Originally published at Naples Daily News.
Alexandra Glorioso , alexandra.glorioso@naplesnews.com; 239-435-3442 Published 7:14 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2017 | Updated 9:09 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2017
On Florida Senate President Joe Negron's plan to purchase 60,000 acres of land south of Lake Okeechobee in an interview on Friday, Jan. 6, 2017. Alexandra Glorioso/Naples Daily News
Environmentalists are aggressively rallying behind Senate President Joe Negron’s plan to purchase 60,000 acres south of Lake Okeechobee.
“This year, we must unite around the opportunity to buy 60,000 acres of land to send water south,” said Cara Capp, the National Parks Conservation Association's Everglades Restoration Program Manager, at the 32nd annual Everglades Coalition Conference in Fort Myers on Friday.
While the plan has already come under attack from the environmentalists' longstanding foe, the sugar industry, Capp reminded the more than 250 attendees that they were their own kind of a political force with a history of success.
“We know the job that needs to be done this year. Remember, that our community is powerful,” Capp said.
Negron's plan is to bond $2.4 billion equally divided between the state and federal governments to buy land now owned by sugar farmers to store water before moving it south through the Everglades.
Republican lawmakers and the South Florida Water Management District are in agreement with both Negron and the Everglades Coalition that saving the Everglades means eventually sending water south. They also agree that for the water to move south, it will first have to be stored in a reservoir below the lake, and then slowly cleaned in natural basins.
What lawmakers and the district disagree with Negron and the coalition on is timing of purchasing the land for the reservoir and building the reservoir.
In addition, some lawmakers disagree with whether the reservoir is the most important project for eliminating estuary discharges that have damaged the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
The uphill battle Negron will have this session comes down to a document called the Integrated Delivery Schedule. This schedule is a living contract between the state and federal governments that determines when various projects to restore the Everglades will be carried out.
Negron is facing opposition for his plan from state lawmakers, the state water management district, and federal lawmakers.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the state’s federal partner, has said they would accelerate the schedule’s plan, thus accommodating Negron, if the state’s Water Management District agreed. But so far, the district is unwilling.
Randy Smith, a spokesperson for the district, said that while it hasn't taken a public position on Negron’s proposal, the district is interested in sticking with the current timeline.
“The Water Management District’s position at this point is to continue with the agreed upon schedule which is right now in the Western and Lake Okeechobee Planning process and to stay the course and get complete projects in the order that they were agreed upon through the public processes that would provide the most benefit and the quickest for the environment,” Smith said.
The thrust of the Everglades Coalition conference centers on moving up the plan outlined for building the reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. Currently, the schedule outlines that the reservoir’s planning should begin in 2021. The coalition and Negron are both proposing that start date be moved to 2017.
In August, Gov. Rick Scott issued a state of emergency when heavy rains led to high water levels in Lake Okeechobee that forced discharges of toxic slimy blue green algae through the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast and the St. Lucie on the east coast. At the end of October, the governor extended the state of emergency for another 60 days.
Negron ran on a platform for cleaning up the toxic blue-green slime that polluted his community. He argues the reservoir is necessary to eliminate Lake Okeechobee's dangerous discharges during periods of high rainfall.
“My community was covered in sludge for months with blue-green algae,” Negron, R-Stuart, said.
“Reducing harmful discharges is the impetus” for Negron’s plan, confirmed his spokesperson, Katie Betta. “The reservoir is one important component of a comprehensive solution.”
The Everglades Coalition has rallied around Negron’s plan. In fact, the theme of its weekend conference is "Three Estuaries, One Solution."
Negron’s first challenge will be to convince the state Legislature to upend the schedule and purchase the necessary land now. So far, he has received a cool reception.
“I disagree with the premise that (this reservoir) is the cornerstone to eliminating the estuary discharges,” said Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers.
Caldwell is the chairman of the powerful Government Accountability Committee, under which natural resource issues fall. Anything affecting the Everglades has to go through Caldwell’s committee.
The state legislative session has more projects coming down the pike than it can afford. House Speaker Richard Corcoran has made balancing the budget a major priority. And while he has not opposed the plan, he hasn’t embraced it either.
“Any proposal by President Negron will be reviewed by the House with seriousness and respect,” Corcoran said.
Even if Negron manages to purchase the land and even if the integrated delivery schedule is accelerated to begin planning the reservoir in 2017, the state still needs federal funds. While the Army Corp of Engineers has been receptive to an accelerated schedule, Republican congressmen have not.
Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Tom Rooney are two of three Florida members of Congress who sit on the appropriations committee and who would ultimately be responsible for getting the funds from Congress for the project.
Diaz-Balart echoed sentiments of the water district, Caldwell, and Sen. Marco Rubio.
"There are a lot of priorities that I have and others have that have been involved with this issue for a long time that I think take precedence,” said Diaz-Balart, R-Miami.
Rooney, R-Okeechobee, said he would be open to the plan if sugar was willing to sell its land, but that he wasn’t sure this was the case.
“To say that we’ll be able to come up with that money to buy private property and that they’ll be willing to sell is a lot of steps,” Rooney said.