Tuesday morning's Joe Negron Show was great political theater. It's going to win Republican Negron and his wife Rebecca a lot of votes in their home district, but it isn't going to get Treasure Coast folks the 60,000 acres of private property south of Lake Okeechobee he circled on a map.
For a number of reasons.
I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket. But after a full day of looking, I can't find a single legislator not standing behind Negron in Stuart -- in fact, not a single stakeholder outside the Everglades Foundation faithful -- who believes his "plan" to provide 120 billion gallons of new water storage has merit or stands a snowball's chance.
Negron is the Senate president-designate. It's easy for his constituents to think he'll be able to wield his considerable power to make a big reservoir south of the lake happen.
He proposes to use an annual $100 million of documentary stamp tax revenue set aside by Amendment 1 over the next 20 years to finance the $2.4 billion acquisition of the land and construction of these reservoirs. He said the state and federal government would split the cost.
It sure sounded good to the big crowd gathered to hear him. They burst into applause more than once.
But, wait a minute. Look harder. This isn't a plan, it's the wish list torn straight out of the Everglades Foundation's bible.
Ask yourself. Who did the modeling for Negron's reservoir plan? The senator produced a map with two circles -- locations he claimed would be best for storing water, then cleaning it and finally sending it safely into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
He wants the state, not the federal government to supervise reservoir construction, yet the state had no part in the plan's modeling.
Who settled on those two sites?
It wasn't the South Florida Water Management District. SFWMD spokesman Randy Smith confirmed it. "The District did not do the modeling for the properties," he said.
Neither did the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Both chose not to issue statements about Negron's proposal.
SFWMD and the DEP are executive agencies. Executive agencies take their cues from the governor. And this is the statement Gov. Rick Scott released Tuesday afternoon: "We are reviewing (Negron's) proposal and will continue to review all options that will help with water quality in our state. We look forward to working with the legislature as session approaches.”
In other words, you're wasting our time, Joe.
The new water storage sites within Negron's two circles have been identified as 1) an area to the south straddling the Miami Canal and the Bolles Canal; and, 2) an area to the southeast adjacent to existing storm water treatment areas, canals, and the A-1 flow equalization basin.
The property description will tell you nothing if you're unfamiliar with the Everglades Agricultural Area. The fact is, the footprint of the land Negron identifies -- if it was Negron identifying it at all -- is right now in crop production. Sugar producer Florida Crystals owns 60 percent of it; Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida farms most of the rest of it.
During his presentation Tuesday, Negron made a point of saying, "Over the last several months, I've met with the agricultural community, Florida’s best scientists, community advocates, and others with relevant backgrounds and knowledge ..."
Maybe. But the sugar farmers say last Thursday, Aug. 4, a water-management consultant for Florida Crystals met with Negron at his invitation, to share solutions that have been proven to work to provide tangible relief for the estuaries with the lowest fiscal impact. Yet, the senator never invited the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative to come to the meeting. And Negron never mentioned a single word of Tuesday's proposal at that meeting.
After Negron's announcement, Florida Crystals and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative issued a joint press release.
“We will be reviewing the details of the plan announced today by Sen. Joe Negron as soon as they are made available to the public, especially since his proposal calls for taking another 60,000 acres of productive farmland out of production in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), most of which is our private land,” said Gaston Cantens, vice president of Florida Crystals.
The EAA has already lost more than 100,000 acres of farmland in the past 20 years for restoration. He said the real price of today's proposal is the loss of jobs and economic activity in the Glades communities.
“Taking another 60,000 acres of productive and sustainable farmland out of the EAA will without a doubt close down our sugar mill and put us out of business,” said Barbara Miedema, vice president of Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.“Sen. Negron’s plan means losing a thousand or more jobs in the Glades communities, not to mention the impact to businesses in the community that provide services to us.”
So, not only does Negron have to win over the Legislature -- a heavy lift -- he has to show county commissioners in Palm Beach and the Glades why they should lose millions of dollars in tax revenue and thousands of jobs to solve Martin County's problem, because that's exactly what it feels like to them.
Hendry County Commissioner Janet Taylor acknowledged the Glades communities are committed to finding solutions to reduce discharges from Lake Okeechobee. But, she said, "Senator Negron has allowed the priorities of radical activists to become part of his plans as Senate president. We encourage the Senate president-designate to visit our communities and hear from us before pursuing his plan that takes the wrong approach. Solving the problems of his community should not occur at the expense of our communities.”
Eric Eikenberg, Everglades Foundation CEO, whose fingerprints are all over Negron's proposal, told the News Service of Florida Tuesday he is confident federal lawmakers will understand the importance of maintaining the Everglades as a "national icon."
"This would be just like if Yosemite (National Park) was in jeopardy or the Grand Canyon was somehow threatened, people would be going crazy and Congress would certainly act," Eikenberg told reporter Jim Turner.
Well, no, not exactly. Everglades restoration is on target, it's happening, and frankly, the only part of it threatened and falling behind is the part the federal government won't pony up for.
And we're going to rely on the feds to help us out with money? Because the numbers are scary.
On top of the nearly billion dollars needed to purchase the land, a 60,000 acre reservoir is estimated to cost around $3.5 billion to construct. Assuming the now nearly $4.5 billion project is ever constructed, imagine the chagrin of taxpayers when they find out the reservoir changes almost nothing. Imagine when they find out the St. Lucie Estuary gets 94 percent of the total water flow it does today, and some 88 percent of the Lake Okeechobee discharges that come now, will come then.
Designed and authorized projects, with a price tag of tens of billions of dollars, are in line waiting for funding, including the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), Everglades Restoration Strategies, Central Everglades Planning Process (CEPP) and Northern Everglades & Estuaries Protection Program (NEEPP). Those plans will restore the system holistically. CEPP and Everglades Restoration Strategies both are south of Lake Okeechobee.
As a reminder, more than $6 billion has already been spent south of Lake Okeechobee and has resulted in almost full restoration of the southern Everglades. District and state engineers agree that sending excess polluted lake water south without treating it first at its source north of the lake will not only continue to damage Lake Okeechobee, but -- as the sugar growers say in their response, "it will jeopardize the southern Everglades and the unprecedented success the public-private partnership between the state and local agencies and EAA farmers has achieved."
I asked for the sugar farmers' point of view, and they gave it to me:
"We strongly believe water storage and treatment projects are imperative north of Lake Okeechobee, as identified in Sen. Negron’s University of Florida Water Institute Study, to address the massive volumes of nutrient-rich water that continue to degrade the lake. Storage north of the lake will also provide meaningful relief from the discharges to the coastal water bodies east and west, and the government already owns more than 100,000 acres there. It only makes sense to store the water at its source rather than allow it to continue to damage the lake, the estuaries and the Everglades. We also encourage septic tank conversion plans that will address the high concentrations of nutrients in the St. Lucie River and Estuary from the local basin, which contributes 79 percent of the water. Each region should be responsible for cleaning its own water. The small cities on the south end of Lake Okeechobee converted their septic tanks to modern sewage systems years ago."
I left messages for Negron and Eikenberg, hoping I would get my questions answered in a call back. That didn't happen.
I know Negron wants to solve his district's most pressing problem, of course he does. But he has chosen a political instead of a science-based solution and I'd bet the farm he knows it. Bottom line, that's why the "plan" he presented Tuesday to constituents hungry for relief will come seriously unglued.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
