The proposal is unrealistic, but you have to admire Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah for advocating flooding the sugar fields to avoid excessive, polluted water releases from Lake Okeechobee down the Caloosahatchee into the Gulf.
Poor Ray. Taking on "Big Sugar" is like Don Quixote tilting with windmills; 25 percent of U.S. sugar production comes from central Florida and the sugar lobby, with its millions in campaign contributions to both political parties. It almost always gets what it wants.
Compensating the sugar companies for the sugar production loss could run into the billions.
However, a bright light may be on the horizon. "Big Sugar" is slowing losing its luster. Unlike other farm commodities, in which government subsidies provide price supports in case of overproduction, sugar growers have their own special deal. Foreign imports of sugar, with a few minor exceptions, are not permitted. A DEAD ZONE?The United States produces only 5 percent of the world's sugar, yet our growers can artificially set prices. In recent years major candy manufacturers have laid off thousands and relocated factories to Canada where they can purchase sugar from Brazil, the world's largest producer, or other nations, at a fraction of our domestic price. This has caught the attention of Congress, advocates of global free trade and the Bush administration. If the import ban is ever lifted, Central Florida sugar growers may find it unprofitable to compete, especially on fields whose yields are slipping after decades of overuse.
Judah's concern is real. Excessive algae growth, caused by nutrient-laden water releases, is particularly harmful to sea grass beds and coral reefs — important nurseries for all types of marine life. Locally, this habitat loss has caused a sharp decline in fish and crab numbers, lowered seawater quality and, along with the unsightly algae blooms, is threatening our tourist industry. Unabated, the polluted freshwater releases could create a dead zone in the Gulf similar to one off the Louisiana coast. Polluted freshwater flows into the delta and overdevelopment combined to destroy marshes, wetlands and mangroves that could have afforded New Orleans considerable protection from Hurricane Katrina.
The controversy over excess water releases dates back to 1928, when a 20-foot, 100-mile dike was constructed after a 1926 hurricane that drowned more than 1,000 nearby Lake Okeechobee residents. Canals were built to divert much of the natural sheet flow from North Central Florida to the then-developing east coast. South of the lake, the dike created extensive rich mucklands, ideal for sugar cane, while depriving the Everglades system of high-quality freshwater flows. COMPLEX ISSUESince then, farming and cattle ranching north of the lake, and the sugar industry's pumping of untreated runoff directly into the lake, nearly brought ecological collapse. High phosphorous levels in the lake bottom caused oxygen starvation that killed marine and plant life.
Passage of the 1994 Everglades Forever Act included a section that required lower phosphorous levels in the lake so that the water released periodically to irrigate the sugar fields does not continue to spread cattails and other undesirable plants in the Everglades. Sugar industry lobbying got the law modified to allow higher phosphorous levels and to exempt the industry from much of the cleanup costs. The South Florida Water Management District, which, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, is in charge of the lake and defends its policies by explaining that they have multiple responsibilities: protecting and improving the lake, providing irrigation for sugar and other agricultural fields and regulating water releases in the dry season to the Caloosahatchee and the eastern canals. SFWMD insists that it plays no favorites and blames hurricane rainfall for the massive discharges.
Environmentalists, however, claim that SFWMD permits the water levels in the lake to be unnecessarily high to always ensures sufficient water to irrigate the fields. This, they say, not only diminishes the lake's health and places unneeded stress on the dike, but also makes these massive discharges a certainty during hurricane season.
East coast communities have filed a lawsuit against SFWMD. Lee County and some of its municipalities are considering joining the lawsuit, which could takes years to adjudicate. Another long-term, partial solution is SFWMD's plan to build reservoirs for water storage and treatment. Reservoirs can be very effective in controlling dry season flows but will have limited success with massive discharges.
In the meantime, the best we can do is to pray for no more hurricanes.
— Rick Diamond is a former newspaper publisher. He lives in Fort Myers.