The post-Rick Scott Era of the South Florida Water Management District begins this week. It’s been a wild ride to get here.
At last month’s meeting, the district’s governing board couldn’t hold any votes because there wasn’t a quorum. Some board members had surrendered to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ demand that they resign, and the governor hadn’t announced enough new appointees.
In addition, Executive Director Ernie Marks announced that he would resign, effective last Tuesday. Terrie Bates, the district’s water resources director, has taken over on an interim basis.
Noting the upheaval before they left, some Scott appointees criticized DeSantis and U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City — the governor’s ally on water issues — for injecting politics into the district’s operations.
Actually, Scott’s misuse of the agency and anti-environment policies led to this necessary upheaval.
With the March meeting coming Wednesday and Thursday, DeSantis has filled seven board vacancies. His most recent appointments were Jay Steinle, a financial advisor from Palm Beach County, and Carlos E. Martinez, a former homebuilder from Miami-Dade County.
DeSantis has yet to name a board member from the area north of Lake Okeechobee. His choice to be Broward County’s representative, Ron Bergeron, has been delayed.
Bergeron’s expertise would enrich the board’s knowledge. Nevertheless, he should pull himself from consideration.
After his appointment, Bergeron’s company signed a $25 million contract with the district to construct a stormwater treatment area. This is a substantial contract, one that could force him to recuse himself on any number of related issues. Plus, the arrangement would do nothing to change the optics of a board long viewed as too close to the industry it oversees.
Collectively, though, DeSantis’ choices represent a seismic shift in priorities. Scott’s board had no representation from environmental or conservation groups. DeSantis has named several advocates for clean water.
Example: Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, the former mayor of Sewall’s Point in Martin County, which has suffered most from Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. Thurlow-Lippisch has called for the state to take farmland south of the lake by eminent domain if necessary to store and clean water.
“I am extremely encouraged,” said Lisa Interlandi, an attorney for the Palm Beach County-based Everglades Law Center. “I can’t wait for them to get started. There is a lot of damage to undo.”
The new board can start by seeking to terminate the prior board’s approval of a lease extension that allows sugar farming to continue on land meant for a southern reservoir. The board approved the lease with almost no public notice in November, two days after the election. DeSantis and Mast had asked board members to delay the vote.
The new board also should end the plan to store excess Lake Okeechobee water underground. That plan, which originated with the sugar industry and is only in the testing phase, would deprive the Everglades of fresh water. The board should review all leases that pay farmers to store water on their land, to see if the terms are fair to the public.
And, of course, the board must hire an executive director. That person will have to come from the outside and be able to restore morale. Scott decimated this vital public agency by ordering budget and tax cuts, and favoring industry over the environment. In the Scott era, SFWMD managers also were afraid to publicly discuss sea-level rise, no matter the water that brims at the top of aged flood-control gates during certain times of the year.
The issue of the moment, however, is how the Army Corps of Engineers and the district should manage Lake Okeechobee. Mast wants the level kept lower during the dry season. Doing so would reduce the chance of the Corps needing to release water during the rainy season so high levels don’t threaten the Herbert Hoover Dike. Mast represents Martin County.
Sugar growers want the lake high during the winter so they have water for their fields. The growers claim that Mast wants the lake no higher than 10.5 feet. They have enlisted local officials to claim that such a level would threaten drinking water supplies and that Mast wants to protect the coast at the expense of inland areas.
In an interview with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Mast denied that he wants a fixed level. He favors only policy changes that make discharges less likely.
District board members, Mast said, “talk about shared prosperity and shared adversity, but there’s been no shared adversity.” Discharges have hit Martin County nine of the last 13 years. “They think it’s fine to dump it on my community.”
Excessive discharges to the west also harm the Caloosahatchee River and Southwest Florida. But the Caloosahatchee needs lake water — in the right amount at the right time. So does the Everglades.
The problem, Mast said correctly, is that the Corps and the district keep the lake artificially high during the winter. “We hoard it” for agriculture. If the level had been lower last May, Mast said, no discharges to the east — where the St. Lucie River doesn’t need water — would have been necessary.
For decades – and especially under former Gov. Scott – Florida based water policy around the needs of agriculture. The water management district board can create a better balance. The wild ride would be worth it.
