Bruce Ritchie, 06/04/2012 - 06:47 PM
South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Melissa Meeker on Monday described a tentative agreement reached with state and federal officials for proceeding on a revised plan for Everglades restoration.
"We are still working through the final points of the actual language," Meeker told her district's governing board on Monday.
The plan provides $880 million in new projects through 2025, Meeker said, in addition to some projects already under way. The district, she said, now has $220 million in the bank toward such projects.
U.S. District Judge Alan Gold in July 2008 ordered state and federal agencies to stop issuing permits for stormwater treatment areas. He ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review state water quality standards for the Everglades.
In 2010, the federal EPA said that clean water standards for phosphorus were not being achieved in all parts of the Everglades and that further reductions of phosphorus pollution are needed south of Lake Okeechobee. High levels of phosphorus can convert sawgrass savannahs into a swamp full of cattails with less wildlife habitat.
Since Scott met with federal officials in October, state and federal agencies have been working on a revised plan, Meeker said. They have developed a technical plan that includes water quality-based pollution limits, new filter marshes and holding ponds to improve water treatment, and an implementation schedule through 2025.
DEP spokeswoman Jennifer Diaz said the state is submitting a revised permit to the Environmental Protection Agency by Wednesday and that it would be posted soon after on the state agency's website.
Meeker said the $880 million in new projects include new "flow equalization basins" that capture and store water and release it later into stormwater treatment areas during dry periods.
She also said the plan assumes a contribution from taxpayers statewide and that the governor's representatives have met with legislative leaders to discuss it.
Meeker agreed with a board member's suggestion that the cost estimate was conservative with about one-third of the money now in the bank.
"In terms of the appropriations I think it is well within the means with what we have gotten in the past," she said. "There are no guarantees. It is the state Legislature."
But based on conversations the governor's office has had with legislative leaders, Meeker said, "they (legislators) felt the amount of money we were asking for was very reasonable and very doable."
Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Larry Lincoln commended the state for its hard work and said the federal agency will quickly review the submittal to determine whether it meets federal Clean Water Act requirements.
"The most important thing is for on-the-ground work to begin as soon as possible so we can begin work on these projects, which are vital to restoring water quality in the Everglades," Lincoln said.
Representatives of Audubon Florida and the Everglades Foundation spoke in support whileU.S. Sugar Corp. issued a statement in support. But Friends of the Everglades, which filed the lawsuit pending in Gold's court, said it was suspicious.
"Our fear is that the state once again has declined to impose enforceable remedies, adequate financing and best farming practices to sharply curtail phosphorous pollution of the Everglades as required by law," Friends of the Everglades President Alan Farago said.
Audubon Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said his group was glad to hear that the state and federal agencies are working together.
"The plan is clearly a major step forward with helping us get fresh water into the Everglades, which is what we need to do," Draper said.