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Nancy Smith

SFWMD Senior Scientist Terrie Bates Quits. Was Retirement a Bridge Too Far?

April 19, 2019 - 7:00am
Terrie Bates
Terrie Bates

Terrie Bates, director of Water Resources at the South Florida Water Management District and one of its most respected scientists, has resigned her position.

In a letter to SFWMD Governing Board members on Wednesday, Bates said her retirement is coming up quickly, and after 35 years at the District, she is simply accelerating her departure. "Knowing that I am time-limited by virtue of the state retirement system DROP program, I think it’s best for the District if I take my leave now so you have the opportunity to better invest your time with the Water Resources leader who will be working closely with you for years to come," she wrote.

"I wanted to personally let you know I will be leaving the District in a few weeks. You all are embarking on such an important journey and I know that the demands on your time devoted to water management district business can be overwhelming. It really is important for you to develop strong working relationships with the professional staff here who are charged with carrying out your direction."

I Beg to DifferBates has a wealth of institutional knowledge. So much that she was appointed interim agency director, serving during the post-inauguration Governing Board blow-up, between the time Ernie Marks was replaced as executive director effective March 5, and Drew Bartlett took over April 1.

Bates' loss, particularly now when the new board members are trying to catch on, will be significant.

Born and raised in Palm Beach County, she received a bachelor of science in forest resources & conservation from the University of Florida and a masters in public administration from Florida Atlantic University.

She joined the District in 1985 and since then, her experience has grown exponentially, covering environmental regulation, water supply, water quality, wetland mitigation, ecosystem restoration, applied science and watershed management. 

According to her District bio, she directed "a streamlining effort in environmental permitting to combine the state's surface water management, dredge & fill and sovereign submerged lands programs and to create the mitigation banking program."

The District hadn't revealed publicly what it planned to do after Bates' retirement, nor was it forthcoming Thursday. 

Bates declined to talk about her resignation, in fact declined to talk to me at all. As did her friends and colleagues. But, frankly, I didn't blame her or them. The SFWMD has to be a pretty bizarre place to work these days.

I've been cringing for these folks for a long time now.

It started back when Gov. DeSantis announced the appointment of Scott Wagner to the board. "As a practicing maritime lawyer," the governor said, Wagner brings "a unique perspective and expertise of Florida’s waterways" to the South Florida Water Management District. He does? No offense to Wagner, who is now the board's vice chair, I'm sure he's a perfectly good maritime lawyer. But how does maritime law, or "admiralty law" as it's called -- which deals with international agreements and treaties and cruise ships -- qualify as expertise on Florida's waterways? For that matter, how did Wagner's position on the Orange Bowl Committee qualify him?

More recently, on April 11, there was the press release that proudly announced the District was going to move policy forward by popularity contest. Did you see that one?  The headline in bold: "SFWMD Wants to Hear From You!" The subhead: "Governing Board asking for public input to help set the agency's strategic priorities." Huh? I imagined long-time District employees reacting like Richard Pryor in the movie "Silver Streak," when he stood bolt-upright in the middle of a shoot-out -- bullets flying around him -- and bellowed, "Who's in charge here?" 

What must a serious scientist who has devoted three-and-a-half decades to the Everglades ecosystem think of ending her career upstaged by board members who believe phosphate is the same as phosphorous, who haven't a clue what goes on in a stormwater treatment area during the dry season, who don't know the difference between deep water injection wells (DIW) and aquifer storage and recovery wells (ASR)? And the frightening part is, they think they know.

You can teach one or two new board members. They have always learned by assimilation. But how do you bring a whole class of newbies up to speed (Ron Bergeron excepted) while continuing  on the course you set so carefully and with so much difficulty? 

I'm just guessing here, but I think the last straw for Terrie Bates -- the Big Giddyup -- might have been the hypocrisy on display during last week's nine-hour meeting of the Governing Board. I'm talking about the back-to-back agenda items, the first on whether WRAC and WRAC-REC should be continued, the following one on the EAA Reservoir. The room was fairly full. (See the WRAC discussion here, starting at about 4:57:0.) 

One by one, members of environmental groups that get money from the Everglades Foundation/Trust/Coalition took their turns at the podium, all doing the triumvirate's bidding, denouncing the volunteer Water Resources Analysis Coalition (WRAC). (When you have full control of the water power structure in the state, the last thing you want is a bunch of volunteers who might know more than you do.)

Who were these environmentalists? Celeste de Palma, Audobon Florida; Rae Ann Wessel, Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation; Capt. Daniel Andrews, Captains for Clean Water; Lisa Interlandi, Everglades Law Center; Cara Capp, National Parks Conservation Association; Rienaldo Diaz, Lake Worth Lagoon keeper; Marisa Carrozzo, Conservancy Southwest Florida; and a handful of others.

But when they had finished, each making an orchestrated pitch, a curious thing happened. This group abruptly got up at the same time and left at the same time. Their day was done. BEFORE the board moved on to the EAA Reservoir. 

Here comes the hypocrisy, you can almost see it rising across the 'glades. Look at these people charge out the door to get home ahead of the traffic.

These are the very "community activists" who were whining and crying last November because the previous Governing Board went behind their backs to follow the law and allow Florida Crystals lease the state's land until construction could start. The same people who were screaming because they didn't have a seat at the table, now bolting out the doors. They were outraged and indignant last year because of course the board members were trying to sabotage the EAA Reservoir. And they stayed that way until the governor sacked every last one of them. A victory for Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg. 

Now look at them. On April 11, 2019 they couldn't give a muskrat's moustache for the EAA Reservoir.

Again, just a guess. But I'm thinking the moment Terrie Bates threw in the towel was the moment in the middle of the EAA Reservoir discussion when the Miccosukees announced they would oppose the reservoir. Think about it. Terrie Bates had been around to witness the dramatics and the clutching of pearls in November when there was nothing "going on" but faux hysteria. Now,  when there truly IS a threat to a fast-turnaround for the reservoir -- a legal one that could halt progress for as long as 10 years -- she's here again ... but they aren't. Not a community activist in sight. Read it and weep.

The most important news of the entire nine hours, yet the new Governing Board's support team was nowhere to be found. Their show had ended. Reservoir? What reservoir? Have a look at the photo of the meeting room below, sans enviros.

I'm thinking, at that moment Terrie Bates had to be telling herself, I'm done.

The executive who had management responsibilities for overseeing the District's water shortage and drought response in 2006-2007 and again in 2011, the same one was there through eight governors and now her ninth, who was there at the start of Everglades restoration and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan ... It's a great shame to see her go even one day before her time.

Where'd they go? The EAA Reservoir discussion begins
Where'd they go? The EAA Reservoir discussion begins

 

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith

Comments

Terri was always the consummate professional and mentor. She will be missed.

Thank you, Ken. I've known Terrie for years and totally agree with your statement.

Terri was always the consummate professional and mentor. She will be missed.

A muskrats mustache? We are Rome

Drain the swamp, literally, and no new contracts for Florida Crystals either...Buh Bye...

Are you some kind of sick f--k? Bates is a pro. What the F are you? We need all the pro's we can afford and not some dicatorial enviro sweep of the good people. Maybe you can learn to grow up and face the facts. There are few "scientists' at Terrie's level that will take a POS job with the Water District and be subject to the political crap they do not get where they can work and be respected. WAKE THE F UP YOU FRIGGIN STUPID MORON.

Your mom, sugar foot...

Isn't the whole point to restore as much of "the swamp" aka the Everglades as possible? The new lease deal helps move the EAA reservoir project forward. Already 560 acres of cane fields have been bulldozed and rocks stockpiled there ready to use on the reservoir. Already test pits have been dug in active fields, geological data is being collected. The farmers are cooperating in every way they have been asked to. They even volunteered to let the SFWMD out of the contract earlier than the December 1, 2020 termination agreement date if a miracle happens and the feds approve the contracts earlier than the corps thinks they will be done. Corps says minimum 19 months to get the permits. The newly appointed SFWMD executive director says no dirt moves until they get the permits. In 19 months it will be Dec. 1. The lease actually helps move the EAA reservoir project forward. It does not delay it.

Here is another fact for you - Governor Rick Scott cut the South Florida Water Management District Budget by $2.5 billion over his 8 years in office and Desantis and his team of enviro nazis blamed the previous Governing Board and staff for all the problems in South Florida. Lets see the newbies fix things with "NO" Money!! How about pointing the finger where it belongs directly at Rick Scott. Scott doesn't care now nor did he care about South Florida's water problems when he was Governor.

You state facts the enviro-nazis do not want to hear. They have to prove that NOTHING was done before they took over. Watch and see this new Board claim they had everything to do with the EAA Resrvoir, C 43 and C 44, and all of the 68 projects that are already being worked on. This entire thing has turned to crap. Terrie is a HUGE whole in the staff. What a totally unfortunate loss. Governor DeSantis - it didn't have to be this way. Stunning loss. Stunningly stupid. Way to go enviro liars.

If Eric Eickenberg’s lips are moving, he’s lying!!

So pathetic. All this tells us is that the Everglades Foundation is a political body only interested in its own power and $$$$. And they blame US Sugar and Florida Crystals? The loss of Terrie is 10x more important. Eichenberg has been massively successful. Let's hope someone steps on them before we are set back by 20 years. Who in the world is giving DeSantis guidance now - he already won the governorship? This is really depressing. Eichenberg - can you back off?

Good job Nancy: The hypocracy of those "types" of people (appointees; pseudo-intellectuals; political-$contributors$; "diploma-heavy" mal-educated Educators, so-called-"environmentalist experts", etc., actually...) have been collectively rising around the ENTIRE GLOBE, holding reign over whole populations for just as long as "the people" can tolerate it... (and then unrest becomes ugly)...["...It was the best of times, It was the worst of times..." Charles Dickens ]

Well-deserved best wishes to Ms. Bates. SFWMD has gone through many transitions in its more than five decades. Drew Bartlett is now the 9th Executive Director of SFWMD since 1999.

How about this - he is the 6th Executive Director since 2010. Kind of hard to accomplish anything when the directions from Tallahassee keeps changing.

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