Water District agrees to lift "back-pumping" ban

August 10, 2012|By Andy Reid, Sun Sentinel

An old source of Lake Okeechobee pollution could return after South Florida water managers Thursday opened the door to renewed "back-pumping."

In a bid to boost water supplies, the South Florida Water Management District board agreed to explore pumping some of the polluted stormwater that drains off South Florida farmland back north into Lake Okeechobee for storage.

The district stopped that controversial practice five years ago because of environmental concerns about sending water containing polluting phosphorus as well as pesticides into the lake.

 

 

But the district, now under new leadership, has agreed to pursue a watered-down back-pumping proposal that would redirect less farmland runoff water back into the lake than in the past.

Supporters say back-pumping during the rainy season would make more water available for agricultural and environmental needs during droughts.

"Let's look at every option," said district Board Member Daniel DeLisi, who pushed for the back-pumping measure. "We can not back down from looking for a solution."

Environmental groups and the U.S. Department of the Interior counter that the potential increase in pollution isn't worth the water supply boost that comes from allowing back-pumping.

They favor cleaning up the water and using it to replenish the Everglades, instead of pumping it north.

Twelve environmental groups, including Audubon Florida and the Sierra Club, signed a letter opposing the back-pumping proposal.

"The lake is a lake. … It's not to be used as a reservoir," said Mark Perry, of the Florida Oceanographic Society. "[Back-pumping] adds pollution to the lake and to the estuary downstream."

More phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrient-rich pollutants that result from farming would flow into the lake if back-pumping resumes. That can lead to algae blooms, fish kills and other damage to the lake's ecosystem.

Back-pumping also seems to run counter to multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration efforts aimed at getting more Lake Okeechobee water flowing south to Everglades National Park.

"Anything that takes water supply from the Everglades is not a good thing," said Joan Lawrence, of the U.S. Department of the Interior. "I'm just skeptical."

District officials say their proposal makes use of water that otherwise would get drained out to sea for flood control and would not lessen water going to the Everglades.

They plan several more months of computer modeling to try to gauge the water supply and water quality effects of back-pumping. The district also still needs state and federal approvals before it can resume back-pumping.

The goal of getting the board's OK Thursday was to revive back-pumping as an option, according to district Executive Director Melissa Meeker.

"Let us go down that path to see if it's possible," she said.

Decades of draining land for farming and development eventually led to corralling Lake Okeechobee with a dike for flood control. It also turned the once free-flowing lake into South Florida's primary backup water supply.

That water supply has been strained more than usual in recent years, because the Army Corps of Engineers has been keeping the lake about a foot lower year round due to safety concerns about the lake's dike, which is in the midst of a slow-moving rehab.

District officials bill back-pumping as a way to find more freshwater that could be stored in the lake and help the Caloosahatchee River during dry times, without lessening the amount of water that Big Sugar and other South Florida agriculture rely on for irrigation.

Sending Lake Okeechobee water into the Caloosahatchee River during droughts provides an infusion of freshwater needed to help protect West Coast water supplies and fishing grounds.

During recent years, West Coast communities have periodically cut off from those lake water releases due to South Florida water supply concerns.

Back-pumping supporters say it provides an interim water supply solution while waiting for long-term fixes that include building costly new reservoirs.

"This is a good plan," said Tom MacVicar, a consultant for South Florida growers. "It's a very targeted, sophisticated … limited pumping plan."

Environmental groups say there are other water supply-boosting options to back-pumping. That could include more limits on how much lake water agriculture gets in order to make more water available to the Caloosahatchee.

"We've tried [back-pumping] before, and we know the result," said Cara Capp, of the Clean Water Action environmental group. "We need to try something different."

abreid@tribune.com, 561-228-5504 or Twitter@abreidnews

Phosphorus Reductions Again Improve Water Quality

Improved farming techniques help EAA, C-139 achieve phosphorus reduction goals

For the 17th consecutive year, water flowing from farmlands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) achieved phosphorus reductions that exceeded those required by law. Implementation of improved farming techniques, known as Best Management Practices (BMPs), produced a 71-percent phosphorus reduction in the 470,000-acre EAA farming region south of Lake Okeechobee for the 2012 monitoring period. An approved model is used to compute the reductions and makes adjustments to account for the influences of rainfall.

Just west of the EAA, the C-139 Basin also met its goal of reducing phosphorus discharges to historic levels. The 170,000-acre C-139 farming region consists primarily of pasture land, row crops, citrus and sugarcane. Results show 15 metric tons flowed from the basin during the 2012 monitoring period, less than half the target load of 32 metric tons.

"Year after year, science-based Best Management Practices deliver reductions in nutrients that are greater than required by state law, helping to significantly improve Everglades water quality," said Joe Collins, Chairman of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board. "Together with treatment wetlands, BMPs provide a solid foundation for our collective efforts to achieve the ultra-low water quality standards in the River of Grass."

In the EAA, the most commonly used BMPs are more precise fertilizer application methods, refined stormwater pumping practices and erosion controls to reduce the amount of phosphorus transported in stormwater runoff to the Everglades and connected water bodies. In the C-139 Basin, the District recently worked with landowners to develop more comprehensive and stringent BMP plans for each farm that better address the unique nutrient challenges in this basin. These plans are anticipated to result in greater phosphorus reduction results.

Monitoring Data Documents the Nutrient Reductions
Phosphorus can impact the Everglades ecosystem when stormwater runoff carries excess amounts into protected wetlands. To meet the requirements of Florida's Everglades Forever Act, the amount of phosphorus leaving the EAA must be 25 percent less than the amount before phosphorus reduction efforts started. Data show that a 71-percent phosphorus reduction was achieved for the 2012 monitoring period. The overall average reduction from the implementation of BMPs over the program's 17-year history is 55 percent, more than twice the amount required by law.

When measured in actual mass, 154 metric tons of phosphorus were prevented from entering the regional canal system, which sends water into the Everglades, during the 2012 monitoring period. Over the past 17 years, the BMP program has prevented 2,565 metric tons of phosphorus from leaving the EAA.

In the C-139 Basin, a BMP program has been in place for the past nine years with the goal of reducing phosphorus discharges to historic levels. In November 2010, the program requirements were enhanced to better control nutrient runoff. The District uses a model to determine the phosphorus load that the agricultural region must achieve each year based on rainfall. For the 2012 monitoring period, the target load was 32 metric tons. Data show the actual mass of phosphorus discharged from the basin during that time was 15 metric tons.

Stormwater Treatment Areas Provide Additional Improvements
Water leaving the EAA and C-139 Basin receives additional treatment in one of several Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) before entering the Everglades. These SFWMD-constructed wetlands are filled with native vegetation and use "green" technology to further reduce phosphorus levels.

Since 1994, the network of five STAs south of Lake Okeechobee — with 45,000 acres of effective treatment area — have treated 12.3 million acre-feet (4 trillion gallons) of water and retained more than 1,560 metric tons of phosphorus that would have otherwise entered the Everglades. Last year, the STAs treated approximately 700,000 acre-feet of water and recorded their best performance year to date, retaining 83 percent of phosphorus from water flowing through the treatment cells and treating water to an average of 19 parts per billion of phosphorus.

Through the end of April 2012, more than 4,060 metric tons of phosphorus have been prevented from entering the Everglades through treatment wetlands and the BMP program. Overall, Florida has invested more than $1.8 billion to improve Everglades water quality since 1994.

This year, the District is completing several water quality improvement projects to further enhance its water-cleaning efforts:

• Construction is complete and pump station commissioning is in progress for an STA expansion that will nearly double the size of STA-2 in western Palm Beach County to 15,500 acres. Known as Compartment B, the 6,817-acre expansion will help the STA achieve optimal performance.
• A 4,656-acre expansion of treatment wetlands in southeast Hendry County, known as Compartment C, is complete and pump station commissioning is set to begin. Compartment C will further improve water quality flowing into the Everglades. This $47.5 million investment will connect two existing Stormwater Treatment Areas (STA-5 and STA-6) in the EAA and more than double water treatment capability at the site.

In June, the state announced an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to expand water quality treatment that will lead to achievement of the ambient water quality standard for the Everglades. Highlights of the state's Everglades water quality improvement strategy includes:

• Design and construction of 110,000 acre-feet of additional storage adjacent to existing Everglades STAs, better controlling water flow into the wetlands and thereby improving their performance.
• Doubling the size of Stormwater Treatment Area 1-West adjacent to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, increasing by 50 percent the treatment capacity of water quality facilities currently discharging into the Refuge.
• Improving treatment in the western Everglades by adding 11,000 acre-feet of associated storage in the C-139 Basin that is capable of storing 3.5 billion gallons and constructing 800 acres of additional wetlands in STA-5.
• A robust science plan to ensure continued biological, ecological and operational research to improve and optimize the performance of water quality treatment technologies.
• Regional and sub-regional source controls in areas of the eastern Everglades where phosphorus levels in runoff has been historically higher.

For more information on the SFWMD's water quality improvement initiatives, please see Just the Facts: Providing Clean Water for the Everglades. A multimedia look at how STAs work and what water quality improvements they have delivered can be found on the District's Improving Water Quality website.

Improved farming techniques help EAA, C-139 achieve phosphorus reduction goals

For the 17th consecutive year, water flowing from farmlands in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) achieved phosphorus reductions that exceeded those required by law. Implementation of improved farming techniques, known as Best Management Practices (BMPs), produced a 71-percent phosphorus reduction in the 470,000-acre EAA farming region south of Lake Okeechobee for the 2012 monitoring period. An approved model is used to compute the reductions and makes adjustments to account for the influences of rainfall.

Just west of the EAA, the C-139 Basin also met its goal of reducing phosphorus discharges to historic levels. The 170,000-acre C-139 farming region consists primarily of pasture land, row crops, citrus and sugarcane. Results show 15 metric tons flowed from the basin during the 2012 monitoring period, less than half the target load of 32 metric tons.

"Year after year, science-based Best Management Practices deliver reductions in nutrients that are greater than required by state law, helping to significantly improve Everglades water quality," said Joe Collins, Chairman of the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board. "Together with treatment wetlands, BMPs provide a solid foundation for our collective efforts to achieve the ultra-low water quality standards in the River of Grass."

In the EAA, the most commonly used BMPs are more precise fertilizer application methods, refined stormwater pumping practices and erosion controls to reduce the amount of phosphorus transported in stormwater runoff to the Everglades and connected water bodies. In the C-139 Basin, the District recently worked with landowners to develop more comprehensive and stringent BMP plans for each farm that better address the unique nutrient challenges in this basin. These plans are anticipated to result in greater phosphorus reduction results.

Monitoring Data Documents the Nutrient Reductions
Phosphorus can impact the Everglades ecosystem when stormwater runoff carries excess amounts into protected wetlands. To meet the requirements of Florida's Everglades Forever Act, the amount of phosphorus leaving the EAA must be 25 percent less than the amount before phosphorus reduction efforts started. Data show that a 71-percent phosphorus reduction was achieved for the 2012 monitoring period. The overall average reduction from the implementation of BMPs over the program's 17-year history is 55 percent, more than twice the amount required by law.

When measured in actual mass, 154 metric tons of phosphorus were prevented from entering the regional canal system, which sends water into the Everglades, during the 2012 monitoring period. Over the past 17 years, the BMP program has prevented 2,565 metric tons of phosphorus from leaving the EAA.

In the C-139 Basin, a BMP program has been in place for the past nine years with the goal of reducing phosphorus discharges to historic levels. In November 2010, the program requirements were enhanced to better control nutrient runoff. The District uses a model to determine the phosphorus load that the agricultural region must achieve each year based on rainfall. For the 2012 monitoring period, the target load was 32 metric tons. Data show the actual mass of phosphorus discharged from the basin during that time was 15 metric tons.

Stormwater Treatment Areas Provide Additional Improvements
Water leaving the EAA and C-139 Basin receives additional treatment in one of several Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) before entering the Everglades. These SFWMD-constructed wetlands are filled with native vegetation and use "green" technology to further reduce phosphorus levels.

Since 1994, the network of five STAs south of Lake Okeechobee — with 45,000 acres of effective treatment area — have treated 12.3 million acre-feet (4 trillion gallons) of water and retained more than 1,560 metric tons of phosphorus that would have otherwise entered the Everglades. Last year, the STAs treated approximately 700,000 acre-feet of water and recorded their best performance year to date, retaining 83 percent of phosphorus from water flowing through the treatment cells and treating water to an average of 19 parts per billion of phosphorus.

Through the end of April 2012, more than 4,060 metric tons of phosphorus have been prevented from entering the Everglades through treatment wetlands and the BMP program. Overall, Florida has invested more than $1.8 billion to improve Everglades water quality since 1994.

This year, the District is completing several water quality improvement projects to further enhance its water-cleaning efforts:

• Construction is complete and pump station commissioning is in progress for an STA expansion that will nearly double the size of STA-2 in western Palm Beach County to 15,500 acres. Known as Compartment B, the 6,817-acre expansion will help the STA achieve optimal performance.
• A 4,656-acre expansion of treatment wetlands in southeast Hendry County, known as Compartment C, is complete and pump station commissioning is set to begin. Compartment C will further improve water quality flowing into the Everglades. This $47.5 million investment will connect two existing Stormwater Treatment Areas (STA-5 and STA-6) in the EAA and more than double water treatment capability at the site.

In June, the state announced an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to expand water quality treatment that will lead to achievement of the ambient water quality standard for the Everglades. Highlights of the state's Everglades water quality improvement strategy includes:

• Design and construction of 110,000 acre-feet of additional storage adjacent to existing Everglades STAs, better controlling water flow into the wetlands and thereby improving their performance.
• Doubling the size of Stormwater Treatment Area 1-West adjacent to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, increasing by 50 percent the treatment capacity of water quality facilities currently discharging into the Refuge.
• Improving treatment in the western Everglades by adding 11,000 acre-feet of associated storage in the C-139 Basin that is capable of storing 3.5 billion gallons and constructing 800 acres of additional wetlands in STA-5.
• A robust science plan to ensure continued biological, ecological and operational research to improve and optimize the performance of water quality treatment technologies.
• Regional and sub-regional source controls in areas of the eastern Everglades where phosphorus levels in runoff has been historically higher.

For more information on the SFWMD's water quality improvement initiatives, please see Just the Facts: Providing Clean Water for the Everglades. A multimedia look at how STAs work and what water quality improvements they have delivered can be found on the District's Improving Water Quality website.

 

The Everglades Foundation on Monday released a report showing that 76 percent of phosphorous pollution entering the Everglades comes from agricultural operations while that sector pays 24 percent of the cost.

The group says it hopes the findings help Gov. Rick Scott as he negotiates a new Everglades restoration plan with federal agencies. The information also could be used by the Legislature to shift the cost burden more to agricultural interests, Everglades Foundation officials said.

The Everglades ecosystem extends from south of Orlando south to Lake Okeechobee, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus from a variety of sources has contributed to some areas of the national park having become choked with cattails.

Sixty-eight percent of Florida voters in 1996 approved a state constitutional amendment requiring that those who cause pollution in the Everglades to be "primarily responsible" for the cost of cleanup. The Everglades Foundation says its report, produced by RTI International, uses public data to help identify who is causing the pollution and who has been paying for the cleanup.

While 24 percent of the money for nutrient removal comes from agricultural sources, 39 percent comes from property taxes collected by the South Florida Water Management District, which operates 45,000 acres of stormwater treatment areas. State and federal governments pay 27 percent and wastewater customers pay 10 percent of the cost.

"I think it's hard to fathom how any honest person could suggest that the big sugar and agricultural interests are complying with the constitutional amendment by picking up only 24 percent of the cost right now," Everglades Foundation Executive Director Kirk Fordham said.

In response, U. S. Sugar Corp., Florida Crystals Corp. and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida issued a statement condemning the Everglades Foundation for producing studies "resulting in hocus pocus economic conclusions."

"The Everglades Foundation’s report is riddled with so many erroneous assumptions, then hedges the conclusions with an equal number of caveats and uncertainties, that it serves no purpose except to throw mud on productive restoration efforts," the statement said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection in response issued a statement that did not address the cost issues raised in the report. The statement said the report noted progress made on Everglades cleanup and agriculture's role in that effort.

Some sugar industry representatives have said the state should focus more attention on reducing phosphorus and nitrogen pollution in the northern Everglades north of Orlando. But Fordham noted that his group's report says that only about 13 percent of the phosphorus reaching the stormwater treatment areas is coming from Lake Okeechobee.

The Everglades Foundation decided in the fall of 2010 to do the study, so its release after the 2012 legislative session while the governor is negotiating with federal agencies is coincidental, Fordham said.

"I think it really is up to the Legislature to determine how to shift the cost," Fordham said. "If that doesn't take place, then I think taxpayers ought to take a look at whether or not there are other means to guarantee it is enforced."

He added, "Certainly if the question is, is the Everglades Foundation looking to file a lawsuit right now -- the answer is no."

Read key findings of the report at http://www.evergladesfoundation.org/pages/1708.  Download the 107-page Everglades Foundation report by clicking here.

Reporter Bruce Ritchie can be reached at britchie@thefloridacurrent.com.

 

 

Back in 1996, Florida voters approved a “polluter pays” amendment that environmentalists hoped would force the agricultural industry — particularly sugar growers — to bankroll the hefty expense of stemming the damaging flow of nutrients into the Everglades.

It hasn’t worked out quite that way.

According to a study released Monday by the Everglades Foundation, the agricultural industry produces three-quarters of Glades pollution but pays only a quarter of the costs of cleaning it up. The public, the study found, pays the rest of an annual $106 million treatment tab through property taxes, utility bills and state and federal taxes.

“I’m quite certain that most Floridians would find it rather outrageous that they are picking up the bill for giant agricultural operations,’’ said Kirk Fordham, chief executive officer of the foundation, a group that championed the 16-year-old amendment that the Legislature has never enacted.

Fordham said he hoped the study would persuade state and federal negotiators trying to resolve decades of lawsuits over Florida’s oft-delayed clean plans to shift the burden — and bills that could run hundreds of millions of dollars or more — to farmers, ranchers and nurseries responsible for the bulk of nutrient pollution that has poisoned vast swathes of the Glades, killing off and crowding out native plants.

South Florida’s sugar farmers immediately bashed the study, which the foundation commissioned for $185,000 from researchers at North Carolina-based RTI International.

In a joint statement, the U.S. Sugar Corp., Florida Crystals Corp. and Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida defended their efforts and their record of reducing phosphorus use, saying the study was based on “grossly flawed assumptions, resulting in hocus pocus economic conclusions.’’

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued a statement claiming “significant progress’’ in reducing nutrients but acknowledging “that there is more to be done.’’ The statement also sent an upbeat signal about settling long-running federal lawsuits over the slow pace of clean-up, adding that “because of the leadership of Gov. (Rick) Scott, Florida is on the verge of a momentous step forward in Everglades restoration.’’

The state, which first agreed to reduce the flow of phosphorus into the Everglades to settle a federal lawsuit in 1988, has been under mounting pressure from federal judges frustrated by the decades of delay. Florida has spent more than $1.3 billion to construct a 45,000-acre network of artificial marshes to scrub phosphorus flowing from farms into the Glades but it hasn’t been enough to meet the super-low standards required to protect the sensitive marsh.

Phosphorous, a common fertilizer ingredient that drains off farms and yards with every rain storm, can trigger fish-killing algae blooms in lakes and coastal waters. But its impact can be catastrophic even at minute concentrations in the Everglades, said foundation senior scientist Tom Van Lent. As concentrations rise, it can kill off an important algae at the base of the Everglades food chain and fuel the spread of cat tails, a plant that a scientist once dubbed “the grave markers of the Everglades.’’

A bill making its way through the Legislature would dump 5 billion gallons of treated sewage into the ocean every year, but save South Florida's utility ratepayers at least $1.3 billion.

The bill changes a 2008 law that told utilities to completely stop flushing treated sewage into the ocean through pipes by 2025, to save coral reefs and marine ecosystems. A 2008 DEP study decided "the weight of the evidence" showed the sewage was harming South Florida's coastal marine life.

The amendment allows utilities to pump a reduced amount of sewage into the ocean annually after the 2025 deadline. They could pipe out 5 percent of their annual sewage flow, which totals over 5 billion gallons a year. Right now, utilities pump a total of about 71 billion gallons of treated sewage into the ocean a year.

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All the pipes affected by the bill, which is in the Senate Budget Committee and has passed the House unanimously, are located in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. If the bill passes the committee, it goes to the full Senate, where it would be likely to pass.

"This is done in the best interest of the public, because it's such significant savings to them," said Alan Garcia, Broward's water and wastewater director. "We're still meeting most of the original goal."

A University of Florida study in 2008 estimated that a household using an average of 7,500 gallons a month could pay an extra $19.80 per month if utilities have to shut down the pipes completely. That number would go down if this bill passes, utility directors said.

Miami-Dade would save $820 million, Hollywood $160 million and Broward County $300 million, utility directors said.

The change to the 2008 law doesn't affect ratepayers in Palm Beach County as much. Delray Beach's pipe shut down in 2008 and Boca Raton has reduced its ocean flow by half, and plans to shut its pipe down by 2015.

The original ban also aimed to save reusable water from being lost into the ocean.

It told utilities to find a way to reuse 60 percent of sewage for irrigation, watering lawns and even recharging the drinking water aquifer. The amendment doesn't change that.

But Divon Quirolo, founder of Reef Relief, an activist organization that pushed for the 2008 law, wonders whether utilities hope to slowly get out of the original law.

She cites the fact that the current bill also pushes back a deadline for utilities to have a permitted plan for meeting the law's requirements from July 2013 to October 2014. None of the three utilities pushing for the bill has gotten beyond the planning stages of their major water reuse projects over the past four years.

"They're trying to delay, avoid and weaken," Quirolo said.

The reason South Florida would save so much money if utilities could pump just 5 percent of sewage out to sea has to do with "peak flow events," utility directors said, which are heavy rains or other events that suddenly overburden regular sewage treatment systems.

Hollywood, Miami-Dade County and Broward County say they would have to build multimillion dollar wells to inject that "peak flow" into the ground unless they can just keep dumping into the Atlantic. They all already have wells to inject water into the ground, but would need another to deal with peak flow.

While the amendment is good news for anyone with a sewage bill in Broward or Miami-Dade counties, the change is bad news for fish, coral and beaches.

Saving reefs and ecosystems was a major reason lawmakers passed the 2008 law.

Many scientists say the treated sewage, which contains chemicals from human pharmaceuticals and bathrooms products and nutrients that can cause algae blooms, has destroyed the ocean environment off South Florida's coasts.

The water is screened of solids but doesn't meet standards for watering a lawn or a field of crops.

"When the money isn't there, the government wants to argue there's no need for it," said Matthew Schwartz, environmental activist and executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association. "Meanwhile, our coral reefs and marine ecosystems are being destroyed."

The amendment was sponsored by representatives and senators from Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

But since Delray Beach shut down its pipe in 2008, it has had to open it again on three occasions.

They've pumped out about 1 percent a year out to sea, "nowhere near 5 percent," said Dennis Coates, executive director of the plant.

Still, he does hope to keep pumping that much after the deadline. They wouldn't need nearly 5 percent, but for peak flows it would be nice to use the ocean pipe.

"This change allows us to not build a duplicate injection system that we would use a few days a year," Garcia said. "That gives us a lot more efficiency for our dollars."

abarkhurst@tribune.com or 954-356-4451

TALLAHASSEE -- A bill that won the support of the Florida House on Thursday could jump-start the stalled Port of Miami Deep Dredge.

The proposed legislation — which passed by a 110-5 vote — has to do with permits for storm-water management systems.

But earlier this week, House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, tacked on language about permits for deep-water ports. The amendment requires legal challenges to dredging projects to be heard within 30 days of the motion being filed.

The revised version of the bill could come in handy for the $150 million Port of Miami project, which is being held up by challenges from environmental groups and the community of Fisher Island.

An administrative law judge in Tallahassee recently ordered a hearing for August — putting the dredging and blasting scheduled to start this summer on indefinite hold.

During a trip to Tallahassee last week, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez asked members of the Miami-Dade delegation to help get the dredge underway as soon as possible.

“We need to speed this up,” Gimenez said.

Lopez-Cantera said opponents of the dredge had employed “delay tactics” and were afforded ample opportunity to have their voices heard.

“The economic impact to our community is too important to let a small group of obstructionists delay it any longer than necessary,” he said.

But Laura Reynolds, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society, said the amendment sounded like an effort to circumvent legal procedure. She pointed out that the groups had already scheduled mediation hearings next month with Florida regulators in addition to the hearing set for August.

“We have a date scheduled and now we’re seeing this sort of an end run,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the aim wasn’t to derail a project that port managers say could create thousands of jobs, but to ensure that the work doesn’t come at the expense of the surrounding marine environment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, she said, had rejected what she called “minimal” protections for things like water quality originally requested by the state.

“We have no delusions about stopping the port expansion,” she said. “We just want to protect Biscayne Bay.”

In a meeting Thursday with members of The Miami Herald’s Editorial Board, Corps project managers insisted the environmental impacts of the project would be short-lived and minimized by closely monitoring turbidity and temporarily shutting down buckets or cutters to prevent dense, damaging plumes from forming.

Terri Jordan-Sellers, the port’s biologist for the project, said critics had exaggerated the impacts from blasting.

“They think of bombs going off in the bay,” she said. “That’s not what we have here.”

Corps contractors would use special “confined” blasting techniques, which cap the small charges to direct impacts to the rocky channel bed and greatly reduce the underwater pressure waves that can hurt marine life.

Similar techniques were used in a 2005 dredging of another section of the port and follow-up surveys of sea grass and reefs showed no damage from silting, Jordan-Sellers said.

The Corps said no manatees, dolphins or turtles were killed during blasting and an average of 14 dead fish were recovered after each of 40 rounds of blasting — most of them small bait fish. There were also no complaints of vibration or damage from residents on Fisher Island or other nearby communities, Jordan-Sellers said.