Eastbound discharges from Lake Okeechobee are over, Army Corps says

STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Last week, officials announced a two week pause in eastbound discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

On Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revealed that they do not plan to start them back up.

“As long as the atmospheric conditions allow, there will be no releases to the east,” said Maj. Cory Bell, the Deputy District Commander of the Jacksonville District.

Local stakeholders like Rufus Wakeman, who’s spent decades on the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, are pleased to hear the news.

“I’m thrilled that the discharges aren’t coming here," he said. "This is my backyard, the St. Lucie River, the Indian River Lagoon, which have suffered so much over the years."

Others, like Congressman Brian Mast, say this was long overdue.

“Imagine somebody’s slapping you every day and they stop; you don’t say thank you because they stop slapping you. It should have been the expectation that they not be slapping you from the very beginning," he told CBS12 News Friday. "I’m certainly elated that the pain will cease, that the corps will stop sending that water.”

While it’s all smiles right now, Bell stopped short of a guarantee that discharges don’t return over the summer, when algal blooms tend to be at their worst.

“There’s conditions that are out of our control, and if nature has a way to kind of throw a wrench into things, and that’s a possibility," he conceded. "It’s all conditions based, right, so if there’s a need to make releases east, we would have to do that.”

Mast was less than satisfied with that response.

“They were purposely ambiguous, which for anybody that doesn’t speak government. That is what the government loves to do not give you specific criteria,” Mast stated.

Some say leaving that door open for discharges isn’t good news because researchers predict a very active storm season.

“If they get rain and it starts to raise the lake again, they’re going to have to start discharging again," said Mark Perry, the Executive Director and CEO of the Florida Oceanographic Society. "For now, we’re glad that they’ve stopped.”

According to the Army Corps’ website, the lake currently sits just above 15 feet high.

While the east coast is currently spared from discharges, Bell confirmed that the west coast of the state is still scheduled to receive some discharges from the lake.