Black is white. Day is night. Gov. Rick Scott has nothing to do with algae mess plaguing Florida.
At least that’s what the Republican governor’s television ads slamming his opponent in the race for U.S. Senate say. Hahaha. That is like trying to blame world peace on Osama Bin Laden. Nobody with a grain of sense is buying it.
The average person doesn’t spend days closely monitoring Florida’s efforts to stop the pollution typically causing big algae blooms, so the dispute between Scott and Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson — they each blame the other — might seem like two boys facing each other over a line in the sand on the playground.
Except it’s not. There is truth, and there are lies, and Scott is lying. He has to own this slimy mess.
The governor, of course, did not create algae. Between 2001 and 2004, the Orlando Sentinel wrote dozens of news stories about toxic algae called cyanobacteria and its invasion of Central Florida lakes.
Twenty of the 23 lakes tested by the Sentinel at the time turned up enough of the toxic algae to cause vomiting, bloody diarrhea, trouble breathing, skin rashes, mouth ulcers, blisters and eye irritations in people who play in the water.
Lake Beresford in Volusia County, for example, checked in with 242 times the World Health Organization’s Safe level for toxic algae. Leesburg’s Lake Griffin was taken over by a toxic algae that became the prime suspect in the mysterious deaths of more than 380 alligators in the lake. Even lovely Lake Eola in downtown Orlando was four times the WHO level for safe swimming.
While cyanobacteria slithered into freshwater lakes and estuaries, another algae called red tide haunts saltwater, making Florida beaches about as welcoming as the moon for tourists.
Algae growth is spurred by heat and pollution. The pollution is not some radioactive noxious concoction — mostly it’s fertilizer, whether it runs from a suburban lawn, a massive farming operation or a city sewer plant. The nitrogen and phosphorous feed the algae, which, like Ohioans, luxuriate in Florida’s warm waters and high temperatures.
What Scott failed to do was fight algae, and the result is not only unpleasant but has cost tourism dollars. Enforcement of environmental laws has all but disappeared since Scott first was elected governor in 2010. He diverted clean-up money and slashed staffs of environmental watchdog agencies, apparently figuring that this whole tree-hugging thing was just a scam to provide decent-paying jobs for college grads with useless specialties. Guess he’s learned differently. The back-pedaling is truly spectacular.
The state opened 1,587 cases against polluters in 2010. Two years into Scott’ administration, the number had dropped by 87 percent to 210, and it has stayed low since. Do you think the polluters just stopped? Asked how many pollution enforcement cases the state has opened since January, a very cheerful young spokeswoman said she’d find out. If she ever did, she kept the answer to herself.
No amount of Scott’s many millions in ad buys can change the truth. However, his money can change public perception — he’s got the cash to keep repeating his ridiculous narrative until you believe it. Just like his staggering wealth allowed him to turn the focus from the 75 times during a court case that he took the Fifth Amendment — the one that allows a defendant not to incriminate himself. The lawsuit was over whether his big health-care business defrauded Medicaid.
Here’s what Scott can’t change:
Algae is not a local issue for, say, county commissions. The only way to keep it from getting worse and ruining tourism and resident enjoyment of both the coasts and the freshwater lakes is to stop the pollution. That requires commitment and the will to back it up with enforcement money from the governor, whoever that might be.
“We pretend like we’re working on it. We hear lots of words,” said Jim Gross, executive director of the nonprofit Florida Defenders of the Environment. “In point of fact, we could use dedication to the science and leadership behind these issues at the highest levels of government.
“When we went through the economic downturn, we convinced ourselves that any and all kinds of growth — at any environmental cost — is good. Now, maybe not so much.”
Scott, he said, “never showed up on the environmental front” during his eight years in office. His figurative bare fanny was hanging out when science came along and nipped him. Now it’s too late to claim he’s a bunny-lover — or an algae fighter.
Gross said that Florida can “expect nothing other than increased magnitude, frequency and duration of algae blooms” if nothing is done.
Welcome to the world of consequences, governor. You have got to know that more are coming. Wonder what you’ll have to say about them.
Lritchie@orlandosentinel.com
