa Fe and Ichetucknee will be last in line, behind not only existing permit holders, but also any new ones that come along.
Here is a simple proposal: Give Florida springs consumptive-use permits with priority rights over existing holders of consumptive-use permits. If new permits are issued, reduce existing consumptive-use permits proportionately, until flows to the springs are restored.
Assuming an existing shortfall of 20 percent, all existing consumptive-use permits should be reduced by 20 percent until the minimum flows are restored.
Kenneth H. “Buddy” MacKay Jr. is a former Florida governor, lieutenant governor, state senator and U.S. congressman. He lives on Lake Weir.

140406-b
Much of Florida is banking on a largely untapped underground reservoir for its future water needs, but much is unknown about the Lower Floridan Aquifer
Daily Commercial – by Livi Stanford, Staff Writer
April 6, 2014
Water experts caution that south Lake County has just five years or so to find an alternative water suppl y before withdrawals from the aquifer could begin impacting lakes, wetlands and springs.
County leaders are looking for answers deeper underground — in the largely untapped Lower Floridan Aquifer — although they acknowledge that much is not known about that water source and they predict there will be substantial challenges in tapping it and using it.
Still, the lower aquifer is seen by m any communities in Florida as the best hope for a cost-eff ective solution to the state’s approaching water shortage.
On the front lines of this effort is the South Lake Regional Water Initiative (SLRWI), a coalition which includes the cities of Clermont, Groveland, Minneola, Mascotte, Montverde, the South Lake Chamber of Commerce and the county.
Currently, most of the water consumed by Floridians is drawn from the Upper Floridan Aquifer, a meandering reservoir that sits just below the surface of the earth.
Water experts say the upper aquifer cannot supply a growing state, including Central Florida, much longer, so many counties — Orange, Marion, Polk and Lake among them — are beginning to explore the lower aquifer deeper beneath the ground.
One key challenge, however, is determining whether the two aquifers are truly separated by a confining layer of earth and are not simply part of the same aquifer system.
Scott Laidlaw, the bureau chief of Water Use Planning and Regulation for the St. Johns River Water Management District, said data about the lower aquifer is limited.
“If the nature of the confinement between the two units (the upper and lower aquifers) is leaky, drawing water from the lower Floridan may have the same impact to the minimum flows and levels bodies as pulling water from the Upper Floridan,” he said.
“The two units are hydrologically connected. The nature of that connectivity varies across the region.”
Indeed, in Georgia, municipalities have been withdrawing from the lower Floridan since 1998, having little impact on the upper Floridan, experts said.
“The geology of this aquifer system is different in Georgia,” said James Reichard, professor of geology at Georgia Southern University. “We have more confining layers that separate the upper and lower Floridan.”
But because the lower aquifer is largely untapped, much about it remains a mystery to scientists and geologists.
“We don’t know what the local geology looks like in the lower Floridan and whether you can withdraw a reasonable quantity of water,” said Alan Oyler, the technical consultant for the SLRWI, who previously worked for the city of Orlando for 28 years in the waste water department implementing reclaimed water systems. “Finding that out is not cheap.”
Oyler said there are areas can be pulled from that will have a smaller effect than other areas.
“Any withdrawal from the lower aquifer is bound to have some effect on the upper,” he said. “The question is how much.”
Even so, the SJRWMD has approved permits,, such as one to Niagara Bottling Co., to more than double the amount of water it draws from the Floridan Aquifer using the lower aquifer.
Niagara contends that withdrawing water from the lower aquifer will have less impact on lake levels.
In some places in Florida, the confining unit (between the two aquifers) is less than 50 feet thick and composed of permeable limestone and dolomite, whereas Niagara contends the area it’s looking at has a confining unit of clay up to 75 feet thick.
A permit condition also was included in the agreement that allows the permit to be revoked or the withdrawal reduced if aquifer tests demonstrate that using water from the lower aquifer does not provide the benefit anticipated, according to Water Management officials.
Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks said before the lower aquifer is utilized as a water source, “the best modeling and scientific data will have to demonstrate it has no effect on the Upper Floridan.”
“I do believe any permits issued for the Lower Floridan should be issued on a short-term basis,” he said, so if it is determined it has an impact on the upper aquifer, the permit can be revoked.
But studying the aquifers to assure there is separation between the upper and lower will be expensive.
Working in conjunction with the Central Florida Water Initiative, the SLRWI must come up with $300,000 to fund a study that will convince the Water Management District that using the lower aquifer is a viable option.
The Florida Senate has recommended full funding for the study, while the House of Representatives must still approve the funding. Even so, all parties, with the exception of the Lake County Commission, have agreed to share in the cost of the study. The County Commission is expected to vote for approval at an upcoming meeting.
And even if studies prove the aquifers are separated, the costs of drilling deeper and purifying the water that comes from the lower aquifer will affect water users.
Oyler said water rates across Central Florida will undoubtedly rise.
Parks said finding an alternative water source — whether it is tapping the lower aquifer or something else — can be just one part of a larger solution to the approaching water shortage. He also advocates conservation, water reuse, and capturing storm water for use by consumers.
Leading the charge
Polk County, Lake’s neighbor to the south, is already seeking a permit to withdraw 30 million gallons a day from the lower aquifer.
“We have already done tests that will demonstrated no impact to the upper aquifer or surficial,” said Gary Fries, Polk’s utilities director.
The whole project is expected to cost $320 million because a major pipeline must be installed, Fries said.
Fries believes that the lower Floridan is the most cost-effective option for Polk County, even though they will have to treat the water because the quality is poor.
“It will probably impact our water rates by 15 percent,” he said.
The further south you go in Florida, the poorer the quality of water, Oyler explained. He said there are eight wells in the south Lake region currently withdrawing water needs from the lower aquifer.
The water quality tested in Minneola, Clermont and Groveland lower aquifer wells is excellent, but as you reach the Four Corners area, the quality gets worse, he said.
“That is a challenge to treat,” he said.
Drilling in the lower aquifer is like potluck, Oyler said, explaining that one area could produce good water quality and another area 15 miles away could have poorer quality
While Oyler said the Lower Floridan is a viable option, the question is whether it will meet all of south Lake’s needs.
That is why it cannot be the only solution to solving the problem, he noted.
“If you look at the general use pattern of water, 50 percent of potable water is used for irrigation,” he said. “If we can stop large-scale irrigation, we don’t have a water problem right now.”
While some areas are connected to reclaimed water, with many cities in the south region, including Groveland, expanding its reclaimed water networks, conservation is also key, Oyler said.
Groveland Mayor Tim Loucks said in the next few months the Eagle Ridge Reclaimed Distribution System would be online, reducing groundwater for irrigation by 400,000 gallons a day.
Regardless, people should cut back on their use of water, said.
“We are not in Costa Rica,” he said. “You can’t grow a jungle.”

140406-d
Small but promising step in restoring Everglades
Associated Press
April 6, 2014
South Fla engineers create urban wetland, a small but promising step to saving the Everglades
MIAMI -
Engineers say initial success on a tiny urban section of the massive Everglades restoration plan could provide important lessons for the larger project.
The Miami Herald reported Sunday a mini project at the Miami Deering Estate shows what could happen if the more than $10.5 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan is ever fully funded.
The 2-year-old project is a drop in the bucket, part of the larger Biscayne Bay wetland restoration, that falls within the broader restoration plan. Its cost is around $4 million.
Still engineer Jorge Jaramillo says the pace of change is impressive and shows what could be accomplished on a broader scale. In recent months, lowland sedges, sawgrass and other native plants have returned. Springs are bubbling. The trick has been pumping enough water through with submerged electrical pumps.
The Everglades restoration plan is an attempt to rebuild Florida's diverse, natural ecosystem, in which flocks of birds once soared and panthers roamed. But the Everglades also serve a practical purpose too. The so-called River of Grass acts as a natural water filter. And it provides water for millions of Americans.
Environmentalists are happy with the mini project's progress so far, but they are also frustrated the restoration is happening in such small fits and starts. They want to see fast-tracked bundled projects completed. Both chambers of Congress approved bills to help pay for restoration in Central Florida but they have yet to reconcile the proposals.

140406-e
State cancels lecture by Florida State professor and Rick Scott critic
FSU News – by Alexander Browning, Staff Writer
April 6, 2014
 The cancellation of a lecture by Dr. Diane Roberts has gone viral after the state of Florida pulled the plug nearly two weeks ago. Roberts, an English professor at Florida State University, was supposed to give a talk on Florida’s water supply at Mission San Luis Thursday; however, the Department of State decided to cancel the talk a week prior for an unknown reason.
Roberts, who also writes an opinion column for the Tampa Bay Times and British newspaper The Guardian, is a known critic of Governor Rick Scott’s administration.
The museum’s management had asked Roberts to give a talk of historical significance. They approved the topic she chose: water’s historical role in the state and its deterioration.
According to Roberts, Secretary of State Detzner’s office told her that the topic did not match the museum’s historical emphasis on resources–even though the museum just hosted another speaker who discussed Florida’s water. Sec. Detzner personally called and apologized to Roberts last week. He invited her back to Mission San Luis to give a talk on the subject of her choosing.
Brittany Lesser, Communications Director of the Department of State, confirmed that the Secretary reached out to Dr. Roberts and apologized. One Mission San Luis staffer, Jessica Kindrick, resigned Tuesday in protest of the state’s decision. “I have been notified of a resignation by a staffer at Mission San Luis, said Sec. Detzner,. “I plan to reach out to everyone involved to determine if everything was handled appropriately and ensure important protocols were followed.”
Kindrick, a graduate student studying “museum and cultural heritage studies,” was planning to resign after completing her degree in order to teach in Texas.
She explained that the decision came early after seeing the museum’s integrity being questioned. “Academic integrity is extremely important to any cultural heritage institution,” she said. “I’m tired of these institutions being stifled because people run them on a business model.” Kindrick had posted her personal account of what happened to reddit where she says the Communications Office told them to shut Roberts down. “As a museum professional I am appalled and disgusted by this blatant political maneuvering at the expense of my, and my institution’s, integrity and desire nothing more than to see this come to light.”
Roberts says it is not a secret that she does not agree with Governor Scott’s administration and believes it was a “political decision” during an important election year. “The administration has created a bigger fuss than if they just allowed me to speak to a group of thirty [people] at the museum.” She confirms that she will reschedule a talk at the museum in the near future.

140405-
Urban wetland at Deering Estate offers glimpse at successful Everglades restoration
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
April 5, 2014
Much of the massive plan to restore the Everglades exists in theory, a vast and complicated circuit of interconnected canals, culverts, gates and reservoirs, mostly located far inland and far from people. Few sections have been built. Far more exist only in computer models.
But in the last two years, engineers have been fine-tuning a small but uniquely accessible project: an urban wetland sandwiched between tennis courts and walled McMansions near Palmetto Bay.
Located on the Deering Estate and an adjacent old mango farm, and part of the much bigger Biscayne Bay wetland restoration, the mini project represents the science behind the grand but stalled Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Known as CERP, the far-reaching plan is intended to cure the ailing ecosystem by restoring the flow and breadth of the River of Grass.
By comparison, this project by the South Florida Water Management District is tiny — just over 30 acres with a pump house sheathed in coral rock to mimic the nearby estate — and relatively inexpensive, at $4.2 million. The price tag for CERP, passed by Congress in 2000, is $10.5 billion.
‘Drop in bucket’
The mini wetlands project’s principal engineer, Jorge Jaramillo, describes it as a “drop in the bucket” in restoring the southern Everglades’ much-needed flow of fresh water into the bay. Still, he says, the urban wetlands matter, and not just because they are the first completed locally. Plans call for the project to include two more sections extending about 15 miles south, well past Homestead Air Force Base.
So far, it’s confirming scientists’ belief that they can restore, or at least partly repair, decades of damage caused by development and drying out. With water now freely flowing, upland trees that grew unnaturally around the Cutler Slough have started to die and lowland sedges and sawgrass have sprouted. Springs that for decades ran dry bubble with water. Salty water is fresher. And for the first time in years, the Chinese Bridge that Charles Deering built in 1916 across Cutler Creek spans an actual creek.
“It’s impressive to see changes so fast,” said Bahram Charkhian, the district’s lead environmentalist, whose job it is to determine whether the project works.
But environmentalists also say the mini wetlands project represents something less positive: the fragmented and sluggish attempts to repair the Everglades.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the project — if fully completed — will ultimately divert 59 percent of the water now flowing into canals to 283 acres of wetlands, which will help replenish coastal nurseries where bait fish scavenge for shrimp and other shellfish. It may also help bring back oysters and the marine life that thrives on an oyster reef.
But one piece of that, a move that could deliver even more water and potentially replenish a far bigger swath of coastal wetlands, remains shelved, with no money for its estimated $18 million price tag. District engineers scraped up $180,000 to install a few culverts in the southernmost stretch, but land for that section still needs to be purchased.
Projects languishing
And that, say those who’ve watched restoration plans languish for more than a decade, is why CERP and its 68 projects spread over 38 years won’t get done.
“The Biscayne Bay coastal wetlands project is a prime example. Phase one was congressionally authorized and phase two isn’t yet,” said Dawn Sherriff, a senior policy advisor for the nonprofit Everglades Foundation.
Instead, advocates say, restoration needs to focus on a fast-tracking system that bundles projects and completes them over shorter periods. On Thursday, the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board will vote on whether to pay its half of a $2.1 billion plan of coordinated projects that target the central Everglades; it endorsed the plan a year ago. Both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate approved separate bills covering the federal government’s half last year, but they have yet to reconcile them. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will manage and build the projects, is expected to issue a report on a recommended plan for the central Everglades on April 22, Sherriff said.
“You’ll turn on the switch to the central Everglades and you will immediately have benefits because everything will work together,” she explained. Bundling projects “also helps because we get authorizations from Congress all in one sweep.”
Restoring coastal wetlands by spreading water is not new science. What is different, and why this project is working, scientists say, is how the water is managed.
Managing water
The Miami Rock Ridge, a coral rock spine about 25 feet above sea level and six miles wide along the state’s east coast from North Miami Beach to the Upper Keys, contained the fresh water in the eastern Everglades that once spilled out of Lake Okeechobee and flowed south. But in places, water eroded the sandy rock and broke free, creating valleys. As South Florida grew, many valleys were turned into canals to help drain more land for development. The canals dumped fresh water into the bay at single points, leaving the rest of the bay increasingly salty and choking the lush coastal estuaries.
In the early 1990s, Michael Ross, an environmental scientist with Florida International University, designed a project for the Water Management District intended to revive those estuaries at the south end of the bay, between Homestead’s Bayfront Park and east of Southwest 97th Avenue.
The project, with two sections across 100 acres, lasted until 2001 — nearly 10 years. At the end, he said, his results were negligible. But the problem, he determined, wasn’t the science. It was the water.
“We only had a little bit of water,” he said. “But the concept was good.”
So when Jaramillo, the engineer, designed his project, he made sure to include massive submerged electrical pumps that, if needed, could move up to 64 million gallons a day. And to keep his new neighbors happy, the pump house was adorned with copper flashing and green roof tiles to match the Deering Estate. Metal window hoods were covered with Bahama shutters. And a 2 1/2-acre freshwater wetland for environmental students was dredged where mango trees once grew.
In December 2012, he and Charkhian, the environmental engineer, turned on the pumps. But after the first year passed with few results, they realized they needed more water. In 2013, water managers at the district’s West Palm Beach headquarters gave them permission to raise the volume. In January and February last year, a crew armed with GPS devices mapped the wetland and found that the water inundating the wetland nearly perfectly matched the historic slough.
They quickly began to see changes. Soaking the wetland appears to be recharging groundwater. Salinity in one monitoring well downstream dropped dramatically, from as high as 20 percent to between 2 and 3 percent. Charkhian said he has spotted a gar downstream in water that had previously been too salty to suit the freshwater fish.
Harsh reality
That’s all positive news — but there’s a harsh reality, too. In a regular status report published this week, the Army Corps noted that while the project was improving hydrology, the bay itself was far from healthy. Severe cold weather in January 2010 weakened its shoal grass and reduced the number of plants and mangrove fish.
“Once an ecosystem changes, you can’t really restore it 100 percent back to what it was,” said Stephen Baisden, the Corps’ project manager.
There is also a competition for water, Ross pointed out.
“Rainfall hasn’t changed much. There’s just more competitors for that water. It’s a zero sum game, and you have to pick. And one reason Biscayne Bay doesn’t get much attention from the Everglades scientists is because at the same time, sea level is coming up,” he said, referring to rising seas caused by climate change. “So even if you put the same amount of water there, you wouldn’t have the same Biscayne Bay because sea level is a foot higher” and coastal estuaries would be saltier than they once were.
Still, Jane Graham, Audubon Florida’s policy manager of Everglades conservation, applauds the district for completing the wetlands, even if it’s just a small section.
“A lot of times, Everglades restoration is highly inaccessible. The average person can’t hop in an airboat and see an alligator or venture into the Everglades to see tree islands,” she said. “No one said this was going to be easy or fast. We just have to keep our wits about us and keep adjusting and, hopefully, we’ll have restored the largest ecosystem in the world.”

140404-a
Environmental Protection Agency may give more regulatory control back to Florida
WTXL.com
April 4, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTXL) - The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed withdrawing federal water quality standards.
The move would allow individual states to mandate their own water quality standards.  The proposal would roll back a 2009 measure that specifically imposed stricter standards on Florida than on the rest of the country.
Congressman Steve Southerland applauded the EPA's proposed move to relinquish regulatory control over Florida's waterways. 
“I have worked closely with state lawmakers and business leaders to ensure that Floridians spoke with one voice in opposing the EPA’s intrusion into our waterways,” said Southerland. “I believe the EPA was shortsighted in imposing an unfair standard on Florida alone, and I am pleased that the agency has recognized the tremendous progress that state officials have already made in strengthening the health of our streams, lakes, and canals.”
 Southerland introduced the State Waters Partnership Act in 2012, urging the EPA to adopt Florida's water quality metrics.  The act also required the EPA research the potential impact of further regulation upon businesses and other private entities.

140404-b
Mine expansion in PB could kill rare snakes
Sun Sentinel - by David Fleshler
April 6, 2014
Up to 23 eastern indigo snakes may live on site.
The expansion of a rock mine in southwestern Palm Beach County could kill up to a dozen federally protected eastern indigo snakes, the longest native snake in North America, according to a wildlife agency report.
The Star Ranch is seeking permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to expand its limestone mine by 1.4 square miles to produce construction materials for roads, Everglades restoration and other projects. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the work could "crush indigo snakes, their nests and eggs," killing up to 12 of the 23 that may live there.
None of the snakes, which can reach a length of up to eight and a half feet, have been seen on the property, the wildlife service said. But the service said the site is the type of land they use, they have been seen around it and they're difficult to find because they live primarily underground.
Noel Shapiro, a sugar cane farmer who owns the property, could not be reached for comment, despite a phone call to his office. Broward contractor Ron Bergeron, whose company has long had an agreement to mine the land, said he hadn't seen the report. He noted the service admits not finding any snakes on the site.
"They're just making an assumption that there's 23, but nobody's seen one," said Bergeron, who is one of seven volunteer commissioners who run the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Bergeron said 90 percent of the mine's materials will go toward public road-building and Everglades restoration projects - the reservoirs, levees and other structures that will conserve and clean water for the Everglades. Without a nearby mine, he said, the rock would have to be brought at much higher cost from western Miami-Dade County.
Indigo snakes, which have the rich black color of a grand piano, live in parts of Georgia and Florida, mostly from Central Florida down through the Keys. Non-venomous – and popular for that reason for wildlife shows – the snakes eat fish, snakes, frogs, young gopher tortoises, small mammals and small alligators.
Protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the snakes have declined mainly from loss of habitat to development, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Other causes include capture for the pet trade and rattlesnake roundups, in which participants spray gasoline into gopher tortoise burrows, where indigo snakes and other animals live, to flush out rattlesnakes.
Environmentalists have long opposed the expansion of mining in western Palm Beach County, saying it ruins the landscape and leaves behind deep holes that drain water that should flow through the Everglades.
Drew Martin, conservation chair of the Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group, said other projects, such as the proposed development of the Briger tract in northern Palm Beach County, would kill indigo snakes.
"We have the snakes being threatened in a lot of places," he said. "The more we reduce the number of indigo snakes, the more we run the risk that the snake could become extinct."
The opinion letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not say the work should not go forward. Although it said the work would "adversely affect" the species, the letter said the mine would not "jeopardize" its existence, the trigger that could hold up a project. The letter said the mining work would have to comply with standard procedures published by the wildlife service for avoiding harm to indigo snakes.

140404-c
Rick Scott announces $29 million to improve South Florida water quality
Sunshine State News - by Allison Nielsen
April 4, 2014 1:02 PM
Gov. Rick Scott joined  Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vineyard Jr. on Friday to announce 10 wastewater and stormwater projects that will receive more than $29 million in loan funding for South Florida through the department’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program.
The Projects in South Florida Include projects in Miami-Dade, Monroe County, Islamorada, Marathon, Key Largo, Dania Beach, North Miami and Miramar. 
Established in 1989, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program provides financial savings for projects to benefit the environment, including protection of public health and conservation of local watersheds. 
The program has awarded $3.8 billion in loans since its inception, and more than $1.4 billion in funding for 96 projects in just the last five years.
“Investing in water quality in South Florida is important to all the families who live in the area," said Scott. "These critical projects will help keep Floridians and our environment healthy. We must continue our focus to improve water quality throughout the state to ensure that Florida remains the best place in the country to live, work and raise a family.” 
The announcement received a great deal of praise from legislators across the state.
“In order for our state to continue to attract visitors, we must continue to prioritize spending on our environment," said Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah. "Today’s announcement of wastewater and stormwater treatment upgrades is good for our economy and for all Floridians.”
“For years the State Revolving Fund has given communities the boost they need to implement technologies that will change the impact they have on our state’s delicate water resources," said Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes. "Gov. Scott has once again provided that bump to put local governments in a position to make a difference.”

140404-d
Victory for clean water
Associated Press – Editorial by the Tampa Bay Times
April 4, 2014
A federal judge brought long-awaited clarity and common sense last week to the state's age-old practice of pumping polluted water into South Florida's Lake Okeechobee. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas' finding that the practice violated the Clean Water Act is a victory for public health and Florida's environment, and it should prompt South Florida water managers to quit wasting the tax money spent cleaning up the Everglades basin by continuing to contribute to its pollution.
For decades, the South Florida Water Management District has pumped water from canals along sugar-farming areas near the shoreline into Lake Okeechobee, both to prevent flooding and to boost levels in a lake that serves as a drinking water source for millions in South Florida. While water management district officials say the pumping is rare, environmental groups sued, seeking to force the district to obtain federal permits before pumping fertilizer-laden farm runoff back into the lake.
Friday's ruling from New York's Southern District came in a consolidated case that had grown from a decade of litigation in Florida. In his ruling, Karas held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was required to regulate the practice under the Clean Water Act. The judge said that EPA had no authority to issue a blanket exemption to the permitting process. Though he invited the EPA to narrow the rules for allowable discharges, the judge nonetheless affirmed the public purpose behind the Clean Water Act — and the need for the federal government to enforce it.
The ruling puts the water management district and the EPA on notice that their first obligation is to public health, not to agribusiness. The excessive nutrients wouldn't flow to the lake without the state pumping them there. And recirculating these excessive nutrients hurts the entire basin. The ruling affirms the role the federal government needs to play in ensuring state compliance with the Clean Water Act. And it should crack down on future abuses by clarifying when operators must seek a discharge permit.
The district and the EPA should respond in good faith and not seek to appeal the ruling or delay the impact on procedural grounds. The state has already lost more than a decade on what should be a shared public goal of removing these chemicals from the South Florida watershed.
Officials should instead craft a permitting process that seeks to keep this pollution from public water bodies — a solution more in keeping with the simultaneous and costly effort by the state and federal governments to clean up and restore the Everglades. The environmental community can be a partner. These agencies need to reach beyond the lawyers and chart a course for improving the state's ecosystem and drinking water supply. And it shouldn't take another lost decade.

140404-e
What I would have said about water
Tampa bay Times - Diane Roberts column
April 4, 2014
FSU professor Diane Roberts was the center of some backlash for Gov. Rick Scott's administration this week after it canceled her planned talk at Mission San Luis and then backtracked. Now, she's written a column for the Tampa Bay Times on what she would have said. Here's an excerpt:
A couple of thousand miles worth of rivers and 375,000 acres of lake water in Florida are considered "impaired," that is, dirty. The Indian River ecosystem has collapsed, fish kills are increasing, and between floods and profligate pumping, we risk contaminating our aquifer. We keep destroying wetlands and marshes, which act as water recharge areas. This isn't abstract; it's not some "green" trifle you can simply ignore. Nature isn't a place outside your air-conditioned house, beyond your nice subdivision. It's in your drinking water. When you look at a Florida spring, you're looking at our aquifer.
We know where the pollution comes from, and we know what to do about it. The trouble is, our government refuses to get it. Yes, Rick Scott's been touting money for Everglades restoration and springs cleanup. And the state seems to have abandoned the spectacularly stupid idea of selling conservation lands to make money to buy other conservation lands.
But Scott has gutted the water management districts. His development-uber-alles DEP has fired scientists, elevated industry hacks and recently tried to change the rules so that more wetlands got trashed (DEP lost in court, thank God). The state agency charged with overseeing growth management has been dismantled and, instead of cooperating with environmentalists and the EPA on numeric nutrient standards for our toxic water, Scott, the commissioner of agriculture and the rest of the regime have fought it every step of the way

140403-a
Daniel Martin Cary
Westfield Republican / Mayville Sentinel News
April 3, 2014
Daniel Martin Cary, 64, of Stuart, Florida, left us on the 7th of March after a valiant battle with leukemia.
He was born August 23, 1949 in Westfield, the son of Marilyn (Rich) and the late Martin D. Cary.
Dan was a 1968 graduate of Ripley Central School, and earned a Masters in Biology at the University of Miami.
He was executive director of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council from 1985 to 1994 and planning director for the South Florida Water Management District. He served as West Palm Beach's planning director from 1999 to 2003.
He also was one of the main architects of the comprehensive Everglades restoration plan.
Dan was one of the early proponents of "New Urbanism" which aims to reduce dependence on the automobile and create livable and walkable neighborhoods with housing and jobs. He is credited with helping rejuvenate parts of West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, and Delray Beach. He was honored as "ahead of his time, having a huge sensitivity to what made cities special and what would stand the test of time". He was singled out as an example of an effective town planner in James Howard Kunstler's 1996 book "Home From Nowhere".
Dan lived his life fully as a good son, husband and father. His infectious laughter touched all who knew him.
He enjoyed birding, painting and sculpturing, and his life stories accumulated over four continents were spellbinding. Dan's spirituality was complete.
In his words: "After reading through the entire Bible I came across the fact that it never contradicted itself and therefore is the word of God".
He is survived by his mother Marilyn, his wife Meriliz, his children Lia-Lucine and Artur, and his sister Anna (Gary) Bowerman. He was preceded in death by his father Martin.
Memorial contributions to his lifelong interest in planning to: Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council, "Dan Cary Renaissance Fund," 421 Camden Avenue, Stuart, Florida 34994 would be appreciated.
Guestbook for family and friends at www.aycockfuneralhome.net will be open until April 9.

140403-b
Desalination, Treated Wastewater: Best Options For Florida's Space Coast?
WaterOnline.com - by Sara Jerome
April 3, 2014
Florida's Space Coast needs new sources of drinking water if it is to meet rising demand in the coming years without drying up its groundwater resources. 
The district is working on a 20-year plan aimed at finding an extra 256 million daily gallons, Florida Today reported. Regional planners say desalination and treated wastewater are likely to be a part of the solution. 
"The St. Johns River Water Management District is looking for ways to meet the region’s future need for water, triggered by projected population growth and development within eastern and Central Florida," Florida Today reported. 
Demand for water is expected to grow. 
"A study by the district, which governs water issues for an 18-county area that includes Brevard, shows that the region’s population is likely to increase by almost 1.8 million from 2010 to 2035. Water demand is expected to increase by 314 million gallons a day," the report said. 
To meet that demand, conservation will be one puzzle piece, but more drastic measures are needed, experts said in the report. 
Even if the area were to tap all its groundwater sources, that would only provide an extra 58 million gallons of water per day, the report said. 
That's where desalination comes in. 
"The Water Management District cites seawater as having significant potential as a water source," the report said. 
The district called it "inherently reliable and virtually drought-proof,” according to the report.  Cost and the environmental challenges of disposing byproducts were cited as drawbacks. 
The current status of desalination in Florida?
"Statewide, there are three seawater desalination plants; two older plants in Key West with a capacity of 3 MGD and the newest plant in Tampa, producing 25 MGD," the Florida Environmental & Law Blog said in analysis piece. 
Treated wastewater may be another part of the solution. 
"Blending treated wastewater directly into the potable water system via pipeline connections has been used in many countries, and is being tried in parts of California and Texas," the Florida Today report said, citing the district. 
As Florida eyes water solutions, experts say it has a long way to go when it comes to even just optimizing conservation. Charles Fishman, author of “The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water,” told WBET that Florida has "dunderheaded, if not dumb, water problems."
"Florida gets four feet of water a year, 48 inches fall on average on every part of Florida. [Yet it has] chronic water shortages. And half the water used in Florida is used for outdoor lawn watering. So they need to connect the dots a lot. They need to collect the water that falls and use it, and they need to realize that their grass will be green even if they don't turn on the sprinkler systems," he said.

140403-c
EPA Withdraws Federal Water Quality Rules For Florida
WGCU.org - by Ashley Lopez
April 3, 2014
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new rule Thursday that withdraws federal water quality standards for Florida. This means polluters will now only have to follow Florida’s rules.
Environmental advocates have been fighting the state’s limits for nutrient pollution in court for years.
Groups like Earthjustice have argued the state’s criteria favors polluters over stricter water regulations. A spokesperson for the EPA said in a statement, however, that “there is no need for overlapping federal criteria.”
Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement the decision “paves the way for more protection of Florida’s waters." The state agency also said Florida’s criteria are more comprehensive than the federal government’s.
However, David Guest, an attorney for Earthjustice who has been fighting Florida’ nutrient criteria, said the state’s rules are not good because industries were too involved when the state wrote the standards.
“This is not a good day for us and our hope is that we can get the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to re-instate federal rules and get this back on track,” he said.
Guest said Florida’s water quality needs stricter rules. He said increasing fish kills, toxic algae blooms, manatee and dolphin deaths, are all signs the state’s water is in trouble.
“In the face of that, the decision of the government is to abandon standard setting to try to stop it,” he said. “This is the worst face of bad government.”
Florida’s Agriculture Chief Adam Putnam said the decision will enable state officials to manage the state’s “unique and diverse waterways.”

140403-d
Large water conservation project underway
Industry News
April 3, 2014
Treasure Coast Irrigation should finish the job in Southern Florida later this year.
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – Century Village is an active-adult community in South Florida, consisting of 21 landscaped communities with more than 20,000 residents. Due to the volume of water use, the South Florida Water Management District required an irrigation overhaul and water conservation plan be set in place.
Century Village and the designer company Masuen Consulting, LLC, selected Treasure Coast Irrigation as the contractor.
Treasure Coast Irrigation and Masuen Consulting developed a water conservation plan that includes an onsite weather station that automatically detects and adjusts the irrigation flow and occurrence based on weather conditions, moisture and humidity. Treasure Coast Irrigation installed the following project features to enhance water conservation and green efficient properties:
• 23 miles of irrigation mainline in a High-Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) pipeline that extends the lifespan of the irrigation system by 50-100 years
• More than 1 million linear feet of pipe
• 900 irrigation zones
• Decreased pump stations from 42 down to 3
• 70,000 sprinkler heads and nozzles
• Estimated overall water conservation of 50-70 percent
• Reduction of operational costs by 30-50 percent
The entire project itself is taking place as 20,000 residents continue to live their daily lives without interruption. “We would estimate this site has the potential to reduce its overall water use by 50 -70 percent and its operational costs by 30-50 percent, once completed and properly maintained and managed, when compared to ‘pre-project’ water use and costs,” said Mitchel Walker of Masuen Consulting.
“The Century Village project has been one of the most challenging projects in our company’s history. Installing a new irrigation system in a 30 plus year old community of retirees seemed overwhelming when we began the project in October of 2011.
"As we near completion later this year, it has been very rewarding to see the dramatic improvements to the community green space and the incredible savings to the residents in water and energy usage,” said Tom Balling, president of Treasure Coast Irrigation & Rood Landscape.
The Century Village Irrigation & Water Conservation project is set to complete at the end of 2014.

140403-e
Sea rise seen as threat
South Florida Times - by Roberto Santiago
April 2014
FORT LAUDERDALE —Flooding, erosion and salt water contamination caused by sea level rise has made headlines over the past few years but few solutions have been offered to deal with the crisis.
That changes this week thanks to a brown bag open forum called “Sea Level Rise: County & City Solutions’ which will feature presentations by a Broward County official and two environmental experts on how and why certain populations are at greater risk, what can done and how these action plans can be implemented.
Keren Bolter, a Geosciences Ph.D candidate at Florida Atlantic University’s Center for Environmental Studies will discuss how lower-income areas in Broward County face the greatest risk from a rise in the sea level.
“Low-income populations at low elevation are particularly vulnerable because they lack the resources to respond to sea level rise impacts,” Bolter said. “The first step is effective risk communication, which begins with engaging residents to be aware and prepared. This can lead to a change in behavior and public support for adaptation options.”
Jason Liechty, Environmental Projects coordinator for the Natural Resources Planning and Management Division of the Broward County Environmental Protection and Growth Management, will present an action plan for Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
 “The good news is that we have a highly successful voluntary collaboration preparing for the future: the Regional Climate Change Compact among Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties, municipalities and nonprofits,” Liechty said. 
“Working together as a region, we’ve developed new planning tools and a Climate Action Plan to adapt to sea level rise and other climate impacts and to do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
Tara Bardi, senior scientist for the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades, will discuss how methods used in Everglades restoration can be applied as a counter measure for sea level rise.
“The restoration of surface water flow from the Kissimmee River basin to Lake Okeechobee and south into the Everglades could serve as a counter measure to the salt water intrusion  and its effects on the environment and infrastructure resulting from sea level rise,” Bardi said.
 The forum is part of the Friday Brown Bag Panel Lunch Series presented by the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades, the League of Women Voters of Broward County and the Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches.
 “This is perhaps the most important issue of our time,” said Anthony Abbate, associate provost for FAU’s Broward campuses.
 Last year, Abbate was responsible for helping organize the second annual “Sea Level Rise Summit: Resilience in the Face of Change.” It was held at FAU Fort Lauderdale and attended by experts from around the world.
“This April 4 open forum is an excellent follow-up to what was presented last semester,” Abbate said.

140403-f
The natural wonders, beauty of the Florida Everglades
UConn Daily Campus - by Zarrin Ahmed, Staff Writer
April 3, 2014
I was lucky enough to escape the brutally cold spring break in Conn. and fly down to FL. for almost the whole week. I’ve had the chance to go to FL. many times to visit my grandmother, and I would always look out into the vast areas of what my dad referred to as “the swamp” while flying into the airport. When I was 11, all I knew of FL. was that I hated the heat. After returning to campus with the rest of my class, sunburnt and worn out, southern FL. has taken on a whole new meaning for me.
Environmental Journalism is led by Professor Wyss of the Journalism department and consists of nine students this year. The class revolves around coverage of the Everglades – a region that spans all of southern FL., from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Keys. All of the area isn’t swamplands though. Amidst the many environments that collectively make up the Everglades are settlements and inhabitants. Most people know of the major cities in southern FL. like Miami, where urban development has risen and prospered for years. Most also consider FL. famous for its alligators, fewer know that it also hosts many tropical birds. Not many, including myself three months ago, know about the disappearance of the Everglades and the huge water management project that the South Florida Water Management District has conducted for years, and will continue for decades.
First, an explanation of how the Everglades works is in order. Starting from Lake Okeechobee – which is in the central southern part of the state – near West Palm Beach, water supplies an entire ecosystem by moving downward and eventually into the Florida Keys. The whole area is at a slant, which allows for natural movement of the water. This water is the basis of life for the Everglades, affecting all wildlife and plant life. Any change in the water results in changes in the entire system. When development in FL. began – especially around the lake – flood disasters, as a result of hurricanes, struck the area. Dikes were put up around the lake to prevent flood damage. But in turn, the water from Lake Okeechobee was cut off from the rest of the Everglades.
Now, in an effort to reverse the effects of losing more than half of the Everglades due to water control (for flooding and human use), there are state programs and federal engineers, activists and scientists, all working together to save the Everglades. They understand why it is so important; but many, like myself before, don’t understand what’s so special about the Everglades.
I was in a canoe when an alligator came straight toward me, its tail swishing back and forth intimidatingly, only to come almost a foot away from me and swim past. Soon after, I was clutching the branches of a mangrove, maneuvering the canoe around a hissing alligator. Only in the Everglades do alligators and crocodiles exist together; nowhere else in the world.
I was ankle deep in mud, trudging through the swamp with the sun beating strongly on my back, and then knee deep in cool waters with trees for shade overhead. Like something out of a fairytale, the sun shone bright and golden through the leaves while plants hung from trees.
I was out on Lake Okeechobee with earmuffs on to protect me from the motor of an airboat, clutching onto my notepad and camera while skimming the surface of the calm waters. I saw hundreds of beautiful birds and experienced the vastness of natural life and beauty around me. White lilies, my favorite flower, were floating all over.
From pine forests to cypress swamps, mahogany hammocks to freshwater swamps, the Everglades consists of many landscapes. It holds many treasures, from the ghost orchid which can only be found in the Everglades, to the FL. panther, which is endangered. But the most interesting and beautiful part of the entire thing was how complex the system is – how each part of the Everglades works together to make an environment that is unmatched throughout the entire world.

140402-a
Around Town: Just because new developments are going up doesn't mean preservation isn't happening
Naples Daily News – Donna Fiala
April 2, 2014
A number of people have been talking about all the new development coming to the East Naples area, and their fears about becoming overcrowded as other places are now.
I have mentioned in our town hall meetings as well as in homeowner association meetings, that we are quite different, and I’ve been asked to share those thoughts with you.
We happen to be in a unique area in East Naples. You only have to drive down U.S. 41 East past the intersection of Collier Boulevard and County Road 951, when you realize all of a sudden it looks like a rural community, with farming and all.
What is different is it also contains very fragile protected areas such as Rookery Bay, Fakahatchee Strand, Picayune Forest, Collier Seminole State Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, and the Everglades National Park. That area also contains panther corridors, lots and lots of wetlands that cannot be drained or built on, environmentally sensitive protected lands and requirements that new developments must put aside preserves on their property that cannot be built on.
Take, for instance, the Isles of Collier Preserve. This is a 2,400-acre parcel of land. Commonly a developer can build four dwelling units per acre on their land. On this particular property, the developer can only build on 900 acres — and those are not along the water’s edge, but fronting U.S. 41 East.
Of course those who drive by think everything is developed and overcrowded, but all the rest of those acres are in preservation permanently. The developer also has a commitment to rid the preserve areas of all exotic growth and keep it cleared for three years. The Conservancy is working with them on this effort. That’s a lot of acres with no houses on them.
This developer instead used that land wisely to build 10 miles of hiking, biking and walking trails (no golf courses) and four miles of kayak and canoe trails. Can you ask for anything more?
The next development to the east is Treviso Bay with a similar plan — all their land backing up to Rookery Bay will stay in preserves permanently, while the building will take place nearer the roads. Again, these residents will enjoy the outdoor living, the beautiful environment as they walk and bike in their community and watch the wildlife play in the preserves.
When you look at the new development being built on Collier Boulevard, across from Rattlesnake Hammock Road near the Swamp Buggy grounds, called Hacienda Lakes, you see still another property where the developer must preserve all the wetlands, somewhere around 1,000 acres. All of that land cannot have housing on them, which means less traffic, less road congestion and more nature.
And let’s face it, you can’t go too much further east on U.S.41 before butting up against the Everglades, Picayune or Fakahatchee (a marvelous orchid preserve as well), all of which will never be built on.
To some, it feels like we are overcrowded in Collier County — until you look at a map. We feel crowded because we all live pretty close to the coast. There are 2,025 square miles in Collier County and 81 percent of that land is in preservation. No, you can’t feel it when we are all crowded into the remaining area...unless just maybe you live out this way. Welcome to East Naples!

140402-b
Ghost traps major problem in the Keys
KeysNews.com – by Timothy O’Hara, Citizen Staff
April 2, 2014
Study shows more than 1M pieces of junk litter sea floor.
A new survey is shedding light on how many old traps and other marine debris is littering the waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Released last week, the study by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) fisheries biologist Tom Matthews and other scientists found that 85,000 spiny lobster ghost traps which have lost their buoys, and more than 1 million pieces of traps and fishing gear junk is estimated to be present on the sea floor of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The new study was released as spiny lobster season came to a close Monday and fishermen had to bring in all of their traps.
The greatest density of trap debris was found in coral-dominated habitats throughout the Keys, despite trap fishermen's avoidance of coral reefs while fishing, according to the report.
Keys fishermen reached an agreement with federal fishery managers several years ago when the federal government listed elkhorn and staghorn coral on the endangered species list. The fishermen worked with fishery managers to detail areas the fishermen are to avoid to protect the coral.
In any given season, there are roughly 483,000 spiny lobster traps in waters off the Florida Keys. Matthews estimated that 18 percent, or roughly 87,000 traps, with nearly 1,000 miles of rope, are lost in the water each year..
Storms and hurricanes are mostly to blame. The wave and wind action during powerful storms can push traps hundreds of yards. In some cases, the junk is pushed into coral reefs and other fragile marine habitat.
"Marine debris continues to be a problem in the sanctuary, and while we spend a lot of money and staff time on cleanups, we may never be able to address over a million derelict traps that litter the sea floor, coral reefs and mangroves," Sanctuary Superintendent Sean Morton said Tuesday.
"In other surveys, scientists have found that debris has been encountered on the seabed at 85 percent of the surveyed sites. Marine debris is well known in its ability to kill fish, birds, lobster and sea turtles but nets, line and traps, when combined with wind and waves, can scrape and harm immobile organisms such as sponges and corals. It is a pervasive problem that needs to be addressed."
Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association, contends the trap loss estimates are too high.
"If his numbers were correct, there would be a lot of fishermen out of business," Kelly said.
He estimated trap loss is more in the six percent range, with many of the traps being recovered during after-season programs that commercial fishermen participate in.
Trap fishermen pay a fee of $1 per trap each year with proceeds going to pay groups like the Organized Fishermen of Florida to remove traps left in the water after lobster season closes at the end of March.
Kelly also argued it is a fishermen's best financial interest to recover all of his or her traps at the end of the year, as they cost roughly $40 a piece to buy or make.
"The guys regularly move their traps, and they have sophisticated electronic equipment to track their equipment," Kelly said.
Ghost traps can also be bad for lobster populations as the crustaceans become stuck in the traps and die. It is estimated hundreds of thousands of lobsters die a year in old traps, said Matthews, who is finalizing a study on lobster mortality with more specific information on the number of deaths.
Once left in the water, the traps either break apart, or become overgrown within a year and a half.
"It (lobster mortality because of old traps) is a big cost to the fishery," Matthews said.

140401-a
Action is needed now for a healthier St. Johns River
Jacksonville.com – by Ron Littlepage
April 1, 2014
Now is the time to stand up for Florida’s iconic but endangered springs.
Five state senators, all of whom are in leadership positions and who represent counties in North and Central Florida where many of our springs are suffering, are pushing legislation to do just that.
A HEALTHIER ST. JOHNS AS WELL
What Sens. Charles Dean, Alan Hays, Bill Montford, David Simmons and Wilton Simpson want to do is not only critical for saving the springs from further degradation and to restore them, the bill also would improve the health of the St. Johns River, which gets much of its flow from springs.
The challenge is daunting.
Prolonged drought and over pumping of the Floridan aquifer have reduced the springs’ flow, and an overload of nitrates has filled the springs with damaging algae, with the world famous Silver Springs a prime example of both.
Those nitrates come from fertilizer spread on lawns, storm water runoff, wastewater treatment plants, agriculture, livestock and septic tanks.
The springs protection bill would for the first time provide a secure source of funding, set deadlines and require immediate action based on scientific evidence of what’s causing the problems and the best way to go about reversing the decline.
The answers could vary for each springshed.
THE NEED IS OBVIOUS
The Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Montford, passed the bill unanimously Monday.
“Anybody who goes and looks at a spring knows it’s no solution to do nothing,” Simmons told the committee before the vote.
But there are detractors who will try to stop the bill or weaken it as it moves through the process, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Industries of Florida, developers, some counties and anti-government, property-rights, septic-tank advocates.
To members of the latter group who complain about their rights being violated through septic tank regulations, some as logical as having the systems inspected regularly to determine if they are functioning properly, no one has the right to pollute the aquifer.
And one thing is crystal clear, which the springs aren’t anymore, the springs reflect what’s happening in the aquifer, which we rely on as our source of drinking water.
The bill is getting support from groups such as The Nature Conservancy, the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, and the Florida Conservation Coalition.
“This bill is a long time coming,” Estus Whitfield, an environmental adviser to four Florida governors and a founder of the Conservation Coalition, told the committee.
“The problem is not new, but the problem is critical,” Whitfield said.
ACTION NEEDED NOW
Dean, Hays, Montford, Simmons and Simpson need the public’s help to make sure a strong bill is passed by the Senate and to light a fire under the foot-dragging House.
The companion bill in the House has yet to be heard by any committee. The attitude there is wait until next year.
Florida’s dying springs can’t wait.
“Do what we can do now and don’t delay,” Janet Bowman of The Nature Conservancy urged senators.
Debbie Harrison Rumberger of the League of Women Voters echoed that.
“Now is the time to grab on and to protect what we have,” she said.
If you want to enjoy a healthy St. Johns River, if you want your children and grandchildren to be able to look in amazement into a clear, spring-fed pool where the fish seemingly float in the air, then now — not later — is the time to stand up for Florida’s endangered springs.

140401-b
Court ruling could block pumping of farm pollutants into Lake Okeechobee
CBS12.com & Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel
April 1, 2014
Lake Okeechobee may no longer be the dumping ground for polluted water that washes off South Florida sugar cane fields and other farmland, after a federal judge's decision Friday.
Environmentalists are declaring a key win in their long-standing legal fight to stop "back pumping," the controversial flood-control practice that pumps polluted stormwater runoff from South Florida farms north into the lake.
The result of the federal judge's decision on Friday could be that South Florida back pumping as well as other kinds of "water transfer" of polluted water elsewhere in the country can be considered a violation of the U.S. Clean Water Act.
Back pumping opponents contend that it flushes damaging fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants into Lake Okeechobee, sacrificing the lake's health in order to hold onto water that later gets tapped mainly by the sugar industry for irrigation.
Fish kills, toxic algae blooms and threats to drinking water are among the consequences of the "giant sickly plumes" that can come from back pumping into the lake, said David Guest, attorney for Earthjustice, which is waging the legal challenge.
"It's an appropriate management tool," said Barbara Miedema, vice president for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida. "Without water in the lake … everybody would be in jeopardy. It's not just for farms."
Sugar industry representatives and the water management district contend that the judge's decision doesn't necessarily mean an end to back pumping. The district is still evaluating whether it will file an appeal, spokesman Randy Smith said Monday.
During 2013, about 8 billion gallons of water was back pumped into the lake between June 6 and 12, according to the district.
"Back pumping is very rare and it is used primarily for health and human safety uses during flood control operations," Smith said. "Over the years the District has greatly reduced the frequency and also the volume of back pumping."
Lake Okeechobee water once naturally overlapped its southern shores and flowed south to replenish the Everglades, until farming and development got in the way.
Now, South Florida's vast system of levees, canals and pumps manipulates water levels for flood control needs and uses the lake as a backup to boost water supplies. Much of the water that once fed the Everglades now gets drained out to sea for flood control.
Back pumping into the lake is a practice that environmental groups have fought for decades, arguing that it brings an influx of phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrient-rich pollutants that result from farming, leading to fish kills and lake water quality problems.
Lake Okeechobee already suffers from polluted stormwater that drains in from the north, washing in pollutants from agricultural land, roads and neighborhoods between the lake and Orlando.
Environmental concerns in 2007 persuaded South Florida Water Management District officials to stop using back pumping to boost water supplies, but the district also continued to argue in court that the state should retain its right to back pump. After a change in district leadership, the agency in 2012 agreed to once again consider using back pumping to stockpile water supplies.
The federal court decision on Friday that affects back pumping came from U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in the Southern District of New York. Karas has been hearing a case involving regulations for "water transfer" practices across the country.
The result of his decision, if it holds, could end an exemption that allows the South Florida Water Management District to avoid federal water quality standards when pumping water back into Lake Okeechobee.
The ruling is significant because the judge "has made it clear that back pumping polluted water into Lake Okeechobee does significant harm to the public water supply, violates the Clean Water Act and can no longer be permitted by the South Florida Water Management District," said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation.
Earthjustice expects the state to appeal the federal case and continue the legal fight that has been going on since 2002.
If the back pumping ruling holds, South Florida would need to take more steps to clean up the water that flows off farms in order to keep pumping that water into Lake Okeechobee.
"If they actually cleaned their act up, they wouldn't need a [back pumping] permit at all," Guest said.

140401-c
Draft Everglades SSR available for public review
DredgingToday.com
April 1, 2014
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District — the two implementing agencies of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) — announce publication of the draft 2014 System Status Report (SSR), a comprehensive report evaluating monitoring data within the Everglades ecosystem.
Three informational meetings, with webcasting, are scheduled in April to provide opportunities for discussion and comment.
Public comments on the draft report will be accepted through April 29, 2014.
“This multi-agency report evaluates current monitoring data from different geographic regions within the Everglades ecosystem to determine if the goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Everglades Restora­tion Plan (CERP) are being met,” said Andy LoSchiavo, System Status Report Coordinator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District. “The data reviewed in the report are used to summarize changes in the ecosystem, and to recognize and discuss, when nec­essary, why goals are not currently being met and how adaptive management may be incorporated to better manage the system.”

140401-d
Firm strives to protect Everglades from the dry season
ConstructionEquipmentGuide.com - by Brenda Ruggiero, CEG Correspondent
March 31, 2014
The Southwest Florida Water Management District is currently overseeing a project in the Central Florida Everglades involving the construction of a 15,000-acre flow equalization basin. It is designed to capture and store peak storm water flows during the wet season or heavy rainfall events.
The contract encompasses the installation of 2.1 million cu. yds. (1.6 million cu m) of fill to construct 21 mi. (33.8 km) of levee, degrading 3.1 million cu. yds. (2.3 million cu. m) of muck, backfilling 113 mi. (181.8 km) of agricultural canals, and construction of 14 gated water control structures.
The general contractor is Central Florida Equipment of Medley, Fla., for an amount of $59.9 million. Work began in Dec. 2013 and is expected to take about 18 months to complete.
Richard Baer, president of operations of Central Florida Equipment, explained that the levees would be used to control the flow of water.
"In the wet season, there is an area where they treat the run-off from the sugar fields because it has a lot of phosphorus in it," Baer said. "It works fine in the summer when there is plenty of water and it is flowing. In the winter, it dries out and everything dies. You have algae blooms, lose oxygen and everything starts to die. So what this system will do is in the summer when there is plenty of rain, they will store it, but in the dry season they will release the water to keep it flowing. It is a flow equalization system. It will keep the flow going in the dry season, and keep the system from drying.
The water will be stored on 15,000 acres, and then released in the winter.
Baer said that the project involves digging several thousand ft. of canals and building gated concrete structures.
"There is 10 to 12,000 yards of concrete to pour, so we will build a batch plant on site," Baer said. "In the middle of the site, the last contractor who worked on this site had a quarry set up, so there is a supply of good material that has already been washed and sized. We will just have to buy the plant and cement, and will be able to make the concrete on site, which is a real advantage since the site is in the middle of nowhere [about 10 miles south of Belle Glade, Fla.]."
According to Baer, a milling machine will be used on the site to "degrade" the roads that were put in when the area was sugar cane fields. It will be used in two ways: to load the trucks or to windrow the material for hauling later. In addition, it will size the material, which will be used to build the levees.
The 3 million cu. yds. (2.3 million cu m) of muck, which had been pushed up previously, will be spread back out using pull pans.
Kelly Tractor Company played a major part in mobilizing equipment for this job. They supplied 16 Cat 740 trucks, four Cat CS54 compactors and two Cat D6N tractors.
"We chose Kelly Tractor to supply a majority of the Cat equipment for this project based on competitive pricing, support from their service department, and parts availability," Baer said.
Mobilization was very short because of the amount of work Central Florida Equipment wanted to get done during the dry season. During the rainy season, much of the Everglades are under water.
About Central Florida Equipment
Baer's father, Jim Baer, founded Central Florida Equipment in 1977. He started with equipment rental work with a loader backhoe he ran himself. Richard Baer joined the company when he got out of high school in 1980. In 1982, his brother Bob, who is the current president, joined the company as well.
Headquartered in Medley, Fla., the business employs 200 people. They concentrate on infrastructure, highway work, building foundations and excavation work. For more information visit www.centralfloridaequip.com.

140401-e
Florida’s Water: Protect springs, aquifer
The Ledger.com
April 1, 2014
The year of water is quickly becoming the year of watered-down efforts to protect Florida's springs and water supply.
When 2014 started, there seemed to be real momentum to reverse the deterioration of Florida's natural springs.
From average citizens to state lawmakers, Floridians called for action to finally be taken to protect the state's springs, aquifer and other water resources.
Yet the signs so far from Tallahassee have indicated that a familiar call for more studies will further delay action. Nowhere is that more clear than in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's proposed protections for North Central Florida's Ichetucknee and Santa Fe rivers, along with the springs feeding them.
Known as minimum flows and levels, the protections set the level at which groundwater pumping causes environmental harm.
After failing to act for decades as the springs lost flow and turned green from pollution-fueled algae, the state is now in the final stages of setting the minimums.
After just three months, the state has buckled under utility pressure and dropped a reasonable proposal for five-year limits on some groundwater permits.
STATUS QUO
The new rule essentially keeps the status quo for existing users until yet another water study is completed, setting a Dec. 31, 2019, deadline for establishing stricter standards.
An Alachua county commissioner, Robert "Hutch" Hutchinson, said last week that the rule "gives utilities and agriculture a pass when it comes to paying their share of the cost to protect our rivers and springs."
Hutchinson said he is convinced that having no rule for minimum flows and levels "is actually better than allowing the deeply flawed rule to proceed toward adoption," especially one with such a diluted recovery plan.
Part of the argument against challenging the rule was that lawmakers could tie funding for spring projects to minimums being set. In addition, a proposed spring-protection bill might lead to a better rule.
At first glance, there seems to be cause for optimism on that front. While the spring bill has been weakened, a Senate committee in March passed the measure by a unanimous vote.
"You are not going to study us to death on this one," said Sen. Andy Gardiner, an Orlando Republican, who is slated to be Senate president after the November election. "And you are not going to run out the clock."
The News Service of Florida reported that Gardiner made the comments in the context of promising a three-year effort to protect springs and water bodies, which would push back spring and water-quality protection.
Lawmakers also disagree on the amount they want to spend on springs, ranging from tens of milllions of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. While increased spending is sorely needed, spending does nothing to stop excessive groundwater pumping and pollution.
It's time to take a stand for the state's water resources. Commissioning studies and setting distant deadlines is no substitute to protecting Florida's springs and water supply.

140401-f
On the marshes of Lake Okeechobee, a remarkable comeback
TCPalm.com - by Eve Samples
April 1, 2014
From our vantage point on the coast, looking toward Lake Okeechobee feels like looking down the barrel of a gun.
We see the looming threat of more polluted freshwater releases into the St. Lucie River estuary.
Drive 45 miles west, though, and the view shifts dramatically.
It's not threatening. It's beautiful.
 On the northwest side of Lake O, shoreline marshes that were obliterated during the hurricane years of 2004 and 2005 have rebounded.
In the most pristine parts of the 730-square-mile lake, the water is now clear enough to see bottom.
And the birds are back - big time.
 Roseate spoonbills. White pelicans. Glossy ibis. Snowy egrets. Black-necked stilts, with their supermodel-like proportions (they have the longest legs compared to their body size of any bird in the world).
A dozen other species took to the air, too, as we skidded across the marshes in Audubon scientist Paul Gray's airboat last week.
"The lake is in perfect shape," Gray told us.
The most striking indication of recovery are the 20 endangered snail kite nests recently mapped in the marshes. The raptor had virtually disappeared from the lake after the storm years. This year, it is rebounding.
"I bring up people from the Everglades and they say, 'Wow, we never see this many birds,' " Gray said.
 Cruising past thousands of birds in King's Bar shoal, it was hard to believe this was the same lake that wreaks such abuse on our estuary.
 It's like there are two different Lake Okeechobees: one in the thriving marshes near the shore; another in the phosphorous- and nitrogen-dense center of the lake, where the bottom is thick and muddy.
 The latter is what's sent our way when the Army Corps of Engineers opens the flood gates from the lake into the St. Lucie Canal.
 But keeping those gates closed carries serious risks for the lake.
 The reason the marshes of Lake O look so good this year has a lot to do with the fact that the Army Corps is keeping less water in the lake.
 Unlike in 2004 and 2005, when the lake surged to elevations in the 17- and 18-foot ranges, last year it barely reached 16 feet (and only briefly).
 The lower levels, combined with an experimental bottom-dredging project during the drought year of 2007, have allowed native plants and birds to flourish.
 "All of this was open water. Not a single foot of vegetation," Gray said as he drove us across now-pristine marshes.
 It's not exactly what coastal advocates want to hear.
 While last year was a boon for the marshes of Lake Okeechobee, it was devastating for the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. From May through October, more than 136 billion gallons of lake water were dumped into the St. Lucie alone, bringing an estimated 72 tons of phosphorous, 656 tons of nitrogen and 15 million pounds of sediment.
 On the coast, the pollution prompted cries for the Army Corps of Engineers to hold the lake higher now that it has repaired part of the Herbert Hoover Dike that encircles it.
 But Gray knows what danger waits if we return to the old practice of holding the lake too high.
 As different as the on-the-ground conditions are, the ultimate solution is the same for Lake Okeechobee and the estuaries.
 It lies in sending more water south, reconnecting the lake with the Everglades.
 That would allow Lake Okeechobee to stay at lower levels, even in the rainiest years.
 It would spare the estuaries the gushing discharges from the Big Lake, too.
 Nathaniel Reed, vice chairman of the Everglades Foundation, called the comeback of the lake marshes "one of the miracles of Mother Nature."
 If we fix the plumbing, we won't have to depend on a miracle to strike again.

140401-g
Panel recommends denying drilling permit in SW Florida
WTSP.com – by Steve Doane, Fort Myers News-Press
April 1, 2014
The nonbinding recommendation was made by an advisory committee.
Naples, Florida (News-Press) -- For hours they debated, questioned and opined. They haggled, waffled and amended and amended again.
Then they finally voted.
At a meeting Monday, the Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee voted to recommend denial of a permit to drill near Golden Gate Estates. The vote represents a small victory for oil drilling opponents.
"I get a feeling that approving this permit is pulling our finger out of the dike" said Jon Arthur, a geologist with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and chairman of the committee.
During the hourslong hearing, state regulators were grilled on the practice of oil drilling and about the proposed horizontal well east of Naples, at the doorstep to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.
The committee, an arm of the DEP held a meeting this month regarding the well but opted to extend the hearing to a second session.
The committee voted 4-1 to recommend denying the permits. The lone dissenting vote came from David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council. The five-member panel is comprised of an industry representative, a DEP scientist and environmental experts. The committee's decision is nonbinding.
For hours, the panel launched questions at Ed Garrett, head of the DEP's Oil and Gas Division and the state's top drilling regulator.
Garrett walked the committee through drilling diagrams and practices down to concrete casing thickness and water-flow projections.
The goal of the committee is to advise the DEP regarding all potential disruptions to the Big Cypress watershed. The recommendation will now be submitted to an administrative law judge who is reviewing a permit challenge to the well.
It also marked the second time this month the recently reformed Big Cypress Swamp Advisory Committee, a governmental board aimed at protecting the Big Cypress National Preserve and its watershed, has met.
The meetings were organized in response to a proposed oil well near the rural Golden Gate Estates neighborhood. Last year, the Dan A. Hughes Co. of Beeville, Texas, applied for a permit to drill an exploratory oil well in Central Collier County.
Golden Gate Estates resident Thomas Mosher, along with activist organization Preserve Our Paradise and the Fort Lauderdale-based South Florida Wildlands Association, filed a formal protest with the state and requested a hearing.
In a hearing in Fort Myers last month, a Division of Administrative Hearings judge heard testimony about the permit and is expected to issue a ruling this spring.
Since last May, the issue has stirred the ire of local environmental groups who view the well as detrimental to aquifers, sensitive preserve land and the critically endangered Florida panther.
On Monday about 60 opponents of a proposed oil well in Golden Gate Estates turned out once again to voice their opinions. Before the meeting, the group was warned about decorum and stated any unruly members would be removed.
Related:           In Surprise Vote, Advisory Group Recommends Denial of Drilling ...         The Bradenton Times

140401-h
Scott gets some sugar
PNJ.com - Editorial
April 1, 2014
Here’s the lede by reporter Toluse Olorunnipa from an important watchdog story Monday on Bloomberg.com:
“Months before Florida Crystals Corp. won a no-bid contract to farm sugar on state-owned land, its top lobbyist and president met with Governor Rick Scott in the home of King Juan Carlos of Spain.”
The absurd symbolism of such a meeting aside, guess who paid for that 2012 trade mission to Spain? Private corporations – including Florida Crystals Corp., which also financed a $7,500 reception at the home of the U.S. ambassador, according to the Bloomberg story. The menu featured “Spanish omelets and dry-cured ham.” The honored attendees included – you guessed it – Gov. Scott and the big sugar executives.
Here in Florida, we are among at least 15 state legislatures who have found it appropriate to use corporate donations to fund gubernatorial excursions. The donations are made to Enterprise Florida, the public-private group that sets up these trade missions. Florida started accepting the corporate cash in 1994 under then-Gov. Lawton Chiles. Gov. Jeb Bush never tapped the resource. Charlie Crist was the first to do so. And Gov. Scott doubled Crist’s pace as he “tapped the private money most often, making 10 overseas visits in the past three years,” according to the story.
Scott’s office and state officials say it’s all entirely appropriate. They say jobs will be created because of the trips. They promise that no one is getting special treatment or personal attention from the governor. Despite private meetings, travel companions that include executives and lobbyists, and the high-dollar receptions that take place during these trips, they assure you, taxpayer, that everything is fine. That you should trust them.
Yet, the facts following Scott’s Spain trip would lead any logical citizen with a healthy distrust of government to believe otherwise.
The trip with the sugar executives occurred at the same time Gov. Scott was negotiating a federal water-quality agreement that would directly impact the company’s operations near the Everglades.
The fact is, just months after the trip, Gov. Scott approved a 30-year lease extension for the company on state land.
The fact is, upon returning from the trip, Scott pledged tax dollars to clean up phosphorous runoff, instead of making sugar companies pay to clean up their own mess. He could have raised taxes on sugar farmers or used our money. When posed with that choice between us, the taxpayer, and the sugar companies, our governor sided with the people he had dined with in Spain – the people who paid for the trip.
Not even a spoonful of sugar will help us swallow that notion.

140401-i
South Florida's water managers may appeal federal judge's ruling for water pumped into Lake O
Associated Press
April 1, 2014
FORT MYERS, Florida — South Florida's water managers may appeal a federal judge's ruling over the pumping of water from farmlands into public water supplies such as Lake Okeechobee.
Environmental groups have hailed last week's ruling by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in New York's Southern District. Karas said the practice of "backpumping" violates the Clean Water Act.
South Florida Water Management District spokesman Randy Smith tells the News-Press (http://newspr.es/1fJBSqN ) that day-to-day operations won't immediately change while the district considers filing an appeal.
"Backpumping is very rare, and it is used primarily for health and human safety issues during flood control operations," Smith said.
The district has repeatedly said its permitting process is within the scope of the Clean Water Act, and that district projects do not fall under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, a federal permit required when polluting U.S. waterways. Smith said.
Historically, backpumping was used to provide water for fields during the dry season and to prevent flooding during heavy rains.
The nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice first filed its case in 2002 over polluted water from sugar cane and vegetable fields pumped into Lake Okeechobee. Earthjustice argued that the South Florida Water Management District violated federal law by allowing agricultural companies to send polluted water into southern Florida's water supply without decontaminating it first.
The Florida case was bundled with similar claims from several other states and heard in New York federal court.
Environmental groups say stopping pollution at its source is key to fixing South Florida's water problems.
Lake Okeechobee is the drinking water source for millions of Floridians.
Related:           Water District May Appeal Ruling on Water 'Backpumping'            The Ledger

August
September
October 2013

yymmdd-y

1403dd-z

1403dd Title - Source - Author - Date - Text