People in South Florida are beginning to understand how every taxpayer in South Florida is hostage to the dismal water quality in Lake Okeechobee. This is us.
Imagine that we are citizens of Flint, Michigan -- forced by government and elected officials to drink water contaminated with lead. In Florida, the metaphor is apt.
First of all, count on government officials and the agency PR machine to deny. They are doing it now: issuing press statements assuring that all is well, problem is recognized and addressed. Second, they will go to newspapers and TV stations where they have cultivated relationships. Third, they will attack critics as ill-informed, penning letters to the editors and OPED's for others to submit.
This formulaic response did protect the special interest's prerogatives and corporate welfare over decades. Something changed. What changed is that voters and taxpayers know what we are seeing, and we are expressing it very clearly in photos, videos, and blog posts on social media -- viewed by hundreds of thousands of Floridians.
Here, we live and recreate on or simply appreciate waterways like the Indian River Lagoon, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, the Caloosahatchee River directly impacted by the Lake Okeechobee's filthy water. Or Biscayne Bay and the Everglades. We know what we are seeing.
The problem with Florida's dismal water quality is not just that we taxpayers are sacrifice zones for Big Sugar. It is that we are all hostage to the bad water quality coming out of Lake Okeechobee.
There is an answer and another plan. Last August, 207 scientists petitioned Gov. Rick Scott to buy Bug Sugar lands, to put enough storage in place that the catastrophe that occurred this recent January might not have happened. This bears repeating: if Gov. Scott and the Florida legislature had completed the deal to buy U.S. Sugar lands, that U.S. shareholders approved in 2008, they would be able to say -- at least -- that they were doing something to alleviate Lake O stormwater runoff even if it still will take years to complete. They did the opposite.
They refused to allocate Amendment 1 funding, approved by more than 75 percent of Florida voters as a constitutional amendment in 2014, to buy Big Sugar lands south of Lake Okeechobee. This legislative session, they approved a new state water policy that protects polluters inside virtual barbed wire enclosures. "We will call it pollution when we decide to call it pollution."
Decades lost to restoring water quality in Florida -- despite billions spent -- serve a single purpose: to make Big Sugar even richer. In the U.S. Congress, not even conservatives or tea party stalwarts have been able to remove the stigma of corporate welfare embedded in the Farm Bill, that guarantees Big Sugar profits before a single seed is planted. Big Sugar takes a fraction of those guaranteed profits, fertilizes Tallahassee and local county commissions and political races, and thus ensures that taxpayers will shoulder the majority of the cost and pain of cleaning up the industry's pollution.
Here is what the scientists signed last summer. “As a scientist working in the Everglades," they each asserted, "... it is my scientific opinion that increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward, is essential to restoring the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the Caloosahatchee and St.Lucie estuaries.” (names, listed below)
Gov. Scott and Ag. Secretary Adam Putnam and the rest of the Florida legislature basically told the scientists to fuck off. (Same as US Senator Marco Rubio, who refused to meet with climate change scientists over a period of many years.)
We can't get to fixing the Lake Okeechobee problem until a government agency makes the case for taking the land by eminent domain. Part of the reason eminent domain is necessary is because of fragmented land ownership in the EAA. Another part is common sense: until Big Sugar feels the heat of political change, there is no reason to change.
Taxpayers feel helpless; mislead by Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam, by Governor Rick Scott, by Sig Sugar's mouthpieces like Senate president Joe Negron and Representative Matt Caldwell. We don't know what to do, because we are being lied to.
A plan forward will not happen until we elect politicians to step forward. It can't happen in Florida so long as the state legislature is in the hammer hold of Big Sugar. It might happen if a federal agency steps up to protect the national interest in the Everglades, with the support of Congress and the White House.
Along this line, Monroe County -- including the Florida Keys -- has already stepped forward asking government agencies to speed up Everglades restoration. Also along this line, Florida voters already rejected two GOP presidential primary candidates -- Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio -- firmly in Big Sugar's pockets.
Taking Big Sugar lands is not a question -- as Big Sugar tries to sell -- of over-reaching government. They know and we know since time for our estuaries and Everglades and Florida Bay has run out, it is only a question of price.
With Gov. Rick Scott and Ag. Secretary Putnam at the helm, even getting to the price is impossible because they are fully committed to embarrassing excuses, half-measures, and outright pandering to the billionaires' sticky embrace. When Republican water managers refused to exercise the option to buy US Sugar lands, they showed their cards. It is time for voters to show, ours.
More land needed to stop discharges, science shows
Jennifer Hecker 5:01 p.m. EDT March 26, 2016
Fort Myers News Press
Additional land purchase in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) for more water storage, treatment and conveyance south has been highlighted as the necessary missing piece of the puzzle to restoring the Everglades and south Florida estuaries for years, as outlined in the state’s 2008 Reviving the River of Grass initiative and the more recent 2015 University of Florida Water Institute study.
Both studies state over a million acre feet of storage north of Lake Okeechobee and 1.2 million acre feet (391 billion gallons) of storage in the EAA would be needed to alternatively take the amount of water coming into the lake and out the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.
To address the pollution also requires EAA lands. The state’s Basin Management Action Plan to clean up the river clearly states that of the 61 percent of the primary pollutant to the Caloosahatchee, nitrogen, is coming from Lake Okeechobeef. Lake Okeechobee currently does not meet state water quality standards for safe use for swimming and fishing, and also has a clean-up plan. As a result, water from the Lake is too dirty to send elsewhere without filtration. Current treatment areas in the Everglades are maxed out, so added treatment would be needed. The water must be captured and stored first to not overload the new treatment areas, or they will fail and polluted water would flow downstream and destroy the remaining Everglades and Florida Bay.
The bottom line is that water currently being discharged out of our river originally flowed through the EAA region when it was historically part of the Everglades. No one is singling out agribusinesses in the EAA as the sole impediment to solving our water crisis, but they are a critical piece of the problem and solution. We cannot move that water south again without building a wider path for conveyance, a catchment reservoir, and additional filter marshes in the EAA. Buying these lands will do that while also removing some pollution, drainage and bottleneck of flow that are contributing to the problems. This can all be done without reducing flood protection for inland communities or displacing large numbers of inland residents. In return, they will have a healthier Lake Okeechobee and reduced risk of dike failure, which will improve their economy and safety.
In response to the state’s current inaction to secure the EAA lands based on political reasons, it is appropriate and necessary for the federal government to pursue buying them to protect federal resources being impacted such as the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. That’s why the Conservancy of Southwest Florida supports a bill filed last week by Congressman Curt Clawson to buy lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (HR 4793).This bill would draw upon emergency funds and would not affect funding for other Everglades restoration projects.
To quote the South Florida Water Management District from when they were supportive and had begun acquiring these lands in 2008, “The potential acquisition of vast tracts of long sought-after land in the EAA now offers the unprecedented opportunity to reestablish a historic connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades through a managed system of water storage and water quality treatment.”
Last year, the District choose to terminate one of the purchase options. However, there is still an option to buy the EAA lands at fair market value. This land is not going to get any cheaper, and with mining and development marching inward, we cannot allow this opportunity to save our estuaries and the Everglades slip through our hands forever.
Everyone wanting a cleaner Caloosahatchee needs to contact federal and state legislators and tell them to authorize and appropriate more money for Everglades Restoration, as well as to support buying EAA lands. Learn more about the Conservancy and Everglades Restoration at https://www.conservancy.org/our-work/policy/water-quality/ripple-effect. Together, we can bring about the long overdue solutions our community needs and deserves.
207 Scientists Petition for Sending Water South
by Karl Wickstrom, Florida Sportsman • August 20, 2015 • 3 Comments
Following is the complete list of 207 independent researchers in the science community who have signed a petition calling for excess Lake Okeechobee water to be stored, treated and sent south. (See September FS Openers column.)
The list includes noted experts such as Chris McVoy, Tom Van Lent and Mark Perry, plus dozens of other scholarly staffers who work out of the limelight but understand the need to re-water the Glades and avoid catastrophic discharges to the coasts.
Text and signers of Go South petition:
“As a scientist working in the Everglades, it is my scientific opinion that increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward, is essential to restoring the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the Caloosahatchee and St.Lucie estuaries.”
1 Thomas Van Lent, Everglades Foundation
2 Tom Lodge, TEL Ecological Advisors, Inc.
3 Christopher McVoy, Ecologist
4 Upmanu Lall, Columbia University
5 Stuart Pimm Doris, Duke University
6 Donald DeAngelis, U.S. Geological Survey
7 Robert Johnson, National Park Service
8 Laurel Larsen, University of California, Berkley
9 Robert Twilley , Louisiana State University
10 Bill Mitsch, Florida Gulf Coast University
11 Curtis Richardson, Duke University
12 James A. Kushlan, U.S. Geological Survey(retired)
13 Paul McCormick, Joseph Jones Ecological Research Center
14 Steven M. Davis, Ibis Ecosystem Associates,Inc.
15 Evelyn Gaiser, Florida International University
16 Agnes McLean, National Park Service
17 G.Ronnie Best, U.S. Geological Survey(retired)
18 Fernando Miralles`Wilhelm, University of Maryland
19 Eldredge Bermingham, Frost Museum of Science
20 Jay Sah, Florida International University
21 Jenny Richards, Florida International University
22 Rosanna Rivero, University of Georgia
23 Henry Briceño, Florida International University
24 Rudolf Jaffé, Florida International University
25 Josh Breithaupt, University of South Florida
26 Joe Boyer, Plymouth State University
27 Peter Ortner, University of Miami
28 Joel Trexler, Florida International University
29 Hal Wanless, University of Miami
30 Greg Koch, Zoo of Miami
31 Stephen E. Davis, Everglades Foundation
32 Jordan Barr, Everglades National Park
33 Lance Gunderson, Emory University
34 Lilly Eluvathingal, Florida International University
35 Nima Sharifai, University of Miami
36 Victor Rivera`Monroy, Louisiana State University
37 Joseph Rodriguez
38 Jeffrey Hoch, Nova Southeastern University
39 Justin Cummings, Florida international University
40 Randy Chambers, College of William and Mary
41 Tiara Thanawastien, Biologist
42 Keith Waddington, University of Miami
43 Linda White, University of Miami
44 Suzana Mic Ph.D., Florida International University
45 Nicole Cortez, Florida International University
46 Peter Reiger, Florida International University
47 Jose Fuentes, Penn State University
48 John Volin, University of Connecticut
49 John McManus, University of Miami
50 Dale Gawlik, Florida Atlantic University
51 Kenny Broad, University of Miami
52 Leonard Pearlstine, Everglades National Park
53 David Lee, Florida International University
54 Kevin Kotun, Everglades National Park
55 Mike Rugge, Florida International University
56 Nick Schulte, Florida International University
57 David Ho, University of Hawaii
58 Christina Ugarte`Whelan, Florida International University
59 Hunter Clasen, University of South Florida
60 Melodie Naja, Everglades Foundation
61 Kathleen Sullivan`Sealey, University of Miami
62 Michelle Robinson, Audubon Florida
63 Addys Bode, University of Miami
64 Dana Krempels, University of Miami
65 Jamie Henry, Student
66 Terry Mossberg
67 Megan Burford, University of South Florida
68 Daniel DiResta, University of Miami
69 Mike Heithaus, Florida International University
70 Odalys Guaico
71 Robert McElderry, University of Miami
72 Rene Price, Florida International University
73 Katrina Schwartz, Woodrow Wilson Center
74 Carl Fitz,EcoLandMod, Inc.
75 Peter Frezza, Audubon Florida
76 John Kominoski, Florida International University
77 Sarah Bornhoeft, Florida International University
78 Jackea Gray
79 Sparkle Malone, U.S. Forest Service
80 Emily Nodine, University of Vermont
81 Aida Arik, Everglades Foundation
82 Jerry Lorenz, Audubon Florida
83 Rafael Travieso, Florida International University
84 Simeon Yurek, University of Miami
85 Shimon Wdowinski, University of Miami
86 Kimberly Shaffer, Biologist
87 Wyatt Sharber, University of Miami
88 Phil Darby, University of West Florida
89 Jeff Onsted, Florida International University
90 Edward Linden, Florida International University
91 Rajendra Paudel, Everglades Foundation
92 Benjamin Wilson, Florida International University
93 Sarah Cowles, University of Miami
94 Gregory Starr, University of Alabama
95 Fernando Bretos, Frost Museum of Science
96 Dan Childers, Arizona State University
97 Edward Castañeda, Louisiana State University
98 Andy Gottlieb
99 Nick Oehm, Florida International University
100 Rita Ullman
101 Leonard Scinto, Florida International University
102 Piyush Joshi, University of Miami
103 Sonja Smith, Florida International University
104 Myriam Weinstein
105 Olga Melin, National Parks Conservation Association
106 Sherry Speizer
107 Susan Dailey, Florida International University
108 James Douglass, Florida Gulf Coast University
109 Tiffany Troxler, Florida International University
110 Mark Clark, University of Florida
111 W. Michael Kemp, University of Maryland
112 Gail Hollander, Florida International University
113 Bill Nuttle
114 Martha Sutula, Southern California Coastal Research Project
115 Bob Doren, National Park Service (retired)
116 Evan Isherwood, Duke University
117 Nate Dorn, Florida Atlantic University
118 Bill Loftus, Aquatic Research & Communication, LLC
119 Matt Cohen, University of Florida
120 Andrea Westerband, University of Miami
121 Julia Dallman, University of Miami
122 Alison Giese
123 Sheri Kempinski
124 Olga Sanchez, Florida International University
125 Katie Williamson
126 Christopher Blanar, Nova Southeastern University
127 Julie Harrington, Florida State University
128 Diego Lirman, University of Miami
129 Stephanie Romanach, U.S. Geological Survey
130 Todd Osborne, University of Florida
131 Claire Burgett, Florida International University
132 Laura Ogden, Dartmouth College
133 Sara Edelman, Florida International University
134 Ian Zink, University of Miami
135 Justine Jackson Ricketts
136 Anne Mahler
137 Samuel Barro
138 Mark Rains, University of South Florida
139 Ashley Grace, Nova Southeastern University
140 Wayne Huber, Oregon State University
141 Jennifer Rehage, Florida International University
142 Ligia Collado`Vides, Florida International University
143 Isaac Skromne, University of Miami
144 Sheila Gaby, Miami Dade College
145 Dr. Michael Ross, Florida International University
146 Kristen Strobel
147 Jed Redwine, National Park Service
148 Frank Marshall, Frank Marshall Engineering
149 Greta Wanyik
150 Joanna Weremijewicz, University of Miami
151 Frank Mazzotti, University of Florida
152 Dave Rudnick, Everglades National Park
153 Tori Kuba, Scheda Ecological Associates
154 Claus Hansen
155 Tanya Jo Ormseth
156 Aaron Adams, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust
157 Tom Frankovich, Florida International University
158 Richard Dodge, Nova Southeastern University
159 Bradford Young, Scheda Ecological Associates
160 Lauren Peters
161 Anna Armitage, Texas A&M University
162 Paul Wetzel, Smith College
163 Erik Powers, Parsons Environment & Infrastructure
164 Leo Sternberg, University of Miami
165 Richard Bartleson, Sanibel’ Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory
166 Darren Rumbold, Florida Gulf Coast University
167 Greg Juszli
168 Kristin Caruso
169 Russell Burdge
170 Thomas Bower
171 Sandy Scheda, Scheda Ecological Associates
172 Cynthia Scothorn
173 Dianne Rosensweig, Scheda Ecological Associates
174 Jonathan Shenker, Florida Institute of Technology
175 Thomas Ries, Scheda Ecological Associates
176 Christine Sciarrino, Ecological Associates
177 Guy Murtonen
178 Jeff Wozniak, Sam Houston State University
179 Kathy Worley, Conservancy of Southwest Florida
180 David Iwaniec, Arizona State University
181 Brian Machovina, Florida International University
182 Eric Milbrandt, Sanibel’ Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory
183 Krish Jayachandran, Florida International University
184 Lisa Chambers, St. Louis University
185 James Jawitz, University of Florida
186 Mark Perry, Florida Oceanographic Society
187 Helena Solo`Gabrielle, University of Miami
188 Mark Brown, University of Florida
189 Gregg Reynolds, Everglades National Park
190 Subodh Acharya, University of Florida
191 James Beerens, U.S. Geological Survey
192 Joseph Smoak, University of South Florida
193 Rivah Winter, University of Miami
194 Pauline Goldsmith
195 Erik Stabenau, National Park Service
196 Serge Thomas, Florida Gulf Coast University
197 James Heaney, University of Florida
198 Darrell Herbert, National Park Service
199 Pam Sullivan, University of Kansas
200 Carole McIvor, U.S. Geological Survey
201 John Day, Louisiana State University
202 Rolando O. Santos
203 Robin Rysavy
204 Kristie Wendelberger, Florida International University
205 Chris Kelble, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
206 Danielle Watts, University of California, Berkley
207 Rachel Silverstein, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
Read more: http://www.floridasportsman.com/2015/08/20/eaa-storage-petition/#ixzz4484gbPdy
Jennifer Hecker is director of Natural Resource Policy, Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
Imagine that we are citizens of Flint, Michigan -- forced by government and elected officials to drink water contaminated with lead. In Florida, the metaphor is apt.
First of all, count on government officials and the agency PR machine to deny. They are doing it now: issuing press statements assuring that all is well, problem is recognized and addressed. Second, they will go to newspapers and TV stations where they have cultivated relationships. Third, they will attack critics as ill-informed, penning letters to the editors and OPED's for others to submit.
This formulaic response did protect the special interest's prerogatives and corporate welfare over decades. Something changed. What changed is that voters and taxpayers know what we are seeing, and we are expressing it very clearly in photos, videos, and blog posts on social media -- viewed by hundreds of thousands of Floridians.
Here, we live and recreate on or simply appreciate waterways like the Indian River Lagoon, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, the Caloosahatchee River directly impacted by the Lake Okeechobee's filthy water. Or Biscayne Bay and the Everglades. We know what we are seeing.
The problem with Florida's dismal water quality is not just that we taxpayers are sacrifice zones for Big Sugar. It is that we are all hostage to the bad water quality coming out of Lake Okeechobee.
They refused to allocate Amendment 1 funding, approved by more than 75 percent of Florida voters as a constitutional amendment in 2014, to buy Big Sugar lands south of Lake Okeechobee. This legislative session, they approved a new state water policy that protects polluters inside virtual barbed wire enclosures. "We will call it pollution when we decide to call it pollution."
Decades lost to restoring water quality in Florida -- despite billions spent -- serve a single purpose: to make Big Sugar even richer. In the U.S. Congress, not even conservatives or tea party stalwarts have been able to remove the stigma of corporate welfare embedded in the Farm Bill, that guarantees Big Sugar profits before a single seed is planted. Big Sugar takes a fraction of those guaranteed profits, fertilizes Tallahassee and local county commissions and political races, and thus ensures that taxpayers will shoulder the majority of the cost and pain of cleaning up the industry's pollution.
Here is what the scientists signed last summer. “As a scientist working in the Everglades," they each asserted, "... it is my scientific opinion that increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward, is essential to restoring the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the Caloosahatchee and St.Lucie estuaries.” (names, listed below)
Gov. Scott and Ag. Secretary Adam Putnam and the rest of the Florida legislature basically told the scientists to fuck off. (Same as US Senator Marco Rubio, who refused to meet with climate change scientists over a period of many years.)
We can't get to fixing the Lake Okeechobee problem until a government agency makes the case for taking the land by eminent domain. Part of the reason eminent domain is necessary is because of fragmented land ownership in the EAA. Another part is common sense: until Big Sugar feels the heat of political change, there is no reason to change.
Taxpayers feel helpless; mislead by Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam, by Governor Rick Scott, by Sig Sugar's mouthpieces like Senate president Joe Negron and Representative Matt Caldwell. We don't know what to do, because we are being lied to.
A plan forward will not happen until we elect politicians to step forward. It can't happen in Florida so long as the state legislature is in the hammer hold of Big Sugar. It might happen if a federal agency steps up to protect the national interest in the Everglades, with the support of Congress and the White House.
Along this line, Monroe County -- including the Florida Keys -- has already stepped forward asking government agencies to speed up Everglades restoration. Also along this line, Florida voters already rejected two GOP presidential primary candidates -- Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio -- firmly in Big Sugar's pockets.
Taking Big Sugar lands is not a question -- as Big Sugar tries to sell -- of over-reaching government. They know and we know since time for our estuaries and Everglades and Florida Bay has run out, it is only a question of price.
With Gov. Rick Scott and Ag. Secretary Putnam at the helm, even getting to the price is impossible because they are fully committed to embarrassing excuses, half-measures, and outright pandering to the billionaires' sticky embrace. When Republican water managers refused to exercise the option to buy US Sugar lands, they showed their cards. It is time for voters to show, ours.
More land needed to stop discharges, science shows
Jennifer Hecker 5:01 p.m. EDT March 26, 2016
Fort Myers News Press
Additional land purchase in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) for more water storage, treatment and conveyance south has been highlighted as the necessary missing piece of the puzzle to restoring the Everglades and south Florida estuaries for years, as outlined in the state’s 2008 Reviving the River of Grass initiative and the more recent 2015 University of Florida Water Institute study.
Both studies state over a million acre feet of storage north of Lake Okeechobee and 1.2 million acre feet (391 billion gallons) of storage in the EAA would be needed to alternatively take the amount of water coming into the lake and out the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries.
To address the pollution also requires EAA lands. The state’s Basin Management Action Plan to clean up the river clearly states that of the 61 percent of the primary pollutant to the Caloosahatchee, nitrogen, is coming from Lake Okeechobeef. Lake Okeechobee currently does not meet state water quality standards for safe use for swimming and fishing, and also has a clean-up plan. As a result, water from the Lake is too dirty to send elsewhere without filtration. Current treatment areas in the Everglades are maxed out, so added treatment would be needed. The water must be captured and stored first to not overload the new treatment areas, or they will fail and polluted water would flow downstream and destroy the remaining Everglades and Florida Bay.
The bottom line is that water currently being discharged out of our river originally flowed through the EAA region when it was historically part of the Everglades. No one is singling out agribusinesses in the EAA as the sole impediment to solving our water crisis, but they are a critical piece of the problem and solution. We cannot move that water south again without building a wider path for conveyance, a catchment reservoir, and additional filter marshes in the EAA. Buying these lands will do that while also removing some pollution, drainage and bottleneck of flow that are contributing to the problems. This can all be done without reducing flood protection for inland communities or displacing large numbers of inland residents. In return, they will have a healthier Lake Okeechobee and reduced risk of dike failure, which will improve their economy and safety.
In response to the state’s current inaction to secure the EAA lands based on political reasons, it is appropriate and necessary for the federal government to pursue buying them to protect federal resources being impacted such as the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. That’s why the Conservancy of Southwest Florida supports a bill filed last week by Congressman Curt Clawson to buy lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (HR 4793).This bill would draw upon emergency funds and would not affect funding for other Everglades restoration projects.
To quote the South Florida Water Management District from when they were supportive and had begun acquiring these lands in 2008, “The potential acquisition of vast tracts of long sought-after land in the EAA now offers the unprecedented opportunity to reestablish a historic connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades through a managed system of water storage and water quality treatment.”
Last year, the District choose to terminate one of the purchase options. However, there is still an option to buy the EAA lands at fair market value. This land is not going to get any cheaper, and with mining and development marching inward, we cannot allow this opportunity to save our estuaries and the Everglades slip through our hands forever.
Everyone wanting a cleaner Caloosahatchee needs to contact federal and state legislators and tell them to authorize and appropriate more money for Everglades Restoration, as well as to support buying EAA lands. Learn more about the Conservancy and Everglades Restoration at https://www.conservancy.org/our-work/policy/water-quality/ripple-effect. Together, we can bring about the long overdue solutions our community needs and deserves.
207 Scientists Petition for Sending Water South
by Karl Wickstrom, Florida Sportsman • August 20, 2015 • 3 Comments
Following is the complete list of 207 independent researchers in the science community who have signed a petition calling for excess Lake Okeechobee water to be stored, treated and sent south. (See September FS Openers column.)
The list includes noted experts such as Chris McVoy, Tom Van Lent and Mark Perry, plus dozens of other scholarly staffers who work out of the limelight but understand the need to re-water the Glades and avoid catastrophic discharges to the coasts.
Text and signers of Go South petition:
“As a scientist working in the Everglades, it is my scientific opinion that increased storage and treatment of freshwater south of Lake Okeechobee, and additional flow from the lake southward, is essential to restoring the Everglades, Florida Bay, and the Caloosahatchee and St.Lucie estuaries.”
1 Thomas Van Lent, Everglades Foundation
2 Tom Lodge, TEL Ecological Advisors, Inc.
3 Christopher McVoy, Ecologist
4 Upmanu Lall, Columbia University
5 Stuart Pimm Doris, Duke University
6 Donald DeAngelis, U.S. Geological Survey
7 Robert Johnson, National Park Service
8 Laurel Larsen, University of California, Berkley
9 Robert Twilley , Louisiana State University
10 Bill Mitsch, Florida Gulf Coast University
11 Curtis Richardson, Duke University
12 James A. Kushlan, U.S. Geological Survey(retired)
13 Paul McCormick, Joseph Jones Ecological Research Center
14 Steven M. Davis, Ibis Ecosystem Associates,Inc.
15 Evelyn Gaiser, Florida International University
16 Agnes McLean, National Park Service
17 G.Ronnie Best, U.S. Geological Survey(retired)
18 Fernando Miralles`Wilhelm, University of Maryland
19 Eldredge Bermingham, Frost Museum of Science
20 Jay Sah, Florida International University
21 Jenny Richards, Florida International University
22 Rosanna Rivero, University of Georgia
23 Henry Briceño, Florida International University
24 Rudolf Jaffé, Florida International University
25 Josh Breithaupt, University of South Florida
26 Joe Boyer, Plymouth State University
27 Peter Ortner, University of Miami
28 Joel Trexler, Florida International University
29 Hal Wanless, University of Miami
30 Greg Koch, Zoo of Miami
31 Stephen E. Davis, Everglades Foundation
32 Jordan Barr, Everglades National Park
33 Lance Gunderson, Emory University
34 Lilly Eluvathingal, Florida International University
35 Nima Sharifai, University of Miami
36 Victor Rivera`Monroy, Louisiana State University
37 Joseph Rodriguez
38 Jeffrey Hoch, Nova Southeastern University
39 Justin Cummings, Florida international University
40 Randy Chambers, College of William and Mary
41 Tiara Thanawastien, Biologist
42 Keith Waddington, University of Miami
43 Linda White, University of Miami
44 Suzana Mic Ph.D., Florida International University
45 Nicole Cortez, Florida International University
46 Peter Reiger, Florida International University
47 Jose Fuentes, Penn State University
48 John Volin, University of Connecticut
49 John McManus, University of Miami
50 Dale Gawlik, Florida Atlantic University
51 Kenny Broad, University of Miami
52 Leonard Pearlstine, Everglades National Park
53 David Lee, Florida International University
54 Kevin Kotun, Everglades National Park
55 Mike Rugge, Florida International University
56 Nick Schulte, Florida International University
57 David Ho, University of Hawaii
58 Christina Ugarte`Whelan, Florida International University
59 Hunter Clasen, University of South Florida
60 Melodie Naja, Everglades Foundation
61 Kathleen Sullivan`Sealey, University of Miami
62 Michelle Robinson, Audubon Florida
63 Addys Bode, University of Miami
64 Dana Krempels, University of Miami
65 Jamie Henry, Student
66 Terry Mossberg
67 Megan Burford, University of South Florida
68 Daniel DiResta, University of Miami
69 Mike Heithaus, Florida International University
70 Odalys Guaico
71 Robert McElderry, University of Miami
72 Rene Price, Florida International University
73 Katrina Schwartz, Woodrow Wilson Center
74 Carl Fitz,EcoLandMod, Inc.
75 Peter Frezza, Audubon Florida
76 John Kominoski, Florida International University
77 Sarah Bornhoeft, Florida International University
78 Jackea Gray
79 Sparkle Malone, U.S. Forest Service
80 Emily Nodine, University of Vermont
81 Aida Arik, Everglades Foundation
82 Jerry Lorenz, Audubon Florida
83 Rafael Travieso, Florida International University
84 Simeon Yurek, University of Miami
85 Shimon Wdowinski, University of Miami
86 Kimberly Shaffer, Biologist
87 Wyatt Sharber, University of Miami
88 Phil Darby, University of West Florida
89 Jeff Onsted, Florida International University
90 Edward Linden, Florida International University
91 Rajendra Paudel, Everglades Foundation
92 Benjamin Wilson, Florida International University
93 Sarah Cowles, University of Miami
94 Gregory Starr, University of Alabama
95 Fernando Bretos, Frost Museum of Science
96 Dan Childers, Arizona State University
97 Edward Castañeda, Louisiana State University
98 Andy Gottlieb
99 Nick Oehm, Florida International University
100 Rita Ullman
101 Leonard Scinto, Florida International University
102 Piyush Joshi, University of Miami
103 Sonja Smith, Florida International University
104 Myriam Weinstein
105 Olga Melin, National Parks Conservation Association
106 Sherry Speizer
107 Susan Dailey, Florida International University
108 James Douglass, Florida Gulf Coast University
109 Tiffany Troxler, Florida International University
110 Mark Clark, University of Florida
111 W. Michael Kemp, University of Maryland
112 Gail Hollander, Florida International University
113 Bill Nuttle
114 Martha Sutula, Southern California Coastal Research Project
115 Bob Doren, National Park Service (retired)
116 Evan Isherwood, Duke University
117 Nate Dorn, Florida Atlantic University
118 Bill Loftus, Aquatic Research & Communication, LLC
119 Matt Cohen, University of Florida
120 Andrea Westerband, University of Miami
121 Julia Dallman, University of Miami
122 Alison Giese
123 Sheri Kempinski
124 Olga Sanchez, Florida International University
125 Katie Williamson
126 Christopher Blanar, Nova Southeastern University
127 Julie Harrington, Florida State University
128 Diego Lirman, University of Miami
129 Stephanie Romanach, U.S. Geological Survey
130 Todd Osborne, University of Florida
131 Claire Burgett, Florida International University
132 Laura Ogden, Dartmouth College
133 Sara Edelman, Florida International University
134 Ian Zink, University of Miami
135 Justine Jackson Ricketts
136 Anne Mahler
137 Samuel Barro
138 Mark Rains, University of South Florida
139 Ashley Grace, Nova Southeastern University
140 Wayne Huber, Oregon State University
141 Jennifer Rehage, Florida International University
142 Ligia Collado`Vides, Florida International University
143 Isaac Skromne, University of Miami
144 Sheila Gaby, Miami Dade College
145 Dr. Michael Ross, Florida International University
146 Kristen Strobel
147 Jed Redwine, National Park Service
148 Frank Marshall, Frank Marshall Engineering
149 Greta Wanyik
150 Joanna Weremijewicz, University of Miami
151 Frank Mazzotti, University of Florida
152 Dave Rudnick, Everglades National Park
153 Tori Kuba, Scheda Ecological Associates
154 Claus Hansen
155 Tanya Jo Ormseth
156 Aaron Adams, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust
157 Tom Frankovich, Florida International University
158 Richard Dodge, Nova Southeastern University
159 Bradford Young, Scheda Ecological Associates
160 Lauren Peters
161 Anna Armitage, Texas A&M University
162 Paul Wetzel, Smith College
163 Erik Powers, Parsons Environment & Infrastructure
164 Leo Sternberg, University of Miami
165 Richard Bartleson, Sanibel’ Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory
166 Darren Rumbold, Florida Gulf Coast University
167 Greg Juszli
168 Kristin Caruso
169 Russell Burdge
170 Thomas Bower
171 Sandy Scheda, Scheda Ecological Associates
172 Cynthia Scothorn
173 Dianne Rosensweig, Scheda Ecological Associates
174 Jonathan Shenker, Florida Institute of Technology
175 Thomas Ries, Scheda Ecological Associates
176 Christine Sciarrino, Ecological Associates
177 Guy Murtonen
178 Jeff Wozniak, Sam Houston State University
179 Kathy Worley, Conservancy of Southwest Florida
180 David Iwaniec, Arizona State University
181 Brian Machovina, Florida International University
182 Eric Milbrandt, Sanibel’ Captiva Conservation Foundation Marine Laboratory
183 Krish Jayachandran, Florida International University
184 Lisa Chambers, St. Louis University
185 James Jawitz, University of Florida
186 Mark Perry, Florida Oceanographic Society
187 Helena Solo`Gabrielle, University of Miami
188 Mark Brown, University of Florida
189 Gregg Reynolds, Everglades National Park
190 Subodh Acharya, University of Florida
191 James Beerens, U.S. Geological Survey
192 Joseph Smoak, University of South Florida
193 Rivah Winter, University of Miami
194 Pauline Goldsmith
195 Erik Stabenau, National Park Service
196 Serge Thomas, Florida Gulf Coast University
197 James Heaney, University of Florida
198 Darrell Herbert, National Park Service
199 Pam Sullivan, University of Kansas
200 Carole McIvor, U.S. Geological Survey
201 John Day, Louisiana State University
202 Rolando O. Santos
203 Robin Rysavy
204 Kristie Wendelberger, Florida International University
205 Chris Kelble, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
206 Danielle Watts, University of California, Berkley
207 Rachel Silverstein, Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
Read more: http://www.floridasportsman.com/2015/08/20/eaa-storage-petition/#ixzz4484gbPdy
Jennifer Hecker is director of Natural Resource Policy, Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
4 comments:
Being subsidy predators, Big Sugar will demand excessive compensation. Thus, at the same time an Eminent Domain condemnation proceeding will drive the price to a fairer one.
It's funny that of the 207 scientists that signed the petition, I did not see one from the SFWMD. I guess the agency that is the most active in protecting, restoring, and studying the system did not agree with the petition? Probably not.
Interesting that firms that pride themselves on mostly public sector work ie. SFWMD signed the petition but have no problem still doing work for them.
I work with the SFWMD folks almost weekly. There is no shortage of concern and effort on their part related to these issues, BUT they would like to keep their jobs like anybody else. Political petitions ain't how you do that. Such are the consequences the last time Floridians voted for gov.
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