Environmental Intersection by George Lindemann

The long-suffering Everglades may get a louder voice in the Legislature thanks to the launch this week of a new coalition of South Florida lawmakers.

State Rep. Steve Perman, D-Boca Raton, started the Everglades Legislative Caucus, which pledges to push for more money for Everglades restoration during a time of deep state spending cuts.

The bipartisan group contends that investing in protecting what remains of the Florida’s famed River of Grass is more than an environmental cause: It’s also about protecting South Florida’s drinking water supply and a tourism industry tied to the water.

“The Everglades is a rare, natural jewel,” Perman said from a farmers market beside the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, at the northern reaches of the Everglades in Palm Beach County. “No one is happy at the pace at which the Everglades is being restored.”

Restoring the $300 million a year the state once set aside for land purchases aimed at Everglades-preservation efforts is a priority for the new group, said state Sen. Thad Altman R-Viera, co-chairman of the Everglades Caucus.

Acquiring more land among the vast swaths of sugar cane and other farmland south of Lake Okeechobee is needed for water storage and treatment areas that hold onto and clean up stormwater that can replenish the Everglades, according to Altman.

The group also plans to call on Congress to start picking up more of the tab for Everglades restoration.

“We have a long way to go,” Altman said. “We need to find longer-term funding sources.”

The Everglades Caucus offers a forum to push for restoration issues that affect the water supply and tourism, said Dawn Shirreffs, Everglades Coalition co-chair.

“Florida has a compelling reason to do Everglades restoration,” Shirreffs said. “The ecosystem has continued to decline in the face of delay.”

The Everglades suffers from decades of draining land to make way for agriculture and sprawling South Florida communities. Stormwater loaded with phosphorus that washes off agricultural land also pollutes the Everglades.

Florida and the federal government in 2000 announced a long-term plan to share the costs of Everglades restoration, but none of the more than 60 projects to store, clean and redirect stormwater has been completed.

Gov. Rick Scott in October unveiled am Everglades plan that calls for cutting restoration costs by avoiding buying more land to build reservoirs and treatment areas.

Lawmakers who joined Altman and Perman on Monday in announcing the new caucus included Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach; Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart; and Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach. They said their numbers would grow during the legislative session that will begin in January.

During recent budget-cutting amid the struggling economy, the needs of Everglades restoration too often faded into the background, according to the caucus.

Florida needs to “get back in the business of restoration,” Altman said, “get back on track.”

TALLAHASSEE -- Surrounded by environmental officials who served under previous governors, former Gov. Bob Graham forcefully urged Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday to reverse the environmental damage done by lawmakers in the last legislative session and “now lead.”

In a rare rebuke, Graham said the 2011 Legislature “reversed 40 years of Florida’s progress in water and land conservation.’’

“We are in a time machine which has now delivered us back to the 1960s,” Graham said to a rally of activists and former officials of previous administrations outside the Old Capitol.

Graham stopped short, however, of condemning Scott for failing to renounce the deep budget cuts that led to massive reductions in staff and funding at water management districts around the state. He pointed to a statement Scott made last month, and an opinion piece the governor wrote this week, suggesting that water policy and restoring the Everglades will be a priority for his administration. Graham sounded a hopeful plea that the freshman governor and his staff will see political value to preserving Florida’s resources.

“We commend Gov. Scott, now we ask for his leadership,’’ Graham, a Democrat, said of the current governor, a Republican. He noted, however, that the $210 million in property tax savings achieved by Scott and lawmakers saved property owners the equivalent of two pizzas a year but cost the state the “dramatic reduction in our ability to assure sustained quality water and flood control protection and, yes, the restoration of the Everglades.” In an opinion piece in the Tampa Tribune on Sunday, Scott said that he wants to create a stable regulatory environment that focuses more dollars on environmental projects than bureaucracy, but added that “does not mean lower environmental standards.” He also said that he expect water manager to justify every dollar they spend but wants to “look to public-private partnerships to help meet our water quantity and quality goals.”

Graham announced that he and the state’s top environmental advocacy groups have formed the Florida Conservation Coalition to elicit public support and to join Scott’s “army” for a reversal of the damaging policies.

“The governor in Florida for the last 40 years has had the responsibility for protecting that public asset,’’ he said. “Governor, we call on you with our thanks and appreciation for the statements you have made. Now lead.”

Graham questioned the motives for reversing years of water policy to create a surge of jobs in Florida.

“There are over one million unsold homes. There are hundreds of thousands of vacant commercial facilities. Does anyone believe that by changing the character of our water management districts we are going to suddenly put millions of people back to work in construction in Florida?” Graham asked.

He warned that the legislative cuts to water management district funding, and changes in water policy, resulted in dismantling the professional staff at the water districts, removed the authority of their citizen boards and “has raised questions as to Florida’s long-term commitment to Everglades restoration.”

Graham said proposals now pending before the Legislature, such as a plan to allow for 50-year permits to extract water from the Floridan Aquifer, threaten the state’s water supply. Meanwhile, the halt to the state conservation land acquisition program weakens protections of floodplains and rivers, he said.

“We have to stop the hemorrhaging — do no harm,” Graham said.

Nathaniel Reed, a former environmental adviser to Gov. Claude Kirk and President Richard Nixon, joined the rally and blasted the Legislature’s decision to “eviscerate” major parts of the state’s growth-management laws, including limiting the state’s role in reviewing local land-planning decisions.

“The developers paid for and they got what they wanted,’’ Reed said. “It’s a disgrace.”

He chastised lawmakers for attempting to shift control of water management districts from the local level to Tallahassee. “I can think of nobody that knows less about water management in Florida than the members of the two chambers opposite me,’’ he said.

State Sen. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican who fought many of the proposed budget cuts, said it was time to take politics out of water policy.

“The governor should be accountable, not the Legislature, for water management districts,’’ she said. She also urged Scott “to follow in the footsteps of some of our greatest governors who have made water conservation a priority.”

Graham said the group will not only monitor water management district decisions and conduct grass roots conferences but will have a presence in next year’s elections.

“We want to alert the voters of 2012 as to who was responsible for what happened in 2011,” he said.

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com and on Twitter @MaryEllenKlas

 

TALLAHASSEE -- Surrounded by environmental officials who served under previous governors, former Gov. Bob Graham forcefully urged Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday to reverse the environmental damage done by lawmakers in the last legislative session and “now lead.”

In a rare rebuke, Graham said the 2011 Legislature “reversed 40 years of Florida’s progress in water and land conservation.’’

“We are in a time machine which has now delivered us back to the 1960s,” Graham said to a rally of activists and former officials of previous administrations outside the Old Capitol.

Graham stopped short, however, of condemning Scott for failing to renounce the deep budget cuts that led to massive reductions in staff and funding at water management districts around the state. He pointed to a statement Scott made last month, and an opinion piece the governor wrote this week, suggesting that water policy and restoring the Everglades will be a priority for his administration. Graham sounded a hopeful plea that the freshman governor and his staff will see political value to preserving Florida’s resources.

“We commend Gov. Scott, now we ask for his leadership,’’ Graham, a Democrat, said of the current governor, a Republican. He noted, however, that the $210 million in property tax savings achieved by Scott and lawmakers saved property owners the equivalent of two pizzas a year but cost the state the “dramatic reduction in our ability to assure sustained quality water and flood control protection and, yes, the restoration of the Everglades.” In an opinion piece in the Tampa Tribune on Sunday, Scott said that he wants to create a stable regulatory environment that focuses more dollars on environmental projects than bureaucracy, but added that “does not mean lower environmental standards.” He also said that he expect water manager to justify every dollar they spend but wants to “look to public-private partnerships to help meet our water quantity and quality goals.”

Graham announced that he and the state’s top environmental advocacy groups have formed the Florida Conservation Coalition to elicit public support and to join Scott’s “army” for a reversal of the damaging policies.

“The governor in Florida for the last 40 years has had the responsibility for protecting that public asset,’’ he said. “Governor, we call on you with our thanks and appreciation for the statements you have made. Now lead.”

Graham questioned the motives for reversing years of water policy to create a surge of jobs in Florida.

“There are over one million unsold homes. There are hundreds of thousands of vacant commercial facilities. Does anyone believe that by changing the character of our water management districts we are going to suddenly put millions of people back to work in construction in Florida?” Graham asked.

He warned that the legislative cuts to water management district funding, and changes in water policy, resulted in dismantling the professional staff at the water districts, removed the authority of their citizen boards and “has raised questions as to Florida’s long-term commitment to Everglades restoration.”

Graham said proposals now pending before the Legislature, such as a plan to allow for 50-year permits to extract water from the Floridan Aquifer, threaten the state’s water supply. Meanwhile, the halt to the state conservation land acquisition program weakens protections of floodplains and rivers, he said.

“We have to stop the hemorrhaging — do no harm,” Graham said.

Nathaniel Reed, a former environmental adviser to Gov. Claude Kirk and President Richard Nixon, joined the rally and blasted the Legislature’s decision to “eviscerate” major parts of the state’s growth-management laws, including limiting the state’s role in reviewing local land-planning decisions.

“The developers paid for and they got what they wanted,’’ Reed said. “It’s a disgrace.”

He chastised lawmakers for attempting to shift control of water management districts from the local level to Tallahassee. “I can think of nobody that knows less about water management in Florida than the members of the two chambers opposite me,’’ he said.

State Sen. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican who fought many of the proposed budget cuts, said it was time to take politics out of water policy.

“The governor should be accountable, not the Legislature, for water management districts,’’ she said. She also urged Scott “to follow in the footsteps of some of our greatest governors who have made water conservation a priority.”

Graham said the group will not only monitor water management district decisions and conduct grass roots conferences but will have a presence in next year’s elections.

“We want to alert the voters of 2012 as to who was responsible for what happened in 2011,” he said.

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com and on Twitter @MaryEllenKlas

A host of state legislators from both sides of the aisle will announce the formation of a Florida Everglades Legislative Caucus at a press conference slated for 1 p.m. today.

The event, which will be held in Boynton Beach, will be hosted by state Rep. Steven Perman, D-Boca Raton, and Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera.