160630-a
Florida’s polluted water is now reaching into Georgia
SciTechNation.com – by Expert Reviews
June 30, 2016
Ocean color image from VIIRS sensor on the Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership satellite shows water pollution from Port St. Lucie, Florida up to Savannah, Georgia.
The image, enhanced by ROFFS, shows the discolored water reaching the western side of the Gulf Stream and being carried north approximately 270 miles. This is the polluted water, coming from Lake Okeechobee, that has been diverted to Florida’s east and west coasts instead of being sent down its natural path through central Florida to be cleaned by the Everglades before entering into Florida Bay.
The water appears brown off Port. St. Lucie and by the time it reaches the Savannah area it appears as a blue-green water. The change in color is likely to be due to dilution by the Gulf Stream waters. Other recent satellite imagery does not show this water as clearly as this one due to clouds and other atmospheric effects. This provides evidence that Florida is transporting unhealthy polluted waters to other states.
To see a Map of the pollution, please CLICK HERE

160630-b
The real algae bloom crisis
Tampabay.com - Editorial
June 30, 2016
Gov. Rick Scott took another cheap shot at the White House this week for a crisis he and his party had a big hand in creating. The governor declared a state of emergency for Martin and St. Lucie counties after a massive algae bloom in the St. Lucie River prompted beach closings on the Atlantic Coast. Scott, predictably, blamed President Barack Obama for not investing enough in flood control in southeast Florida. This from a governor who for years fought the federal government over water cleanup efforts and who collects huge sums from big polluters in the Everglades to push his political agenda.
Scott's order Wednesday calls on state agencies to take several steps to redirect and manage the flow of water in and out of Lake Okeechobee. The unseasonably heavy rains this winter forced the Army Corps of Engineers to dump billions of gallons of dirty water down the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, causing environmental damage on both coasts as nutrient-rich water from the lake flowed to coastal estuaries.
To stem the spread of the algae, Scott directed the South Florida Water Management District to store additional water north and south of the lake. Algae blooms cause health problems and harm the local ecosystem and water-related businesses. With Scott's order, the state will expand the monitoring for toxins and open a hotline for complaints.
This is all well and fine, but Scott is only reacting to a crisis long in the making. And worse, he is using other people's misery to score political points. Obama is not the culprit. This governor fought the federal government for years over the state's clean-water standards. He decimated the water management districts, cut environmental enforcement, rejected a plan by former Gov. Charlie Crist to buy sugar land for water storage and signed into law a bloated water resources bill that will encourage sprawl. Scott has not called on Congress to eliminate U.S. price supports for sugar, which force taxpayers to both subsidize the industry's dirty practices and then pay for the cleanup of the Everglades. No wonder U.S. Sugar Corp. has become one of the governor's biggest financial supporters with another $100,000 donation to his political committee in June.
Scott's order Wednesday calls on state agencies to take several steps to redirect and manage the flow of water in and out of Lake Okeechobee. The unseasonably heavy rains this winter forced the Army Corps of Engineers to dump billions of gallons of dirty water down the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, causing environmental damage on both coasts as nutrient-rich water from the lake flowed to coastal estuaries.
If Scott wants to fix the problem, he should work with Congress to stop contributing to it.

160630-c
Toxic algae will remain after die-off until dredging
CBS12.com - by Jana Eschbach
June 30, 2016
STUART (CBS12) — U.S. Senator Nelson and U.S. Senator Rubio want FEMA on the Treasure Coast, calling it a disaster. But Governor Rick Scott, while declaring a State of Emergency, has yet to ask the federal government for aid. That detail is holding up any chance businesses will get for any financial relief from this pollution.
"It's 1.5 billion of nutrient laden water dumped into a salt water estuary environment-- which is illegal and criminal. It should not be so," said Rufus Wakeman, Charter Fisherman, "if something isn't done today.. years from now it's a doom scenario."
This doomsday scenario is the fear of a river dying. Charter Fisherman Rufus Wakeman says he hopes this State of Emergency declaration and toxic algae bloom will get the water pollution problems in Florida fixed, but if not, he says most charter fisherman won't survive another season of this. He said he is already watching the death of the river like we are seeing with the Indian River Lagoon.
Martin county Commissioner Sarah Heard says part of Everglades Restoration Plan is a lengthy years-long process of dredging and removing the soon-to be millions of tons of toxic muck from our river after the algae bloom dies off. That part of the project, federal and state money.
We have seen the politicians come to the river before and make promises. So what is different this time?
"I have to believe we are not going to destroy the most biodiverse estuary in North America," said Martin County Commissioner Sarah Heard, "This bloom you see out here is going to die and it's going to sink and it's going to become anaerobic and it still will contain those microcystin so they are going to have to be removed."
While local and federal leaders tour the toxic waters and make declarations of emergencies, those who work near the water fear if a fix isn't in place after this toxic outbreak, this river will continue its demise, taking livelihoods with it.
"It's just wrong. It's just wrong," Wakeman said choking up," It's not good and it's not fair that we suffer. This is our way of life here in Stuart, Florida, and it is dictated by the river and the condition of the water. We have boat builders here. We have marinas here. We have a lot of people who enjoy the waterways. Without good clean water, they can't do those things."
The Department of Environmental Protection is asking people to visit its website to report algae blooms, or call 855-305-3903.

160630-d
US Senator Bill Nelson tours St Lucie River
WFLX.com
June 30, 2016
Story Video: Click here
MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- U.S Senator Bill Nelson toured the St. Lucie River Thursday to see and smell what Treasure Coast residents are dealing with on a daily basis.
Nelson’s boat tour was cut short due to weather. He was rerouted to see the algae that coats the St. Lucie River at Central Marine.
He described the smell as “rotten algae”.
Nelson even coughed and expressed how his sinus was bothering him during an interview near the water.
“I am like the canary in the coal mine… I’m very sensitive to allergies,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he is disgusted by the conditions, and explained the need for a short term quick fix.
“The question is how do we stop putting nutrient-laden water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee?” Nelson said.
Nelson said he called the Army Corps of Engineers this week, asking them to start storing more water to the north of Lake Okeechobee, and start sending more water south through canals.
“The best way to do the quick fix is to get as much water into storage as you can in the canals, as well as hold the water back from coming into the lake by filling up the Kissimmee river,” Nelson said.
Nelson also asked the Army Corps of Engineers to fill up any other storage areas around the state and hope we do not have any significant storms in the next few weeks.
As far as making more progress on a long term fix, Nelson put the pressure on the state, specifically addressing Amendment 1.
Amendment 1 passed in 2014 to allocate money specifically for land acquisition and restoration in the state.
“We’ve got to get the state of Florida to spend amendment 1 money for what it was intended, not state administrative expenses,” Nelson said.
He also said he wants Governor Rick Scott to tour the conditions. Nelson said Scott has not requested federal aid.
Concerned residents followed Nelson on his water tour, some asking why this keeps happening and why more hasn’t been done since the most recent large algae bloom in 2013.
“When you try to reverse 75 years of diking and draining, that takes time,” Nelson said.
Since 2013, Nelson says more water has been sent south to restore the everglades.
Nelson said he has also asked the Army Corps of Engineers to re asses their lake discharge schedule which was last updated nearly 8 years ago.
Since then, Nelson says repairs have been make to the dike around the length to strengthen it. He says the lake could possible hold more water for longer than it is being held now.
Residents just want to see something change quickly.
“Do these people not have heart ?  Do they not know what they’re doing to this planet ?…
I hope he feels the pain we feel, said resident Deedra Ryder.
Nelson says he will be taking pictures of the algae to the White House.
Related:           U.S Senator Bill Nelson tours St. Lucie River, calls for decrease in ...          WPTV.com
Sen. Nelson supports use of eminent domain for sugar land  TCPalm

160630-e
Who’s to blame for algae mess? Experts say urban growth, not Lake O
Palm Beach Post - by Jennifer Sorentrue, Staff Writer
June 30, 2016
Pollution from population growth and urban development — not water releases from Lake Okeechobee — is the primary cause of the foul-smelling slime turning many waterways in Martin County a bright blue-green, an expert in algae blooms said Thursday.
Still, in response to mounting outcry over massive water releases from Lake Okeechobee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday said it planned to reduce the amount of lake water it sends to the St. Lucie Estuary and Caloosahatchee River.
Beginning today, the Corps said it would cut releases into the St. Lucie Estuary to 756 million gallons per day — a 35 percent drop from Thursday’s level when the discharges totaled roughly 1.1 billion gallons per day. Water releases into the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast of the state also will be reduced, the Corps said.
Gov. Rick Scott also took action late Thursday, extending a previously declared state of emergency for the algae bloom for Martin and St. Lucie counties to include Palm Beach and Lee counties. That's in addition to a Wednesday local state of emergency declaration made by Martin County officials.
“It has been a challenging year for South Florida,” Col. Jason Kirk, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District Commander said in a statement released Thursday. “Our water managers have dealt with such large quantities of rain and runoff entering the lake that it would cover the entire state of Delaware in 2 feet of water. However, after visiting with local elected officials in Martin County yesterday and viewing the algae firsthand, we felt compelled to take action, even though we need to remain vigilant in managing the level of Lake Okeechobee.”
Brian LaPointe, an expert in algae blooms and a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, questioned whether slowing the discharges would help much. He said septic tanks, sewage systems and other nutrient-laden pollutants have fueled the widespread algae blooms invading Martin County waters.
“It is not the lake,” LaPointe said Thursday. “It is really the human activities on the watershed. The algae is just the ecological response to excess nutrients. Lake Okeechobee is easy to point your finger at, but the reality is that it is coming from many, many sources.”
On Wednesday, the South Florida Water Management District issued a news release that also made the same argument.
The release, which included the headline “Myth versus Fact,” detailed the district’s response to the algae outbreak. The district said the idea that Lake Okeechobee is the sole cause of blue-green algae is a myth, adding that the blooms have occurred in years when there were no lake releases.
“The nutrients and fresh water that can fuel growth of naturally occurring blue-green algae also comes from local stormwater runoff and septic tanks,” the district wrote in the release.
Also called cyanobacteria, the algae are caused by tiny organisms naturally found in water. It sometimes produces toxins that can cause health problems in humans and pets.
The blooms are fueled by warm weather and by water enriched with nutrients, such as those found in septic tanks and stagnant water. There is no effective treatment to stop the algae or remove it from the water.
The algae were first discovered last month in Lake Okeechobee. Since then, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection has been monitoring blooms across the Treasure Coast and South Florida.
Martin County residents have blamed the blue-green algae outbreak on nutrient-rich water releases from Lake Okeechobee.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the earthen dike around the lake, has been flushing lake water down the St. Lucie Estuary and Caloosahatchee River since last year because high water levels in the lake threaten the fragile dike around it.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson called on the Corps to route the lake water to the south rather than to the east. Nelson met in Martin County with officials and the media at a marina where the water was thick with the algae.
The stench of the algae forced reporters to cover their noses; some wore paper masks.
“You’re smelling the rotting algae,” Nelson said at the dock. “If you put too many nutrients into the water, this is what’s going to happen.”
The long-term fix is that “you have to reverse the diking and draining that occurred over three-quarters of a century,” Nelson said.
“The short-term fix here so that we stop the algae bloom in the St. Lucie is that you hold the water back from going into the lake on the north side of the lake, and release as much water as you can, without polluting the Everglades, to the south. That’s what we’re trying to get the Corps of Engineers to do on a temporary basis,” the senator said.
Bill Louda, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s chemistry department, said diverting water south into the Everglades would be devastating.
“They can’t or they’ll kill the Everglades,” Louda said.
LaPointe agreed.
“There are a number of reasons why you can’t send that volume of water south,” LaPointe said. “It would have very damaging effects on the Everglades and Florida Bay.”
Instead, LaPointe said legislators should focus on regulations for septic tanks and require sewage treatment facilities to reduce the amount of nitrogen in the effluent. Water contamination caused by sewage and septic tanks is like “MiracleGro” for the algae, allowing the blooms to rapidly expand, he said.
“This is something that our Legislature in Tallahassee really needs to get ahold of,” LaPointe said. “They really need some leadership up there to realize that Florida’s economic future really depends on us controlling this problem and getting ahead of this.”
Tequesta resident Marvin Steiding, who runs Reel Candy Sportfishing Charters, has seen the economic damage firsthand. The company is normally completely booked for the Fourth of July holiday, but Steiding said business has slowed as news of the algae blooms has spread. Some customers, he said, have been reluctant to book charters because of concerns about the water quality.
“Almost 30 percent of my calls are people are concerned about the water and whether the fish are good to eat,” he said. “It is definitely affecting business.”
The state declaration of emergency gave South Florida water managers the authority to reduce the amount of water flowing into Lake Okeechobee from the north, ultimately allowing the Corps to send less water to the St. Lucie Estuary and Caloosahatchee River, officials said.
The change also calls for release into the St. Lucie Estuary to be in a pulselike manner to mimic rainfall, replacing the continuous flow of water that was being sent through the St. Lucie Lock near Stuart.
“This should bring some degree of relief to the estuaries,” Kirk said.
On Thursday, the lake stood at 14.9 feet, up more than a foot since May 17 when it hit its lowest level of the year.
Related:           Toxic algae forces Florida to declare state of emergency       New York Daily News

160629-a
Lake releases not likely to change, despite east coast request to close Herbert Hoover Dike
News-Press.com – by Chad Gillis
June 29, 2016
Lake Okeechobee releases will likely remain on schedule this week, despite severe algal blooms on the east coast and local governments and residents asking the federal government to close off the Herbert Hoover Dike.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is gathering information on lake levels and releases and will likely announce a decision on any changes to the releases Thursday.
The volume of water flowing to the west coast is about 4,000 cubic feet per second, which is above the level required to cause harm to the estuary (2,800 cfs).
Some Southwest Florida residents are concerned that stopping or slowing flows from the lake to the east coast could mean more lake water sent our way.
But that seems unlikely as the threat to human lives and properties living around the lake trumps Clean Water Act violation concerns.
"Even if we were to suspend flows to the east, it would be quite an unusual occurrence to exceed the guidance going west," said John Campbell, Army Corps spokesman in Jacksonville. "I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion."
The Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers were connected to the lake about a century ago to drain the Everglades for development and farming. Today the rivers function as a flood plain for the lake, each receiving large, unnatural discharges when lake levels get too high.
Agal blooms in Stuart County have forced health officials to close many of the region's most popular swimming and recreational beaches. On Wednesday night, Gov. Rick Scott issued a state of emergency for Martin and St. Lucie counties.
Photos of the east coast bloom show conditions varying from a green, oil-like sheen to what looks like carpet floating on the surface.
TCpalm.com is reporting a large fish kill in the area too, although people may not see the carcasses because the fish are apparently sinking to the bottom.
The Southwest Florida landscape is very wet, even for late June.
"The lake is a pretty good indicator," said Randy Smith, a spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District. "It’s close to 15 feet, so it’s higher than it would be this time of year."
The surface of Lake Okeechobee was 14.9 feet above sea level Tuesday. Army Corps protocols say the lake should be kept between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet above sea level in order to protect people and property around the lake.
"The lake, currently, as we get close to the beginning of July, is the highest it’s been this time of year in roughly eight years," Campbell said. "It’s about a foot higher at this point than it was in 2013."
The 2013 rainy season caused large algal blooms on this coast. The combination of Lake Okeechobee and local stormwater run-off pushed freshwater 15 miles or more into the Gulf of Mexico, killing off a large portion of the Caloosahatchee estuary

160629-b
Neon-green algae draws outcry from commissioner, senator
Sun Sentinel, Associated Press
June 29, 2016
A Palm Beach County commissioner on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of officials who raised health and environmental concerns related to blue-green algae that has bloomed in Florida waters.
Commissioner Melissa McKinlay is calling for an emergency meeting to address what could become an economic and ecological disaster.
"Health concerns are my first priority," McKinlay said in a news release. "Residents need to know what precautions they should take in the interim while this issue is being investigated, and solutions are indentified."
Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Wednesday in Martin and St. Lucie counties, where the algal blooms have closed beaches.
He ordered the South Florida Water Management District to reduce the flow of water into Lake Okeechobee.
Coastal communities have said discharges from Lake Okeechobee to relieve pressure on its earthen dikes have contributed to the algal blooms, which harm wildlife and tourism.
In a letter, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson demanded the Army Corps of Engineers to take "immediate action" and send more of the water discharged from Lake Okeechobee south into the Everglades to prevent "neon-green" algae from washing up on the shore.
"Business owners along the coast could incur significant financial losses if residents and visitors are forced to avoid the algae-laden waterways and beaches for long periods of time," he wrote.
McKinlay wants to host a joint meeting of officials from the agricultural industry and several governmental agencies, including the South Florida Water Management District, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The algae has not closed beaches in Palm Beach County, but Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith called the bloom "our Deepwater Horizon," referring to a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Touching the algae can cause rashes, and swallowing it could cause gastrointestinal issues, according to the Florida Department of Health.

160629-c
Residents beg state, federal agencies to fix Lake Okeechobee discharge problems
WPBF.com – by Terri Parker
June 29, 2016
Dozens at SFWMD meeting urge officials to act on toxic algae
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —As members of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force gave project updates Wednesday, dozens of concerned people waited to comment on toxic algae blooms from the Treasure Coast to the Keys and the West Coast, stemming from pesticide-laden fresh water runoff released from Lake Okeechobee.
“Would you plan your vacation here?” Roxanne Howard asked the task force. “I would not. I would not plan my vacation here because I do not want to get a flesh-eating disease.”
People spoke about stinking, algae-covered canals and marinas, fears of touching toxic algae and businesses closing because of polluted waterways.
 “We are urging you, the district, all of the members sitting in here, any agency that can put this planning for southern storage in the EEA (Everglades Agricultural Area) on the fast track--not in five years, not in four years, right now. It has to happen,” said former West Palm Beach City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, now representing Everglades Trust.
David Preston of Bullsugar.org, a water conservation group, said the solution on which most agree on is buying land south of Lake Okeechobee and steering the runoff there, where flows through marshland will help clean it before it gets to the Everglades. “We  need to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee to store enough water from Lake Okeechobee and stop these discharges,” said Preston.
The task force members include Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army (Civil Works); Michael Bean of the U.S. Department of Interior; John Cruden of the U.S. Department of Justice; Jon Steverson, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection; Jim Shore, general counsel to the Seminole Tribe of Florida; and other members from various federal and state agencies that deal with water and environmental issues.
The task force did not directly address the concerns raised by the public speakers, but most officials who gave a public update touched on ongoing projects surrounding Lake Okeechobee, its rivers and estuaries and water flow problems.
SFWMD board member James Moran said at the start of the meeting that officials are moving the lake runoff storage problem to high priority and expediting a solution.
However, some remained skeptical, and others simply urged action.
“I want you to work like your life depends on it, because ours does,” said Mitchell.
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Testy crowd at water district meeting

160629-d
Upset residents attend South Florida Water Management District meeting
WPTV.com – by Alyssa Hyman
June 29, 2016
People are still demanding answers and asking for solutions to solve the on-going water crisis unfolding on the Treasure Coast.
Wednesday dozens of frustrated residents packed a task force that was meeting at the South Florida Water Management District.
The meeting room was so full it was standing room only. Residents held signs and posters and even made t-shirts with their messages.
All of them were demanding solutions and alternatives to the massive Lake Okeechobee discharges into the St Lucie Estuary.
A majority wants the state to move forward with buying land and sending the water south toward the Everglades.
This was actually a regularly scheduled meeting for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. However, the focus quickly shifted to the toxic algae and discharges.
"I can’t believe people have allowed this to happen in our state. Where children can't swim in the ocean," said one upset resident.
"We will not be a quiet voice now. It is time. It is time to make a stand and to do it.  They cannot ignore us anymore," said Tamlyn Willard, a Jupiter mother.
The task force is made up of several state and federal agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
One of the main topics on the agenda was an update on the Everglades Restoration Project.

160628-a
Blue-green algae forces beaches to close in Martin County
WPBF.com – by Jimmie Johnson
Jun 28, 2016
While beaches reopened in St. Lucie County, beaches are closed in Martin County due to the infestation of blue-green algae
It is really a sad situation to say the least. There is no one around here on stuart beach and that is because of blue-green algae blocking up on local waterways. “you can see it. And you can smell it. It's just awful”.
Matt Athan's home near the St. Lucie river in Stuart may be considered paradise, but this is crazy. “Look at that, Jimmie”. The Sunset Marina where he and his neighbors dock their boats, now filled with a pool of blue-green algae. Athan says he noticed the water turning green Tuesday “and by the weekend -- growing and growing. And you can see how thick it is. And the smell is just atrocious”.
Blue-green algae has also been washing up on treasure coast beaches. Over the weekend, several waving double red flags from Martin to St. Lucie county -- no swimming. Beaches in St. Lucie county reopened today Martin county officials decided now. Meanwhile, the Department is taking water samples. Athan's hopeful a few good rains or a full moon cycle will wash it out, but prefers a permanent solution to fix the problem. “Everybody wants to blame big sugar. Everybody wants to blame lake Okeechobee, but just solve the problem. They dug the Panama canal in 1914. You would think they would b able to dig a canal from Lake Okeechobee to the everglades.”
Famed environmentalist on her facebook page saying she is going to do whatever she can.

160628-b
Florida Governor Rick Scott aware of algae problems, blames feds
WPTV.com – by Katie Johnson
June 28, 2016
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Florida Gov. Rick Scott is responding to concerns about water problems on the Treasure Coast.
Appearing in Palm Beach County Tuesday, the governor says he is well aware of the appearance of algae in some waterways and beaches.
 “The first thing you think of it public safety. At the state level, we've spent $700 million over the last five years to move water south, to deal with issues over the Everglades, we're doing storm treatment areas, we're raising the Tamiami Trail but there's still more to do,” Gov. Scott said.
The governor said that he doesn't have any trips scheduled for the Treasure Coast, although he’s constantly traveling throughout Florida. He's heading to Jacksonville later Tuesday.
The governor blamed the federal government for the water problems and said that he has no control over water releases from Lake Okeechobee.
Scott said the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Department of Health are monitoring the situation.
Related:           More coverage of Toxic Water

160627-a

160627-a
Don’t dismiss dangers of algae in our waterways
TCPlam.com – by Maggy Hurchalla, former Martin County commissioner for 20 years and a member of the Everglades Hall of Fame
June 27, 2016
No one wants to be Chicken Little.
The sky wasn't falling. The silly bird panicked over a little acorn.
But the sky is falling on Lake Okeechobee, the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon.
Call it cyanobacteria or call it green slime, it's real, it's here, and it's dangerous.
From time to time, the state tests a few algae blooms in the river and tells us whether they were producing microcystin toxins four days earlier.
Those toxins can kill your cow or your dog if they lap them up. Most people have enough sense not to do that.
But we do love to fish and play in our waterways — especially on hot summer days. Microcystin can cause rashes on contact. Eating contaminated fish can cause liver damage. You don't want to play in it. You don't want your dinner to live in it.
When the tests come back negative, are we supposed to relax and take the kids out to the sandbar?
The signs stay up, but some believe negative tests mean it's OK to go splash.
It's not.
The South Florida Water Management District Hazardous Algae Blooms site notes that in Lake Okeechobee monitoring indicates high toxin levels have been measured when there is no apparent bloom. The toxin doesn't go away when the algae dies.
Researchers measuring toxin levels in sediments in shallow eutrophic lakes (think Lake Okeechobee) found toxins persisted in sediments.
Researchers around the world have been warning that cyanobacteria blooms are a growing problem with serious public health consequences.
But microcystis bacteria and microcystin toxins are only a part of the cyanobacteria problem. They may be the least-scary part. There are a number of different cyanobacteria species. Most of them produce an array of microtoxins, not just microcystin. A lot of them live in Florida waters.
So should you go home to Kansas? That won't help. There is microcystin in the reservoir that supplies Wichita's drinking water.
But worse than the microcystin toxin is the specter of a toxin called beta-methylamino-L-alanine, or BMAA, a compound produced by cyanobacteria.
We have it. We don't know how much. The state doesn't test for it.
It has been proven to cause a neurological disease in Guam similar to Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
It is a widely supported hypothesis that chronic exposure can cause neurological diseases in humans.
Exposure of rats and monkeys to BMAA has caused neurological diseases.
In New Hampshire, France and the Chesapeake Bay, researchers have found ALS clusters that correlate with high BMAA levels.
The mechanism whereby BMAA causes "misfolding of proteins" in the brain has been described and replicated. Misfolded proteins are part of the cascade of changes in the brain that can end up as ALS, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease.
The effect of exposure is delayed 30 years or more.
It is still a hypothesis.
It's not "proven" that it causes those diseases.
For that reason, the Florida Department of Health states, "There are millions of potential environmental exposures and additional research is necessary."
Chicken Little might get upset about all those millions of possible environmental exposures.
That doesn't mean we can laugh off our clear and present danger.
That doesn't mean we can go water skiing or eat fish when a river of cyanobacteria is being dumped on us by state and local authorities.
Folks working on the hazardous algal bloom program for various agencies are doing their best with the resources they've been given.
It's not good enough.
Those who are being exposed need to know what's happening.
We need to ask the governor and the president to immediately create a state/federal research team to explore the health threats from cyanobacteria in Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie River estuary.
We need to ask the Legislature to require monitoring and treatment to reduce phosphorous flow to Lake Okeechobee from all directions. Voluntary "best management practices" have not worked. Untreated pumped discharges to the lake are still going on.
We need to demonstrate there is an environmental end game for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, and that we are going to buy the land in the Everglades Agricultural Area to send the water south.

160627-b
Make sure your preferred candidates are not part of the problem
TCPalm.com - Letter by Carl Stewart, Stuart, FL
June 27, 2016
The old adage "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem" is appropriate for the current plumbing problem we have here on the Florida peninsula. The problem began many moons ago with the construction of dikes and canals by the Army Corps of Engineers (under the direction of Congress) to make life more habitable for us humans.
Unfortunately the one major design flaw in the overall plumbing plan was the lack of a major flow way south through the Everglades Agricultural Area to the Everglades and ultimately into Florida Bay in order to relieve the excess water accumulating in Lake Okeechobee. As to what needs to happen to correct the problem, the science is clear, the political will is still quite muddy.
It is well known the sugar industry pays out millions of dollars to state and federal politicians. In exchange for this, they get to maintain the status quo by blocking much of the water from going south and receive outlandish subsidies for growing sugar cane, as the coastal estuaries continue to get decimated by sediment and excess nutrients. A truly corrupt system at best!
Much work has been done by dedicated groups including The Rivers Coalition, Florida Oceanographic Society, Indian Riverkeeper and many others, to educate the public as to what the problem is and what needs to be done. It will not be an easy task, and it will be expensive, but now it is up to us to demand that our politicians take on the fight to repair a faulty system.
If your current politicians and/or candidate of choice is not actively addressing our river and estuary issues, they are very much a part of the problem!

160627-c
SWFL’s top priority
News-Press.com – Letter by John Paeno, Bonita Springs, FL
June 27, 016
Recently, Lee County Blueway put on a paddling race on Fort Myers Beach. This year ,it attracted international competitors. This event is attracting large crowds in the summer time when businesses can most use them. I commend SWFL Sup Club, Lee County and the Blueway for putting on this great event. Top rated Ryan Helms won the overall race.
So many people enjoyed the day but the only negative comment was related to the water. The comments we heard from many of them was that it was such a beautiful venue; the only thing was the water smelled and looked bad and dead things were on the beach.
With the summer rain, the Lake Okeechobee releases have increased again and no progress to date has been done to actually stop it! Another dead manatee washed up on shore at the Sanibel Causeway and what is being done? Many of the competitors and spectators alike would not swim in the water.
Why isn’t the destruction of the Southwest Florida ecosystem (Everglades) and the economy that depends on it, a priority? How long before some actual steps are taken to stop the destruction of Southwest Florida?
I urge all Floridians to tell the governor to stop the flow from Lake O!
I urge all Americans to write to their congressmen and senators and tell them to make saving Southwest Florida Everglades a priority. Stop the flow from Lake O!

160627-d
Why farmland south of Lake Okeechobee contribute to problem
Naples Daily News – Guest commentary by Ray Judah, Fort Myers Coordinator, Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition
June 27, 2016
It was no surprise to read U.S. Sugar Vice President Bubba Wade's recent commentary in support of positions of U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, after I questioned the congressman's commitment to Everglades restoration.
Big Sugar provides generous financial support for their hand-picked politicians and reacts quickly to defend its investments.
Recent scientific research has revealed a link between blue-green algae and the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. It is well-documented that toxic blue-green algae, such as the harmful algae bloom in the Caloosahatchee River, is a direct result of land-based nutrient runoff, including phosphorus and nitrogen from the sugar cane fields that back-pump into Lake Okeechobee.
Wade states that there is no truth to the claim that the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie Canal are the relief valves for the release of excessive polluted water from Lake Okeechobee.
It is well-documented that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie for discharge of elevated lake water levels preventing flooding of lands at lower elevation such as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).
Wade suggests that the (EAA), including 440,000 acres of sugar cane fields, south of Lake Okeechobee, is treated the same as other agricultural interests in the South Florida Water Management District's jurisdictional boundaries. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the EAA enjoys tremendous leniency due to "grandfathered" surface water management systems and extended land leases.
To prevent flooding in the EAA, the South Florida Water Management District manages ground water levels at 18 to 24 inches below grade, regardless of seasonal fluctuations, to provide optimum growing conditions for sugar cane to the detriment of the South Florida ecosystem.
Government-owned water conservation areas south of the EAA are used extensively by the sugar industry for water storage and treatment, effectively displacing any potential storage for water from Lake Okeechobee. Property owners in the EAA should be expected to provide storage for stormwater runoff on their own property as is required for all other permitted developments instead of exploiting publicly owned lands.
Wade suggests that water is only back-pumped from the EAA to Lake Okeechobee to provide flood protection for the communities adjacent to southern Lake Okeechobee.
However, the massive volume of water redirected to the lake is predominantly from the EAA, which covers a far greater area than the communities around the lake that have a much smaller footprint and exhibit higher ground elevations.
Wade's defense of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP) as the solution to "getting the water right" is actually countered by the South Florida Water Management District's updated modeling that demonstrates a need for an additional 1 million acre-feet of water storage south of Lake Okeechobee.
CERP was based on flawed climate "data sets" because the modeling for CERP was conducted using average rainfall from 1965 to 1995 — an historic dry period when there were five "wet" years and 25 "dry" years.
A spillway out of Lake Okeechobee is the most cost-effective engineering solution, incorporated in practically every other reservoir in the world, to control the release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy the dam.
Arguing that more storage south of Lake Okeechobee would be of little benefit to the lake or estuaries, Wade fails to make the distinction between Everglades National Park and the water conservation areas when discussing flooded conditions in early 2016.
Everglades National Park and Florida Bay continue to suffer due to lack of freshwater flow because the EAA severs the hydrological connection from Lake Okeechobee. The water conservation area's wildlife and tree islands remain vulnerable to flooded conditions due to the sugar industry's reliance on publicly owned lands for the discharge of polluted runoff from the EAA.
It is extremely difficult for the public to navigate in a sea of political deception and distortion and "getting the water right" is incumbent on "getting the politicians right."

160626-
Algae alerts now in Martin and St. Lucie counties
TCPalm.com - by Elliott Jones
June 26, 2016
Martin and St. Lucie County officials are appealing to state officials to test the water at local beaches after swimmers were warned Saturday and Sunday to stay out of the water because of potentially harmful algae.
Officials in both counties are appealing to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation to test the water, to see what type of algae is present and whether it is a harmful blue-green algae that is believed to be linked to freshwater discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
In the meantime, said Rene Rouse, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Martin County, "We are just telling people to avoid the water as a precaution."
The algae first started appearing off Stuart on Friday, then spread northward in Martin County. On Sunday, it was seen in southern St. Lucie County, prompting the county to advise people to only swim north of the Florida Power and Light Co. nuclear power plant south of Fort Pierce.
"People need to use common sense and stay out of the water that appears to have algae in it," said St. Lucie County spokesman Erick Gill. The algae turns normally bluish water greenish. Sometimes the algae appears as bits or clumps in the water.
"We urge residents to use beaches north of the power plant and prefer that they swim at lifeguarded beaches, which will be South Beach and Pepper Park on North Hutchinson Island," Gill said. He said he hopes the DEP will do the testing Monday. DEP officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Warning signs have been posted at public beaches and lifeguards are displaying double red flags, meaning beachgoers shouldn't go in the water.
The U.S. Coast Guard noticed fewer boats at the St. Lucie Inlet on Saturday, a spokesman at the Fort Pierce station said.
The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast is cautioning people adopting or fostering its dogs and cats to stay away from waters where algae is present, said society official Vanessa Aguirre. That includes going to beaches or boating.
The no-swimming alerts at the beach started in Martin County at Bathtub Reef Beach on Friday and were expanded to Stuart and Jensen Beach beach parks on Saturday, Rouse said. The alerts remained in effect Sunday in Martin County and an alert was posted at St. Lucie County's Waveland Beach, a mile north of Jensen Beach Park.
"We're taking this a day at a time," Rouse said.
So far, no one at the beaches has developed health problems from the algae, Rouse said.
Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, said the algae in the ocean came out of the St. Lucie Inlet and is being spread by the winds and tides.
Winds could continue pushing potentially harmful algae northward in the ocean along the coast of St. Lucie County on Monday, possibly closing off more beaches to swimming. The National Weather Service is predicting slight northward winds will remain through Tuesday, causing a northward drift in the nearshore waters.
DEP tests of algae near the discharges, from Lake Okeechobee, found specks of microcystis, which is a type of blue-green algae that often contains toxins, officials said.
Such toxins can cause nausea and vomiting if swallowed. Touching can lead to a rash and breathing may lead hay fever symptoms. Liver disease is linked to drinking water with toxins.
Warning signs also are posted at boat ramps from Port Mayaca in western Martin County to Sandsprit Park in Stuart, Rouse said.

160625-
Bittersweet water quality
Naples Daily News - by Dave Trecker
June 25, 2016
The beat goes on. The media and environmental scribes continue to hammer away at the sugar-cane industry for its role in polluting Lake Okeechobee and the surrounding waterways.
The most recent tack is to tut-tut the government for subsidizing “big sugar” — forgiven loans, import restrictions, limited domestic production — de facto subsidies to ensure a price advantage over foreign competition. The strategy of “big sugar” opponents may be to drive U.S. producers out of business so the land can be turned into filter marshes and holding ponds to clean up water flowing into the Everglades.
That won’t happen. A major player in the Florida economy — $3.2 billion per year and over 12,000 jobs — the sugar industry is here to stay. And it should be. Transferring wealth is a poor strategy for dealing with pollution.
So is buying land. The cry for spending Amendment 1 money to purchase U.S. Sugar land south of the lake continues (I have been among the criers). One set of options has expired, but another, requiring all-or-nothing purchase at market price, remains.
That would be a huge expense, and it would only be a band aid. To have an impact on pollution control, land to the east and west would have to be purchased as well, not to mention thousands of acres to the north where flow from the Kissimmee area carries its own set of pollutants.
We’re talking about billions of government dollars to buy untold acres. Then there is the matter of building new reservoirs, enlarging canals and installing clean-up facilities. A massive undertaking requiring not only a staggering amount of public money, but also decades of time.
It won’t happen.
To get a perspective on what would be involved, I invite the reader to drive to Clewiston, get off the main highway and wander among the cane fields. You will see that the buy-land-and-clean-up-the-flow-south strategy is unrealistic, if not downright absurd.
An approach that is realistic and might have an impact is to toughen the nutrient standards for all lakes and waterways in Florida. Forget about the piecemeal site-specific specs and put in place stringent limits statewide for soluble nitrogen and phosphorus, the bad actors in fertilizer runoff.
The Department of Environmental Protection can readily do that. And it should. It doesn’t take billions of dollars in land purchase to tighten water-quality specs.
But can those specs be enforced? Probably not everywhere. But they can be enforced in the areas of greatest concern, and Clewiston is one of those areas.
The sugar industry must be held accountable for water pollution — and fertilizer runoff is the greatest cause. Imposing and enforcing standards on waterways amid the cane fields and refineries may be the only realistic way to curb pollution from the sugar industry.
To convince yourself, take a road trip.

160624-a
After 93 years of state-sponsored pollution, our estuaries are besieged again
TCPalm.com – Guest Column by Gary Goforth, a Stuart-based environmental engineer with more than 30 years of experience in large-scale ecosystem restoration projects.
June 24, 2016
Imagine strolling along the boardwalk under the Roosevelt Bridge and looking down into a beautiful, clear St. Lucie River and being able to see the sandy bottom 15 feet below.
Imagine dozens of tarpon rolling west of the bridge and healthy oyster beds blanketing the shallows of the estuary to the east.
Farther downstream, imagine luxuriant sea grass beds as far as the eye can see, up and down the Indian River Lagoon. Close inspection of the sea grass would reveal thousands of juvenile fish, sea horses, crabs, baby sea turtles and other marine life.
Those images were commonplace before June 13, 1923, the day Lake Okeechobee discharges began dumping hundreds of millions of tons of sediment, nutrients and toxic algae into the St. Lucie River estuary. Prior to that, excess lake water flowed south to the Everglades, the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay. It was diverted to the estuaries to allow for agricultural and residential development south of the lake.
The sediment from the lake decreased turbidity and light penetration. Excessive nutrients fed algae blooms, further decreasing light penetration. Without light, sea grasses die. The area has lost more than 47,000 acres of sea grasses in recent years.
Without the sea grasses, the juvenile fish and other marine life lost their refuge from predators, and fewer made it to maturity to sustain healthy populations. The large populations of tarpon left the river, left the estuary, left the lagoon. A thriving inshore fishing industry was wiped out, and the area was no longer the "Tarpon Fishing Capital of the World." Community leaders looked offshore and recast the area for tourists as the "Sailfish Capital of the World."
The black muck from the lake covered the once-sandy bottom and filled in the river. With each successive lake discharge, additional millions of pounds of muck oozed farther downstream, such that runoff from storms sent plumes of polluted water farther out into the lagoon, out the inlet, and covering the nearshore reefs. Aerial photos dramatically show dark plumes of black water extending miles from the inlet, in contrast to the clear blue ocean water.
As we mark the 93rd anniversary of the beginning of state-sponsored pollution of the St. Lucie River and estuary, our region and the Caloosahatchee River estuary on the west coast are again besieged with destructive discharges of polluted water from the lake, with no end in sight. Many of the fish and other marine life have left. Others are not so fortunate: as salinities plummeted, oysters died — wiping out not only this year's populations but disrupting the spawning of future generations as well.
To call the discharges "fresh water" is wrong from both a chemical standpoint and from a public awareness perspective; a better description is "black water." Since Jan. 30, this black water has carried more than 35 million pounds of sediment into the river, more than 2 million pounds of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and toxic algae. Water from the lake is dirtier than it was in 2013 — a result of the state's neglect in holding accountable those responsible for cleaning up water coming off their lands. With the passage of a 2016 water bill, our elected officials in Tallahassee have virtually ensured that the lake will not meet its water quality goals for decades, as deadlines were pushed back at least 20 years.
For the second year in a row, legislators failed to follow the will of the voters spelled out in Amendment 1: to purchase lands and implement projects needed to solve these complex problems. The state even had a willing seller option to purchase nearly 50,000 acres of U.S. Sugar Corp. property south of the lake, but failed to execute it in 2015.
Necessary projects go beyond existing federal projects and need to increase storage, treatment and conveyance all around the lake. Until then, our region's economic, environmental and public health will continue to be sacrificed for the benefit of those south of the lake, despite extensive local projects that have been, and will continue to be, undertaken by local governments.

160624-b
Attention Coastal Living editors — toxic algae has fouled 'America’s Happiest Seaside Town'
TCPalm.com – by Eve Samples
June 24, 2016
A carpet of blue-green algae is spreading across the shores of “America’s Happiest Seaside Town.”
It's lapping under the Riverwalk behind Stuart City Hall.
It has slicked boat ramps in Palm City. The neon gunk has fouled the water at Sandsprit Park, one of the Stuart community's most popular waterfront spots.
Consider this official notice to the editors at Coastal Living magazine, which named Stuart "America's Happiest Seaside Town" in April:
The designation is totally incongruous with what's happening in this city on the St. Lucie River.
This is a man-made disaster.
And it's likely to get worse, not better, as discharges from Lake Okeechobee continue this summer.
Already, algae has choked the river-fed canal behind Janet MacNaughton's home in Palm City. In photos from her backyard, it's difficult to discern where the lawn ends and the mat of green and blue algae begins.
MacNaughton emailed the images to Gov. Rick Scott, state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Stuart resident Kevin Powers, who is a member of the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board.
"You have talked for long enough," she wrote in the email. "You have played around building oversized retention ponds, otherwise known as reservoirs. How about you start thinking about the people that employ you — the voters."
Each day since Jan. 30, the St. Lucie River has been blasted with polluted fresh water from Lake Okeechobee. By Thursday, 143 billion gallons had poured into the St. Lucie, a normally brackish tributary of the Indian River Lagoon.
The low salinity, warm weather and waterborne nutrients are a recipe for blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria. It's been confirmed toxic in parts of Stuart, Palm City and Lake Okeechobee.
The algae bloom was entirely predictable. And it was preventable.
This election year, we have a chance to make our voices heard on this issue.
For decades, Florida's politicians have made excuses about why they can't stop the Lake Okeechobee discharges; why they can't restore the southward flow of lake water to the Everglades.
Gov. Scott has opposed purchasing more land in the Everglades Agricultural Area, where water could be cleaned and sent to the Everglades.
And too few state leaders have had the backbone to fight him on this.
This week, our Treasure Coast Newspapers Editorial Board hosted the first of its interviews with candidates running for election this year.
As we consider whom to endorse in races for Congress, the state Legislature and city and county offices, we will heavily weigh candidates' strategies for protecting the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.
Many of the candidates are among the boosters touting Stuart as the "Happiest Seaside Town" — even though the current state of our river makes it look like the crappiest.
Our politicians can fix this. We voters must demand it.
Learn more about the water quality in your area - Related:
Graphic: Follow our Lake Okeechobee discharge meter for daily updates.
Map: How's the water in your area?

160623-a
Blue-green algae spotted in Lake Worth Lagoon
WFLX.com
June 23rd 2016
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Residents who live along the Lake Worth Lagoon have spotted blue-green algae in the water over the past few days.
Dottie Carson found it covering the canal behind her Lake Worth house on Thursday.
"What has happened up north is now in Lake Worth and it's frightened me," she said.
Scientists with the Department of Environmental Protection took water samples this week to find out if the blue-green algae is toxic. If so, the health department would be notified to take the appropriate precautions.
"It's a disaster that we have no control over," Dottie said.
Bernadette Noel spotted the algae this week while walking her dog along Summa Beach.
The green sludge could be seen lining the intracoastal waterway.
"It was like lava, green in a way. The sand is white, but it made the sand green," Bernadatte said.
According to officials with South Florida Water Management, the water was being released from the canal due to recent rains.
Officials with SFWMD say blooms like the one seen in the lagoon happen every year due to excess nutrients in the water and hot temperatures.
Robert Robbins, director of the county's environmental resources division, says it's not clear yet how harmful this bloom may be.
Robert says the lagoon has had poor water quality for years due to freshwater releases.
The algae can be detrimental to marine life if it sticks around long enough.
"It reduces the amount of sunlight that can reach the bottom of a lagoon and seagrasses die off and seagrass is a primary food source in the lagoon," Robert said.
Once the algae dies, Robert said it could cause a fish kill, although he doesn't expect a large one to happen.
He said it's necessary to find other places to store the water, rather than sending into local waterways.
"The more that that stormwater runoff can be stored, treated and sent to beneficial areas like Everglades Restoration--that's the effort that can help," he said.

160623-b
Water quality subject of summit
North Fort Myers Neighbor
June 23, 2016
City leaders and experts came from both sides of Lake Okeechobee to discuss a subject that has started to have a negative impact on water quality and tourism: Lake Okeechobee.
The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau in Fort Myers was the site for the Lake Okeechobee Learning Collaborative on Wednesday. Lee County mayors, supported by the Florida League of Cities and the Florida League of Mayors, invited civic leaders from all over South Florida to focus on the problems and solutions concerning the lake, the rivers that flow from them, and the restoration of the Everglades, among other things.
Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane said 19 counties, with property valued collectively at more than $2 trillion, are impacted by the releases from Lake O, and that by talking about the issues together, they may come up with some solutions.
"We put together a white paper that's 47 pages long, where we talk about short-term and long-term issues and projects at the state and federal level," Ruane said. "Follow the playbook. Everything is in there, north, south, east and west."
All the guests received a copy of the "White Paper," which allowed them to get a handle on what was happening on the Caloosahatchee side of things.
Guests speakers included Ruane, Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson and Florida League of Cities President Matt Surrency, mayor of Hawthorne.
James Evans, Natural Resources Director of Sanibel, and Deborah Drum, of the Ecosystem Restoration & Management Division of Martin County, talked about the problems plaguing the estuaries of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.
Among them was one of the wettest winters on record, which sent a record amount of water down the rivers from Lake O and saturated the basins and watersheds.
Matt Morrison, Michael Collis and Drew Bartlett discussed solutions, which all of them said there was no one silver bullet that would solve the problems overnight. Not even storage.
"The solution is an enormous storage of water. It's possible, but you can't build storage south of the lake if you don't do it north," Morrison said. "We're on the brink of sending so much water to the south that it will have adverse effects."
Ruane and many others agreed that it will take a conglomeration of many ideas, and all will take lots of time and money
There was also a policy discussion and a Q&A session with all the experts, moderated by State Rep. Matt Caldwell. Among the issues discussed were how to reduce the amount of nutrients in the water and climate change and its impact on water quality.
Many of the mayors, including Cape Coral Mayor Marni Sawicki, are already aware of all the issues, so there wasn't much they heard that surprised them. But the fact that so many came from hours away showed the commitment they had to addressing an issue that could have dire consequences down the road.
"The League of Cities took it and ran with it. They did a wonderful job. I hope we can come up with a common agenda," Sawicki said. "None of this is new to me, so we need to know where we agree and bring that course to the legislators. What do we have in common?"
Surrency said with this issue, there are no sides to the aisle.
"There is no right side or left side of the aisle. There is no partisan politics," Surrency said. "We're in the aisle, so keep the buzzwords out."
In the end, many local officials thought this was a very successful event, and they did learn something,
"I learned a lot. I try to keep up on things. It's promising and as long as everyone sticks together and keeps things moving forward, we'll be in good hands," Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dennis Boback said. "The problems effect the Beach a little more in some ways than others, because we deal with the brown water and how it effects our tourism."
"It was a great conversation, an opportunity for stakeholders to come together and give their perspective on the issue," Caldwell said. "We've vetted many of the issues in Tallahassee, but getting all the cities together was such a big task. There was a commonality and a goal."

160622-a
Beware of the cry for more state land buying
Captiva Current, Sanibel-Captiva Islander – Guest Commentary by Gary Ritter, assistant director of Government and Community Affairs fr the Florida Farm Bureau Federation
June 22, 2016
"Buy the land, send the water south" has become a common rallying cry for Florida activists looking to return the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades. This kind of mantra tells me history has been forgotten and reality is no longer common sense.
My fear is this mindset is tied to buying more land which would put rural Florida in the cross hairs of the coastal environmental extremists. The result could be a huge and unnecessary expense for all the taxpayers of Florida if we move in this direction.
The South Florida Water Management District has purchased more than 200,000 acres of land for conservation and restoration since 2000 and now owns over 750,000 acres of conservation lands in south Florida. Other state agencies own an additional million acres. When combined with the vast federal ownership of lands in south Florida, there are now over 5.5 million acres of conservation lands in public ownership within the boundaries of SFWMD.
Let's maximize the use of these lands to accomplish our restoration and preservation efforts. Partnerships with the agricultural community are excellent tools that can be used to implement conservation programs on public lands. Recent science-based data back up the success of these programs, coupled with best management practices.
In 2013, the state and federal government analyzed how much additional water storage south of Lake Okeechobee was feasible and determined that adding a 15,000-acre shallow reservoir to Florida's existing 15,000-acre shallow reservoir was all that was needed. If the science and data show a need to build additional storage in the future, through adaptive management, the state can simply build deeper reservoirs on these 30,000 acres of shallow reservoirs which are already in public ownership and in the right location.
These shallow reservoir sites are known as the A1 and A2 reservoirs. They are integral pieces of the overall Everglades restoration plan and are designed to be deepened in the future if and when the science determines that additional storage south of Lake Okeechobee is needed.
At a recent conference in Fort Myers I listened to Ernie Marks of the South Florida Water Management District talk about the many state and federal projects ready for construction. These projects will change our landscape for years to come, ultimately restoring and preserving what we have for our children while maintaining economic sustainability in all sectors of our society.
History tells us that it took nearly three decades to build the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control system. Now, with almost eight times as many people, it will likely take us at least that long if not longer given all the constraints of an increasing population and endangered species. We need to spend our money wisely to implement this massive restoration project. With the science and a legislative mandate in place we should not deviate from Governor Scott's 20-year plan to build more treatment wetlands and water storage capacity to ensure that water moves south into Everglades National Park. This means completing and operating these projects currently on the books, not buying more land.
Simply put, "sending the water south" is a complete distraction. Both the Florida Legislature and Congress have already invested billions of dollars into the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan which does not include buying or developing land south of the lake. The next phase of CERP must focus on storing and cleaning the water at the point of entry to Lake Okeechobee.
Let's take advantage of Legacy Florida by designing and constructing these projects. This year, in a move that was widely celebrated by environmentalists, the state of Florida increased its commitment to the tune of $200 million more per year through Legacy Florida to finish critical projects. Now the federal government needs to do its part by helping to more quickly fund the projects that are already in the pipeline.
We need science - not bumper sticker slogans - to guide us. The state needs to maximize the use of the land we have before purchasing more. If we complete the mission of CERP that was started decades ago, we will finally have the meaningful solutions we need to fully restore the Everglades and manage water in a smarter, more forward-thinking way. We need to exercise patience and work together smartly, not on emotion, to accomplish our restoration goals.

160622-b
Ignoring this threat could cost the world billions of dollars
Business Insider – by Simone M. Scully
Jun. 22, 2016
Invasive species, or non-native species that spread aggressively, can wreak havoc on ecosystems and economies all over the world.
These species arrive as stowaways on boats, planes, pets, and in wooden crates. Once in their new homes, they prey on local species, out-compete them for resources, kill their young, or spread disease. Notorious examples today include Asian longhorned beetles that have been decimating hardwood forests in the Northeast, Burmese pythons that have thrived in Florida’s Everglades National Park, emerald ash borers that are killing North American ash trees, and Asian carp that have invaded the Great Lakes.  
Economically, these invasive species can be devastating. Until now, research has focused on single country economic costs. A 2005 study reported that invasive species cost the US more than $120 billion in damages each year.
But a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used models to quantify the cumulative threat of 1,297 known insect pests and fungal pathogens to crop production in 124 countries. They also determined which countries posed the greatest threats based on their trading partners and the numbers of invasive species they could spread. This is the first study to look at the global impact.
“Invasive pests and diseases are a major threat to agriculture, natural ecosystems and society in general,” said Matthew Thomas, study author and professor in Ecological Entomology at Penn State, in a press release. “One of the challenges we face is predicting the next threat and where it will come from. This study explores some of these issues at a global scale.”
Their results showed that invasive insects and pathogens could be a multi-billion-dollar threat to global agriculture. A third of the countries studied had a high likelihood of imminent invasion. Large agricultural producers, such as the US, China, India, and Brazil, could see the highest overall damage costs. But it is developing countries, specifically sub-Saharan African countries, that could suffer proportionately higher damage because of how highly reliant their economy is on agriculture.  
Meanwhile, due to trade patterns and pest presence, China and the US, major agricultural producers have the greatest potential to spread these pests unintentionally to other countries. The maps in the article original show how countries are likely to be impacted.
The study authors hope that by identifying what regions are most vulnerable, it can help governments make informed decisions about how to protect their borders and agriculture industries from further spread of invasive species.
“[The findings] highlight the need for a world body to address, in a comprehensive manner, the continued threat of plant pests and pathogen invasions that result in enormous economic losses in the affected countries,” Harold Mooney, environmental biologist not involved with the study, told Smithsonian.com.
Related:           This is the first mammal to go extinct because of manmade climate change
Scientists think 'little plant and animal highways' could help wildlife escape climate change
Global trade opens door to invasive species   Science Recorder, June 21, 2016
How growing global trade carries pests around world           New Zealand Herald, Jun 21e, 2016

160622-c
Seas rising but Florida keeps building on the coast
Scientific American - by Erika Bolstad, ClimateWire
June 22, 2016 (June 20)
Sea level rise as a result of global warming is not stopping developers of Florida’s coast
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—The home that Stanley Young and Rich Cusmano are building here will hover above an infinity pool, a shimmering glass-and-concrete icon of tropical luxury set on one of the coastal city’s scenic waterways.
Anyone willing to pay upward of $4 million for such a showpiece will, of course, want some certainty about his or her investment. The home sits on a waterfront lot that was just 2.79 feet above sea level, on a street that already floods during extreme tides and in a region where climate change will fuel sea-level rise by as much as 10 inches over 1992 levels by 2030.
“Buyers are becoming very savvy,” Young said. “The first question they say to us is: ‘Will it flood?’”
Therein lies the uneasy reality in South Florida, home to 6 million people and projected to grow by 3 million over the next three decades. Its very existence depends on the continued allure of the beaches, waterways and natural environment. Yet, by 2050, an estimated $15 billion to $36 billion of Florida’s coastal property will be threatened by sea-level rise, according to a report last year from the Risky Business Project, a Bloomberg Philanthropies effort that quantifies economic risks from climate change.
In South Florida, sea-level rise and climate change are already having an effect on available drinking water, roads and sewer lines in low-lying areas, and storm and flood insurance rates.
Given those conditions, residents say the only way people will want to continue living, working, raising families and retiring in Florida is if they have some reassurance that their investments will be safe—or that there will even be a place to call home in the future. Many are beginning to realize that protecting people and property from more intense storms, higher temperatures and sea-level rise will require a massive investment in ideas and infrastructure, as long as the state wants to retain a vibrant, viable economy in the face of a changing climate.
There’s every indication it does.
“We live in paradise,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. “When paradise goes under water, we’re all going to feel the impact. It is now an environmental and economic discussion. What is our economy going to be like? What is our economy going to look like if we don’t prepare our community for rising sea levels and climate change?”
It comes as no surprise, then, that there’s an emerging industry eager to find a way to help people stay in that paradise, a place born of real estate speculation and rebirthed cyclically out of natural disasters like hurricanes and man-made disasters like real estate bubbles.
Developers have started marketing storm-resistant homes and resilient buildings, like a high-rise in downtown Miami designed to withstand 300-mph winds. In Miami Beach, the city is beginning to implement building codes that require new construction and city infrastructure to be elevated. Fort Lauderdale is considering raising the height limits on sea walls.
And businesses have begun emerging to offer guidance to potential property owners wary of the consequences of sea-level rise.
‘We did this to get climate-ready’
For the house he’s building, Young turned to Coastal Risk Consulting, a new company started by environmental attorney Albert Slap with former Florida Atlantic University climate scientist Leonard Berry and others. Using Army Corps of Engineers sea-level-rise predictions, the company assigns flood scores to properties. Its formula can show how much of a threat sea-level rise poses to a property, giving homeowners, local governments and anyone else who uses the software a realistic picture of their future risk.
Young connected with Slap’s company after the property where he planned to build the luxury home was mentioned in a newspaper article as an example of a low-lying lot that was currently flooding and could benefit from a risk assessment. The property, once owned by billionaire former Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, sits on the Las Olas Isles, man-made finger islands that gave the city its nickname of the Venice of America. A developer purchased the lot and subdivided it into six new lots. Based on existing flooding concerns, the developer installed a new, higher sea wall, an estimated $1 million investment. The original developer also brought in soil to build the entire lot 3 feet higher, Young said.
Slap, who started Coastal Risk Consulting in retirement, is an aggressive promoter of his company. But he also likes to point out that it’s not a Silicon Valley startup “thinking up technology to make a billion dollars.” It’s about empowering consumers with more information, Slap said.
“We did this to get climate-ready and storm-safe,” Slap said. “We’re not affiliated with construction or insurance or anything. Nobody is selling anything on our site except information and analysis that will help you get climate-ready and storm-safe.”
To show the work the firm did to make the property higher and more resilient, Young got his own flood report for potential buyers. It demonstrates the flood risk of the property both before and after the land was filled in, and before and after Young boosted the base elevation of the home. It’s evidence that the house is “now, effectively, safe,” Young said.
“We embraced what they are doing. Why not?” he said. “It makes sense. If they can give us a report that says our property will not flood for the next 50 years based on predicted sea-level-rise rates and king tides and everything else, that’s a positive thing.”
Yet Young also notes that the city infrastructure lags behind the work he and other builders are doing to raise homes higher or make them more resilient to sea-level rise. He argues that because developers like him are putting millions of dollars of their own capital into improving the housing stock, they should see some of that returning to local infrastructure.
Otherwise, based on sea-level-rise projections, future owners of his property and others on the street may want to buy a boat with their house.
“If you look at the property itself, it’s protected,” Young said. “Yeah, you’re going to be living in a nuisance area, because it’s going to be impossible within the current infrastructure around the house to get in and out. But your actual property itself is going to be safe.”
Can building codes catch up with climate change?
Cities and counties in the region say they’re beginning the highly technical process of upgrading building codes and planning and zoning ordinances, as well as considering the kind of money they might have to spend to upgrade municipal infrastructure. That means building roads and water and sewer and electrical lines higher, as well as bigger sea walls or pumps to return to sea any water that collects from rainfall or flooding.
Fort Lauderdale is considering an ordinance that raises the minimum height of sea walls.
The current limits hadn’t been changed in 40 years, said Stephen Tilbrook, a land-use and environmental lawyer there who sought a variance to the current guidelines for the developers of a large coastal condominium building. The county changed the way it calculated minimum floor elevation, creating a steep drop-off between the ground floor of their proposed building and the sea wall height limit in the city. The planning and zoning appeals board had some concerns about aesthetics, Tilbrook said. He argued the exception was warranted “because we have a changing world.”
“Sea level is rising, and we have to plan for the next 50 to 100 years. You have to, for the purposes of marketing, build for the future. You have to build for the future, even if the code may not allow it.”
The city is moving forward with regulations that raise the minimum height of sea walls. The rules could be mandatory in neighborhoods with existing flooding problems, but property owners would have time to comply with the new regulations. The new height guidelines would also affect property owners who are replacing old sea walls. Everyone will likely have to build sea walls strong enough so that another foot could be added to them as seas rise.
“It’s not easy for cities to make these changes,” Tilbrook said. “It’s time-consuming, it’s controversial.”
Bryan Soukup, a lobbyist who heads up resilience initiatives for the International Code Council, said that building codes can be one of the most effective tools for creating resilient communities, whether it’s to adapt to climate change and sea-level rise or extreme weather risks.
“Many people don’t think of building codes when they think of resiliency,” Soukup said. “People don’t realize that resilience starts with the building codes. It certainly doesn’t end with the building codes. But it certainly must start with a strong foundation.”
He points to an oft-cited study by the National Institute of Building Sciences, which found in 2005 that for every dollar spent on pre-disaster mitigation, society as a whole saves $4 on post-disaster spending. The White House recently announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be updating the study.
“Even though most jurisdictions don’t want to take the time, effort, or political capital or money to invest in improving their codes now, they’ll save money on the back end,” Soukup said. “It’s really a fiscal responsibility issue as well as an environmental protection issue and a basic issue of building safety. It’s all about planning for the future, that’s really what resilience is all about.”
South Florida counties ‘get it’ and lead the way
It can be challenging to act in a proactive way, said Susanne Torriente, an assistant city manager in Miami Beach and the city’s chief resilience officer.
The city has been upgrading building codes that require new construction to match the work it has done to lift the minimum height of city infrastructure, including raising roads. The City Council has approved increases to its base flood elevation requirements, increases in its sea wall elevation and a minimum yard elevation, among other changes. They apply only to new construction or renovations that change more than 50 percent of a building, and the new rules don’t yet apply to its two historic districts. That’s a trickier change the city is studying now.
Creating a “new urban fabric” isn’t always seamless, Torriente said.
“Easy? No,” she said. “It’s science, it’s engineering, it’s sort of the practical application of how it’s going to look. It’s how we’re building this city in transition.”
But she notes that it’s an area where municipal government can have a major impact on climate change policy, by strengthening building codes that make homes and offices and shops more resilient, and by enacting zoning ordinances that steer new development away from the riskiest areas.
“Building and zoning and planning, those are all very much local government issues,” she said. “And those are decisions that we have the authority over, and we can rewrite and modernize the rules of engagement.”
There’s marginal leadership on sea-level-rise issues on the state level in Florida, where an unwritten rule discouraged many in Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s administration from using the term “climate change.”
Most action in South Florida has been led by a four-county Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact formed in 2009 to address climate issues on a regional scale. Among the changes the compact embraced was a 2011 law signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Crist (D) allowing for “adaptation action areas.” Those are special planning tools Florida communities can use under the Community Planning Act of 2011.
The law gives communities a way to prioritize funding for infrastructure and adaptation planning in areas that not only experience coastal flooding but are vulnerable to the impacts of rising sea levels. Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Miami-Dade County and several towns in the region have already identified such areas or are considering them.
“Everybody gets it in South Florida,” said Seiler, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lauderdale. “From the Florida Keys to Palm Beach, we’re all working together. I think we all get it.”
Tomorrow’s threat: climate gentrification
Seiler says there are “people and individuals that get it in Tallahassee.” And then there are “parties that don’t want to focus on it,” he said.
“I really don’t believe that they don’t get it,” he said of Republicans. “They just don’t want to focus on it. You can’t be in politics and not recognize that this is a real issue. You sure as heck have to be prepared to talk about how we’re going to resolve it ... and adapt.”
Even under the best circumstances, though, bureaucracy, land use, development and market forces can clash. There is a growing realization in Florida and elsewhere that climate change may disproportionately affect people who have the least means to adapt to it.
A study released last month by the Urban Land Institute takes aim at the social inequities inherent in adapting communities to climate change in Florida, specifically the threat of so-called climate gentrification. The ULI study, which looked at the Arch Creek Basin north of downtown Miami, aimed to use a sliver of Miami-Dade County to illustrate how to put social equity at the heart of climate resilience planning.
The study urged government officials to consider buying out the people in the creek basin whose homes have flooded multiple times over the years. Many are either low-income homeowners or renters. If they want to move, the land could then return to its original purpose as a floodplain, the ULI panel suggested.
The panel also suggested that people who are asked to leave be given the right of first refusal on any new development on higher ground, including a limestone ridge that was the site of the first railroad into the region. There, some residents have concerns that developers are buying up higher ground as a hedge against flooding.
Market forces, though, mean the demand for waterfront property in tropical locations is likely to stay strong, and plenty of luxury homes are on the way. An estimated 11,000 condominium units are under construction in more than 100 buildings in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to a monthly guide to regional real estate published by Westside Estate Agency Florida.
“The value of real estate with water access and a view, it’s just remarkable,” said Jim Murley, the chief resilience officer for Miami-Dade County. “And they’re living still in places vulnerable to hurricanes, wind and storm surge. And something we’ve never thought about before, which is sea-level rise.”
Young and Cusmano say they want to build something timeless that will stand the test of tides, sea-level rise and storms. Decades from now, they want their home in Fort Lauderdale to be on architectural tours, like the art deco buildings in Miami Beach. It’s important to them that they’re seen as responsible, Young said.
“It needs to be sustainable,” Young said. “We like to think we’re leaving a legacy."

160622-d
Value of farming
News-Press.com – Letter by Mike Lee, Moore Haven, FL
June 22, 2016
The value of crops grown in Florida is impressive. Florida produces two-thirds of the nation’s oranges, valued at more than $1 billion; more than $675 million worth of sugarcane and $456 million worth of tomatoes. All other major crops are valued as much as $200 million.
Farms grow food and create jobs. More than two million Floridians depend on agriculture for their jobs. Farming plays an important role in my family. I’m a lifelong Floridian and my grandfather farmed land south of Lake Okeechobee back before the dike was built and lost three children in the 1928 hurricane.
Today, we play a small part in the more than $120 billion farming contributes into our economy. As partners in Everglades restoration, we have worked to ensure 90 percent of the Everglades now meet strict water quality standards.
Some activists want the government to end farming in the land bordering the Everglades, but this would devastate the state and local economy and wouldn’t guarantee continued restoration of water quality or flow.
Environmental groups that are serious about restoration should recognize the value of farming to the long-term restoration plan.
Related:           Letter: Farming           Naples Daily News

160621-a
Obama calls out Do Nothing Congress on climate change
Gas2.org - by Steve Hanley
June 21st, 2016
Over the weekend, President Obama visited Yosemite National Park. He used the occasion to slam congressional Republicans for their intransigent stance on climate change. While 99% of scientists agree that climate change is real and threatens catastrophic consequences for the earth, only 40% of the members of Congress do.
 Global warming is “no longer a threat, it’s a reality,” Obama said. “Here in Yosemite, meadows are drying up, bird ranges are shifting farther northward, mammals are being forced further upslope. Yosemite’s famous glacier, once a mile wide, is almost gone. We are also facing longer, more expensive wildfire seasons.
“Rising temperatures could mean no more glaciers in Glacier national park, no more Joshua trees in Joshua Tree national park. Rising seas can destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades and at some point could even threaten icons like the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That’s not the America I want to pass on to the next generation.”
The president attacked those who pay “lip service” to protecting areas of natural beauty and then oppose action on climate change. He also blasted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his recent suggestion that he would withdraw the United States from the climate agreement is made at the COP21 conference in Paris last December.
“We can’t treat [climate change] like it’s someone else’s problem. It shouldn’t lead to careless suggestions that we don’t get serious about carbon emissions or that we scrap an international treaty that we spent years putting together to deal with this,” he said. “This park belongs to all of us, this planet belongs to all of us. It’s the only one we’ve got. We can’t pay lip service to that notion and then oppose the things required to protect it. We’ve got to do a lot more. There is such a thing as being too late.”
While Obama visited Yosemite,  Secretary of State John Kerry was in Greenland to highlight the impact of climate change on fragile habitats. “I wanted to come up here today to both underscore the urgency but also to learn – and I did learn,” he was quoted as saying by the Washington Post. “I learned more about the threat of the Antarctic, which in many ways is far greater than the threat of the ice melt here in Greenland, what I’ve learned today – and an area where we don’t know enough, where we need to do more research, and where we need to respond to greater effect.”
Just this week, climate scientists have confirmed that a number of temperature and climate records have been broken recently. Data released last week confirm that May was the 13th month in a row to break temperature records. In addition, new records have also been set in recent months for loss of Arctic Sea ice, droughts in India, bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
“The impacts of human-caused climate change are no longer subtle – they are playing out, in real time, before us,” Prof Michael Mann, at Penn State University in the US, was quoted as saying by The Guardian. “They serve as a constant reminder now of how critical it is that we engage in the actions necessary to avert ever-more dangerous and potentially irreversible warming of the planet.”
Still, the thugs who represent us in Congress continue to use their offices for personal gain as they shovel campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests into their bank accounts as fast as they can. They oppose the Clean Power Plan that would reduce carbon emissions from coal fired generating plants. They oppose a carbon fee that would level the playing field between fossil fuels and renewables. They refuse to consider a proposal that would increase the price of gasoline by a measly ten cents in order to promote cleaner transportation solutions.
They are perfectly willing to sell you and me down the river if it means they can continue to gorge themselves on the largess of polluters. It is our civic duty to vote those who continually betray the public trust out of office this November.
Source: Business Green  Graphic: CDC.org
Related:           Obama says climate change already damaging national parks           Wyoming Tribune

160621-b
Public Meeting on Watershed Management Plan is Thursday
Bradenton Times - Staff Report
June 20 2016
BRADENTON — A plan to look at areas prone to flooding, including ponding areas near roads, will be presented at a 6 p.m. public meeting on Thursday, June 23, in the Bradenton City Council chambers.
Both the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the City of Bradenton are working on the Watershed Management Plan, which is still in development.
Kim Clayback, infrastructure engineer for the city's Public Works Department, said the plan has been in development for about 18 months, and that the city is looking to a stormwater management district for co-funding of the project. "They fund projects based on area of responsibility. If we're going to get co-funding, the first step is to identify needs," said Clayback.
The City of Bradenton has advised that the study's results will not have any impact on insurance rates within the city.
The meeting is slated to last until 8 p.m. Bradenton City Hall is located at 101 Old Main Street.

160621-c
The Everglades are rapidly disappearing due to salt water rise – You can help with one choice
OneGreenPlanet.org – by Jerald Pinson
June 21, 2016
The Everglades National Park, which covers a whopping 1.5 million acres of land, was set aside as a biological preserve in 1947. While the Everglades usually conjure crepuscular visions of vast, murky swamps, there are actually several distinct ecosystems in the park, including large swathes of open savannahs dominated by pine trees and palmettos, secluded hammocks home to towering mahogany and gumbo limbo trees, mangrove swamps and prairies near the coast, and at the very heart of the Everglades, a vast sea of grass, the sawgrass marsh.
If you were to have visited this marsh 100 years ago, you’d find yourself standing in a shallow river 50 miles wide, created by water spilling over from Lake Okeechobee in central Florida making its long way to the gulf, a journey of 120 miles.  But instead of sinking into But instead of sinking into mud at the bottom, you would have found yourself standing on a firm layer of solid ground because the Everglades grow on top of a giant limestone bed, secreted and compacted by the rise and fall of oceans in past millennia. But the river no longer flows to the gulf as it used to; instead, it’s been diverted to sustain nearby agricultural fields. This has turned out to be a serious problem, however, not only for the Everglades but also for the millions of people that live in south Florida.
The Problem – Lack of Freshwater
Within the porous limestone of the Everglades, just a few feet below the surface in some places, lies the massive Biscayne aquifer, which supplies almost all of the freshwater to Miami and surrounding cities. In the past, much of the water that flowed languidly from Okeechobee would replenish the aquifer, the limestone acting as a natural filter. But without the river, and with water constantly being pumped out to nearby residents, saltwater from the gulf and the Atlantic has begun to contaminate the aquifer and the plants above it.
The Problem ­– Sea Level Rise
But trouble is coming to the Everglades from another source as well. As far back as 1930, sea levels began to rise in South Florida at a rate 6-10 times faster than they had done on their own for the past 3,200 years, far too fast for the environment along the coast to stabilize with the help of soil carried down from rivers. If nothing is done, sea levels in Florida are expected to rise roughly 2.5-6.5 ft by the end of the century, and much of the Everglades now are just a few feet above sea level, meaning that you and I could effectively see them disappear before we do. But you don’t have to wait long because it’s already possible to see the effects of saltwater intrusion on the Everglades using satellite imagery, which was done in a recent study.
Before oceans engulf tangible tracts of land, it’s likely that more and more saltwater will spill into our rivers, estuaries, and coastal swamps, killing off vegetation and forcing the plants to retreat further inland. Meanwhile, areas of low-productivity mangrove swamps have already begun to enlarge in south Florida. Mangroves are trees that are extremely tolerant of saltwater, botanical amphibians that look like they grow on stalks. These are called aerial roots, and they give extra support to the tree and also supply oxygen to the roots further down buried in mud, which they need for respiration. According to the lead author on the study, “Less salt-tolerant plants like the sawgrass, spike rush, and tropical hardwood hammocks are retreating. At the same time, salt-loving mangroves continue to extend inland,” a process that’s been observed for the past 70 years. The satellite imagery, however, provides photographic proof that the Everglades is changing at an alarming rate.
Looking Toward the Future
Nor is this a problem only for the Everglades. Most, if not all, coastal wetlands are already vulnerable to saltwater intrusions, including the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh, areas in China including the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas, as well as many others all over the world. The good news is there are several groups dedicated to restoring the Everglades, including the Audobon Society, and just two months ago, the Army Core of Engineers allowed water to flow from Lake Okeechobee into the Everglades for the first time in almost 100 years!  But in order to make a lasting difference, humans will need to end their reliance on fossil fuels and animal agriculture, both significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions. One Green Planet believes that our global food system dominated by industrial animal agriculture is at the heart of our environmental crisis. This destructive industry currently occupies over half of the world’s arable land resources, uses the majority of our freshwater stores, and drives greenhouse gas emissions. By choosing to eat more plant-based foods, you can drastically cut your carbon footprint, save precious water supplies.

160620-a
Arthur R. Marshall Foundation and The Everglades Foundation reception
Sun Sentinel
June 20, 2016
The Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades and The Everglades Foundation hosted a reception at The Colony Palm Beach to introduce the John Marshall Everglades Legacy and to meet the 2016 Marshall Summer Interns. The intern program for undergraduate and post-graduate students is a 10-week, science based internship, focused on Everglades ecology and restoration. It focuses on exploratory field experiences and mentor lectures.

160620-b
Coral bleaching event now biggest in history – and about to get worse
The Guardian – by Michael Slezak
June 20, 2016
US weather agency says bleaching is now the most widespread on record and is likely to continue for unprecedented third year
The coral bleaching event sweeping the globe and destroying vast tracts of valuable coral reef is now officially the most widespread in recorded history, and is likely to continue for an unprecedented third year, according to the US weather agency.
For the coming four months, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration ()NOAAsays its forecasts show warm ocean temperatures are expected to cause bleaching in the northern hemisphere, including around Hawaii, Micronesia, the Florida Keys and Puerto Rico.
“All northern hemisphere US-coral reefs are on alert for coral bleaching this year,” said Mark Eakin, coordinator of Coral Reef Watch at NOAA. “If we see bleaching in Florida or Hawaii this year it will be three years in a row.”
Coral in every major reef region has already experienced severe bleaching. About 93% of the reefs on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have been affected, and almost a quarter of the reef on the 2,300km stretch is now dead.
The Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare
Australia’s natural wonder is in mortal danger. Bleaching caused by climate change has killed almost a quarter of its coral this year and many scientists believe it could be too late for the rest. Using exclusive photographs and new data, a Guardian special report investigates how the reef has been devastated – and what can be done to save it.
Coral bleaching spreads to Maldives, devastating spectacular reefs
Hawaii and the Florida Keys, which will probably be hit by bleaching in the coming months, have been affected twice already, in mid-2014 and mid-2015. Reefs in the Indian Ocean around the Maldives and Western Australia have suffered severe bleaching, as have those in the rest of the Pacific, the Red Sea and the Caribbean.
Although the bleaching event was already the longest in recorded history and was predicted to run past the middle of the year, NOAA’s latest climate model-based forecasts now suggest it will run at least through to the end of 2016.
Coral bleaches when water temperatures are a couple of degrees above the normal summer maximum for longer than about two weeks. Climate change has caused global sea surface temperatures to rise by about 1C over the past century, pushing corals closer to their bleaching threshold. A strong El Niño, as well as other weather phenomena, raised the temperature further this year.
“It’s time to shift this conversation to what we can and are doing to conserve these amazing organisms in the face of this unprecedented global bleaching event,” said the director of Noaa’s coral reef conservation program, Jennifer Koss.
Coral reefs can often recover from bleaching when there is enough time between bleaching events, provided there aren’t too many other stressors, such as overfishing and water pollution.
Relieving the local stressors was important, but not enough, Koss said. “Globally, we need to better understand what actions we all can take to combat the effects of climate change.”
Noaa tracks the water temperature from satellite data and uses that to estimate the probable bleaching it will cause. Eakin said the information was then given to scientists and managers on the ground.
“The biggest bleaching threat over the next six months is to the reefs in two US freely associated states: Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia,” he said. “Islanders there are very dependent on their coral reefs and diving tourism is a major contributor to their economies. This event may have major ecological and economic impacts on those islands.”
He added: “It is crucial that scientists and the public continue in-water monitoring to track the actual extent and severity of the bleaching it causes.”

160620-c
FPL ordered to fix Turkey Point plant’s salty plume
Palm Beach Post – by Susan Salisbury
June 20, 2016
Florida Power & Light Co. was ordered Monday to clean up extremely salty water extending two miles underground westward from its Turkey Point nuclear plant’s cooling canal system and reduce high levels of nutrients in waters connected to Biscayne Bay.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s director of its Division of Water Resource Management John Coates and Juno Beach based FPL’s vice president of environmental services Randall LaBauve signed the consent order Monday.
Under the detailed 27-page order, FPL has 10 years to fix water quality problems stemming from the 168-mile earthen cooling canal system at the plant that overlooks Biscayne Bay south of Miami.
The plan calls for FPL to halt and retract the too salty water plume caused by the canals and update and expand its monitoring network. FPL, the state’s largest electric utility with 4.8 million customer accounts, is also being required to complete restoration projects in the Barge Basin and Turtle Point Canal areas where surface waters connect to the bay.
“We are going to pull it back to the boundaries of the cooling canal system” FPL spokesman Peter Robbins said. “The majority of the plume will be retracted within the first five years. Our goal is to get it all. We think that will take longer.”
On average, about 600,000 pounds of salt per day seep from the canals into the groundwater.
Robbins said the 10-year plan will cost an estimated $50 million this year, and it’s not known yet what the total costs will be. FPL customers will pay for the system of wells that will ultimately result in the highly salty water being injected about 3,000 feet into the ground.
An FPL customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will pay 25 to 50 cents per month this year toward fixing the problems, Robbins said.
Environmentalists, the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County, residents and National Park Service officials have become increasingly concerned about the hot and salty canals and the underwater plume that extends to the west into the Biscayne Aquifer.
The aquifer supplies drinking water to roughly 3 million people from Boca Raton to Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and FPL has insisted the water supply is not in danger.
“The consent order goes above and beyond any of FPL’s existing permits or agreements, requiring a suite of actions to occur within specific time frames. It also includes check points, and additional requirements if necessary, to ensure appropriate progress is being made,” DEP officials said.
Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO, said, “We believe this plan, which we hope will not be challenged and subsequently delayed, will address the cooling canal system issues at Turkey Point while protecting the surrounding environment.”
On April 25, DEP issued a notice of violation and a separate warning letter to FPL for the effects associated with the cooling canal system. This followed previous action in 2014.
The violation notice addressed FPL’s failure to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System/Industrial Wastewater permit, which prohibits the cooling canal system discharges from causing a violation of minimum water quality standards for groundwater.
The violation notice required FPL to enter into a consent order with the department by June 24 to implement corrective actions to halt and remediate the violation, DEP stated.
The warning letter put FPL on notice that the department was investigating the potential migration of cooling canal system water to surface waters connected to the bay.
Barry White, president of Miami-based Citizens Allied for Safe Energy, said Monday, “They still have not addressed the actual cause of the problems in the cooling canal system.”
White said a 2012-2013 increase in the capacity of the plant’s two nuclear reactors is to blame and that after 43 years in operation, the canal system has reached its functional limit. FPL data shows a steady increase in salinity over time, reaching almost three times the salinity of seawater, he said.
Related:           FPL plan to improve conditions near Turkey Point's cooling canal ...            Stockhouse

160620-d
Green algae blooms spotted in multiple locations
WFLX.com
June 20 2016
MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. - - Green algae blooms continue to show up in Treasure Coast waterways, causing concern for residents, business owners and water lovers.
Monday, algae was spotted in multiple areas in Martin County, including Leighton Park, Shepard Park, Downtown Stuart near the Riverwalk, the St. Lucie Locks and Lighthouse Point in Palm City.
On the first day of summer, some residents worry about what is yet to come for the season. Lake Okeechobee releases continue to pour into the St. Lucie River, which scientists blame for the algae blooms.
The algae blooms have been sampled and tested since the middle of May, some of which have been found to be toxic.
On May 13, the South Florida Water Management District first found an algal bloom on Lake Okeechobee during their routine sampling. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the SFWMD have regularly responded to and sampled observed and reported algal blooms on Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie River since May, according to a FDEP spokesperson.
Samples were collected last week (week of June 13) by the DEP and the SWFMD on Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie River.
This week, the week of June 20, the SFWMD will be collecting regular samples on the St. Lucie River at the locks. Samples of algae will be collected for analysis, according to a FDEP spokesperson.
At Leighton Park Monday evening, Brent Lawson took his two grandchildren fishing. Lawson says they would never eat what they catch anymore, it’s only catch-and-release.
Lawson says fishing in Martin County is much different from when he was a child.
“We had it much better. Kids today ? Not so much,” Lawson said.
Peggy and Scott Hornick live in Lighthouse Point in Palm City. They say it is not common to see algae blooms near their home. This week, that was different.
““It’s coming into our canals, farther in than it ever has,” Peggy Hornick said.
They took their boat through the algae to get to dinner in Downtown Stuart.
"It was very noticeable tonight when we came out on our boat to Downtown Stuart, and it covers the boats and it’s really disgusting,” Hornick said.
Peggy says she hasn’t been in the water at all this year, and doesn’t see that changing. She says she used to paddle board and go to the Stuart Sandbar.
“You know you’re kind of afraid to even get splashed by the water,” Hornick said.
“It’s just sad that it’s affecting so many people but it just seems like there’s really no great solution,” said Hornick.
Martin County Health Officials urge people near the water to stay away from green algae blooms.
If you see an algae bloom, you can report it to the FDEP at 407-897-4177.
All sampling results to date can be found here.

160620-e
Roadblocks to restoring the Everglades
EarthIsland.org – by Chelsea Skojec and Michael Sainato
June 20, 2016
Funding tensions, water pollution slow down the most ambitious ecosystem restoration plan in the world
The Everglades is a stunning tropical wetland ecosystem in southern Florida that that stretches once stretched nearly 3 million acres from just below the city of Orlando all the way down south to the Florida Bay. It is also, however, one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world, the only UNESCO World Heritage site in the United States that is listed as in danger. In recognition of the immense impact the continued degradation of the Everglades would have on humans and wildlife, the region is now also the focus of one of the most ambitious ecosystem restoration plans the world has ever seen.
The Everglades supports wildlife and humans alike. Fifty-six threatened or endangered species, including the Florida panther, the West Indian manatee, the snail kite, and the wood stork, depend on it for survival, and it’s the main source of drinking water for more than 7.7 million South Florida residents. Twenty percent of the original Everglades ecosystem has been protected within Everglades National Park.
But the Everglades is under severe stress due to the diversion of much of its original freshwater flow. This freshwater comes from the Kissimmee River, just outside Orlando which discharges into Lake Okeechobee, a vast and shallow lake that overflows during the wet season forming a 60 mile wide and 100 mile long slow-moving river dominated by sawgrass marsh that flows into the Florida Bay.
In the early 1900s, the Army Corps of Engineers began building a network of water control structures to divert millions of gallons of freshwater from the Everglades, in part to save small towns in the region from flooding during the wet season. Local towns and municipalities too, dug canals and built levees in order to dry out the marshlands, allowing agricultural and land development interests to appropriate large areas of the Everglades’ for their own needs. 
The diversions — which interrupted the natural flow of the freshwater and forced it to flow directly to coastal towns and cities instead of passing through the Everglades — caused several areas of this unique ecosystem to dry out. As a result, the Everglades is now less than half its original size. 1,800 miles of canals and dams break it up. Meanwhile, nutrient pollution from agricultural runoff and drainage from human habitations, the proliferation of exotic species like Burmese pythons and the Australian pine, and a rising ocean way downstream are further disrupting the delicate balance of the Everglades ecosystem. 
In 2000, the state of Florida and the federal government agreed to a plan, known as the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP), to restore the Everglades’ original water flows. CERP is the largest ecosystem restoration project in the world and is estimated to cost $10. 5 billion over the next 35 years. If successful, it could revive the imperiled Everglades ecosystem.
Unfortunately, the project has been frequently delayed due to funding arguments. When Congress approved CERP in 2000, it was under a cost sharing agreement: The federal government would foot half the bill, and the other half would be covered by state, local, and tribal agencies. Florida initially outpaced spending by the federal government in order to secure land for restoration efforts, which are being led by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Cutbacks in Florida’s state budget caused the federal government to later incur more of the costs. Since Republican Governor Rick Scott assumed office in 2011, his administration and the Obama administration have disputed the funding agreement, which was initially negotiated by President Bill Clinton and then-Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Since President Obama took office, the federal government has spent $1.6 billion on the Everglades, and Obama proposed an additional $240 million toward Everglades restoration in 2016. Meanwhile, Governor Rick Scott proposed only $150 million for Everglades restoration in his 2016 budget, in March, the Florida legislature committed to spending at least $250 million annually.
Funding tensions aside, the Everglades restoration project is no small undertaking and will involve diverse projects and efforts, including restoring freshwater flows to and from Lake Okeechobee that lake previously fed the Everglades billions of gallons of freshwater a year. A big issue that’s slowing down restoration works, is that the Lake Okeechobee’s waters are now highly polluted with phosphorus from fertilizer runoffs. The Everglades’ sawgrass ecosystem, which originally evolved with soils low in phosphorus, is very sensitive to this pollutant. (Phosphorous content in these marshlands was originally 8 to 10 parts per billion but current levels range between 100 and 300 ppb.). Florida is legally restricted from releasing freshwater into the Everglades until phosphorus levels have been brought down and that could take many years to accomplish.
Lake Okeechobee’s has also been the focus of flooding concerns. (Since much of the freshwater flow in the region is now artificially controlled, water must be released to estuaries to prevent flooding during the wet season. Now south Florida often has too much water in the wet years and not enough in the dry.) Following heavy rains last winter, the Army Corp of Engineers made repeated water discharges to relieve pressure on the aging Herbert Hoover Dike, diverting water east and west to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
Dr. Stephen Davis, a wetlands ecologist with the Everglades Foundation, believes that restoring the water flow from Lake Okeechobee would have a profound, positive impact on the Everglades, particularly when it comes to avoiding environmental disasters like the massive sea-grass die off in Florida Bay last year.
“Last summer there were periods of drought where the only freshwater flow coming from the Everglades into Florida Bay was from rainfall,” he said. “The massive sea grass die-off is a perfect example of what restoring freshwater flow from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades would prevent once completed.”
Davis said the restoration of freshwater flow isn’t estimated to occur anytime in the short term, but newly allocated funding from the state of Florida ensures that smaller scale projects can be completed as part of CERP.
US Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-FL), who pushed for emergency measures at the federal level last winter to obtain funding for projects that would alleviate flooding near Lake Okeechobee, has also emphasized the long-term importance of CERP for both the Everglades ecosystem and South Florida residents.
“I remain committed to make sure we move forward on critical projects like the Central Everglades Planning Project 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,” Congressman Murphy told a local CBS affiliate in South Florida. “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.”
While much remains to be done, important progress has been made. Significant tracts of land necessary for CERP implementation have been acquired, and several pilot projects have been completed.
In February, the South Florida Water Management District restored water flow from areas south of Lake Okeechobee to Everglades National Park for the first time in decades. If CERP stays on schedule, by the time the plan is completed, supposedly some time around 2030, nearly 75 percent of the original water flow to the Everglades from Lake Okeechobee will be restored. CERP partners have also reported progress in terms of restoring wetlands and historic river channels, bringing benefits to local plants and animals, and improving ecosystem health more generally.
It will be decades before we can judge the success of CERP, but the future of the Everglades depends on rapidly removing obstacles to water movement in the “River of Grass” before any more permanent damage is inflicted on one of the world’s most unique, yet fragile, ecosystems.

160618-
Obama says climate change already damaging national parks
Associated Press, US News - by Darlene Superville
June 18, 2016
President Barack Obama says climate change is already damaging America's national parks, with rising temperatures causing Yosemite's meadows to dry out and raising the prospect of a glacier preserve without its glaciers someday
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — President Barack Obama said Saturday that climate change is already damaging America's national parks, with rising temperatures causing Yosemite's meadows to dry out and raising the prospect of a glacier preserve without its glaciers someday.
"Make no mistake. Climate change is no longer just a threat. It's already a reality," Obama said from a podium, with Yosemite Falls, one of the world's tallest at 2,425 feet, as a backdrop.
At the California park, where Obama was spending the weekend with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, the president also talked about how a rabbit-like animal known as a pika is being forced further upslope at Yosemite to escape the heat.
"Rising temperatures could mean no more glaciers at Glacier National Park. No more Joshua trees at Joshua Tree National Park," he said, adding that a changing climate could destroy vital ecosystems in the Everglades and threaten such landmarks as Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

160617-a
Positive turnabout: Indian River Lagoon solutions finally got a look
Sunshine State News - by Nancy Smith
June 17, 2016
Florida Institute of Technology scientist John Windsor raised eyebrows a week ago when he said the 5 million cubic yards of mayonnaise-like muck along the northern Indian River Lagoon is enough to build a 5-foot wall along all six lanes of Interstate 95, stretching the entire 70 miles of Brevard County.
"That's a lot of muck," Windsor said. "We ought to do something with it. We did it ... Let's stop it from getting in."
Let me repeat: "... We did it ... Let's stop it from getting in."
I believe that's a new high-water mark in positive thinking about Florida water pollution, especially on the Space and Treasure coasts -- owning up to a lot of what ails the Indian River Lagoon and committing to an action plan to heal it.
That's exactly what happened earlier this month as the two regions' leagues of cities staged the first-ever Indian River Lagoon summit. I would have written about it sooner had the tragic events in Orlando not overtaken everything else.
By all accounts, the summit was pretty much a perfect day -- finger-pointing- and grandstanding-free. Just an exchange of ideas to restore the health of the sick lagoon, ideas to pursue within the next year. Florida Today covered the meeting, and the story was a joy to read.
These are some of the ideas the summit produced, according to the paper:
●  A blanket federal permit for dredging muck from the lagoon, to speed up projects;
●  Maintain a five-year muck-dredging plan;
●  Enforce the June 1 to Sept. 30 ban on fertilizer use;
●  Increase street sweeping;
●  Add more oysters and other filter feeders, as well as shoreline vegetation to buffer pollution.
"This is an historic moment," Duane De Freese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program, told the 100-or-so government representatives. He called what lies ahead "a war with multiple campaigns."
There is no quick fix, he said, because there isn't just one source of pollution or one remedy to cure all.
Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge and Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, who attended the summit, both sat in on a breakout session on muck dredging.
"I'm a believer in local government," Altman told Florida Today. He said he wants future state money for muck dredging to continue to go to local governments and to be driven by scientists.
Altman proposed putting more pressure on the federal government to speed up U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' muck-dredging permits. "We all need to get together and come down on the feds," he said.
Mayfield took a longer view. "This is the whole lagoon. To me, it's like a master plan, like a roadway project."
How will we know when the job is done?
De Freese said he'll consider the lagoon recovered when oysters, clams and other commercial fisheries are viable in the region.
"I think if we do this from the grassroots up, we get there," he said.
I wasn't able to attend that meeting, but I think I really missed something. A lot of positive energy there.
Maybe one of these days I'll be reading about local governments in Martin and St. Lucie counties dealing with the sick St. Lucie estuary in the same positive terms. "Buy the land, move the water south" is virtually all they've got. They could do more.

160617-b
UM climatologist: No quick fix for sea level rise in South Florida
WLRN.org - by Gina Jordan
June 17, 2016
Dr. Harold Wanless researches climate change as chair of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Miami in Coral Gables. He documents coastal erosion caused by hurricane damage – and the impact of sea-level rise.  
Wanless calls South Florida the poster child for climate change.
“Only 8 percent of Miami-Dade County is greater than 10 feet above sea level. When you think about heavy rains and hurricane storm surges, that sort of focuses how vulnerable we are,” Wanless says. “Hurricane Andrew was an amazingly tight storm and it had like a 17-foot storm surge.”
Wanless points out the high end investment at risk in places like Miami Beach and Key Biscayne thanks to rising seas. “When we talk about two feet more rise by 2048 - that's the high end of the U.S. government projections - that starts flooding many of the businesses and homes.”
The UM professor says nearly all the heat from human-induced global warming has transferred to the ocean, and that’s starting to melt the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. While South Florida waters have risen an estimated foot in the last century, scientists say that process is accelerating because of the warming water under the ice sheets. Slowing that acceleration will take time because of the ocean’s huge heat capacity.
“We're in this for centuries now,” Wanless says. “This is not something [where] we can suddenly behave in five years and pull some of the greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and the atmosphere will cool down and everybody will be happy.”
South Florida sits on porous limestone. Wanless says building levees like the ones in New Orleans isn’t an option because the water will come up through the limestone as sea level rises.
“It somehow is inconceivable to people that it won't always be here,” Wanless says. “There are remnants of barrier islands from former sea levels scattered all across our continental shelf.”

160616-a
A big pot of award money for tackling a global menace to fresh water
InsidePhilantrophy.com – by Tate Williams
June 16, 2016
Among the latest high-dollar philanthropic competitions is a $10 million prize to tackle the global problem of excess phosphorous in fresh water, with a series of smaller awards along the way.
The ecosystem of grassy marshes and tree islands in the Florida Everglades formed in large part because of the area’s very low levels of nutrients. So even though the Everglades are protected as a national park, runoff carrying phosphorous from sources like agricultural fertilizer wreaks havoc on the region’s natural habitat.
So it makes sense that a prize focused entirely on fighting the scourge of phosphorous pollution in fresh water bloomed out of efforts to protect the Everglades. The George Barley Water Prize, launching this summer, is a $10 million grand challenge-style competition inviting participants to come up with new ways to remove excess phosphorous from freshwater bodies. 
Its main sponsor is the Everglades Foundation, which draws funds from individual donors and foundations, and the competition recently picked up backing from philanthropic challenge leaders the Knight Foundation. 
Excess phosphorus is particularly problematic in places like the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee, but it’s a massive issue all over the globe, from the Midwest and its Great Lakes to rural villages in China. According the EPA, 40 percent of the nation’s rivers and streams have high levels of phosphorus, which hurts water quality—algae blooms perennially threaten drinking water in places like Toledo, Ohio—alters habitats, and makes waters uninhabitable for aquatic life.
There are ways to extract phosphorous from water, such as building artificial wetlands, but they tend to be expensive and require large plots of land.
It’s a problem that many funders have been working on from a variety of angles, including regional foundations like the William Penn Foundation, and city funders working to prevent stormwater runoff from fouling up water supplies. 
The Barley Prize is a new addition, taking some of the competitive and inclusive spirit of contests like the Knight Challenges or Wendy Schmidt’s Ocean Health XPRIZE, and applying it to freshwater cleanup. 
The Everglades Foundation started in 1993; it had a budget of $7.6 million in revenue and support in 2014 from a mix of foundations, trusts, and donors. Supporters include funders like the Batchelor Foundation, large donors like finance billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II, and companies like Lacoste. It has an annual grantmaking program, but this looks to be a pretty big step up from past projects. Knight has chipped in, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment is a partner. 
There are a couple of elements involved in the challenge, facilitated by online competition company Verb, Inc., that we tend to like to see in these philanthropic prizes. 
For one, it’s got a big and public lead up to the main prize, featuring plenty of support and proof of concept work. The final award is slated for 2020, with a few stages along the way that include smaller doses of funding.
The winner will receive the $10 million prize for developing new technologies that remove and recover excess phosphorous from bodies of water. But smaller awards of up to $200,000 will have a broader scope and go toward different components of the problem.
If you’re curious about what kinds of contestants are stepping up, you can already see some of the early ideas being floated, with 49 in the fray so far.
Related:           "Extremes Are Becoming the Norm." Why Water is the Next Big Issue For Philanthropy
The Perils of All These Prizes
MacArthur: Philanthropic Powerball Is Cool, But How About These Tweaks to the Rules?

160615-b
Teams search for toddler snatched by alligator at Florida Disney resort
Reuters - by Barbara Liston
June 15, 2016
ORLANDO, Fla. - - Walt Disney World resort in Florida closed its beaches on Wednesday as police hunted for signs of a 2-year-old boy who was dragged by an alligator into a lagoon despite an attempt by his father to rescue him, according to officials and CNN reports.
Wildlife officials captured and euthanized four alligators from the lagoon to examine them for traces of the child after attack on the Tuesday night but found no evidence they were involved, said Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
There are "no swimming" signs at the lagoon but the alligator grabbed the boy as he played at the edge of the water while his family relaxed nearby on the shore, sheriff's spokesman Jeff Williamson said at a news conference.
The boy's father rushed into the water after the alligator struck and struggled to wrestle his child from the alligator's grasp, Williamson said.
"The father did his best," Williamson said. "He tried to rescue the child, however, to no avail."
The family, which was vacationing from Nebraska, was not named.
Disney has closed its beaches "out of an abundance of caution," CNN reported, citing a Disney spokesperson.
The father suffered minor cuts on his arm in the struggle, Williamson said. Authorities had earlier said the boy's mother also tried to rescue him.
A lifeguard who was on duty by the lagoon also was unable to reach the boy in time, he said. "The gator swam away with the child," Williamson said.
Dozens of sheriff's deputies and wildlife officials were searching for the boy on Wednesday and expected to use sonar technology, helicopters and divers.

160614-a
Clean water
Naples Daily News - Letter to the Editor by Tim Thompson
June 14, 2016
Guest commentary writer Ryan Weston from the Florida Sugar Cane League labels critics of Florida's sugar industry "activists."
Wanting clean water, like 75 percent of Floridians who voted for Amendment 1, makes us activist?
There is a trend of conservative voters aligning themselves with "environmentalist" on clean water issues. There's a storm a-brewing' in the form of fishermen, Realtors, small businessmen and women. Those who make their living promoting a clean Florida.
Politicians who only have concern for their corporate donors are in the storm's path.
Weston gives the illusion that he represents sugar farmers, "the backbone" of the state of Florida.
The uninformed or easily impressionable may take his commentary on face value. The reality? Florida's sugar industry represents 27 percent of what used to be the Everglades. The Everglades Agricultural Area is south of Lake Okeechobee in an area so remote, most Floridians have not even seen sugar cane fields.
The pervasive and encompassing problem ? The sugar industry contributes to polluting your waters.
Two families, the Fanjuls and the Motts, are the nation's largest producers of sugar cane and they want to protect their assets. And they have a sweet deal to protect. The Fanjul and Mott families not only enjoy a billionaire lifestyle, this cartel enjoys government subsidies.
Both families are entrenched politically in power circles from the dim hallways of Tallahassee to Washington, D.C.
Weston attempts to tout the contributions of the sugar industry to Florida, yet tourists spend $60 billion annually in Florida, $4 billion in sales tax and create more than 1 million jobs.
Residents and visitors expect clean water. Nobody comes to Florida for the sugar.

160614-b
Don't take away our refuge
Sun Sentinel – by Susan Davis, a Palm Beach County resident, is on the board of the Audubon Society of the Everglades
June 14, 2016
National wildlife refuges are sacred spots for the American people to enjoy our nation's remarkable wildlife. The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in western Palm Beach County is a perfect example of how important refuges can be in metropolitan areas like South Florida. Loxahatchee is the only remnant of the Everglades left in Palm Beach County.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does an admirable job managing the refuge — also known as Water Conservation Area 1 –— through a 50-year lease agreement with the landowner, the South Florida Water Management District.
Unfortunately, the South Florida Water Management District now wants to take management of the refuge away from the service.
The terms of the lease agreement are based on a series of 13 performance measures, including one specifically dedicated to maintenance control of four invasive exotic species in the refuge: Australian pine, Brazilian pepper, Old World climbing fern and melaleuca.
The district charges that refuge staff are not eradicating invasive exotic plants fast enough, despite meeting 12.5 of 13 invasive species performance measures. This hostile takeover is a political power grab, pure and simple.
Keeping Loxahatchee as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system is in the best interests of those who use the park most. The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge system is to promote the conservation and restoration of wildlife with an emphasis on public outreach and education.
If we lose management of the Loxahatchee refuge to the state, this area will go back to being a water conservation area, where wildlife conservation, outreach and education are simply not part of the mission.
I am a regular visitor to the Loxahatchee refuge. As a 23-year resident of Palm Beach County, and as a board member of Audubon Society of the Everglades, the birds and wildlife that it protects are an integral part of my life. More than 300,000 people visit the refuge each year. Many visit just to catch a glimpse of one of the more than 250 species of birds that rely on this habitat.
Thanks to its excellent wildlife viewing opportunities, our Audubon Society hosts 11 field trips to the refuge each year.
Audubon Society of the Everglades also helped co-found the popular Everglades Day Festival at the refuge to educate the community on Everglades restoration and to showcase the magic of the River of Grass. This year more than 3,300 attended the one-day event, now in its 17th year.
Are we really about to lose Florida's largest and only South Florida metro area National Wildlife Refuge because one-half of one goal remains unmet? The National Wildlife Refuge system's focus on wildlife preservation and public access far outweigh those available in state water conservation areas. I am adamantly opposed to the state of Florida's plans to take over the Loxahatchee refuge.
No one benefits from losing a National Wildlife Refuge; not the public and certainly not the state. In this time of dwindling resources, partnerships and collaboration among agencies is the key to doing more with less. The district needs to work with the state of Florida, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and members of Congress to look for additional sources of funding for exotic plant control on the refuge.
Let's look for solutions to this very real challenge. The community and the wildlife will thank you.

160614-c
'Environmentalist' isn't a four-letter word
Sun Sentinel – by Kimberly Mitchell, executive director of The Everglades Trust and was a West Palm Beach city commissioner from 2002-2015
June 14, 2016
I am writing in response to Malcolm Wade Jr.'s letter to the Sun Sentinel, "Environmental critics muddying waters with misinformation" regarding the environmental devastation happening in three areas of South Florida: the St. Lucie River (Stuart area), the Caloosahatchee River (Fort Myers area) and Florida Bay (the Florida Keys). I think we have all become accustomed to Big Sugar's standard refrain of "It's not our fault!"
Our work at the Everglades Trust is not centered on who's at fault. Rather, it is singularly focused on the solution. There is only one solution to solving this horrific nightmare, and it is a large water storage area — an Everglades reservoir — south of Lake Okeechobee. Scientists and biologists know it. The people know it. And Big Sugar knows it.
Wade insults hundreds of thousands of Floridians who live in close proximity of the deluge, and millions of us who live in the region, when he describes the discharges of hundreds of billions of gallons of polluted Lake Okeechobee water into the rivers east and west of the Lake as "frustrating." Standing in line at the DMV is frustrating. Watching your livelihood, your environment and your way of life being decimated is intolerable.
I will not go tit for tat with Big Sugar here. Science and history are on our side. What I would like to suggest is that we begin having a conversation about what an "environmentalist" actually is.
It is clear Wade is entrenched in his position and feels strongly about the ideals his company, US Sugar, holds so dearly and chauvinistically. In his submission to the Sun Sentinel last month, Wade portrays environmentalists and environmental critics as "extremists" and, de facto, misinformed and wrong.
In response, we need to settle the term "environmentalist." What does that term even mean and why is it being used in the context of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan ?
Today, people throughout Florida have awakened to the growing crises throughout the Everglades system. Regular citizens. Moms and dads who want a healthy environment for their children and future generations. Boat captains and fishermen. Republicans, Independents and Democrats. Small business owners and large business owners. Realtors and retirees. Biologists and scientists and engineers. Teachers and developers. Liberal minded and conservative, alike.
And, yes, those wonderful tree-huggers and folks who paddle around Florida's waterways in kayaks and those who love the sight of a beautiful bird wading in clean water are a part of the collective voices.
Readers are encouraged to visit evergladesrestoration.gov to read more of the facts, including data from reputable, independent scientific organizations and biologists and engineers who are closely monitoring the issue.
Working together, we can continue to make Everglades restoration and improving water quality a priority. But any good-faith effort to address these grave concerns starts with an acknowledgment of the facts and stopping the name calling. Environmentalist is not a four letter word. By today's standards all of us are environmentalists.

160613-a
County delves into water issues
KeysNews.com – by Timothy O’Hara  Citizen Staff
June 13, 2016
The Monroe County Commission will again discuss issues dealing with the quality of Florida Keys drinking and nearshore waters.
The County Commission meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo.
Commissioners will receive a presentation from Florida Power & Light on the company’s efforts to reduce the size of a saltwater plume generated from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant cooling canals that is threatening to intrude into the Biscayne Aquifer, the Keys main water supply.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection sent FPL a notice of violation and a separate warning letter in April in response to the discharge from the cooling canals.
The notice of violation addresses noncompliance with FPL’s permit, which prohibits the discharge of water from the cooling canal system and is causing a violation of minimum water quality criteria for groundwater, according to DEP spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller said.
Under the notice of violation, FPL will be required to enter into a consent order with the department within 60 days, which will specify corrective actions the agency must take. FPL has 21 days to enter in consultation with the department regarding abatement and remediation measures, Miller said.
DEP also issued a warning letter to further investigate potential migration of the cooling canal system water into surface waters connected to the bay, Miller said. Through this process, the DEP will determine if any additional violations have occurred, Miller said.
FPL has proposed to flush the cooling canals with more freshwater and dig a deep well to push the salty water several thousand feet into the ground.
“As required, FPL is working with the department to address the violation and is cooperating with the investigation referenced in the warning letter,” Miller said Friday. “The department is also actively engaged with other agencies and seeking their respective expertise in formulating appropriate corrective actions. We expect that the time frame for corrective actions set forth in our notice of violation will be met.”
The commission is scheduled to hear the presentation at 11:30 a.m.
The commission will also hear a presentation from the South Florida Water Management District about the Everglades’ water management systems hydrological and ecological constraints in having more freshwater flow into Florida Bay, which experienced a massive seagrass die off last summer following a particularly dry summer.
The county is working on a resolution to support expediting the funding of Everglades restoration projects that will bring more freshwater through the Everglades into Florida Bay. 
Both the state and federal government are working on a multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration project. However, the funding has come in small amounts and there still are billions of dollars in projects that need to be completed to help restore historic water flows through the Everglades and into Florida Bay.
Even if more freshwater starts flowing in Florida Bay, Keys residents and fishermen have expressed concerns the water could still contain nutrients because of the amount of agriculture and development on mainland Florida, which generates large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Islamorada Village Councilman and avid fisherman Mike Forster wants to see state and federal officials purchase more land south of Lake Okeechobee, commonly known as the Big Sugar property, to use for freshwater storage and to help better remove nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the water moving south, he said.
Forster said the purchase would reduce freshwater discharges after heavy rains coming out of Lake Okeechobee and through the Caloosahatchee River and into the Gulf of Mexico and through St. Lucie River and into the Atlantic Ocean. Those discharges have been known to cause harmful algal blooms.
Forster, who serves as board president of the recently formed group Florida Bay Forever, recently gave U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Homestead, a boat tour of the area of Florida Bay that was impacted by the seagrass die off. He plans to give a similar tour next month to state Rep. Holly Raschein, R-Key Largo, and State Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami.
South Florida Water Management District spokesman Randy Smith said the water flowing into Florida Bay from the Everglades is “some of the cleanest in the system” at 3, 4 and 5 parts of phosphorus per billion.
Smith cited a 2015 study by the University of Florida Water Institute that showed there needs to be water storage both north and south of Lake Okeechobee. Smith said the priority is creating water storage north and west of the lake.
The commission is scheduled to hear the South Florida Water Management District presentation at 11 a.m.
Also on Wednesday:
The County Commission will vote on purchasing a $2.5 million helicopter to be used as the next air ambulance in the Florida Keys.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is looking at replacing its aging Trauma Star medical helicopter and has found a potential replacement in a 2002 Sikorsky that had been used by and was recently traded in by the Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
The helicopter has about 11,000 hours of flying time on its fuselage, but the fuselage has a life expectancy of about 28,000 hours, Sheriff Rick Ramsay said.

160613-b
Miami family one step closer to getting oil-drilling permits for Everglades
WLRN.org - by Caitie Switalski
June 13, 2016
It’s been nearly a year since a Miami-based family applied for a permit to build an exploratory oil-drilling well right on the fringes of the Everglades, outside of Miramar, generating an uproar in the community. 
Nevertheless, the Kanter family proceeded with the petition and it could be approved as early as late summer or early fall. 
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has questions about the petition to build an exploratory wel,l and the Kanter family has submitted answers with hundreds of pages worth of documents. This is considered the last step before receiving an official answer to the application. In fact, once an application is deemed complete, the agency has 60 days to make a decision on it.
According to the Sun Sentinel, the Kanters replied to a request for details about the oil well’s construction -- what would be done to avoid potential harm to wetlands and safety measures in case of gas leaks in the drilling process.
The company also applied to plow over nearly seven acres -- provided the firm guarantees that an equal amount of wetlands will be protected. This second petition could take up to 90 days to approve once the application is deemed complete.
Company president Joseph Kanter says his construction plans were designed with environmental protection in mind, while Miramar Mayor Wayne Messom has led much of the opposition to the well.
The Kanter family also has applications pending with the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District. The project will also require a change in zoning by the Broward County Commission.

160612-a
Midwest States target algae blooms in waterways
Wall Street Journal – Kris Maher and Cameron McWhirter
June 12, 2016
Ohio unveils multi-year plan to curb phosphorus entering Lake Erie
Ohio is joining a growing list of states ramping up efforts to control potentially toxic algal blooms that are fouling water supplies and making summer swims dangerous in lakes, ponds and reservoirs across the country with increasing frequency.
Microbiologists say climate change, growing population and changing agricultural practices are culprits in the rise. Two years ago, nearly 500,000 people in the Toledo area lost drinking water over a weekend in August after algae from a massive bloom in Lake Erie got sucked into the city’s water supply. Last year, the bloom, which covers the surface of the water like a giant carpet and has a musty smell to match, was the biggest on record.
“It looks like you’re plowing mud and grass,” instead of cruising over open water, said Dave Spangler, 69 years old, of Oak Harbor, Ohio, who takes customers fishing for walleye on the lake.
The blooms have hurt real-estate values in his lake-front community, he added, and his business, Dr Bugs Charters, was down 20% to 25% last year, because he couldn’t run tours in July and August.  “It’s just a bad, bad thing all the way around,” he said.
Last month, Ohio released a draft of a multiyear plan aimed at curbing the amount of phosphorus that enters Lake Erie primarily via the Maumee River. The nutrient, which drains off farmland, sewage treatment plants and streets and lawns, feeds algae growth in the lake each summer. The plan is subject to public comment through June 25.
Joe Cornely, a spokesman for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, said the group is cautiously supportive of the state’s plan, which also seeks to address sewage overflows from treatment plants and bad septic systems. “Farmers are willing to do their share, but they can’t do this alone,” he said.
“This is becoming a statewide issue in Ohio, as well as across the Midwest,” said Karl Gebhardt, deputy director for water resources at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. He noted that last year an algal bloom stretched for 500 miles along the Ohio River, the biggest he could recall.
Minnesota adopted a rule in 2015 that requires farmers and others to install a 50-foot buffer of vegetation around rivers, lakes and wetlands. After complaints from farmers, the rule was amended in April to exclude drainage ditches on private land.
Wisconsin has set the most stringent maximum limits for phosphorus in rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Last month, roughly 60 local governments around Madison agreed to pool $2 million annually for the next 20 years to pay for measures to keep phosphorus out of rivers.
Iowa lawmakers sought ways this spring to curb nitrates and phosphorus but failed to pass any measures. The state was forced to close beaches at parks in record numbers last summer because of algal blooms that can make swimmers and even dogs sick when they ingest the water, and that irritate the skin after swimming. A Des Moines water utility has also sued three counties over high nitrate levels in a potentially precedent-setting case that seeks to hold local governments accountable for drainage issues.
In October, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey and the federal Environmental Protection Agency rolled out a system that uses satellite images, sensors and water-testing to track algal blooms from the Florida Everglades to Puget Sound in Washington state. The EPA is planning to introduce a mobile app to alert people about potentially dangerous blooms in their areas.
“Things are getting worse,” said Raphael Kudela, a phytoplankton ecologist at the University of Southern California. He noted that last summer an algal bloom off the West Coast, stretching from central California to Alaska, was the area’s most severe on record.
Richard Stumpf, an algal-bloom expert with NOAA, said that under pilot surveillance programs, satellite data has helped track blooms in California, Ohio, Florida and New England. In Lake Erie, after relatively mild blooms during the 1980s and 1990s, the summertime algal growths have gotten worse in the 2000s. He attributed the shift largely to changing farming practices that have released more phosphorus into the watershed.
In Ohio, the state’s new plan is intended to cut the amount of phosphorus entering Lake Erie each spring by 20% by 2020, and by 40% by 2025. The plan uses the amount of phosphorus in 2008 as a baseline. Last June, the governors of Ohio and Michigan and the premier of Ontario committed to hitting those targets, which mirror the goals set by an agreement between the U.S. and the Canadian government.
The two countries have been working together to stem algal blooms in Lake Erie since the 1970s. In recent years, warmer temperatures have increased the time algae can grow and more intense storms have caused more phosphorus and other nutrients to be washed off urban and agricultural lands, according to the federal EPA.
Ohio’s plan targets the western part of Lake Erie, whose waters are only 23 feet deep on average, shallow enough to warm to a temperature range in which algae proliferate.
Under the plan, the Ohio EPA and other state agencies would improve water monitoring at water treatment plants, identify priority watersheds more prone to erosion and set targets for phosphorus reduction in each county, among other steps.
Last year, Republican Gov. John Kasich also signed legislation that prohibits farmers from spreading fertilizer on ground that is frozen, snow-covered or saturated, or if there is a forecast of rain over the next 12 to 24 hours, depending on the type of fertilizer used.
Environmentalists say Ohio will need to put stricter mandates in place. “What’s really missing in this plan is additional policies and regulations that would eventually kick in to require reductions in phosphorus if we don’t achieve them voluntarily,” said  Molly Flanagan, vice president of policy for the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a Chicago-based environmental nonprofit.
The size of algal blooms in Lake Erie this year depends heavily on how much rain falls in the region to transport phosphorus via the Maumee River.
Laura Johnson, director of the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, which closely tracks the amount of phosphorus flowing into the river from March 1 through July, said so far the amount of rain has been far less than last year’s, so the bloom should be less severe than last year’s record mass.
But she said that isn’t a cause to celebrate. “This will still be a good-sized bloom,” she said.

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State nearing decision on Everglades oil well
TheRealdeal.com – by Mike Seemuth, Sun-Sentinel
June 12, 2016
The Department of Environmental Protection will decide whether to permit a well near Miramar
By the end of summer, a state agency may decide whether to permit the Kanter family of Miami to build an exploratory oil well in the Everglades, six miles west of Miramar in southwest Broward County.
The Kanter family recently provided a detailed set of responses to questions from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) about the family’s applications to the agency for permission to build the proposed oil well.
The Kanter family also has similar applications pending reviews by the South Florida Water Management District  and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Multiple city commissions in Broward County had voted to oppose the proposed oil well. Members of the Broward County Commission have said they would oppose a zoning change in support of the oil well project.
The DEP’s decision on the Kanter family’s applications could come by late summer or early fall.
Miramar Mayor Wayne Messom, a leading opponent of the Kanter family’s proposal, told the Sun-Sentinel, “We’re just waiting to see what the verdict is going to be from DEP so we can ascertain what the next steps are going to be.”
The family patriarch, Joseph Kanter, was an active developer in postwar South Florida and acquired 20,000 acres of Everglades land for a planned city that never materialized.
John Kanter, president of Kanter Investments Inc., told the Sun-Sentinel his family’s interaction with DEP has been a “rigorous permitting process to address all comments and concerns … We are focusing all of our efforts on acting responsibly in accordance with the law, while protecting our water supply and the environment.”

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Florida's water history changes dramatically
News-Press.com – by Frank Mann, Commissioner for District 5 and chairman of the Lee Board of County Commissioners
June 11, 2016
During the last 125 years, Florida’s history has recorded two diametrically opposed policies by our state and federal governments as it relates to water issues.
The first 100 of those years saw us doing everything possible to drain South Florida, especially the area around the Everglades, so we could grow food for an expanding nation. The last 25 saw us reverse course, and start doing all things possible to repair the environmental damage we finally realized we had done during that first hundred.
The cost of the environmental fix is enormous and the U.S. Government and Florida have already spent more than $1 billion on the repair work.  Much of the initial expenditures were directed toward restoring the natural character of the Kissimmee River (which stretches from near Orlando down into Lake Okeechobee.) Uncountable billions of gallons of nutrient- laden runoff from adjacent farm operations has discharged, and damaged, not just Lake Okeechobee, but the Caloosahatchee river water and estuaries of Lee County where all of that Kissimmee River discharge ends up. Additional pollutants also are picked up along the way anywhere runoff occurs down that water route.
The entire route, upwards of 200 miles must be cleaned up, redesigned, and largely rebuilt at a cost impossible to estimate accurately, but surely no less than another $2 billion.  That amount requires enormous help from the feds, who have 49 other mouths to feed, while struggling with a $19 trillion debt of its own. To succeed in obtaining that help we must be the proverbial “squeaky wheel” in Washington, D. C., continually.
That’s why commissioner Larry Kiker and myself, as well as top level county staff ,recently completed one more of scores of visits to the nation’s capital, so that our elected officials and the huge federal bureaucracy never have a chance to forget us.
Great progress has been made in this awesome task. Even greater effort is currently underway. But far more will be required.
We were greatly encouraged by the responses received this trip, both from our own representatives in Congress, and also by the oft perceived isolated and insulated U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as well. It is clear that the collective efforts of concerned citizens, environmental groups, local governments and Florida officials have made a huge impact where it counts with the folks who control the purse strings, and who set the spending priorities for the nation.
It’s not going to happen overnight, but we truly believe we’re finally headed in the right direction.

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In a corner of the Everglades, a way of life ebbs
NYTimes.com – by Lizette Alvarez
June 11, 2016
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. — As the airboat skimmed across the shallow water, scattering blue dragonflies and launching a heron into the air, Keith Price squinted into the sun and relished the isolation of Florida’s unrivaled river of grass.
Then he cut off the deafening motor, making the silence in the park all the sweeter, turned his one working ear my way, and asked, “Isn’t this beautiful?”
No answer was required, but the question itself was a kind of lament. Private airboating inside the pristine Everglades National Park, a pastime that stretches back decades, will officially end with Mr. Price and others like him. For Mr. Price, 62, it is the latest broadside against the unique but dwindling culture among devotees of the park known as Gladesmen, their traditions curbed over time by restrictions on hunting and camping, development booms and other modern-day intrusions.
“This is the only part of the park where you can ride your own airboat,” said Mr. Price, who calls himself a “citizen of the Everglades” and is the president of the 65-year-old Airboat Association of Florida. “Why wouldn’t I want to pass this on to my kids and grandkids.”
Beginning this year, federal park officials will restrict airboat use to those who, in 1989, used them regularly in the eastern part of Everglades National Park near Miami. That was the year Congress passed a far-reaching law to protect and expand the park by nearly 109,000 acres, and to help it recover from engineering projects that had left the Everglades starved for water.
In keeping with that mission, the law called for the use of airboats in the national park to be phased out. Regulators say the boats can destroy the saw grass prairies and disturb wildlife with their ear-piercing noise.
Airboat owners who were 16 or older in 1989 will most likely be grandfathered and, for the first time, given a permit, said Justin Unger, the park’s deputy superintendent. But the permits expire when their holder dies, guaranteeing the eventual demise of private airboat use inside the park. Mr. Unger said he expected to issue hundreds of such permits, if not more, mostly on an honor system, adding that the park wants to be as generous as possible.
The four commercial airboat concessions that ferry tourists around the park will also be affected. The three that own their land will have to sell it to the federal park, but all four can continue to operate under new park rules, Mr. Unger said. The owners are unhappy about having to sell their land and eventually hand over their concessions.
 “We are trying to enforce the law in the most evolving, respectful way, while still honoring the heritage that exists in South Florida,” Mr. Unger said.
In addition, private airboat riding is allowed in several hundred thousand acres of the Everglades that are outside the park’s boundaries, and in stretches of the neighboring Big Cypress National Preserve.
An early airboat with a wooden hull, powered by a water-cooled Model A Ford Engine, on the Tamiami Canal in the 1940s. Credit via Airboat Association of Florida
But there is something special about Everglades National Park. Folded inside the country’s largest subtropical wilderness, it is a flat 1.5 million acres of marshland, hardwood hammocks, tangled mangroves and cypress domes on the tip of Florida. A shallow sheet of water flows slowly south from Lake Okeechobee across the saw grass and into Florida Bay, attracting a multitude of wading birds, snakes, alligators, fish and frogs.
“There are no other Everglades in the world. They are, they have always been, one of the unique regions of the earth; remote, never wholly known,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas marveled in her book “The Everglades: River of Grass” published in 1947.
Teeming with mosquitoes and tough to penetrate or tame (even the grass will cut your fingers), the swampy Everglades has long been inhospitable to all but the hardiest. Airboats, built to skim atop the calf-deep water with their flat bottoms and back-seat propellers, helped crack open the door.
“You can’t see the Everglades if you can’t get in the Everglades,” said Jesse Kennon, owner of Coopertown Airboats, one of the four concessions inside the national park.
Some of the Everglades die-hards trace back to the gritty pioneering Gladesmen who settled in the wilderness and survived off the land, much like the Miccosukees and Seminoles before them. Some of these settlers’ descendants live here still, holding tight to traditional habits and culture.
Today’s Gladesmen, a largely recreational bunch numbering in the hundreds, do less surviving and more enjoying. They intuit the Everglades — their complaints, their equilibrium. They know what can be eaten (the hearts of saw grass leaves). They know how to read the savanna-like water trails (and not get lost). They even know how to read the minds of alligators and wrestle them down (at least some do).
 “He wants to know if you want to go on a walking tour with him,” Mr. Kennon ribbed, nodding at the alligator that swam silently up to the bobbing airboat, stopped and locked eyes with us for several long minutes.
Mr. Kennon wrestled his first gator as an 11-year-old, climbing on its back, lifting its chin, then tying up its mouth and legs, a trick he can still handle at 73. He learned the trade from the Miccosukee alligator wrestler Bobby Tiger, who lived on a nearby reservation.
Mr. Kennon, who lives in the back of his gift shop in the Everglades, first set foot here as a boy, in the 1950s. He spent summer vacations with a cousin, John Cooper, who had moved to the Everglades from Missouri. Mr. Cooper built a rustic airboat so the family could ride into the swamp to gig bullfrogs they could sell to restaurants or passers-by.
In time, the business became Coopertown Airboats, which Mr. Kennon took over in 1981. Soon, film crews and fashion photographers were following him into the photogenic Everglades
“This is how I make a living, off the Glades,” said Mr. Kennon, who wears a gold ring in the shape of a gator. “I’d go out of my mind working in an office.”
It is easy to see what the airboaters love about life inside the park. The canopy of pink, red and orange as the sun sets beyond the grass. The bass fishing trips with buddies in isolated hammocks that once housed hunting camps. The trumpet blast of the bullfrogs.
When the Everglades protection law passed in 1989, the members of the Airboat Association of Florida lobbied so effectively to save their land that they got to keep it and their clubhouse. Of the remaining 200 or so members, most are weekenders who use the club’s ramp, hang out in the clubhouse and regularly host visiting Boy Scouts. They view themselves as stewards of the park, and say they will fight the law as long as commercial airboats, which they argue are much larger and more damaging to the park, are allowed to remain.
Mr. Price, who goes by his onetime trucker handle, Sawgrass Cowboy, and who could double as Walter Sobchak, a character from the film “The Big Lebowski,” said small, well-driven airboats do not harm the saw grass. And the wildlife adapted to the noise long ago, he said.
“The airboat sound matches my wife’s angry voice,” joked Mr. Price, who grew up near the park and said he took his first steps here as a baby.
His friend Cecil M. Pierce, 71, who has been airboating for more than three decades, said America has just “too much government,” a common grievance among the club’s members. A few minutes later, Mr. Price snatched a tiny apple from a pond apple flower on park property. Mr. Pierce pointed to the sky and said, “there’s a little drone up there watching you.”
By afternoon’s end, the airboaters navigated back to the club for a beer, happy to have skirted the hustle and bustle of another day. “Some people like the ocean,” Mr. Price said. “We like the Everglades.”

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View of Florida's water from 1,000 feet
News-Press.com – by the Editorial Board
June 11, 2016
Recently, members of The News-Press were able to take an aerial tour of various state and federal water projects through south and central Florida. The water projects are critical to maintaining the integrity of the Everglades, storing water, cleaning water and protecting homes and agricultural lands from flooding. They also are critical in reducing the harmful discharges that flow into the Caloosahatchee from Lake Okeechobee and create our dirty water.
It was an important and informational view from 1,000 feet in the air. The helicopter tour presented a unique and breathtaking view of Florida’s massive and important environmental character, showing the immense size of areas like Big Cypress National Preserve, the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and the various water storage and water treatment areas.
In some respects, the eight-and-half hour tour, which took the group as far south as Homestead, north to the Kissimmee River restoration project and west over what will become the 55 billion gallon water storage facility known as C-43 or the Caloosahatchee Reservoir. Joining The News-Press on the tour were state Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers; Paul Warner, principal scientist for the South Florida Water Management District; Heather Martin, deputy director of legislative affairs for Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and two helicopter pilots from the water management district.
There could be several reasons why Caldwell and the water district scheduled this tour:
●  They believed our news stories, editorials and many of the opinions from residents and other environmental experts were presenting a less than favorable view of how the district manages its various water projects.
●  Our reporting fairly or unfairly connected them to U.S. Sugar, one of the top manufacturers in the state and a corporation which farms about 188,000 acres south of the Lake in Hendry, Glades and Palm Beach counties. It financially supports many of the campaigns of influential politicians in the state.
●  Or that they just wanted The News-Press to get out from behind the mountains of documents that exist that show the history of water in the state, how the quality has declined over the years and what is being done now to improve and manage a very delicate ecosystem.
For The News-Press, this was about collecting information, to view first-hand what was happening and to connect what we have written and what we hear from hundreds of people each day about the state of our water.
We know that the dirty water that rushed down the Caloosahatchee in January after heavy rains and the dirty water that impairs the estuary today is not going away overnight. It will take years to reach the clean water levels we hope for to not only strengthen our environment, but also our economy.
We know that the dirty water that comes from Lake O starts north of the lake in what is flowing in from the Kissimmee River and other waterways. This water rushes into the lake six times faster than it can be released. It fills the lake during heavy rains, threatening the structural integrity of the Herbert Hoover Dike, which has had more than a billion dollars’ worth of repairs and strengthening work such as rebuilding a series of culverts and creating an earthen wall within the dike.
We know that people blame U.S. Sugar and its farmers of sugar cane, citrus and other products for back pumping harmful chemicals, like phosphorous, into the lake when heavy rains flood agricultural lands. We know U.S. Sugar responds by saying it is meeting all environmental water quality standards, lawful back pumping only occurs in emergency situations and most of its land is south of the lake anyway, so it can't possibly the be reason for our dirty water here.
We know that various government agencies – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Congress, Florida Fish and Wildlife, South Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Governor’s office, the state Legislature and countless other state, county and city agencies all try and work together to approve, fund and build various water projects to protect our environment. We also know that it is difficult to get all of them on the same page, meet the demands of environmental groups and for water quality legislated in the Congressional-approved Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act and recently approved Legacy Florida.
We know that the federal government is millions of dollars behind in funding its half of various state projects, although some, like the C-111 Spreader canal project for flood control in South Dade are fully funded at the federal level.
We know that criticism flowed aggressively after the state let a deadline to buy 46,800 acres of U.S Sugar land south of the lake for possible water storage and flood control come and go last year. But it is important to remember that even if that land had been purchased for approximately $350 million, it could not be used for 20 years based on the requirements of the contract. It is also important to note that any storage facility south of the lake would not help us during the season. That water could not be  returned to the estuary to help control salinity levels during dry seasons.
The enormity of Lake O is hard to comprehend without actually seeing it. It is 35 miles long from north to south and 30 miles wide from east to west. Consider that when C-43 is finished, probably in February, 2021, it will have the capacity of storing the 55 billion gallons of water, but that only takes about 4.5 inches off a lake that can rise quickly to almost 18 feet during heavy rains, causing high discharges into the Caloosahatchee. That is not a lot of water when you consider one foot of water on the lake is about 146 billion gallons, and the lake is typically kept between 12 and 15 feet.
The water district and many others have stressed the importance of building water storage projects and cleaning water north of the lake. That is critical. If water is kept there and cleaned there, it improves our chances for smaller discharges of cleaner water.
That’s why the restoration project along the Kissimmee River is so critical. By back filling the canal, which was originally constructing to straighten the river and control flooding of farm land, and restoring natural, meandering canals and a vital flood plain critical to wild life, this project will help disperse and clean water before it reaches the lake. But there are other water arteries to the north that feed into Lake O that increases the importance of creating about 250,000 acre feet of additional storage.
This week, Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, sent a letter to Pete Antonacci, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, asking that Gov. Rick Scott’s 20-Year Plan Integrated Delivery Schedule also include water storage projects south of the Lake and not just to the north. “Given the level of crisis the Caloosahatchee Estuary faces today we must act immediately to identify areas that can hold water to reduce harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
Benacqusito was against buying the land south of the lake last year. She said that was mainly because of the 20-year period when the land could not be used for storage and flood control.
But water storage and water management north of the lake is critical at this time. It is a priority for the water district as it manages some 43 hydrologic, storage and nutrient reduction projects throughout the state.
Antonacci and district board member Mitch Hutchcraft met with The News-Press editorial board this past week. They reiterated the importance of finishing the projects already on the books, the need for storage north of the lake, as explained in a 158-page report on water quality by the University of Florida, and that there were thousands of acres of storage south of the lake already.
"Floridians have fractured voices, folks in Tallahassee have fractured voices," Hutchcraft said. "We talk with environmental groups - we take this project off, but then we hear 'No, we need those.' But we need to do these other ones, too."
This is all about time and money. C-43 carries a price tag of about $500 million, water restoration projects to improve water quality in the Everglades is another $880 million.
We all want our water to be clean and move south to the Everglades as quickly as possible. That will be done by creating better movement of water from the four canals that take water south of the lake through various storage and treatment areas, and under a series of bridges along the Tamiami Trail and into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
The view from 1,000 feet shows the enormity of this process. On the ground, we need all groups to listen, learn, communicate and keep restoration plans and financing on track.
Sampling of major Florida water projects
C-111 Spreader Canal Western Project
Description: The C-111 is in the southern most canal of the Central and South Florida Flood Control Project. It is located in south Miami Dade County. The canal was built under the Flood Control Act of 1962 to extend flood protection while controlling and improving distribution of available water. The project is part of the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act of 1989 to help protect the national park.
Purpose: To establish needed flood controls and to improve more natural water flows into the Taylor Slough and Everglades National Park, which helps improve the timing, distribution and quantity of water that flows into Florida Bay. This project also helps improve wildlife habitat impacting the park. Estimates are approximately 252,000 acres of wetlands and coastal habitat are affected by this project. The project also will begin restoration of the Southern Glades and Model Lands.
The 8.5 Square Mile Area (SMA) project
Description: A Modified Waters project, which is part of the SMA Flood Mitigation Plan to provide protection to the 8.5-mile SMA residential area, about 6 miles south of Tamiami Trail and east of Everglades National Park. It was authorized in 1989 by the Everglades National Park Expansion and Restoration Act. It is funded 100 percent by the U.S. Department of the Interior and being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project includes the acquisition of approximately 4,320 acres of land, construction of a levy, seepage control, pump station and a 183-acre detention area.
Purpose: To establish more natural water flows to the Shark River Slough, which is one of the major sloughs that feed into the national park and restore similar conditions that existed in 1983.. The project is designed to allow more water into the water concentration areas and features a protective levy around the perimeter of the 8.5-mile project to help protect homes on the west side of the levy. It features a series of flood mitigation areas, including a seepage canal, a pump station and an 183-acre detention area.
Tamiami Trail one mile bridge
Description: The $91 million project features a new one-mile bridge and 9.7 miles of reinforced roadway.
Purpose: To create water flow under the roadway, which was creating a barrier and stopping water from flowing into the Everglades, Northeast Shark River Slough, the Taylor Slough and on into Florida Bay. Much of the project was completed in 2013, improving water flow into the park by 92 percent, according to the district.
Additional  5.5 miles of bridging
Description: A final environmental impact study in 2010 recommended bridging another 5.5 miles – or three spans of bridging – and raising the balance of the 10.7-mile section of Tamiami Trail. Recently, the next phase of the bridging project, a 2.6-mile section, broke ground. About $90 million of the projects costs will be funded by the state and the rest by the Department of Interior. It is supposed to be completed by 2020. The total coast of the bridging work and raised roadway is approximately $330 million.
Purpose: To improve water flow from the north into the Everglades National Park.
Broward County Water Preserve Areas Project
Description: This $900 million CERP project consists of three components: Two water impoundment areas and a water conservation area as part of seepage management.  The project is located in western Broward and Miami-Dade counties and lands are bordered by Water Conservation Areas 3A/3B, Interstate 75 and the Miami Canal and is within the city limits of Weston, Pembroke Pines, Miramar and the town of Southwest Ranches.
Purpose: To reduce seepage (over an 11-mile area) from a water conservation area, to capture, store and distribute surface water runoff from a basin, provide flood protection for existing homes and increase the size of wetlands. Approximately 563,000 acres in a conservation area  and 200,000 acres in the greater Everglades will benefit from this project. The project received congressional approval in 2014 as part of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act is is currently awaiting federal funding.
A-1 Flow Equalization Basin and storm water treatment area
Description: This is $889 million facility and is comprised of 21 miles of earthen levees and 15 water control structures. It is located  between Lake Okeechobee and Everglades National Park, west of U.S. Highway 27 in southern Palm Beach County.
Purpose: To enhance water quality by meeting state water quality standards and providing 15,000 acres (4 feet deep) of water storage, holding 15 billion gallons of water. The basin captures storm water run off and collects water from Lake Okeechobee. The water is then fed into the storm water treatment area, cleaned and sent south to Everglades National Park.. There are three other flow equalization basins and storm water treatment areas in the state, including one in Palm Beach County, which is 950 acres but 53 feet deep, and can hold 15 billion gallons of water.
Kissimmee River Restoration
Description: The Kissimmee River water shed consists of a 1,600-square mile Upper Basin and 750-square mile lower basin that extends south from Lake Kissimmee to Lake Okeechobee.  The river once meandered approximately 103 miles within a 1- to 2-mile flood plain. But from 1962 to 1971, the river was converted to a channelized system to provide flood protection with a series of impounded reservoirs controlled by water control structures. The straight channel did protect nearby farmland, but the flood plain then dried up and vegetation and wildlife disappeared. This is a $578 million project, which was launched in 1999, when back filling 7.5 miles of the canal begin, a new river channel was re-curved, a river control structure demolished, 15 continuous miles of river were reconnected and 11 acres of wetland reclaimed.
Purpose: The goal of this $578 million project is to re-establish 40 square miles of natural river/floodplain habitat, 27,000 acres of wetlands and 43 continues miles of meandering river channel. The goal is to acquire 110,00 acres of land, back fill 22 continuous miles of canal, demolish two water control structures, re-curve nine miles of the river channel and restore thousands of acres of wetland to provide habitat to 300 species of fish and wildlife that had once resided in the basin.  A large flood plain has already been created, and what was once farmland 17 years ago is now home to abundant wildlife and strong vegetation growth.  The natural flow of water and the wetlands help slow the movement of the water and remove harmful deposits of phosphorous that can flow into Lake O and eventually into the Caloosahatchee.
Caloosahatchee C-43 Western Basin Reservoir
Description: The project is part of the Everglades Restoration Plan and carries a price tag of about $600 million once it is completed in about five years.  About $118 million has been invested so far. Preliminary testing work has started on this 10,500-acre water storage facility that will range from 15 to 25 feet deep and is located between Clewiston and Fort Myers in Hendry County, west of Lake O. Piles of clay 58 feet high will be pre-compressed into a solid layer to form the perimeter of the storage area and this work is expected to be finished by July of 2017. Then, two pump stations will be installed with construction expected to e finished in 2018 and 2020. The first cell, capable of holding 29 billion gallons of water, is expected to be completed by February, 2021. Both cells will eventually hold about 55 billion gallons
Purpose: To capture and store storm water runoff from the C-43 basin and Lake Okeechobee, reducing discharges of harmful and dirty water into the Caloosahatchee. It also will have the capacity to discharge water back into the river during dry seasons to help improve salinity balance for marine life.

160610-a
Controversial Everglades oil well plan moving forward
Sun-Sentinel
June 10, 2016
After generating an uproar last summer over plans to drill for oil in the Everglades near Miramar, the Kanter family of Miami has submitted paperwork for state permits that could result in decisions by late summer or early fall. The family has proposed a single exploratory well about six miles outside Miramar, in hopes of adding to the modest group of oil fields that have been operating in South Florida since World War II.
Environmentalists have denounced the proposal, and city commissions throughout Broward County adopted resolutions in opposition. Members of the Broward County Commission, from which the family would need to obtain a zoning change, have said they would never support it.
But the family pressed on and recently submitted detailed responses to questions from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, in hopes of completing its applications with that agency. Once the applications are determined to be complete, the agency will have 60 days to decide on one of them and 90 days to decide on the other. Applications are also pending with the Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management District.
Family patriarch Joseph Kanter, who developed real estate during South Florida's postwar boom years, accumulated 20,000 acres in the Everglades for a town that was never built. Although development would now be impossible, the land stands along the Sunniland Trend, a deep geologic structure running from Fort Myers to Miami that contains deposits of oil.
John Kanter, president of Kanter Investments Inc., described the approval process as extremely thorough and said the company was committed to producing a plan that would protect the environment.
"I would tell you at this preliminary stage we are involved in the rigorous permitting process to address all comments and concerns of the Florida Department of Environment Protection," he said. "We are focusing all of our efforts on acting responsibly in accordance with the law, while protecting our water supply and the environment."
Opponents say they will fight the plans, if the project wins approval.
"We're just waiting to see what the verdict is going to be from DEP so we can ascertain what the next steps are going to be," said Miramar Mayor Wayne Messom, who has rallied much of the opposition to the plan. "The thought of oil drilling just outside our city limits, piercing our fragile drinking water supply out in the Everglades is just unconscionable. To think there would be any technology that could guarantee its safety just seems unbelievable."
The Kanter company filed hundreds of pages of documents to the state environmental department, in response to its request for details on construction plans, safety measures, standards for pipes and other equipment. It also asks what is being proposed to minimize impact to wetlands, monitor water quality and protect wildlife. In addition, the company had to specify its plan for a potential release of hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas that has been released by oil drilling.
The company said the risk of spills or blowouts is small because the oil likely to be found there would be thick and under little pressure, contrary to the popular image of the Texas gusher.
"The Sunniland Trend contains minimal amounts of natural gas, so the oil is under low pressure," the company told the environmental department. "As a result of the low pressure and viscous consistency, the oil does not naturally come to the surface in the manner most people associate with oil wells. Submersible pumps are required to bring the oil to the surface."
At the same time, the company applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for permission to destroy 6.83 acres of wetlands, which would be "mitigated" by improving or expanding wetlands elsewhere. The Corps recently received additional information requested from the Kanters and is now evaluating whether the application is complete, spokeswoman Nakeir Nobles said.
The applications are for an exploratory well only. If sufficient oil is found to make recovery financially worthwhile, the family would have to go through another round of applications for permission to extract and ship the oil.

160610-b
Effort to halt Lake O discharges requires a commitment to bold change
TCPalm.com – Editorial
June 10, 2016
The news last week was good. But it’s hardly time to celebrate.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced algae samples taken from two sites along the St. Lucie River contained no toxins. But that's subject to change. Our local waterways remain fouled with green slime; our ecological disaster continues unabated.
On May 19, following a meeting with U.S. Sugar executives who said they would "absolutely" meet with local leaders and environmentalists to identify a way to permanently stop discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River, the Treasure Coast Newspapers Editorial Board called for what might be termed a discharge "summit."
"We must seize the moment," the editorial board wrote.
State Sen. Joe Negron appears to have had a similar thought: Less than a week later, Negron announced he was working on a plan to reduce the discharges. He said he'd spoken with scientists, environmentalists and the agriculture industry, and hopes to decide on a game plan by early fall.
We're heartened to see Negron taking what appear to be concrete steps to address the crisis.
And there may be no need for a separate "summit" beyond what he's doing; there's little point in duplicating efforts.
Nonetheless, as Negron develops his plan, there are numerous factors to bear in mind.
We had suggested that the University of Florida Water Institute be involved in the quest for a solution. Acting institute director Thomas K. Frazer said he would "certainly be willing to explore" that possibility. And we think it's vital the institute be involved in the search for solutions, as the institute is intimately familiar with the issue.
It completed a Florida Senate-commissioned report in 2015 that identified the need for "enormous increases in storage and treatment of water both north and south of the lake."
Negron acknowledges the need for more water storage.
"We now have a dedicated funding source to pay for a solution (Amendment 1), which will require additional storage," Negron said in an email interview. And he said he's spoken with landowners "who may be willing to work with us to obtain additional capacity."
Does that include the sugar industry? Negron didn't say, but certainly the industry must have a seat at the table and be part of these discussions — so long as industry representatives are indeed willing to engage constructively with not only lawmakers, but environmentalists and independent scientists like those at the Water Institute.
Most importantly, this can't be a public relations whitewash. The condition of our waterways requires a commitment to bold change — on the part of all involved.
It's worth recalling that we've been here before.
Three years ago — during "The Lost Summer of 2013" — the Senate Select Committee on the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin met in Stuart. Negron and other legislators sought short- and medium-term solutions to the discharges which then, as now, wreaked havoc.
Subsequently, discharges were reduced — though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it was weather-driven.
Now here we are, back at square one. If this is to be another "lost summer," it must be our last.
That's ambitious, but necessary. We are confident Negron grasps the urgency of the situation, and we hope everyone else who must be part of any solution understands it may require compromise, even sacrifice.
This isn't going to be easy. But the alternative is the loss of yet more summers — and so much more.
Related:           Follow our Lake Okeechobee discharge meter for daily updates.

160610-c
Environmental critics muddy waters with misinformation
Palm Beach Post – Point of View by Malcolm S. Wade, Jr., senior vice president of corporate strategy and business development for U.S. Sugar Corp
June 10, 2016
Throughout the year, Floridians have watched with concern as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released billions of gallons of water from Lake Okeechobee in an effort to reduce pressure on the Herbert Hoover Dike and also prepare for the rainy season.
As residents of South and Southwest Florida, U.S. Sugar’s employees share in the frustration over these releases, which is why we support additional federal funds to expedite the repairs of the Herbert Hoover Dike and finish projects in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) pipeline. While the releases have been frustrating, frustration doesn’t justify the war of misinformation currently being waged by environmental critics.
For starters, the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers are not the relief valves so the Everglades Agriculture Area (EAA) could maintain optimum growing conditions. The EAA was flooded during the historic January rains with many acres of vegetable and planted sugarcane lost. The EAA has identical permits to every other agricultural interest in the South Florida Water Management District’s (SFWMD) 16 counties and is only allowed to discharge three quarters of an inch of flooding per day while many urban coastal areas discharge far in excess of that. But these critics maintain that somehow farmers in the EAA should not have the same property rights as others in the SFWMD and flooding our property should be no big deal.
Critics have also complained that SFWMD was back-pumping EAA water at the same time the Army Corps was working to respond to rising lake water. Water is only pumped from the EAA to provide flood protection for Clewiston, Lake Harbor, Belle Glade, South Bay, Pahokee and Canal Point in extreme weather events and for the last five years amounts to only three percent of the water flowing into the lake, four percent of the phosphorus and six percent of the nitrogen. The EAA water quality is no different than the other 97 percent that flows into the lake from other sources.
Some have also falsely claimed that more storage south will restore coastal estuaries, rehydrate the Everglades, recharge the Biscayne aquifer and protect private and public well fields. It would be interesting to hear from these same people how that would work in 2016 when the Everglades were several feet over their regulatory schedule, wildlife and tree islands were threatened, and the state and federal agencies were instituting emergency procedures to get the water levels in the Everglades down. More storage in the EAA would have helped the Everglades crisis, not the lake or estuaries.
We have a daunting task to educate the general public of the facts on how our water systems actually work and the false science pedaled by some environmentalists should not be taken seriously by responsible citizens trying to understand our complicated and interconnected water system.

160610-d
Getting the water right should be priority
News-Press.com – by Ray Judah
June 10, 2016
It was no surprise to read U.S. Sugar Vice President Bubba Wade's recent commentary in support of Congressman Tom Rooney, when I questioned the Congressman's commitment to Everglades restoration. Big Sugar provides generous financial support for its hand-picked politicians and react quickly to defend their investments.
Wade accused me of "having some sort of mental meltdown." While my health has never been questioned, recent scientific research has revealed a link between Blue-green algae and the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It is well documented that toxic Blue-green algae, such as the harmful algae bloom in the Caloosahatchee is a direct result of land based nutrient runoff including phosphorus and nitrogen from the sugarcane fields that back pump into Lake Okeechobee.
Wade states that there is no truth to my claim that the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie are the relief valves for the release of excessive polluted water from Lake Okeechobee. Wade's criticism does not even pass the straight face test, as it is well documented that the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) use the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie for discharge of elevated lake water levels preventing flooding of lands at lower elevation such as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).
Wade suggests that the (EAA), including 440,000 acres of sugarcane fields, south of Lake Okeechobee, is treated the same as other agricultural interests in the South Florida Water Management District's jurisdictional boundaries. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the EAA enjoys tremendous leniency due to "grandfathered" surface water management systems and extended land leases.
To prevent flooding in the EAA, the South Florida Water Management District manages ground water levels at 18 to 24 inches below grade, regardless of seasonal fluctuations, to provide optimum growing conditions for sugarcane to the detriment of the south Florida ecosystem.
Government-owned Water Conservation Areas (WCA) south of the EAA are used extensively by the sugar industry for water storage and treatment, effectively displacing any potential storage for water from Lake Okeechobee. The EAA should be expected to provide storage for storm water runoff on their own property as is required for all other permitted developments instead of exploiting publicly owned lands.
Wade suggests that water is only back pumped from the EAA to Lake Okeechobee to provide flood protection for the communities adjacent to southern Lake Okeechobee. Wade's comments are disingenuous as the massive volume of water redirected to the lake is predominantly from the EAA, which covers a far greater area than the communities around the lake that have a much smaller foot print and exhibit higher ground elevations.

160610-e
Graham urges DEP to rethink water pollution limits
Tallahassee Democrat – by Jeff Burlew, senior writer
June 10, 2016
U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham isn’t happy about the state’s proposal to make some of its water quality standards less stringent.
On Friday, she wrote John Steverson, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, voicing her “strong opposition” to proposed new standards and urging the agency to reconsider them.
“I am concerned that weakening restrictions on toxic chemicals in Florida’s surface waters, as proposed by (DEP), will negatively impact the overall quality of our state’s waters, as well as hurt many Floridians whose livelihoods depend on these waters,” she said in the letter.
DEP is in the process of updating its human-health criteria for 43 dangerous chemicals it regulates for rivers, lakes, streams and coastal waters. The agency is adopting standards for the first time for another 39 compounds. If ultimately approved, the state would double the amount of chemicals it regulates for surface waters.
But DEP would allow less stringent standards for more than half of the 43 toxic substances it currently regulates. Many of the limits would fall below those recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency, activists say.
DEP says the proposed new limits are based on the latest science. The agency also has says the standards would allow people to safely eat Florida seafood and drink local tap water their entire lives.
Drew Bartlett, DEP's deputy secretary for ecosystem restoration, said the agency will engage with Graham's office to discuss the issue. He said the agency "absolutely must" update its water quality standards, which it hasn't done since the early 1990s.
"We have to take the EPA's latest guidance and science and work that new information into updated water quality standards," he said. "And these all must be based purely on the scientific process. It's important to root all these chemicals in what is necessary to protect humans. And every variable used in the calculation is rooted in science."
The proposal won’t become final until it is approved by both the Florida Environmental Regulation Commission. whose members are appointed by the governor, and the EPA.
Graham, a Democrat from Tallahassee, echoed the concerns of environmental groups who are concerned that the new standards, including a less stringent limit for benzene, would make it easier for companies to frack for oil in the state.
Benzene, a well-known carcinogen, is used in hydraulic fracturing and is found in high amounts in waste water from the unconventional drilling technique. Bartlett and other DEP officials say the new standards are in no way related to fracking.
Graham noted major problems from water contamination in Flint, Michigan. She said a community’s health is closely tied to its water quality.

160610-f
Grassroots environmentalist to speak at TLNC
TriangleNewsLeader
June 10, 2016
‘Regular Folks Can Make a Difference’
Environmentalist, activist, and nature photographer Gary Kuhl will be the featured speaker at Trout Lake Nature Center’s Friday Night Naturalist program on Friday, June 17, at 6 PM. His talk will focus on grassroots efforts that have had, and continue to have, significant and long-lasting positive environmental impacts in communities throughout Florida.
Kuhl, who began his career as an industrial engineer with E.I. DuPont and later received a master’s degree in environmental engineering, went on to become executive director at the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Together with experience as public works director in Citrus and Sumter counties, county administrator in Citrus and Hernando counties, and as administrator for the Hillsborough County Water Resources Team, he acquired a broad working knowledge of the complex governmental, political and financial challenges that face champions for environmental change.
With that unique perspective of Florida’s natural and political environments, he became a founding member of the Florida Conservation Coalition. The coalition, initiated by Florida Governor Bob Graham, is dedicated to restoring, protecting and managing Florida’s resources, from the Everglades to springs, rivers and lakes throughout the state.
He currently is executive director of the organization Save Crystal River, a group which, in total, has garnered $4.1 million in allocations by the Florida legislature. Its efforts were praised by Senator Charlie Dean, environmental preservation and conservation committee chair.
To Kuhl, this group’s efforts represented a major environmental achievement by “the regular folks who live there.” The “Save Crystal River” project aims to remove the harmful algae Lyngbya in some of the canals adjoining the bay and replant with native aquatic grasses.
Kuhl has combined the diligence with which he achieved environmental objectives with his fascination with nature photography to create a presentation that inspires and motivates environmentalists, demonstrating that motivated, committed individuals can make a difference.

160610-g
Groundhog Day at SFWMD
Sunshine State News - by Nancy Smith
June 10, 2016
If Thursday's South Florida Water Management Board meeting in Fort Myers sounded like deja vu all over again, that's because the annual "buy land, move the water south" campaign is back.
It's like clockwork. Concerned citizens and activists come to shout and demand. People are scared, I get it. Who wants to visit or live along an estuary that could make them sick? We've had a lot of rain, a lot of Lake Okeechobee discharges. Algae blooms along the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers are back.
But I wish when folks attend these SFWMD meetings, they would spend the time they're not talking watching and listening -- I mean, really listening -- to the district's presentations.
Certainly the answers they didn't want to hear were right there. All they had to do Thursday was follow along with agenda item 29 -- just pay attention.
But here's the short form again: Scientists won't know how much more storage will be needed until they see how the currently planned projects are built and operating.
That means no reservoir, and any plan for one right now would be foolish.
"This may be an inconvenient truth to activists whose mantra is ‘buy the land, send the water south,’" said U.S. Sugar Senior Vice President Malcolm "Bubba" Wade, Jr. "But the fact is, there are already 120,000 acres of formerly productive farmland that are now in public ownership for water storage and restoration efforts, and the use of these lands has not been maximized by the government yet."
Wade wrote this as part of an answer to a guest column by Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper in the Fort Myers News-Press ("Legislators, state need plan to store water" ). Draper is one of the hornblowers for the "buy land, move the water south" cause.
The Interagency Restoration Task Force, made up of state and federal partners, is in charge of restoration. It formalized the long-term integrated delivery schedule in November 2015, which charts the course of restoration efforts through 2030. Read this Sun-Sentinel guest column by Col. Jason Kirk, Jacksonville district commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 
And restoration is all on schedule. The state has its components on a fast track, water is already "flowing south," albeit minimally. Why on earth would we want to lose our focus, spend millions of dollars on land we may not -- in fact, probably don't -- need, and delay our progress to integrate a politically expedient reservoir "plan" into CERP before we know exactly how everything is working ?
I blame the self-appointed pied pipers of Everglades plumbing, the Everglades Foundation, for playing on South Floridians' fears. 
The Foundation has managed to take advantage of redrawn districts and a mercurial voter mood in an unpredictable election year to get prominent state legislators on their side. Earlier this week Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, sent letters to the SFWMD asking board members to give more consideration to buying land south of Lake Okeechobee for future water storage.
Negron, by the way, is the senator who doesn't believe in forcing septic tank inspections or sewer conversions on anyone.
Add to that L. Kevin Stinnette, Indian riverkeeper, who has written a letter to Peter Antonacci, head of the SFWMD, demanding sugar farmers suspend pumping water off their crops and into canals. Huh? When a Stuart reporter asked her about it, U.S. Sugar Corp. spokesperson Judy Sanchez snapped, "So I guess wealthy coastal residents deserve more protection from harm than the jobs and livelihoods of people in the farming communities."
The Everglades Foundation, meanwhile, and the environmental organizations that buy into EF's "science," would like to be considered the only worthy brains involved in Everglades restoration. 
But please remember, it took nearly five years to get CERP back on track after the Everglades Foundation signed off on halting construction on the 16,700-acre A1 reservoir (south of Lake Okeechobee) when they thought Charlie Crist was going to buy out U.S. Sugar. In fact, the reservoir had been partially dismantled.
With or without a reservoir, the folks who live on the coasts east and west of the big lake are never going to "store" their way out of their water problem. But it's in their power to solve a big portion of it: Convert their septic tanks to a central sewer system. "The real challenge is local," board member Melanie Peterson said of Martin County. "Something like 80 percent of the impact on the river comes from septic tanks."
Oh, yes -- and if the Everglades Foundation and all the folks who follow behind want to do something truly important for sick waterways, trying to pull off a land grab isn't it. But leaning on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fix the Herbert Hoover Dike ... now you're talking.

160610-h
Nuisance flooding from sea level rise up 50 percent last year
Palm Beach Post – by Kimberly Miller
June 10, 2016
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the number of nuisance flood days in the U.S. jumped 50 percent during the meteorological year May 2015 to April 2016.
Several areas, including Miami and Key West, broke records for the number of days where high tides caused water to overtake sea walls and rush into streets.
In Miami, where the tidal gauge is measured at Virginia Key, there were 18 nuisance flood days. Key West had 14 days.
 “Tidal flooding is increasing in frequency within the U.S. coastal communities due to sea level rise from climate change and local land subsidence (sinking),” a report released this week by NOAA says. “Decades ago, powerful storms caused such impacts, but due to sea level rise, more common events are more impactful.”
The study looked at 28 long-term gauges across the U.S.
While none of the gauges were in Palm Beach County, the region did suffer from nuisance or “sunny day” flooding in the fall, especially in areas along the Intracoastal.
In September and October, municipal officials from Jupiter to Boca Raton were ready with “road closed” signs as streets known to flood were shut down.
NOAA measurements taken from a buoy off Lake Worth show sea levels rising at 3.36 millimeters per year, or 1.10 feet in 100 years. That’s similar to readings at Marathon Key that show a 3.34 millimeter increase per year, and Tampa, which is measuring an annual increase of 3.15 millimeters.
It’s considerably below New Orleans, which is experiencing a 9.03 millimeter rise in sea levels per year, or 3 feet over 100 years.
Still, the impact on South Florida is evident any time more than gravitational or atmospheric or oceanic power combines to embolden coastal waters.
A bicyclist heads up Lake Trail in Palm Beach after it flooded Oct. 27 when water rushed in from the Intracoastal Waterway. A combination of the full moon, high tide, and sea level rise are blamed for the flooding. (Lannis Waters / The Palm Beach Post)
“A few inches matters in South Florida when we have such a low land elevation,” said Jayantha Obeysekera, chief modeler for hydrologic and environmental systems at the South Florida Water Management District in October.
The flooding into backyards and streets in September when the moon reached perigee — the closest it comes to Earth in its orbit — simultaneously with it becoming full and a lunar eclipse, was some of the worst local officials said they’ve seen.
“Impacts of nuisance flooding include degraded storm water systems, infiltration into waste-water systems, contamination of fresh water supplies and salt-water flooding of roads, homes and businesses,” the report says. “Tidal flooding is disrupting commerce and ways of life.”
Related:           Read: Humans causing fastest rate of sea level rise in 3,000 years. 

160610-i
Seagrass die-off can’t be stopped
KeysNet.com - by David Goodhue
June 10, 2016
 “This is where all the little life in the bay starts, and the big life follows,” backcountry guide Capt. Xavier Figueredo said as he surveyed a section of dying Florida Bay seagrass from his skiff last week.
A combination of last summer’s major drought and the continued blockage of natural freshwater flow from the mainland has Keys anglers, environmentalists and elected officials bracing for catastrophe in the bay as the summer heats up.
The 850-square mile bay only recently recovered from a 1987-1991 seagrass die-off that triggered a massive algae bloom that smothered bay sponges and chased off much of the area’s treasured fish populations.
A similar die-off is happening again because the bay’s salinity levels spiked beginning last summer causing oxygen deprivation, leading to an increase in hydrogen sulfides that are choking the roots of the seagrass that is vital to Florida Bay’s ecosystem.
Last summer’s drought exacerbated already-high salinity levels caused by a century of blocked freshwater that naturally flows into the bay from Central Florida and Lake Okeechobee. The water stopped flowing because of continued housing development and agriculture. It historically traveled from the lake through Everglades National Park and into Florida Bay.
“Right now, because of all the development in South Florida over the last 100 years, very little freshwater in Florida ends up in the bay,” said Figueredo, a founding member of Florida Bay Forever, a Keys conservation group.
And, because of last year’s drought, Figueredo said Florida Bay now has five times the salinity than the makeup of the open ocean, creating uninhabitable conditions for a once vibrant ecosystem teeming with sealife.
“It fried everything,” he said. “An entire fishery was wiped out in a year.”
Most experts agree that there is little to nothing that can be done to stop the seagrass die-off and resulting algae blooms this time, but groups like Florida Bay Forever, the Everglades Foundation and the Audubon Society of the Everglades say there are ways to prevent similar phenomena from happening again.
“This is still one of the most beautiful bays in the world,” Figueredo said. “Hopefully, it will stay that way.”
But implementation of major initiatives like the Central Everglades Restoration Plan, a framework approved by Congress in 2000, has stagnated. The plan called for the completion of 68 projects to increase water flow into the by 2038. Elizabeth Jolin of Florida Bay Forever said less than a third of the projects have been completed.
A plan to create a huge storage area for fresh water south of Lake Okeechobee that could be released when needed has also stalled. Conservationists say elected officials who cater to the demands of Florida's two major sugar-producing companies are to blame. An option for the state to buy 46,000 acres of land south of the lake belonging to the U.S. Sugar Corp. expired last October.
Mike Forster, a Village of Islamorada councilman, local business owner and also a founding member of Florida Bay Forever, said the state and the sugar industry should revisit the proposal.
“What a great legacy to their kids it would be to save the environment,” said Forster, an avid backcountry boater. “They could be heroes.”
Florida Bay consists of 27 individual basins and is lined with tens of thousands of acres of seagrass.
Forster said everyone in Florida should be concerned and on board with efforts to resume historic freshwater flows throughout the state. Even the influential sugar farming industry has a stake in more freshwater, Forster said.
“We’re not against agriculture. We all support farmers,” he said. “But we all support clean water for the state of Florida, and we all need to come together under one umbrella.”
There are signs of hope and progress. Construction of a 2.6-mile bridge elevating a stretch of U.S. 41 could begin in the fall. The $180-million federal/state project is designed to increase freshwater flow through the Everglades and into the bay.
The 275-mile Tamiami Trail was built a century ago to connect Tampa to Miami. It did just that, but it also stopped the natural flow of water through the Everglades.
A one-mile bridge on the trail was built about four miles east of the proposed bridge in 2013.
U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami, said such projects demonstrate work is being done to prevent future die-offs in Florida Bay, but more needs to be done and quickly.
“The question is, can we accelerate it,” he said.
 Meeting with state, federal officials
The Village of Islamorada is holding a public meeting on the issue, with representatives from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District expected to attend.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 21 at 10 a.m. at the Founders Park Community Center at mile marker 87. The meeting is also expected to be broadcast live on Comcast Channel 77 and streamed on the village’s website, www.islamorada.fl.us.

160609-a
Everglades Coalition not being truthful in U.S. Sugar ad critique
Naples Daily News - Guest commentary by Judy Clayton Sanchez, Director of Public Affairs U.S. Sugar Clewiston
June 9, 2016
U.S. Sugar is committed to getting the facts out about the complexity of our water system and the fresh water discharges that are unfortunately happening more often than any of us would like.
We believe the facts in our ads, all of which are independently sourced, should speak for themselves.
But a recent guest commentary by Everglades Coalition's Cara Capp and Michael Baldwin completely mischaracterizes our company's position and attempts to mislead readers by ignoring critical details. This cherry picking of information and deliberate distortion of certain facts are the exact reasons we decided to run a science-based ad campaign.
For all of their talk about science, Capp and Baldwin easily dismiss the most knowledgeable scientists monitoring water quantity and quality: the scientists and engineers at the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). As noted, the data clearly shows that less than 5 percent of the water and phosphorous is flowing into Lake Okeechobee from the south — meaning the remaining 95-plus percent is coming from lands north, east and west of Lake Okeechobee. If we cannot agree on the legitimacy of the data being shared by the SFWMD, how will we ever agree on solutions to fix the problem?
Critics claim our ads ignore "the consensus of expert opinion" that more storage, treatment, and conveyance south of Lake Okeechobee is needed, but we believe these may be needed in the future.
That will not be known until after currently planned projects are built and operated. However, there is ample land already in public ownership south of the lake (120,000 acres) to maximize storage without acquiring additional land. Secondly, outside of environmental activist organizations, which receive millions from anti- sugar cane farming special interests, there is near-unanimous consensus that water storage and treatment projects should be built in the area where the bulk of the water and pollution is originating — to the north, east and west.
Most importantly, there is no "consensus" on buying additional land south of the lake. Both the SFWMD and the Florida Legislature decided not to exercise the option to purchase 47,000 acres from U.S. Sugar in 2015. The SFWMD recently said in a release on the land buy that "the U.S. Sugar land is in the wrong place … (it was) a great deal for U.S. Sugar but a raw deal for Florida taxpayers."
The SFWMD release also noted that buying the land would result in "cannibalizing money to buy land actually needed for Everglades restoration."
The Everglades Coalition and affiliated groups are perpetuating a myth that buying additional farm land will enable more water to be sent south. More water can be sent south when there is capacity during dry or average years like 2015. But during wet times, more land does not equal more flow south. That is the biggest myth, fallacy or outright lie that is being bandied about by the activist groups.
During these wet events, water conservation areas south of Lake Okeechobee have been hundreds of thousands of acre feet above federal regulation schedules. As evidenced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' actions recently, not one drop of water from Lake Okeechobee could have been sent south into an already flooded southern system. If you build more storage south of the lake, that storage would be utilized to reduce flooding in the conservation areas, not to reduce discharges to the coastal estuaries.
In addition, there is a complex network of water conservation areas and other canals and structures that are involved in moving water south. There are also complex environmental issues and regulations creating the bottleneck, not the residents and businesses that are south of Lake Okeechobee.
As noted by the SFWMD, constraints include endangered species such as the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, Everglades water quality standards, and the levee around the Everglades that constricts the amount of water that can be stored.
Finally, it's laughable to characterize these environmental activist groups as anything other than special interests. Raising money from out-of-state donors at high-dollar dinners at the exclusive Breakers resort is the very definition of special interests. The most active groups are raising money from wealthy individuals with a financial stake in putting Florida companies like U.S. Sugar out of business.
U.S. Sugar's farmers share in a commitment to restore the Everglades, improve water quality, and remain good stewards of our land and water resources.
We are willing to work with all stakeholders who share our goals and pledge to keep our information campaign on a scientific and factual basis.
__ Sanchez is the senior director of corporation communication and public affairs for U.S. Sugar.
__ This is in response to the Everglades Coalition's guest commentary, which was published recently in the News-Press and yesterday by the Daily News.

160609-b
Let’s set record straight on ‘discharge’ issue
TCPalm.com – Guest Column by Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart
June 9, 2016
There is a lot of misinformation — and missing information — about water flows and pollution in South Florida, including full-page advertisements from U.S. Sugar Corp. and the Economic Council of Martin County.
As is the nature of advertisements, they are trying to sell readers their product or their ideas. But before you "buy," here are the facts taken directly from the South Florida Water Management District.
The St. Lucie River watershed has six major inflows into the estuary: Lake Okeechobee, Ten Mile Creek, the C-24, C-23, C-44 basins and the tidal basin. The total annual average flows into the estuary are 321 billion gallons. Of that, Lake Okeechobee is the largest with 92 billion gallons (29 percent).
The tidal basin represents the historical natural watershed of about 210,000 acres. When the Ten Mile Creek, C-24, C-23 and C-44 canals were built in the mid 1900s, they added 316,000 acres of agricultural drainage to the watershed. All of these agricultural canals have control structures operated and regulated by the water management district to maintain drainage, or flood control, for agricultural use.
This year the amount of water may vary greatly from the average. In just 90 days since the discharges started Jan. 30, we received 108 billion gallons from Lake Okeechobee, along with 180,000 pounds of phosphorus, 1.5 million pounds of nitrogen and 40.5 million pounds of silt and sediment.
The nitrogen inflows can be bad for the estuary, causing algae blooms.
Some folks want us to focus on septic tanks as the main contributor of nitrogen to the Indian River Lagoon. There are 16,000 septic tanks in the Martin County Utility service area near the estuary. However, even if you took the estimated 30,000 septic tanks in the entire county and multiplied 10 pounds of nitrogen per year for each septic tank, this would pale in comparison to the 1.5 million pounds we got in just 90 days from Lake Okeechobee.
From May 2015 to April of this year, water flows into Lake Okeechobee were 906 billion gallons. Outflows from the lake were 645 billion gallons. The largest discharges from the lake went east to the St. Lucie estuary (108 billion gallons), and west to the Caloosahatchee estuary (288 billion gallons).
Of the 242 billion gallons that went south from the lake, only 78 billion gallons went to the Everglades, while 164 billion gallons was used for crop irrigation by the Everglades Agricultural Area.
You need to know that water releases south from the lake stopped in mid-November, and the EAA increased its discharges to the Water Conservation Areas (Everglades Protection Area), dumping a total of 339 billion gallons in this past water year. This is why Water Conservation Area 3A rose 1.5 feet above schedule, drowning tree islands and creating a state of emergency, while the coastal estuaries are getting major discharges.
This happens because the Everglades Agricultural Area is allowed to have perfect drainage, keeping the canals at 10.5 feet while the lake rose up to 16.4 feet.
Destruction of the northern estuaries (St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee) must stop to protect our environment, economy and human health. Water from Lake Okeechobee must flow south to the Everglades, restoring the slow flows of the river of grass to Florida Bay, which needs the right balance of fresh and salt water.
We need about 50,000 acres in the Everglades Agricultural Area to build and rebuild the infrastructure to store, treat and move clean water from the Lake south to the Everglades.
Millions of Floridians know this. The funding is available over the next 20 years.
We need political leaders and land owners to work together and get this done.

160609-c
Rep. calls for state investigation of St. Pete sewage problems
WTSP.com
June 9, 2016
Sewage in the water. Our 10Investigation continues into the spill into Clam Bayou. Now officials are calling for action!
Since Monday's storm, the city dumped 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of partially treated sewage into Tampa Bay. That's in addition to the raw sewage spilled into Clam Bayou.
Previous Story: St. Pete criticized for how it dealt with raw sewage in Clam Bayou 
Now, 10Investigates -- which uncovered the spill -- found out a state representative is calling for an investigation into St. Petersburg.
State Representative Kathleen Peters is suspicious that St. Petersburg has not kept up with the growth in the area and that not enough has been spent to expand the sewer system in St. Pete. Peters believes the Department of Environmental Protection investigation will show because of the lack of sewer facility and water treatment expansion, the problems this week and that past years were inevitable.
Those problems include:
●  57,000 gallons of raw sewage in Clam Bayou
●  8.5 million gallons of partially treated sewage dumped into Tampa Bay
●  15 million gallons of raw sewage dumped into Clam Bayou in August of 2015
Peters says, “That's why we are contacting the secretary, that is exactly why."
In a letter to Florida DEP Secretary Jon Steverson, Peters says she is convinced St. Petersburg’s perceived inaction on the issue has made for a potential environmental and health disaster.
In addition Peters explains, “I have grave concerns that they have not expanded the infrastructure to meet the growth in Pinellas County.”
But the City is saying it was hit with an unusually heavy rain event and that partially-treated sewage coming out of the Albert Whitted Treatment Plant has much less fecal coliform than raw sewage does.
And to put this in perspective, nine teaspoons of fecal coliform would close a public pool. What the city of St. Petersburg is doing with the treated sewage is putting the equivalent of two one-gallon jugs of human waste into that same pool. That is something most folks would never dream of taking a dip in.
Marc Levasseure who was at Demons Landing where there are signs along the waterfront warning not to go into the water says, ”It's kind of sad, but hopefully it will clean up.”
Meanwhile, St. Pete council member Karl Nurse says the problem has been years in the making. According to Nurse, “There are a long string of administrations that have tried to kick the can down the road, but there is no road left. This is the time we have to face the music.”
Nurse says it will cost a minimum $100 million and 10 years to fix the aging sewer treatment system,
Meanwhile, St. Petersburg didn't comment on the call for the investigation, saying only it has been in constant contact with the DEP and says if Peters can come up with a way to help fund the project, they will be happy to improve.

160609-d
Testy water meeting crowd: 'stop lying to us'
News-Press.com – by Chad Gillis
June 9, 2016
It took a century or more to mess up the Everglades, and it's going to take years, decades even, to repair the damage.
That was one of the messages at a South Florida Water Management District board meeting Thursday in downtown Fort Myers.
The board talked about the Caloosahatchee River reservoir, which some independent water quality scientist have criticized — saying the reservoir could fill with algae and become another costly management headache.
Engineers designed the $600 million reservoir to pull about 55 billion gallons of water from the local watershed, store that water and then release  the water to the river during drought years to help maintain the health of the estuary.
Adding a water quality aspect to the design at this point be a setback to the project, the largest Everglades restoration project in the Lee County area, according to some board members.
"We don't want to slow down this project by trying to tack something on or change the permitting," said board member Mitch Hutchcraft, who works for King Ranch and Consolidated Citrus and represents South Florida farmers.
Earlier this week Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, sent letters to the district asking that board members make more considerations for buying land south of Lake Okeechobee for future water storage.
In 2008 the state made a deal with U.S. Sugar to buy all its land and assets, but the deal has not materialized. The district was in favor of purchase at the time but has changed its position 180 degrees.
The company's lands are south of the lake and were part of the historic Everglades.
Board members talked about water storage needs north, west and east of the lake, but some people here wanted to focus on sending water south.
"Storage north of the lake is important, but it will not address water that falls (as rain) on the lake or south of the lake," said Rae Ann Wessel, with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
Laurie Reynolds, with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said the state should focus on purchasing land south of the lake as well.
Board member Jim Moran, however, said removing agriculture production from rural parts of the state is bad for the economy in those areas.
"This issue of discharges, and 'buy the land' and 'send water south,' if you hear it, you would think it's the silver bullet," Moran said. "(Water) storage is one piece of the puzzle to solve the problems. And to insist that we should try to destroy (farms) south of the lake is unacceptable."
Some elected city officials from Pahokee, Belle Glade and other towns near the lake were at the meeting as well, basically saying the more affluent people on the coasts should stop complaining about brown water when rural areas see unemployment rates as high as 20 percent.
People in Fort Myers and Stuart, Pahokee Mayor J.P. Sasser said, should focus on cleaning up water quality issues in their communities before looking to Okeechobee residents and businesses.
"They need to put some skin in this game too," he said of coastal residents.
Board member Melanie Peterson said the media is spreading misinformation, or even choosing to ignore facts. She commended the district staff for its "Get the Facts" series of emails, where the state sends email rebuttals to articles and letters to the editor printed in newspapers across South Florida.
Peterson also blamed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the massive Lake Okeechobee releases that have been nearly constant since January.
A "Get the Facts" email was sent to the public last month, apparently to warn people in Southwest Florida that a group critical of the state was gathering to discuss water quality in downtown Fort Myers.
Moran made similar comments in support of the "Get the Facts" email earlier in the meeting, but his words were met with shouts of "it's not working" from the crowd.
Some in the crowd shouted "stop lying to us" while Moran and other board members spoke.
Moran also said recent algal blooms are just part of nature, that they naturally appear and naturally dissipate.
Staff water quality scientist Terrie Bates agreed with Moran, sort of.
"We do see more and more of the algae with the nutrients," Bates said. "Sometimes (the blooms) turn toxic, and sometimes they don't. (And) there's no action we can take to remove (the algae from the water)."
Bates said the current bloom in the Caloosahatchee River is "present but it has not turned toxic."
"I think overall good advice is for people to avoid water when they see the algae," she said.

160608-a
City of St. Petersburg discharging partially treated wastewater into Tampa Bay
TB Reporter.com
June 8, 2016
The discharge is from the Albert Whitted plant.
ST. PETERSBURG — The City of St. Petersburg began discharging partially treated wastewater into Tampa Bay Tuesday (June 7) from the Albert Whitted wastewater facility, which is currently being used for storage capacity. The accompanying photo shows the plant, which is near the Albert Whitted Airport.
Due to Tropical Storm Colin and the inundation of the system from processing wastewater for St. Pete Beach, Gulfport, and Treasure Island, the city has been authorized to discharge partially treated wastewater at the Albert Whitted Plant under General Condition 22 of the city’s Wastewater Treatment permit. This permit allows bypassing wastewater plants when unusual emergency circumstances are experienced. This bypass will allow partially treated wastewater to be discharged directly into Tampa Bay at a level of treatment similar to what was normal in the 1970s (called Primary Treatment).
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been notified of a discharge.
The discharge began at 4 p.m. The City of St. Petersburg will sample the discharge water to document the quality of that water.
The discharge outfall is located approximately one-quarter of a mile into Tampa Bay, east of Albert Whitted Airport.
The city asks that people avoid contact with the water in that area of Tampa Bay.

160608-b
Create the 51st state of South Florida?
Miami Herald - Letter to the Editor by Richard G. Mason, Miami Shores, FL
June 8, 2016
Re Modesto A. Maidique and Brian Peterson’s May 29 opinion piece, ‘Complacent Legislature’ is stifling FIU’s progress, about the state’s treatment of South Florida’s prestigious Florida International University: One can at first blame the weakness of Miami-Dade County’s legislative delegation, mainly because it is dominated by members of the Republican Party.
The Florida Legislature is in the control of the Republican Party, which begs the question: What are they negotiating away to get so little back in return that is really important to South Florida considering the large amount of tax dollars that the region sends to Tallahassee?
A review of the Miami Herald’s news stories over the past few months will reveal story after story of South Florida being given the short-end of Florida’s budget.
Evidence ?
Our state road system, lack of state police, climate change, toll roads, water, Everglades, support of our health system, the denying of federal support of Medicaid, funding for the homeless, commuter rail and just about everything else.
We have state roads in Miami-Dade that are of the same width as they were when I arrived here in 1959.
When an objective reader looks at the facts, it is obvious that South Florida is being cheated of its destiny and quality of life as long as it remains part of the state of Florida.
I challenge our South Florida universities to set up a joint study group to look at this issue from the view of what form of governance would work better for South Florida — continue in the existing state of Florida or start the Constitutional process to establish a 51st state of South Florida?
When the facts are known, I believe the question will be: At what part of the state do we make the new state line?

160608-c
Florida Bay advocates seek bigger voice
KeysNews.com – by Brian Bowden, Free Press Staff
June 8, 2016
ISLAMORADA — A grassroots campaign aimed at rallying Monroe County residents and elected officials to protect and restore Florida Bay last week garnered some congressional attention. The soon-to-be non-profit is known as Florida Bay Forever.
Along with the goal of educating the public about bay and Everglades issues, the group has formed to produce a louder voice for policy changes in water management practices, which many environmentalists and local fishing guides say are the problem and solution to improving water quality in the bay, where a major seagrass die-off occurred last summer.
Those behind the movement, its founding board members, are Village Councilman Mike Forster, Capt. Xavier Figueredo, Capt. Elizabeth Jolin, Capt. Steve Friedman, seafood supplier Gary Nichols, Daniel Burkhart, Mindy Conn and Mark Gregg. Jolin will serve as executive director.
Last week, Forster, Figueredo and Jolin took U.S. Congressman Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla. 26th District, on a three-hour boat ride around the bay. Along the way, they showed Curbelo, who represents the Florida Keys, healthy waters rich with thriving seagrass as well as locations of the die-off, which is still wreaking havoc as rotting seagrass fouls the water.
“It was vibrant,” Forster said. “And now it’s dead.”
“Seagrass is the anchor for the entire ecosystem [in the bay],” Figueredo said.
State reports show that the die-off impacted roughly 22,000 acres of bay bottom. This included multiple spots around Rankin Lake and Johnson Key Basin. Everglades Foundation biologist Stephen Davis believes the impact could be much larger, perhaps up to 50,000 acres, because harder-to-reach areas of the bay were not studied.
Either way, according to Davis, it’s just a matter of time before that decaying seagrass spawns a massive algae bloom that could devastate the bay and possibly surrounding waters. Based on previous large-scale die-offs, he believes such a bloom could strike the bay in 2017 or 2018.
The die-off has been attributed to overly salty water in the bay caused in part by drought-like conditions last summer throughout South Florida. The release of more stored fresh water by state water managers through the Everglades and into the bay could have lessened or prevented the die-off, many environmentalists say. Delivering that extra water is one of the main goals of the slowly proceeding federal-state Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
The Florida Bay Forever trio shared their thoughts with Curbelo during his trip on solutions to the problems facing the Everglades and the bay. The two main ones included prioritizing water storage and delivery projects within both the Central Everglades Planning Project and the CERP. This includes buying U.S. Sugar land south of Lake Okeechobee that could serve as reservoirs for fresh water that would eventually run through the Everglades and into the bay.
“They are aware of the problems,” Jolin said. “We just need an immediate solution.”
“We need to build coalitions [like Florida Bay Forever] in all areas [throughout South Florida],” Curbelo said.
For more information on Florida Bay Forever, contact Jolin at 305-393-0994 or fbfvr@gmail.com. The group can also be found on Facebook under the same name. A website, floridabayforever.org, is in the works as well.

160608-d
It's summer, and here comes the slime
Miami Herald – by Carl Hiaasen
June 8, 2016
The floodgates are open. Here comes the slime.
Grab your paddleboards and kayaks, and run the other way.
This is not a cheesy horror movie — it's true-life horror on Florida's Treasure Coast.
If you live on the estuary in Stuart, or along the St. Lucie River, summer time is algae time. This year, the ribbons of goop have arrived early.
It comes unnaturally from Lake Okeechobee, which is overloaded with nitrogen and phosphorus from decades of being used as a toilet bowl by farm corporations, cattle ranches and fast-growing municipalities to the north.
Like clockwork, when the rains come, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers starts dumping billions of gallons from Lake O. The dike surrounding it is old, and a breach would threaten nearby communities like Clewiston.
So what is essentially a biblical deluge of fresh water, laced heavily with fertilizer, is pushed straight to Florida's east and west coasts, which are supposed to be saltwater habitats.
The discharges go on day after day, week after week — perhaps the most massive, long-term act of pollution in the country, and it's committed annually by the government. No president, including Barack Obama, has made a priority of stopping it.
In this extra-wet year, the floodgates opened in January. More than 120 billion gallons have poured into the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon — a mind-bending torrent.
Near one bridge in Palm City, a Kilroy monitoring device recently recorded salinity of only .11 parts per thousand. The freshwater surge has totally diluted the salt water, a fatal event for oysters, baby shrimp and other sensitive marine life.
Now hot temperatures have spawned unsightly outbreaks of blue-green algae, which scares off even the dimmest of tourists. The algae can contain harmful toxins called cyanobacteria, a word you'll never hear Gov. Rick Scott utter.
He stopped briefly last week in West Palm Beach to tout his deep commitment to saving the Everglades. When pressed about the algae infestation, he said the state Department of Environmental Protection is diligently testing samples.
A high school biology class could do the same job. Treasure Coast residents already know the algae is bad stuff. Halting, or redirecting, the destructive water flow is what they need.
On his visit, the governor didn't take a boat ride on the slimed St. Lucie. He's running for the Senate in two years, so only upbeat photo-ops are allowed. A toxic algae bloom is a major downer.
So are those health warnings posted at five riverfront sites in Martin County. Even more depressing is the "For Sale" sign at the tackle shop near the Old Roosevelt Bridge, one of many small businesses getting crushed.
Months ago, Scott declared Martin and St. Lucie counties disaster areas because of the Lake O releases. This action allowed some business owners to apply for zero-interest loans, to be paid back in six months.
But how can they repay the money when they're losing their shirts every day?
The official rainy season is here, so the lake's floodgates will remain open. Scott can't stop the Army Corps from releasing the water, but he might at least try to appear angry and proactive. His idea of raising hell is writing a letter.
Congress, ruled by his fellow Republicans, won't appropriate enough money to expedite upgrading the dike so that more water can be held in the lake.
A state plan to buy land from U.S. Sugar to route the discharges away from the coastlines fell apart when the company changed its mind. Scott put up no fight, the sugar industry having donated humongously to his political campaigns.
Some ranch and agricultural operations, including sugar growers, have reduced the nutrients in their runoff, but the sheer volume being pumped from Lake O remains deadly for marine estuaries.
The last blue-green invasion of the Treasure Coast occurred in 2013, a disaster that some locals call "the Lost Summer." What's happening today is potentially worse.
President Obama came to Palm City Friday for a golf weekend. A boat ride along the St. Lucie wasn't listed on his schedule, either, though he's not unaware of the crisis.
During a visit last year, Rep. Patrick Murphy greeted Obama with a bottle of cruddy-looking river water from the St. Lucie. There's no evidence that the president was profoundly affected.
This time around, Obama was slated to attend a fundraiser for Murphy, a Democrat who's running for the U.S. Senate. Let's hope the congressman again raised the subject of Lake Okeechobee, with even more urgency.
And perhaps a tall, bright carafe of algae.

160608-e
Rick Scott puts Band-Aid on environmental wounds
Florida Politics – by Jac VerSteeg
June 8, 2016
A politician is a guy who shoots you in the gut and then campaigns by bragging about the Band-Aid he put on the wound.
The latest example: Just days after The Palm Beach Post’s John Kennedy documented how Gov. Rick Scott‘s environmental policies had led to an explosion of huge developments in Palm Beach County and across the state, Scott showed up in the county to tout his environmental achievements.
Scott came to Florida Atlantic University’s Pine Jog Environmental Education Center for a ceremonial signing of the Legacy Florida bill, which will provide up to $200 million a year for Everglades restoration, up to $50 million a year for Florida springs and $5 million for Lake Apopka.
As it was intended to do, the ceremonial trip garnered much praise for the governor. Typical is the statement from FAU President John Kelly, who wrote: “I applaud Gov. Scott and the Legislature for making our environment a top priority. Legacy Florida will go a long way in ensuring the future health of the Everglades and our state’s other natural treasures.”
Earmarking $200 million a year to restore the Everglades is a good thing. But the long-term damage Scott and the Legislature have done to Florida by gutting growth management offsets or outweighs that benefit.
Consider the article by The Post’s Kennedy. It documents the decline in state regulation — including elimination of the Department of Community Affairs — and the resulting, massive developments coming to Palm Beach County.
Those include the addition of 14,000 homes in the county’s unincorporated western areas. Kennedy quotes Palm Beach County Commissioner Paulette Burdick — a former school board member — who is appalled by the sprawl.
Burdick said the demise of effective state-level regulation “just kicked the door in.” In the end, she said, “the impact of all this development ultimately is going to be picked up by the taxpayers. They’re the ones who will have to pay for the needed roads, the schools and improving the bad water we’re left with.”
The building boom spurred by the decline in regulation is not confined to Palm Beach County. And that boom has had environmental consequences. As Kennedy notes in his article, “the building turnaround has come against the backdrop of a series of environmental failures that have endangered waterways across the state.”
One of those major environmental failures involves the discharge of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee to prevent flooding in South Florida. That water causes terrible environmental problems for the Indian River Lagoon to the east and the Caloosahatchee River to the west.
Sun Sentinel reporter Andy Reid notes the Everglades restoration plan Scott touted in Palm Beach County included moving more water south to the Everglades to avoid some of those disastrous discharges.
However, Reid wrote, “the governor has balked at environmental groups’ renewed call to prioritize building another reservoir south of the lake.”
Environmental groups including Audubon Florida and the Everglades Foundation say reservoirs to store water are the only real answer.
If they’re correct, the Everglades funding Scott touted during his recent trip to Palm Beach County, while very welcome, is a half-way solution.
Meanwhile, Scott’s complicity in gutting the state’s environmental protections is creating new problems, including new damage to Florida’s water supply. And that damage will be statewide.
Gov. Scott was in West Palm Beach to tout his Band-Aid. He hopes you pay no attention to the gaping wound.

160608-f
State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto asks water district to consider Lake O water storage options
Naples Daily News - by Arek Sarkissian
Posted: Yesterday 7:47 p.m. 0
TALLAHASSEE — State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto sent a letter to the South Florida Water Management District on Tuesday that called for more options in preventing Lake Okeechobee freshwater from being discharged into the Caloosahatchee River.
In the letter addressed to district Director Pete Antonacci, Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, said the state agency's governing board should consider "storage opportunities" to the south and north of the lake. The governing board will meet Thursday in Fort Myers to identify water storage areas north of the lake.
"Rather than wait to commence the process, SFWMD should act concurrently with both regions to identify storage opportunities to the south as well as north of the lake," Benacquisto wrote. "By expediting the process we can reduce the time our estuaries are strained and work rapidly toward long-term solutions."
Benacquisto's call to action is supported by roughly $4 billion over the next 20 years that state lawmakers approved earlier this year in the Legacy Florida program. There's specific language in the law signed by Gov. Rick Scott in April that earmarks money to buy land that can take Lake Okeechobee water.
Incoming Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said another option is to deepen reservoirs on 120,000 acres the state already owns south of Lake Okeechobee.
"Thanks to Legacy Florida, we have financial means to make that happen," Negron said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers to control the level of Lake Okeechobee, which was left bloated by historic rainfall in January. The antiquated flood relief system that includes the Caloosahatchee also inundates delicate estuaries along its banks that survive on a balance of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico. Scott in February asked the corps to use a network of canals to draw some of the lake water south to two conservation areas north of Everglades National Park, but those areas were flooded, too. The solution provided some help, but the 90-day period the corps allowed the water to flow into the conservation areas expired in May, said John Campbell, a corps spokesman.
Campbell said heavy rainfall at the end of May led the corps to increase flows into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. The target flow for the Caloosahatchee on Wednesday remained at 4,000 cubic feet per second. The target flow for the St. Lucie remained at 1,800 cubic feet per second. Campbell said the corps will determine if the heavy rains from Tropical Storm Colin, which hammered the state earlier this week, will cause Lake Okeechobee to rise again.
"A lot of that water fell north of Orlando, which is good, but there was substantial rainfall south of Orlando as well," Campbell said. "It will take a couple days for us to see how it will affect the lake level."
Benacquisto said immediate solutions are required.
"Our community simply cannot wait years to begin the planning process to find additional storage while our ecosystem continues to suffer," Benacquisto said. "We need action now and the people of Southwest Florida deserve answers."

160608-g
Study of sea level rise impact on Collier supported, but what about the money?
Naples Daily News – by Eric Staats
 June 8, 2016 1
A Harvard University proposal to study the impacts of sea level rise on Collier County is getting the long simmering issue some new attention, but the study faces an immediate hurdle: Money.
In what was billed as an introductory workshop Wednesday at the Naples Botanical Garden, the proposal by the Harvard Graduate School of Design received praise from a wide-ranging group of 30 elected officials, business leaders, scientists and environmentalists.
The gathering, in itself, was remarkable in a county where climate change naysayers have dominated the politics, and commissioners and council members are largely silent on local governments' need to plan for sea level rise.
It is a far cry from Miami-Dade County, where Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine campaigned on the issue and has embarked on a $400 million plan to elevate roads and install pumps to hold back the rising sea.
But some workshop attendees said they hoped the Harvard study would be a call to action in Collier.
"This is a historic day," said project adviser Nader Ardalan, an architect and Naples resident who organized Wednesday's session, as he ushered the attendees out of a conference room and into a courtyard for a group photo.
But, while the study received overwhelming support from the group, the path forward, including who should pick up what a project memo in March said could be a $250,000 tab, is not clear.
Collier Commissioner Penny Taylor said after Wednesday's meeting that Collier County should be part of any funding equation, along with the cities of Naples and Marco Island. She was unsure how tiny Everglades City, arguably the most at risk from sea level rise, might factor into the mix. All three cities were represented at Wednesday's workshop.
"Clearly, the county and certainly the cities have a vested interest in supporting the program," said Taylor, whose district includes the city of Naples. "There has to be a financial commitment, of course. How much, I don't know. We'll have to talk about it."
She said she planned to ask the County Attorney's Office whether tourist taxes, charged on hotel stays to pay for beach renourishment and for tourism promotion, could be tapped to fund part of the study. She argued the study would address ways to "maintain a coastal lifestyle" that is crucial to promoting tourism.
Asked late Wednesday whether a sea level rise study would qualify for tourist tax money, County Attorney Jeff Klatzkow said he would have to research the question.
Collier Commission Chairwoman Donna Fiala, whose district includes Marco Island and coastline in East Naples said "it would be nice" to participate financially as long as the load is shared with other governments: "We cannot put this off."
Marco Island Councilman Larry Honig said he is not optimistic about bringing any money to the table from Marco, which he called a "cheap island."
"The money will be a hard sell on Marco Island, even if it's $10,000," Honig said, adding that it would help if "everyone is in the game."
Naples Councilwoman Linda Penniman said "playing defense" against sea level rise is expensive and that "we're in a position now where we can play offense."
"Come up with some buckaroos now, folks," she said. "It's going to save us some bucks later."
The Harvard study would take three academic years, kicking off as early as next summer with a graduate research seminar and a colloquium in Naples to gather local knowledge.
"We don't presuppose to come from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and have all the answers to the issues you're dealing with," said project lead Charles Waldheim, founding director of Harvard's Office for Urbanization.
In a second year, advanced students would hold a design studio in Naples to develop sea level rise scenarios and propose long-term solutions for Collier County; the Graduate School of Design would hold a colloquium at Harvard to draw on its experts — from lawyers to landscape architects — and experts at MIT.
By the end of 2019, the Harvard team would publish its work and then hold a public event in Naples to announce its findings, according to a preliminary timetable.
The Graduate School of Design already is a year into a similar look at sea level rise in southeast Florida, where it got the attention of Ardalan, a Harvard senior research associate. He suggested Waldheim's team consider a similar study in Collier County.
Collier County business leader Fred Pezeshkan attended Wednesday's workshop and said he was impressed by the response to the proposed study.
"I think somebody needs to lead it," said Pezeshkan, chairman of Manhattan Construction Florida. "The county and the cities should sit down and have a conversation."

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Time for a change
Island Reporter, Captiva Current, Sanibel-Captiva Islander – Letter to Editor by Jill Dillon, Sanibe, lFL
June 8, 2016
This week Lee County's water resources are once again overwhelmed with the destructive effects of Big Sugar pollution, aided and abetted by the many politicians who need Sugar money to hold on to their legislative seats.
However, our citizens can now look to a strong supporter of environmental preservation, John Scott, running in November in District 79. He is determined to defeat Matt Caldwell, the errand boy for Big Sugar who currently ensures the domination of Big Sugar's control of our water management system. John has the support of unhappy District 79 voters, but needs donations to equal the Sugar sums already in Caldwell's pocket.
The majority of us cannot vote for John, but we have every opportunity to support him by going to votejohnscott.com, or phoning him at (941) 212-0048.
The Conservancy of Florida's Jennifer Hacker says "these routine algae outbreaks have resurfaced and will continue to do so until we buy additional land south of Lake O needed to cleanse and redirect the damaging polluted discharges currently coming into the Caloosahatchee." These discharges "must be redirected back to the Everglades, where they historically flowed and belonged." John Scott promises to spearhead this mission.

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'Tis the season for that green, slimy stuff in the water
NWF Daily News – by Jennie McKeon
June 8, 2016
The beginning of June marks the start of visitors making their way to the Emerald Coast. However, this time of year the coast just might be a little too emerald with patches of bright green June grass marking the shore.
The beginning of June marks the start of visitors making their way to the Emerald Coast.
However, this time of year the coast just might be a little too emerald with patches of bright green June grass marking the shore.
Rich Huffnagle, Okaloosa Beach Safety Chief, said, right now the shores are “pretty clean” with just some sporadic spots of June grass toward the east end of the county in Sandestin and Miramar Beach.
“It’s not as thick as years past, which is kind of strange since mild winters tends to give us pretty thick June grass,” he said.
Huffnagle said as the water temperature warms up, the green algae tends to show up. It starts to dissipate by October.
Penny Hall, research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, said she gets calls about it every year.
“It’s not toxic, just nasty smelling because it’s decomposing,” she said. “It’s mostly just a nuisance.”
As harmless as it is, June grass still causes conversations. A blog called The June Grass Report is dedicated to monitoring the amount of algae on Walton County beaches with information about June grass and tips to avoid it.
“Check the wind direction before heading out,” the site suggests. “A north wind will sometimes push the June grass off the beach a bit. A south wind will pile it up on the beach.”
A few users have shared pictures from Walton County beaches reporting small amounts of algae.
June grass tends to be more prevalent in the Florida Panhandle and “a little further south,” Hall said. It plays a part in the ecosystem by providing food for small critters and is another source of carbon.
If you see a little bit of green on the beach, you don’t have to cancel plans, Huffnagle said. For any beach conditions from wildlife to rip currents and even algae, you can always ask a lifeguard.
“Most of it is in pockets,” he said. “Depending on how invasive it is, you could just pack up your stuff and move about 200 yards away.”

160607-a
Contract awarded for next stretch of bridge on Tamiami Trail
NationalParksTraveler.com - by NPT Staff
June 7, 2016
Editor's note: The following is an unedited release from the National Park Service.
The National Park Service and the Florida Department of Transportation have announced the next significant milestone in the Everglades National Park restoration. On May 23, FDOT awarded a contract to joint venture team of Condotte America Inc. and Stantec for the construction of the 2.6-mile bridge and roadway project on State Road (SR) 90/SW 8 Street/Tamiami Trail. F&J Engineering Group Inc. has been selected as the Construction, Engineering and Inspection team.
The next phase of bridging will advance restoration objectives by allowing additional freshwater flow in the park, improving ecological conditions both in the park and in the central Everglades north of Tamiami Trail.
The estimated cost of the project is $69.5 million. Construction is expected to begin this summer and has an anticipated completion date of early 2020. Please note these dates may change due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.
“The partnership between the NPS and FDOT has helped advance the Everglades restoration effort,” said Pedro Ramos, superintendent of Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks. “The completion of the 2.6-mile bridging project is essential in establishing the natural flow of water to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.”
Public Law 112-74 authorized construction of the preferred alternative “6e” outlined in the project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which includes 5.5 miles of proposed bridging on Tamiami Trail. In an October 2012 meeting, the NPS director directed the park to move forward with this design.
The Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) indicates that sections of the Tamiami Trail roadway must be removed in order to improve flood conditions in the Water Conservations Areas north of the trail and to increase water flow into the park. The Tamiami Trail Modifications project is being developed concurrently with CEPP so that anticipated hydrological influences are factored into the design.
The Tamiami Trail Modifications Next Steps Project Phase 1 includes the construction of a western 1.43 mile bridge, construction of an eastern 0.88 mile bridge, raising 0.84 mile of roadway by two feet near Everglades Safari Park to provide and maintain access to this business, and removing the existing Tamiami Trail roadway section north of the new bridge openings.
The project is funded through a partnership between NPS, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and FDOT. Florida Governor Rick Scott pledged funds in 2013 for the advancement of the project. The NPS has committed to fund 50 percent of the project and in 2015, the FHWA awarded a $20 million TIGER Grant to aid in funding the project.

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Environmentalists blow whistle on state proposal to allow more toxins in state waters
FloridaBulldog.org - by Francisco Alvarado
June 6, 2016
Florida’s rivers, streams, lakes and coastal waters face a dramatic increase in the level of toxic chemicals that cause cancer and other serious illnesses under a proposal by the pro-business administration of Gov. Rick Scott to water down state environmental protections.
That’s the warning from a coalition of activists and scientists about a proposal by Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] to allow corporations to dump higher levels of dangerous contaminants into public waterways than state rules now allow.
“The department is taking us backward,” Florida Clean Water Network founder Linda Young told FloridaBulldog,org. “[The new rules] will make our waters more polluted. It is really bad policy that is of no benefit to the taxpayers and the public.”
The proposal would recalculate the parts per billion limits for 82 toxic chemicals designated as human health hazards. State law allows industrial waste to include these chemicals as long as they are under the limits set by DEP.
State officials, however, flatly reject the environmentalists’ concerns that those higher limits pose a threat to all Floridians.
“Depictions that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is weakening water quality protection and endangering Floridians is false,” said agency spokeswoman Lori Elliott. “The proposed criteria were based solely on scientifically sound and verifiable information and variables, and are protective of human health even in the most extreme cases.”
The impasse illuminates a long-running battle that environmentalists and preservationists have waged against the administration of Gov. Scott, which recently came under fire over the state’s handling of Lake Okeechobee discharges that sent billions of gallons of toxic polluted rainwater into the Atlantic earlier this year.
Michelle Gale, a Coconut Creek psychologist who is an activist for the national anti-fracking organization Food and Water Watch, said Scott has effectively neutered DEP’s enforcement powers. “Since Gov. Scott got into office, he has really gutted DEP,” Gale said. “He has put in people who do his bidding. We have to keep fighting and fighting them.”
Lauren Schenone, Scott’s deputy press secretary, declined comment.
‘DEP stalling’
The state’s environmental protection department last updated the list of regulated toxic chemicals in 1992. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] has been doing it more frequently, most recently a year ago,” Young said. “Florida DEP had been stalling.”
Out of 120 toxic chemicals the federal agency recommended regulations for, Florida only has restrictions on 43. Under the new plan, DEP would add 39 more toxic chemicals to the list. The DEP’s Elliott insisted Florida has some of the most stringent regulations in the nation.
“In fact, we are increasing protection by proposing to nearly double the number of regulated chemicals to better protect Floridians and visitors from exposure to contaminants,” Elliott said. “In addition to adding criteria for 39 chemicals that currently have no regulations, DEP is also updating 43 existing criteria to incorporate the latest national science for the protection of public health.”
However, draft language of DEP’s updated Human Health-Based Water Quality Criteria shows the department is raising the caps on a majority of the regulated toxic chemicals that can be released into surface waters. Young said DEP has ignored concerns raised by scientists and activists at three public workshops held in May. The department has until September to finalize the new criteria.
For instance, the current limit for the chemical benzene, a carcinogen that can cause vomiting, convulsions and loss of consciousness to people exposed to high levels, is 1.18 parts per billion. Under DEP’s updated criteria, the cap would be three parts per billion. The federal standard is 1.14 parts per billion.
Some chemicals, like arsenic, would remain at a current level of 10 parts per billion. But that’s still 1,000 times higher than what the federal government recommends as an allowable limit, Young said.
She also noted that DEP’s new rules don’t address several dozen unregulated toxic compounds, including dioxin, a byproduct of pulp and paper mills that has contaminated such places as the Fenholloway River in Taylor County. Short-term exposure to dioxin may result in skin lesions and a breakdown in liver function, while long-term exposure can impair the immune system, the developing nervous system, the endocrine system and reproductive functions, environmentalists say.
“DEP’s approach allows us to take into consideration the characteristics of all Floridians,” Elliott said. “This is a much more sophisticated and comprehensive analytical method that allows us to generate criteria to protect all Floridians including small children and people who eat more seafood than average.”
Young disagreed. “It is not going to protect us,” she said. “They want to justify having the weakest standards as possible.”

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Everglades, Lake Okeechobee are political pawns
Palm Beach Post – Point of View by Ray Judah, former Lee County Commissioner
June 6, 2016
It was no surprise to read of U.S. Sugar Vice President Bubba Wade’s support of Congressman Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, when I questioned the congressman’s commitment to Everglades restoration. Big Sugar provides generous support for its politicians.
Recent research has revealed a link between blue-green algae and the development of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Blue-green algae, such as the harmful algae bloom in the Caloosahatchee River, is a result of land-based nutrient runoff, including phosphorus and nitrogen, from the sugar cane fields.
Wade states that there is no truth to my claim that the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers are the relief valves for the release of excessive polluted water from Lake Okeechobee. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie for discharge of elevated lake water levels to preventing flooding of lands at lower elevation, such as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).
Wade suggests that the EAA, including 440,000 acres of sugar cane fields south of Lake Okeechobee, is treated the same as other agricultural interests within the South Florida Water Management District’s jurisdictional boundaries. But the EAA enjoys tremendous leniency due to “grandfathered” surface-water management systems and extended land leases.
Wade suggests that water is only back-pumped from the EAA to Lake Okeechobee to provide flood protection for the communities adjacent to southern Lake Okeechobee.
Wade’s defense of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP) as the solution to “getting the water right” is actually countered by the SFWMD’s updated modeling that demonstrates a need for an additional 1 million acre-feet of water storage south of the lake.
CERP was based on flawed climate data sets, because the modeling for CERP was conducted using average rainfall from 1965 to 1995 — a historic dry period when there were five “wet” years and 25 “dry” years.
Arguing that more storage south of Lake Okeechobee would be of little benefit to the lake or estuaries, Wade fails to make the distinction between Everglades National Park and the water conservation areas when discussing flooded conditions in early 2016.
Everglades National Park and Florida Bay continue to suffer from lack of freshwater flow because the EAA severs the hydrological connection from Lake Okeechobee. But the water conservation area’s wildlife and tree islands remain vulnerable to flood because the sugar industry relies on publicly owned lands for the discharge of runoff from the EAA.
It is difficult for the public to navigate in a sea of political distortion, and “getting the water right” is incumbent on “getting the politicians right.”

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Planning delay at state level bodes ill for Treasure Coast’s water problems
TCPlam.com - Guest column by Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida
June 6, 2016
This year's tragic algae blooms and fish kills along the Treasure Coast demand action equal to the harm. State officials have shelved the most obvious solution for four years — shelved it in spite of a new law that promises Amendment 1 money to stop discharges to coastal estuaries.
That solution, so often discussed in this paper, is storage south of Lake Okeechobee. South of Lake Okeechobee means somewhere along the canals that drain the lake through the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Following through with existing commitments to plan and build large reservoirs south of Lake Okeechobee will allow progress toward reducing massive discharges of polluted water to coastal estuaries. But state agencies have kicked even the planning process to the next decade.
To be fair, there are lots of ideas about dealing with water in Lake Okeechobee and lots of criticism of government agencies. Audubon Florida hopes we can put this most important and urgent solution on a path to actual results.
When estuary advocates ask legislators to appropriate funds for building water storage reservoirs, the response has been that there is no plan. By postponing the planning for storage, the agencies leading Everglades restoration have caused a frustrating Catch-22.
Let's move past the delay and get together on a plan for storage and a southern outlet.
The plan should be guided by two laws: The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the Legacy Florida Act, which was championed by Sen. Joe Negron and Rep. Gayle Harrell, both R-Stuart, and recently signed by the governor. The CERP EAA Reservoir plan calls for 360,000-acre-feet of storage south of Lake Okeechobee, which alone could store up to eight inches of Lake Okeechobee water. The Legacy Florida Act requires that preference for Amendment 1 funds be given to projects that reduce discharges to the estuaries.
Opponents of building reservoirs to store water that would otherwise be harmfully discharged to the estuaries are the landowners — primarily two large sugar producers. It is in their interest to preserve their advantages while doing nothing for the Everglades and estuaries other than minimal compliance with court-ordered water quality standards.
For years, advocates for coastal waters and Everglades restoration have urged agencies to prioritize planning and building water storage projects south of Lake Okeechobee. Instead, agencies postponed planning for a southern storage until 2020. Given the time it takes to plan and build projects, southern storage (and relief to the estuaries) is at least a decade away. I believe this is unacceptable.
What difference do four years make? A decade? Treasure Coast residents know. Four more years of water that we can't touch? Of algae blooms driving away tourists and lowering real estate values? Of dead fish and coastal wildlife?
If planning for and building water storage in the EAA continues to be delayed, the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries will remain the only outlets for massive Lake Okeechobee discharges. The delay is unacceptable because we know by repeated experience the harm the discharges bring to the estuaries.
It is also cheaper, more efficient and beneficial to focus on southern storage now:
• The plan can be conducted concurrently with planning for storage north and west of Lake Okeechobee.
• The plan can provide benefits for the Everglades in addition to the coastal estuaries by putting water south where it is needed rather than where it causes harm.
• Water storage south of the lake is the cheapest option for taxpayers.
• Land south of Lake Okeechobee is already degraded.
Agency leaders give vague answers when asked why they are making Treasure Coast residents wait four years before putting the first pencil to paper to plan a southern outlet for Lake Okeechobee water. Audubon Florida hopes that we can all focus on this highest and most urgent priority and begin work on solutions to avoid another predictable disaster in our coastal waters.

160606-e
State of emergency declared as Tropical Storm Colin approaches Gulf coast
Sun Sentinel – by David Fleshler
June 6, 2016
A state of emergency was declared for 34 Florida counties as the the fringes of Tropical Storm Colin began to lash the Gulf coast.
Although South Florida counties were not included on the list, the storm is expected to bring the region heavy rain, strong winds and an increased risk of tornadoes. Gov. Rick Scott issued the declaration just before 11 a.m. Monday.
Rain and gusty winds began hitting the Gulf coast late Monday morning, as the edge of the  storm approached land. Sand bags were being distributed to residents of St. Petersburg, Tampa and nearby cities, as the Gulf Coast prepared for flooding from rain and storm surge - the wind-driven rise in the water level.
As of 11 a.m. Colin had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It was located about 285 miles southwest of Tampa, moving north-northeast at 16 mph. Colin, the third named storm of the season, is expected to make landfall Monday afternoon  in the Big Bend area, move diagonally across the Panhandle through Georgia and South Carolina and head out to sea.
A tropical storm warning was issued for about 350 miles along the Gulf coast of Florida, from Charlotte County on the west coast to Indian Pass, south of Tallahassee and from Altamaha Sound to Sebastian Inlet. In Pasco County, immediately north of Tampa, the school district announced that schools would close early.
Although South Florida is not in the storm's direct path, most of the heavy weather will come off the east side of the system, possibly bringing the region strong winds, heavy rain and street flooding, hurricane forecaster John Cangialosi said.
The South Florida Water Management District, which runs the region's major flood-control system, announced Monday that it had lowered water levels in canals to allow the system to smoothly absorb any heavy rains.
The National Weather Service said South Florida can expect showers and thunderstorms Monday, with the stormy weather continuing throughout the week.
Gov. Rick Scott posptoned a scheduled meeting with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The two were supposed to meet Monday in New York, but Scott decided to remain in Tallahassee because of the approaching storm.
The system is expected to push out of Florida late Tuesday, but even then a trailing air mass could trigger heavy rains in South Florida.

160606-f
UA researchers receive NSF grant to study Everglades’ greenhouse gases
UA News
Jun 7, 2016
Drs. Gregory Starr and Christina Staudhammer study greenhouse gases in the Everglades using the equipment shown above.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Drs. Gregory Starr and Christina Staudhammer, professors in the department of biological sciences, along with collaborators from Florida International University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service recently received $834,000 from the National Science Foundation to continue their study of greenhouse gases in the Everglades.
They will specifically look at how changes in fresh- and sea-water levels are affecting the balance of carbon-dioxide and methane emissions in the Everglades.
“Historically, the Everglades were a great sink for carbon—taking in a lot of carbon dioxide and holding it in the peat layers,” Starr explained. “But over the course of the last decade, we have seen that this is no longer the case. Now, the Everglades takes in about as much carbon dioxide as it gives off in the regions we study.”
And methane emissions in the area are also changing—potentially contributing to climate change and global warming.
Their ongoing project, which began nearly nine years ago, allows them to pinpoint the various ways that urbanization, conservation, the increase of salt water intrusion and changes in precipitation are influencing the balance of greenhouse gases by taking detailed measurements across the Everglades.
Prior to their newest NSF grant, the team had two research sites in the Everglades. The additional funds will enable them to set up two more sites, covering four major ecosystems in the area—coastal mangroves, freshwater marshes that have standing water six months of the year, freshwater marshes that have standing water the entire year and an area called the brackish zone—where freshwater and salt water meet.
The equipment at each site continuously monitors nearly 40 variables in the ecosystems—from temperature and water level to precipitation and concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane. Then it records that information 10 times each second.
The data is condensed into 30-minute increments for Staudhammer, the statistician on the project, to analyze. In total, she looks at 17,520 observations from each site each year—making 70,080 measurements a year.
An important part of Staudhammer’s role is estimating uncertainty in the observations, which is challenging because of the high frequency of collection.
“More data is better,” Staudhammer said. “But you can’t just look at the data and see what is happening; you need to develop appropriate statistical models—otherwise you can reach invalid conclusions.”
Once the data is analyzed, Starr says the readings will have major implications for policies and current conservation efforts like the 30-year, $10.5 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The data will allow them to understand not only what is creating the greatest increase in greenhouse gases, but it will also show them how well current conservation efforts are working—and whether or not they are repairing or further damaging the environment.
Looking to the future, they also expect that the data will enable them to make more accurate projections for what the Everglade systems will look like 50 to 100 years from now through computer simulations.
The department of biological sciences is a part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes, Goldwater and Truman scholarships.

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Climate change talks spark hope for South Florida
FIUSM.com – by Claire Woodfin, Contributing Writer
June 5, 2016
Visions of sea water bubbling up through the limestone bedrock and Miami Beach sitting eerily underwater have, thus far, characterized the atmosphere around climate change and sea level rise in South Florida. However, talks between local elected officials, held at FIU on the morning of Monday, May 23, ignited optimism.
The discussion was held in the Graham Center ballrooms, sponsored by several non-profit organizations, and featured U.S. Congressman Carlos Curbelo, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa as panelists.
The panelists described how Miami-Dade County is being hailed a leader in sea-level rise solutions. The county is the first in the United States to have a “resiliency officer”, who is responsible for analyzing construction and investment in Miami-Dade. The officer is also responsible for sustainability efforts in the county as the effects of sea-level rise manifest themselves.
The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact, a local political collaboration around the issue, is also “…cited outside of Florida as a regional model for the rest of [the] country,” said Julio Fuentes, the president and CEO of the Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who initiated the talks.
Bipartisanship was an especially significant thread of the discussion. According to Congressman Curbelo, much attention is devoted to ensuring that the congressional caucus on climate change is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. “Ted Deutch and I figured out that as long as this is a partisan or ideological issue in the United States Congress, we’re going to make very little progress,” said Curbelo.
FIU medical student David Mendoza said it was reassuring to hear this. “Carlos Curbelo is a Republican and I thought that [it] was taboo for him to acknowledge climate change…I’m happily surprised that the people on the right side of the aisle are taking the steps.”
According to FIU president Mark B. Rosenberg, who spoke briefly at the talks, FIU and its Sea Level Solutions Center will play a key, unique role in the development of solutions. “The life of the mind has to translate into doable deeds [and] action into improvements for our community,” said Rosenberg. Rosenberg also mentioned the interest of the South Floridian business community to get involved.
Gimenez briefly talked about this “new economy” while there was a verbal consensus amongst the officials of the huge price tag associated with these solutions. There was also talk of the immense economic opportunity and technological innovation that the challenge would bring.
Dr. Stephen Leatherman, professor in the Department of Earth and Environment, raised the concern of the development on Miami Beach. “Coastal construction continues unabated and, in fact, seems to be accelerating,” said Dr. Leatherman in an email to Student Media. Sosa, too, cited overdevelopment as a significant problem in coming up with solutions.
Mendoza and, first-year FIU information technology student, Shaithya Shaji have already embraced optimism toward climate change. Mendoza claimed that he would “endure” the effects of sea-level rise, and Shaji expressed her view on how important awareness of the issue is.
The local government is adamant about getting to the root of the problem, by directly tackling climate change. On August 30, the public will have the chance to vote for lower taxes for businesses that opt to change to solar energy. In addition, the county will switch to clean public transportation in the near future.

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Politicians should stop amending the wishes of the majority of voters
Naples Daily News – Editorial
June 4, 2016
The debate is escalating as opposing sides argue pros and cons of Amendment 1 and big money pours into a campaign to persuade Florida residents how to vote.
Meanwhile, the debate is escalating as opposing sides argue the pros and cons of Amendment 1 and big money pours into the state budget and legal fees while judges decide what Florida residents meant when they voted.
Amendment 1, circa 2016, centers on solar energy.
Amendment 1, circa 2014, centers on environmental protection.
Don't be confused into thinking the Amendment 1 vote you cast 19 months ago is resolved. Don't be surprised if the Amendment 1 vote you cast five months from now isn't resolved by the 2018 election.
Here's how the system works — or doesn't. We rely on the Florida Supreme Court to determine if an amendment goes on the ballot. Justices make sure the initiative, once it has enough (683,149) valid voter signatures, is limited to a single subject, the ballot summary meets the maximum 75-word limit and most importantly to us, isn't ambiguous in its intent.
Any amendment needs at least 60 percent voter approval.
Yet if state lawmakers don't like the outcome of a vote on an amendment, they've been prone to spin their own interpretation, so it's off to court. We've seen that with Amendment 1, circa 2014. We've seen that with the five-year legal battle the League of Women Voters of Florida pursued before courts determined the Legislature wasn't adhering to the November 2010 wishes of about 63 percent of voters who called for an end to gerrymandering, the drawing of political districts to favor a political party or incumbents.
Back to court
A few days ago, four environmental groups went back to court calling for an immediate determination of what the Legislature was supposed to do after 75 percent of voters approved Amendment 1, circa 2014.
The Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida — representing nearly 25 groups — submitted the filing, called a motion for summary judgment. Don't be surprised if the Legislature's attorneys oppose an immediate resolution.
That would be unfortunate. Taxpayers are at risk the longer this drags out for what, to us, seems like an inevitable conclusion. Amendment 1, circa 2014, required that a third of all proceeds from Florida real estate transaction taxes be set aside. The title of the amendment voters backed: "Water and Land Conservation — Dedicates funds to acquire and restore Florida conservation and recreation lands."
That's about $750 million a year, but environmental groups say about a third of that was misappropriated in 2015 to bolster other areas of the state budget, including salaries. The Legislature since passed a 2016 budget, this time including the Legacy Florida act with $200 million for Everglades restoration.
Next spring, lawmakers will pass a 2017 budget. The longer it takes to determine how much misdirected money should be restored, the bigger the hole taxpayers should worry they may have to fill in the state budget.
Broken system
This isn't the only broken "amendment" system of concern to Southwest Florida's environment.
The Energy and Water Appropriations bill failed to pass the U.S. House in late May by a 305-112 vote. It would provide money for Everglades restoration and federal water quality, flood control and beach renourishment projects in Florida.
That's not why it failed. House Democrats attached an amendment barring contractors from discriminating against anyone lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Republicans' amendments also tanked it, including one barring federal spending for sanctuary cities that shield some immigrants in the U.S. illegally. What's the connection between Everglades restoration, LGBT protection and sanctuary cities? That's a riddle awaiting an answer.
The answer
Thankfully, this is an election year. Florida voters will decide on many legislative and congressional seats. Before you cast your vote, be sure to ask the candidates if they actually are going to listen to what the majority wants.

160604-b
Tri-county planning board meets in Key Largo, drinking-water quality at the top of the list of issues
Keynoter.com - by Kevin Wadlow
June 4, 2016
Issues including Everglades and Florida Bay restoration, and the threat of saltwater intrusion into regional drinking water, will be reviewed by a multi-county agency meeting Monday in Key Largo.
The South Florida Regional Planning Council -- primarily comprising elected officials from Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward counties -- convenes an open session at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Murray E. Nelson Government and Cultural Center at mile marker 102.
An update on Florida Bay and Everglades restoration efforts will be delivered by Robert Johnson from the South Florida Natural Resources Center and Kimberley Taplin of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"The bottom line is we need more fresh water in Florida Bay," Monroe County Commissioner David Rice, a council member, said in a statement. "We understand many years ago the Everglades was plumbed to control flooding. Now we need to replumb the Everglades to both control flooding and protect the environment."
State Rep. Holly Raschein (R-Key Largo) will outline goals of the Florida Keys Stewardship Act passed by the Florida Legislature this year to help fund local environmental preservation efforts.
State Sen. Anitere Flores (R-Miami) plans to discuss the Florida Senate's review process for the Florida Power and Light cooling-canal system at the Turkey Point nuclear plant.
Water with a high salt content has been leaching from the massive canal system built to hold down temperatures at Turkey Point reactors, agency studies determined. Permits for the system require the water be contained on FPL property.
While the cooling-system water never comes in direct contact with nuclear material, its high salt levels have the potential to harm underground sources of drinking water for the Keys and Miami-Dade County, elected officials contend.
A Miami-Dade transportation official also will discuss that county's transportation network, which includes the bus line that brings many workers from Florida City to the Upper and Middle Keys.
Monroe County is represented on the 19-member council by county commissioners George Neugent and Rice, Key West City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley and Keys land-use consultant Sandra Walters, appointed by Gov. Rick Scott.

160603-a
Everglades National Park: 'The Liquid Heart of Florida'
Voice of America – by Jerilyn Watson, eited by Caty Weaver
June 3, 2016
Today on our national parks journey, we explore the Everglades in South Florida.
When many people think of Florida, images of sandy coasts, theme parks and rocket launches come to mind. But it is also home to a natural wilderness different from any other in the United States.
Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness in the U.S. Several rare and endangered species live in the park. It is a huge place, covering more than 600,000 hectares of wetlands.
It is also a popular park. More than 1 million visitors pass through the official entrances every year. But, others enter the park on water and go uncounted.
Irreplaceable nature
In 1947, President Harry Truman spoke at the official opening of Everglades National Park. He said the goal of creating the park was to protect forever a wild area that could never be replaced.
The Everglades is considered one of the biological wonders of the world. It is a place where plants and animals from the Caribbean Sea share an ecosystem with native North American species.
Nine different environments exist within the Everglades. They include mangrove and cypress swamps, estuaries and coastal marshes.
River of grass
In the 1940s, reporter and environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote a book called, “The Everglades: River of Grass.” She described the area as, “the liquid heart of Florida.”
Everglades National Park was created to protect an ecosystem from damage. The Everglades is home to about 30 species that federal officials say are threatened or endangered. They include the Florida panther, the American crocodile and the West Indian manatee.
More than 350 bird species and 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish live within the park. The Everglades is also home to 40 species of mammals and 50 reptile species.
Unique flora
Visitors to the Everglades will see many exotic plants. They include what is said to be the largest growth of mangrove trees in the Western world. Gumbo-limbo trees, known for their peeling red skin, strangler figs and royal palms are also among the area’s plant life. The country’s largest living mahogany tree also lives in the Everglades.
Sawgrass grows in some areas of the park. Be careful – sawgrass is very sharp, with teeth just like a saw. It can grow up to 4 meters tall.
With about one and one-half meters of rainfall each year, plants and trees never stop growing in the Everglades.
The dry, winter season is the favorite of most visitors, when insects like mosquitoes are less of a problem. The rainy season lasts from June to November.
Hiking, biking and boating
There are many ways to explore the Everglades. Visitors can see alligators while hiking the Anhinga Trail. The park is one of the only places in the world where freshwater alligators and saltwater crocodiles live in the same area.
Visitors using canoes are likely to observe large groups of wading birds like the wood stork or the great blue heron. Bright pink flamingos also thrive in the Everglades.
Some visitors might enjoy riding bicycles through Shark Valley. Others might want to take it more slowly. The boardwalk walking trail goes right over the slow-moving water. Visitors can take a close look at insects and other wildlife.
The park also offers tram rides for guided tours.
Dark history
The National Park Service says that early Colonial settlers and land developers believed the Everglades had little value. The settlers had plans to remove water from the area. In the 1880s, developers began digging canals to reduce water levels.
At the time, they did not understand the complexity of the Everglades’ ecosystem. As a result, they were not prepared for all the work. They caused environmental problems.
Larger efforts to drain the wetlands continued between 1905 and 1910. Farms were built on large pieces of land. More people began to move to the Everglades.
More changes came midcentury. The federal government built roads, canals and water-control systems throughout South Florida.
The project was aimed at providing water and flood protection for people and farms. Workers built a huge system of waterways and pumping stations to control the overflow of Lake Okeechobee, north of the Everglades.
The Everglades today and tomorrow
In more recent years, environmental experts learned about the damage to the Everglades. Some experts say the balance of nature in the area has been destroyed.
Today, some of South Florida’s early wetland areas no longer exist. Populations of wading birds have been reduced by 90 percent. Whole populations of animals are in danger of disappearing.
In 2000, Congress approved a plan to restore and improve the Everglades. Federal, state and other organizations are partners in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
The future is not clear for the wild and beautiful Everglades. But, efforts are under way to protect this biological treasure. The hope is that people may continue to visit the extraordinary Everglades National Park long into the future.

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Guess what West Palm politician is back in the fight for Everglades?
Palm Beach Post - by Tony Doris, Staff Writer
June 3, 2016
Former West Palm Beach commissioner Kimberly Mitchell back in politics as head of Everglades Trust
WEST PALM BEACH — Her father made it to the moon. Can’t top that.
But down on Earth, Kimberly Mitchell has taken on another lofty mission — fixing the Everglades.
Mitchell, a former West Palm Beach commissioner, has re-entered politics as executive director of the Everglades Trust. The nonprofit’s goal: to change opinions of Florida’s governor and lawmakers, to get them behind investing in a reservoir, whose water can be cleaned of pollution and redistributed to the Everglades, an expanse so thirsty it’s in danger of ecological collapse.
The task is daunting, she told a meeting of the South End Neighborhood Association on Thursday, because U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals own most of the land south of Lake Okeechobee that could be used for the reservoir. They’re not in a hurry to give it up, she said.
“That Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir is the one, single thing you can do that has the most benefit moving forward,” Tom Van Lent, an engineer who is Director of Science and Policy for The Everglades Foundation, told the association members gathered at the South Olive Community Center.
But the state doesn’t plan to start looking for a site until 2021, he said. That, despite the fact the Everglades already are in a downward spiral, with massive algae blooms and sea grass die-offs because of the shortage of fresh, clean water flowing through the Everglades to Florida Bay.
Mitchell, the daughter of late Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell and former county GOP chief Anita Mitchell, is a Republican who finds herself confronting a Republican governor and senator reluctant to go up against Big Sugar. Nor are the state’s lawmakers — Republican or Democrat — anxious to confront the generous contributors.
But it’s not a partisan ecological crisis, she said.
“If you learned a little bit more about what’s going on up in Stuart,” where billions of gallons of polluted, algae-clogged Lake Okeechobee water drain out the Loxahatchee River, “you would see that the people who are rising up are not just tree-huggers and cute people in Birkenstocks,” Mitchell said. “They are conservatives, Realtors, boat captains, little mom-and-pop businesses, restaurants that are looking at their waterways and getting absolutely crushed.”

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Heavy rains mixed blessing for wading birds
Sun Sentinel – by Jan Engoren
June 3, 2016
According to The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge's latest survey on wading birds, this year brings the largest active wading bird colony in the Everglades, with over 7,000 active nests, primarily of white ibis.
The refuge west of Boynton Beach is important foraging and nesting habitat for wading birds, and because of its location as the northernmost Everglades, is particularly important foraging habitat during pre-nesting periods.
"Large fluctuations in annual nesting efforts are a natural and defining feature of the Everglades' ecology," said Mark Cook, a scientist with the South Florida Water Management District. "The fluctuations are a result of yearly variation in hydrologic conditions and availability of aquatic prey (fish) for the wading birds to feed to their offspring."
While the white ibis nesting population is doing well, other species, including the wood stork, great egret, snowy egret and the little blue heron's nesting is not off to a strong start this season because of high water levels resulting from the unusually wet dry season.
"Without the dry season supply of highly concentrated prey, parent birds are unable to support their offspring," Cook said, adding nesting depends on the availability of food for the birds - fish, crayfish and small aquatic animals living in the marsh.
These in turn are dependent on the conditions in the summer or the previous winter. A wet summer results in a bigger fish population for the birds the following breeding season.
Optimum nesting conditions would be to have a good fish supply during the prior summer followed by a dry-down during winter resulting in a good breeding season for wading birds.
As the water levels decline, the fish become more concentrated in pockets of water as they escape the drying landscape. This is optimal for the feeding birds, which require a high density of fish to feed themselves and their chicks.
Rebekah Gibble, the refuge's senior wildlife biologist, said, "Because of the El Nino weather system and the unusually wet year, even during the typical dry season, water levels have been higher than normal precluded nesting everywhere and significantly in their hot spots."
High water levels also delayed the start of nesting season and the survival of the white ibis chicks in the refuge colony will depend on maintaining stable water depths through mid-summer, according to Cook and Gibble.
"This year has provided a good reminder of how drastically the wading birds can respond to conditions," Gibble said. "When we're managing water levels, it's important to keep that in mind – another reminder of how sensitive they can be."
"A simple factor of water levels can change the dynamic of the entire system," she said.
In other news, Arthur R. Marshall Foundation for the Everglades announced that it has forged an agreement with The Everglades Foundation, Inc. to administer and continue two key programs beginning next year.
The Summer Intern Program for undergraduate and post-graduate students and its Everglades Symposium will be added to the current Everglades Foundation education programs and named for John Marshall, who died last March.
"We are thrilled that one of the most respected environmental organizations in the country has embraced the legacy of John (Marshall) and the importance of these programs," said Nancy Marshall, the Marshall Foundation's president. "This will ensure that John's favorite two programs continue to serve his dream of Everglades education for the next generation and allow our friends and supporters an opportunity to continue being involved with these efforts."
Both organizations have joined to form The John Marshall Everglades Legacy Fund to endow funding for these programs in the future, led by Nancy Marshall.
"We are honored to continue the work of John Marshall and the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation," said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. "John was a champion for Everglades education and restoration efforts of this national treasure. Our goal is to create an opportunity for passionate students and advocates to unite in their common cause of fostering the next generation of environmental stewards."
The Marshall Foundation recently established a $50,000 challenge match that guarantees contributions made to The John Marshall Everglades Legacy Fund at the Everglades Foundation will be matched dollar for dollar.
These donations will fund the continuation of the Student Intern Program and the Everglades Symposium in the future.
For information contact Nancy Marshall at 561-233-9004 or email administration@oureverglades.org. For information about the John Marshall Everglades Legacy Fund, contact Deborah Johnson at 305-251-0001 or email djohnson@evergladesfoundation.org.

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Ocean swim advisory issued in Daytona Beach over bacteria levels
News4jax.com
June 03, 2016
Water samplings show high levels of bacteria near Main Street access
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Department of Health on Friday issued a swimming advisory for Daytona Beach based on results of a recent water sampling that indicated high levels of bacteria.
Health officials said the advisory has been issued for the Main Street area of the beach in Daytona Beach and that swimming is not recommended until it is lifted.
A swimming advisory means contact with the water may pose an increased risk of infectious disease based on the Environmental Protection Agency criteria, according to a FDOH release.
Officials said it is a precautionary advisory and not a closure.
The bacteria levels tested lower at all other sites of the 40 miles of Volusia County beaches, according to the release.
Officials said the spike in bacteria levels may be a natural variation. They test weekly ocean water samples for enterococci bacteria, which can be found in the intestinal tract of humans and other animals.
The bacteria can cause gastrointestinal illness, upper respiratory infections or skin infections of open wounds or sores.

160602-a
3 power brokers you should contact about the Indian River Lagoon
TCPalm.com – by Eve Samples
June 2, 2016
Let's be clear:
Even if President Barack Obama ditched the fairways this weekend and became our River-Warrior-in-chief — even if he made saving the Indian River Lagoon the top priority for his final seven months in office — it still wouldn't change this reality:
He would need buy-in from state leaders to get the job done.
And that buy-in has been sorely lacking in recent years.
Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River (a tributary of the Indian River Lagoon) won't permanently stop until more land to store and clean water is acquired south of the lake. State leaders have taken the sugar industry's lead by backing away from the idea — even though we now have voter-approved Amendment 1 money to get the job done.
Our newsroom focused a lot of attention on Obama this week, as he planned his golf trip to the Floridian National Golf Club along the algae-tainted St. Lucie River.
Here are three other power brokers to contact about stopping the Lake Okeechobee discharges:
1. Gov. Rick Scott
Nobody has more power over this issue than Florida's governor. He sets priorities for restoration projects. He appoints the governing boards of the state's water management districts. But Scott has repeatedly questioned the need for more land south of Lake Okeechobee. Meanwhile, he has yet to propose a solution that will end the dumping into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries.
HOW TO CONTACT SCOTT: 850-488-7146 or rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com
2. State Sen. Joe Negron
Negron was the driving force behind a meeting of state lawmakers in Stuart in 2013 for hearings on this issue. Three years later, we're facing an even more dire outlook for our waterways — despite the more than $200 million approved by lawmakers after the hearings. Since Jan. 30, more than 120 billion gallons of lake water have been released to the St. Lucie River — and the rainy season is just getting started.
HOW TO CONTACT NEGRON: 772-219-1665 or 850-487-5088 or negron.joe.web@flsenate.gov
3. Kevin Powers, member of South Florida Water Management District Governing Board
Powers is a longtime Stuart resident, and in years past algae has bloomed in the water near his home on the St. Lucie River. That's all the more reason for him to speak up about buying land to end the Lake Okeechobee discharges — despite opposition from the governor who appointed him.
HOW TO CONTACT POWERS: 561-682-6262 or kpowers@sfwmd.gov
President Obama should use the power of his office to bring attention to the Indian River Lagoon — but nothing will change until the power brokers in Florida take meaningful action.

160602-b
Oil drilling and wetlands don’t mix—especially in Big Cypress
NRDC.org – by Robynne Boyd
June 2, 2016
On a national preserve at the edge of the Everglades, oil exploration is threatening fragile habitat and endangered species, from woodpeckers to panthers.
With only 150 individuals left in the wild, the Florida panther is teetering on the brink of extinction. About a fifth of the big cats that do remain tread the damp soils of Big Cypress National Preserve in southwestern Florida. Unlike its neighboring Everglades, Big Cypress is still a relatively pristine wetland ecosystem, one that provides sanctuary for the critically endangered panther as well as the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, the threatened wood stork, and the endangered snail kite.
But beneath their paws and claws is a muddied front line between commercial and environmental interests. While everything above the soil is entrusted to the National Park Service, what lies below belongs to the Collier family, the descendants of Barron Collier, who bought more than a million acres of land in southwestern Florida early in the last century (Big Cypress is found within Collier County). When the Colliers imparted the land that became the preserve to the government in 1974, they kept the mineral rights. That means the NPS has a legal obligation to provide reasonable access to the minerals, even though the agency doesn’t receive any compensation in connection with the drilling.
Last month, the NPS approved a plan by Burnett Oil, a Texas company, to undertake seismic testing on 110 square miles of the 1,126-square-mile preserve. The decision has many Floridians and conservationists questioning whether the Park Service gave its mandate to protect natural resources enough consideration.
“This is going in a direction that we absolutely don’t want them to go in,” says Matthew Schwartz, executive director of South Florida Wildlands, an outspoken advocacy group for the preserve. “They [the NPS] are obligated to put resource protection above extractive activities. At the very least, they should have prepared a full-blown environmental impact statement.”
The Park Service conducted a two-year environmental assessment and found that the seismic testing would have “no significant impact” on Big Cypress’s forests, wetlands, or wildlife. Despite receiving thousands of comments from concerned conservationists and citizens, the Park Service says it considered the potential ecological consequences and deemed a more thorough environmental impact statement unnecessary.
“If people say there won’t be damage, they aren’t quite telling the truth,” says Don Findlay, a retired geologist involved in oil exploration for more than 30 years for major companies including Shell and Esso Husky and a resident of nearby Marco Island. “I’m concerned about the intrusion of big machines into a sensitive area.”
The first of four phases of the Nobles Grade 3-D Seismic Survey, which could begin as soon as November, would involve six vibroseis buggies, or “thumper trucks.“ These 30-ton vehicles would drive across the wetland in a grid pattern, stopping every so often to lower a thick metal plate to the ground and send shock waves into the geologic formations below, allowing the company to create a sort of ultrasound of the earth. The waves reflect back, revealing the possible locations of oil deposits. By the time all four phases were complete, the thumper trucks would have traversed 360 square miles, or 32 percent of Big Cypress, crushing whatever happens to lie beneath them.
The destruction, however, would go beyond flattened vegetation. Most environmental experts say that trucks entering parts of the preserve where motor vehicles have never before gone could lead to rutting and oxidation of fragile soils, hydrological changes due to the compaction of the earth, and the spread of invasive plant species, such as Brazilian pepper.
Then there’s the wildlife. Vehicle collisions remain the leading cause of death for the Florida panther. Should the sound and vibration of the trucks cause a cat to flee, panther experts fear it could run across nearby Interstate 95 and get hit, or enter another panther’s territory, where the cats could fight and cause each other harm.
The oil industry has traditionally deployed seismic surveying trucks on the hard, compacted sand and clay soils of the American West, explains Nicholas Lund, senior manager for the landscape conservation program at the National Parks Conservation Association. None have been put to work in a wetland before Big Cypress.
To get an idea of what a fleet of thumper trucks might do the preserve’s habitat, just take a look of what a lighter version of vibroseis vehicles did to the sandy and marshy environs of Texas’s Padre Island National Seashore three decades ago. Lund says the evidence—channels, ruts, and trenches carved by tires—is still visible today in aerial pictures.
More recently, Burnett Oil sent some trucks out for a field test in Big Cypress last year. According to a compilation of field demonstration notes acquired through the Freedom of Information Act by Matthew Schwartz and posted here, the test stopped short when a thumper truck became wedged in a man-made ditch and needed rescuing. NPS field staff at the site that day concluded “that the test only involved an extremely minute portion of the entire 110-square-mile proposed exploratory area. Extrapolating the impacts observed to multiple vehicles in a much larger area suggests that the potential wetland impacts could be significant.”
Bob DeGross, a spokesperson for Big Cypress National Preserve, explained that the latest version of the environmental assessment, published in March 2016, addresses these concerns through 47 mitigation measures. For example, the buggies will be cleaned before driving onto the preserve to reduce the spread of invasive species. Another measure details how an ecologist would scout for and mark where tortoises, owl nests, and snake burrows are present. Trucks would then have to keep 50 feet away from those places. The buggies would also be allowed to cross the terrain only once in most areas, which the NPS says will limit the effects on the land’s soil, hydrology, and fauna.
Limited or not, the impacts listed above concern only seismic testing. Should Burnett Oil strike black gold in Big Cypress—a scenario that’s not far-fetched, considering that the company is looking right in the middle of a heavy oil-bearing region called the Sunniland Oil Trend—the next step would be building new roads, pads, and drill rigs in the so-called preserve. That, of course, would require another round of federal reviews and public input.
”The fear is that the project will lead to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which the geology of the area doesn’t support,” DeGross says. But he points out the land might not have become a preserve in the first place if a compromise had not been struck regarding the mineral rights.
If drilling proceeds in Big Cypress, it wouldn’t be the first time. Two oil fields, Bear Island and Raccoon Point, are currently in production in the park’s northwestern and eastern corners; both opened in the 1970s, before the National Environmental Policy Act was in full force, and so they underwent neither an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.
Striking a balance between the Colliers’ right to the preserve’s resources below and the need to protect the flora, fauna, and habitat above is hard to achieve, particularly when we’re talking about habitats harboring endangered species. The NPS is currently updating the ”9B regulations” that govern private oil and gas rights within the National Park System. However, none of the changes would affect or impede the Nobles project. The new regulations would not prevent private entities, like the Colliers, from having equitable access to their mineral rights.
“This a reserve, and I don’t think we should be creeping through Big Cypress and looking for oil here,” concludes Findlay. “As a geologist, seismic exploration is very exciting, but not as a person who loves nature.”

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Tampa to study 'toilet-to-tap' water project
Tampa Bay Times – by Richard Danielson
June 2, 2016
TAMPA — When Tampa opened its advanced wastewater treatment plant, officials wanted to show that untreated sewage could be purified into clean, clear water, so they drank some of it from champagne glasses.
In coming years, you could be drinking water from that same facility — only from your own glass.
The City Council voted Thursday to move ahead with a $3 million feasibility study on a project to turn some of Tampa's treated wastewater into drinking water.
"It is a game-changer that can resolve drinking water supply problems for Tampa and the region for many decades to come," said Brad Baird, Tampa's administrator for public works and utilities services.
"It will allow Tampa to control its own destiny and finally realize our original goal to use this water for a higher purpose."
It's a priority for Mayor Bob Buckhorn, but it's not a new idea.
After seven years of study, Clearwater this year became the first city in Florida to launch a $28.6 million project to inject treated wastewater into the ground, where it could be pumped back up later. It could start to pump up to 3 million gallons of treated water a day into the aquifer in 2018.
In addition, Hillsborough County has a test under way to inject treated wastewater into the deep aquifer, and all these projects are being monitored as Tampa Bay Water puts together a 20-year master plan that's due in late 2018.
"We're looking at several different ways of using reclaimed water as source water as part of the master plan," said Alison Adams, Tampa Bay Water's chief technical officer. Another idea being explored is sending reclaimed water to Tampa Bay Water's desalination plant.
Beyond the bay area, this is an approach that has been embraced by communities from California to the suburbs of Washington, D.C., to the Middle East.
"The science is on our side," Buckhorn said. "You've seen Israel take far less water and reuse it multiple times. . . . The water coming out of our plant right now is drinkable."
The process is often called "toilet to tap," though that phrase is a shorthand description for a longer journey.
Tampa is looking at two methods, both of which would redirect some of the 60 million gallons of treated wastewater that now goes directly into Tampa Bay.
In one, the reclaimed water would be pumped north to the Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve. There, it would filter through wetlands or rapid-infiltration basins to the Tampa Bypass Canal. From there, it could be withdrawn, further treated to drinking water standards and sent to customers.
In the other, the city would pump treated wastewater directly into the aquifer, similar to what Clearwater plans.
Tampa's study will look at reusing 20 millions gallons of treated water per day, though that could rise to 35 million or 70 million gallons a day, Baird said.
Tampa officials have estimated that the project could cost a quarter of a billion dollars, though the study approved Thursday would revisit that, along with a lot of other technical and regulatory issues.
The city plans to split the $3 million study cost with the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Carollo Engineers of Tampa will do the study, which is expected to take until January 2018.
Unknown, for now, is how soon the city could pursue the project if the study concludes that its assumptions are valid.
At that point, Buckhorn said, the city likely would try to win state and federal support for the project.
As aquifers and sources like the Hillsborough River are tapped further, "we've got to find other solutions," Buckhorn said. "Because with no water, there's no growth. I think the availability of clean drinking water will determine what the growth patterns are in the state of Florida for a generation."

160601-a
Florida gov. noncommittal on water storage efforts to cut Lake Okeechobee discharges
KitsUpSun.com - by Isadora Rangel, USA Today Network, Treasure Coast (Florida) Palm
June 1, 2016
A coalition of environmental groups is pushing the state to expedite planning of a reservoir that could significantly reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River, but water managers and Gov. Rick Scott haven't jumped on board.
At hand is a reservoir south of the lake that would hold more than 117 billion gallons of lake water. That's just short of the 120 billion gallons that have been released into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers since discharges began on Jan. 30. The reservoir is part of a multi-project Everglades restoration plan the state and Congress approved in 2000.
Environmental groups are trying to gain momentum from a highly publicized new law that creates a dedicated fund for the Everglades with priority given to projects that reduce discharges. On Tuesday, Scott, along with Treasure Coast elected officials, attended a ceremonial signing in West Palm Beach of the law that was signed in April.
Scott was noncommittal about supporting the reservoir. He said instead the so-called "Legacy Florida" law allows the South Florida Water Management District, which is in charge of restoration, to "plan ahead" on all restoration projects on the books.
He also touted state efforts to finish existing projects that help the Indian River Lagoon, which has experienced environmental havoc because of lake releases. Among the projects is raising the Tamiami Trail in Miami-Dade County to allow more water to flow into the Everglades. When asked whether he would visit the Treasure Coast in light of the recent algae blooms in the St. Lucie River, Scott said, "I travel the state every day," and noted the Department of Environmental Protection this week is testing the algae for toxicity.
"Are we where we want to be? No, but we are making progress every day," Scott said. "Whether it's stormwater treatment areas, whether it's dredging projects, there are projects happening all over this area."
THE RESERVOIR
The reservoir would be built along existing canals in the Everglades Agricultural Area, just south of the lake. It would hold water that leaves the lake and send it to treatment areas before it reaches Everglades National Park, said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon Florida, one of the groups pushing to expedite the project.
A plan for the reservoir was developed in the early 2000s, but the original land for the project no longer is available because it is now being used for two unrelated water treatment projects. Draper said planning is slated to begin again in 2020, but Audubon and other groups asked the South Florida water district and Army Corps of Engineers to start planning this summer. That's when the two agencies begin discussions on how to store more water that enters Lake Okeechobee from the north.
The hope is that if the reservoir is planned this year, the Legislature would allocate at least some of the money for it in 2018. Florida Senate President-designate Joe Negron, of Stuart, said last week he's coming up with a proposal to reduce discharges.
WATER STORAGE
Planning south and north storage at the same time would represent a "costly distraction and loss of time," wrote South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Peter Antonacci in a May 11 letter to the environmental groups. He also noted north storage has several environmental benefits, such as reducing the amount of water that enters the lake and eventually gets discharged into the St. Lucie River.
Draper said planning for south storage, which directs much-needed water into the Everglades and Florida Bay, should happen before north storage. A southern reservoir would be built in farmland that's mostly owned by sugar growers.

160601-b
Legacy Florida bill commits money, effort, to stopping water pollution
Naples Herald - by R.J. Roan
Jun 1, 2016
Up to $200 million of dedicated funding for Everglades restoration was the reason for a visit to the Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary on Tuesday by Governor Rick Scott for a bill signing ceremony.
“This legislation will continue our commitment to protecting Florida’s environment so future generations can enjoy all that Florida has to offer,” Scott said.”
HB 989, also called the Legacy Florida bill, appropriates funds that were set aside for conservation purposes when voters approved Amendment 1 in 2014. Scott signed the bill in April, which goes into effect on June 1.
Dedicated funding will ensure steady progress on the projects needed to provide clean water to the Everglades and estuaries,” said Eric Draper, the executive director of Audubon Florida when the bill was signed. “Floridians should welcome this major step forward toward implementing plans to meet water quality goals and delivering freshwater flows.”
On Tuesday, environmental advocates and local lawmakers stood by in support of the annual funding for the Everglades, along with $50 million in dedicated funding for state springs. The bill also sets aside funds for Lake Apopka in Central Florida.
The state has seen criticism since the passage of Amendment 1, with lawmakers being accused of not properly using the funds set aside by the action for their intended purpose.
“We can focus on finishing projects now,” Scott said. “When I ran back in 2010, the complaint was that we weren’t finishing projects. We start a lot of projects, but we weren’t finishing projects. That’s not true today.”
Projects such as reservoirs meant to limit discharges from Lake Okeechobee down estuaries including the Caloosahatchee River. Residents and officials alike were in an uproar this past spring when discharges meant to relieve high water levels in the lake turned waters miles from the mouth of the river in the Gulf of Mexico a murky, cola-esque brown color.
“The restoration of Lake Okeechobee, the Indian River Lagoon, and the Everglades is a major concern for all of Southwest Florida,” said Matt Caldwell (R-Lehigh Acres). “With the passage of Legacy Florida, we are taking steps to solve those concerns by creating a dedicated funding stream with the sole purpose of protecting the health of the Everglades.”

160601-c
NRC Turkey Point environmental report was deficient, judges say, but…
Palm Beach Post – by Susan Salisbury
June 1, 2016
Deficient. That’s what a  three-judge panel called a  2014 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff environmental report on Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point  nuclear plant south of Miami. But there’s no need for a do-over, the judges said.
Tuesday, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board issued a 59-page decision that said the NRC’s assessment failed to satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act because of its deficient discussion of saltwater migration, saltwater intrusion and aquifer withdrawals.
To read the decision, go to http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/documents/2016/may/31/read-initial-decision-turkey-point-matter/
However, the judges wrote that the NRC staff will not need to revise the environmental assessment because evidence developed  in the proceeding held in Homestead in January identified the deficiencies.
“This Initial Decision supplements the 2014 EA and thereby satisfies the NEPA obligation to take the requisite “hard look” and also justifies the finding of no significant environmental impact,” the judges wrote.
Turkey Point’s 168-mile unlined cooling canal system loses about 600,000 pounds of salt per day, and the salt seeps into the groundwater. The canals have long been blamed for saltwater intrusion into Biscayne Bay, the Floridan Aquifer and nearby Everglades National and Biscayne National parks.
Citizens Allied for Safe Energy  challenged the NRC’s allowing FPL to increase the cooling system’s temperature limit to 104 degrees from 100.
CASE’s president Barry White, said, “They say we made all of our points, but it leads to no action or change. Is this the way the NRC does things?”
“It really shows how powerless we are against a system where government supports big business,” White said.  “We really have lost control, if we ever had it.”
The 2012/2013 increase in capacity of Turkey Point units 3 and 4, known as an uprate,  is the elephant in the room, White said. Using FPL data, Miami-Dade County found that following the uprate, salinity reached three times that of seawater.
“FPL has only brought it down by using billions of gallons of freshwater, an unsustainable fix. And wasting another $50 million of ratepayer money won’t fix it either,,” White said.
The jump to a 104-degree maximum as the upper limit for water temperatures was important because the canals had been as hot as 102 degrees in July 2014, and that meant the company would have to begin shutting down the reactors.
FPL spokesman Peter Robbins said FPL has  taken numerous steps to improve both the immediate and long-term water quality of the cooling canal system, including reducing overall salinity levels and freshening the canals with 14 million gallons of cooler water based on state approval to install a well system.
Earlier this month, FPL officials said customers will pay an estimated $50 million this year alone towards  the cleanup of hypersaline water coming from Turkey.

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Totally ban fracking in Florida
News-Press.com – by Sandra McClinton, Coral Gables, FL
June 1, 2016
Fracking is a danger to the state’s delicate ecosystem and shallow, interconnected underground waterways. It could increase global warming by releasing methane gas, risk earthquake tremors in brittle limestone and hurt property values and tourism business.
Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, involves shooting water, sand and chemicals underground to wrestle out the natural gas and oil from the rock formations.
During the 2016 Florida legislation session, about 50 environmental groups gathered at the capital to protest fracking-empowering legislation. Thirty-two counties and forty-eight Florida cities have already passed either a resolution or ordinance against fracking using their precious home rule power. Some local areas that have banned fracking are Bonita Springs, Estero, Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach. The Florida Association of Counties was against the preempting home rule clause of the bills. Dr. Rich Templin, political director of the AFL-CIO, said the state's 1-million-strong union voted against fracking technologies.
The dangers of fracking are many: contamination from millions of gallons of water laced with carcinogens and toxins, the possibility of earthquake tremors and sinkholes from the brittle and porous limestone, pollution of the Florida aquifer, methane emissions, noisy explosions and “thumper trucks”, heavy-duty drilling trucks damaging roads, hydraulic fracturing fluid spills, and construction of unsightly equipment such as wells, pumps and tank farms.
Southwest Florida and the Panhandle have become epicenters for oil and gas exploration within the state. The industry has spent about $15 million to buy mineral rights covering vast acreage in Collier, Lee and Hendry counties.
Four Democratic senators ─ Soto, Bullard, Clemens, and Sobel ─ sponsored SB 166, a statewide ban on fracking, but it didn’t get a hearing in the Republican-dominated legislature.
The all-Republican Lee legislative delegation has led the way in pro-fracking bills. They took up fracking bills SB318/HB191. The delegation members are: Rep. Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral; Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers; Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers; Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero; Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R- Fort Myers; and Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Nales.
Bills SB318/HB191 would regulate fracking throughout the state, but would also stop local bans on fracking.  HB 191 was filed by Rodrigues, and Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park. Richter sponsored a similar bill (SB 318) in the Senate. Ironically, the conservatives who are against big government are voting to take away home rule for counties and municipalities.
I’ve bookmarked a great website “https://votesmart.org/candidate/” that tracks how elected officials vote on bills. The following representatives voted for HB 191 that would allow fracking but regulate at state level: Caldwell, Fitzenhagen, Eagle,and Rodrigues. The bill passed the state house on March 27 with a 73–45 vote.
SB 318, an act relating to the regulation of oil and gas resources, would have imposed a temporary moratorium on fracking permits until a study of Florida's hydrology is completed to determine what potential impact the operations will have on the state’s geology and fragile water supply. Richter argued that we need this statewide, regulatory framework instead of hundreds of individual sets of rules. Templin argued that this bill would facilitate fracking in the state.  By a 10-9 vote, the senate committee narrowly rejected the SB 318 bill.  Benacquisto voted against bill, but then changed her mind and re-introduced the bill to keep it alive for the remainder of the session. Later, Sen. Richter withdrew his bill.
The grassroots efforts paid off in blocking this harmful legislation this time. The Republicans appear to have lost touch with their constituents. They missed the message from the cities and counties that there should not be fracking anywhere in Florida. The legislators blatantly attempted to pass pro-fracking legislation that would have stripped away constitutional local control and have for years ignored Florida legislation that would ban fracking.
It is expected that pro-fracking measures will come up again next session, so it is up to you to contact the Lee Delegation and let them know you are going to hold them accountable. Ask them to totally ban fracking in Florida. Just tell them, “not in our frack yard!”

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