You are receiving the text version of the ourSanibel Newsletter because I believe you are in a position to help. I hope you will take a moment and share my outrage with elected officials and bureaucrats who got us in this fix and now sit back while it WORSENS.
The Bulldozer Bureaucrats
On November 14th, 2005 Col. Robert Carpenter of USACE stood before MORE of us in this same facility, the Lee County Courthouse, and admitted the water discharge plan is broken. He vowed that, by July 2006, they would come forward with a plan that would be fair for ALL stakeholders. Throwing out constraints, they would incorporate consideration of health of rivers and estuaries and present a plan sharing the adversity (their term) of the polluted, fresh water problem. Colonel Carpenter was spared the embarrassment of facing his untruth by Dennis Duke, who came in his place. Since both of these gentlemen are retiring soon, the natural sequence will likely be that Carpenter's replacement will come before us in a few months, shed a few crocodile tears, go back to the security of his office and, in some months, come forward with a plan that's "fair for all."
It's obviously a charade. Could there be more reliable proof of their intent to do nothing? We've waited since August 2004 for relief and for justice. Now as Condoleezza Rice says, "it's time to take justice to them". It's time to sue. Because we waited and trusted, it's PAST time to sue. Sanibel can't, PURRE won't, ergo Lee County MUST. The bottom line is that the Corps listened to public input and came up with a solution that is WORSE for us than the previous one. Obviously they listened to us. They are just not motivated to help. Once the big bulldozers are pointed with the Corps, it's career threatening to recommend change. The only argument I've heard against lawsuit is that it will end negotiation and discourse between the parties. My question is, what negotiation?
The Plan
Better bolt an IPIRB to your house and have the kids(grand?) fitted with permanent flotation devices. The Corps is spooked by Katrina. We learned that THEIR identified capacity for water discharge into the Caloosahatchee River is 12,000cfs, which is about double the worst it's been so far, and with the guys playing cover your fanny the new "cap" for Okeechobee is 17.5'. What that means is that if the Lake APPROACHES 17.5' a wall of water is going to be sent toward us that would make Moses turn and flee. If you think the long delayed Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) is going to help, let me sum it up for you. That Plan has very little to do with restoring the Everglades, it is a program to develop water storage areas for the EAA and SE Florida (who doesn't need it). Anybody who thinks the solution to a huge problem such as our polluted Lake O is to make it bigger has suffered too much exposure to red tide. Many others, as well as myself, think Congress should take the CERP money and put a bunch of Elmer's Glue in the San Andreas Fault, or make a big cork plug for Mt.St. Helen's. Both of those solutions make more sense than CERP.
My Outrage
It's disheartening to attend water discharge meetings and observe the apathy from the public. It stings to note the short attention span of our County newspaper, the News-Press. The "Stop the Muck" campaign ran for a couple of months and stopped. Most certainly it's due to public apathy. It's IRRITATING, however, to attend these meetings and note that the public officials who volunteered to serve and spent money to get elected, didn't bother to show up at CRITICAL events for our communities. This presentation was so vital to us that I'm submitting below the names of every elected official in attendance, to the best of my research, and the huge majority who I think SHOULD have been there. See www.oursanibel.com/noshows.htm for who was there and who should have been but wasn't. Please click here to contact those who can solve this problem with our encouragement www.oursanibel.com/contacts.htm.
Frequently Asked Questions
The water has to go somewhere?
Yes it does, and it historically flowed to the South. It can and MUST flow that way again.
We can't flood private property?
We, the duped taxpaying public, provide free land to the ag industry called WSA's(water storage areas). Do you know what they use it for? They pump rainwater off the ag fields and dump it there. We can't utilize the WSA's because, thanks in part to the farmers, the water in Lake O is too polluted to go there. We don't need to flood the ag fields, we just need them to share some of this excess water that was stored for their exclusive benefit.
CERP is the solution?
It IS the answer if the problem is water storage for SE Florida. It is NOT the answer if the goal is to clean up Lake Okeechobee or save the St Lucie, the Caloosahatchee Rivers, or the estuaries.
Things have gotten better?
Well, sure they have for now, we've had a DROUGHT!
What can we do?
The answer to a fair solution is political. The people who represent the sugar industry are doing a FAR superior job to those who purport to represent us (see above article). We are not asking for any more than a plan that would share the consequences of a schedule designed to benefit the agricultural industry alone.
Why do I dislike and distrust SFWMD?
Out of the nine members of the Board two have direct ties to sugar industry, and shamefully one (Malcolm "Bubba" Wade) is even on the Board of US Sugar Corporation. Conflict of interest is clearly no hindrance to appointment to the Board of SFWMD.
What is the fair answer?
The Lake Activists and River and Estuary people have one, and only one, potential ally and that is the very unpredictable weather. A couple of 100-200 yard wide flow ways to the South, planted with nutrient collecting plants, would solve this problem forever, be of minor inconvenience to agriculture and be MUCH cheaper than CERP.
Who should sue, and who deserves suing?
We are the smallest town in Lee County. We can NOT bear this burden, that impacts all of Lee County, alone. It is County responsibility and they are well past due fulfilling their duty.
Background letters and articles of interest:
Paul Reynolds
Sanibel