SFWMD board cheers Florida Crystals but jeers U.S. Sugar Corp. over EAA reservoir project
Tyler TreadwayWEST PALM BEACH — Actions by two different sugar companies got two different reactions Thursday from the South Florida Water Management District board.
Board members praised Florida Crystals, the West Palm Beach sugar grower and processor for terminating a land lease with the district to expedite construction of a project to cut harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
"Florida Crystals should be thanked," said board member Scott Wagner. "They told us they would step out of the way when we needed land for construction. ... The company said, 'Trust us'; and, in fact, we were able to trust them."
Board members weren't so gracious to U.S. Sugar Corp., whose lawyers this week sent a letter to the district and the Army Corps of Engineers saying plans to speed up construction of the project's water-cleaning marsh could threaten water supply.
Read: U.S. Sugar letter questioning STA construction
The company said the marsh, known as a stormwater treatment area, or STA, would take water during dry periods when it's most needed by agriculture and municipalities.
Through the Gunster Law Firm, U.S. Sugar called for more analysis of the project before construction proceeds.
Board members and representatives of environmental groups who spoke at the meeting, said the company's action seemed to be an effort to throw up a roadblock in the project's progress.
"No one has said agriculture can't have its water," said board member Cheryl Meads. "We want everyone to have water, and we want it to be clean."
U.S. Sugar's argument "that you can't build the STA first is absurd," said Shannon Estenoz, vice president of the Everglades Foundation. "But it's part of their playbook: When one obstacle is knocked down, you put up another."
Permits needed
The project, officially called the Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir Project, includes a 23-foot-deep, 10,100-acre reservoir to be built by the Army Corps to store up to 78.2 billion gallons of excess lake water and a 6,500-acre man-made marsh to be built by the district to clean the water before it's sent south to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
Besides construction, the district and the Corps are splitting the $1.8 billion cost of the project.
The obstacle before the project now: getting dredge-and-fill permits from the Corps. The SFWMD applied for the permits in June and August.
Lt. Col. Todd Polk, the Corps' newly appointed deputy commander for South Florida, said permits for both the STA to be built by the district and the reservoir to be built by the Corps, should be available by May.
Board members did their best to get Polk to commit to an earlier date; and Cara Capp of the National Park Conservation Association suggested he bring the completed permits when he attends the Everglades Coalition annual meeting in January.
The district will start construction of the stormwater treatment area as soon as the permits are in hand, said district Executive Director Drew Bartlett, and should finish that part of the project by early 2023.
The land leased by Florida Crystals will be released to the district in phases, but "we'll get the fields we need on our construction schedule," Bartlett said.
The schedule calls for Florida Crystals to turn over:
- 2,000 acres now
- 1,000 acres at the end of December 2020
- 3,000 acres at the end of March 2021
The Corps is expected to complete the reservoir, its part of the project, in 2028.
Controversial lease
The lease with Florida Crystals for land in southwest Palm Beach County earmarked for the reservoir project had been controversial from the time it was approved Nov. 8 because:
- It delayed the district's ability to access land for construction
- It was approved only hours after it was added to the board's agenda at about 9 p.m. the night before.
The board members who approved the lease had all been appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott; and Gov. Ron DeSantis asked them all to resign on his third day in office in January over the lease.
More:SFWMD board approves reservoir land lease over objections
More: Did SFWMD board break law by approving Florida Crystals lease?
Several board members did resign, and others let their terms expire. By April, all the board members were DeSantis appointees. One seat remains vacant.
"That dreaded decision had ramifications for so many people," board member Carlos "Charlie" Martinez said Thursday. "It tainted the good work the previous board did. A lot of people felt betrayed, and rightfully so. And good people in this agency lost their jobs."