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Corps of Engineers, partners, report on progress restoring America’s Everglades
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District - by Jenn Miller
March 31, 2016
Significant progress has been made in restoring America’s Everglades over the past five years and a comprehensive report highlighting these efforts has just been submitted to Congress.
The 2015 Report to Congress for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was jointly submitted to Congress last week by the secretaries of the Army and the Interior. The report details the collaborative effort of participating agencies and their combined commitment to restore America’s Everglades.
“Progress is being made towards achieving the benefits for the natural system and the human environment envisioned in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP),” said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “The next five years hold the promise of even more tangible, beneficial change in the south Florida ecosystem and we look forward to continuing progress with the Department of the Interior, the State of Florida, and our other partners."
Over the past five years, collaborative restoration efforts between federal and state agencies has resulted in a period of unprecedented progress towards restoring America’s Everglades. New construction starts, project completions, accelerated planning efforts, new investments in water quality and the passage of key congressional legislation are a few of the highlights of the 2010-2015 reporting period.
"This Report to Congress on the status of our efforts to restore the Everglades demonstrates Interior's continuing commitment to work with its State, Tribal, local government and NGO partners to take action to restore this unique and fragile landscape,” said Michael J. Bean, Department of the Interior Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks and chair of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. “We are seeing significant progress and observing on-the-ground results for our environment. And we know that our investments are promoting economic benefits and coastal resiliency in the face of sea level rise and other challenges which will allow us to achieve, in our life-time our long-standing restoration goals."
GETTING PROJECTS BUILT
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers serves as the lead federal agency for CERP, and is responsible for planning, designing, and constructing Everglades restoration projects in partnership with the local sponsor, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD).
“Momentum remains strong in our continued efforts to restore America’s Everglades,” said Col. Jason Kirk, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Commander. “In close collaboration with our State of Florida and federal partners, our Army Corps Team is making great progress in the restoration of this National treasure. We’re breaking ground on new components, completing components currently under construction, and planning for future increments of restoration.”
Between 2010 and 2015, major construction milestones were achieved. Construction began on multiple restoration projects and additional project components, including the Indian River Lagoon-South C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area project and the Picayune Strand Restoration Project’s Faka Union Pump Station.
CERP projects were also completed during this timeframe, including the State-expedited C-111 Spreader Canal Western project and the Melaleuca Eradication and Other Exotic Plants Research Annex, the first CERP project to be completed and transferred.
Additionally, restoration efforts previously reported as ongoing in the 2010 report, are now complete, such as the first CERP component to ever break ground, the Picayune Strand Restoration Project’s Merritt Pump Station. This massive pump station is currently conveying water to help restore more than 55,000 acres of natural habitat.
CERP is composed of a series of projects designed to address four major characteristics of water flow: quantity, quality, timing and distribution. These projects work in concert with the Foundation Projects, which include the Kissimmee River Restoration, Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park, and C-111 South Dade projects, to deliver essential restoration benefits to America’s Everglades.
During this reporting period, a key component of the Modified Water Deliveries project was completed, the Tamiami Trail One-Mile Bridge, which enables additional water to flow into Everglades National Park.
To further expand upon this initiative, the National Park Service (NPS) received authorization to construct 5.5 additional miles of bridging, under a separate congressional action. This additional bridging will provide even more water flow into Everglades National Park and will distribute that flow across a wider area to hydrate important deeper water habitats in Everglades National Park.
REALIZING RESTORATION BENEFITS
Results from CERP’s robust system-wide monitoring and assessment program indicate early evidence of restoration success. The multi-agency Restoration, Coordination and Verification (RECOVER) group tracks key attributes that serve as indicators of the overall health of the Everglades, and monitor and assess the ecological effects of ongoing restoration efforts.
An ecological report card, known as the System Status Report is prepared every two years. The latest report, released in 2014 indicates that implementation of restoration projects and adjustments in operations are having positive impacts on the ecosystem.
Examples of this include improved nesting periods of the Roseate Spoonbill, a threatened and endangered wading bird species, as a result of effective coordination with water management operational decisions, and the return of native plants and animals to the restored portions of the Picayune Strand Restoration Project.
“During the past five years, significant environmental results have been achieved through implementation of CERP and the pre-CERP foundation restoration projects, “ said Joel Beauvais, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, in a letter that was submitted as part of the 2015 CERP Report to Congress. “Over the next five years, numerous CERP projects are scheduled for construction and completion. These projects will result in improved water quality and ecological conditions in the wetland and aquatic ecosystems of south Florida.”
PREPARING FOR FUTURE CONSTRUCTION EFFORTS
In the past five years, four CERP projects were authorized in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA): the C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project, Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Phase 1 Project; Broward County Water Preserve Areas Project, and the Caloosahatchee River (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir Project.
Congressional authorization of these projects provides needed momentum towards the restoration of America’s Everglades and will enable work to move forward on these four projects. In addition, the final report for the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) was completed and transmitted to Congress for authorization and appropriations.
In fact, the Central Everglades Planning Project was completed in its entirety during this reporting period. The study began in November 2011 and the signed Record of Decision was transmitted to Congress in August 2015. The Corps prepared the CEPP report using a pilot process designed to reduce the overall time allocated for a study of this magnitude. In prior years, plan formulation and review may have taken six years or longer —The CEPP process was completed in half that time.
SYNCHRONIZING PRIORITIES
In its 2014 report, the Committee on Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress (CISRERP) suggested the 2011 Integrated Delivery Schedule (IDS) be revisited to advance projects with the greatest potential to avert ongoing ecosystem degradation and promise the largest restoration benefits.
The IDS provides an overall strategy and sequence for project planning, design, and construction based on ecosystem needs, benefits, costs, and available funding. This schedule helps restoration planners, stakeholders, and the public focus on priorities, opportunities, and challenges and provides a path forward, completing construction of projects underway and outlining the next projects to undergo planning, design, and construction.
During the 2015 CERP Report to Congress reporting period, efforts were under way to update the IDS, utilizing the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force’s successful workshop model to engage the public and stakeholders. The IDS Update was completed at the end of 2015 and will serve as a roadmap for future restoration efforts.
Much progress has been made in restoration efforts to date, but much more remains to be done. Success in restoring America’s Everglades is contingent upon a dedicated and collaborative effort by federal, state, tribal and local partners. The 2015 CERP Report to Congress serves as a clear demonstration of what can be accomplished through strong partnerships and collaboration, and it sets the tone for how progress will continue as we all move forward to restore America’s Everglades.
For additional information, and to view the 2015 CERP Report to Congress, visit: http://bit.ly/2015_CERP_RTC

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Darkening drillers’ hopes in the Sunshine State
Earth Island Journal - by Nadia Steinzo
March 31, 2016
Like everywhere else, fighting oil and gas in Florida now means taking on big pipeline projects
The national fight to stop the frack attack has brought people together from California to Pennsylvania, New York to Texas, and Michigan to Maryland. Now, in the throes of a highly divisive presidential election, the national energy debate is raging like never before.
Photo by NPS Florida's Big Cyprus National Preserve, where Burnett oil company is pushing for expanded oil and gas exploration.
As a perennially contested swing state, Florida’s decision on whether to pursue more oil and gas development — or instead prioritize protection of land, water, air, and wildlife — is reverberating far and wide.
Florida only has about a dozen active oil and gas fields and ranks very low among oil and gas producing states. But drillers have set their sights on using new technologies to access more resources and develop new ones.
In response, activists have organized to call for drilling restrictions and a fracking ban. They scored a big victory on March 1, when Florida’s state legislators abandoned an effort to pass Senate Bill 318 that would have led to new regulations on hydraulic fracturing and possibly acidizing techniques. It would have opened the door to drilling statewide, even in the internationally significant Everglades National Park and other fragile and unique natural environments. It also would have effectively prohibited municipalities and counties from banning fracking (an attempt to follow the lead of Texas and Oklahoma). 
In January, a coalition of environmental groups, including Earthworks, continued the fight against the Burnett oil company’s proposal to use seismic testing to explore for more oil and gas in Big Cypress National Preserve. Big Cypress is home to the endangered Florida panther and many other unique, at-risk animals and a critical water supply for the Everglades. 
We submitted detailed, comprehensive comments demonstrating that the company had barely considered impacts on animals, plants, and water or provided sufficient, credible information to back up their “no risk” claims. This view was echoed by thousands of people across Florida and nationwide who told the National Park Service that a full environmental impact statement (EIS) is necessary. In late January, US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida also called on the Interior Department to conduct a full EIS.
Like everywhere else, fighting oil and gas in Florida increasingly means taking on big pipeline projects. The biggest and most hotly contested of all is the Sabal Trails Transmission Pipeline, proposed to run over 500 miles from Alabama through Georgia to Florida, and include at least five compressor stations along the way. The gas would be used to generate electricity and supply industries through two utility companies, Florida Power and Light and Duke Energy of Florida. The Sabal Trails Pipeline, which would cross numerous conservation areas, wetlands, rivers, and aquifers, has engendered strong resistance from watershed protection groups, environmental advocates, and residents along the proposed route.
Last fall, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emphatically told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that the project posed numerous environmental risks, including to drinking water supplies. But a few months later, the EPA reversed its position. The best guess reason for this change is intense political pressure and sidelining of EPA’s findings, including by Governor Rick Scott, a staunch advocate of the project who also happens to hold investments in the companies backing it. 
This month, Sabal Trails Transmission, Inc. filed 160 eminent domain lawsuits in order to override private property rights and secure the land needed to build the pipeline. But Florida may get a little help from Georgia, where the state House voted down a resolution that would have granted easements for the Sabal Pipeline across state lands and waters. 
Earthworks has long argued that there must always be No-Go Zones — places too unique, wild, and sacred to scar and pollute, or which are central sources of clean drinking water. This certainly includes Florida, with its extensive wetlands and swamps, vital wildlife protection areas, and threatened aquifers. It would also be pure folly to drill and dig more deeply and widely into the state’s porous and highly permeable bedrock and sinkhole-dotted landscape. 
Florida is currently the only Gulf Coast state to have a ban on offshore drilling. This position has long been supported by governors of both parties, including GOP Governor Rick Scott and former executives Jeb Bush and Charlie Christ. The primary reason is the devastating risk of damage to Florida’s coastlines and lucrative fishing and tourism industries. 
It’s high time for Florida’s leaders to step up and bring this same logic onshore — giving the Sunshine State the chance to achieve the brighter, sustainable energy future that many Americans want and deserve.

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Institute of Water and Environment launches
FIU News -  by JoAnn Adkins
March 31, 2016
Essential for life, water is the most important resource on the planet, and also one of the most imperiled.
FIU has launched the Institute of Water and Environment to address global water issues and broader challenges impacting the environment. It brings together some of the university’s top centers and programs to expand research and community engagement opportunities in the face of growing environmental threats. From the wetlands of the Everglades to the coral reefs in the oceans, institute researchers aim to preserve freshwater and marine resources for future generations.
“The formation of the institute will allow us to conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research in a comprehensive and timely manner and to translate our results and technologies into actionable knowledge for the public and policymakers that depend on them,” said aquatic ecologist Todd Crowl, who has been named director of the institute. “We believe this institute will become a world leader in comprehensive, solutions-oriented water science.”
The institute integrates the Southeast Environmental Research Center, the Marine Education and Research Initiative, the Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, the Nutrient Analysis Laboratory, research projects from the Sea Level Solutions Center, Everglades programs, and the sustainable built environments and infrastructure program. The institute also coordinates the university’s international programs that provide water management services to people and ecosystems, including integrated water management policies, water sanitation and hygiene improvements, and associated education programs across multiple continents.
Both locally and globally, researchers in the institute are promoting community engagement and research that crosses the physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, public health, law, engineering, computer science, and architecture.
As pressures continue to mount on the environment, mainly as a result of a growing global population, urbanization and increased living standards, the need to protect the world’s water supply and other natural resources will only grow. FIU’s Institute of Water and Environment is committed to developing sustainable solutions that offer a balance for 21st century communities and the natural resources they rely on in the face of anticipated global change.

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Lake ‘O pollution
Naples Daily News - Letter by Bruce Gengler, Marco Island, FL
March 31, 2016
Even though water management of Lake Okeechobee and surrounding farm land is a complex issue, there is a never-talked-about solution. It would involve building water treatment plants on the north and south sides of the lake that are capable of removing phosphorous, arsenic and other nutrients from lake water.
When I studied environmental biology in college, there was a saying: "The solution to pollution is dilution." The thinking was if you diluted the pollution you would minimize damage. We now know that isn't a solution. We need to eliminate the pollution at its source.
Treatment plants on the north side could be used to treat water before it is allowed into the lake. Treatment plants on the south side could be used to treat water for release south into the Everglades. During rainy season, water could be treated and released south instead of diverting it into the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie canal. During dry season, the plants could treat water from the lake and return it to the lake.
The advantage of treatment plants that could constantly clean the lake water would be a cleaner lake, clean water to be released into the rivers when necessary and clean water to be fed into the Everglades.
I don't know the cost; the lake has a maximum storage capacity of 1.05 trillion gallons. The point is there is a solution if we are willing to pay for it.
Current proposals to buy land and build retention ponds might help keep polluted water from flowing down the rivers, but won't solve the real problem. Flooding land south of the lake and using land to soak up pollution just prolongs the problem. Eventually, that pollution will make it into the Everglades and destroy the Everglades.

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Who is targeting FP&L’s Turkey Point Power Plant, and Why ? - Part I
TheEnergyCollective.com - by Rod Adams
March 31, 2016
This will be a multi-part post aimed at addressing a convoluted and emotional issue. It will attempt to satisfactorily answer the following questions.
●  Why are organizations targeting the Turkey Point power station?
●  Why do they claim that the plant is threatening the Everglades National Park, the Biscayne Bay National Park and the groundwater adjacent to the facility?
●  What are the documented concerns and what impact do they have?
●  Do the tritium measurements that have been reported in various news media really indicate that Turkey Point Units 3 & 4 (the nuclear units at the 5-unit power station) are “leaking?”
I’m biased
This is a story with a very personal aspect. Many of you have heard me tell the story of the time nearly 50 years ago when my father came home from work and told me about the new power plant that his company was building that did not even need smokestacks. Turkey Point was the unnamed power plant in that story; its construction began in 1967, the year I celebrated my 8th birthday.
That was the beginning of my appreciation of the advantages that nuclear fission has over its hydrocarbon competition.
I also have a life long fondness for Florida Power & Light (FP&L). The company and its employees were topics of many family discussions while I was growing up; in fact, Mom occasionally expressed some minor annoyance at Dad for bringing his work home so often. A fair portion of the adults that played a role in my life while growing up proudly worked in various roles at the company. I eagerly looked forward to the annual company Christmas party and the annual company picnics held on the site of the Cutler Plant.
The big banyan trees were great fun for climbing and swinging on the roots.
I fondly remember the Tuesday each month when my white collar, long distance-commuting Dad was able to linger with us at breakfast in his more casual “storm training” attire. Unlike the Miami office where he worked the other 19 days of the month, storm training was held in much closer and accessible Ft. Lauderdale; he didn’t need to allow 45-60 minutes for the traffic.
On storm training days, Dad made sure that his hardhat was in the car before he left for the monthly practical exercises in power system restoration, which is an “all hands on deck” effort for a power company. I’ve lived in places where the power was knocked out by storms and remember at least three separate instances where the whole neighborhood gathered on the street and cheered the power company employees who turned the lights back on. Sometimes the crews were from companies located several states away.
Living in the home of a good man devoted to his service-oriented profession helped inspire me choose a career in the service of others.
To this day, FP&L is a positive influence on my family; Mom is one of those famous “widows” — as in “this stock is suitable for widows and orphans” — that receives reliable dividend checks from FP&L. She also receives the survivor’s portion of the pension Dad earned during his 35 years of employment with the company. There are hundreds of thousands of people who can share similar personal stories about positive family associations with FP&L.
There are tens of millions of Florida residents and tourists that have benefitted from FP&L’s 90 years of service as a rate-regulated electric utility with an obligation to provide power to all customers at the highest possible level of reliability within cost constraints determined by the public utility commission.
All of that information is my way of disclosing that I instinctively distrust people that demonize “the power company.” I’m offended when out-of-state special interest groups like the deceptively-named1 “Southern Alliance for Clean Energy” attack an admirable company that has achieved a long record of service and stewardship.
If you’re looking for balanced reporting, you might want to stop reading now. If you want informed answers to the questions I listed at the beginning of the article from someone who is not a company spokesperson or an employee but is also not an anti-corporate hater with an agenda, I hope to make this worth your time.
Turkey Point is under attack
I started hearing about recent efforts to publicize what opponents have characterized as “leaks of radioactive elements and other pollutants into Florida surface and ground water” a couple of weeks ago. I was energized into action after finding a March 22 New York Times story titled Nuclear Plant Leak Threatens Drinking Water Wells in Florida.
Though the headline — obviously designed to attract attention — claimed that the nuclear plants were “threatening” groundwater, the story clearly stated that tritium “was found in doses far too low to harm people” and later quoted a company spokesperson.
He [Robert L. Gould] emphasized that the trace levels of tritium were far below the danger levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. The company has been in contact with the federal agency, he said.
None of these problems, Mr. Gould said, are threatening the state’s drinking water supply or even the bay’s health. The problem is mostly in areas right near the plant, he added. The closest the saltwater plume is to the water wells is about four miles away. “I really need to stress that there is no safety risk: There is no risk to the bay or to the drinking water,” Mr. Gould said. “The way it’s been portrayed by some is simply unfair. It’s extremely misleading.”
Before providing what should be calming information, here’s how the New York Times story sought to capture readers that were initially attracted by the sensational headline.
When Florida’s largest power company added two nuclear reactors to an existing plant that sat between two national parks — Biscayne Bay and the Everglades — the decision raised the concerns of environmentalists and some government officials about the possible effects on water quality and marine life.
Now more than four decades later, Florida Power & Light’s reactors at Turkey Point, built to satisfy the power needs of a booming Miami, are facing their greatest crisis. A recent study commissioned by the county concluded that Turkey Point’s old cooling canal system was leaking polluted water into Biscayne Bay.
There are several problems with that statement.
Problem 1: The Turkey Point power station existed long before Biscayne National Park, which was formally established in 1980. It existed before 1968 when the area first gained some development protection when it was designated by Congress and President Johnson as a National Monument. At the time that the power station was built, the area was a prime development target for a project known as the city of Islandia.
FP&L’s 1964 decision to purchase land and build a power plant at Turkey Point is one of the prime reasons that the area was protected from intensive development. McGregor Smith, the chairman of the board of FP&L was committed to preserving as much of the waterways and land surrounding the plant as possible.
(VIDEO - Found on Newspapers.com)
He envisioned the area as a multi-use area that would include a wildlife refuge, a Boy Scout and Girl Scout camping area, a marine research laboratory, picnic areas and beaches. Smith’s visions were largely achieved. Much of what the company preserved from development was later incorporated into the Biscayne National Park. The park is a place that has received numerous accolades over the years lauding its environmental and recreational value. Park Vision has a nicely illustrated story about the park.
One positive, but unintended effect of the Turkey Point plant and its cooling canal system (CCS) is that endangered crocodiles were attracted to the warm salty waters as a good place to lay eggs and incubate them to hatchlings. The crocodile’s decision to begin using Turkey Point’s CCS as an incubator, along with the protection afforded the reptiles by FP&L biologists and security personnel has been credited by conservationists with helping the crocodile population increase enough to move it off of the endangered species list to a status of “threatened.”
Problem 2: The easternmost boundary of Everglades National Park is about six miles west of the CCS for the Turkey Point Power station, on the other side of US 1. That’s a pretty substantial buffer area.
Problem 3: The referenced study did not prove that the plant was leaking polluted water into Biscayne Bay.
Analysis of study being used as basis for recent attacks
Dr. David Chin, a civil engineering professor at the University of Miami, was commissioned by Miami-Dade County to perform a study and produce a deliverable within a 120 day time frame. He documents the limitations of the study and what it was unable to determine. His commissioned study does not list any other authors and does not display the obvious signs of having been peer reviewed.
Chin’s document includes measurements indicating that there are deep pockets of water adjacent to the CCS that exhibited higher than expected concentrations of certain chemicals or elements.
Dr. Chin hypothesized that the isotopes and compounds migrated from the cooling canals into the dredged deep spots and from there into the adjacent aquifer and bay waters. Those deep areas are identified by dark blue circles on the map below.
Chin asserts that the boundary of the hypersaline that has percolated from the cooling canals is defined by a tritium concentration of 20 pCi/liter. He states that level is sufficiently elevated from the natural level to be a good marker. His chosen marker is 1/1000th of the 20,000 pCi/liter EPA says is safe for safe drinking water.
Aside: Here is the basis for the EPA limit. If a person drank nothing but water containing that level of tritium, her dose from tritium would be 0.04 mSv/year.
According to the Health Physics Society position paper titled Radiation Risk in Perspective, no discernable health effects occur for doses below 50 – 100 mSv. End Aside.
This is Dr. Chin’s explanation for his selection of 20 pCi/liter as the boundary. Note: A picocurie (pCi) is 10e-12 curies. That is one millionth of a millionth curies. A picocurie is even smaller than the incredibly tiny SI unit of a bequerel (defined as one decay per second). It takes 27 picocuries to equal one bequerel.
Natural groundwater at the base of the Biscayne Aquifer would be expected to have relatively low concentrations of tritium. A threshold concentration of 20 pCi/L has been used as a baseline to infer the presence of groundwater originating from the CCS. Groundwater with concentrations below 20 pCi/L are presumed not to be affected by the CCS. FPL does not concur with the selection of 20 pCi/L as a threshold or background tritium concentration for surface water, pore water, or shallow groundwater.
The basis of FPL’s contention regarding the 20 pCi/L threshold is that multiple factors such as atmospheric deposition, vapor exchange, and errors in laboratory analysis can influence reported tritium levels. The FPL assertion is reasonable and is supported by measured data that indicate atmospheric and vapor exchange effects on tritium concentrations can be particularly significant in surface water and shallow groundwater, with significance decreasing with distance from the CCS. However, at depth, the CCS appears to be the primary source of tritium, and using tritium as a tracer in the lower elevations of the Biscayne Aquifer is reasonable.
Reported measurements show groundwater tritium concentrations in excess of 3000 pCi/L near the CCS, with concentrations decreasing with distance from the CCS, and found at concentrations of hundreds of pCi/L three miles west of the CCS at depth. The approximate limit of the 20 pCi/L concentration contour is 3.8 – 4.7 mi west of the CCS and 2.1 mi east of the CCS. Based on the strength of these data and supporting analyses, it is reasonable to conclude that operation of the CCS has impacted the salinity of the Biscayne Aquifer within the limits of the 20 pCi/L contour.
(Source: Chin, David A. The Cooling-Canal System at the FPL Turkey Point Power Station Pg 12-13)
I question Dr. Chin’s logic. He does not explain why he says “at depth, the CCS appears to be the primary source of tritium…”
FP&L’s reactors, like all other water cooled reactors, produce some tritium. That low activity hydrogen isotope is inseparable from water. The company is permitted to discharge tritiated water into the cooling canal system, which is separated from the surrounding waters and aquifers by soil boundaries. Tritium concentration in the cooling canals range from about 1200 pCi/liter to about 15,000 pCi/liter at certain peak times.
There is no cover on the canal system; tritiated water in the canal water will evaporate along with all other water. Especially on cool days during dry spells, when the cooling canal temperature is roughly 100 ℉, there is vapor above the body of water. Any breezes coming off of the Bay and blowing across the CCS will move tritiated vapor inland. Winds in the opposite direction move tritiated vapor towards the Bay.
It will precipitate out and sink into the aquifer like any other water. The tritium concentration falls as distance from the source increases.
The people attacking the plant point out that the cooling canal system is not lined, but that is the way that the system was designed and approved. It is a permitted industrial waste water facility. It’s worth contemplating the environmental consequences of building and maintaining a lined canal system that covers 9 square miles of swampland lined with mangrove forests. It’s also important to note that the water depth in the CCS is less than 4 feet, with an average of less than 3 feet.
Since FP&L is a rate regulated monopoly utility, it would be allowed to include any costs associated with building a lined system in its rate base and it would be allowed to receive a modest rate of return on that investment. Despite what some opponents say, FP&L’s decision to build the canals as they are was not driven by corporate greed.
Salt Water Intrusion
Even after defining the plume boundary as just 20 pCi/liter, Dr. Chin concluded that the hypersalinity water — which he blames on seepage from the CCS — was still several miles seaward of the closest drinking water wells. Historical documents indicate that saltwater intrusion was measured at about the same location (5 miles inland from the Biscayne Bay) before the Turkey Point power station was ever built.
As a reasonably aware middle and high school student in South Florida, I have a clear memory of studying salt water intrusion issues and learning that the effect is often exacerbated by pumping too much water out of aquifers. Excessive withdrawal reduces the pressure (head) that generally keeps salt water out and allows it to invade the fresh water deposits. The problem is worsened by droughts, thirsty green lawns, green golf courses, limestone quarries and the impervious development roads, parking lots and shopping centers associated with suburbia.
Here is what Dr. Chin wrote about sea water intrusion.
“The landward extent of the saltwater interface (i.e., the 1000 mg/L isochlor) varies naturally in response to a variety of factors, such as seasonal variations groundwater recharge and variations in rates at which groundwater is pumped from the aquifer. For example, prolonged droughts or excessive water usage inland that reduce water-table elevations can cause increased salinity intrusion. Prior to the construction of the CCS, the groundwater underlying the Turkey Point site was naturally saline due to the proximity of the site to the coast. In fact, had the groundwater not been saline, construction of the cooling-canal system at Turkey Point would not have been permitted.”…
It has always been recognized that construction of the CCS without any mitigating salinity-control systems would cause the saltwater interface to move further inland.
(Emphasis added)
Dr. Chin’s study hypothesizes that small variations in levels in the cooling canal, along with changes in density due to variations in salinity from the balance between rainfall and evaporation plays a large role in pushing water out of the canals and through the porous limestone characteristic of the South Florida subsurface. He does not mention the impact of withdrawal rates in helping saltwater plumes to move, if that is what is actually happening.
Dr. Chin also makes a few guesses about the source of recent temperature, salinity and algae challenges in the cooling canals that are demonstrably false. For example, he calculates that the heat rejection rate from the power plants into the cooling canals experienced a step increase from 2800 MW to 5500 MW.
He attributes that jump to a power upgrade on units 3 & 4. That uprate changed the licensed thermal power generation from each plant from 2300 MWth to 2644 MWth. During the time that elapsed between the two measured total heat rejection rates, FP&L shut down a 450 MWe oil/natural gas steam plant that also used the CCS as its heat sink. Since that time, it has shut down the other fossil unit using the CCS.
In a future article, I’ll provide more details about the actual heat balances. With the information already provided, it should be reasonably obvious that Dr. Chin’s model was giving incorrect information.
One of the major problems I have with Dr. Chin’s study is that it only includes the word “drought” once, and that was just in a paragraph describing hypothetical effects. He is apparently unaware that the measured rainfall into the canal cooling system in 2012 and 2013 averaged 20″ per year when the normal average is 75″. As of September 2014, only 26″ of rain had fallen into the canal system.
To be continued.
“Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization working to promote responsible energy choices that solve climate change problems and ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast.” (IRS Form 990, SACE 2014)
What that description fails to mention is that SACE actively campaigns against nuclear energy.
(The post Who is targeting FP&L’s Turkey Point power plant? Why? Part I appeared first on Atomic Insights).
Rod Adams
Rod Adams gained his nuclear knowledge as a submarine engineer officer and as the founder of a company that tried to develop a market for small, modular reactors from 1993-1999. He began publishing Atomic Insights in 1995 and began producing The Atomic Show Podcast in March 2006. Following his Navy career and a three year stint with a commerical nuclear power plant design firm, he began devoting his full efforts to publishing, writing, and producing.

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Captains for Clean Water starts long fight
Sanibel-Captiva Islander - by Brian Wierima
March 30, 2016
The first of what could potential be many future meetings by the Captains for Clean Water group was held Tuesday, March 22, inside the Sanibel Community House and the message related was perfectly clear, unlike the murky water which has plagued the shores of Southwest Florida for the last two months.
"Stop harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee to our estuaries," said Captain Blake Matherly, who is one of the founders of Captains for Clean Water.
The meeting attracted nearly 200 people ranging from residents to business owners on Sanibel. The message conveyed was also a simple one, said 25-year-old Captain Daniel Andrews.
Article Photos
"This is not a scientific problem, this is a political problem," Andrews said. "Move the flow south."
The Lake Okeechobee discharges to the Caloosahatchee River, which eventually drains into the estuaries of Sanibel, started after the abnormally high amount of rainfall which was had over the course of January.
The discharges, along with the runoff from surrounding areas into the Caloosahatchee River watershed, resulted in dark, murky and dirty water down the coast of Southwest Florida. Normally pristine blue during this time of year - which is also the peak season for tourists - the invasion of the brown water has put a damper on economic and environmental expectations.
"Although the fishing is still great around here, fishing charter business is down almost 50-percent," Andrews said. "No other business has been affected that bad. I've seen it firsthand and I am disappointed more hasn't been done."
The discharges, which not only darkens the water, but also sends plumes of freshwater through the estuaries, thus disrupting the marine wildlife which depends on a certain level of salinity to survive.
Important seagrass beds have been dying because of the discharges and that alone could affect many different wildlife in the area.
James Evans, who is the Director of Natural Resources of Sanibel, explained to the audience the history of the Caloosahatchee River, which is the freeway of the Lake Okeechobee discharges.
"Before, the river used to meander its way down to the Gulf through marshes and that slowed the water down and helped it become clear," Evans said. "But after the Caloosahatchee was dredged to take on the discharges from Lake Okeechobee, it basically turned into a drainage ditch and the water gets here very quickly now."
The solution, in essence, is simple in words and that's directing the water flow from Lake Okeechobee where it was supposed to go naturally - South to the Everglades.
But that's where simplicity ends.
The land south of Lake Okeechobee needs to be purchased and used as water storage and allowed to let the flow of water run to the Everglades.
Amendment 1 was passed by nearly 75-percent of voters to purchase those lands in 2014, with the ballot title saying, "Water and Land Conservation - Dedicates funds to acquire and restore Florida conservation and recreation lands."
The Land Acquisition Trust Fund was developed, "to acquire and improve conservation easements, wildlife management areas, wetlands, forests, fish and wildlife habitats, beaches and shores, recreational trails and parks, urban open space, rural landscapes, working farms and ranches, historical and geological sites, lands protecting water and drinking water resources and lands in the Everglades Agricultural Areas and the Everglades Protection Area.
"The fund was designed to manage and restore natural systems and to enhance public access and recreational use of conservation lands."
That didn't happen, as the deadline to purchase those acres south of Lake Okeechobee expired.
Now the stage is a political battleground, as the majority of the land is owned by big sugar corporations and they don't want to sell anymore.
The initiative of the Captains for Clean Water is to educate people about the discharge and flow problem and to start pressuring the politicians to start working on a solution.
One representative who attended the meeting, while lending her support was Republican House of Representative for the 78th District Heather Fitzenhagen.
"I campaigned on clean water, but I was one person," Fitzenhagen said. "I don't feel like I'm one person anymore, especially seeing all these people in this room tonight. I want to see a bill sooner rather than later. But it's a multi-faceted solution, it needs to be a longterm solution and I can't flip a switch and fix it tomorrow.
"But you heard it here first, I am a proponent of buying land south of Lake Okeechobee."
Another speaker was Michael Donovan, the executive director of bullsugar.org, an organization dedicated to stopping polluted discharges into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers to help save the Florida Bay.
Their motto is "Clean politics equals clean water."
"We are here to identify the people who are the problem and then educate them," Donovan said. "We'll tell the truth."
Donovan said Bullsugar.com has identified the "bad people" who have contributed to the clean water problem by representing the big corporations like sugar, fertilizer and agriculture, while ignoring the voice of the people.
"Public enemy No. 1 is Rep. Matt Caldwell in Lehigh Acres," Donovan said. "He is bringing in all the dirty money from big sugar."
Donovan also went on to name Lee County Commissioner Larry Kiker as another "bad person".
"Governor Rick Scott, he is the head of the criminal conspiracy, in my opinion," Donovan said. "We have to pressure him in every which way possible."
A question from the audience asked about Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane and if he is working for a solution.
"He's learning, by his own admission, on these issues and he's our friend in this matter," Donovan said. "He is listening intently, and I think he is becoming an expert in this. I believe his heart is in the right place. If you live on Sanibel, you should keep in contact with him."
United States Congressman Curt Clawson also drew praise from Donovan, especially after sponsoring a bill which would have the feds step in and buy land south of Lake Okeechobee, if the state fails to act.
The bill calls for $500 million to purchase land, which could accumulate up to 67,000 acres with current prices.
"That would be a big chunk," Evans added.
But Donovan was guarded about Clawson's bill.
"We need to make sure Congressman Clawson is serious about passing this bill," Donovan said. "Email him, make sure he goes through with it."
Donovan continued that doing away with sugar subsidies would be an important step in reaching a solution, which in turn would "disrupt their business model" and ultimately land could be cheaper to purchase.
"You've been entirely too nice about this, but no more," Donovan said.
To learn more about the mission of Captains for Clean Water, visit captainsforcleanwater.org/.

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NASA oceanographer Carlos Del Castillo: Arctic melting impacts us all
NBCnews.com - by Brian Latimer
March 30, 2016
For the second year in a row, Arctic winter sea ice coverage was the lowest it has ever been in the peak-freezing season, which melted away all previous records, according to a top NASA oceanographer.
Dr. Carlos Del Castillo, an oceanographer at NASA, found that while the continental U.S. saw record warm winter weather, nowhere else in the world were the effects of climate change more noticeable than the Arctic.
Del Castillo, the Chief of the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is especially worried that rising Arctic temperatures are causing ice over Greenland to melt.
"We are tracking temperatures throughout the arctic, and we are finding averages of 10 degrees Fahrenheit and higher," Del Castillo said in an interview with NBC Latino. "This is much higher than average, and unfortunately the temperatures in the Arctic are still increasing."
Ever since he began studying the effects of oil pollution in tropical marine environments at the University of Puerto Rico, Del Castillo has made it his life's mission to track natural and human-made changes in the world's oceans. He began working at NASA from 2000 to 2006, and returned three years ago.
Since NASA began tracking sea ice coverage over the Arctic Ocean in 1979, this year's measurements shattered last year's record low. Arctic sea ice covered 5.607 million square miles on March 24, which is 5,000 less square miles of coverage than last year — which is roughly the size of Connecticut.
"That changing phase between ice and water happens in a very small range of temperature," Del Castillo said.
The ice caps help cool the planet like an air conditioner, Del Castillo said. When ice caps begin shrinking, not only are oceans at risk of heating up and rising, less sunlight is reflected back to space by the white ice in the North and South Poles.
The ice over Greenland is melting, and that adds to the amount water in the ocean, which contributes to sea level rise. Along with that, higher temperatures make the water itself expand, which increases the volume of the oceans.
"The fact that there are many scientists whose opinion is that we have a couple of meters in sea level rise already locked in, and that we can do nothing about it, makes me worried for people living on the coast," he said. "In the past 10 years, seven of the record lowest ice expanses were recorded in the Arctic."
At NASA, Del Castillo uses satellites to track temperature changes in the atmosphere, on land, in the ocean and in the cryosphere — the ice caps. His findings in the Arctic Ocean also affect places thousands of miles away, like the Florida Everglades.
"When you talk about the Arctic ice cover, we also need to talk about the jet stream because it is hugely important to the weather patterns down in Florida," Del Castillo explained. "Conditions in the Arctic control the position and strength of the jet stream."
Although the receding Arctic icecap will have a profound impact on rain and snowfall rates throughout the world, Del Castillo said it did not cause this year's El Niño weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean.
"El Niño does not have a lot of connection with what is happening in the arctic in the winter," Del Castillo said. "It is a cyclical phenomenon that appears to be getting stronger. What contributes to the low formation of winter ice is that the air temperatures were higher, and warmer water currents on the edge of the ice that keeps it from freezing more."
As the ice covers less ocean surface, the water warms and evaporates at faster rates, he said. The added humidity creates more rain and snow in other places.
"What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic," Del Castillo warned.
Related:           Arctic Hits Seasonal Low for Sea Ice as Antarctica Sets Record

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John MARSHALL
In Memoriam

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Environmentalist and Everglades lover John Marshall dies
Palm Beach Post - by Kevin D. Thompson, Staff Writer
March 29, 2016
There was nothing John Marshall loved more than the Everglades and preserving the environment. It was his life’s work for more than two decades after closing the curtain on an illustrious military career.
He planted trees with kids, educated thirsty young minds in hopes the next generation of environmentalists would become stewards of the natural world, a world that meant so much to Marshall, a die-hard Gator fan whose favorite colors were orange and blue.
That love affair with the environment and the wetlands preserve at the southern tip of the state, ended Monday when Marshall, founder of the Florida Environmental Institute and the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades, died after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 75.
“South Florida has lost a great friend,” said Nathaniel Reed, a foundation consultant who has known Marshall for 30 years. “He was devoted to the cause and was a most wonderful human being.”
Two weeks before his death, Elaine Meier, a marketing consultant for the foundation, visited Marshall at his Trump Plaza condo on Flagler Drive where he gave her “This Changes Everything,” a book written by Naomi Klein about climate change.
“He was giving me this big explanation about the environment, but it was hard to understand him,” Meier said. “People loved John because of his sincerity and his passion for the environment. Even his adversaries admired him.”
Nancy George Marshall, Marshall’s wife of 27 years, said her husband took preserving the environment very seriously. “More seriously than most of us,” she said. “That became his life in retirement.”
In 2001, Marshall was named “Conservationists of the Year” by the Audubon Society of the Everglades and Florida Wildlife Federation. He received numerous awards and commendations for his efforts. The foundations Marhsall started were to continue the work of his uncle,
Although the Marshalls were married for nearly 30 years, Nancy, 75, always affectionately called John her “boyfriend.”
“People would ask, ‘Aren’t you married?’ she said, giggling at the memory. “I just thought it sounded so sweet.”
A career military officer, Marshall saw active duty in the United States Marine Corps from 1963-1971, serving in Vietnam where he received 19 air medals for 275 air combat missions. He served as a U.S. Marine Corp Reserve Officer from 1971-1993 and received a Meritorious Assignment to the Office of Secretary of Defense, Test & Evaluation in 1992 and 1993. He retired as colonel in 1993. He later served as a U.S. civil servant system engineer until his retirement in 1997.
Marshall graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. geology in 1963. He graduated Naval Flight School in Pensacola, FL in 1966 and Radar Intercept Officer School in Brunswick, Ga., in 1967. He continued his studies at the Navy Top Gun Fighter Weapons School in Miramar Calif., in 1970 and was a NASA Fellow in Biological Applications in Remote Sensing from 1970-1972. He received a M.S. in system engineering from the University of West Florida in 1972.
Born in Miami, Florida, Marhsall is survived by his wife Nancy, sister, Jeanne Anne Moore and step-brothers Randall Marshall and William Marshall.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Memorial Presbyterian Church, 1300 South Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the John & Nancy Marshall Everglades Education Fund, established at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties.

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US Congressman
Curt CLAWSON

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Congressman says let’s expedite restoration of the Everglades
Naples Daily News - Guest commentary by Curt Clawson, Bonita Springs, FL
March 28, 2016
South Florida is experiencing an ecological and economic disaster not seen since the 2010 BP oil spill. It's time for action.
Today's alarming situation is caused by record rainfalls — associated with this winter's strong El Niño conditions; a phenomenon typically experienced every five years. Unsafe Lake Okeechobee water levels have forced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) to discharge massive volumes of murky, nutrient-laden water into the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. It's horrific to witness the damage these discharges inflict on our way of life in southern Florida. This crisis provides an opportunity to address these water issues with a sense of urgency — with the public will serving as a wind at our back.
Two weeks ago, I introduced H.R. 4436, bipartisan legislation to provide $800 million of emergency funding to expedite repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee, and requiring completion of this critical project by Dec. 31, 2020 — four to six years ahead of current schedules. My legislation would provide the option of temporarily holding more water in the lake during periods of heavy rains.
Last week, I introduced the Everglades Land Acquisition Act of 2016 (H.R. 4793) to provide $500 million for the Department of the Interior to purchase land south of Lake Okeechobee. Many experts agree that more storage, filtration, and a flow-way south from the lake are critical to move clean, naturally filtered fresh water to the Everglades and Florida Bay, instead of dumping nutrient-laden waters and toxins into Florida's fragile estuaries and coastal regions.
This tragedy is deeply personal to me. I entered public service, at the urging of my parents, to protect the water and beaches in my home town of Bonita Springs. It breaks my heart, and should concern everyone, to see the filthy plume of dark brown, toxic waters killing or driving away aquatic life — as it blankets southern Florida's beaches, barrier islands, and coastal communities with dead sea grasses, fish, and other creatures.
Much of modern southern Florida was formed when man drained the Everglades for agriculture, below Lake Okeechobee. Later, the Herbert Hoover Dike was built, and natural flows were altered, enabling the once unimaginable development that has occurred. Unfortunately, much of the unintended ecological consequences of this development, including discharges from Lake Okeechobee, are borne disproportionately by those who depend on or enjoy the estuaries, the Gulf and the Ocean waters in South Florida.
We lack the infrastructure needed to deal with large water flows in rainy years, like 2016. The current practice of using the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers as the drainage pipes for the state should be ended — as soon as possible. It's just not fair to the people or the critters affected.
Solutions
By the year 2000, after a century of development, concern for these problems culminated in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) — a long term plan to permanently restore safe, clean water flows throughout south and central Florida — and restore the Everglades.
We will never completely restore these flows to what nature provided before development. But CERP is a major step toward this goal. The original projected CERP costs, which the state of Florida and the federal government share 50/50, were $8 billion over 30 years.
Of concern, these estimates have now doubled.
Also under way are repairs on the failing Herbert Hoover Dike, and a number of state and federal programs for water storage, treatment and conveyance. These include Kissimmee River Restoration, Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park, Picayune Strand Restoration, Indian River Lagoon, C-43 and C-44 initiatives.
I appreciate, and support, the significant efforts and investments being made in executing these projects. Nonetheless, the citizens and coastal communities of southern Florida still unfairly bear too much of the state's drainage and flood protection burden.
Progress is too little and too slow
Despite ongoing investments, today's crisis tells us that we're not acting fast enough — even with the creative and admirable emergency actions taken by the governor, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), and ACE to move water away from the lake and relieve pressure on the dike.
The current polluted waters heading into the Gulf and Atlantic Ocean are a resounding wake-up call for immediate additional steps to avoid further calamity in subsequent rainy years.
We need to move faster on CERP, a series of more than 60 projects, each of which needs authorization. Completion of CERP is now seen as beyond 2050.
As currently anticipated, the critical repairs needed on the dike will not be completed for a decade.
Then there is the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP), the next planned Everglades restoration project. Once implemented, CEPP will store, treat, and convey 200,000 acre-feet of lake water south into the central Everglades. But CEPP is not yet even authorized — and completion could also take another decade.
Moreover, Congress has historically authorized water projects (WRDDA) every seven years. We need to speed this up to at least every two years — to stay on top of things.
While I support CERP, dike repairs, CEPP, and WRDDA — as critical in restoring water flows and protecting South Florida — current schedules are simply unacceptable, especially when considering the high likelihood of another El Niño. Today's problems will only become more expensive to solve, unless we prioritize and speed up the pace of projects underway and in the pipeline.
Let's move faster — and save money in the long run
Specifically, here's what I propose:
First, Congress should reauthorize federal water projects (including additional CERP projects) every two years, to avoid delays in projects critical to Florida.
Second, I support authorizing and immediately beginning work on CEPP.
Third, I urge passage of H.R. 4436, my bipartisan legislation to expedite dike repairs. I acknowledge that completion of these repairs is not a panacea — and that there would be negative ecological impacts with prolonged high lake levels. But the repairs must be done, and the sooner the better. Let's be ready for the next El Niño flood year.
Our elephant (manatee) in the room: additional land acquisition
The final missing piece of the puzzle, fraught with sensitive political issues, is the purchase of additional land south of Lake Okeechobee. I urge passage of my proposed land acquisition bill (H.R. 4793). While land purchases are typically the responsibility of the state of Florida, my bill would serve as another option to get water flow south — and away from the Gulf and Atlantic. Any money spent by H.R. 4793 would be credited to the federal government's 50 percent overall share. My bill would enable the purchase of land sufficient to create one million acre-feet of additional storage, which experts say would achieve a 90 percent reduction in lake-triggered discharge to east and west estuaries, meet 90 percent of the Everglades dry season targets, and provide approximately 350,000 additional acre-feet of annual flow to the Everglades.
Let's act now — before it's too late
These solutions are not cheap. But in the long run, the initiatives I'm proposing will help us avoid catastrophe and will save significant money over the long run. Let's focus investments on filtering and moving water south, as opposed to endlessly building lakes and storage reservoirs that would become stagnant and nasty anyway.
Human intervention with nature created today's Florida, with some pretty amazing results. We've enabled the growth of Florida's agriculture, cattle, tourism industries, and coastal communities — Florida's advanced technology leadership in aerospace, space, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotech, clean-tech, and other industries — and America's fourth largest state economy. Florida's Gross State Product (GSP) will exceed $1 trillion this year. Over 20 million people currently reside here. And over 100 million tourists visit Florida annually.
Nonetheless, the current water situation is not sustainable. The estuaries of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie, and the Gulf and Atlantic Ocean, receive the disastrous discharges from Lake Okeechobee, hurting our citizens, wildlife, and affected businesses. Our rivers to the east and west of the lake should not remain the drain pipes for the state. This is simply not fair. Meanwhile, the Everglades and Florida Bay are often hollering for clean fresh water. And finally, our fresh groundwater, the source of 90 percent of Florida's drinking water, is in jeopardy, because of the water diversions and development.
Our economy and way of life are at risk. I appreciate the actions by the federal and state governments to implement CERP. However, my call now is to go faster; fix the dike quickly; and buy more land ASAP for water filtration and a flow-way south to the Everglades.
This is an environmental issue, a business issue, and a moral imperative. The time for action, political will, and teamwork is now. I will do all that I can to make it happen.

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Dispute over snail kite puts Everglades restoration at risk
Tampa Bay Times – by Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
March 28, 2016
Known for its curved bill, square tail and red eyes, the Everglades snail kite has been a fixture on on the federal endangered species list since the first one was issued in 1967.
Yet, after decades of fending off extinction, the snail kite finds itself in the cross-hairs of a standoff between state and federal bureaucrats that could imperil already strained efforts to restore the Everglades.
It started last month when a federal official threatened to jail state regulators for failing to protect the species properly, according to Gov. Rick Scott's former general counsel.
"Threatening arrests and the attendant loss of personal freedom can never be taken lightly," Pete Antonacci, who is now the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Antonacci accused a Fish and Wildlife Service official named Bob Progulske of threatening to have him and the Florida boss of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers arrested. Progulske denies it.
"I don't have that authority," Progulske said Monday. "I'm a wildlife biologist."
But Antonacci, a former prosecutor, insisted in an interview with the Times that it happened: "As someone who grew up in law enforcement, I know an arrest threat when I hear one."
The kite kerfuffle erupted at last month's meeting of the state and federal agencies overseeing the Everglades restoration project, which debuted in 2000 to great fanfare, but has since been repeatedly delayed. The project has no chance of being finished by 2020, its original completion date, and costs well above its initial $7.8 billion estimate.
Every three months, the agencies assess its uncertain progress. Antonacci, who took over as head of the state's largest water district last fall, attended his first quarterly meeting Feb. 25.
No one keeps careful minutes, so what happened is a matter of debate.
At some point, talk turned to the Everglades snail kite. Progulske discussed the rate at which water was being dumped from lakes in the Kissimmee River valley into Lake Okeechobee.
Torrential rains in January overloaded Lake Okeechobee. The Corps released large amounts of lake water to estuaries on both sides of the state, causing environmental and economic disruptions.
Changing the water level too quickly disrupts the kite's spring nesting, Progulske explained. Their nests get swept away and they fail to reproduce.
Causing that type of destruction for an endangered species without first getting a federal permit is illegal — and so far, neither the Corps nor the water district had applied for any such permit, despite the repeated urging of Progulske's agency.
According to Antonacci, Progulske threatened to haul him and Col. Jason Kirk off to jail because they hadn't gotten a permit. Antonacci wrote in a subsequent letter that he had instructed his entire staff "to have no further communication of any kind with Bob Progulske pending further notice."
Progulske called to apologize, but Antonacci refused to take the call. The threat had been made in a public meeting, he said, so he deserved a public apology — not one delivered in private.
"Resolving matters confidentially would mean that the witnesses to the threat will reasonably believe that things are left unresolved," he wrote to Progulske's boss, Larry Williams, on March 1.
He added that what had happened threatened to derail restoring the River of Grass.
"The federal-state partnership in Everglades restoration depends on mutual respect and a collaborative spirit between agencies," Antonacci wrote. "These worthy goals were seriously harmed in our offices last week."
According to Williams and Progulske, this is all just a big misunderstanding.
"While the conversation was certainly awkward and arguably inappropriate, you misunderstood Mr. Progulske's motives as threatening you and Col. Kirk with arrest," Williams wrote Antonacci on March 3.
Although Progulske did not issue any threats, according to Williams, he was still "counseled" about how he discussed the issue at the meeting.
Corps of Engineers officials declined to comment.
For now, Williams considers the flap over the kite's fate a closed matter — with no public apology from Progulske necessary.
Antonacci said he never really expected an apology. He sent all the letters -- with copies to congressman -- to make a point.
"I just wanted to get it on the record that these stormtrooper tactics are completely inappropriate," he said.
Everglades snail kites live in freshwater marshes and the shallow vegetated edges of natural and manmade lakes, places where they can hunt the apple snail, their preferred food. But changes made to the Everglades in the name of flood control have disrupted the natural flow, fragmenting their habitat. The kites' population declined from 3,400 birds in 2000 to just 700 by 2008. Recently they have been doing better, however, because an invasive species of snails proved to be edible by the kites.
Scientific name: Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus
Appearance: Gray or brown, depending on the gender; curved bill; red eyes; square tail.
Food: Feeds almost exclusively on apple snails.
Habitat: Freshwater marshes and the shallow vegetated edges of lakes.
First listed as an endangered species: 1967

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More land needed to stop water discharges, science shows
News-Press.com - Jennifer Hecker, director of Natural Resource Policy, Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
March 28, 2016
Additional land purchase in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) for more water storage, treatment and conveyance south has been highlighted as the necessary missing piece of the puzzle to restoring the Everglades and south Florida estuaries for years, as outlined in the state’s 2008 Reviving the River of Grass initiative and the more recent 2015 University of Florida Water Institute study.
Both studies state over a million acre feet of storage north of Lake Okeechobee and 1.2 million acre feet (391 billion gallons) of storage in the EAA would be needed to alternatively take the amount of water coming into the lake and out the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.
To address the pollution also requires EAA lands. The state’s Basin Management Action Plan to clean up the river clearly states that of the 61 percent of the primary pollutant to the Caloosahatchee, nitrogen, is coming from Lake Okeechobee. Lake Okeechobee currently does not meet state water quality standards for safe use for swimming and fishing, and also has a clean-up plan. As a result, water from the  Lake is too dirty to send elsewhere without filtration. Current treatment areas in the Everglades are maxed out, so added treatment would be needed. The water must be captured and stored first to not overload the new treatment areas, or they will fail and polluted water would flow downstream and destroy the remaining Everglades and Florida Bay.
The bottom line is that water currently being discharged out of our river originally flowed through the EAA region when it was historically part of the Everglades. No one is singling out agribusinesses in the EAA as the sole impediment to solving our water crisis, but they are a critical piece of the problem and solution. We cannot move that water south again without building a wider path for conveyance, a catchment reservoir, and additional filter marshes in the EAA. Buying these lands will do that while also removing some pollution, drainage and bottleneck of flow that are contributing to the problems. This can all be done without reducing flood protection for inland communities or displacing large numbers of inland residents. In return, they will have a healthier Lake Okeechobee and reduced risk of dike failure, which will improve their economy and safety.
In response to the state’s current inaction to secure the EAA lands based on political reasons, it is appropriate and necessary for the federal government to pursue buying them to protect federal resources being impacted such as the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. That’s why the Conservancy of Southwest Florida supports a bill filed last week by Congressman Curt Clawson to buy lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (HR 4793).This bill would draw upon emergency funds and would not affect funding for other Everglades restoration projects.
To quote the South Florida Water Management District from when they were supportive and had begun acquiring these lands in 2008, “The potential acquisition of vast tracts of long sought-after land in the EAA now offers the unprecedented opportunity to reestablish a historic connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades through a managed system of water storage and water quality treatment.”
Last year, the District choose to terminate one of the purchase options. However, there is still an option to buy the EAA lands at fair market value. This land is not going to get any cheaper, and with mining and development marching inward, we cannot allow this opportunity to save our estuaries and the Everglades slip through our hands forever.
Everyone wanting a cleaner Caloosahatchee needs to contact federal and state legislators and tell them to authorize and appropriate more money for Everglades Restoration, as well as to support buying EAA lands. Learn more about the Conservancy and Everglades Restoration at https://www.conservancy.org/our-work/policy/water-quality/ripple-effect. Together, we can bring about the long overdue solutions our community needs and deserves.
Related:           Florida Cabinet may consider 8138-acre land buy     The Real Deal Magazine

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We know what we are seeing: Buy Big Sugar lands, send clean, fresh water south ...
EyeOnMiami (Blog) – by Gimleteye
March 28, 2016
People in South Florida are beginning to understand how every taxpayer in South Florida is hostage to the dismal water quality in Lake Okeechobee. This is us.
Imagine that we are citizens of Flint, Michigan -- forced by government and elected officials to drink water contaminated with lead. In Florida, the metaphor is apt.
First of all, count on government officials and the agency PR machine to deny. They are doing it now: issuing press statements assuring that all is well, problem is recognized and addressed. Second, they will go to newspapers and TV stations where they have cultivated relationships. Third, they will attack critics as ill-informed, penning letters to the editors and OPED's for others to submit.
This formulaic response did protect the special interest's prerogatives and corporate welfare over decades. Something changed. What changed is that voters and taxpayers know what we are seeing, and we are expressing it very clearly in photos, videos, and blog posts on social media -- viewed by hundreds of thousands of Floridians.
Here, we live and recreate on or simply appreciate waterways like the Indian River Lagoon, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, the Caloosahatchee River directly impacted by the Lake Okeechobee's filthy water. Or Biscayne Bay and the Everglades. We know what we are seeing.
The problem with Florida's dismal water quality is not just that we taxpayers are sacrifice zones for Big Sugar. It is that we are all hostage to the bad water quality coming out of Lake Okeechobee.
There is an answer and another plan. Last August, 207 scientists petitioned Gov. Rick Scott to buy Bug Sugar lands, to put enough storage in place that the catastrophe that occurred this recent January might not have happened. This bears repeating: if Gov. Scott and the Florida legislature had completed the deal to buy U.S. Sugar lands, that U.S. shareholders approved in 2008, they would be able to say -- at least -- that they were doing something to alleviate Lake O stormwater runoff even if it still will take years to complete. They did the opposite.
They refused to allocate Amendment 1 funding, approved by more than 75 percent of Florida voters as a constitutional amendment in 2014, to buy Big Sugar lands south of Lake Okeechobee. This legislative session, they approved a new state water policy that protects polluters inside virtual barbed wire enclosures. "We will call it pollution when we decide to call it pollution."
Decades lost to restoring water quality in Florida -- despite billions spent -- serve a single purpose: to make Big Sugar even richer. In the U.S. Congress, not even conservatives or tea party stalwarts have been able to remove the stigma of corporate welfare embedded in the Farm Bill, that guarantees Big Sugar profits before a single seed is planted. Big Sugar takes a fraction of those guaranteed profits, fertilizes Tallahassee and local county commissions and political races, and thus ensures that taxpayers will shoulder the majority of the cost and pain of cleaning up the industry's pollution.
Here is what the scientists signed last summer. “As a scientist working in the Everglades," they each asserted, "... it is my scientific opinion that increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward, is essential to restoring the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the Caloosahatchee and St.Lucie estuaries.” (names, listed below)
Gov. Scott and Ag. Secretary Adam Putnam and the rest of the Florida legislature basically told the scientists to fuck off. (Same as US Senator Marco Rubio, who refused to meet with climate change scientists over a period of many years.)
We can't get to fixing the Lake Okeechobee problem until a government agency makes the case for taking the land by eminent domain. Part of the reason eminent domain is necessary is because of fragmented land ownership in the EAA. Another part is common sense: until Big Sugar feels the heat of political change, there is no reason to change.
Taxpayers feel helpless; mislead by Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam, by Governor Rick Scott, by Sig Sugar's mouthpieces like Senate president Joe Negron and Representative Matt Caldwell. We don't know what to do, because we are being lied to.
A plan forward will not happen until we elect politicians to step forward. It can't happen in Florida so long as the state legislature is in the hammer hold of Big Sugar. It might happen if a federal agency steps up to protect the national interest in the Everglades, with the support of Congress and the White House.
Along this line, Monroe County -- including the Florida Keys -- has already stepped forward asking government agencies to speed up Everglades restoration. Also along this line, Florida voters already rejected two GOP presidential primary candidates -- Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio -- firmly in Big Sugar's pockets.
Taking Big Sugar lands is not a question -- as Big Sugar tries to sell -- of over-reaching government. They know and we know since time for our estuaries and Everglades and Florida Bay has run out, it is only a question of price.
With Gov. Rick Scott and Ag. Secretary Putnam at the helm, even getting to the price is impossible because they are fully committed to embarrassing excuses, half-measures, and outright pandering to the billionaires' sticky embrace. When Republican water managers refused to exercise the option to buy US Sugar lands, they showed their cards. It is time for voters to show, ours.

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A reality check from Lake O
Ocala.com - Editorial
March 27, 2016
When the Florida Legislature passed a new state water policy during the first week of the legislative session back in January, its proponents hailed the measure as a new day in water protection. They said it would put our state on the path to cleaning up our waterways and create adequate supplies for the future.
They were lying.
All one has to do today is look at the environmental disaster being caused by the release of billions of gallons of nutrient-polluted water from Lake Okeechobee in the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast and the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast. What has resulted is the literal blackening of miles of coastal shoreline, not to mention wildlife deaths, ruination of sea grass beds and, oh yes, the disruption of tourist-related businesses as the black water from the lake fouls the Atlantic Ocean and its estuaries.
The water is being released, water officials say, because the aging dike encircling Lake Okeechobee cannot withstand high water. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott has been missing in action — again — as this disaster has unfolded.
Scott ordered the release of the water, then amid the uproar from South Florida residents declared an emergency ... but did not halt the water releases.
Anyone who has followed the water conversation in this state over the years will tell you there is nothing new about the problems with the Lake Okeechobee dike or the foulness of the water it holds — the lake serves as a septic tank for Big Sugar and other agriculture operations surrounding the lake.
Yet, like so many water problems facing Florida, our state leaders have not only chosen to respond casually, they have exacerbated already bad situation by releasing huge amounts of toxic water.
The state’s new water policy, while a small improvement over what we had, does not seriously address the pressures that are ruining our waters. It certainly has no answer for Lake Okeechobee. In fact, the new law eases restrictions on farming operations. The law allows decades to correct what is wrong with our springs and rivers and lakes. It does woefully little to force the reduction in nitrate pollution, depending instead on “best practices” that carry no sanctions if they are not implemented.
We have hearing about the threat of overpumping and overpollution of Florida’s waters for two generations. It has been studied to death. Yet, lawmakers still coddle big agriculture and business interests and stand by dumbfounded when a disaster occurs like we are seeing in South Florida.
We have a quiet disaster going right here in Marion County. According to federal guidelines, water with more than 10 mg per liter of nitrates is consider unhealthy, even harmful, to drink. Well, hundreds upon hundreds of private drinking wells in Marion County have such readings — and no one in a regulatory position has even acknowledged it. How fouled will our drinking water supply have to get before some aggressive action is taken?
As Lake Okeechobee shows, what is happening to Florida’s water is not some surprise. It has been forewarned for decades. Yet, after ballyhooing new water legislation, Mother Nature decided to show us just how far we have to go to try and protect and preserve our water supply.

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Lake Okeechobee Water Crisis: Southern flow not a silver bullet
News-Press.com – by Chad Gillis
March 27, 2016
Plans to move more water south from the lake will please some, but there's still no easy answer on where to put millions of unwanted gallons.
INTERACTIVE: Moving Water South of Lake Okeechobee
No easy answer
Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Indian Tribe of Florida surveys the high waters of Water Conservation Area 3A. Osceola is worried about the future of the lands.
(Photo: Andrew West/The News-Press)
Betty Osceola pulls back the throttle on her Cadillac-driven airboat, kills the motor and guides the craft to a stop at one of the most remote patches of dry land in the state.
She ties off to a wooden dock before walking to the edge of what she calls a tree island, a cluster of hardwood trees that hold in place the foundation of the islands her people lived and farmed on for generations.
"All of this should be dry," she says while looking at the flooded gardens on Tear Island. "We use this island for education for the students. We teach them that this provided us home, and the animals home."
This island is where children of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida learn to grow corn, pumpkins and other vegetables and fruit — much of which is used at various ceremonies throughout the year.
"It has impacted me and other Miccosukee personally," she says, "because what we do culturally on the islands, we can't do that now. It's culture. It's like a language. If you don't speak it, it goes away."
But more water could be on the way as the El Nino system that delivered record January rains is expected to bring higher-than-normal precipitation through April. Water managers are trying something new: flushing more water south toward the Everglades. That means fewer gallons rushing away from Lake O and down the Caloosahatchee River, which means healthier estuaries and cleaner water at area beaches.
Water flowing south could help restore the wetlands that have been dried and drained by man. But some won't be happy with it.  And that's the problem: the water has to go somewhere, but there are major disagreements on where it should go.
The state is focused next on building more bridges along Tamiami Trail to allow more flow into Everglades National Park, but the water district will continue to spend millions to send water east and west.
Osceola isn't alone in her water worries. Neither are the other 600 or so members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
Practically every area of the historic Everglades was flooded after record January rainfall dumped more than a foot of rain across the 16-county South Florida Water Management District that stretches from Orlando to Key West.
Coastal waters in the Fort Myers and St. Lucie areas have since run brown, and a massive fish kill was reported on the east coast earlier this week.
One solution to the water management problem is to send water south to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay, which once received billion of gallons of pristine freshwater. The park is too dry, and areas of Florida Bay are too saline to create the ideal balance found in estuaries.
This relatively new water management tool came into play after Gov. Rick Scott convinced state and federal agencies, Florida Power & Light and private property owners south of Tamiami Trail to sign off on an agreement that allowed water from north of the road to flow south and into the eastern portion of Everglades National Park.
Sending more water south, at times, would reduce some of the harmful discharges to the east and west coasts, but the current volume is only a trickle of the amount of water coming down the Caloosahatchee.
And there are many obstacles in the way, from meeting Clean Water Act standards to protecting a rare sparrow that could be drowned out by releases that could potentially lessen impacts to coastal estuaries.
A new way
Sending water south, instead of east and west, better mimics historic conditions and helps the Fort Myers and St. Lucie areas by cutting down on the frequency and volume of Okeechobee releases.
Building water storage reservoirs like the C43 along the Caloosahatchee River would help hold water on the landscape and keep it from going to the ocean and Gulf of Mexico. That's one option: simply build more reservoirs.
Another option is to keep sending mass volumes of freshwater down the rivers, both of which were artificially connected to the lake to drain the Everglades for development and farming.
There are also myriad constraints to moving water from Lake Okeechobee south. The Clean Water Act says water discharges into Everglades National Park must measure 10 parts per billion or less of phosphorous, which is a fertilizer.
Water in Okeechobee is 10 or 15 times higher than that, so it would need to be filtered or treated before going into park lands.
The water management system itself was designed to disrupt the historic flow of the Everglades and send water to the Atlantic and the Gulf. Billions of tax dollars have been spent to design and manage the current system, and changing that setup would be costly, critics say.
A South Florida Water Management District report shows many constraints to sending water south. It's difficult for the state to move water from south of Lake Okeechobee into the northern part of Everglades National Park because of water pump capacity, levee safety, endangered species protections and flood risks, according to the report prepared by Operations Director Jeff Kevitt.
Kevitt's presentation shows that outflows from Okeechobee are not large enough to handle significant volumes of water south. The canals south of the lake are not large enough to handle mass water releases, and moving water south could violate protections for the Everglades snail kite, the black-necked stilt, and the Cape Sable seaside sparrow.
There are also flooding concerns for Homestead and Florida City.
'Do they want to see people die'
One of the complaints from coastal people is they want to see fewer discharges during high rain events because they think the water coming from the lake is dirty. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, for example, says the river water is polluted by runoff from farms and homes and that definitely hurts estuaries.
But those living around the lake say that's not true.
Jim Crego at Slim's Fish Camp in South Bay (a small farming town on the southeast shore of the lake) said water in and around Lake Okeechobee is clean and clear.
"When we catch shiners out of the lake, we use well water," Crego said while netting large baitfish used to lure largemouth bass, the most sought-after gamefish in America. "So I know it's not polluted because I use that water everyday, and the fish are alive."
“It's been going on as long as I've been here, but when the (Army Corps and water district) starts dumping water out into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds, there's nothing we can do about it.”
Crego said people throughout the system contribute to the problems, from cattle farmers north of the lake to the city of Fort Myers pumping millions of gallons of treated effluent into the Caloosahatchee River. We raise the cattle. We grow the produce. We move the water. In some cases, we put pollution in the rain droplets as they touch down.
So it's a shared adversity, a situation in which one area of the system may flourish while another fails.
"It's been going on as long as I've been here," he said. "But when the (Army Corps and water district) starts dumping water out into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds, there's nothing we can do about it."
Kelvin Snipe of Pahokee said he's worried the Herbert Hoover Dike will one day burst. Simply allowing the dike to breach and send water gushing south, as some people in Fort Myers have advocated, could be deadly.
Dax Louvet, a resident of Boca Raton prepares to toss back a crappie he caught near Slim's Fish Camp in Belle Glade on Lake Okeechobee on Monday 3/21/2016. Despite high water levels on the lake due to high amounts of rain, anglers say the water quality and fishing has been good.
"People complain about the water on the coasts, but nobody's got sick eating the fish here," he said while fishing the south rim of the dike for crappie. "What would they rather see? Do they want to see people in Clewiston, South Bay and Pahokee die?"
In Moore Haven, on the west side of the lake, Ed Massey talks about the lake while working on an electric unit at an RV site.
Massey, owner of Uncle Joe's Motel and Campground, is optimistic about the future of the lake, and he said he trusts the state and federal agencies charged with managing the lake and protecting tens of thousands of lives south of Okeechobee.
"We should just step back and let Mother Nature do her job," Massey said, "we'd be a lot better off. And we need to look at who is complaining and why they are complaining."
The complaints have come mostly from coastal areas receiving the discharges, and they're mad that local waters are brown and relatively lifeless during the middle of the profitable tourist season.
"This is a short-term problem," Massey reasoned. "If it happens every 30 years, why are people complaining."
A bird in the bush
Sending too much water south could violate the Endangered Species Act by wiping out the last of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow.
Two gates that allow water to flow into the western section of Everglades National Park are closed between January and the summer to protect the bird, its nests and offspring.
Along the Tamiami Trail on the edge of the River of Grass, in what water management agencies refer to as Water Conservation Area 3A, water is finally starting to recede.
This area is home to dozens of tree islands, which formed in the Everglades over the course of thousands of years and are made up mostly of hardwood, subtropical trees. The tree roots literally hold the island together.
Some islands are the size of a two-car garage while others stretch a football field or so in length. Historically these would be some of the few dry areas in the River of Grass, but they've been underwater for several weeks.
A few miles south of Osceola and the Miccosukee reservation, Cape Sable seaside sparrows are in the middle of their nesting season. Sending large volumes of water to this section of Everglades National Park could be the beginning of the end for the birds.
The Cape Sable birds have been the focus of various lawsuits. The latest came in 2013, when the Center for Biological Diversity sent a notice of intent to file a lawsuit to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps over flooding conditions after record rains that summer.
Jacki Lopez, with the Center's Florida office, said the group has not decided yet if it will file a lawsuit over January flooding.
“We're not going to sacrifice one species for another and just ignore the problem, it's not single-species management. It's not one species versus another.”
"We're not going to sacrifice one species for another and just ignore the problem," Lopez said. "It's not single-species management. It's not one species versus another."
Lopez said the recent floods were caused more by a mismanaged system than any wildlife protections.
"We're seeing just how important it is to move forward with purchasing land south of the lake to help facilitate water storage," Lopez said, adding that she understands concerns on both coasts because of the recent water issues. "It's absolutely disgusting, and there's nobody that would disagree with that. (But) the real solution's purchasing the land and getting the flow right there."
Jeanne Emerick, an environmental activist and citizen journalist bonds with the Everglades as she takes an airboat ride in Water Conservation Area 3A with Betty Osceola, a member of the Miccusukee Tribe of Florida recently. Osceola says that the water level is four feet higher than normal for this year in this spot. High amounts of rain fall and releases from Lake Okeechobee are to blame. Emerick and Osceola are worried about the future of the Everglades.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to soon release a biological review of the bird, which will outline future protections for the sparrow and likely dictate water management on the lands where they nest.
Osceola said the bird's protections are killing off other animals and ecosystems. This one animal, she said, is taking priority over all of South Florida.
She and dozens of other protesters walked from Miami to Naples last week to highlight environmental concerns, which range from the current water management debacle to the proposed River of Grass greenway and seismic testing in Big Cypress National Preserve.
In the end, she said, the current water situation will only improve when the public demands a change in water management and species management.
"We're all in this together," Osceola said. "No matter if you're from Fort Myers or Palm Beach. It doesn't matter if you're poor or rich, this affects us all."

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Our state's public lands must stay in public hands
The Berkshire Eagle – Letter by John Romano, Boston, MA, a campaign organizer, Environment Massachusetts.
March 27, 2016
2016 is the National Park Service's centennial. I want to highlight parks' importance.
Massachusetts is home to dozens of public parks like the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Appalachian Trail that runs through the Berkshires. These great public spaces provide opportunities for exploration and family fun. Spending time outdoors provides children health benefits, including helping reduce symptoms of ADHD and lowering stress levels.
But too many of our great parks here in Massachusetts and across the country are threatened. From local playgrounds to the Appalachian Trail to the Grand Canyon, we've seen years of chronic under-funding. Not only are budgets being cut, but there are proposals to mine outside the Grand Canyon and drill near the Everglades. Worse yet, a few extremists in Congress are considering selling off some of our public lands to the highest bidder. The public would be left with even less nature to enjoy.
Thankfully, Sen. Elizabeth Warren supports our public lands. I hope she will do everything in her power to keep our public lands in public hands. We need her to ensure they are well-funded, properly maintained, and protected from pollution and private interests.
Our kids — and their kids — deserve to play in great public places for generations to come!

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Explore untamed Florida via buggy, airboat in Everglades
News-Press.com – by Stacey Henson
March 26, 2016
Shelley Wooten mans the wheel of a swamp buggy, regaling tales of her childhood among the swamp creatures and Native American residents of the Everglades to riders.
With up to seven airboats skimming the Everglades, Wooten's  sounds like a hive as the  buzz carries over the grasslands.
"Get ready for some ridin'and slidin', and we'll find some gators, too," airboat captain Robbie Daffin calls as he kicks off about a 40-minute tour, the 15 passengers adjusting their headphones to block out the noise.
With airboat and swamp buggy tours and a live alligator show, the attraction is a uniquely Florida outing.
Julianna Ulshafer, 17, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was watching otters play after spins on the airboat and swamp buggy.
"It's the first time I've seen alligators," she said. She took an early spring break with her college student sister and their family and said the airboat ride was the highlight.
Owner Aashish Patel said with more than $1 million in investments the past two years, including new airboats and swamp buggies, an alligator education arena and upgraded facilities, visitor numbers are climbing.
On 259 acres surrounded by Big Cypress National Preserve,  the Patel family bought the original Wooten property in 2013.
"We have new  staff, new energy and new management," Patel said. The family has owned Captain Jack's Airboat Tours in neighboring Everglades City since 2007.
Airboat tours
Daffin cuts the airboat motor within seconds of leaving the dock, drifting to a male alligator on the left and pointing to a female on the right, each lounging on the channel's banks.
He chats about the differences in the genders and gives a little information on the female, which laid 28 eggs last year.  But none hatched. The passengers ponder that bit of information as Daffin starts up the boat. Within minutes, he guides into the open grasslands, top speeds hitting 35 to 40 knots.
With an abnormal amount of rainfall, a good 8 inches of water stood on the prairie. The lower the level, the more spins.  Daffin said it's normally about 2 inches deep this time of the year.
"The shallower the water, the more 720s and 360s," he said.
When the level lowers to about 6 inches of water, birds such as Roseate spoonbills and ibis fill the prairie. On this day, a few birds stand scattered in the waters.
Thrilling the guests, Daffin steers the boat among the red mangroves, sable palms and waving grasses under sunny skies. He's watched the salt-loving red mangroves proliferate although the property is 9 miles from the coast. He blames the Lake Okeechobee water releases sending fresh water down rivers instead of flushing the salt water out of the lower grasslands.
The tour is part lesson in environmental studies.
He points out the hammock where guides discovered an invasive 7-foot Burmese python a few weeks ago. He started out as part of the capture team.
"I had 17 people calling me a wimp," he said, of his brief encounter.
With seven rats inside the python and dozens of eggs, he said it's easy to see the impact of pythons on native wildlife and how easily the snakes proliferate.
He spotted a 10-foot gator basking in a cove and brought the boat around. From 30,000 gators in the '70s, scientists estimate Florida now has more than 3 million.  The group would see more if the water was lower, giving them a place to sun themselves.
Then the thrill part of the tour resumed as he guided the boat at top speed into the open grasslands and executed a 360 before heading back to the dock.
Swamp buggy tours
On the fresh-water side of  U.S. 41, across from the airboat docks, guests walk up a ramp to board the towering swamp buggies for a ride on an old logging road.
"Welcome to my backyard," said  Shelley Wooten, whose grandfather started the business after tourists offered him cash for a ride in his airboat. She's an eighth-generation resident, her ancestors moving to Ochopee in the mid-1800s.
"It's my home, and it's in my soul," she said."I'm the only Wooten left on the property, and I'll never leave."
She knows where the animals are and how to find them. She starts and stops the buggy often, the key attached to an alligator tooth and a 4-inch bit of antler, passed down from her father,who died last year.
"Here's the biggest hill in south Florida," Wooten said as she eased the buggy down a small dip to the grasslands,  frond tips creating waves from the breeze.
She pointed out  plants, some of which are edible or used as natural bug repellents.
"Anything Bambi can eat,  you can eat," she said.
At the first turn, guests discover a chickee hut, home for 10 to 12 people. With a traditional thatched roof, no walls and three sleeping areas on stilts, it shows how the Miccosukee and Seminole lived in the Everglades.  Without walls, the sleeping areas surround a communal cooking area, and the raised area allows the breeze to cool the inhabitants.  Smoke from the fire wafts through the encampment, keeping bugs away.
Most of the animals were resting in the midday heat. Wooten said she's seen deer, panthers, bobcats, otters, alligators, Everglades mink, snakes and opossums along the trail.
She's worried about the disappearance of small mammals as  pythons move into the Everglades, drastically altering the ecology.
With field corn scattered along the trail, guests spied raccoons and a white-tailed deer.
Another tableau features a hideout with a renegade moonshine operation, circa the prohibition era.
"I always thought Al Capone was a big ol' sissy because he could only live in the Everglades for a week," Wooten said.
You can learn things from the swamp buggy ride that you won't always see in the text  books, Patel said.
The locals say Capone would occasionally flee his Miami home, as well as the Chicago gangster's infamous near-by hideout Pinecrest, where he was rumored to run a brothel, gaming hall and still.
As the tour neared its end, Wooten pointed out a bald eagle atop a bald cypress, watching its large nest from 100 yards away.
 Animal sanctuary
Back across U.S. 41, guests found panthers, a tiger, lions, otters, snakes, crocodiles and dozens of alligators sunning in a pond at the Animal Sanctuary.
Patel says animals at the park are either nuisance or rescue animals. He proudly shows off the animals, chatting about each and how they arrived at the sanctuary.
As he walks past Duruba, a 5-year-old white Bengal tiger, he smiles.
"He's the laziest animal, and the friendliest guy you'll ever meet," he said.
African lions Zimba and Lola lazed by their pool. The otters casually ate fish and napped on their slide.
The real attraction, however, was at the arena.
Children and their parents watched closely as handler Dylan Phillips straddled a monster alligator. He slipped his arms around the beast to show how the Miccosukee and Seminoles wrangled them during hunts and later to entertain paying tourists with gator wrestling.
Jimmy Owen provided the history and tips on keeping the gator from snapping Phillips.
Phillips tucked the gator's snout under his chin, and ran his hands through the gap of the gator's lower jaw. Some members of the crowd occasionally gasped, while others were silent in awe.
Owens explains the gator won't snap as long as Phillips doesn't hit anywhere inside the gator's mouth, touching a nerve.
The pair break and walk to an enclosure holding dozens of gators to feed them for the crowd. They tossed chicken quarters to instant jaw snaps and a few splashes as the gators jockeyed for a meal.
After the presentation, guests lined up to hold a smaller gator and get photos.
Ashton, Magnuson, 4, tentatively touched the scales as Marissa DeLorenzo, of New Jersey, held him and the animal. Onlookers peered around her shoulder, marveling at the prehistoric beast before continuing their adventure.
If you go
What: Wooten's          When: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily
Where: Wooten's Everglades Airboat Tours, 32330 Tamiami Trail E., Ochopee 
Cost: The ultimate combo tickets, which include airboat and swamp buggy tours and admission to the live alligator show cost $60 for adults, $46 for ages 4-12 and $2.50 for younger than 4.  Find discount coupons online.  Tipping your tour guides is expected. Private airboat tours can be arranged.
Information:  www.wootenseverglades.com/

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SFWMD proof of good stewardship
News-Press.com – by Daniel O’Keefe, Board Chairman of the SFWMD
March 26, 2016
South Florida Water Management District board chair Daniel O'Keefe(Photo: File)
Attention on the health of South Florida’s environment was intensified this winter by unprecedented rainfall and weeks of Lake Okeechobee releases to the coastal estuaries.
But finger pointing at the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board, and agenda-driven criticism of our west coast board member as a poor steward of the environment, is sorely misdirected.
Actions by the board have achieved significant results in recent years. Everglades water quality is a great example. Flows in the 1980s contained more than 150 parts per billion of phosphorus. Florida has invested $1.8 billion to improve Everglades water quality by building 57,000 acres of stormwater treatment areas. During the past 5 years, nutrients discharged into Everglades National Park averaged just 9 parts per billion, surpassing water quality standards — and far exceeding the prediction of skeptics.
The district has made significant progress building restoration projects, and we’re working ahead of the federal process within the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan to achieve results as early as possible. The district has dedicated $1.993 billion to restoration projects, far more than the federal government has spent, including the restoration of the Picayune Strand and the C-111 Spreader Canal.
This work includes construction now underway of the important C-43 Reservoir along the Caloosahatchee. This enormous facility will hold 170,000 acre-feet of water — that’s more than 55 billion gallons — to benefit the river and estuary.
The district’s commitment to restoration is far from over. The governing board is committed to completing restoration projects like the Lakeside Ranch stormwater treatment area, Lake Hicpochee hydrology enhancement on the Caloosahatchee and to construct all of the projects in Gov. Rick Scott’s $880 million Restoration Strategies plan including 6,300 acres of additional stormwater treatment areas. Several of the Restoration Strategies projects, including the massive A-1 and L-8 flow equalization basins in Palm Beach County are already complete or nearing completion and benefitting South Florida.
This board’s achievements are proof positive of great stewardship.

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With big seagrass die-off in Florida Bay, officials and others beg for speedier Everglades cleanup
KeysNet.com - by Kevin Wadlow
March 26, 2016
Florida Bay will die and may take the Florida Keys with it unless state and federal agencies hasten Everglades restoration, frustrated residents and environmental groups fumed Wednesday.
"The grim state of Florida Bay is a reality," Peter Frezza, an Audubon of Florida biologist and professional flats guide, told Monroe County  commissioners.
"Wildlife diversity and the abundance of shallow-water damage is at the lowest point I've ever experienced," Frezza said.
Commissioners meeting in Key Largo were considering approval of a resolution urging a faster pace on Everglades projects. After calls to demand stronger and more extensive measures -- primarily creation of a large freshwater-storage area south in the agricultural area south of Lake Okeechobee -- commissioners agreed to a rewrite.
If a water storage area were created there, such water could be released south during dry periods to keep the bay's salinity down -- needed for a healthy bay.
There are no active plans for that Okeechobee storage area, speakers said, and consideration of several critical projects has been pushed back to 2022.
"My heart is broken," Islamorada Village Councilman Mike Forster said of his reaction to a recent meeting with South Florida Water Management District commissioners and staff.
"I wanted to know what positive things are happening that are different from the last four years of no change," Forster said. "I was told the best thing is to pray for no more rain" in the dry season.
Thomas Van Lent, senior scientist for the Everglades Foundation, said, "The Water Management District still does not have a plan for [water storage] south of Lake Okeechobee. You cannot fix Florida Bay without additional storage."
Plans to acquire a large tract of land near Okeechobee for water storage have stalled, reportedly after objections from sugar-producing corporations that have political sway.
Water Management District Executive Director Peter Antonacci told commissioners that progress on Everglades restoration has been significant, especially considering huge costs, uncertain technologies and the need to consider effects on South Florida residents and businesses.
"It's a very long timeline to get good things to happen," said Antonacci, referencing "a 25-year horizon."
Florida Bay now is experiencing a major seagrass die-off south of the mainland, described as the worst since a devastating 1987-90 seagrass kill that triggered a massive algal bloom and a worrisome drop in fish numbers.
Current conditions -- a dry 2015 summer that increased bay salinity, followed by the wettest South Florida winter on record -- make another major algal bloom highly likely, speakers said.
"The system is starving for fresh water," Caroline McLaughlin of the National Parks and Conservation Association said. 
High Florida Bay salinity and seagrass die-offs could signal "essentially the collapse of the entire ecosystem," McLaughlin said. "We know the solution and it's Everglades restoration."
"We all have to remember that we need to protect this incredible global system," said Everglades Trust founder Mary Barley of Islamorada. "Nobody comes to Florida to look at sugar."
Commissioners and speakers pointed to a healthy Florida Bay as a critical element of the Keys economy. A sick bay could destroy recreational and commercial fishing, and pose a threat to survival of the coral reef, speakers said.
"It's sad and sickening and makes you want to cry," Commissioner Sylvia Murphy said. "This beautiful body of water, we have totally wrecked. We need to do whatever it takes."

160325-a
Creating a future for the Indian River Lagoon
TCPalm.com - Guest Column by Duane De Freese, executive director of the Indian River March March 25, 2016
The Indian River Lagoon needs our help.
This remarkable estuary is home to more than 4,300 species of plants and animals and a resource serving almost 50 human communities.
The lagoon has weathered countless changes over the past century. It's bottom has been dredged, filled and altered to accommodate our needs and its shoreline has been reconfigured and armored.
Its watershed was expanded by networks of canals that drain stormwater from land now occupied by urban development. These changes have increased loads of water, nutrients and sediments reaching the lagoon. We are all part of these problems. We are all part of the solutions.
Unfortunately, 2016 is shaping up to be a year that focuses our collective concerns — and awareness — on this vulnerable jewel in our backyard.
In mid-2015, the scientific community noticed an algal bloom in the Mosquito Lagoon. It moved into the northern Indian River Lagoon and affected the Banana River Lagoon and the Indian River Lagoon to the Sebastian Inlet by January 2016. The algae in these blooms include those in the 2011 to 2012 bloom, plus brown tide, which bloomed in 2012 to 2013.
Last weekend, waterfront residents and anglers discovered thousands of dead fish drifting in waterways and canals. Scientists are investigating the causes of the fish kill to see if algal toxicity may have been involved; however, oxygen depletion is a common occurrence during intense algal blooms, and fish and other animals die when they do not have enough oxygen.
People want action, and rightly so. More than just part of the fabric of our lives, the lagoon is an economic engine for our region. A 2007 study found the lagoon is responsible for one-seventh of the region's economy. The overall, annual economic value of the lagoon was estimated at $3.7 billion at that time.
In simplest terms, algal blooms do occur naturally, but we contribute nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that fuel more intense blooms. It's a problem in coastal estuaries worldwide. In addition to robbing the lagoon of oxygen, which sometimes causes "fish kills," algal blooms block sunlight needed by sea grass. Such "shading" can kill sea grass and deprive many animals of the shelter and food they need.
For many years, state and federal agencies, the St. Johns and South Florida water management districts, the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, municipalities and county agencies, educational institutions, stakeholders and individuals have been working individually and collectively to improve our understanding of the lagoon and to carry out projects that reduce our burdens on the waterway.
Recently, completed projects are either treating or removing tens of millions of gallons of stormwater from the lagoon's tributaries. In addition, millions of cubic yards of muck have been removed from the lagoon bottom and additional muck-dredging projects are in progress or on the way.
Each project we complete means progress. However, sustained efforts are needed to restore the health of our lagoon.
Ultimately, collaboration and participation at every level are critical to ensuring the long-term health of the lagoon. We must work in unison to achieve measurable, real results. The reorganized IRL National Estuary Program will help to build a vision for restoration and a regional coalition to implement change, but success will depend on all of us.
We must take ownership of the lagoon. We must change our daily habits that negatively impact the lagoon. We must become more informed and more involved. Scientists and engineers must continue to improve and share their knowledge.Every level of government must continue to fund worthwhile restoration projects and enforce regulations designed to keep the lagoon healthy.
The challenges may be complex, but they are not insurmountable. Working together, we can fix the problem.
The lagoon's future is what we make it.

160325-b
Florida needs better ways to clean polluted water
TampaBay.com - Editorial
March 25, 2016
January's record rains sent the water level in Lake Okeechobee skyrocketing, forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to open the floodgates, sending billions of gallons of dirty water down the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and wreaking environmental damage on both Florida coasts. But as the Tampa Bay Times' Leonora LaPeter Anton and Craig Pittman explained in an exhaustive account this month, the problem is not a freak of nature but a reality decades in the making. And without an ambitious solution, there is no way to stop it from happening again.
The winter rains this year expose how history, Florida's agricultural economy and the state's rapid growth combine in an explosive environmental mix in South Florida's Everglades basin. When rains push Lake Okeechobee toward its peak, the government sends water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee. State water managers also have pumped water back into the lake during periods of heavy rain to protect farming communities south of the lake from flooding. Earlier this year, during South Florida's wettest January since record-keeping began in 1932, water was pumped back into the lake for four days straight.
These actions by the state and corps protect millions of people south and east of the lake — but they also send billions of gallons of tainted water to estuaries on the coasts. As the water snakes its way past miles of farmland, businesses and residential development, it collects more pollution. Add to that the runoff from subdivisions and cattle ranches north of the lake. The end result is a tide of dirty water that kills sea life and damages tourism and property values from Fort Myers to Port St. Lucie.
Florida needs a more effective and efficient way to clean the polluted water, restore the state's natural southerly flow and make more water available for public use instead of herding it to the sea. Gov. Rick Scott and the South Florida Water Management District rejected a solid idea — a plan crafted by former Gov. Charlie Crist to buy nearly 47,000 acres in the Everglades from U.S. Sugar Corp. That could have helped to move the water south and put a timetable on curbing farming in the basin.
The Legacy Florida Act the Legislature passed this year will provide at least $200 million annually for Everglades cleanup. That will bring a steady revenue stream to the restoration effort, which is vital to completing major capital work. And it focuses resources on projects that curb discharges of harmful lake water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee.
Environmentalists, though, say the state still needs large tracts of land to treat water in the basin and to replenish the flow in the Everglades to Florida Bay. Though the state is building or opening new reservoirs along the east coast, it needs a greater focus on water storage projects. And it needs more cost-efficient strategies for managing water farms, whether on privately owned or public lands. The state also should also get ahead of the problem by pushing for an end to U.S. price supports for sugar.
Growth pressures in South Florida and along the coasts will only increase as the economy rebounds from the recession. And extreme weather associated with climate change will further increase the risk of flooding to millions south of the lake. The Legacy Act should accelerate the restoration effort, but the challenge of storing water and redirecting it south remains. Florida needs more land — and it needs to reaffirm the principle that the Everglades is first and foremost a public resource.

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Impaired Waters Rule Notifications for Florida Department of Environmental Protection
FDEP – Press Release
March 25, 2016
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announces the availability of the 2016 Strategic Monitoring Plans. These plans represent the water quality and biological monitoring needs identified by the department in preparation for basin assessments as part of the watershed management approach.
The Watershed Assessment program developed the 2016 strategic monitoring plans available here to assist in assessing the health of Florida's surface waters by conducting hydrological and biological watershed based monitoring activities. These activities are carried out by seven Regional Operation Centers (ROCs) located throughout the department’s six district offices and in Tallahassee. This extensive monitoring effort is accomplished through strong coordination with water management districts, city and county governments.  
The data collected from these efforts is used to assess Florida's surface waters through the application of the Impaired Waters Rule (Chapter 62-303, Florida Administrative Code) methodology. The watershed management approach schedule is designed such that each of the five basin groups situated throughout Florida are addressed on a 5-year cycle.  Prioritizing monitoring efforts in specific basins allows there to be a focus on collecting data where there may be shortfalls and to combine it with critical ongoing sampling needed for assessment.  By implementing strategic monitoring two years prior to the assessment, sufficient time is allotted for all analyses to be completed and data to be processed and uploaded to the statewide database, Florida STORET.
For additional information on the development of the Strategic Monitoring Plans or on the watershed management approach, please contact Kevin O'Donnell by phone at: 850-245-8469 or by email.
For additional information on water quality and biological monitoring site locations, please visit the Water Quality Monitoring Activity Tracker (MAT). The MAT is an interactive web-map application showing the locations where the Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration staff conducts water quality and biological monitoring.

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Scientists learn to predict red tide’s track
TBO.com - by Keith Morelli, Tribune Staff
March 25, 2016
TAMPA — Oceanographers and marine biologists remain in the dark about exactly what causes red tide and how to get rid of the insidious algae bloom, but they are closing in on how to predict where the fall Gulf phenomenon will go once it gets established. Red tide first was documented some five centuries ago by Spanish explorers. It forms about 50 miles from the western shore of Florida and usually drifts toward the coast between Pinellas County and the Florida Keys. Known to scientists as Karena brevis, red tide is a higher-than-normal concentration of toxin-producing microscopic algae that can affect the central nervous systems of fish and marine mammals. Red tide toxins also pose a human health risk, rising from the surface of the water on the wind and carried onto beaches to irritate respiratory systems. A key to predicting its movements lies in the Loop Current, which originates in the Caribbean Sea and gets into the Gulf by squeezing between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba, according to a recent paper written by a team of researchers led by University of South Florida oceanographer Robert Weisberg. One indicator that conditions may be ripe for bloom generation is when the Loop Current runs away from the Dry Tortugas and to the west of the West Florida Shelf, the undersea portion of the continental shelf stretching along Florida’s west coast. On the other hand, prolonged contact by the Loop Current near the southwest corner of the West Florida Shelf is an indicator red tide conditions may be squelched by deep-ocean interactions. The deep-water current sometimes heads north, curling around the coastline of Louisiana and Florida. Other years, it shoots east, passing through the Florida Strait into the Atlantic Ocean. How the current interacts with the continental shelf slope can alter currents on the shelf and change shelf water properties, researchers say, which, in turn can have an impact on algae blooms. ❖ ❖ ❖
If the current is strong, it can bring to the surface certain nutrients that feed another type of algae inhibiting the growth of red tide, Weisberg says in the paper, which was accepted for publication earlier this month. Other conditions can foster red tide growth, he said, and depending on the course and strength of the current, researchers can get a good idea of where the bloom is headed once it gets a foothold. Still, constant observation is needed — and that includes images from satellites and boats on the water, as well as unmanned devices that float in the Gulf taking scientific readings, said Weisberg, a professor of physical oceanography at USF’s College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg. Last fall, conditions resulted in a major red tide bloom that washed ashore in parts of the Gulf Coast, from Pinellas County south, and in parts of the Panhandle. It has dissolved recently, though; test samples taken along the coast last week showed minimal concentrations. Scientists have only theories as to how and why red tide blooms form. Some involve dust from the Sahara Desert blown across the Atlantic that drops into the Gulf of Mexico, with the particles fueling growth of another algae that feeds red tide algae. Blooms do not form at the surface, but along the Gulf’s bottom, Weisberg said. That makes study and tracking a challenge that’s bigger than researchers can handle today. “Observations across the entire water column are needed, versus simply looking at a satellite surface image,” Weisberg said. “Satellite images are effective once the bloom emerges to the surface near shore, but satellites cannot detect the incipient bloom offshore.” ❖ ❖ ❖
Weisberg’s new paper says it takes the expertise of two scientific disciplines — oceanography and marine biology — to come up with all the answers. The researchers compared successive red tide blooms in 2012 and 2013 and arrived at their conclusions based on detailed observations. Their paper says that both coastal ocean circulation physics and organism biology interact to form K. brevis blooms, but neither one provides sufficient conditions for bloom development. “Our present understanding on red tides followed a systems science approach in which physical and biological oceanographers came together in a joint approach to the problem,” Weisberg said. “Thus, we will begin to understand and manage our living marine resources much better once we engage more in multidisciplinary approaches to problems of coastal ocean ecology.” In 2012, conditions in the Gulf resulted in a “robust” red tide bloom, the paper says, while a year later such was not the case. How those seasons differed is the focus of the research. Last year, research ground to a halt because state funding dried up and scientists were unable to go out to take samples. The state Legislature approved $6 million for a new research vessel in 2015, but Gov. Rick Scott vetoed the expenditure. Funding for red tide research this year remains uncertain. In September, USF’s College of Marine Science received more than $750,000 in two federal grants to develop technologies that help researchers in forecasting where and when red tide takes hold and where the troublesome blooms go afterward. “This can be done by monitoring the behavior of the Loop Current using satellite altimetry and a judiciously placed real time mooring with ocean velocity data to check on the coastal ocean circulation model veracity,” Weisberg said in the paper. Weisberg said the broader view of the Gulf that his paper advocates shows everything is interrelated. “It is my opinion that nothing of an ecological nature on the west Florida continental shelf goes untouched by the ocean circulation,” he said, “because it is the ocean circulation that largely determines the water properties in which organisms reside.”

160325-e
Spending on ineffective projects won't save springs
Ganesville.com - by Robert Knight, Special to The Sun
March 25, 2016
Over the past 50 years, Florida policies have fueled private investments based on the myth that cheap, clean groundwater is infinite.
Developers built cities from coast-to-coast with excessive reliance on the Floridan Aquifer, while water managers blissfully ignored the fact that green lawns and septic tanks pollute springs, lakes and rivers. Farmers have expanded their agricultural operations throughout the springs heartland with the promise of ample groundwater for irrigation, while their excessive fertilizer applications pollute the underlying aquifer.
The public has been duped by state government into thinking that Florida’s underground aquifers are so vast that the day of reckoning can be put off forever. But the reality is that we are well past that day of judgment.
As early as 2000 the state’s best scientists and engineers, working as the Florida Springs Task Force, developed a viable plan to move the state towards a sustainable groundwater future by reversing the unmistakable decline in springs' water quantity and quality. Their plan was gaining momentum in 2007 before it was quietly tossed into the state’s waste basket.
But good ideas don’t die easily. By 2011, well-informed citizens were lobbying all levels of state and local governments to put the brakes on the permitted activities that were killing springs by the proverbial "death by a thousand cuts." Educated by private non-profits and a press corps who publicized these environmental atrocities, concerned citizens joined in the demand that Florida’s government end this groundwater crisis. By 2013 the message from the caring public was clear: "Government, do your job and enforce Florida’s laws that were intended to protect our aquifer and springs."
In response to this public outcry, the 2014 Florida Legislature authorized $25 million for springs protection that was ultimately amplified to $69 million for springs projects. In 2015 the ante was raised by a legislative authorization of $45 million that was subsequently multiplied to over $100 million in cost-share springs projects. And this year the spending continues. Last week, Gov. Rick Scott signed the 2016 state budget that includes a 20-year “Legacy Florida” funding stream of a minimum of $50 million per year for "spring restoration, protection, and management projects."
While the allocation of public money for springs conservation grows each year, the springs continue to lose flows and are choking on more algae. Springs cost-share projects funded over the past three years have had no visible, lasting successes. Either the public expenditures are being poorly spent and not accomplishing their stated goals, or the status quo of issuing new groundwater pumping permits that in turn facilitate the use of more nitrogen fertilizer, are increasing the springs’ problems faster than the public’s money can be spent.
Regardless of which explanation is correct, it is clear that a more effective process is needed to prioritize and select springs restoration and protection efforts. Springs funding decisions and successes need to be publicly vetted and not conducted in bureaucratic secrecy.
If public leaders decide to act in society’s best interests, namely to follow a path to groundwater sustainability, then the monetary costs of springs restoration could be relatively minor. There is minimal public cost for legally mandating across-the-board reductions in groundwater consumption and reduced fertilizer uses. In fact, collecting aquifer protection fees based on groundwater and fertilizer use would provide a flexible funding tool for controlling excessive springs impairments without the need to pick financial winners and losers.
Saving Florida’s artesian springs from ruin will require more than throwing vast sums of taxpayers’ money at ineffective projects. Enforcing and strengthening existing laws that protect groundwater quantity and quality has the potential to save our springs at minimal cost to the public.
Springs restoration, if achieved, will be based on collective social enlightenment. A revolution in public thinking is necessary that prioritizes the long-term benefits of healthy springs and clean drinking water for all citizens, over short-term profits for a few. Florida is at a crossroads where either the long view prevails or we continue to slide down the slippery slope of dying springs.

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Learn more about the Indian River Lagoon's woes
FloridaToday.com – by Jim Waymer
March 24, 2016
FLORIDA TODAY environment reporter spend much of 2015 reporting from the waters of the Indian River Lagoon, traveling the entire length of the estuary. At the end of the year, FLORIDA TODAY compiled Waymer's reports into a 30-minute documentary, From the Water: Healing our Lagoon. You watch the documentary by clicking the link below or by tuning into WEFS-TV this Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
http://www.floridatoday.com/videos/news/local/environment/2015/12/11/77166458/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin
Related:           Northern Indian River Lagoon Fish Kill        Florida Sportsman Magazine
Clean up time: Inmates help with fish kill      Florida Today-Mar 24, 2016
Infantini: Declare Indian River Lagoon emergency   Florida Today

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Murphy, Nelson tout land purchase to curb Lake O discharges
TCPalm.com - by Lamaur Stancil
March 24, 2016
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Florida's U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson touted a $12.5 million conservation easement purchase of 5,300 acres that could help keep water out of Lake Okeechobee.
"We've got to make sure we can protect our waters and prevent some of these discharges we've been having," Murphy, of Jupiter, said Thursday in a gathering at Adams Ranch in western St. Lucie County. Bud Adams is one of five ranch owners who are part of the $12.5 million easement purchase.
The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area will be expanded with the easements paid for by the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The initiative will help maintain open land north of Lake Okeechobee to improve water quality, increase water storage in the area, protect critical habitats, and help sustain Florida's ranching industry, Murphy said.
Ranch property owned by Bud Adams in Osceola County is part of the 5,300-acre easement purchase, but it does not include any of his land in St. Lucie County. Adams is one of five ranch owners who are part of the $12.5 million easement purchase.
Discharges sent down from Lake Okeechobee by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers damage the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, experts said. The discharges are done to lower the lake's level.
The Everglades Headwaters area was created in 2012 through a partnership involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and conservation organizations.
"It will take private and public partnerships to make this work," Murphy said.
"It's all these groups coming together realizing that they maybe agree on a lot more than they disagree on."
Tom Hoctor, director for the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florida, said the Everglades Headwaters project will restore wetlands, which in turn will send cleaner water to Lake Okeechobee and slow down the amount of water that drains into it. At Thursday's event, Nelson said that's critical to improving water quality.
"It's a way to clean up that water," Nelson said Thursday. "The water that's going into the Kissimmee basin, by the time the water gets to the lake, it will be much cleaner than it has been over the years."
But the project lacks the specifics some critics are looking for to improve water standards at Lake Okeechobee. Gary Goforth, a Stuart environmental engineer who designed and evaluated water projects for the South Florida Water Management District, reviewed documents for the project.
"The environmental assessment says it will only have minor benefits as it pertains to water quality or quantity," Goforth said. "We need water storage."

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South Florida’s mayors face reality of rising seas and climate change
Miami Herald - by Fred Grimm
March 24, 2016
Miami Beach has put into action an aggressive and expensive plan to combat the effects of sea level rise. As some streets keep flooding from recent king tide events, the city continues rolling out its plan of attack and will spend between $400-$500 million over the next five years doing so.
Once again, it was the mayors taking on climate change. It was the mayors talking green energy, carbon footprints and the urgent need to rebuild Florida’s vulnerable infrastructure before an encroaching sea overwhelms seaside communities.
And not a governor in sight.
On Wednesday, mayors from Miami, Pinecrest, South Miami, Key Biscayne, Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay (along with Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava)
gathered at the Pinecrest Gardens to embrace the Sierra Club’s 100 percent clean municipal energy goal. One after another, they talked, and proudly, about commitments to solar power, electric cars, charging stations, walkable streets, bike paths, smart growth, wetland preservation, energy efficiency. They spoke of redesigning sewers, drainage canals, water systems, streets to prepare for rising sea levels.
And not a climate change denier in the bunch.
In January, 15 Florida mayors wrote to Sen. Marco Rubio, begging him to face the reality of climate change. On March 4, 21 Florida mayors signed letters sent to moderators of the upcoming Democratic and Republican debates describing their common concern “about sea level rise and climate change,” and saying that it “would be unconscionable for these issues of grave concern for the people of Florida to not be addressed in the upcoming debate.”
Five days later, the Miami Herald featured an op-ed by Republican mayors Tomás Regalado of Miami and James Cason of Coral Gables, declaring that “for us and most other public officials in South Florida, climate change is not a partisan talking point. It's a looming crisis that we must deal with — and soon.”
The overwhelming scientific consensus is that the rising sea levels are caused by the planet warming, that the burning of fossil fuels is driving this warming, and that we need to act quickly to avoid the worst impacts ahead.
Mayors Tomás Regalado and James Cason
The two mayors warned: “The overwhelming scientific consensus is that the rising sea levels are caused by the planet warming, that the burning of fossil fuels is driving this warming, and that we need to act quickly to avoid the worst impacts ahead.”
Back in 2010, city and county governments from Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe, and Palm Beach counties, with scant support from state government, formed the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact to take on the global warming crisis. (President Obama called the compact “a model not just for the country, but for the world.”).
Because local government leaders, water lapping over local roads and sidewalks, know that political prevarication has become akin to municipal suicide.
This sense of emergency shared by the mayors makes for a bizarre contrast to our state leadership. Gov. Rick Scott has donned the mantel as Florida’s denier in chief. (Happily proving it with his veto pen.)
Florida’s other leading Florida Republican, Sen. Rubio, once talked about making Florida “the Silicon Valley” of green energy. All that was abandoned when the ever changeable Rubio’s ambition for higher office led him to embrace the tea party’s militant denial of climate science.
Rubio must find it a bit disconcerting as he limps back home from his failed political campaign to a community where the civic leadership, Republican and Democrat, has utterly rejected his “I am not a scientist” approach to the climate crisis.
Mayors — unlike senators or governors or presidential candidates — can’t afford such foolishness.

160323-a
County commissioners, FKAA discuss water issues
KeysNews.com - by Timothy O’Hara, Citizen Staff
March 24, 2016
The Monroe County Commission agreed to strengthen a resolution in support of Everglades’ restoration projects after a dozen Upper Keys residents and conservation group members argued the proposal did not go far enough.
The commission on Wednesday was set to approve a resolution to support “expediting and funding Everglades restoration projects that enhance conveyance to the Florida Bay and recognize Florida Bay as a critical part of the Everglades ecosystem.”
However, local fishing guides, residents, conservationists and Islamorada city council members argued that the resolution was not strong enough. The argument included that there needs to be language that calls for more money, strict time tables for the completion of projects and asks for the state and federal government to buy more land for water storage areas, so the South Florida Water Management District can hold and move water into the southern Everglades and Florida Bay during drought years like last summer.
Also, the resolution should call for the state and/or federal government to buy the “Big Sugar” land in the Everglades currently owned by U.S. Sugar Company, which environmentalists and fishermen say is producing large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus that is polluting the southern Everglades and causing harmful algal blooms in Florida Bay.
Islamorada Village Councilman Mike Forster argued that both the Marathon and Islamorada city councils will soon be voting on resolutions that are much stronger than what the county has produced. 
“I’m really disheartened by this situation,” Forster said. “We need to buy the Big Sugar land, and the South Florida Water Management District told me they can’t.”
Forster argued the state and federal government should look at using eminent domain to take the Big Sugar property.
Speakers reminded the county commission that recreational and commercial fishing in Florida Bay generates more than $800 million a year and all of that is dependent upon good water quality.
“There are four national parks in this system,” Upper Keys resident Mary Barley said. “We have a lot to take care of ... No one comes to Florida to see Big Sugar.”
Forster, Barley and others criticized the South Florida Water Management District for not doing enough to restore water flow in the southern Everglades and into Florida Bay.
The commissioners agreed to have staff strengthen the resolution and bring it back to them at its meeting in April in Marathon. The resolution comes as a massive seagrass die-off occurred in Florida Bay over the summer during the drought, and then in February, the water management district sent billions of gallons of water south when the southern Everglades was already flooded after an unusually rainy dry season.
Commissioner George Neugent criticized the state government for not protecting the water quality in Florida Bay, the Everglades and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, arguing that these areas generate hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, from fishing and eco-tourism compared to agriculture like Big Sugar.
The state and federal government have embarked on multibillion dollar Everglades restoration projects in the past two decades to correct years of upsetting the natural ecosystems there to accommodate development and agriculture.
Turkey Point nuclear plant
In another water-related issue, the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority gave an update on how Turkey Point nuclear power plant and cooling canals are impacting the aquifer that acts as the Keys’ main drinking water supply.
The county and the FKAA are concerned about a saltwater plume from the cooling plant threatening the Biscayne Aquifer. The plume is still several miles away from the aquifer, according to the FKAA.
In addition, there are reports of low levels of radioactive tritium making its way from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant and cooling canals to near-shore waters and into the neighboring Biscayne Bay.
The FKAA and the commission discussed buying land and moving the well fields farther away from Turkey Point. They also discussed looking at Turkey Point’s state environmental permits to determine if FPL is in violation when it comes to tritium and other water quality issues. Permits call for FPL to keep the impacts on their property.
FPL is scheduled to address the FKAA board at the board’s May meeting, FKAA Executive Director Kirk Zuelch said.
“We all understand the need for power, but they need to realize we need water,” Zuelch said. “We can’t live without water. ... This needs to come to the front-burner.”

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One Native American tribe is fleeing climate change – others aren’t so lucky
TheGuardian.com – by Autumn Spanne
March 23, 2016
In Louisiana, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe has been granted $48m to resettle away from their sinking land. But other indigenous Americans continue to fight for survival
The tiny Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe has called the coastal marshlands of southern Louisiana home ever since their ancestors settled there to avoid forced relocation under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. But the close-knit community of Isle de Jean Charles has grown increasingly fragmented as their island slowly disappears beneath their feet and powerful storms ravage their homes and crops.
A potent combination of accelerating sea level rise, salt water intrusion and subsidence of the land has caused devastating erosion and flooding, exacerbated further by regional oil and gas development and the shipping industry. Today, less than a quarter of the original inhabitants still live on the island, which has lost 98% of its landmass since the 1950s. Most inhabitants resettled in nearby parishes, but even the few miles distance have diminished cultural knowledge long nurtured by the relative isolation of island life.
As the waters swallowed Isle de Jean Charles decade by decade, the tribe reluctantly began to face the possibility of another relocation. Only this time, they would set the terms. In 2000, they began drafting a plan to resettle on the mainland, in a location that would offer protection from hurricanes and flooding yet allow them to maintain their cultural identity, including access to traditional fishing and agriculture. The plan doesn’t force anyone to leave the island. Some residents say they won’t go, although it’s unclear how much longer their homes will remain standing before the water completely consumes the land.
In January, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $48m for a resettlement plan, part of an initiative to help communities stricken by natural disasters. It makes Isle de Jean Charles one of the first communities in the lower 48 states to undertake a complete relocation due to climate change. HUD, the state and the tribe hope the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw plan will become a model for other tribes and communities facing imminent climate threats.
But while the relocation plan and funding are celebrated as an important precedent and possible roadmap for future relocation projects, this level of support isn’t likely to be available to other tribes seeking funding and guidance for climate-related displacement and resettlement.
The HUD grant was a one-time award, part of a $1bn Natural Disaster Resiliency Competition. While the agency has other programs for federally-recognized tribes to undertake relocation, they are not intended to cover resettlement of an entire community, says Marion McFadden, deputy assistant secretary of grants at HUD.
Government disaster programs generally support individual, not collective, relocation projects. But this approach doesn’t consider the cultural disruptions that occur when native peoples must relocate in a piecemeal manner, says Julie Maldonado, an anthropologist and lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a lead author of the 2014 National Climate Assessment chapter on indigenous peoples.
In fact, she says, there is no single government entity or framework designated to provide tribes imminently threatened by climate change with support navigating the complex, costly process of community relocation.
From Alaska to the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf Coast, hundreds of tribal communities are now grappling with how to protect their safety, economic sustainability and cultural integrity as climate change combines with other social, economic and environmental factors to threaten their way of life.
In Oregon and Washington, warming streams and changes in the seasonal water cycle threaten traditional salmon grounds, and coastal tribes like the Tulalip, Swinomish and Hoh also face recurring damage from flooding and sea level rise. In the Southwest, Pueblos like Santo Domingo are altering their traditional irrigation methods in the face of prolonged drought, while some wells and livestock watering holes on the Navajo Nation have gone dry. Meanwhile, Florida’s Seminole and Miccosukee tribes are confronting a future of sea level rise in the Everglades that threatens homes, drinking water and cultural resources.
Traditionally, many tribes adapted to weather extremes and seasonal patterns by migrating temporarily. But reservation boundaries and encroaching development make that virtually impossible today, which can prompt urban migration that further weakens connections to traditional culture and community.
“Often climate change is impacting people who have already been placed in vulnerable situations, who have already been marginalized and pushed to the fringes,” says Maldonado. “They’ve still been able to adapt and cope and make changes and survive. And what happens is that climate change can act as a kind of a tipping point in that scenario.”
Most tribes are opting to adapt by reinforcing existing infrastructure: building seawalls, elevating their homes, combining traditional ecological knowledge and scientific modeling to anticipate how their lands, culture, economy and public services are likely to be affected.
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But those who make the difficult decision to relocate are entering largely uncharted territory. State and federal programs, where they exist at all, concentrate on disaster relief and rebuilding. There is no clear government funding mechanism to preemptively relocate an entire community or partner with tribal counterparts in the way that HUD and Louisiana are doing with Isle de Jean Charles.
Further complicating matters, many federal programs require applicants to be federally-recognized tribes. For the approximately 400 tribes, including the Biloxi-Chitmacha-Choctaw, that are not officially recognized by the federal government, funding options are much more limited. When Isle de Jean Charles first began exploring avenues to fund their resettlement plan, it soon became a complex patchwork of funding sources, each with its own distinct – and sometimes competing – requirements.
“You can apply for a Department of Energy grant for your solar system,” says Chantel Comardelle, the tribe’s executive secretary. “But you need different funders for purchasing the land and having the infrastructure for your solar, so it’s a lot of putting in for different resources to pay for different things.”
Receiving the HUD grant allowed the Biloxi-Chitmacha-Choctaw to quickly move ahead with their plan without worrying about stitching together disparate sources of funding. Even though other tribes aren’t likely to receive full funding from a single source, Comardelle thinks some – particularly smaller tribes like hers – could benefit from more centralized support.
“I think you would almost have to create a sort of climate change resettlement division, to where they could say, ‘OK, you bring us your plan, and we will help you find the resources – this is the funding for this, this is the funding for that, and help give clarity with this process’,” says Comardelle.
That’s something that would help Native American villages in Alaska struggling through a long, fraught relocation process. In Alaska, warming is occurring at more than twice the rate of the US mainland, causing earlier snow melt, vanishing sea ice and rising ocean temperatures. Dozens of indigenous communities are in imminent danger from coastal flooding and erosion, according to a 2009 report by the US Government Accountability Office.
One of the most threatened is the Yup’ik village of Newtok in western Alaska, where the combination of diminishing Arctic sea ice, thawing permafrost and extreme weather events are causing severe erosion and flooding that threatens homes and their drinking water. It is increasingly difficult to get essential supplies like fuel into the village, which is only accessible by plane and boat.
“It’s very scary right now,” says Andy Patrick, former president of the Newtok Traditional Council. “We’ve got the flooding, eroding and sinking of the community. The village is sinking very fast, the permafrost is melting and there’s no way that we can prevent this happening.”
Newtok voted 20 years ago to relocate. The village secured a piece of land on higher bedrock ground through a land swap with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003, still within reasonable proximity to their traditional hunting lands. Since then, however, there’s been scant progress.
Its lack of roads makes moving the village difficult – and expensive. Discrete funding programs are available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal entities. But there is no dedicated, comprehensive program to pay for relocation or help coordinate the process. A tribal leadership struggle further complicated the relocation effort.
In Washington, the Quinault Indian Nation is also planning to relocate a major population center in the face of sea level rise, warmer temperatures and increasingly destructive storms. The tribe occupies more than 200,000 acres and 23 miles of Pacific coastline on the southwestern end of the Olympic Peninsula.
In 2014, a storm surge breached a seawall and flooded the historic lower village of Taholah, which lies at the confluence of the Pacific Ocean and the Quinault River. Some 700 people – about 20% of the tribe’s population – live in lower Taholah, which is also the site of a tribal school and Head Start, senior housing center and a jail.
Quinault received a $700,000 grant from a tribal program at the US Department Health and Human Services to develop a relocation plan. The grant is a drop in the bucket compared to estimated $65m needed to develop the new village over the next decade.
Isle de Jean Charles has lost 98% of its land and most of its population to rising sea levels – but as remaining residents consider relocation, what happens next is a test case to address resettlement needs
Last week, Quinault President Fawn Sharp testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment that the federal government had fallen short of its treaty obligations when it came to tribal funding. Quinault, she said, had spent $4.4m of its own money to compensate for federal funding lapses – money it needed for other pressing matters, including climate adaptation and relocation.
“It would be helpful for the entire federal government to elevate the need to respond to climate change to the top of its priority list, and to assure, without question, that the resources are available – directly to tribes – to adapt to its impacts,” Sharp told the Guardian in an email this week. Sharp is also vice president of the National Congress of American Indians, an indigenous rights organization.
Back in Louisiana, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw reject the label of “climate refugees” that some have attached to them. They consider themselves a forward-looking, sovereign people taking charge of their destiny in the face of significant environmental change – something others might learn from, says Maldonado.
“You’re talking about people who are employing a sense of agency, who still are empowered in their decision-making and are working to stay together. These terms get thrown out there and there’s this idea of the canary in the coal mine, but they’re not the canary in the coal mine – they’re showing us how to get out.”

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DEP's daily update on Lake Okeechobee
DEP Press Office – Press Release
March 22, 2016
In an effort to keep Floridians informed of the state’s efforts to protect the environment, wildlife and economies of the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is issuing a Lake Okeechobee status update each weekday. These updates will help residents stay informed of the latest rainfall and lake level conditions, as well as the latest actions by the State of Florida and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Summary of the State of Florida’s Actions:
●  On March 17, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would reduce the amount of water flowing from Lake Okeechobee beginning March 18, 2016. Click here for more information.
●  On March 17, 2016, Governor Rick Scott activated Florida’s Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program for more than 100 businesses affected by the federal government’s water releases from Lake Okeechobee. Earlier this month, Governor Scott directed the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) to activate a business emergency operations center to survey businesses damaged by the water releases in Lee, Martin and St. Lucie Counties. After receiving survey results, DEO has opened the application period for loans to eligible small businesses from March 16 to April 30, 2016.
- The Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program provides short-term loans to assist a business until other financial resources are secured after a natural disaster. To see if a business is eligible or to complete an application by April 30, 2016, visit floridadisasterloan.org. For additional questions regarding local administration of the Emergency Bridge Loan Program, contact the Florida Small Business Development Center Network at 239-745-3704 (Lee County) or 772-462-7069 (Martin and St. Lucie Counties).
●  The South Florida Water Management District has responded to record January rainfall by so far moving billions of gallons of clean water to relieve high water levels in two critical locations. This unprecedented response includes:
- 2.7 billion gallons of water moved into the A-1 Flow Equalization Basin from Lake Okeechobee. To reduce harm to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Lake Okeechobee releases, the District began emergency operations in early March to send lake water directly into this new reservoir.
- Water managers began emergency operations on Feb. 15, 2016, to move water from the vast wetlands in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to Everglades National Park. The record rainfall left water levels too high for Everglades wildlife in WCA-3.
- By raising the L-29 canal level, per an order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and at the request of Governor Rick Scott, the South Florida Water Management District has been able to move approximately 26.3 billion gallons of clean water into the northern portions of Everglades National Park, as of midnight on March 21, 2016.
●  On Feb. 26, 2016, Governor Rick Scott signed Executive Order 16-59, which declares a state of emergency in Lee, Martin and St. Lucie counties, following heavy rainfall that has resulted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers frequently discharging water from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. This is a result of inadequate funding by the federal government. Governor Scott called on the Obama Administration to fully fund the more than $800 million in needed repairs to the federally operated Herbert Hoover Dike to safely hold water to prevent these discharges. To view the Executive Order, click here.
●  On Feb. 11, 2016, Governor Rick Scott requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take immediate action to relieve flooding of the Everglades Water Conservation Areas and the releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. Click here to read the letter.
-The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued orders on Feb. 11, 2016, that would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with this request. Click here to read the orders.
- On Feb. 15, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to Governor Scott’s request to raise water levels in the L-29 canal in order to move water south through Shark River Slough to ease the effects of flooding in the Everglades. The South Florida Water Management District began operation of the S-333 structure at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2016, after the state received an execution order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
 Lake Conditions:

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Wildlife Update:
The FWC continues to monitor water levels and the status of wildlife in three Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in South Florida within the Everglades ecosystem. The three areas, Everglades and Francis S. Taylor WMA, Holey Land WMA and Rotenberger WMA, encompass 736,881 acres. These WMAs provide important habitat for a diversity of imperiled wildlife species, including the Everglades snail kite, Everglades mink, little blue heron, tri-colored heron, snowy egret, white ibis, wood stork and limpkin, as well as native and abundant species like American alligators, white-tailed deer and marsh rabbits.
FWC’s monitoring efforts include periodic wildlife and habitat surveys. FWC staff continues to watch water gauges to monitor high water levels and the impacts and stresses they may be having on areas like the Everglades tree islands, which are critical to the survival of Florida wildlife species. High water levels can seriously impact nesting and feeding activities of our native birds and make large and small mammals much more vulnerable to disease, starvation and predation. The condition of habitat on tree islands is an important indicator for the level of stress being experienced by wildlife.
As of March 21, 2016, water levels within the three WMAs previously listed are approaching criteria for rescinding the special regulations that limit public access. Criteria for rescinding the special regulations is a combination of water level and wildlife observed on surrounding levees. Water levels in all three WMAs have continued to recede during the past week. If the recession trends continue, conditions should improve prior to the onset of the wet season.
Everglades WMA:
Water level (average of 62/63 gauges) as of March 21 = 11.42 feet
High water closure criteria = 11.60 feet
Regulation schedule = 9.97 feet
Average for this time of year = 9.99 feet
Recession rate for the last week = (0.24) feet
Water level trend over the past 3 weeks = dropping
Rotenberger WMA:
Water level as of March 21 = 12.90 feet
High water closure criteria = 13.50 feet
Regulation schedule = 12.64 feet
Average for this time of year = 12.25 feet
Recession rate for the last week = (0.07) feet
Water level trend over the past 3 weeks = dropping
Holey Land WMA:
Water level as of March 21 = 12.04 feet
High water closure criteria = 12.50 feet
Regulation schedule = 11.34 feet
Average for this time of year = 10.87 feet
Recession rate for the last week = (0.08) feet
Water level trend over the past 3 weeks = dropping
Wildlife surveys conducted on WMA levees and tree islands during the past week suggest use by wildlife has begun to decrease as a result of receding water levels in all of the WMAs. Typically this time of year (three months into the seven-month nesting season), we observe increased wading bird nesting, but so far, none has been observed. As of March 21, 2016, this high water event has lasted 52 days.
As a result of FWC’s continued observations, the special regulations that limit public access for the three WMAs will continue. As water levels drop significantly below the established criteria, wildlife will have delayed reactions and conditions typically do not improve for at least a week or more. Once conditions improve for wildlife, FWC will recommend an order to rescind the current special regulations.

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Didn’t mention
Naples News – Letter by Eliot Protsch, Naples, FL
March 22, 2016
I noted U.S. Sugar's full page ad in a recent edition of the Naples Daily News.
What the company failed to mention is that taxpayers support their business in two ways. One, the ongoing taxpayer funding of the dike on Lake Okeechobee that keeps the water from the north from flowing onto their land and two, the taxpayer funded commodity price supports and import tariffs that support the economics of growing sugar cane on their land.
If both disappeared, the water from the north would likely flow onto their land as it would become uneconomic to farm. In the interest of environmental stewardship, it is time to eliminate these subsidies as this is the root cause of the problem.
The water from the lake and all the runoff that flows into it should be allowed to flow south through the Everglades vs. the rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.
It is time to restore the natural flow through the Everglades vs. continued subsidization of farm land that should never have been farmed in the first place.
Yes, this would have implications for some of the communities to the south, but this is where the money currently going to the subsidies referenced above could be spent to implement appropriate mitigation strategies.

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Lake ‘O water
NaplesNews.com – Letter by Stanford L. Kunkle, Naples, FL
March 22, 2016
In a Sunday edition of the Daily News, Robert Moher, the CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, presented the guest commentary.
He as well as many others have discussed their plans for Lake Okeechobee water releases. Most notably, we must remember that this water is highly polluted and toxic to all living creatures and mankind that it comes in contact with located in every direction downstream.
But, do we ever read about any meaningful plan to clean up the pollution before the water is released ? That is the cry from the wilderness.
Industries, farmlands, and communities around the lake should be held accountable. They all contribute, partly, nitrogen, phosphorous, waste products, storm waters laden with runoff toxins and hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and on and on. All of these need to be addressed and summarily treated.
I am surprised that no one has "bit " the proverbial bullet and proposed the use of biologicals. They are Mother Nature's clean-up crew. They work and are the agents to take on this important job and save Southwest Florida and the fantastic Everglades. They do not harm humans, animals, sea and water life, birds and all wildlife.
Proven results are myriad in the literature and computer about bioremediation. Perhaps the largest project was the "Cheasepeake Clean Water Blueprint." This most important undertaking is worth your study.
The powers to be need to direct funds to clean up the water first. Then they won't have to worry about the "after the fact" problems.

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Reduced lake flows could mean ‘dodged bullet’ for spawning
WINKnews.com
March 22, 2016
SANIBEL, Fla. – Southwest Florida may avoid an environmental disaster now that the Army Corps of Engineers has reduced the freshwater flows from Lake Okeechobee, experts said on Tuesday.
James Evans, the director of natural resources for the city of Sanibel, said that fish could have a successful spawning season — huge news for the fishing industry, which was bracing for the worst.
“By reducing flows now we will actually have some food for those sport fish to eat, so we could dodge a bullet if we maintain flows lower,” Evans said.
The water color is noticeably different following recent decreases in the Lake Okeechobee discharge to the Caloosahatchee River. Many Southwest Florida residents were concerned because the water was once brown and murky.
“It is more of a greenish color, mucky green, but no not a brown,” a tourist, Lynette Johnston said on Tuesday.
Even with better looking water, the Captain for Clean Water group said they will continue to fight for permanent solutions. They want to see water directed south of the Everglades, Daniel Andrews of the advocacy group said.
“We are asking for the state of Florida, the governor and the legislature to purchase land in the Everglades agricultural area to store, treat and convey water south,” he said.
State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen (R- Fort Myers) attended the event, at which attendees were asked to sign petitions. Fitzenhagen said she supports the purchase of land for excess water from the lake.

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Wakulla Springs in lawmakers’ hands
GreenePublishing – by Lazaro Aleman
March 22, 2016
Although located in Wakulla County, Wakulla Springs State Park’s renown as home to one of the world’s largest and deepest freshwater springs, its historic lodge, glass-bottom boat tours, abundant wildlife and proximity to Jefferson and Madison counties makes it both a natural attraction and a regional asset.
Indeed, the first magnitude spring, which is the source of the Wakulla River, that offers a window into the Floridian Aquifer and has attracted visitors from time immemorial. Or at least it has since the early Paleo-Indians to Spanish explorers Panfilo de Narvaez and Ponce de Leon to modern-day visitors and eco-tourists.
The site also has been the setting for several movies, including Night Moves, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Tarzan’s New York Adventure.
The springs, however, are in trouble; their once crystal clear water that gave the site much of its acclaim and appeal has turned murky, a consequence of nitrates from storm water and wastewater draining into them and causing the proliferation of algae and invasive plants.
Now there is hope for Wakulla Springs. Legislation is winding its way through the legislative process. If approved, it would earmark millions of dollars for springs’ restoration as part of a larger Everglades restoration plan, some of which money could go to the Wakulla site.
House Bill 989 and Senate Bill 1168 both relate to the implementation of the Water and Land Conservation constitutional amendment. The bills would, among other things, require that a minimum of 7.6 percent, or $75 million, whichever is less, be appropriated annually for spring restoration from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund.
As of Wednesday, March 9, both bills had moved favorably through their respective appropriation committees and have been placed on the calendar, preparatory to consideration by the full assemblies.
If the two measures are approved, Wakulla Springs could possibly get some of the necessary funding it needs to address the problems. One proposal reportedly being considered is to reduce the nitrates that float into the springs from the thousands of septic tanks uplands of the sites in Leon and Wakulla counties. The idea is to retrofit the septic tanks or connect the thousands of homes using septic tanks to a centralized sewer system, both costly propositions.

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Clawson has Lake ‘O issue moving in right direction, let’s keep going
NaplesNews.com - Editorial
March 21, 2016
If there's an elected leader serving Southwest Florida who is more concerned than U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson about the $19.1 trillion national debt, we're not sure who that would be.
So it might have surprised some Friday when the fiscally conservative Bonita Springs Republican, who took office in 2014, introduced the Everglades Land Acquisition Act.
If Congress goes along, the Interior Department would spend $500 million to buy land in the Everglades Agriculture Area in Palm Beach County.
The goal is to direct water from Lake Okeechobee and points north to flow south toward the Everglades, where it can be stored for cleansing and eventually head toward Florida Bay to mimic what nature created before man intervened.
"New money to buy land is an uphill fight, but we can't give up," Clawson told the Naples Daily News.
The appropriate question isn't why Clawson would see the wisdom of tacking a half-billion of new spending onto an out-of-control federal budget and debt. The better question is why the state and South Florida Water Management District haven't seen the wisdom by now.
Clawson understands the urgency. We hope leadership in the state and water district will follow his lead and pursue any remaining possibilities in exercising options for purchase of lands in the sugar farming region south of the lake. State and district leaders blew it last year in not pledging Amendment 1 money toward acquiring the first option that expired in mid-October. Other options exist — no doubt more expensive now — until 2020.
Not new, more expensive
The push to buy land south of the lake was re-energized in recent weeks when heavy rains pushed Lake Okeechobee to dangerous levels.
The dike holding back the water needs repair; a breach would be catastrophic to towns rimming the lake.
Emergency pumping sent lake water toward the Gulf via the Caloosahatchee River and east through the St. Lucie canal. Southwest Florida received a majority of the water releases; coastal estuaries and beaches suffered.
Sugar growers were blamed by some environmental groups for the pollution. In a press release, growers struck back, saying less than 1 percent of the lake's total volume was water backpumped from the cane field region. The statement didn't address the quality of what was in that 31,397 acre-feet of water that went into the lake, though.
In a full-page ad in the Daily News last week, U.S. Sugar stated just 3 percent of the lake water and 4 percent of its phosphorus comes from the south. Importantly, the ad says the corporation wants to "collaborate in finding a solution that increases water storage and reduces the risks of discharges occurring again."
Perhaps a good place to start is working with government leaders to identify land south of the lake that growers can convey, all the while remembering the industry's beneficial price supports and the nation's $19.1 trillion hole.
Taking the lead
A month ago we suggested Clawson, given the confluence of his fiscal and environmental passions, was the best point person on this issue.
He has gone beyond. He's teamed with conservation groups to urge citizens to "pump up the volume" in demanding a solution. He's met with state, local and federal officials. He's led a bipartisan push for a short-term fix through expediting repairs to the dike by Dec. 31, 2020.
After Clawson's land-buying bill was introduced, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida endorsed it as part of the solution. A supportive statement from the Everglades Foundation noted "Florida taxpayers will soon cross $3 billion in spending" to clean up polluted water south of the lake.
In the Daily News' "Deep Trouble: The Gulf in Peril" series in 2003, the projected total cost of Everglades Restoration was $8.4 billion, to be split by state and federal governments. Compare that with Florida's $3 billion to date for a job that's nowhere near done.
So the question really isn't what Clawson proposes to spend. It's what the soaring figure will become if federal, state, district and Big Sugar don't agree on it now.

160320-a
Legislative recap: it could have been worse for environment
TheLedger.com - by Tom Palmer
March 20, 2016
The main thing environmentalists have to celebrate about this year’s legislative session in Tallahassee is that it wasn’t any worse.
Legislation that would have helped fracking operations advance failed.
Some language that would have used Amendment 1 money for public works projects instead of land conservation was deleted from proposed legislation.
Legislators did appropriate more money for land conservation, but the bulk of it went to buy conservation easements from farmers and ranchers and land needed for Everglades restoration.
Environmentalists complain that a lot of the money is being spent to cover salaries and other routine operating costs rather what Amendment 1 backers intended.
Specifically, they complain about $180 million on salaries, vehicles and other operating expenses that are supposed to come from elsewhere in the budget.
Legislators have a provided a slippery, legalistic response, arguing the amendment language was so broad  they have a lot of latitude in deciding how the spend the money, regardless of voter intent.
Lawsuits are pending in Tallahassee over whether legislators are spending the money properly.
Meanwhile, other legislation demanded a list of public park land or even land where development was restricted for conservation reasons such as in the Green Swamp Area of Critical State Concern in Polk County, seemingly setting the stage for pushback against future conservation land purchase. That pushback would come from those arguing from a familiar script that says there’s been too much land set aside for conservation already.
Another big issue this year is water, both the amount of it that might be available for human use and the quality of the water in springs, rivers and lakes in this state.
The legislation didn’t break much  new ground on water supply issues, but instead codified some of the existing policies to promote conservation and to made if clear governments should avoid  legal disputes over water supply allocation. The legislation also set up what appeared to be an organized tracking system for water projects to try to spend money as efficiently as possible.
The main obstacle in this regard is the Scott Administration’s doctrinaire stance on limiting water management districts’ ability to raise money already authorized by law to pay for these projects.
Action on  the water quality front appeared in some way to be a step backwards.
The regulated industries who are supposed to clean up pollution in the Lake Okeechobee/Everglades Basin, which stretches all the way into Polk County,  got another 20 years to fix problems that have been an environmental issue for the past 50 years.
Restoration of Florida’s springs involves protecting their flow by reducing heavy water pumping in springsheds and protecting water quality by reducing pollution from sources ranging from septic tanks to commercial runoff.
The big question is what kind of implementation will result.
That is, it’s unclear how much executive agencies–agencies directly under Gov. Rick Scott’s control –will press for pollution controls or limits on water withdrawals when it collides with business interests.
In other environmental-related legislative news, a renewed effort to replace the Northern mockingbird with the Florida scrub-jay as the state bird went nowhere primarily because of opposition from longtime National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer, who has long feuded with environmentalists on a  number of issues.
An idea briefly broached a few years ago to add to the official state honored wildlife species by naming a state frog has not resurfaced.
I don’t think we have a state snake, either.
LAKE WORKSHOPS PLANNED
Homeowners who live on or near lakes or people who spend a lot of time on lakes who’d like to know more about responsible actions that will prevent lakes from further decline can take advantage of one three upcoming “Living on the Lake” workshops organized by the Lakes Education/Action Drive.
The workshops are free, but require advance registration. They are scheduled March 30, April 20 and May 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the workshop at Circle B Bar Reserve, 4399 Winter Lake Road, Lakeland.
To register, go to www.polknr.eventbrite.com .
SPRING’S HERE; GET OUTDOORS
Spring officially arrived this morning.
Wildflowers are blooming, birds are signing, butterflies are fluttering, water that flooded trails earlier this winter has receded.
Get outdoors. There’s an amazing diversity of public conservation recreation lands available in Polk County.
You paid for it. You should enjoy your investment.
Related:           Session Gets Mixed Reviews For The Environment  WFSU-Mar 18, 2016
State funding is 'home run' for springs           Florida Water Daily

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Sugar’s ties to Florida politicians
News-Press.com – Letter by Jill Dillon, Sanibel, FL
March 20, 2016
In the fall of 2015, Florida Senate Bill 552 and HB 7005 were fast tracked through committees, passed the first week of session, and SB 552 was signed by Gov. Rick Scott just one week later. The bill delays all efforts for restoration of the Everglades by the following: Rolls back protections on water quality, rolls back making sources responsible for pollution they committed, pushes out deadlines for cleaning up water (as in Lake Okeechobee), delays agricultural best management practices, fails to prioritize and implement conservation measures for water supply management and eliminates monitoring of existing permits.
Since 1998, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, the Florida sugar industry has given at least $21 million to Florida candidates, political parties and PACs. Estus Whitfield, environmental adviser, has said that “In almost every instance when an Everglades law, rule, or even attitude has changed, it was influenced by the sugar-cane industry”..
Why are we, the taxpayers, forced to pay for sugar subsidies to an industry which has over the years used its powerful political influence to systematically and deliberately create the environmental crisis which has overwhelmed us here in Southwest Florida?

160319-a
Negron used clout from upcoming Senate presidency to push for environmental funding, change Medicaid
Treasure Coast Newspapers - by Isadora Rangel
March 19, 2016
Before Joe Negron becomes Florida Senate president next year, he already used his clout to get many high-profile issues passed in the legislative session that ended this month.
He fought HMOs to successfully push for a bill that could change how dental services are offered under Florida’s Medicaid. He carved out a fund for Everglades restoration. And when lawmakers opposed his attempt to secure money for a Martin County company to store polluted water bound for the St. Lucie River, he negotiated a workaround he said guarantees project funding.
But Negron couldn’t get a bill passed to make sure online fantasy sports are legal, largely because it became tied to broader gambling legislation that died.
Senate presidents and House speakers typically have the most power the session before they become presiding officers. That’s when other lawmakers are more willing to horse trade in hopes of receiving a leadership position to return to the favor.
Ambitious plan
Negron will lead the Senate in 2017-18 if he gets re-elected this year, and he has even more ambitious goals: to free up $1 billion for state universities over two years and to look for ways to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges.
Negron’s chances of achieving those goals rely largely on whether the economy will continue to improve, therefore boosting the state’s tax revenue, Haridopolos said. Negron’s ability to work well with Democrats also might come in handy if the minority party picks up more seats; some Senate districts were redrawn to lean more Democratic, Haridopolos added. Negron was a Democrat until he switched parties in 1991.
“Joe has done a remarkable job cultivating support not only in the Republican caucus, but also among Democrats,” said Haridopolos, who’s friends with Negron. “He treats senators as equals and always gives them the time of day.”
Environment
Negron’s “Legacy Florida” bill, which creates a 19-year minimum annual fund for Everglades restoration with priority to projects that reduce discharges, will free up money that could buy land south of the lake to send water into the Everglades instead of east and west into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, he said.
He needs to get House Speaker-elect Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, on board to achieve that. A presiding officer’s priorities can be held hostage, especially if the House and Senate are at odds as they were last year, for example, over their disagreement on health care spending and expanding health care coverage for the poor.
Even though the relationship between the House and Senate was a lot more harmonious this year, the Senate strategically waited until the March 11 end of session to pass Negron’s Legacy Florida. The bill was a priority of Republican House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, and Republican Senate President Andy Gardiner held it as leverage to get one of his pet issues passed first: an insurance coverage mandate for people with Down syndrome. Legacy Florida, co-sponsored in the House by Stuart Rep. Gayle Harrell, was the last bill the Legislature passed in the session.
Deal maker
Negron recognized being the incoming Senate president isn’t enough to get what he wanted, but he showed he can use his clout to negotiate with top lawmakers. When Crisafulli and other legislative leaders said they were against earmarking $7.5 million to expand the Caulkins Citrus Co. water farm in Martin County, Negron worked out a deal.
They agreed to increase a pot of money for Lake O and the estuaries and specified the state must prioritize water storage projects that reduce discharges. Negron said he’s spoken with the South Florida Water Management District and the money will go to Caulkins. The project stores water pumped out of the C-44 Canal, which connects Lake O and the St. Lucie River, but won’t significantly reduce discharges even when expanded to hold 30 billion gallons of runoff per year.
The discharges that started Jan. 30, for instance, already have dumped nearly 85 billion gallons into the St. Lucie.
“I still have to work very hard and make my case to my colleagues,” Negron said. “I believe I have a strong reservoir of goodwill with my colleagues that I built up over many years.”
Building a legacy
The environment is not the only issue Negron will carry into his presidential term. His bill to remove dental care from services provided by HMOs that manage Florida’s Medicaid requires the Legislature to decide in 2017 whether to contract directly with dental care companies after the state pays for a study on how successful the current system is.
If lawmakers don’t make a decision next year, the state will automatically switch to a separate dental system, which is what one of Negron’s top political donors, dental care provider MCNA Dental, has been pushing for five years. HMOs also have given money to Negron’s campaigns and political committees.
Negron also said he wants to try again to declare online fantasy sports a game of skill and not gambling, therefore clarifying they are legal. Gov. Rick Scott didn’t want the Legislature to pass a fantasy sports bill separate from an ill-fated bill to approve a rewrite of a deal between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. That bill would have allowed the tribe to keep offering blackjack at its casinos in exchange for a $3 billion payment to the state over seven years.
Negron said the Legislature needs to address the Seminole deal again, and there’s speculation lawmakers could call a special session this year -- before he becomes president -- to vote on the issue. That’s because the Florida Supreme Court and a federal judge are expected to rule on two pending gaming lawsuits that could undermine or enhance the Legislature’s ability to expand gaming.
“Legislators would rather ... make public policy instead of judges,” Haridopolos said.

160319-b
Special interests fall short of goals in Legislature
Herald/Times - by Mary Ellen Klas, Tallahassee Bureau
March 19, 2016
TALLAHASSEE -- It was a lucrative year for Florida legislators who collected more than $28.5 million for their political committees in the six months before their annual session and when it was over, many of the special interests that raised the money -- from sugar farmers and utilities to marijuana farmers and charter school companies -- could point to tangible rewards.
For others, like the gaming industry, which spent more than $3 million on legislators and the governor, or the oil and gas industry, which spent nearly $500,000 trying to authorize fracking, their priorities landed in the ditch.
"You probably had some very unhappy lobbyists and special interests -- not because they didn't do well but because they didn't do as well as they were used to doing," said state Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee.
A proposal to ratify the gaming compact between the Seminole Tribe and Gov. Rick Scott was left incomplete amid industry infighting over how far to let the pari-mutuel industry expand. And a plan to regulate fracking and prevent local governments from banning it also hit the skids amid intense community opposition in an election year.
Oliva said the mixed results show legislators "did a good job of pushing back" the agendas of the special interests, even as their political committees accepted millions of dollars in contributions.
"We have to understand, special interests will never cease," Oliva said, "and to some degree they shouldn't because people need to have their interests represented in government. But when that balance becomes too heavy, it is incumbent upon us to set it back to its proper balance."
It's a theme incoming House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, and Oliva, his successor, hope to make the centerpiece of the next four years as they try to move to a system in which the agendas of the "special interests are going to be measured on their merit."
For legislators who all must run for re-election this year there is an upside to killing a bill feverishly sought by deep-pocketed interests. Failure is rarely permanent for the most powerful in Tallahassee, and the delay provides an opportunity for lawmakers to collect more cash from those interest groups before Election Day.
"If it keeps the status quo, both sides are not going to be irritated," said state Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach, who serves as the Democrats' policy chairman. "That helps when you're trying to raise millions of dollars to put into shadow political organizations."
Here are how some of the biggest corporate donors fared this session:
Agriculture
One of the largest single donors was U.S. Sugar. The Clewiston-based agricultural giant gave $2.3 million to legislative political committees, Scott and Agriculture Commission Adam Putnam. All agricultural interests, including U.S. Sugar, gave more than $4 million. Their top priority was a water policy bill that was among the first to pass and has been signed by the governor.
Among the provisions in the lengthy new law is a measure that directs state water management districts to manage the water in Lake Okeechobee in a way that favors agriculture's need for irrigation, over the goals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which by federal law must manage the water for public health and safety.
It's a subtle change but one that is designed to fit a longer narrative over the "fight of the future which is the control of the water in Lake Okeechobee," said Eric Draper of Florida Audubon, which took no position on the bill.
U.S. Sugar spokeswoman Judy Sanchez praised passage of the bill and the Legacy Florida Act, which will dedicate up to $200 million a year for Everglades restoration.
"Our focus remains on farming and continuing to promote the sustainability and restoration of the water bodies near where we live, work and farm," Sanchez said.
"It may have been a quiet session, but sugar has a five-year playbook," Draper said. "They are planting the seeds for the next fight."
The conflict has begun to play out with the governor's criticism of the Army Corps of Engineers' handling of the releases from Lake Okeechobee, he said.
"The corps is just going by the book, by the regulations, but sugar will criticize the lake over the next couple of years. They will build a story that legislators will believe that the corps is the villain and the victims are the coastal estuaries, and the solution is to turn Lake Okeechobee into a deep-water reservoir. There is only one beneficiary: sugar cane irrigation."
Another agriculture giant, Alico, gave $668,000 to lawmakers and stands to benefit from a $42 million budget item intended to pay land owners to hold water on their land as part of the Everglades restoration. The company has a proposal that would have taxpayers pay the company $12 million to store water from the Caloosahatchee River and budget could pave the way.
Utilities
The state's largest utilities, Florida Power & Light ($6.1 million) and Duke Energy ($1.7 million), were big donors before the session began. They steered millions to a ballot campaign aimed at keeping a pro-solar initiative off the ballot, and about $2.3 million went to legislative committees of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
They won passage of legislation to require local governments to pay for relocation of utility lines when needed for things like road projects. An attempt to make the Public Service Commission more accountable was killed, and perennial efforts to open the state to more renewable energy never got a hearing.
Their winning streak came to an end, however, on their five-year effort to block a proposal to allow businesses that install solar and other renewable energy devices to receive tax breaks for 20 years. This year, solar succeeded as the bill by state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, and state Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Fort Myers passed unanimously in both chambers.
However, it was only a partial victory. Lawmakers also passed legislation to delay implementation of the measure until 2018 if voters approve it, giving the power industry another session to weaken the provisions.
"Surviving to live another day is better than not, but we didn't have a choice in that," said Susan Glickman, Florida Director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy which promoted the proposal. "A similar measure for residential homeowners was passed by voters in 2008 and it took five years for the Legislature to implement it."
"I give enormous credit to the lawmakers who are ultimately saying enough is enough and are standing up for consumer interests," she said.
Brandes said he was surprised at the widespread support for the bill after so many years of hurdles. "This one is going to propel us forward, years ahead, and make us a leader in the country instead of a laggard," he said.
Dental: Miami-based MCNA Dental gave $732,000 to lawmakers and, after years of trying, succeeded at getting passage of a bill to allow Medicaid dental providers to bypass requirements of the state's managed care program. The company hired former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to lobby Scott early in the session.
Charter schools: Charter schools, for-profit schools and privately managed schools gave $484,000 to lawmakers and got access to more state money for capital improvements. Legislators gave greater weight to charter schools that serve mostly poor students or those with disabilities, and subjected them to more accountability, but critics say the changes are not stringent enough to safeguard public money going to the privately managed schools.
Marijuana: Costa Farms, the giant Miami-based grower of fruits and vegetables which is the largest of the five companies to be awarded a license to grow marijuana for medical purposes, became a big player quickly, contributing $369,000 to legislators and the governor. It wants to expand the legal pot market, and lawmakers did that by allowing terminally ill patients to have access to marijuana of all potencies.
Styrofoam: Publix weighed in with $1 million, lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation that would pre-empt local governments from enacting bans on Styrofoam containers used to package food and other products. The bill, which was signed last week by the governor, allows seven South Florida cities that adopted bans before January 2016 to keep them in place but communities like Coral Gables and Orlando, which adopted bans this year or are in the process of adopting bans, would have their measures reversed.
Police radios: This was round two in an ongoing turf battle between Motorola Corp. ($128,000) and Melbourne-based Harris Corp. ($244,000) over a multi-billion dollar contract involving the state's purchase of law enforcement radios set for 2021.
Last year, at the insistence of House leadership, lawmakers inserted into the budget $7 million to "refresh" the state's existing radios, even though no state agency requested radios be replaced.
This year, the House insisted on allocating another $7 million for more radios. Senate leaders objected, concerned it could disadvantage other companies in the competitive bidding process, but the House prevailed and the money remained.
Ride sharing: Sometimes the payoff for corporate contributors is what doesn't get passed.
Mears Transportation, whose president, Paul Mears III, is one of Senate President Andy Gardiner's lifelong friends, won a victory for the second year in a row when the Senate killed a bill that would have blocked local governments from regulating popular ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft.
The company has been a long-time supporter of Gardiner's, giving more than $150,000 to the Republican Party in the years he was in leadership, and $64,000 to the legislative political committees in the last year.
Brandes, who was among the sponsors of the ride-share bill, said he wasn't surprised but predicted Uber and Lyft will wait Gardiner out.
"Once regime change comes, I think you'll see a significant shift in policy," he said.
So what is the message legislators intend to send to lobbyist and special interests this election cycle?
"They should continue to contribute because the overall environment, and the policies that we are actively pursuing, are helping the state,'' Oliva said.
Related:           Big donations didn't all win big results from Florida Legislature

160318-a
$500M bill would buy land south of Lake Okeechobee to curb discharges to St. Lucie River
TCPalm.com – by Bartholomew Sullivan
March 18, 2016
WASHINGTON — In what's intended as a long-term solution to the damaging discharges of pollution-laden waters from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson wants the Interior Department to buy land south of the lake for water storage.
The Bonita Springs Republican introduced the Everglades Land Acquisition Act Friday. If enacted, it would set aside $500 million for the Interior Department to buy the land in the Everglades Agriculture Area in Palm Beach County after a study, also authorized in the bill, determined the right location. The Interior Department would conduct the study.
"We've been looking at this for a long time," Clawson said. "We wanted to see what the state was going to do before we decided what we should try to do in D.C. New money to buy land is an uphill fight but we can't give up."
Clawson said many people assume the land available for storage purposes is owned by the sugar industry, but he said there are other options.
"Let's let the experts make the call on that," he said.
NEED DEM SUPPORT
Clawson is part of a bipartisan effort to expedite repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike around the lake in what he refers to a "short-term relief" from the damaging discharges. U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Fort Lauderdale, and Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, were original co-sponsors of Clawson's bill to do that, introduced earlier this month.
However, the Army Corps has said a stronger dike won't automatically allow for putting more water in the lake and discharging less excess to the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.
Getting money to buy storage acreage will be harder than getting the money to expedite the dike repairs, Clawson said.
"Nowadays, in Washington, everything's an uphill fight, but (with) bills about conservation and about water cleanliness, I think we will have good luck finding Democratic support," he said. "The more realistic one, first, is the dam bill, but we also needed to send the message that the puzzle is not complete until we start spending more money on flow and filtration south and less money on storage of water which just turns nasty over time anyway."
Murphy will review Clawson's proposal, spokeswoman Erin Moffett Hale said.
"(Murphy) shares the goal of moving more clean water south of Lake Okeechobee to provide relief to our local waterways," she said. "By fighting to fully fund CERP projects, authorize CEPP, and calling on the state to use Amendment 1 dollars on land acquisition and conservation as 75 percent of Florida voters intended, we are on the path to do just that. Congressman Murphy looks forward to reviewing congressman Clawson's proposal."
Reducing and then eliminating the flows into the rivers is the ultimate goal and it's a good investment for taxpayers, Clawson said.
"It's better for the water. It's better for the ecology. It's better for the Everglades. It's better for the Caloosahatchee and better for the taxpayer," he said. "We feel like the best way to get closer to Mother Nature's original design ... is to get a flow way with filtration and move more water south."
WHO DECIDES?
Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said the "specific parcel of land" will be determined by the state under the terms of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan signed into law by President Bill Clinton 15 years ago. A 1999 feasibility report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District calls for a reservoir in the Everglades Agricultural Area in Palm Beach County, he noted.
That report envisioned three, 20,000-acre "compartments," each six feet deep.
Eikenberg said almost $3 billion has been invested in manmade wetlands to clean up polluted water south of Lake Okeechobee and a groundbreaking for another 2.6 miles of bridges along the Tamiami Trail to help water flow south is schedule for April 22.
"When we talk about reducing the amount of water that's being dumped down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, overall restoration is reconnecting Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay down in the Keys," he said. "And in order to create a new outlet to send water south you have to have storage ... and Mr. Clawson's bill deals with storage."
Unlike the dike repair bill, the land purchase bill hasn't attracted any co-sponsors but that's not unusual for a bill just introduced.
Sen. Marco Rubio "continues to support solutions for water management throughout the state and to help preserve the Florida Everglades," spokeswoman Kristen Morell said. "He led the successful effort to deauthorize the Ten Mile Creek water reservoir so it can be utilized by the state and is pushing to get the Central Everglades Planning Project finally approved in the Senate's upcoming water resources bill. He understands the importance of moving water south to the Everglades and is looking over congressman Clawson's newly introduced bill."
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, also "will take a close look" at Clawson's proposal, spokesman George Cecala said.
"Certainly, fixing this problem is an important priority for our state and local communities," Cecala said.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment, but spokesman Ryan Brown said Nelson "supports buying more land South of Lake Okeechobee."

160318-b
Buying development rights on ranches is making progress in protecting the Everglades Headwaters
Tampa Bay Times - by Carlton Ward Jr., Carlton Ward Jr., a National Geographic Explorer
March 18, 2016
Wearing lean Wrangler jeans, a denim shirt and brown cowboy hat, Justin Hartt, 31, guided me through high sand scrub and thick oak hammocks down to Arbuckle Creek, which meanders 4 miles through the land that his great-grandfather purchased in 1939. We walked past an Indian mound and through an area where Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs was born. Then we stopped at a sandy rise near a bend in the creek that is Hartt's favorite place on the ranch. "Look at those oak banks and those turkey-necked palmettos stretching out over the water. It doesn't get any better than this."
This land will always be wild thanks to the state of Florida's most recent land protection. Earlier this month, the Cabinet and Gov. Rick Scott voted unanimously to buy nearly 4,000 acres of conservation easements on working cattle ranches in the Everglades watershed. The state won't own the land, but now it can never be developed.
This is welcome news, coming as the Legislature once again put only a pittance into Florida Forever to protect wild lands from encroaching development, which will continue to destroy the 2 million acres of conservation priorities if state funding to protect them remains so low.
The newest easement purchases — including a 2,526-acre tract in the Hartt Ranch in Highlands County and a 1,189-acre tract within the Camp Lonesome Ranch in Osceola County — are important to the Everglades Headwaters National Conservation Area and the Florida Wildlife Corridor, and demonstrate a promising model of partnership between landowners and state and federal agencies.
These easements add to a list of ranches in the Everglades Headwaters that have been protected within the past year, including K Rocker Ranch in Polk County, Adams Ranch and Tiger Cattle Company in Osceola County and Lightsey XL Ranch in Highlands County.
I had already photographed most of these properties, prompting me to publish this collection celebrating land and heritage being protected. But I still needed pictures from Hartt Ranch, which I was able to visit last week.
When Justin Hartt showed me his favorite places along Arbuckle Creek, I recognized the majestic oaks from 2012 when I paddled beneath them on Day 40 of the Florida Wildlife Corridor Everglades to Okefenokee Expedition, a 100-day, 1,000-mile trek that traced the best remaining green corridor through the Florida peninsula, a necessity to sustain the state's water and wildlife. That day was one of the more challenging of the journey as our team struggled against wind and current for 20 miles from Lake Istapokga up Arbuckle Creek past Hartt to neighboring Rafter T Ranch. I'll never forget a surprising rapid that forced us to drag our kayaks over white water and a rock ledge.
I had been eager to return this waterway ever since and was even more excited to be documenting the land as a permanently protected part of the Corridor. As we hiked along the bank, Hartt said, "It would be fine by me if not another acre in Florida was pushed up for housing."
Perhaps the best way to fight the sprawl is to follow his family's lead and take the development option off the table by securing conservation easements. The Hartt Ranch conservation easement was approved by the Florida Department of Agriculture's Rural and Family Lands Protection Program, which received $35 million in the 2016 budget, an increase from $15 million in 2015.
The ranch immediately north of Hartt is high on the list for a Rural and Family Lands easement. Its protection could complete a segment of the Corridor that connects to Hartt to Avon Park Air Force Range to Kissimmee Prairie State Preserve and beyond.
The other conservation news from the March Cabinet meeting, the Camp Lonesome easement, was authorized by the Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Forever program. It was DEP's first conservation easement since 2013.
Often lauded as the leading land-protection program in the nation, and funded with $300 million per year from 1991 to 2008, Florida Forever received only $15 million in the 2016 budget. State lawmakers' refusal to adequately fund Florida Forever after the recession is the reason Amendment 1 was placed on the 2014 ballot. But even after a 75 percent voter referendum, funding for Florida Forever this year is 5 percent of what it should be. State lawmakers should be commended for committing $200 million per year or 25 percent of Amendment 1 funds to Everglades restoration for the next 10 years. They should follow that same model as a minimum for Florida Forever funding beginning in 2017.
The 2016 Florida Forever priorities rank 30 conservation easement projects representing more than 700,000 acres. None of these projects would involve the state of Florida buying and managing more land — a common misconception cited by state lawmakers resistant to funding Florida Forever. Rather, all of these projects would employ voluntary, permanent conservation of private lands, the majority of which are working cattle ranches. That makes the current Florida Forever priorities as much about protecting a future for agriculture and heritage as protecting wildlife habitat or recreation lands. While 700,000 acres might sound like a lot of land to protect, and some suggest we can take our time in doing it, Florida's population is growing by 1,000 people per day, driving suburban sprawl that consumes 175,000 acres of native and agricultural land per year.
In 2015, the state of Florida protected only 16,000 acres — less than a tenth of the land that was lost during that same time. If state lawmakers will not fund land conservation at much higher levels, there is little chance of balancing out the sprawling development that is undermining watersheds, wildlife habitat and agriculture.
The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area is authorized to protect 150,000 acres, two-thirds through conservation easements. (Read my description of it in an earlier essay I wrote at http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspective/celebrating-floridas-last-frontier/1156955.) Since that program was established in 2012, some 25,000 acres have been protected by multiple state and federal agencies. That is meaningful progress, as well as a reminder of the 125,000 threatened acres that still need to be protected. "Protecting the intact working landscapes within the Everglades headwaters is essential for protecting one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in North America, restoring the Greater Everglades and safeguarding the natural and cultural heritage of rural Florida," said Julie Morris, the National Wildlife Refuge Association's Florida and Gulf programs director.
Let's be heartened by the successes in protecting the Greater Everglades during the past year while recognizing that we need to amplify the effort over the next decade if we want to restore the Everglades, sustain agriculture and keep the Florida Wildlife Corridor connected.

160318-c
Curt Clawson seeks $500 million to buy land in Glades
News-Press.com – by Ledyard King, Washington bureau
March 18, 2016
WASHINGTON – Building dikes, dams and reservoirs is fine, but any comprehensive strategy to restore the Everglades has to include buying land south of Lake Okeechobee to filter and drain polluted runoff.
That’s the thinking behind a bill Rep. Curt Clawson introduced Friday.
The Everglades Land Acquisition Act of 2016 would set aside $500 million so the Interior Department could acquire land to send the runoff south, away from beaches and coastal communities to the east and west of the lake.
“Instead of spending money on storage, why don’t we spend money on (moving water)?” the Bonita Springs Republican said. “The real answer is to clean it and send it through the Everglades into Florida Bay. That’s a better use of the money in our view.”
Although land acquisition has chiefly been a state responsibility, Clawson was careful not to criticize Florida officials for not doing more to buy up ecologically important land.
The South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades' restoration, declined an option last year to buy some 47,000 acres of U.S. Sugar-owned farmland south of Lake Okeechobee. Environmental groups had urged the state to buy the land from a voter-approved land acquisition fund and use it to store water coming from the polluted lake.
“What we believe is that in addition to what’s already going on, you got to move water south,” Clawson said. “We’re in crisis here and we need to be doing everything we can so this crisis doesn’t hit us again.”
Fate of Rubio delegates not yet known
With the possibility of a contested convention to decide the Republican presidential nominee, the fate of the 169 delegates Marco Rubio picked up during his campaign could prove pivotal.
But it’s not clear what happens to them now that he’s out of the race.
Delegates are bound to support their candidates on at least the first ballot during the GOP convention in July. But that mainly applies to active candidates.
Rubio’s decision to suspend his campaign means some may be released but some may not, according to those following the arcane process of picking delegates. Essentially it’s up to the state parties that, with the blessing of the Republican National Committee, decide the rules of delegate loyalty.
That “creates a mosaic of different policies that, in some cases, release candidates from their bonds,” according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
By their estimate, as many as 81 of Rubio’s delegates could be “free agents,” the paper reported.
Anne Li with the political number-crunching website FiveThirtyEight, says the details surrounding whether delegates can jilt one candidate for another are “fuzzy and complicated.”
For example, she writes, Rubio’s seven delegates from Kentucky must convene in a meeting with bound delegates in which they will vote in a secret ballot to reallocate Rubio’s delegates to another candidate.
In addition, Li wrote, some states release delegates to support whomever they choose at the convention (such as New Hampshire, where Rubio has two delegates, and Tennessee, where he picked up nine). And still other states continue to bind delegates to the withdrawn candidate (such as Iowa, where he has seven).
This won’t matter if Donald Trump wins the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination. But a contested convention remains a strong possibility.
Florida’s governors remained silent in presidential primary
When they had a chance to get behind native son Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential primary Tuesday, Florida’s last three Republican governors decided to keep quiet.
All had understandable reasons.
Jeb Bush (1999-2007) had just ended his own presidential bid a month earlier and may have harbored lingering resentment that the campaign engineered by his one-time protégé helped nudge him out of the race.
Charlie Crist (2007-2011) was beaten so badly by Rubio in the 2010 Senate race that he’s now a Democrat running for a congressional seat.
And Rick Scott (2011-present), it turns out, had eyes for Donald Trump even before the billionaire clobbered Rubio 46% to 27% in the presidential primary.
Scott, who hinted his support for the real estate mogul in a January column for USA TODAY, endorsed Trump the day after the primary. In a message posted Wednesday on Facebook, the governor drew parallels to his own background.
“The voters are speaking clearly – they want a businessman outsider who will dramatically shake up the status quo in Washington,” he wrote. “When I first ran for governor the political class and party leaders opposed me with great vigor, and some even said if I won the primary they would never vote for me. But the voters had other ideas, and they are the only ones who count.”
Scott might have come out earlier for Trump but it probably would have complicated his relationship with Rubio, who still has 10 months left in his Senate term.
As for Bush, the former governor met with Rubio and the other two Republicans not named Trump: Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich a few days before the primary but decided not to endorse anyone.
Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said Bush’s non-endorsement is being perceived as a final payback to Rubio for outshining him.
But “I don’t think it mattered a lot,” she said. “An endorsement means a lot when you have a lot of pull. By the time he could have endorsed (Rubio), Jeb Bush’s clout had been diminished” by his poor showing in the presidential campaign.
Senate passes bill to speed up Zika cure
WASHINGTON – Efforts to contain the Zika virus got a boost Thursday when the
Senate approved a measure to speed up the development of vaccines and treatments
for the mosquito-borne disease.
The bill, co-sponsored by Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, would add the virus to the Food and Drug Administration’s Tropical Disease Priority Review Voucher Program.
When a company develops an FDA-approved treatment for one of the diseases on the priority list, it receives a voucher to fast-track the approval process for another drug of its choice, according to Nelson’s office. That should create an incentive for drug companies to accelerate their search for a cure.“We need to figure out a way to stop the spread of this virus sooner rather than later,” Nelson said. “This bill creates an incentive for drug makers to develop a vaccine as quickly as possible.”
Four new cases of the Zika virus were reported in Florida Thursday: three in Alachua County and one in Brevard. The virus causes fever, joint pain and a skin rash but rarely requires hospitalization. But it poses a threat to pregnant women because it’s been linked to a birth defect known as microcephaly, which results in small heads and brain damage in infants.
Related:           Environment: Clawson wants Interior dept to buy land south of Lake O     Naples Daily News-Mar 18, 2016
Thumb down: Lake O dike repairs are no cure-all      TCPalm-Mar 17, 2016
Letter: Glades lives matter; we won't be flooded out            TCPalm-Mar 17, 2016
Corps to cut Lake Okeechobee discharges again       TCPalm-Mar 17, 2016

160318-d
It's now the US Sugar / Water Management District
Sun Sentinel – by Randy Schultz, former editorial page editor of The Palm Beach Post. He also blogs for Boca Raton Magazine
March 18, 2016
U.S. Sugar spent about $1.5 million on Gov. Rick Scott and other Republicans in 2014. The company has given $100,000 to the governor's current political action committee. U.S. Sugar is getting good returns on its investment.
South Florida is suffering another environmental crises related to Lake Okeechobee. El Niño-winter rainfall has filled the lake, forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to dump water east and west to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee river basins. The water carries pollution from the lake and picks up more from suburban runoff.
The Corps lowers the water level to protect the Hoover Dike, whose 143 miles almost encircle the lake. The key stretches, however, are on the southern side. If the dike collapsed, flooding could spread, Katrina-like, all the way to Wellington.
As discharges pounded the coasts, the South Florida Water Management District announced that it had pumped water back into the lake from the south. Backpumping adds pollution, thus compounding the problem, if in a comparatively small way.
Since then, the district and U.S. Sugar have mounted a joint public relations campaign to defend backpumping, the district, U.S. Sugar and the company's and the governor's records on Everglades restoration. Latest example: A Tuesday news release claimed that farmers did not influence the decision to backpump.
According to the district, backpumping was necessary "to protect thousands of families and businesses living south of the lake" and has happened only nine times in the last eight years. The release didn't say that backpumping also moves excess water off fields, thus protecting farmers. The release also didn't say that backpumping happens less often because a federal judge ruled that it violated the Clean Water Act. Farmers had regularly asked the district to backpump.
U.S. Sugar and the district also harmonized when environmental groups criticized the district's refusal to buy some of the company's land. If there were more places to store water south of the lake, the Corps could dump less water east and west through the rivers. A district news release called the purchase "a lousy deal."
The release didn't say that in 2008 U.S. Sugar wanted to sell all of the company's land. The $1.75 billion price was reportedly $400 million above the appraised value. U.S. Sugar wanted to sell because times were bad for the company. That court ruling was one reason. Times are better, so the company doesn't want to sell.
Scott's contribution to the current crisis, of course, is to blame President Obama. In declaring an emergency from the lake discharges, the governor mentioned the president or the federal government seven times in 10 paragraphs. Scott blamed Obama for failing to provide money for the dike to hold 18.5 feet of water and said the feds are $880 million behind the state in paying for Everglades restoration.
Audubon of Florida Director Eric Draper calls Scott's math "bookkeeper bickering." With Everglades restoration estimated to cost $10 billion, Washington or Tallahassee will be technically ahead or behind.
Scott is doubly wrong on the dike. The Corps can't spend what Congress hasn't authorized and appropriated. In the best case, a Corps spokesman said in an interview, work on the southern side won't be done until 2020 or 2021. It will take another five years to shore up the whole dike.
As Draper says, "The dike is not related to Everglades restoration." A governor who supports restoration, though, would not want Lake Okeechobee to routinely hold 18.5 feet of water. The lake is healthier at lower levels. Slowing and filtering runoff from the north remain critical to cleaning up the lake.
Maximum water storage, however, could allow farmers on the south side to draw and return water when they want. Under that scenario, Lake Okeechobee could become the reservoir for U.S. Sugar and others.
U.S. Sugar praises Scott's environmental record and stated that the southern Everglades is "on track to be permanently restored." Farm runoff may be cleaner, but it's not clean enough to avoid harming the Everglades. Scott signed legislation delaying the cleanup deadline yet again.
No governor has assumed more control over the water management districts. If the South Florida district is allied with U.S. Sugar, Rick Scott wants it that way. His contribution dollars outweigh your tax dollars.
Related:           US Sugar: Sugarcane farmers' role in Lake Okeechobee releases ...  TBO.com-Mar 17, 2016
Guest column: Mark Perry: 'River of Grass' must be part of our plan            TCPalm-Mar 17, 2016

160318-e
Sugar industry’s ties to Florida politicians
Cape Coral Daily Breeze - to the editor by Jill Dillon, Sanibel
March 18, 2016
Rae Ann Wessel, Natural Resource Policy Director, Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, has stated that 25 years of scientific studies repeatedly cite the one solution that would provide benefits for many parts of the Everglades water system would be storage south of Lake Okeechobee. January 2016's excessive flooding made this dramatically apparent when while the Corps of Engineers was engaged in emergency discharges into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries to lower Lake O., AT THE SAME TIME the South Florida Water Management District was back pumping from SOUTH of Lake O. 47,000 acre feet of polluted water back into the Lake requiring additional discharges by the Corps.
In 2008 a plan was proposed, and the public participated in restoration planning with the SFWMD. In 2015 the contract was abandoned partly due to lack of funding dictated by the SFWMD Governing Board.
Meanwhile just this fall, 2015, Florida Senate Bill 552 and HB 7005 were fast tracked through committees, passed the first week of session, and SB 552 was signed by Gov. Scott just one week later. The bill delays all efforts for restoration action by the following: Rolls back protections on water quality, and rolls back making sources responsible for pollution they committed; pushes out deadlines for cleaning up water (as in Lake O.); delays agricultural best management practices; fails to prioritize and implement conservation measures for water supply management; and eliminates monitoring of existing permits.
Since 1998, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, the Florida sugar industry has given at least $21 million dollars to Florida candidates, political parties and PACs. Estus Whitfield, environmental adviser, has said that "In almost every instance when an Everglades law, rule, or even attitude has changed, it was influenced by the sugar industry."
Bottom Line: Why are we, the taxpayers, forced to pay for sugar subsidies to an industry which has over the years used its powerful political influence to systematically and deliberately create the environmental crisis which has engulfed us here in Southwest Florida ?

160318-f
U.S.Sugar souring our environmental rights
News-Press.com – by Stephen Prendiville and Leland Garvin
March 18, 2016
The recent press conference held by U.S. Sugar and subsequent full page ads in The News-Press are deserving of a response from concerned citizens in Southwest Florida.
As we all know, the heavy January rainfall was caused by a powerful El Nino effect, causing Lake Okeechobee to rise. This rain stimulated the South Florida Water Management District to “backpump” the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) and the ACOE to resume fresh water discharges from the lake at an extremely high volume.
As a result, the water quality in the Caloosahatchee and beaches has suffered and the area has experienced a profound negative economic impact that will be felt for the indeterminate future. This long standing problem that traditionally occurred only in the summer rainy season was now a feature of “Season” in SW Florida.
The brown turbid waters have stimulated a significant outcry from tourists who feel scammed, from business owners and fishing guides who are reliant on tourism dollars, and concerned local citizens.  The debate has expanded beyond mere grumblings to social media, where Facebook pages such as:  Bullsugar.org, SWFL Clean Water Movement, and Captains for Clean Water, have received over 50,000, 10,000, and 5,000 members respectively. A grass roots meeting held recently by the Sierra Club in Calusa Nature Center was critical of the role that Big Sugar has had in the acute and chronic water quality problems in South Florida.
This Sierra Club meeting and the social media activity have led to a profoundly defensive position by U.S Sugar, who held a closed news conference on Monday at Fort Myers’ Hotel Indigo.
"The Sierra Club has come out with a lot of baseless and what we consider reckless accusations," said Judy Sanchez, a senior spokeswoman for U.S. Sugar. Since the term reckless is being employed, we would like to take the opportunity to explain some of the concerns that we as taxpaying residents of Lee County have with U.S. Sugar and Big Sugar in general.
We would like to remind readers that Big Sugar has accepted federal price supports for decades, allowing the price of sugar to run 2-3 times world averages in the United States. Secondly, the sugar industry has a history of back pumping into Lake Okeechobee for decades. Although ostensibly, the sugar farms no longer back pump as before, this activity is currently carried out for them by the SFWMD which we pay for in our property taxes. Thirdly, Big Sugar, through massive campaign contributions, has torpedoed hopes of a land purchase in the EAA which would facilitate the creation of filtration marshes and a flow way south of the lake and into the Everglades.
It should be noted that although all of the SFWMD governing board members are appointees of Gov. Rick Scott, none of them has any background in hydrology, science or demonstrated themselves to be stewards of the environment. In fact, our local SFWMD board member, Mitch Hutchcraft, is a vice president at King Ranch (a sugar grower in the EAA). All of these factors have translated into yearly discharges into the Caloosahatchee, threatening our natural habitat, promoting red tide blooms, and driving tourists away.
This past week, the ACOE has prohibited swimming in the Caloosahatchee along the banks of the W.P. Franklin campground due to dangerously high bacteria levels.
Sanchez goes on to say, "They've really done a great disservice to the readers and the TV viewers of Southwest Florida, making people believe that the water quality is so terrible." Our position is that this is such a “bald faced lie,” it doesn’t require further discussion. There are certain undeniable truths about this winter in SW Florida, and the poor water quality is one of them.
Furthermore, the interests of U.S. Sugar have been displayed in the public record. In 2014, U.S. Sugar attempted to have a portion of land in the EAA zoned for a mixed commercial/residential community known as “Sugar Hill.”  Development in the EAA could permanently eliminate the possibility of water flowing south into the Everglades.
This would make the perennial discharges into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers a permanent feature in our future. In future El Nino years, this would mean other cycles of year round discharges.  The preponderance of the objective scientific studies, including the 2014 University of Florida study commissioned by Sen. Joe Negron, state that water must flow south to help regenerate Caloosahatchee, St. Lucie, rehydrate the Everglades, and help Florida Bay.
Our suggestion is that if as Sanchez states, that U.S. Sugar are our neighbors, then we would request that they begin acting like it. A large chunk of the Caloosahatchee watershed west of the lake is sugar cane that drains to our waters without back pumping. Furthermore, referring to concerned citizens as “radicals” is outrageous and further ignites distrust. There is nothing “radical” about caring for our beautiful surroundings. Advocating all of the solutions including increased storage and the vital southern flow way would be preferable to indignation and denial.

160317-a
Army Corps to cut back on Lake Okeechobee discharges again
TCPalm - by Tyler Treadway
March 17, 2016
Murky waters from Lake Okeechobee discharges stain the St. Lucie River near Palm City and Stuart. The Army Corps of Engineers opened the St. Lucie Lock and Dam on Jan. 30 and Lake Okeechobee water has been flowing into the St. Lucie River since. The lake water dumps nitrogen into the river which eventually creates toxic algae blooms. Vegetation and animals suffer from the dirty water and the local economy is impacted negatively.
With Lake Okeechobee down to slightly more than 15 feet, the Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday another cut in discharges to the St. Lucie River.
Beginning Friday, the average flow of water through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam into the river will be about 756.2 million gallons a day. Water flowing through the dam is a mixture of Lake O discharge and rainwater runoff from the farmland on both sides of the C-44 (St. Lucie) Canal, which connects the lake and the river.
Since the discharges began Jan. 30, about 40 percent of the water flowing through the dam has been discharge from the lake. Because of drier conditions over the past couple of weeks, most of the water now coming through the dam is lake discharge.
On Wednesday, for example, nearly 90 percent of the water was Lake O discharge.
On March 4, the corps cut discharges nearly in half from about 2.2 billion gallons a day to about 1.2 billion gallons a day.
"The lake has continued to fall with the onset of drier weather," said Jim Jeffords, corps operations chief for Florida. "Based on current conditions, our water control plan calls for another reduction in flows. However, some precipitation has been forecasted in the week ahead, which could slow the recession. We'll continue to monitor and adjust accordingly."
The National Weather Service is forecasting wetter-than-normal conditions through May, and South Florida's rainy season usually starts about June 1.
On Thursday morning, the lake elevation was 15 feet 3 7/8 inches.
The corps wants Lake O's elevation at 12 feet, 6 inches by June 1 so the lake has capacity to safely take on water from the rainy season and any hurricanes and tropical storms without reaching the target maximum elevation of 15 feet, 6 inches.
That means the lake still needs to drop almost 2 feet, 10 inches to meet that goal.
This report will be updated.
BY THE NUMBERS
Previous discharge rate: 1.2 billion gallons per day
New discharge rate: 756.2 million gallons a day
That's enough water to: Fill 1,145 three-quarter Olympic-size swimming pools
Total lake water discharged since Jan. 30: about 85 billion gallons
What that would do: Cover city of Stuart with 41 feet, 11½ inches of water
Lake O elevation Jan. 30: 15 feet, 11 7/8 inches
Lake O peak elevation this year: 16 feet, 4¾ inches (Feb. 8)
Lake O elevation Thursday: 15 feet, 3 7/8 inches
Preferred Lake O elevation on June 1: 12 feet, 6 inches

160317-b
Oligarchs in Florida: How an "Arab Spring" could make Big Sugar even wealthier but save the State
Huffington Post – by Alan Farago
March 17, 2016
Social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, and the blogs, have triggered an unprecedented event in Florida: people are linking up to express outrage and to organize for the purchase and conversion of massive acreage in sugar cane production south of Lake Okeechobee for water treatment marshes.
Big Sugar's chokehold on public opinion is slipping, in defiance of the fact that the Everglades Agricultural Area -- some 450,000 acres smack dab in the middle of the southern portion of the Florida peninsula -- always served as an effective barrier isolating community's on both Florida coasts.
One indication of Florida's Arab Spring: the unexpected and overwhelming defeat of Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential primary. Although Rubio has long been identified as a staunch defender of Big Sugar, he carried only one of Florida's 67 counties. Republican voters -- thanks in no small part to social media -- got the message that traditional sources of media have been disinclined to broadcast: how Big Sugar's sticky embrace of Marco Rubio harmed Florida.
The EAA plus surrounding public lands including Everglades National Park comprise a total of about 2 million acres -- historically, natural wetlands -- , but Big Sugar's hammerlock on water management infrastructure and flood control practices ensure that the entire state dances to its tune.
Big Sugar gets what it wants, when it wants it. This turns into a problem during times of drought and flood; more the norm than the exception in a rapidly changing world where the state's population growth collides with the impacts of climate change.
The chorus is rising: buy Big Sugar lands, send clean, fresh water south. What this means is taking about 100,000 acres out of sugarcane production to the purpose of storage and cleansing marshes so that Lake Okeechobee stormwater runoff doesn't destroy property values, tourism-dependent businesses, and natural resources around the southern rim of the state.
The refusals from Big Sugar ("We are just ordinary people and good citizens who care" and "we've already done our fair share") cannot stand up to fact and science.
Big Sugar is about as far from "ordinary people" as Joe the Plumber from Charles Koch. The sugar industry's political influence is locked down by corporate welfare at its most toxic efflorescence. The sugar subsidy in the Farm Bill mainly accrues to the net worth of two billionaire families: the Fanjuls -- of the Flo-Sun and Florida Crystals' empire -- and the descents of Charles Stuart Mott who control US Sugar Corporation. By artificially elevating the price of American sugar above free market prices, hundreds of millions per year in excess profits is guaranteed before a blade of new crop is planted.
Big Sugar's command of the US Farm Bill is exceedingly simple in a very American Way: make the Fanjul and Mott descendants rich as possible. Doing so during times of heavy rainfall and storm water runoff doesn't similarly trouble Congress. Those US Senators and Representatives are thousands of miles away when Lake Okeechobee, a virtual toilet bowl serving the needs of agriculture and dairy farms upstream, turns other people's property and businesses into downstream sacrifice zones.
Ultimately, the Fanjuls and Mott descendants have one objective: for the public to value their hundreds of thousands of acres based on an imaginary value as subdivisions and not agricultural land.
Every move of the Sugar PR juggernaut, including fawning local economic councils, Chambers of Commerce and trade groups, is to make that value less hypothetical, as though there were a thousand homes per acre and not a crop -- sugarcane -- that, in excess, poisons people and is more addictive than cocaine. Sugar's armies of lobbyists, "environmental" land use lawyers, and elected officials have spent decades inching the Everglades Agricultural Area toward its valuation as strip malls and zero lot line subdivisions.
The difference between Big Sugar's imaginary value and a realistic appraisal is a function of political outcomes. There has been no reason at all for Big Sugar to move from its high throne so long as those outcomes remained predictable. That is why Big Sugar spends millions of dollars to influence elections from dog-catcher to the White House. In this light, Marco Rubio's loss requires a reassessment.
Government does have a legitimate means to put private land in public ownership, if sellers will not agree to sell. It is called eminent domain, and it takes a governmental entity -- whether at the state or federal level -- to initiate.
For any "unwilling" property owner in the Everglades watershed, the hint of eminent domain proceedings is like winning the Powerball lottery. This would not be the case for Big Sugar that not only has won the Powerball Lottery, but wins it reliably with every growing season.
Consider the case of another Big Sugar mouthpiece: Florida Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam. In lieu of a lengthy and costly eminent domain court case, his family farm was purchased by the state for $25 million only a year after being appraised at $5 million. Putnam is expected to run as the Republican candidate for governor in 2018.
For Big Sugar, eminent domain is like the chicken and the egg: which comes first -- its subdivisions with zero lot line housing or a massive taxpayer buyout? This is not a complicated story, but it is an end-game and one that Big Sugar has successfully blocked from telling for decades.
Decades of delays in fixing what is wrong with Florida's capitulation to Big Sugar require the intervention of Florida voters.
The incrementalism that passes for Everglades restoration or stopping toxic releases to Florida's rivers and estuaries can only be stopped by voters insisting on a change to Big Sugar's "most favored nation status". Marco Rubio didn't pass the litmus test, nor should any other elected official in Florida.
It will take millions of voters to bring the day, closer, when the state's waterways, property and jobs tied to Florida Bay, Sanibel, Fort Myers and Stuart are no longer treated as Big Sugar's collateral damage on the way to a billion dollar taxpayer buyout.
You see: one way or another, Big Sugar will get its price. Florida voters must push that day, closer, because taxpayers and the American public have really run out of time.
Buy the land. Send CLEAN, fresh water south.

160317-c
Rising seas could force 13 million Americans to move
TriplePundit.com - by Leon Kaye
March 17, 2016
According to the 2010 U.S. Census and other government agency estimates, almost 40 percent of Americans live in counties along a coastline. Economic opportunities in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, along with many citizens’ desires to live in a warm Southern climate, could see that proportion increase by another 8 percent by the end of this decade. About half of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of a shoreline, and why wouldn’t that be the case? The coasts are integral to commerce, recreation and, for millions, an incredible quality of life.
So, even if only a few of the suggested risks associated with climate change come true this century, the results will cause huge headaches for real estate companies, insurers, municipal governments and, of course, many citizens. In fact, a new study released by the journal Nature suggests that in a worst-case scenario, as many as 13 million people will be seriously affected by rising sea levels due to climate change by the end of this century. The data revealed in this study adds to what has been a very long wake-up call: Politicians who balk at climate adaption costs for a threat of which they are still not convinced leave the potential for an even larger and more expensive mess for the next generation.
Even a conservative sea-level rise of three feet could wreak havoc on rural and crowded urban areas alike. North Carolina’s Tyrrell County, the state’s least populous county with only 4,400 residents, has the highest percentage of people who would be potentially at risk from rising seas. The Nature study, led by University of Georgia Ph.D. candidate Mathew Hauer, also demonstrates the potential for future tension between wealthier regions such as the Bay Area and Houston against remote areas like North Carolina’s Outer Banks or Virginia’s Eastern Shore. When federal, state and regional governments finally start becoming serious about climate adaptation and mitigation, will poorer areas lose out on funding compared to the wealthier and more politically influential cities? Or will citizens in these less affluent counties just be told to move? And for a state such as Florida, which by far could see itself in a massive crisis with at least 3.5 million future residents under threat, what can be done when the highest point in the state is only 345 feet above sea level?
Such disputes are already underway in Alaska’s Arctic coastal areas, where residents say the effects of climate change are clearly evident. Newtok, a small village home to about 350 people, voted to move nine miles away to higher ground as far back as 1996. Melting permafrost and erosion have made life in the western Alaskan outpost nearly impossible, so local leaders negotiated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move to another location in exchange for allowing their current home to become a wildlife refuge. But as the Atlantic explained, nothing has happened since the arrangement was agreed upon in 2003. Another village, Kivalina, could find itself under water as soon as 2025. The most daunting challenge these communities face is that U.S. disaster relief policy is overwhelmingly reactive; federal agencies such as FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) are quick to arrive after a catastrophe. The will to prepare and avert a potential disaster such as in Newtok or Kivalina, however, does not exist: Leaders do not want to be on the hook for massive infrastructure projects related to something they see as nebulous as climate change.
Some states, including California, are trying to get ahead of the curve. California has invested in its fair share research outlining future risks the state’s coast confronts. The issue, however, is that such information available to the public tends to go far beyond policy wonk-speak and does not resonate with residents and the business community.
In the meantime, business and government really have no choice but to find ways in which they can work together to adapt to, if not mitigate, what will be a very different environment in the coming decades. But as long as companies stifle any discussion of climate change, politics continue to get in the way of long-term planning and climate action is seen more as an indulgence and less as risk management, watch for these costs — and human misery — to rise even more.

160316-b
Environmentalists continue fighting fracking
News4jaks - by Matt Galka
March 16, 2016
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Environmentalists fought tooth and nail this year against the controversial procedure known as fracking.
Environmentalists said fracking is too risky for the state because of the possibility that chemicals can get into Florida’s drinking water.
Anti-fracking groups became a familiar sight at Florida’s Capitol for the past two months. Armed with what they said was contaminated water from other states, the advocates against the controversial practice railed against proposals to regulate it statewide.
A proposal studying fracking and allowing the state to regulate it ultimately failed.  Sen. Garrett Richter said Florida is no better off today because of it.
"Oil companies can come into Florida as they could last year and the year before and the year before when the Hughes company came to Collier County and they can frack," Richter said. "All my bill would have done is put a regulatory framework in place.”
But environmental lawyer David Guest said the bill would have ignored around 60 local resolutions passed around the state banning fracking.
“What that bill did is trump the power of local governments to protect the health of their residents by making it so that fracking could be authorized by the state and nobody could say anything about it,” Guest said.
Environmentalists declared victory for 2016, but they said the fight isn’t over
“I think they’ll try and bring it back next year, and I think the Department of Environmental Protection will look at rules,” Guest said.
Conventional fracking last happened in the state in 2003, but acid fracking happened in Collier County in 2013. The state’s DEP ordered a cease and desist order out of groundwater contamination fears because of it.

160316-c
Managing our water resources
Naples Daily News - by Bill Burdette
March 16, 2016
The Real Estate Investment Society (REIS) will look at strategies for managing Southwest Florida’s water resources and the implications for long term economic development of the region. Dan Delisi, AICP, former board member and chief of staff at South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) will provide insight to regulatory policies, management practices, and environmental considerations. The presentation takes place at the Real Estate Investment Society’s (REIS) April 12th luncheon meeting.
Dan Delisi’s presentation will include perspective from both public and private sector experience, as well as expertise in community planning. Following his presentation, Mr. Delisi will respond to questions of specific interest to the real estate investment and development industry.
Dan Delisi is a principal in Delisi-Fitzgerald, Inc., a planning, engineering, and project management firm. Delisi was appointed to the Governing Board of the South Florida Water Management District in 2011 and became Chief of Staff in 2013. He returned to private practice in 2015. He has a comprehensive background in planning, zoning and land development regulations as a consultant for both public and private sector clients. He specializes in project entitlements and community visioning. Mr. Delisi recently taught Community Planning Process at Florida Gulf Coast University and currently teaches Land Use Regulation for Nova Southeastern University. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Brandeis University and a Master of City Planning, Urban Design Certificate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The meeting is sponsored by GHD Services, Inc. and will begin promptly at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12th in the Osprey Room at Pelican Preserve’s Clubhouse, on Treeline Avenue at Colonial Boulevard, one mile east of I-75 exit 136 in Fort Myers. Admission is $30.00 for members and $40.00 for guests, which includes lunch. Reservations are required by April 6th and may be made at the REIS web site: www.reis-swfl.org.

160316-d
SFWMD report suggests lowering endangered bird protections
WGCU.org - by Jessica Meszaros
March 16, 2016
Neglecting or changing protections for a federally endangered bird could help lower water levels in Lake Okeechobee right now. That’s from a March report by a committee within the South Florida Water Management District.
Florida saw the wettest winter since 1932 this year, causing the highest water level for Lake Okeechobee in a decade. Jim Moran is a district governing board member. He also chairs its Water Resources Advisory Commission, which wrote the report.
Moran recently said the Army Corps of Engineers could move more of Lake Okeechobee’s water into Everglades National Park if it were not for the “situation” with the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow.
“I think that we need to reassess our priorities and decide if we want to save the bird's habitat at the expense of the rest of the eco system and at the expense of the estuaries and Florida bay," said Moran at a board meeting this month. 
But Jaclyn Lopez with the Center for Biological Diversity said if they moved more water south, the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow would potentially cease to exist-- except maybe in a zoo somewhere.
“You'd be flooding out the areas that the sparrow needs to nest and you would see a collapse of nesting where you have a population that's already down in numbers and is under sort of a high watch scenario," said Lopez. 
The SFWMD cannot make any final decisions about the species’ management, but members can still advocate for protection changes to state and federal wildlife officials. 

160316-e
The Facts on the Lake Okeechobee Releases
SouthEastAgNet.com
March 16, 2016
We share in the frustration over the Lake Okeechobee discharges. We want to collaborate in finding solutions that improve water storage and reduce the risk of discharges occurring again. But the Sierra Club’s reckless and mean-spirited attacks – which are part of their ongoing vendetta against sugarcane farmers – misdirect the focus away from any meaningful discussion of the facts that will lead us to real solutions. That these radicals are blaming a single company, U.S. Sugar, for systemic regional problems wrought by over 100 years of change is utterly ridiculous.
Here are the facts on the Lake Okeechobee releases:
FACT: Only 3% of the water and 4% of the phosphorous in Lake Okeechobee is coming from south of Lake Okeechobee, where the farming communities are located.(Source: South Florida Water Management District study “Past & Present Water Quality Conditions in the South Florida Water Management District, page 22. November 5, 2015)
FACT: As much as 80 percent of the nutrients are coming from the local basins in both the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. (Source: SFWMD, Update on Nitrogen Water Quality Conditions in the South Florida Water Management District).
Back Pumping – A Necessary Flood Control Measure Controlled by SFWMD, Not U.S. Sugar
Contrary to claims made by the Sierra Club and other activists, U.S. Sugar does not back pump into Lake Okeechobee. Controlled by the South Florida Water Management District, it is a necessary flood control measure that protects neighborhoods, businesses, schools, hospitals, and farms.
FACT: Back pumping only occurred over a period of 4 days (January 27th through January 31st) and accounted for 9 billion gallons in total. By comparison, until recently, the Army Corps was releasing 11 billion gallons per day. (Source: South Florida Water Management District statement, “Flood Control Operations Update.” January 31, 2016)
More facts about back pumping:
U.S. Sugar does not pump water from its fields into Lake Okeechobee. Nor do any other sugarcane farmers.
Back pumping into the lake wouldn’t even possible – U.S. Sugar’s property does not connect directly to Lake Okeechobee.
Back pumping is strictly controlled by SFWMD.
Back pumping accounted for less than three quarters of an inch of the more than 13 inches of rain added to Lake Okeechobee in January.
Back pumping is conducted to protect Glades-area communities, businesses, hospitals, schools and farms from catastrophic flooding and according to SFWMD, benefits “thousands of families and businesses.”
The Facts on Red Tide
In media reports, some activists have attempted to link the water from U.S. Sugar’s farms to red tide blooms off the Gulf Coast. The science simply does not support this. Here is what Mote Marine Laboratory, the leading expert on Florida Red Tide, has to say about what causes red tide:
In contrast to the many red tide species that are fueled by nutrient pollution associated with urban or agricultural runoff, there is no direct link between nutrient pollution and the frequency or severity of red tides caused by K. brevis. Florida red tides develop 10-40 miles offshore, away from man-made nutrient sources. Red tides occurred in Florida long before human settlement, and severe red tides were observed in the mid-1900s before the state’s coastlines were heavily developed. However, once red tides are transported inshore, they are capable of using man-made nutrients for their growth.(Source:Mote Marine Laboratory, “Florida Red Tide FAQs.)
What Local Leaders Are Saying About Reports on the Lake Okeechobee Discharges
Many community leaders in South and Southwest Florida are attempting to push back against the misinformation spread by groups like the Sierra Club. Here is what they are saying:
“You want to kill your tourism? Start talking about the toxic water in Lake Okeechobee and how it’s discharging to our coastal communities. No. It’s good, clean fresh water that a whole lot of people use for a drinking water source, including the fancy people over here on the coast. In fact, there’s just too much fresh water in a saltwater environment. So definitely, technically, it’s causing problems. But it’s not toxic in the way people are connoting it is toxic. It is not.”
– D. Albrey Arrington Ph.D., Executive Director of the Loxahatchee River District, March 3, 2016, Water Resource Advisory Meeting
“Despite the initiation of increased Lake Okeechobee regulatory releases, over the last four days approximately 70% of the current water flow is runoff from the Caloosahatchee watershed. While championing the need to move water from Lake Okeechobee to the south, the City of Sanibel has consistently recognized our need for water storage within the Caloosahatchee watershed.”
– Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane, February 5, 2016
“The discoloration is caused almost entirely from naturally occurring tannins in the 1,400-square-mile Caloosahatchee River Basin involving runoff from 900,000 acres on both sides of the river. And yes, when you open the floodgates from Okeechobee, the brown water does come in huge volumes.”
– Lee County Commission Chairman Frank Mann, February 16, 2016
“While much of the attention right now is directed toward the Lake Okeechobee discharges, it’s important to remember that 60 percent to 80 percent of the pollution that makes its way into the Caloosahatchee comes from our local basin runoff.
– Lee County Commissioner Brian Hamman, February 5, 2016
“The Sierra Club and many Everglades Foundation supporters claim that agriculture in general, and sugar cane growers in particular, are destroying the state’s waters. Never mind that the water that flows off sugar cane land is cleaner than when it flowed onto the land, far exceeding any state requirement. Never mind that sugar cane farmers actually have made the largest private investment, $400 million, for the restoration of the Everglades. And especially never mind that it isn’t water from the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) that is ending up in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers in the first place. Lake Okeechobee’s water comes from the north, east and west. Only 5 percent of the water entering Lake Okeechobee comes from the south, and that water comes from our rural communities to protect homes and people from flooding, not from farms.”
– Hendry County Commissioner Janet Taylor, February 26, 2016
U.S. Sugar Farmers Are on the Front Lines of Water Quality Improvements
Last year, farmers in the Everglades Agricultural Area reached a historic milestone for water quality improvements—a 79 percent annual reduction of phosphorus in the water flowing from farms. This achievement continues a 20-year trend of farmers reducing phosphorus levels by an average of 56 percent annually (Source: South Florida Water Management District news release, “Everglades Water Quality Improvement Program Marks 20 Years of Success.” August 13, 2015)
The improvements in water quality are the result of Best Management Practices (BMPs), which are industry-leading, innovative farming practices that help prevent soil sediment from being pumped with water as it moves off our farms. Some of the techniques include:
Using high-tech lasers to level fields, reduce soil erosion and improve water control;
Promoting vegetation growth along canal banks to trap soil sediment;
Improving canal- and ditch-cleaning programs;
Planting cover crops to minimize wind and water soil erosion; and
Using precision agricultural testing and technology to manage crop nutrients.
These on-farm practices—paid 100 percent by the farmers—were researched and developed in conjunction with scientists at the University of Florida and the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. EAA farmers were the first in Florida to implement extensive BMP programs, and their on-farm water and soil management techniques have served as the model for the Florida Department of Agriculture BMP program used statewide. In 2015, after being challenged in court, Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeals sided with the farmers by upholding the use of BMPs and noting the difference they are making in improving water quality across the EAA.

160315-b
Florida Keys test aquifer for radioactive substances
News-JournalOnLine.com
March 15, 2016
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority is testing for radioactive substances in the aquifer that acts as the island chain's main drinking water supply.
The testing follows a Miami-Dade County study in Biscayne Bay that found high levels of a radioactive isotope linked to water from canals at Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear power plant. Researchers taking water samples in December and January found tritium levels up to 215 times higher than normal in ocean water.
The tritium levels are below federal water quality standards. The Key West Citizen reports (http://bit.ly/1R01MJq ) that the aqueduct authority also is tracking a saltwater plume from the plant that could potentially threaten the water supply.
The agency's executive director, Kirk Zuelch, says the new testing of 22 wells for radioactive substances is "prudent."

160314-a
Everglades rebuild funded with $250 million tax, newspaper says
NOLA.com - by Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
March 14, 2016
The Florida legislature voted Friday (March 11) to spend at least $250 million a year to rebuild the Everglades system and polluted springs over the next 20 years, according to the Miami Herald. A 2014 amendment to the Florida constitution dedicates a third of revenue from a tax on real estate transactions to a state fund for land and water conservation programs.
Human intervention with the flow of water, and fertilizer used to grow sugar cane, have dramatically damaged the world-renowned wetlands.
The tax revenue goes into the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, which collected $743.5 million in 2015, the newspaper reported, The fund is expected to have $902 million for environmental programs this year.
The legislation approved Friday would set aside 25 percent of the money going into the fund, up to $250 million a year, for Everglades restoration, and $50 million a year for springs restoration.

160314-b
In Fla., fracking starts a fight before it even happens
EnergyWire – by Kristi E. Swartz and Mike Lee, E&E reporters
March 14, 2016
The oil industry and environmentalists in Florida, who fought to a draw in the state Legislature over a bill that would allow hydraulic fracturing in the state, are maneuvering for a rematch.
The bill drew some of the most heated disputes in Tallahassee, even though Florida has a tiny amount of oil and gas production and it's not likely that there would be widespread drilling even if a law passes. The bill would allow hydraulic fracturing and would prohibit cities from regulating the practice.
"The word 'fracking' has become one of those issues that immediately sends people into their respective corners -- facts be damned, and it doesn't matter what side you're on," said Rebecca O'Hara, a lobbyist for the Florida League of Cities Inc.
State Sen. Garrett Richter, a Republican from Collier County who sponsored the bill, pulled it from consideration during a hearing March 1. The Legislature reconvenes in 2017, and the issue of fracking is likely to come back.
If a bill passes, Florida would join Illinois and North Carolina in regulating a drilling practice that hasn't actually happened on a wide scale (EnergyWire, Nov. 7, 2014; EnergyWire, May 6, 2015).
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Fracking typically is used on shale and other dense rocks, which makes it hard for oil and gas to flow. It's controversial because it's allowed drilling to push into new areas, including suburban areas in Texas and Colorado and farm country in Pennsylvania. There have been long-standing complaints about water pollution and other problems associated with shale drilling.
In most cases where contamination has been substantiated, it didn't happen because of fracking itself but because of faulty well construction that allowed gas, oil or other fluids to leak outside the wellbore. Regardless, the idea of drilling and fracking in Florida, which depends on groundwater for drinking, has caused a huge uproar.
Fracking is currently allowed under the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's regulations. It's classified as a "workover" -- one of a group of tasks that generally involve re-entering an old well to repair it or squeeze more oil out of it. But no one has fractured a well in the state since 2003, according to an analysis by the state Senate Appropriations Committee staff.
Florida produces small quantities of oil and gas -- there are approximately 160 producing wells in the state -- and the current crash in oil prices makes it unlikely that any new drilling would happen for months, if not years.
The company whose project spurred the legislation -- Dan A. Hughes Co. LP of Beeville, Texas -- wasn't actually trying to fracture a well. Instead, it applied for permission to use a different process known as matrix acidization -- forcing acid into a well at high pressure to dissolve some of the rock and allow oil to flow.
Hughes notified the DEP of its plans in 2013 and then went ahead with the operation before it received permission. The DEP sued the company to stop the acidizing.
Another company, Kanter Real Estate LLC, has applied for permission to drill a test well in the Everglades in Broward County. The company's application doesn't discuss fracturing or well stimulation, but the DEP has issued Kanter two requests for additional information, effectively delaying the project.
Pre-emption derailed Fla. bill
S.B. 318 would have provided $1 million for the DEP to conduct a peer-reviewed study of fracking, matrix acidization and other techniques to see if they could be safely used in Florida.
It would require companies to notify the state in advance of certain drilling operations, so that inspectors could be on site when they happen. Drillers would have to report the chemicals they use to FracFocus, a nationwide database.
The bill would pre-empt local cities from regulating any aspect of oil drilling, though, and would void any existing regulation. That would wipe out dozens of local ordinances that have been passed to ban fracking in cities and counties.
The pre-emption language caught the eye of two groups that have significant sway in Tallahassee: the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties. The issue eventually derailed Richter's bill in its final Senate committee, when one member floated an amendment to remove the pre-emption language.
Richter and state Rep. Ray Rodrigues (R), who has shepherded a fracking bill through the House more than once, vow to bring the legislation back again next year. Other lawmakers will file their own proposals, some of which will call for an all-out ban.
O'Hara with the League of Cities said there are some positive aspects of the bill. It would give Florida a chance to update its oil and gas regulations, for instance.
But the idea of pre-empting any local control of drilling is a nonstarter, O'Hara said. An earlier version of the bill was more narrowly tailored -- it would have given the state sole authority to issue drilling permits but would have allowed cities to control some aspects of drilling, such as the location of drill sites, she said.
Opposition marches on
Environmentalists in Florida are gathering their own ammunition for a continued fight. Many flooded the committee rooms in Tallahassee, where hearings would often be long and heated.
Those who opposed the bills called for everything from an all-out ban to begging the Legislature to do something in order to boost renewable energy.
Anti-fracking activists from Pennsylvania and other states flew in to testify and hold rallies on the Capitol steps, which added to the attention.
"We've heard from the opposition that you can't regulate fracking, but we can," said Jennifer Rubiello, the director of Environment Florida. "We know that fracking has contaminated water, polluted air, the only safe way to regulate fracking is to stop it before it starts."
Karen Dwyer, an anti-fracking activist, has helped organize an 80-mile, six-day protest march across the Everglades and Big Cypress, from Miami to Naples this Sunday. Dwyer was a constant in Tallahassee, testifying at committee hearings and attempting to meet with lawmakers.
"We've given the Legislature two years to give us meaningful legislation," she said. "They just twisted it out of context and gave us a bill that was worse."
David Mica, longtime executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, said he's frustrated with the bill's opponents, calling some of them "extremists."
Florida is the third most populous state in the country, and its hot climate means that air conditioners run nearly year-round in some of its communities, but it's heavily reliant on imported natural gas for its power supply.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, which shut down gas production off the Louisiana coast, showed just how much the state relied on natural gas.
The supply problem was so acute that Florida Power & Light Co., the state's biggest utility, signed deals to produce gas from fields in Oklahoma.
If gas can be produced in Florida, it's one more tool in the region's energy supply toolbox, Mica said.
"We want to be able to use, in the industry, the best tools available to us," he said, saying this includes fracking, matrix acidizing, well stimulation or another new technology that comes along. "You're talking about a technology that has transformed America."
Jennifer Hecker of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida is trying to find a middle ground. Her group isn't pushing for an all-out ban; it's trying to find a sponsor for a bill that'll ensure any regulations on fracking are based on science.
"Hopefully people have some time to calm down and realize that they need to work with the public," she said.

160314-c
Mayor, FPL execs meet on Turkey Point pollution
NBCmiami.com - by Tony Pipitone
March 14, 2016
For a moment Monday morning, it was as if Florida Power and Light's executive suite had relocated to the 29th floor County Hall offices of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
The company's president and four vice president's spent about 90 minutes trying to persuade the county they had things under control at the Turkey Point power plant.
InvestigativeState Fails to Hold FPL to Account for Pollution Near Turkey Point: Judge
That's where studies are connecting water from the plant's cooling system to high levels of nutrients in tidal waters of Biscayne Bay adjacent to the plant.
The two-by-five-mile cooling canal system is also adding salt to groundwater that has migrated miles off the property, toward wells that provide water for irrigation and drinking.
InvestigativeClass-Action Lawsuit Targets Florida's Biggest Utilities
After the meeting, Gimenez said no violation notice was issued to FPL by the county at that time, but that they discussed possible solutions to the problems.
"They’ve come up with certain solutions that we think may work, but we need to analyze it  and make sure it does work," Gimenez said.
FPL Nuclear Plant Impacting Biscayne Bay: County
Specifically, FPL has a plan to reduce the high levels of nutrients from near the bottom of a dormant canal the company dredged into bay waters, and prevent them from reforming.
The high levels of nutrients in the bay were connected to the plant through the detection of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is found in elevated levels in water that passes through a nuclear power plant.
As NBC 6 Investigators reported last week, the highest tritium levels found in the water are only about 20 percent of the minimum levels allowed for even drinking water -- not a health concern, according to all involved.
" No one is dipping their glass into Biscayne Bay and drinking the water," said FPL President Eric Silagy. "But if you did, it would be perfectly safe."
Still, a county study found levels of one nutrient, ammonia, exceeded county water standards in almost all of the Biscayne Bay surface water wells tested.
"There is ammonia that comes from decomposition of plant life and material," Silagy said. "We’re not happy about that. We’re actively addressing that."

160313-a
Inhofe relents on Everglades restoration project
TulsaWorld.com – by Randy Krehbiel, Staff Writer
March 13, 2016
Week ahead: The House of Representatives returns after a week off on Monday, while the Senate takes up the nomination of John King for secretary of education on Monday.
Gator Rasslin’: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe gave a little boost to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s flagging presidential campaign by backing a $1.9 billion Everglades restoration project.
“I wouldn’t have gotten into it if Marco hadn’t talked to me,” Inhofe told the Miami Herald. “When Marco said one out of three Floridians are affected, I thought that wasn’t right.”
Inhofe has previously opposed comprehensive Everglades restoration, but said he relented after Rubio convinced him the current proposal is more targeted than previous ones.
Inhofe is one of several Senate colleagues and party regulars trying to keep Rubio in the race against maverick businessman Donald Trump and Texas firebrand Ted Cruz.
More Marco: Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, who also has endorsed Rubio, told Breitbart News that Trump is a “carnival barker” and Cruz is ineffective, while Rubio is the most electable of the leading Republican candidates.
“I love (Cruz’s) positions,” Coburn said. “I’m with him, but I’m not with his technique. And Marco’s not far away from his positions. As a matter of fact, most of his positions are the same.
“So the question is, who can win? And here’s what people decide on: Can I see into somebody’s heart, and can I trust them? And I believe the American people, if Marco Rubio was the Republican nominee, we’d win it hands down.”
Coburn said Cruz is “right on almost every issue. But it’s not enough to be right. You have to be effective.”
Cruz’s inflexibility, Coburn said, makes it difficult for him to put together voting coalitions.
And Trump?
“I don’t know what he represents,” Coburn said. “I don’t think anybody knows what he represents. We’ve heard the superlatives: We’re going to make it better, we’re going to have jobs, jobs, jobs. Well, how, why, when? How do you do that? We’re going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it — how do you do that?”
Dots and Dashes: Inhofe quizzed Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy on her statement that she intends to continue implementing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan despite a Supreme Court stay. ... Lankford said he will vote against confirmation of John King, Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Education.

160313-b
Where is Rick Scott in Lake O crisis ?
FloridaToday.com - Carl Hiaasen, Syndicated columnist
March 13, 2016
Following record rains this winter, The Army Corps of Engineers decided to send nearly 70,000 gallons of water per second down the Caloosahatchee River. Stormwater runoff turned coastal waters brown, close to black in some locations.
Governor should lean on Congress to build a new dike and flow-way to the Everglades.
As a devastating deluge of polluted water darkened two coasts of Florida and threatened their tourist economies, Gov. Rick Scott was once again a flaky phantom.
Billions of gallons spiked with agricultural waste is being pumped daily from Lake Okeechobee toward the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, browning the blue coastal waters, choking sea grass beds and crippling small businesses that depend on a healthy marine ecology.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the discharges are necessary because the water in Lake Okeechobee is too high and the old Hoover dike is too weak. Gov. Scott says it’s all President Obama’s fault for not rebuilding the dike, which is absurd.
Scott, who aspires to be a U.S. senator, either has no clue how the appropriations process works, or he’ll simply say any brainless thing to duck responsibility.
A brief civics lesson for our governor: The president cannot write a check for major capital projects. Congress is in charge of funding, and Congress happens to be controlled by the Republicans.
Being a Republican himself, Scott should fly straight to Washington and persuade his colleagues to rebuild the lake dike and fund a flow-way to the Everglades for the excess water.
Why hasn’t that happened? One reason is that Scott has even less clout with Congress than he does in Tallahassee.
Currently, the state Legislature is gutting or discarding basically all of the governor’s major budget proposals, including a goofball request for a $250 million honey pot to lure private companies to the state.
Scott is the emptiest of suits. He’ll pop up whenever a new business opens, count the jobs and take credit for them. In times of crisis, though, he’s a spectral presence.
Privately, the governor is busy muscling special interests to bankroll his Senate run in 2018. Some of his biggest donors are the worst polluters of Lake O and the Everglades, so you can understand why he’s been hard to find lately.
Scott’s pals in Big Sugar have been back-pumping dirty water from their cane fields into the lake, which through Friday was being emptied into the St. Lucie River at a rate exceeding 2 billion gallons a day. The Army Corps says it will soon drop the daily flow to 1.2 billion gallons.
So far this year, more than 72 billion gallons has been expelled toward the Treasure Coast, ruining the salinity of the St. Lucie Estuary, chasing sea life from the Indian River Lagoon and creating a foul brown plume miles into the Atlantic.
The visual is repelling tourists who might otherwise be interested in fishing, swimming or paddle-boarding. This is also happening along the Gulf coast, where Lake O discharges gush from the Caloosahatchee River.
Under pressure from exasperated business owners and officials, Scott last week declared a state of emergency for St. Lucie, Martin and Lee counties, citing “extensive environmental harm” and “severe economic losses.”
The governor used the opportunity to bash Obama, calling out the president six times in a five-paragraph press release from his feeble Department of Environmental Protection.
Never once did Scott mention the Republican leaders of Congress, who have the ower but not the enthusiasm to allocate the $800 million needed to repair the Lake O dike. If they put that item in a budget, Obama would sign it in a heartbeat.
The same is true for Everglades restoration. Showing zero sense of urgency, Congress continues to lag far behind on its commitment to share the costs 50-50 with the state.
Every year when it rains hard, an algae-spawning tide from Lake O is flushed toward the coastal bays and beaches. No president yet has stepped in to stop corporate farms from using the lake as their toilet, or stop the Army Corps from opening the pump valves.
If Obama tried that, Big Sugar (and Scott) would scream bloody murder.
As for the governor’s “state of emergency,” it’s barely just a piece of paper.
The agencies in charge are officially in “observation mode.” I’m not kidding.
TC Palm news sites reported that the head of the state Division of Emergency Management was attending a conference in New Orleans last week. What better place than Bourbon Street from which to ponder Florida’s coastal pollution crisis?
Scott himself would benefit from spending time at the marinas or waterfront motels in Stuart, meeting the working people whose dreams are drowning in a flood of silt.
But this governor prefers upbeat media opportunities where he can talk about new jobs — not dying jobs. He’d much rather cut a ribbon at a gas station than hear from a boat captain who can no longer find any fish.

160311-a
Bill to create fund for Everglades restoration ready for Scott’s signature
TCPalm.com – by Isadora Rangel
March 11, 2016
TALLAHASSEE — A bill to create a fund for Everglades restoration and projects that reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges is ready to be signed by Gov. Rick Scott.
The passage of the bill closed this year's legislative session Friday evening with Senate President Andy Gardiner calling it "a very important bill." The Senate passed it with a 40-0 vote and the House with a 113-1 vote.
The legislation sets aside $200 million or 25 percent of Amendment 1 dollars — whichever is less — for Everglades restoration while giving priority for projects that reduce lake releases into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. About $163 million is available this year. Voters passed Amendment 1 in 2014 to set aside money to conserve land and water through 2035.
The Senate amended HB 989 Thursday to also create a fund for springs — which gets the lesser of $50 million or 7.6 percent of amendment dollars — and restoration of Lake Apopka in Central Florida, which gets $5 million annually.
The bill was a priority of House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, and initially applied only to the Everglades. The Senate then added other restoration projects. Crisafulli and House co-sponsor Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, initially resisted adding those other projects, but gave in Friday.
Crisafulli said he was more concerned about the Senate previously reducing the Everglades amount to $145 million and his main goal was bringing it back to $200 million. The Senate earlier this month also added money for Kings Bay and Crystal River restoration on the west coast but took those projects out of the bill Thursday.
"We compromised on that bill," Crisafulli said Thursday. "As I always say, compromise on your preferences and stand firm on your principles and I think we were able to come up with a good product."
OTHER FUNDING
Harrell and Republican Senate President-elect Joe Negron, who sponsored the Senate version, touted the bill as a response to the Lake Okeechobee discharges that started Jan. 30. Scott declared a state of emergency in Martin, St. Lucie and Lee counties Feb. 26. Negron, of Stuart, said the bill frees up money that could be used to buy land south of the lake to move water south into the Everglades instead of east and west into the estuaries.
The Legislature allocated $132 million for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Projects, a multi-project restoration initiative that includes $60 million for the C-44 Canal reservoir in Martin County to store and clean water that flows into the St. Lucie River, Negron said.
"Tell my constituents back home help is on the way," Negron said.
There's also $56.8 million for Lake Okeechobee and the estuaries that must be used mainly for projects that reduce discharges, according to language in the budget. Negron said those projects are likely to include storing water on public land and water farms, in which the state pays landowners to store water on their property. Negron expects $7.5 million of the money will go to a water farm run by Caulkins Citrus Co. near Indiantown that pumps water out of the C-44.
Some lawmakers have said the Everglades and estuaries shouldn't be the only environmental issues in Florida that get a dedicated funding source, hence their effort to attach other projects to the bill.
Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said it makes sense to add money for springs and Lake Apopka, which he said is one of the most polluted lakes in the state. Kings Bay and Crystal River in Citrus County make up the second largest springs system in Florida and can tap into money for that, Negron said.

160311-b
Everglades Foundation commends lawmakers for final passage of “Legacy Florida” funding
FloridaPolitics.com
March 11, 2016
The Everglades Foundation lauded lawmakers Friday for passing a bill that would fund Everglades restoration efforts with up to $200 million a year.
HB 989, put forward by incoming Senate President Joe Negron and Republican Rep. Gayle Harrell, would pull the lesser of 25 percent or $200 million from the money collected under the 2014 land conservation amendment each year.
That money would then be spread across Everglades projects at the South Florida Water Management District and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
“The Everglades Foundation lauds Senator Negron and Representative Harrell for their tireless work to establish dedicated funding for Everglades restoration and carry out projects outlined in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan under the ‘Legacy Florida’ bill,” Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg said.
Eikenberg also thanked House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and both chambers for passing the bill, which he said, “will protect and preserve this national treasure.”
The Senate passed the bill Friday with a unanimous, and the House followed with a 113-to-1 tally shortly after.
“As this good measure heads to the Governor for his signature, we remain hopeful that he too will support this dedicated use of Amendment 1 funding that will allow the state to expedite planning and construction of critical restoration projects to significantly reduce damaging discharges from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers,” Eikenberg said.
Related:           Lawmakers Pass 'Legacy Florida' Water Projects - Southeast AgNet
Bill to create fund for Everglades restoration ready for Scott's signature - TCPalm
Legislature pledges $250 million in annual funding for Everglades, springs - Tampabay.com
Legislature sets funding source for Everglades restoration -  Washington Times

60311-c
Florida faces a big climate threat, but most presidential hopefuls won't say that
AJC.com
March 11, 2016
In the U.S., South Florida is likely to be one of the first regions to feel the real effects of climate change. South Florida is also the host of presidential debates for both parties this week.
Experts say $69 billion of South Florida real estate could be flooded by 2030, and by 2100, the ocean is expected to rise between 6.6 and 30 feet.
Both parties held debates this week in South Florida, an area that is seeing some of the first effects of climate change in the U.S.
It's an issue that came up at the Democratic debate in Miami.
"Stand up and tell the fossil-fuel industry that their profits are less significant than the long-term health of this planet," Sen. Bernie Sanders said.
"You can see already what's happening in Miami. ... This is clearly man-made and man-aggravated," Hillary Clinton said.
But on the Republican side, climate change has been far from the center of attention.
Of the remaining Republican presidential candidates, Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the only one who has said climate change is man-made and has called for some action on it.
Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have both said climate change is real, although Cruz has since walked back that position.
"Satellite data show for the last 17 years there has been no significant recorded warming. None. ... It has changed into what is the perfect political pseudoscientific theory, which is climate change," Cruz said.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump says the country faces "much bigger problems."
"There'll be little change here, it'll go up, it'll get a little cooler, it'll get a little warmer like it always has for millions of years. ... It's called weather. ... I've received many environmental awards. ... I believe strongly in clean water and clean air. ... I think it's a big scam for a lot of people to make a lot of money," Trump said.
Although the candidates aren't in agreement, scientists are: 97 percent of climate scientists agree global warming is caused by human behavior.

160311-d
Highlights from Florida’s new $82.3 billion budget
Associated Press, Florida Politics
March 11, 2016
The Florida Legislature is expected on Friday to approve a more than $82.3 billion budget for 2016-17 that is roughly 5 percent larger than this year’s budget. Here are a few key items you should know about:
– EDUCATION: The new budget increases day-to-day public school spending by $458 million, which translates into a 1 percent increase. The per pupil spending amount would be $7,178.49, which is less than Gov. Rick Scott recommended. Legislators also agreed to spend more than $700 million on university, college and school construction projects.
– PROPERTY TAXES: The governor proposed boosting money for public schools but wanted to rely on additional local property taxes. Schools in Florida are paid through a combination of state and local money. Legislators rejected that approach this year and instead proposed a slight trim in local property taxes charged by school districts.
– PAY RAISES: There are no across-the-board pay raises for state workers. But legislators did agree to pay raises for select state employees, including forest firefighters and crime lab analysts.
– TUITION: Tuition rates for college and university students will stay the same in the new state budget.
– PRISONS: Florida’s prison system would get more than $12 million to hire more correctional officers, but legislators rejected a request from the Department of Corrections for more than 700 new positions. The department wanted the positions to switch from 12-hour shifts to eight-hour shifts in Florida’s prisons. Legislators contend that the department already has a lot of vacant jobs and has enough money to switch shifts in some prisons.
– ENVIRONMENT: Legislators agreed to spend $132 million for Everglades restoration and nearly $57 million on water bodies north of the Everglades. They also set aside $32.6 million for beach restoration and $50 million to help restore and improve water quality at the state’s freshwater springs. The budget also includes $8 million for citrus greening research and $500,000 to help reduce conflicts between bears and humans by helping purchase bear-resistant garbage containers.
– HEALTH INSURANCE: Legislators rejected a proposal from Scott that the governor and other top state officials pay the same for health insurance as rank-and-file state workers. Scott currently pays less than $400 a year for family coverage.
– TAXES: State legislators agreed on a tax cut package that is substantially scaled back from what Scott and House Republicans initially proposed. Legislators are expected on Friday to approve a tax cut bill that would permanently eliminate sales taxes for the purchase of manufacturing equipment. The tax cut package also includes a three-day back-to-school sales tax holiday.
– ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Scott wanted $250 million for a “Florida enterprise fund” that would be used to lure new businesses to the state. Legislators ultimately rejected this plan and set aside zero for the fund. Scott has warned this could cost the state new jobs.

160311-f
Indian River County considers ways to reduce nitrogen pollutants from entering lagoon
TCPlam.com - by Colleen Wixon of TCPalm
March 11, 2016
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Treat stormwater before it flows into the Indian River Lagoon or expand the county sewer system to reduce the number of septic tanks ?
Those are the options the county is pondering as it studies how to reduce the amount of nitrogen and other pollutants flowing into local canals and the lagoon, as mandated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said Utilities Director Vincent Burke.
County commissioners this week directed staff to continue working on possible solutions, including ranking communities needing septic-tank conversion. Studies have shown sewage runoff from septic systems can send high levels of nitrogen into the lagoon, increasing algae blooms that kill sea grass and animal life.
In 2013, Indian River County had about 37,000 septic tanks, with about half installed before 1983. Consultants have considered Sebastian communities and the Summerplace neighborhood on the barrier island as possible high-priority areas to expand the county sewer system.
County staff wants to devise a plan outlining the most cost-effective way to reduce nitrogen pollutants in the lagoon — either by developing additional stormwater-treatment drainage systems such as Osprey Marsh or expanding the county septic-to-sewer project, Burke said. The latter requires the county to expand its infrastructure allowing property owners to connect to the county sewer system, a move often unpopular with homeowners unwilling to pay for it.
Neither option is a quick fix, Burke said.
"We have our work cut out for us," Burke said. "It's going to be a long
process."

160311-h
Waters around Florida nuclear plant shows increased levels of tritium
FOX News
March 11, 2016
A study conducted on the waters surrounding a nuclear power plant in South Florida has revealed an increased level of tritium, potentially leaking from the plant’s aging pipes.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez released the study Monday, according to the Miami Herald. The report revealed that water tests in December and January found an increased amount of tritium, a radioactive isotope, in the Biscayne Bay.
Tritium levels were up to 215 times higher than normal in ocean water.
The Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant apparently leaky canals could pose a major threat to the wildlife around the Florida Keys. The Miami Herald reported that the study confirms critics’ fears that the canals had been running too hot after Florida Power & Light revamped two reactors to produce more power.
“This is one of several things we were very worried about,” South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard told the Miami New Times. “You would have to work hard to find a worse place to put a nuclear plant, right between two national parks and subject to hurricanes and storm surge.”
Stoddard added that there’s only two solutions to the problem, replace the canals with cooling towers or shut the whole plant down.
The study found that over the last five years, cooling canal water typically has tritium levels at 60 to more than 800 times higher in the bay. Tritium at the bottom of the bay near the canals was found to be between 130 and 215 times higher.
While Florida Power & Light is urged to address the issue, officials said there needs to be more studies issued to figure out why the canals are leaking and determine a long-term solution to fix the problem.
Florida Power & Light spokeswoman Bianca Cruz told the Miami New Times that it still needs to review the study. She defended the company’s expansion two years ago, which the study points could’ve caused the leak in the canals and the eventual contamination of the Biscayne Bay.
Cruz also said the utility’s own records don’t indicate a larger pollution problem.
"We've collected this data for many years, and this data has reviewed by independent scientists," Cruz said. "We're going to continue to work closely with regulatory agencies."

160311-i
Water managers now filling new reservoir to relieve flooding
FOX4now.com
Mar 11, 2016
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- In an effort to help the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, water managers say they have begun to fill a new reservoir with nearly 10 billion gallons of lake water.
According to the South Florida Water Management District, emergency operations began this week to start sending lake water to the A-1 Flow Equalization Basin, located just off U.S. 27 in western Palm Beach County.
SFWMD says recent dry conditions lowered water levels in the new reservoir, creating capacity for them to move 9.8 billion gallons of water from the lake directly into the Basin.
The 15,000-acre basin is contained in a system of 21 miles of earthen levees and is capable of storing 20 billion gallons of water.
A project in Governor Scott’s Restoration Strategies Plan to improve the Everglades, the Basin temporarily stores water for delivery to South Florida’s Stormwater Treatment Areas in a manner that optimizes their ability to clean water before sending it into Everglades National Park.
SPECIAL PAGE: TOXIC WATER

160310-a
Fate of  Wakulla Springs  in lawmakers’ hands
ECBpublishing.com – by Lazaro Aleman
March 10, 2016
Although in Wakulla County, Wakulla Springs State Park’s renown as home to one of the world’s largest and deepest freshwater springs, its historic lodge, glass-bottom boat tours, abundant wildlife and proximity to Jefferson and Madison counties makes it both a natural attraction and a regional asset. Indeed, the first magnitude spring, which is the source of the Wakulla River and offers a window into the Floridan Aquifer, has attracted visitors from time immemorial. Or at least it has from the early Paleo-Indians to Spanish explorers Panfilo de Narvaez and Ponce de Leon to modern-day visitors and eco-tourists. The site also has been the setting for several movies, including <em>Night Moves, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Tarzan’s New York Adventure</em>. The springs, however, are in trouble, as their once crystal clear water that gave the site much of its acclaim and appeal has turned murky, a consequence of nitrates from the stormwater and wastewater draining into them and causing the proliferation of algae and invasive plants. Now there is hope for Wakulla Springs. Legislation wending its way through the legislative process, if approved, would earmark millions of dollars for springs’ restoration as part of a larger Everglades restoration plan, some of which money could go to the Wakulla site. House Bill 989 and Senate Bill 1168 both relate to the implementation of the Water and Land Conservation constitutional amendment. The bills would, among other things, require that a minimum of 7.6 percent, or $75 million, whichever is less, be appropriated annually for spring restoration from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund. As of Wednesday, March 9, both bills had moved favorably through their respective appropriation committees and been placed on the calendar, preparatory to consideration by the full assemblies. If the two measures are approved, Wakulla Springs could possibly get some of the necessary funding to address its problem. One proposal reportedly being considered is to reduce the nitrates that float into the springs from the thousands of septic tanks uplands of the site in Leon and Wakulla counties. The idea is to retrofit the septic tanks or connect the thousands of homes using septic tanks to a centralized sewer system, both costly propositions.

160310-b
On the record, Sen. Negron outlines strategy to end Lake O discharges
TCPalm.com - by Editorial Board
March 10, 2016
Will there ever be an end to the destructive discharges of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon?
Since the Army Corps of Engineers opened the spigot on Jan. 30, more than 80 billion gallons of tainted water have fouled our river and estuary.
To make matters worse, Tom Van Lent, senior scientist for the Everglades Foundation, recently said there's a 50-50 chance Lake O discharges will last all year.
The possibility, and the consequences, are unthinkable — and would place 2016 among historic levels with respect to discharge volumes.
Follow our Lake Okeechobee discharge meter for daily updates.
Treasure Coast Newspapers' Editorial Board asked Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart and president-designate of the Florida Senate, to share his strategy to end the discharges. Negron, who takes the helm of the Senate in 2017 and will serve a two-year term, outlined six priorities he plans to pursue:
1. Continue the progress and investment spurred by a 2013 report from the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin Select Committee.
Negron points out that, as a result of the committee's work, the state budgeted $231 million to reduce the need for discharges. This includes $90 million to bridge parts of the Tamiami Trail, thereby allowing water to flow south from Everglades National Park into Florida Bay.
2. Obtain final approval of the $7.5 million Negron placed in the Senate budget for construction of the Caulkins Water Farming project in Martin County. When completed, it will hold 30 billion gallons of water, Negron said.
On Thursday, the state House and Senate removed money earmarked for Caulkins from the budget. The money will go to the South Florida Water Management District, which will decide how to use it.
3. Secure final passage of Senate Bill 1168: the Florida Legacy bill. It will provide $200 million a year from Amendment 1 funds — or 25 percent of Amendment 1 funds, whichever is less — for Everglades restoration. The bill, according to Negron, contains a "specific preference for projects that reduce discharges from Lake Okeechobee."
4. Identify public and private lands where excess water can be temporarily stored during this time of emergency.
5. In the 2017 and 2018 sessions, implement the recommendations of the University of Florida Water Institute, which include purchasing additional land for water to be stored, cleaned and sent south.
This may be the most significant item on Negron's list. As Senate president, he would be in a position to make this happen.
6. Pressure the Army Corps of Engineers to revise the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS), the complicated formula used to decide if and when to release lake water to the estuaries.
As Negron notes, "This change alone would dramatically reduce the need for discharges."
Treasure Coast residents are dealing with a problem that is 80-plus years in the making. Given the severity, it's difficult to accept Negron's assessment that "the overall situation is better today than it was 10 years ago" — especially when our region is staring at the very real possibility of historic discharge volumes.
Sen. Negron has articulated a reasonable plan for tackling the problem — and, as state Senate president, he will be in a position to deliver.
"During my time as the Senate presiding officer, this local issue will be front and center, and a top personal priority," Negron said.
If his priorities translate into action — and, in Tallahassee, that's a big "if" — our region may make real progress toward ending the discharges.

160310-d
Water funding slam dunk for area
News-Press.com – Our view by Editorial Board
March 10, 2016
To use sports vernacular, at a time when our minds are on basketball, Southwest Florida scored a slam dunk on funding critical water quality projects thanks to the efforts of state Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers, and Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, as well as the other members of the local delegation.
The funding for projects specific to Southwest Florida, like the Caloosahatchee Reservoir (C-43), the Lake Hicpochee and Picayune Strand restoration projects, was unprecedented, amounting to approximately $104 million for Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties. Caldwell, on the House side, and Benacquisto, on the Senate side, kept these water quality projects front and center throughout the session (which is scheduled to end Friday), resulting in the record funding levels. The work of state Reps. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero; Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral; Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers; Matt Hudson, R-Naples; and outgoing Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, also was significant.
This funding is part of a $82.3 billion budget that will be headed to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk for his signature, if it passes both chambers Friday. We urge him to keep all the funding in place for the Southwest Florida projects, as well as Everglades restoration, amounting to a record $205.8 million. The urgency to keep these efforts on track is paramount to us saving our water, environment and the vitality of our tourism. Scott should understand the significance. He declared a state of emergency for Southwest Florida because of dirty, polluted water flowing into the Caloosahatchee from basin runoff and Lake Okeechobee.
The largest of the projects with the highest price tag of about $500 million is the Caloosahatchee Reservoir. It is scheduled to receive the most funding at $40 million. The state has contributed over $60 million for that project – with the early money going to build pump stations. But this project, which has the capacity of holding 55 billion gallons of water, will never be completed without the federal government’s support, which is to match half of the amount of the project. Congress is about a billion dollars behind in funding various Florida water quality and restoration projects. U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, has been active in supporting land buying efforts and money to expedite repairs of the Herbert Hoover Dike to help preserve the environment. Now, he must take the lead in convincing his colleagues and the president that the pace of funding most improve, otherwise, what is being done at the state level will only result in half-finished and only marginally effective water quality efforts. There is a good opportunity for local legislators to work with Clawson on moving this money.
Other views:
Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers
This has been an incredible year for Southwest Florida.  We have faced significant challenges this winter as abnormal rain events led to damaging discharges to our estuary, both from our own Caloosahatchee Basin and from the Lake Okeechobee/Kissimmee basins.  While our Lee County delegation was already focused on solutions to our environmental challenges, these winter rains brought an extraordinary focus on our needs.  Thankfully, Sen. Benacquisto and I, along with the excellent Southwest Florida delegation, were able to deliver a number of great projects for our region.
Our Legacy Florida package sits on the precipice of final passage, which would make Everglades funding levels permanent beyond just this budget cycle.
In addition to these hard-fought, large-scale successes, we were able to secure support for many more projects with local partners.
Rest assured that Sen. Benacquisto and I are laser focused on solving our Everglades challenges.  These issues drove me to run for office in the first place and I remain committed to investing every ounce of energy possible to secure a healthy future for our Caloosahatchee River.
Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers
This year, the Legislature made the Everglades restoration, water storage, and Lake Okeechobee one of the biggest priorities in the budget by approving a historic $205.8 million for our waterways. As everyone has seen, the system isn’t working, and we don’t have nearly enough storage capacity during rainy seasons to stop harmful freshwater discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
Many of the highest priority projects that are critical to helping with storage, timing, and reducing freshwater flows were funded when the final budget passed.  Included is $40 million for the ever important C-43 Reservoir, which is a huge piece of the water storage puzzle for the Caloosahatchee River. Also, the state is buying 2,488 acres for the Lake Hicpochee project and an additional 912 acres of land in Southwest Florida for the Picayune Strand project.
The rain has led to an emergency situation, and funding for these projects is more important than ever. Our tourist economy and our way of life is threatened when our beautiful coastlines are dealt a crushing blow by brown water from the lake. That’s why I was the first co-sponsor on the Legacy Florida bill to provide a guaranteed $200 million to Everglades restoration over the next 20 years. We still need our federal partners to step up and fix the Herbert Hoover Dike and start funding C-43, but this year we took an important step towards making sure our estuary is taken care of.

160309-a
For Democrats, Big Sugar ties are sticky business
Huffington Post – by Alan Farago
March 9, 2016
As the Democratic primary debate rolls into Miami, this evening, moderators ought to ask the question of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: do you support the sugar subsidy in the Farm Bill? It is like the question recently asked of the Democratic candidates about fracking: yes or no?
Floridians are sick and tired of paying the heavy costs of the industry's pollution, now coating both Florida coasts.
Historic January rainfall overfilled Lake Okeechobee, the state's largest waterbody. Through its command of water management infrastructure, thanks to massive campaign contributions, Big Sugar compelled stormwater releases to be routed away from its 450,000 acres south of lake and straight into rivers and bays serving millions of property owners, tourism-dependent businesses, not to mention the dying Everglades.
There are no secrets about Big Sugar's influence-peddling in both political parties.
In 2014, the Tampa Bay Times reported on secret trips offered to only GOP elected officials including Gov. Rick Scott and Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam by US Sugar Corporation to the King Ranch in Texas. The King Ranch, that state's largest land owners, are strategic land owners in the Everglades Agricultural Area.
US Sugar Corporation thought nothing of ferrying legislators by private jet to secret meetings with Republicans. Why? Because their co-cartel "competitors" -- the Fanjuls (owners of Flo-Sun, Florida Crystals, and related enterprises) have been doing the same for many, many years at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. The relationship between the Clintons and the Fanjuls is not exactly news.
The ultimate solution to halting the endemic pollution of both Florida coasts, affecting millions of property owners and businesses, is to take lands out of sugar production in the Everglades Agricultural Area and convert those money pits into massive pollution cleansing marshes.
A more pointed question to ask of the Democratic candidates in tonight's televised debate: "Big Sugar is the symbol of corporate welfare in the U.S. The industry controls Tallahassee and Washington, DC through massive campaign contributions. Have you ever accepted free travel or trips to the Dominican Republic from sugar billionaires? Yes or no."
In 2015, Al Jazeera published an excellent series on the super-sized influence of the Fanjul empire in both the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. "A Sweet Deal: The Royal Family of Cane" quotes writer Junot Diaz who describes Casa de Campo: "the resort that Shame forgot". 
Al Jazeera documents for the first time the Fanjul's manipulation of US Farm policy and how the sugar subsidy accrues to the advantage of its plantation in the Dominican Republic where working conditions are half-step above slave labor.
The report closely tracks the human suffering disclosed in the important documentary film, "Sugar Babies", pulled under mysterious circumstances in 2008 from the Miami International Film Festival, without explanation or any protest by the festival's supporter; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The foundation grew out of the Knight brothers ownership of the Miami Herald. It purportedly supports journalistic freedom and independence, but not in the 2008 case where the Fanjuls were put in the spotlight.
Big Sugar's pollution of national politics runs deep and strong through both political parties. One Fanjul brother, Pepe, takes the Republicans. The other, Alfie, takes the Democrats. It's all about making billions and the maximum profit possible by spreading campaign cash like fertilizer across America's political landscape. Owning a hide-away resort in the Dominican Republic doesn't hurt, either.
Let's see if CNN and Univision can bring that point closer to home, tonite.

160309-b
Judah column completely inaccurate
CaptivaSanibel.com - Guest Commentary by Brewster Bevis, Island Reporter
March 9, 2016
A recent column by Ray Judah entitled "Taxpayers continue to pick up the clean-up tab" is littered with factual inaccuracies and completely misrepresents portions of the comprehensive water bill signed into law by Governor Scott.
For starters, contrary to what Mr. Judah argues, the bill does not "undermine water resource protection."
The bill actually mandates that best management practices (BMPs) or other measures be reviewed and revised if they are leading to water quality problems.
Additionally, the bill does not adversely impact water conservation, which is already prioritized under Florida law.
On Basin Management Action Plans (BMAPs), Mr. Judah is wrong again.
BMAPs are already the exclusive means of state implementation of the Clean Water Act and the water bill strengthens - not weakens - the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's ability to implement and enforce state water quality standards through the Total Maximum Daily Loads program.
Finally, despite Judah's claims, HB 7065 in 2013 did not "displace" the polluters pay Constitutional Amendment.
The actual implementation of the Constitutional Amendment can be found in Ch. 373.4592 (6)(h) FS, which is still the law of the land today. The statute provides, among other things, that "the assessment and use of the Everglades agricultural privilege tax is a matter of concern to all areas of Florida."
Chairman Matt Caldwell has been a strong champion for Florida's agribusinesses industry, which is Florida's second largest industry and generates more than $100 billion in economic activity annually.
It's fine to fight the good representative on the facts, but to call his behavior "reprehensible" does a complete disservice to the work he has done on behalf of all Floridians.
Working with Mr. Judah's friends from the environmental community including the Everglades Foundation, Audubon Florida, and the Nature Conservancy, Representative Caldwell was integral in reaching meaningful compromise on provisions of the water bill that strengthen protections for Florida's springs and also increase oversight of the water quality in Florida's rivers, lakes, and streams.
Perhaps Mr. Judah's time would be better spent reading the new law instead of attacking someone that is part of the solution in Tallahassee and not part of the problem.
- Brewster Bevis is the chairman of the Florida H2O Coalition, a coalition of stakeholders engaged in significant state and federal water issues and advocating for science-based recommendations. He resides in Tallahassee.

160309-c
Rubio and Big Sugar get along well
CaptivaSanibel.com – Letter by Jill Dillon, Sanibel, FL
March 9, 2016
In April, 2015 the Cuban Fanjul brothers, principal owners of the sugar industry in SW Florida, launched Marco Rubio's Presidential campaign with a $2700 a plate fundraiser.
Marco Rubio is a staunch supporter of sugar subsidies.
With the cooperation of SW Florida Water Management (members chosen by the Governor), the sugar industry has always been assured of proper control of the water supply to handle Florida's cyclical wet and dry seasons.
The main source of Lake Okeechobee's pollution is runoff from the sugarcane farms, with fertilizers rich in phosphorous fueling algae and invasive plant growth which smothers native plants and animals.
Periodic fresh water storm overflows along with this polluted water are directed east, but mostly west down the Caloosahatchee River for protection of both the sugar fields and communities located south below Lake O.
Consequently, the sugar industry has been allowed to destroy systematically the Everglades, Lake O., the Caloosahatchee River and SW Florida's estuaries while littering our beaches with piles of algae and dead fish.
In the Gulf of Mexico the continual loss of bird and sea life is a direct result of the explosion of red tide algae, well beyond its natural cycles, fed by Lake O.'s phosphorous polluted waters.
Couple this with the salinity imbalance created by the intrusion from storm water releases, and we have a recipe for disaster.
The most important political force in the state of Florida is the sugar industry. Unless federal and state actions are taken to rein in the power of Big Sugar, our extreme environmental crisis will never be permanently resolved.
And you can be certain these actions will be dead on arrival with Marco Rubio in the White House.

160309-d
Stop blaming, Gov. Scott, and start helping
TCPalm.com – Editorial
March 9, 2016
It was nice to see that Gov. Rick Scott's emergency declaration in the wake of the Lake Okeechobee discharges had at least one tangible benefit.
Businesses that have been harmed by the discharges can register with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity's Business Emergency Operations Center, and could be eligible for fiscal aid.
That's good, and so is the heightened awareness of the ecological catastrophe that may have been fostered by Scott's Feb. 26 declaration.
This is government at its best, helping those harmed by forces beyond their control and heightening the public's understanding of the difficulties they face.
Unfortunately, Scott's emergency declaration also represents government — and politics — at its worst.
Rather than helping Floridians, the primary goal of the declaration seemed to be laying the blame for the discharges and the harm they have caused at the feet of President Barack Obama.
The situation, Scott declared, is the result of inadequate funding by the federal government. The Obama administration, he insisted, must fully fund the more than $800 million in needed repairs to the federally operated Herbert Hoover Dike, which then could safely hold more water and prevent discharges.
"Not only is the well-being and health of our families at risk if the Obama administration doesn't immediately begin funding repairs to their federally operated dike, but our housing market, tourism industry and agricultural community will fail if the dike is not repaired and properly maintained," Scott asserted.
This is so ludicrous we barely know where to start.
First — and we hate to break this to the governor — Congress, and not the president, controls the purse strings. If it wished, the Republican-controlled Congress could make up for lost time and authorize more money for the dike and for Everglades restoration.
So far, it has chosen not to do so. And this is somehow President Obama's fault?
Next, Scott's declaration insinuates that if the dike were in tiptop shape, it would naturally be used to hold more water. The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the dike, would surely permit Lake Okeechobee levels to rise, thus preventing the need for discharges.
But the Army Corps of Engineers has never committed to this, with officials saying only that the rehab project will allow the corps to operate the dike with less risk. It won't automatically allow for lake levels to rise.
Finally, Scott's suggestion conveniently ignores another possible remedy.
What about the 2015 University of Florida study, commissioned by the Florida Senate, asserting that more water storage options both north and south of the lake could help prevent the discharges?
At a time when the public and advocacy groups are clamoring for Florida to "buy the land and send it south," Scott is instead pointing fingers and pretending that blaming everything on President Obama will magically shake the money tree, which will then solve all the problems.
To be fair, in one respect Scott is correct: Surely the federal government must do more to affect long-term solutions. But our waterways and the local businesses that depend upon them need help now.
Floridians require action, not political posturing.
Rather than pointing fingers, Scott could engage the debate over buying land in the Everglades Agricultural Area so that water could flow south as nature intended. Despite the Army Corps of Engineers' announcement last week that it would reduce discharges from Lake Okeechobee, the situation remains serious.
Unfortunately, Scott has chosen to respond in a profoundly unserious manner.
It's time for Scott to roll up his sleeves and demonstrate some actual leadership — rather than engaging in partisan fiddling while our estuaries drown in foul waters.

160308-a
Nuclear plant canals leaking into Biscayne Bay south of Miami
Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times
March 8, 2016
A radioactive isotope linked to water from power plant cooling canals has been found in high levels in Biscayne Bay, confirming suspicions that Turkey Point's aging canals are leaking into the nearby national park.
According to a study released Monday by Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, water sampling in December and January found tritium levels up to 215 times higher than normal in ocean water. The report does not address risks to the public or marine life but tritium is typically monitored as a "tracer" of nuclear power plant leaks or spills.
The study comes two weeks after a Tallahassee judge ordered the utility and the state to clean up the nuclear plant's cooling canals after concluding that they had caused a massive underground saltwater plume to migrate west, threatening a wellfield that supplies drinking water to the Florida Keys. The judge also found the state failed to address the pollution by crafting a faulty management plan.
This latest test, critics say, raise new questions about what they've long suspected: That canals that began running too hot and salty the summer after FPL overhauled two reactors to produce more power could also be polluting the bay.
 “How much damage is that cooling canal system causing the bay is a question to be answered," said Everglades Law Center attorney Julie Dick, who had not had a chance to review the report. "There are a lot more unknowns than knowns, and it just shows how much more attention we need to be paying to that cooling canal system."
County commissioners, who have kept a close eye on the canals and objected to the state's management plan, ordered the additional monitoring of bay water last year. FPL officials declined to comment Monday evening.
Over the last two years, problems with the canals have worsened exponentially. After the 2013 plant expansion to increase power output by 15 percent, the canals began running dangerously high temperatures. FPL officials blamed problems on an algae bloom that worsened after the canals were temporarily shut down during the project. But when a summer drought hit in 2014, temperatures spiked. At least twice, when temperatures soared to 102 degrees, the utility was nearly forced to power down reactors.
After obtaining permission from nuclear regulators to operate the canals at 104 degrees, the hottest in the nation, FPL officials began plotting a course to fix the canals by pumping in millions of gallons of fresh water from a nearby canal as well as increasing the amount of water drawn from the Floridan aquifer.
But the growing saltwater plume triggered regulatory scrutiny. Over the last five years, a report said, cooling canal water typically has tritium at levels 60 to more than 800 times higher than in the bay. County staff concluded the findings are "the most compelling evidence" that canal water has spread into the bay.
Related:           Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Is Pumping Polluted Water Into Biscayne ...     Miami New Times
FPL Nuclear Plant Impacting Biscayne Bay: Miami-Dade County   NBC 6 South Florida
Study: FPL Nuclear Plant Canals Leaking Into Biscayne Bay          CBS Local
Radioactive leaks from nuclear plant in Miami-Dade contaminating ...         Examiner.com
Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Is Pumping Polluted Water Into Biscayne ...     Miami New Times

160308-b
Congressman Curt Clawson: ‘Pump up the volume’ of public pressure on Lake O discharges
Naples Daily News – by Ryan Mills
March 8, 2016
Congressman Curt Clawson met with leaders of a variety of Florida conservation groups Tuesday morning to discuss steps to address the massive discharges of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee.
Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, called the discharges of brown water down the Caloosahatchee River a "crisis" and said "we all need to be rowing in the same direction."
He said the group discussed proposed federal legislation, how they can sell it in Washington D.C., and how the environmental groups can help. Most important, he said, was continued public pressure.
"Pump up the volume baby. Pump up the volume, because public pressure means something in a democracy and we need some help here," Clawson said. "Our people deserve some fairness. We get all the runoff from other parts of the state. We're not trying to shut down their industry, but that ain't right. Moreover, it ain't right for our fish, for our manatees, for our animals, for our birds.
"The real solution here everybody is water south. Come on now, water south."

160308-c
SFWMD holding water in Kissimmee Chain
TheLedger.com - by Tom Palmer
March 8, 2016
The latest strategy to reduce the discharge of polluted water  from Lake Okeechobee is occurring closer to us.
The South Florida Water Management District announced today it plans to hold more water in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes instead of discharging it downstream into the Kissimmee River toward Lake Okeechobee.
SFWMD in recent years adopted a higher management level in the Kissimmee Chain as part of its efforts to aid the restoration of the Kissimmee River and the Everglades.
For more information, check out this link.
Related:           Water district will use Kissimmee basin to reduce releases    WZVN-TV

160308-d
SFWMD increases pumping to aid flooded Water Conservation Area
Florida Water Daily - From the SFWMD Press Release:
March 8, 2016
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) today increased pumping at a flood control structure to protect families and businesses in the 8.5 Square Mile Area of Homestead. This will allow ongoing emergency operations to relieve flooding in the nearby Water Conservation Area 3 in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to continue at the maximum rate.
Because of the extraordinary natural phenomena impacting Everglades wildlife, excess clean water being moved out of the conservation area and into Everglades National Park is raising water levels in the neighboring residential 8.5 Square Mile Area.
Increased pumping at the S-357 structure near the park, and a temporary pump installed by an SFWMD field station crew at the site to control seepage, will help keep water at normal levels for residents. Working together, these operations will also help keep clean water in the park.

160308-e
Wet winter breaks records in South Florida
Sun Sentinel – by Stephen Hobbs
Heavy rainfall soaked South Florida during the winter months, with some areas recording totals not seen in more than 80 years.
South Florida had a warmer and far wetter winter than normal this year, a pattern that could continue into the spring.
Heavy rainfall resulted in some areas recording totals not seen in more than 80 years.
Many areas in the region saw at least 5 inches more rain than normal between
December and February, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.
Miami International Airport reported 20.2 inches of rain — more than 14 inches above normal and the most recorded since at least 1895. Miami Beach had nearly 19.2 inches of rain, more than 12 inches above normal.
South Florida is turning to more emergency pumping to lessen flooding risks from El Niño-driven winter rains, officials announced Monday.
The goal it is to reduce rising waters threatening to wipe out wildlife in the Everglades water conservation areas that stretch across western Broward and Miami-Dade...
South Florida is turning to more emergency pumping to lessen flooding risks from
El Niño-driven winter rains, officials announced Monday.
The goal it is to reduce rising waters threatening to wipe out wildlife in the Everglades water conservation areas that stretch across western Broward and Miami-Dade...
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had its third wettest total since at least 1912, with nearly 17.1 inches, while the Palm Beach International
Airport had 19.9 inches, the third wettest winter since at least 1888.
Meteorologist Robert Molleda said a shift in the jet stream created more opportunities for low pressure systems to move across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico, something not unusual during winters with a strong El Niño.
"Not only did we have the rains, but especially in January and into February we had strong thunderstorms and tornadoes," Molleda said.

160307-a
Biscayne Bay part of Everglades restoration
Miami Herald - Letter to the Editor by Irela M. Bagué, former governing board member, South Florida Water
March 7, 2016 7:55 PM
In South Florida, we are either too wet or too dry. This year we’ve experienced an unusually wet winter which has wreaked havoc on the entire Everglades system. It has been a challenge for water managers to balance the needs of the natural system with flood control. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was passed 16 years ago to address this.
Since then, the state and federal governments have been slow to show progress. In addition to the critical problems of the northern part of the Everglades ecosystem and the releases from Lake Okeechobee into the eastern and western estuaries, we need to remember that Biscayne Bay is in serious decline as well.
The Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands (BBCW) project is intended to restore natural coastal wetlands habitat by redistributing freshwater flows in Biscayne Bay and Biscayne National Park. BBCW will provide increased water storage in wetlands east of the coastal ridge to protect against saltwater intrusion and will thereby increase resiliency against sea level rise.
During my tenure as a Governing Board member of the South Florida Water Management District I highly encouraged the agency to begin the first Phase of BBCW, which has not been completed.To fully restore Biscayne’s coastal wetlands, habitats, and nearshore fisheries, we need to move forward with the second phase planning.
Miami-Dade is the only county in the nation that is home to two national parks and is a major contributor of the tax funding that is ultimately used for the restoration of the greater Everglades ecosystem. Biscayne Bay is critical to the ecological and economic viability of Miami-Dade and, therefore, should be as equally important as other estuaries in the Everglades system. Biscayne Bay cannot afford to wait and neither can Miami-Dade.
Related:           Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Is Pumping Polluted Water Into Biscayne ...     Miami New Times-
Nuclear plant canals leaking into Biscayne Bay south of Miami        Blog

160307-b
DEP’s daily update on Lake Okeechobee
DEP Press Office
March 7, 2016
In an effort to keep Floridians informed of the state’s efforts to protect the environment, wildlife and economies of the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is issuing a Lake Okeechobee status update each weekday. These updates will help residents stay informed of the latest rainfall and lake level conditions, as well as the latest actions by the State of Florida and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Summary of the State of Florida’s Actions:
The South Florida Water Management District continues to take additional steps to lower water levels within its regional water management system. Click here for more information.
On March 4, 2016, DEP and the District announced they would be deploying temporary pumps to move additional clean water (water that meets water-quality standards) from the flooded Everglades Water Conservation Area 3 into Everglades National Park.
By raising the L-29 canal level, per an order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and at the request of Governor Rick Scott, the South Florida Water Management District has been able to move approximately 14.1 billion gallons of clean water into the northern portions of Everglades National Park, as of midnight on March 6, 2016.
Water managers continue to move up to 96 million gallons of water per day into the C-4 Emergency Detention Basin in southern Miami-Dade County.
Also in Miami-Dade County, pump stations are being utilized at the S-25B and S-26 structures to help maximize discharges to tide from the Miami Canal.
●  On March 3, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would reduce the amount of water flowing from Lake Okeechobee beginning March 4, 2016. Click here for more information.
●  On March 2, 2016, Governor Scott announced that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) would immediately activate a business emergency operations center. DEO has begun to assess the impact the federal government’s water releases from Lake Okeechobee is having on businesses. Click here for more information.
●  On Feb. 26, 2016, Governor Rick Scott signed Executive Order 16-59, which declares a state of emergency in Lee, Martin and St. Lucie counties, following heavy rainfall that has resulted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers frequently discharging water from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. This is a result of inadequate funding by the federal government. Governor Scott called on the Obama Administration to fully fund the more than $800 million in needed repairs to the federally operated Herbert Hoover Dike to safely hold water to prevent these discharges. To view the Executive Order, click here.
●  On Feb. 11, 2016, Governor Rick Scott requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take immediate action to relieve flooding of the Everglades Water Conservation Areas and the releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. Click here to read the letter.
- The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued orders on Feb. 11, 2016, that would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with this request. Click here to read the orders.
- On Feb. 15, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to Governor Scott’s request to raise water levels in the L-29 canal in order to move water south through Shark River Slough to ease the effects of flooding in the Everglades. The South Florida Water Management District began operation of the S-333 structure at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2016, after the state received an execution order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
 Lake Conditions:

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Wildlife Update:
The FWC continues to monitor water levels and the status of wildlife in three Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) in South Florida within the Everglades ecosystem. The three areas, Everglades and Francis S. Taylor WMA, Holey Land WMA and Rotenberger WMA, encompass 736,881 acres. These WMAs provide important habitat for a diversity of imperiled wildlife species, including the Everglades snail kite, Everglades mink, little blue heron, tri-colored heron, snowy egret, white ibis, wood stork and limpkin, as well as native and abundant species like American alligators, white-tailed deer and marsh rabbits.
FWC’s monitoring efforts include periodic wildlife and habitat surveys. FWC staff continues to watch water gauges to monitor high water levels and the impacts and stresses they may be having on areas like the Everglades tree islands, which are critical to the survival of Florida wildlife species. High water levels can seriously impact nesting and feeding activities of our native birds and make large and small mammals much more vulnerable to disease, starvation and predation. The condition of habitat on tree islands is an important indicator for the level of stress being experienced by wildlife.
As of March 4, 2016, water levels within the three WMAs previously listed have continued to remain above or near FWC criteria for special regulations that limit public access. Water levels in all three WMAs continued to recede slightly or remain the unchanged during the past 24 hours.
Everglades WMA:
Water level (average of 62/63 gauges) as of March 4 = 11.93 feet
High water closure criteria = 11.60 feet
Regulation schedule = 10.07 feet
Recession rate for the last week = (0.10) feet
Water level trend over the past 3 weeks = dropping
Rotenberger WMA:
Water level as of March 4 = 13.11 feet
High water closure criteria = 13.50 feet
Regulation schedule = 12.75 feet
Recession rate for the last week =  (0.10) feet
Water level trend over the past 3 weeks = dropping
Holey Land WMA:
Water level as of March 4 = 12.33 feet
High water closure criteria = 12.50 feet
Regulation schedule = 11.46 feet
Recession rate for the last week = (0.10) feet
Water level trend over the past 3 weeks = dropping
Wildlife surveys conducted on WMA levees and tree islands during the past week suggest use by a variety of wildlife continued to increase, even though water levels in two of the WMAs have receded below criteria for special regulations. Surveys also indicate that fawning season has begun, which will continue during the next few months.
As long as water levels remain high, conditions of upland areas as well as the wildlife dependent on them will continue to be impacted. As of March 4, 2016, this high water event has lasted 35 days.
As a result of FWC’s continued observations, the special regulations that limit public access for the three WMAs will continue. As water levels drop significantly below the established criteria, wildlife will have delayed reactions and conditions typically do not improve for at least a week or more. Once conditions improve for wildlife, FWC will recommend an order to rescind the current special regulations.
Members of the public should report any distressed fish or wildlife to the following FWC hotlines:
Wildlife Alert Hotline: 1-888-404-3922 or Tip@MyFWC.com
Fish Kill Hotline: 1-800-636-0511

160307-c
House backs Everglades 'Legacy' Bill
WGCU.org - by News Service of Florida
March 7 (4), 2016
The House voted 117-1 on Wednesday to approve its version of the "Legacy Florida" bill (HB 989), which would provide 10 years of funding for Everglades restoration.
The measure will now have to be negotiated with the Senate. The House proposal would provide at least $200 million a year for already-identified projects intended to restore the Everglades.
The latest Senate proposal (SB 1168) would provide $145 million in annual Everglades funding and $50 million a year for the state's natural springs.
Also, the Senate bill would provide $5 million a year for Lake Apopka and $5 million a year for Kings Bay or Crystal River.
Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, cast the lone vote against the House measure, which lawmakers said will reduce the discharge of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into nearby estuaries.
Senators, including bill sponsor Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who is slated to become Senate president this fall, said Monday they intend to push for higher numbers as budget talks continue.
The money for the work would come from the state's land-acquisition trust fund, which is used to carry out a 2014 constitutional amendment that requires a portion of documentary-stamp taxes to be set aside for land and water buying and preservation.

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No money for septic removals on Legislature’s water projects lis
TCPalm - by Isadora Rangel
March 7, 2016
TALLAHASSEE — Money that Treasure Coast communities asked the Legislature for to remove septic tanks near the Indian River Lagoon did not make it into a funding package for water projects, but money to pay farmers to store excess water on their property was included.
The Florida House and Senate agreed Sunday to give $60 million to help local governments build water treatment and waste and stormwater projects. Communities in all three Treasure Coast counties asked for more than $12 million combined to help them hook properties to sewer lines.
The projects included Sebastian's downtown as well as residential properties along the lagoon: North Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County, Old Palm City and Golden Gate in Martin. Septic tanks can contribute to nutrient pollution that causes algae blooms in the lagoon.
The state money would help lower property tax assessments Martin County plans to levy on owners in those areas, utilities director John Polley said. The county still can ask for money from the Legislature in 2017 for the Golden Gate project and for Old Palm City in 2017 and 2018, he said.
Stuart Republican Joe Negron is slated to be Senate president during those two years and could push for the money.
Local governments from across Florida each year compete for a pot of money for water projects from the state. The Treasure Coast this year asked for $20.4 million of the $674.6 million total requested. The $60 million the House and Senate agreed to Sunday accounts for only 9 percent of that total. A lot of the money went to Miami-Dade and Broward counties as well as Brevard, which is in the districts of Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner, who are both Republicans.
The chambers still have to pass a state budget before the end of session Friday.
There were two projects the Legislature is funding for which no local governments requested money, according to a list of requested projects. Those are water farms run by Alico Inc., the nation's largest citrus producer, in Hendry County, and Evans Properties Inc. in St. Lucie County. Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, asked for the Alico money, said Sen. Alan Hays, chairman of the committee in charge of the water and environmental section of the state budget.
The Legislature in the past allocated a lump sum for water farming, in which the state pays farmers to store water on their lands that otherwise would pollute estuaries. The South Florida Water Management District then distributed the money to individuals projects.
Alico and Evans would each get $250,000 this year. They still could get more money from a lump sum in the state budget allocated for storing water on public and private lands, but that total amount isn't available yet, said Katie Betta, Gardiner's spokeswoman.
Hays said the Alico and Evans farms aren't necessarily what the Legislature considers local water projects but they might fit the purpose because they deal with water storage. He said there was "some confusion" on whether the projects were "properly labeled" but he didn't explain the confusion.

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Rep. Murphy files emergency action to fund dike repairs; gains President's backing
CBS-12.com - by Jana Eschbach
March 7, 2016
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. (CBS12) — A state of emergency is declared for three counties in the state tonight, with water so polluted you can't touch it.
U.S. Congressman Patrick Murphy filed an emergency measure to get immediate action on federal projects. The lake levels remain dangerously high for the near-Lake Okeechobee residents, coastal counties are covered in black bacteria-ridden water discharged from the Okeechobee Waterway. The discharges take pressure off the aging dike that surrounds the lake.
The congressman says both sides of the aisle in Washington are working to fund and fix the dike, but the Amendment 1 money "you voted for and passed is being squandered and not going to fix this problem," Rep. Murphy said.
Governor Rick Scott blamed the federal government for not doing its fair share to fund Everglades Restoration Projects, demanding $800 million from Washington.
"What I tell a lot of my colleagues in Washington, even if you don't care about the environment as much as I do, you should care about the economy and its all connected. So much of our economy is built on tourism," said Rep. Murphy, "I think pointing fingers, blaming others is the last way to get anything done."
"We need a lot more from the state and a lot more from the federal government. Both need to come together and reprioritize the everglades. This is an emergency situation," Rep. Murphy said.
Treating the pollution of our waterways as an emergency, Rep. Murphy and a bi-partisan delegation are trying to press for action.
"We put forward legislation to ask for emergency funding for the Herbert Hoover Dike." Rep. Murphy said, "They've been at this for years and years and spent hundreds of millions of dollars--we got to get this thing done, whether it's the culverts or the fortification of that dike--whatever inch the dike can hold is millions and billions of gallons that won't be discharged."
But, State legislators are funding $900 million of Everglades improvements. Federal partners agreed to split the bill 50-50. Congress has yet to match that number. But, when it comes to having pull in D.C., Congressman Murphy has a strong ally, the President, who endorsed Murphy for Senate last week and promised to lend his support.
"And with this devastation in the backyard, I tried to say 'Mr. President, if Martin County, St. Lucie County were on fire right now, there would be news helicopters every day from all over the world. We are drowning. This is an equally important emergency.' " Rep. Murphy said, "I think Amendment 1, the money is there, and that is what it was intended for. We have got to do more to spend that money on conservation here in Florida."
Murphy says his run for Senate is in part to gain a greater voice to fix the water problems in our State, "Unfortunately senator Rubio hasn't been there for this issue and has not been a voice for us, and when you are a US Senator and call the Army Corps or EPA or US Fish and Wildlife, or call the Governor--you get a response and you get some action."
"I applaud the Corps for working diligently to take action to move more water south of Lake Okeechobee," said Murphy. "While we continue to work together on short-term solutions to this immediate crisis, I remain committed to making sure we move forward on critical projects like the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) that will move more clean water south and repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike so more water can be safely stored in the lake, both of which will help reduce the need for discharges east and west. These long-term solutions are needed to restore the natural flow of the Everglades south to address a decades-old problem that continues to hurt our community year after year."
Congressman Murphy says climate change and extreme weather is only going to make funding these projects more necessary. He says the voter-approved Amendment 1 funding for land conservation to fix this issue and send water south, "is being squandered ."
Rep. Murphy sent a letter to leadership in the Florida Legislature in support of legislation allocating Amendment 1 Land Acquisition Trust Fund dollars for Everglades restoration projects that will benefit local waterways by cleaning, storing, and moving more water south of Lake Okeechobee
"Our waterways are once again in crisis after heavy rainfall has led to massive runoff, with discharges from Lake Okeechobee polluting the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon. While I continue to push for funding and authorization of critical Everglades restoration projects on the federal level, we also have more work to do on the state level," said Rep. Murphy. "I am disappointed to see that after 75 percent of voters - 4.2 million Floridians - voted for Amendment 1, this funding has not been used to advance land acquisition and conservation efforts. I am proud to support legislation introduced by my Treasure Coast colleagues State Senator Joe Negron and State Representative Gayle Harrell to make sure these funds are used as Florida voters intended, improving the health of our local waterways and the entire Everglades system."

160307-
This Week’s Water Opinions
Florida Water Daily
March 7, 2016
Water-related editorials, op-eds, and columns from around the state:

The Tampa Tribune Editorial Board urges lawmakers to make land conservation a priority:
Last year the Legislature approved only $17 million for land purchases. It is encouraging that both the House and Senate are showing greater enlightenment this year, though we hope they agree on a higher spending total than the current proposals.
The courts may eventually enforce Amendment 1’s intent. But lawmakers should see that, regardless of their views on the law, saving Florida’s natural appeal is simply good government.

Gary Hubbard, director of the Charlotte County Utilities Department, discusses the utility system of the future:
The importance of having a safe source of potable water to rely on just isn’t something most Americans think about, it’s something we just expect. You might think about it if you open up your front door and see a geyser of water, or you see or hear water gurgling at your water meter. Definitely the residents of Flint, Mich., are thinking about their water sources and ways to improve the supply.

Tom Feeney, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida, defends the bills dealing with utility relocation costs:
Senate Bill 416 by Sen. Flores and House Bill 461 by Rep. Ingram will not change current law to limit the power of local government. SB 416 and HB 461 simply re-establish the long-standing property rights of easement holders and reinforce the common practice of reimbursing utilities when they are forced to relocate from these properties. The law will still require utilities to move at their own expense when a public project affects road-related, right-of-way infrastructure.

State Representative Neil Combee attempts to clarify the intent of Amendment 1:
Amendment 1 was introduced 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, beach and shores, outdoor recreational lands, working farms and ranches and historic or geologic sites by dedicating 33 percent of net revenues from the existing excise tax on documents for 20 years.
As you can see, acquiring land is a small portion of the intent of Amendment 1.

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board demands answers from SWFWMD over the dismissal of a lawsuit against a Pinellas County gun club:
The Southwest Florida Water Management District owes taxpayers an explanation. With no public discussion or notice, Swiftmud dropped a lawsuit that had drawn the ire of National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer. This is the latest instance of Swiftmud rolling over for the NRA. Taxpayers deserve to know why.

Consulting engineer Greg Preble laments the death of the fracking bill in this years legislature:
For those who view the failure of these bills as some kind of victory, you’re fooling yourselves. A “no” vote on Senate Bill 318 means another year without regulation. It does not mean a ban of fracking in Florida – a practice that is rarely even attempted here yet that has benefited our nation tremendously.

Former Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah argues the state needs to do more for water quality:
Fortunately, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, and Congressman Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, are extremely supportive and responsive in working to address the harm to coastal estuaries on the west and east coast of Florida. In fact, Nelson and Clawson are supporting legislation that would expedite federal funding for the Central Everglades Planning Project to facilitate water flow to the Everglades.
However, the real heavy lifting should be focused on Gov. Rick Scott and the state legislature. For it is the state that has jurisdiction over water quality. It was the governor and state legislature that refused to use Amendment 1 funds to purchase land south of the lake to store, treat and convey water to the Everglades. And, it is the governor and state legislature, during the 2016 legislative session, that recently approved a “Water Bill” that will all but make it impossible to clean up the dirty water by giving the sugar industry safe harbor from being held accountable in efforts to restore Lake Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee and our coastal
estuaries.

Brewster Bevis, chairman of the Florida H2O Coalition, argues for the comprehensive water policy bill passed by the legislature:
A recent column by Ray Judah entitled “Taxpayers continue to pick up the clean-up tab” is littered with factual inaccuracies and completely misrepresents portions of the comprehensive water bill signed into law by Gov. Scott. For starters, contrary to what Mr. Judah argues, the bill does not “undermine water resource protection.” The bill actually mandates that best management practices (BMPs) or other measures be reviewed and revised if they are leading to water quality problems. Additionally, the bill does not adversely impact water conservation, which is already prioritized under Florida law.

The News Press editorial board argues that the Senate should match the Houses proposed environmental spending plan:
We applaud Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers, for not compromising – at least at this point – on his co-sponsored bill, which would authorize at least $200 million for Everglades restoration projects, including improving water quality in the Caloosahatchee estuary.
Unfortunately, Florida senators appear less interested in matching the House plan, which was passed in a floor vote Wednesday. They scaled back their version of the bill from $200 million to $145 million in annual Everglades funding and from $75 million to $50 million annually for the state’s natural springs.

Florida Times Union Columnist Ron Littlepage discusses the Ocklawaha River:
The Ocklawaha was once one of the most beautiful rivers in Florida.
It attracted residents and people from far away, including celebrities and dignitaries, as it twisted and turned through a lush, forested floodplain.
Then we humans destroyed 16 miles of that hallowed river and flooded 10,000 acres that once stood at the pinnacle of Florida’s natural beauty.

The TCPalm Editorial Board criticizes the FDEP over assessments of the St. Lucie River BMAP Process:
Is the St. Lucie River getting cleaner?
The question seems ludicrous in light of recent discharges from Lake Okeechobee that have raised environmental concerns regionally and nationally.
Yet the state of Florida says efforts to reduce river pollution, as set forth in the 2013 “Basin Management Action Plan,” are actually ahead of schedule; the river is in better shape than officials projected it would be at this point.
And that’s great news — if, in fact, it’s true.
Problem is, we can’t be sure it is

FPL defends their environmental practices at the Turkey Point Nuclear Reactor:
In response to recent coverage about our Turkey Point facility’s canal system – a first of its kind system that the federal government required us to build – I want to assure the community that FPL is fully aware of the seriousness of the matter. We’re a company that takes environmental stewardship seriously, and we are working aggressively to address the canal system’s salinity-related issues.

Carl Hiaasen calls Rick “Scott clueless in Lake O crisis”:
As a devastating deluge of polluted water darkens two coasts of Florida and threatens their tourist economies, Gov. Rick Scott is once again a flaky phantom.
Billions of gallons spiked with agricultural waste is being pumped daily from Lake Okeechobee toward the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, browning the blue coastal waters, choking sea grass beds and crippling small businesses that depend on a healthy marine ecology.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the discharges are necessary because the water in Lake Okeechobee is too high and the old Hoover dike is too weak. Gov. Scott says it’s all President Obama’s fault for not rebuilding the dike, which is absurd.

160306-
Lake O fight shaping up as North vs. South
Naples News Daily – by Brent Batten
March 6, 2016
Another war between the North and South is taking shape and again the North seems to have the advantage.
Even as Lake Okeechobee discharges into the Caloosahatchee River are scaled back and dry weather fills the forecast, the battle over what to do with excess water flowing into the lake continues.
Like the much bloodier affair in the 1860s, this conflict promises to go on for years.
The idea of acquiring land south of the lake for storage has been much in the news since at least 2008, when Gov. Charlie Crist and sugar growers who owned the land agreed to an option plan that would allow the state to buy 46,800 acres for around $500 million.
The southern strategy was supported by environmental groups, voters - who in 2014 approved a land purchase plan that specifically mentioned the Everglades Agricultural Area - and U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, a tea party favorite.
But a change of heart on the part of the landowners and a lack of will on the part of the Legislature meant the option expired in October 2015.
An option to buy land still exists, but it would require the state to buy a much larger tract at a commensurately higher price.
So now, the focus is shifting to the north.
When the southern option plan was announced in 2008, a statement from the South Florida Water Management District stated, "Acquiring the enormous expanse of real estate offers water managers the opportunity and flexibility to store and clean water on a scale never before contemplated to protect Florida's coastal estuaries,"
Now officials with the SFWMD, which holds significant sway in the direction of water policy, say acquiring land for storage north of Lake Okeechobee and cleaning the water before it goes in the lake makes more sense.
A project to restore a more natural flow to the Kissimmee River and add storage capacity from Orlando to the lake is underway.
Beyond that, another northern project is set to launch later this year. The Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project has as its goal adding more treatment and storage capacity.
But it is so early in the process, with detailed planning to begin this calendar year, managers can't say where the storage will be located, how much water it will hold or how much it will cost.
That's all to be determined, said Matt Morrison of the SFWMD's Office of Everglades Planning and Coordination.
Like other elements of the Central Everglades Restoration Plan, the LWOP holds promise, but it is no quick fix.
A water district map of water quality and storage efforts shows 22 projects dating back to 2000. Nine of them are complete, with the others either under construction or still in the planning and design phase.
Of most interest in Southwest Florida, none of the projects that would add storage along the Caloosahatchee River and diminish the need to dump water into the coastal estuary are finished. Work recently started on the C-43 Reservoir, a massive undertaking to add 170,000 acre-feet of storage on 10,000 acres in Hendry County.
Former Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah, now the coordinator for the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition, is skeptical of the notion that the LWOP will be an adequate substitute for buying the agricultural land to the south.
"It's a red herring. It's a diversion. They always want to redirect you north of the lake," Judah said.
Already, the district stores water to the north by flooding land it owns or paying property owners to flood their land. That amounts to less than 100,000 acre-feet of storage. Judah doesn't believe there's much capacity beyond that. "How much storage can we really expect north of the lake?" he wondered.
Morrison acknowledges he doesn't have a firm number to offer. But he said capacity will be improved. "Obviously we need more storage north of the lake. Storage is a prime component (of the LOWP). It will have significant reservoirs," he said.
The pace of the myriad Everglades restoration projects is maddeningly slow.
The C-43 reservoir, which is just now under construction and won't be finished until 2020, was initially supposed to be completed in 2011, according to SFWMD projections.
Even emergency measures, like Wednesday's introduction of a bill in Congress to provide an additional $800 million to expedite repairs to the Herbert Hoover Dike on Lake Okeechobee's south side, lack immediacy. Under the plan, announced by Clawson, the repairs would be completed in 2020, four years ahead of the current schedule.
Judah offers one suggestion to quickly increase the system's capacity and reduce the damaging fresh water flow down the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.
In the agricultural lands south of the lake, the water table is maintained about two feet below the surface, he said. Raising it a foot would add 700,000 acre-feet of storage.
The move wouldn't overtly flood farm fields, but an unexpected wet spell could cause flooding to the detriment of crops, he admits.
But farmers take risks all the time, he said. Often, they have crop insurance to protect against catastrophes. The environment and the coastal businesses that rely on it carry no such insurance, Judah noted.
Morrison disputes that there's a safe buffer under ag lands in which more water could be stored. Putting water there would be no different from putting it in some other developed area. "I can't flood the (Everglades Agricultural Area) and I can't flood downtown Fort Lauderdale," he said. "We put water where we can, when we can. The system is flat full."
Last week, Clawson called for a one-year easing of the rules protecting the seaside sparrow, an endangered species that can be harmed when too much water is allowed to inundate its habitat. The moratorium would allow more water to go south, rather than west through the Caloosahatchee, where lake water is wreaking havoc on the ecosystem and the tourist business.
Such trade-offs are a sort or "triage," choosing between bad options in an emergency, Judah said.
"I can understand where a restaurateur or a hotelier would say, 'To heck with the seaside sparrow,'" he said.

160305-a
Analysis: Legislature doing more to address discharges but no land buy in sight
TCPalm.com - by Isadora Rangel
March 5, 2016
TALLAHASSEE - State lawmakers are doing more than they did last year to address Lake Okeechobee discharges into the Indian River Lagoon.
They are proposing to carve out a fund for existing cleanup projects while prioritizing those that alleviate discharges.
Yet the Legislature hasn't looked into what some experts say is the only solution to the problem: buying land south of the lake to create a pathway for excess water to flow into the Everglades instead of east into the St. Lucie and west into the Caloosahatchee estuaries. A 2015 University of Florida study commissioned by the Florida Senate suggested the floway south as one of the solutions.
Last year, with an option to buy more than 26,000 acres from U.S. Sugar Corp., Senate President-elect Joe Negron tried to borrow up to $500 million that could be used for that purpose but his proposal died.
Since then, the "buying land south" topic has been dead in Tallahassee. On the Treasure Coast, the topic is still alive on social media and in protests as residents grapple with the effects of the lake releases that started Jan. 30.
Negron said his bill to create a minimum 10-year fund for Everglades-related projects could free up enough money to buy land in the future. The House and Senate have yet to negotiate a final amount for that fund and some of the money would be tied to other restoration projects. Negron said he's committed to looking for "the best course of action to reduce the need for discharges" when he becomes president in 2017-18.
"To me the issue is making sure we have the revenue available to be in the marketplace to purchase lands," he said. "It's similar to purchasing a house. Until you have cash or financing, no one takes you seriously."
Focus on existing projects
Lawmakers this year have chosen to focus on finishing Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and estuary restoration projects already in the works and provided a bump for them from $89.7 million last year to $205.8 million in a budget deal unveiled Thursday. The House and Senate have to pass the budget before the March 11 scheduled end of session.
The budget also mandates the state must give priority to water storage projects that relief discharges and that can be "implemented expeditiously" when the state uses money allocated this year. That likely means storing water on existing public land as well as the so-called water farms, in which the state pays private landowners around the lake to store water on their property, said Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper. One those water farms is on a former citrus grove near Indiantown owned by Caulkins Citrus Co., which pumps water out of the C-44 Canal.
Ideal solution
All water farming projects combined would reduce lake levels by 1 to 2 inches, Draper said. He said that helps relief discharges and he is glad the Legislature is focused on the Everglades and the lake this year. Yet the final solution would be to buy land and move water south.
But before the Legislature allocates money for that the South Florida Water Management District would have to conduct a study on how many acres are needed and where, Draper said. The 2015 study by the University of Florida Water Institute found the state needs 11,000 to 129,000 additional acres of storage between Lake O and the Everglades. The study also points out to other options to help reduce discharges, such as finishing existing projects and using well storage north of the lake as a temporary solution.
"At some point land needs to be bought," Draper said.
Optimistic
Despite not looking into buying land south, the Legislature is proposing more money for overall land conservation, such as buying lands for parks. There's $92 million compared with last year's $55 million. Draper said he wanted about $100 million and more going into the Florida Forever land acquisition program, which got $15.1 million. Environmentalists want to revive the program after voters approved Amendment 1 in 2014 to set aside one-third of documentary tax revenue to buy, restore and improve water and land.
Rep. Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican in charge of drafting the environmental section of the state budget, said the Legislature has made significant progress by putting more money into a program that pays ranchers not to develop their land, which makes up about 40 percent of the total proposed this year.
With Amendment 1 in effect for 19 more years, Albritton said there's still time for the Legislature to put more into land purchases. But first the state should better manage its land, such as by controlling exotic species.
"Maybe in the future after we do a better job of land management. ... Isn't the argument for at least incrementally purchasing more land a more valid argument?" he said.

160305-b
Federal officials say they are reducing the amount of water flowing from Lake Okeechobee
The Associated Press
March 5, 2016
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Federal officials say they are reducing the amount of water flowing from Lake Okeechobee.
Multiple media outlets report the Army Corps of Engineers on Friday started dialing back the dumping of lake water to the east and west coasts.
The corps will bring releases back down to what its own regulation schedule has been calling for after Lake Okeechobee topped 16 feet in early February, prompting officials to exceed the recommended amount of lake water discharge to the coasts.
Jim Jeffords, the Army Corps chief of operations for Florida, says if the lake starts rising again, they may have to increase the flows, but it all depends on the weather.
The Army Corps tries to keep the lake between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level.

160304-a
Lake Okeechobee draining reduced, flooding threats remain
Sun Sentinel – by Andy Reid
March 4, 2016
Less Lake Okeechobee water will be drained east and west, but those damaging discharges could still linger to guard against South Florida flooding, according to federal officials.
The Army Corps of Engineers on Friday started dialing back the dumping of lake water to the east and west coasts, where dark, pollution-laden lake water has fouled waterways near Stuart and Fort Myers.
Increased lake draining started in January to stem rising lake levels that pose a South Florida flooding risk.
Draining water protects Lake Okeechobee's troubled dike. But that high-volume dumping of lake water into salty estuaries has threatened to wipe out coastal fishing grounds and can bring bacteria spikes and algae blooms that make waterways unsafe for swimming.
Because Lake Okeechobee's water level has started to drop and forecasts call for drier conditions after a rainier-than-usual winter, the Army Corps agreed to at least temporarily ease up on lake draining.
Gov. Rick Scott Friday declared a state of emergency for three coastal counties where waterways are suffering from Lake Okeechobee draining triggered by South Florida flooding fears.
The governor is trying to get more federal funding to shore up Lake Okeechobee's troubled dike and to speed up Everglades...
Gov. Rick Scott Friday declared a state of emergency for three coastal counties where waterways are suffering from Lake Okeechobee draining triggered by South Florida flooding fears.
The governor is trying to get more federal funding to shore up Lake Okeechobee's troubled dike and to speed up Everglades...
(Andy Reid)
"If the lake starts rising again, we may have to increase flows; it all depends on the weather," said Jim Jeffords, the Army Corps chief of operations for Florida.
To ease the strain on Lake Okeechobee's erosion-prone dike, the Army Corps tries to keep the lake between 12.5 and 15.5 feet above sea level. The lake was 15.79 feet on Friday, which is about a foot higher than this time last year.
Lake Okeechobee topped 16 feet in early February, prompting federal officials to switch to max-level discharges of lake water to the east and west coast.
The new plan cuts the potential discharges to the west coast by half and could be a nearly 75 percent reduction in the amount of lake water drained east.
That still means draining as much as 1.2 billion gallons of lake water a day to the east coast and 2.6 billion gallons of lake water a day to the west coast.
Combined, that's enough water to fill nearly 6,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each day.
The goal of the ongoing discharges to lower the lake is to make room for rain water expected to fill it back up during the summer storm season.
Reducing lake draining to the east and west helps, but it could be "too little too late" to save the oysters and sea grass vital to coastal fishing grounds, said Charles Grande, of the Stuart-based Rivers Coalition advocacy group.
"We would really need to stop the discharges to have a good shot at recovery," Grande said. "The damage is mostly done now."
El Niño conditions, when a warming of the eastern Pacific results in a wetter winter for Florida, has delivered South Florida's wettest winter since 1932, raising water levels from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades.
Rising waters are a particular concern for Lake Okeechobee's dike, considered one of the country's most at risk of a breach. The dike remains in the midst of a slow-moving rehab that has already cost taxpayers about $500 million and could last another 10 years.
Draining protects sugar cane fields and communities south of the lake from potential flooding. But the draining can be bad for both the environment and the tourism-based economies of coastal communities.
This year's big influxes of lake water drained to the east and west coasts are already threatening to kill oysters and sea grass beds, have begun to scare away fish and have been blamed for worsening bacteria levels, which can pose a public health risk.
Gov. Rick Scott on Feb. 26 declared a state of emergency for coastal counties where water quality can be worsened by Lake Okeechobee draining. He also called for the federal government to spend more to fix Lake Okeechobee's dike to help avoid future discharges.
To deal with high waters down south, water managers in February started draining more water than usual from conservation areas in western Broward and Miami-Dade into Everglades National Park. On Friday, the South Florida Water Management District announced plans to add emergency pumps to send even more water to the park from the conservation areas – where flooding has threatened the high ground relied on by deer, wading birds and other Everglades animals.
State officials and environmental advocates say ongoing Everglades restoration projects – to build reservoirs, water treatment areas and canal improvements – could eventually get more lake water flowing south, like it did before South Florida farming and development got in the way.

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Annual Report highlights Everglades water quality improvement, state of the South Florida ecosystem
Florida Water Daily - From the SFWMD Press Release:
March 3, 2016
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) this week released the 2016 South Florida Environmental Report detailing a year of science, engineering and environmental restoration progress to improve the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee Basin and South Florida coastal areas.
The 2016 report marks the 18th year of unified, streamlined environmental reporting by the two agencies. “Water in the Everglades is cleaner today than it has been in our lifetimes,” said SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Daniel O’Keefe. “The 2016 South Florida Environmental Report takes the public through restoration work that helped accomplish this goal, and it details the plans to continue making progress to improve South Florida’s environment.”
The 2016 report was released as the SFWMD is implementing several unprecedented actions to move water and provide flooding relief from record South Florida dry-season rainfall. These actions will be captured in next year’s report.
Spanning three volumes, the 2016 South Florida Environmental Report unifies dozens of individual reports. The volumes, plus an 8-page summary and highlights, provide extensive peer-reviewed research summaries, data analyses, financial updates and a searchable database of environmental projects. Highlights in the 2016 report include:
●  Everglades water quality continues to show signs of improvement. In 2015, overall, 90 percent of the Everglades is at or below 10 parts per billion of phosphorus.
●  Over their 21-year operational period, Everglades Stormwater Treatment Areas have treated more than 16 million acre-feet of water and have retained approximately 2,000 metric tons of total phosphorus (TP). In Water Year 2015, with 57,000 acres of treatment area, the STAs treated 1.4 million acre-feet of water. They reduced both inflow TP load and concentration by 83 percent, and prevented 138 metric tons of TP from entering the Everglades Protection Area.
●  Best management practices (BMPs) continue to reduce nutrients. BMPs implemented under the SFWMD’s regulatory source control program reduced TP in agricultural runoff from 470,000 acres south of Lake Okeechobee by 79 percent in Water Year 2015, three times the amount required by state law. Source reductions through BMPs lessen the amount that must be captured in downstream STAs and improves the cost-effectiveness of capital projects to further decrease total phosphorus levels. The regulatory BMP program and Everglades STAs have prevented more than 4,860 metric tons of total phosphorus from entering the Everglades Protection Area since 1996.
●  Implementation of the Governor’s Restoration Strategies initiative advanced in Water Year 2015. Work is proceeding on two of three massive flow equalization basins (FEBs), which will provide 105,000 acre-feet of additional water storage and are designed to attenuate peak stormwater flows prior to delivery to the Everglades STAs. Construction has started on several conveyance improvement features, as well as the first phase of expansion to STA-1 West.
A-1 Flow Equalization Basin (a 60,000 acre-foot shallow storage impoundment west of U.S. Highway 27 in southern Palm Beach County) construction was completed in November 2015 (roughly one year ahead of its deadline), and operations have commenced.
L-8 Flow Equalization Basin (a 45,000 acre-foot deep storage impoundment in Palm Beach County near Wellington) is completing construction and is now in operational testing.
STA-1 West Expansion #1 (an additional 4,200 acres of treatment area in Palm Beach County near Wellington) design was completed in June 2015, and construction began in November 2015.
Conveyance improvements (modifications to Structure S-5AS and construction of the new L-8 Divide Structure in Palm Beach County) are ongoing, with completion dates of September 2016 and September 2018, respectively.
Mecca Shallow Impoundment in Palm Beach County is in design.
Water managers moved excess water southward. In Water Year 2015, an uneven distribution of rainfall across the region left the Everglades STAs with available treatment capacity, and a concerted effort was made to send regulatory lake releases south from Lake Okeechobee. During that time period, roughly 585,000 acre-feet of water from the lake was released to the Everglades STAs. Importantly, this unprecedented amount ― 43 percent of total annual flow to the STAs ― helped manage lake levels and reduce freshwater discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries. Efforts are underway to evaluate the effects of this management action on STA conditions and long-term performance.
These highlights and numerous other efforts featured in the 2016 South Florida Environmental Report continue to provide the scientific foundation of agency programs and projects that year after year are improving the entire South Florida region. The 2016 report covers environmental information for Water Year 2015 (May 1, 2014, through April 30, 2015) and project/budgetary information for Fiscal Year 2014-2015 (October 1, 2014, through September 30, 2015).
The 2016 South Florida Environmental Report is available to view or print at www.sfwmd.gov/sfer.

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Budget deal prioritizes Lake O discharge reduction; lacks what some wanted for land buys
TCPalm - by Isadora Rangel
March 3, 2016
TALLAHASSEE - The House and Senate came to an agreement late Thursday on an environmental budget that prioritizes projects that reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges but falls short of what some Treasure Coast lawmakers want for land conservation.
The chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees rolled out their agreement after the chambers negotiated last weekend. They have until the scheduled March 11 end of session to finish other parts of the state budget and pass it on the House and Senate floors. Here are some highlights:
Land conservation: There's a total of $90.5 million, but only $15.2 million is going to buy lands on the priority list of the Florida Forever program, which used to get about $300 million per year until the economic recession. Environmentalists wanted to revive the program when they drafted Amendment 1, approved by voters in 2014, to set aside money for land and water conservation. The rest of the money in the budget goes toward paying ranchers not to develop their lands; buying lands for parks; lands needed for Everglades restoration; and land for two preserves in Central Florida. Senate President-elect Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said late Thursday the Legislature can do better and there's still time to increase land acquisition money before the Legislature passes the budget, but he didn't have an exact figure in mind.
Everglades restoration: There is about $152 million for Everglades restoration and projects around Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. The budget gives priority to projects that reduce lake discharges into the two rivers in light of Gov. Rick Scott's executive order last month declaring a state of emergency in Lee, Martin and St. Lucie counties because of discharges that started Jan. 30.
Water farming: The House and Senate didn't take up Negron's proposal to earmark money to expand the Caulkins Citrus Co. water farm in Martin County, which pumps and stores polluted water out of the C-44 Canal that would end up in the St. Lucie River. But because the budget gives priority to projects that reduce discharges - it specifically mentions "water storage" - Negron expects $9.7 million added Thursday to the budget will go toward that project.
Related:           Corps will slow flows of freshwater releases from Lake Okechobee Naples Daily News
House passes “Legacy Florida” bill to set aide money for Everglades          Florida Water Daily

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FAU researchers available to discuss impacts of Lake Okeechobee discharge
Florida Atlantic University – Press Release
March 3,-201
Newswise — An El Niño winter which brought record rainfall in January has been threatening the ecological health of the St. Lucie River in southeast Florida. Rising water levels in Lake Okeechobee led the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release more than 30 billion gallons of water into the St. Lucie River, which connects Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic Ocean primarily through the St. Lucie inlet.
Late last month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in Martin, St. Lucie and Lee counties. Ongoing discharges from Lake Okeechobee are damaging the delicate balance of freshwater and saltwater in surrounding estuaries. These discharges also are linked to toxic algal blooms like Microcystis (green bacteria) and Karenia brevis (red tides), as well as non-toxic blooms such as the red drift macroalgae blooms that make water unsafe for humans as well as marine animals.
Florida Atlantic University researchers are available to discuss various topics involving the Lake Okeechobee discharge and its impacts on the region.
• Dale Gawlik, Ph.D., professor and director of FAU’s Environmental Science Program within the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, has expertise in avian ecology, wetland ecosystems, and restoration ecology that includes the study of habitats of wading birds in South Florida. Wading birds have been used as indicators of the health and function of the Everglades ecosystem.
• Dennis Hanisak, Ph.D., research professor and director of education at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, is an expert on marine ecosystem health. His research interests are in marine plants, especially seagrasses and seaweeds, and coral reef ecology. Hanisak leads the Indian River Lagoon Observatory programs, which includes a network of monitoring stations that continuously collect water-quality information, which is posted in real-time at http://fau.loboviz.com/.
• Brian Lapointe, Ph.D., research professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, is an algal physiologist and biochemist with research expertise in seagrass and coral reef ecology, marine bio-invasions, harmful algal blooms, and marine conservation. He researches the causes and consequences of excessive nutrients and algal growth in freshwater and marine environments, using techniques that identify the nutrient(s) fueling the growth, which aids identification of sources and solutions. He studies the macroalgae Sargassum and the complex ecosystem it hosts in the Gulf of Mexico, Sargasso Sea, and Caribbean region.
• Colin Polsky, Ph.D., director of the Center for Environmental Studies (CES) within the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at FAU, oversees the Center’s vision to improve Florida’s sustainability through research, education and outreach on ecology, climate change, and society. CES is a state university research center that was established in July 1994 by Florida’s State University System’s Board of Regents. CES’ environmental research and education efforts focus on the Kissimmee River Restoration Project and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), the largest river and ecosystem restorations in the world.
• Ed Proffitt, Ph.D., biology professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, has conducted extensive research on estuaries, coasts, and aquatic animals, most recently publishing results of his study on the health of St. Lucie River oysters. He has expertise in ecology of marine and estuarine macrophytes and invertebrates.
• Adam Schaefer, M.P.H., research coordinator and epidemiologist at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, studies the relationships between marine mammal, human, and environmental health, embodied by the idea that illness in dolphins can shed light on environmental problems that may affect other species including humans.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.

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Florida House backs Everglades ‘Legacy’ bill
FLCourier.com – by the News Service of Florida
March 3, 2016
The House voted 117-1 on Wednesday to approve its version of the “Legacy Florida” bill (HB 989), which would provide 10 years of funding for Everglades restoration.
The measure will now have to be negotiated with the Senate.
The House proposal would provide at least $200 million a year for already-identified projects intended to restore the Everglades.
The latest Senate proposal (SB 1168) would provide $145 million in annual Everglades funding and $50 million a year for the state’s natural springs. Also, the Senate bill would provide $5 million a year for Lake Apopka and $5 million a year for Kings Bay or Crystal River.
Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, cast the lone vote against the House measure, which lawmakers said will reduce the discharge of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into nearby estuaries.
Senators, including bill sponsor Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who is slated to become Senate president this fall, said Monday they intend to push for higher numbers as budget talks continue.
The money for the work would come from the state’s land-acquisition trust fund, which is used to carry out a 2014 constitutional amendment that requires a portion of documentary-stamp taxes to be set aside for land and water buying and preservation.

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What is threatening Biscayne and Everglades National Parks and South Florida’s drinking water ?
CleanEnergy.org – by Sara Barczak
March 3rd, 2016
Recent news has brought further attention to what is causing contamination of the beautiful and beloved Biscayne National Park and South Florida’s main drinking water resource, the Biscayne Aquifer, which is a “sole source,” federally-designated aquifer that serves over 3 million people.
- See more at: http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2016/03/03/what-is-threatening-biscayne-and-everglades-national-parks-and-south-floridas-drinking-water/#sthash.gVMzbMd3.dpuf
The culprit ?
FPL’s existing Turkey Point power facility (historically, five separate generating units using different fuel sources; not all are currently operational).
This large complex is near Homestead, Florida about 25 miles from Miami and sandwiched between two internationally recognized treasures – the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks. In particular, the two water-guzzling reactors at Turkey Point are causing and have experienced lots of problems. Not only is Turkey Point one of Florida’s biggest daily water users, but it also releases approximately 600,000 pounds of salt and other contaminants directly into the Biscayne Aquifer on a daily basis. Current operations pose a significant threat to the health of Biscayne National Park because of leaching pollution from Turkey Point’s convoluted Cooling Canal System into the surface waters of the park.
Due to the inherent inefficiencies with this cooling system and the onset of warmer temperatures of the water in the canals and the temperature of the air cooling the canal water as outlined by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the existing reactors have a hard time even operating within the 100 F cooling water temperature limits after increasing the reactors’ generating capacity in 2012. FPL had to get expedited approval from federal regulators to up the limit to 104 F. And even with these issues, FPL is shockingly pursuing two more extremely expensive reactors at this wholly unsuitable site.
Next Tuesday, March 8th, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners will meet to discuss recent data results prepared by the University of Miami (UM), which the Commission ordered, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM) staff analysis regarding discharges from Turkey Point’s sprawling Cooling Canal System (CCS) into South Florida’s drinking water source and Biscayne National Park. Together, this information documents contamination into Miami-Dade County’s water supply as well as into the adjacent national park.
Grant Miller’s recent article in Miami’s Community Newspapers summarizes the dire situation:
The danger posed by the plant’s current operation is twofold. First, the plant generates a plume of hypersaline water which degrades the aquifer and contributes to chloride pollution in the bay. Second, the Industrial Wastewater Cooling Canal System generates large amounts of ammonia and phosphorous, in addition to other contaminants that now have been found leaching out into the bay.
Finally, the vast amount of fresh water utilized by the plant conflicts with the goals of Everglades’ restoration and the needs of the county for drinking water.
Turkey Point requires massive amounts of water to cool down their reactors and utilizes a “once-through” cooling system that draws water from Biscayne Bay and runs it through a series of canals (seen in photo to the right). Using vast amount of fresh water to generate energy conflicts with the goals of Everglades’ restoration and is contaminating the local south Florida drinking water supply, as outlined by the Tropical Audubon Society.
In addition, when the water in the canal system is exposed to the heat of the turbine steam, much of it evaporates. The water taken from Biscayne Bay is brackish, meaning it contains some salt, and all that salt is left behind as well as many other contaminants from the plant operations. A plume of incredibly salty water is spilling out from the canal system and is estimated to reach up to 4 miles from the plant into Biscayne Bay to the east and the Biscayne aquifer in the west.
SACE has recently hired former Tropical Audubon executive director, Laura Reynolds, who has extensive knowledge about these problems to work with us as a consultant. We look forward to working with our partners in South Florida and all those concerned with addressing and correcting this unacceptable situation.
Stay tuned for a series of blogs on Turkey Point as we go into more detail about what is happening at the site.
We urge everyone to become more informed about this serious situation. There are many ways to get involved and take action right now:
●  Attend the March 8th Miami-Dade Co. Board of Commissioners public meeting (you must sign up to speak by 10 am)
●  Stream the Commission’s webcast here if you can’t be there in person
●  Submit comments online via this form to the Commissioners on the newly released study by March 18, 2016

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Birds use alligators as 'bodyguards' to protect their nests - and this protection helps keep the reptiles healthier 
DailyMail.co.uk - by Ryan O'Hare for MailOnline
March 2, 2016
●  Species of wading birds nest above alligators for protection from mammals
●  Out of reach of the reptiles' snapping jaws their eggs are also protected
●  Alligators near nesting colonies were in better shape than other alligators
●  The mutual relationship sees the toothy reptiles feed on falling chicks
When it comes to avoiding predators in the swamps, long-legged wading birds get by with a little help from their toothy reptilian friends.
In an effort to keep their eggs beyond the appetites of mammals such as possoms, many bird species build their nests above where alligators dwell.
But this relationship isn't as one-sided as it seems - it works in the alligator's favour as well
Taking to the Everglades at night, the researchers snared adult and juvenile alligators - at 125 cm (4 ft) and above in length - at a number of locations after nesting had finished, to avoid disturbing the birds. The bird species were mainly egrets and herons. 
They found that reptiles with birds nesting nearby were in much better physical shape compared to those without a nest overhead.
On average, those alligators found near to wading birds were heavier, with more energy reserves than those not living near a nest. 
What's more, this effect was independent of other environmental factors, demonstrating a close relationship between the birds and the reptiles.
It is believed that when the birds nest a few metres above, out of reach of the snapping jaws, they get the protective benefits.
The alligators meanwhile, get the easiest meal in the swamp – making short work of any chicks which fall from the nest. 
Dr Lucas Nell, a researcher at the University of Florida, told MailOnline: 'Our study provides solid evidence that both nesting birds and alligators benefit from one another during critical life stages: nesting and chick-rearing for birds, and pre-egglaying for alligators. 
When it comes to avoiding predators in the swamps, long-legged wading birds get by with a little help from their toothy reptilian friends.
In an effort to keep their eggs beyond the appetites of mammals such as possoms, many bird species build their nests above where alligators dwell.
But this relationship isn't as one-sided as it seems - it works in the alligator's favour as well.
ALLIGATORS AND NESTING BIRDS' BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIP
Scientists from the University of Florida studied alligators in the Everglades to see if there was any difference in the condition of animals which lived underneath nesting birds.
Alligators with birds nesting nearby were in much better physical shape compared to those without a nest overhead.
They believe that, out of reach of the snapping jaws, the birds get the protective benefits from the reptiles below. 
The alligators meanwhile, get the easiest meal in the swamp – making short work of any chicks which fall from the nest.
This effect was found to be independent of other environmental factors, demonstrating a close relationship evolutionary between the birds and the reptiles.

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Dirty water, Amendment 1, voting
Captiva Current, Sanibel-Captiva Islander - Guest Commentary by Mary La Velle,  the Sanibel League of Women’s Voters, Island Reporter
March 2, 2016
The Florida Water and Land Conservation Amendment.
Ballot Title: Water and Land Conservation - Dedicates funds to acquire and restore Florida conservation and recreation lands
Ballot Summary: Funds the Land Acquisition Trust Fund 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; outdoor recreational lands; working farms and ranches; and historic or geologic sites, by dedicating 33 percent of net revenues from the existing excise tax on documents for 20 years.
Were you one of the 75 percent of Florida voters who passed Amendment 1 in 2014? Did you expect legislators to return to bipartisan support for designated funds to buy sensitive environmental land for the people of Florida?
Think again.
Aliki Moncrief is executive director of Florida Conservation Voters (FCV), the organization that was formed out of the Florida Water and Land Legacy that shepherded Amendment 1 to its overwhelming win.
On Thursday, Feb. 18 she spoke with the Sanibel League of Women Voters on past and present environmental spending in Florida - and on FCV's continuing effort to see that the people's will be done.
Moncrief, a Harvard Law graduate, is a Miami native who was a child in 1963 when a long succession of Florida Governors and Legislatures - from both parties-began to preserve Florida's natural heritage while also allowing development, the engine of Florida's economy.
The mechanism they chose was to dedicate one-third of funds collected from real estate transfer taxes to purchase land and water resources - the more development, the more funds available.
Brilliant.
This ongoing ethic was not seen as liberal or conservative, not as a luxury, but a practical way to protect Florida's quality of life. Over those years, over 2.4 million acres were preserved for the people, lands that:
Safeguard our supply of clean drinking water,
Keep floodplains open so homes are safe elsewhere,
Promote recreation of all sorts,
Ensure migration corridors for iconic species and
Preserve unique and fragile places that nurture human spirits as well as Florida's unique wildness.
Of the 35 million acres of open land left in Florida, 28 percent is publicly protected. Seventy-two percent is in private hands. Sanibel remembers that our Bob Janes won protection for the Babcock Ranch - a significant step for Southwest Florida.
But in 2009, this bipartisan consensus broke down. Zero funds were directed toward preservation. Zero. This spurred efforts - through Amendment 1 - to mandate spending of real estate transfer funds at previous levels.
Most Amendment 1 voters expected spending to grow and be directed to significant land purchases. Instead, budgets directed those funds to things like salaries and equipment, previously paid for with general funds. If fact, in 2014-15, spending on all environment-related items went down, not up.
Florida Conservation Voters, a privately funded umbrella organization with many member groups, is now taking a long view. Some organizations are suing to enforce the constitutional mandate; FCV's efforts are directed to education.
Their goal: to reestablish Florida's bipartisan agreement on a healthy balance of growth and preservation.
Major obstacles lie ahead:
Safe districts. The Fair Districts amendment has not yet achieved a balance in the legislature that reflects the balance of voters in the state. Those legislators need not listen to all voices.
Term limits. New legislators may not have developed a deep understanding of issues, and rely on lobbyists for information. There are 25 lobbyists for every legislator in Tallahassee and most of them do not work for everyday people.
Money. Sixty-eight percent of campaign contributions are made by 1 percent of donors, who usually have an agenda.
A ray of hope: bills pending in the legislature,HB989, sponsored by Rep. Harrell, and SB1168, sponsored by Sen. Negron, would direct significant Amendment 1 funding for 20 years to Everglades restoration and protection for springs.
Part of Everglades restoration is directing water south, so one day there may be fewer toxic releases from Lake O to the Caloosahatchee.
A caveat: in discussion following Moncrief's presentation, much concern was expressed over the lack of responsibility for agriculture - including Big Sugar - to clean up water from its lands before it reaches estuaries, the Gulf, or the Everglades.
Even the currently approved C43 reservoir will impound excess Lake O water, but have zero effect on its heavy pollutant load.

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State needs to do more for water quality
News-Press.com – by Ray Judah, Ray, former Lee County Commissioner
March 2, 2016
There has been a great deal of press recently concerning several of our local mayors traveling
 to Washington D.C. to speak to our Congressional delegation and United States Army Corps of Engineers about the dirty water crises stemming from the excessive release of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee.
Fortunately, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, and Congressman Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs, are extremely supportive and responsive in working to address the harm to coastal estuaries on the west and east coast of Florida. In fact, Nelson and Clawson are supporting legislation that would expedite federal funding for the Central Everglades Planning Project to facilitate water flow to the Everglades.
However, the real heavy lifting should be focused on Gov. Rick Scott and the state legislature.
 For it is the state that has jurisdiction over water quality. It was the governor and state
 legislature that refused to use Amendment 1 funds to purchase land south of the lake to store, treat and convey water to the Everglades. And, it is the governor and state legislature, during
 the 2016 legislative session, that recently approved a "Water Bill" that will all but make it
 impossible to clean up the dirty water by giving the sugar industry safe harbor from being held accountable in efforts to restore Lake Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee and our coastal estuaries.
Several legislators from the west and east coast of Florida are sponsoring legislation
 (HB 989 and CS/SB 1168) to use a specified percentage of funds within the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to be appropriated for Everglades restoration projects.
Unfortunately, the concern is that the language in the companion bills makes no mention of land acquisition and that the funds will ultimately be used for agricultural related water projects including excessive payments to landowners to store water on privately owned lands or for infrastructure such as pumps, pipes and culverts.
Furthermore, the Lee County Commission has failed to work proactively in efforts to responsibly address the devastating discharge of polluted water causing adverse impact to our environment and economy.
Commissioner Frank Mann continues to mislead the public by suggesting that the dark, turbid water flowing from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee into our coastal estuaries is the result of natural organic tannins released from vegetation such as mangroves. Tannic acid imparts a light tea color to the water allowing for photosynthesis whereas, the heavily polluted laden dark water from land based nutrient runoff prevents sun light penetration and kills critical forage and habitat for fin and shell fish.
In actuality, it is chemical waste including pesticides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorous along with sediment back pumped into Lake Okeechobee from the sugar cane fields that is contributing to the dirty water enveloping our waterways.
It is encouraging that Captains For Clean Water, a new coalition of anglers, charter boat captains and business community, are recognizing that the root of the problem to cleaning up the Caloosahatchee and coastal estuaries is unresponsive local and state elected officials.

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Florida House doesn’t budge on Everglades ‘legacy’ money
SE-AgNet.com – by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
March 1, 2016
The Capital, Tallahassee - -  The House is sticking with a proposal to create a 10-year funding pool only for Everglades restoration, setting up potential negotiations with the Senate on how to spend voter-approved money for land and water conservation.
With little comment, the proposal known as “Legacy Florida” was teed up Tuesday for a House vote as soon as Wednesday.
The House proposal (HB 989), which seeks at least $200 million a year for Everglades projects, is narrower than a Senate proposal.
House co-sponsors Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, and Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers, said after a floor session Tuesday they do not plan to amend their measure to match a Senate bill (SB 1168), which includes $145 million in annual Everglades funding and $50 million a year for the state’s natural springs. Also, the bill would provide $5 million a year for Lake Apopka and $5 million a year for Kings Bay or Crystal River.
“We are going to pass ours out clean and pristine, as we hope the water will one day be,” Harrell said. “We’re going to make sure that we get our bill over there, and then we’ll start the negotiation process if necessary.”
Caldwell and Harrell said they’d be open to discussing funding for springs and other water projects if the Senate would bring its proposal back toward $200 million for the Everglades. An earlier Senate version included that amount for Everglades-related projects.
Caldwell reiterated his stance that the money should go where projects have already been identified.
“What is it going to be spent on?” Caldwell said in regard to the Senate’s springs funding. “We know what the projects are when it comes to the Everglades.”
The money for the work would come from the state’s land-acquisition trust fund, which is used to carry out a 2014 constitutional amendment that requires a portion of documentary-stamp taxes to be set aside for land and water buying and preservation.
Senators, including bill sponsor Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who is slated to become Senate president this fall, said Monday they intend to push for higher numbers as budget talks continue.

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Fracking regulation bill withdrawn, likely dead
Naples Daily News - by Arek Sarkissian, Tribune Bureau
March 1, 2016
TALLAHASSEE -- A bill that would regulate fracking and do away with local bans is likely dead after it was withdrawn from consideration Tuesday during its second chance before the same committee that had rejected it.
The bill sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, had already failed to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee with a vote of 10-9, but it was given a chance for reconsideration and placed on Tuesday's committee agenda. Richter spent the weekend trying to change two of the 10 opposing committee votes, but he was unsuccessful.
"I didn't have the votes," Richter said after the Tuesday meeting. "I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday trying to convince my colleagues and I didn't have the votes."
Richter was unable to sway Sens. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, in favor of the bill. Negron said he heard plenty of opposition from constituents around the Treasure Coast. He also was not convinced the bill would protect the environment.
"I've got some concerns about how we're balancing the regulation with the way that we're protecting the environment," Negron said.
Opponents of the bill, from local elected leaders to environmental groups, quietly celebrated after Richter withdrew it. Kim Ross, president of ReThink Energy Florida, said overwhelming opposition from cities and counties influenced the vote.
"They got what they wanted," Ross said of the cities and counties. "They did not want fracking in their backyards."
Richter's bill called on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to carry out a yearlong, $1 million study of the environmental impact of fracking. DEP would have used the results from the study to create regulations that required ratification from the Legislature. The bill would also override more than 70 bans passed by cities and counties across the state over the past year.
Lee County communities Bonita Springs and Estero were among the first to pass bans. Bonita Springs City Manager Carl Schwing said he appreciated the study included in the bill, but regulation should be left up to local governments.
"We're very pleased that a bill that ignored what cities really wanted did not pass the Legislature," Schwing said.
Richter's withdrawal of the bill left little chance for its House companion to survive. HB 191, by Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, cleared the House in January with a vote of 73-45.
Rodrigues said the likely death of Richter's bill left the state without any specific regulation of the oil drilling method.
"I'm proud to have worked with (Richter) on these important issues and disappointed in the results," Rodrigues said.
The most common form of the drilling process blasts rock with water to release oil and gas below ground. Another process, perhaps the most controversial, uses an acid mixture to eat into the rock. The issue surfaced in Collier County in December 2013 when the Dan H. Hughes Co. fracked about 1,000 feet from homes on the edge of the Everglades. The company refused to heed DEP's requests to stop. Hughes eventually ceased drilling, and the company was fined $20,000 for a work order violation. It also was ordered to install groundwater monitors around the site.
The majority of the Collier County Commission were in support of Richter's bill. Commissioner Tim Nance said the bill was not perfect, but it provided DEP with some groundwork to stop companies such as Hughes from ignoring state orders.
"It was by no means perfect but it was a start to lay out some ground rules," Nance said. "I definitely, like a lot of other people, had problems with the loss of home rule, but it was clear we had to do something."
Related:           Florida drops bill to open fracking in the Everglades after public outcry      The Guardia

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Mott Foundation gives environmental grants while destroying the environment, critics say
BrowardPalmBeach New Times - by Deirdra Funcheon
March 1, 2016 |
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation gives out grants around the world from its headquarters in Flint, Michigan. A lot of those funds support wonderful-sounding initiatives for education, children, and the environment. But protestors in Miami today say that the foundation is hypocritical – that it wins praise for giving out grants while simultaneously destroying the Everglades through its business interests. 
Mott started the Michigan company that would become General Motors, and in 1931 bought U.S. Sugar, the company that grows and processes sugar north of Lake Okeechobee. The destruction of the Everglades ecosystem from the lake south is largely due to sugar farming – from both the engineering of roads and canals that made farming possible, and the pollution from fertilizers that runs off into Lake O, then moves east, west, and south. 
Today, representatives from the Mott Foundation – which according to its last annual report has $2.8 billion in assets – were in Miami for the Environmental Grantmakers Association conference, which is featuring Sen. Bob Graham, Catholic Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, and Dr. Mona Hana-Attishaand, the doctor who first alerted the world about Flint's water crisis. 
Grant Stern, a a radio show host for the "Only in Miami" show on 880 the Biz, says that the protest was largely organized through the Occupy Democrats Facebook page and that it drew 70 people – huge for a Tuesday in Miami. 
He says it's an "insidious situation" that Mott benefits from U.S. Sugar, then makes "this big attempt at greenwashing to make them seem like a charitable foundation, when they're some of the worst polluters. And they're making huge donations to every politician they can, essentially buying protection from the political class.  Even Marco Rubio has said that controlling the sugar market is a matter of national security, and that's why we must federally subsidize sugar. That's atrocious! It's unhealthy!" It's sugar, he says, that is causing the national obesity and diabetes crises. 
As the Huffington Post explained in a detailed article: 
The bulk of the Mott Foundation's environmental work in the United States focuses on the freshwater challenge, with special emphasis on the country's Great Lakes region." There is no difference between the impacts of industrial agriculture on the Great Lakes, where the Foundation is investing resources to protect, and former Everglades, polluted by a corporation it controls: US Sugar. (William S. White has been both president of the Flint, Michigan-based foundation and chairman and CEO of US Sugar Corporation.)
Charitable organizations like the Mott Foundation are prohibited by law from engaging in political activities, but US Sugar exercises its massive leverage through campaign contributions at every level of government; from local county commissions to the White House. In the last quarter of 2015, US Sugar Corporation spent $165,000 lobbying in Tallahassee ("AT&T, HCA, U.S. Sugar in top three for lobbying expenses", Feb. 15, 2016).
Says Stern: "Here we are subsidizing sugar and the sugar we are subsidizing is destroying our environment.... U.S. Sugar and FPL are the two biggest threats to Florida's environment and drinking water." 
A representative from the Mott Foundation did not immediately return a call for comment. 
The foundation's annual report does not detail its holdings in U.S. Sugar, but it has been reported that 30 percent of the company's shares are owned by the Mott Foundation, 30 percent by the Mott Children’s Health Center, and 40 percent by the company's pension fund and employees.
Related:           FPL vs. the Environment, again
Earth Day: Nine Ways Florida Is Screwing Up the Environment

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