In debates with his Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, Gov. Rick Scott claims credit for a 2012 deal with federal agencies on a 13 year cleanup plan for the Everglades.
In fact, it was a federal judge, Alan Gold, who forced the deal on a very reluctant state of Florida.
The cleanup plan Gov. Scott claims credit for was the result of successful litigation by Friends of the Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. The state of Florida had done Big Sugar's business by deforming an earlier federal state agreement to solve the industry's widespread pollution of the Everglades. Cue, Jeb Bush.
When Gov. Jeb Bush came to office in 1998, Big Sugar immediately set out to undermine the 1994 federal state agreement to fix the dying River of Grass, choking on Sugar's torrents of pollution.
The cleanup plan guaranteed completion by 2006, but in 2003 Gov. Bush and the state legislature conspired to pass a new weaker law that environmentalists claimed violated the Clean Water Act. Bush's top environmental lieutenant crowed from federal courthouse steps in Miami; all the alarm is misplaced, we are your friends. It took nearly a decade to prove the Jeb Bush law illegal in federal court.
So it is a special indignity for Gov. Scott to assert it was he who reached a deal with federal agencies on the Everglades. It is as though a health care executive whose company is guilty of fraud shrugs off a billion dollar settlement because -- well -- violating the law is just a cost of doing business.
In fact, it was a federal judge, Alan Gold, who forced the deal on a very reluctant state of Florida.
The cleanup plan Gov. Scott claims credit for was the result of successful litigation by Friends of the Everglades and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. The state of Florida had done Big Sugar's business by deforming an earlier federal state agreement to solve the industry's widespread pollution of the Everglades. Cue, Jeb Bush.
When Gov. Jeb Bush came to office in 1998, Big Sugar immediately set out to undermine the 1994 federal state agreement to fix the dying River of Grass, choking on Sugar's torrents of pollution.
The cleanup plan guaranteed completion by 2006, but in 2003 Gov. Bush and the state legislature conspired to pass a new weaker law that environmentalists claimed violated the Clean Water Act. Bush's top environmental lieutenant crowed from federal courthouse steps in Miami; all the alarm is misplaced, we are your friends. It took nearly a decade to prove the Jeb Bush law illegal in federal court.
So it is a special indignity for Gov. Scott to assert it was he who reached a deal with federal agencies on the Everglades. It is as though a health care executive whose company is guilty of fraud shrugs off a billion dollar settlement because -- well -- violating the law is just a cost of doing business.
12 comments:
It's also an indignity that the Miami Herald would publish these lies.
There's only one person who was worse that Jeb Bush on the Everglades and his name is Rick Scott. Fitting they would team up.
This editorial pretty much sums up what a disaster Rick Scott's environmental legacy has been. Why anyone who cares about Florida's future would vote for Scott again baffles me. God help us if this cabal of GOP operatives takes over our state.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-the-rick-scott-record-an-environmental-disaster/2196359
"Scott has bulldozed a record of environmental protection that his Republican and Democratic predecessors spent decades building."
The Sierra Club also did a good side by side comparison of Scott. vs. Crist on their environmental records. For the record, The Sierra Club endorsed Crist for Governor. Get informed. Read the comparison and you can see what dismal, appalling record Scott has: http://bit.ly/ecocompare
Gimleteye - you or the Friends of the Everglades should write a letter to the Herald rebutting Jeb's letter claiming Scott as a champion of the Everglades. It is disgraceful that Jeb is distorting history.
Jeb Bush and Rick Scott were never friends of the Everglades. Even Crist has always been too friendly with Big Sugar and other scoundrels.
Alan,
You know very well that instead of focusing on what the Everglades needed (and many of us had been working on) and the projects that were already underway, Charlie proposed a reckless plan to spend $1.75 billion on land and assets that Florida could not afford.
Those of us who lived through all of this were shocked when we came to the realization that for Charlie, Everglades restoration was only one more political show, one more of his disastrous proposals. It couldn’t even be called a plan, since he didn’t have the faintest idea how it would be carried out.
It is incredibly disingenuous of you Alan, to parrot this “endorsement” of Charlie when you know damn well it isn’t true.
Jim Jackson
Dear Jim Jackson,
Are you seriously suggesting people should vote for Scott? How much are you getting paid by the Koch brothers? Please.
Alan gets my message.
Jim you've got it all wrong. We can't afford NOT to acquire that land. It's the only thing that will achieve true Everglades Restoration. The fact that you say we can't "afford it" shows that either you're on the side of polluters and Rick Scott or you are ignorant to what's really required to make Everglades Restoration more than just words on a sheet of paper or a computer screen. Get your facts straight before throwing goofy statements out there that reflect a blind desire to be penny wise and pound foolish.
Rick Scott has been horrible but Charlie Crist was also in Big Sugar's pocket. Crist prevented much needed restoration. I voted for Charlie Crist holding my nose.
Charlie Crist's efforts to purchase US Sugar was the single most beneficial action to be take for Everglades restoration.
Post a Comment