Do Your Part to Protect Our Waters.
By Karl Wickstrom No one, not even the Shadow, knows just what the lawmakers will do in their last days, but one thing is certain: We must keep up the pressure to stop the discharges from inland or have to swallow more of the pollution that poisons our estuaries in wet times.
If miracles really happen, let’s have a big one, please.
These reforms have been advocated for decades but have been blocked by status quo forces that put subsidized profits way ahead of clean and productive waters.
Now, however, there seems to be powerful momentum for real change.
The Florida Senate, at the committee level, has approved a comprehensive bill that embraces the basics of the Plan Six Flowway that we’ve pushed for more than a decade, mostly talking, I’m afraid, to the hearing impaired.
The proposed legislation filed in both the Senate and House directs the state to acquire land south of the lake and build conveyances to move water into the Everglades and Florida Bay instead of into east and west man-dug coastal canals.
Take immediate action to fix Florida’s water crisis by urging your Legislators and Governor to pass Senate Bill 10 (SB 10) and House Bill 761 (HB 761), which will call for the purchase of land south of Lake Okeechobee to store, clean and convey water south to the Everglades.
Restoring the flow of clean, fresh water to the Everglades, Florida Bay and the Florida Keys.
First Published Florida Sportsman Magazine April 2017
By Karl Wickstrom No one, not even the Shadow, knows just what the lawmakers will do in their last days, but one thing is certain: We must keep up the pressure to stop the discharges from inland or have to swallow more of the pollution that poisons our estuaries in wet times.
Toxic algae clots the St. Lucie River, summer 2016, one of many consequences of manmade Lake Okeechobee drainage.
If miracles really happen, let’s have a big one, please. Right now.
Let the Florida Legislature, in its waning weeks of confusion and endless politicizing, pass a statute calling for a reservoir in Big Sugar country that could capture excess Lake Okeechobee water and, finally, stop the horrid discharges to the coasts.
Then, in the best tradition of miracles, see Governor Scott sign such a statute and lead the way for funding of these crucial projects.
It’s a longshot, as miracles tend to be.
These reforms have been advocated for decades but have been blocked by status quo forces that put subsidized profits way ahead of clean and productive waters.
Now, however, there seems to be powerful momentum for real change.
The Florida Senate, at the committee level, has approved a comprehensive bill that embraces the basics of the Plan Six Flowway that we’ve pushed for more than a decade, mostly talking, I’m afraid, to the hearing impaired.
The proposed legislation filed in both the Senate and House directs the state to acquire…
