Senate President Joe Negron is dead-set on spending $2.4 billion for reservoir land south of Lake Okeechobee. But he might be ready to tweak his original plan, considering the outroar coming from his other constituents -- the so-far-less-vocal folks in the western portion of his redrawn district.
These are Glades people, agriculture-dependent people, who say "Negron's push to buy 60,000 acres south of the lake could take agricultural land out of production and kill jobs that are vital" in their impoverished communities.
TC.Palm's Isadora Rangel produced a telling story on Friday, revealing the senator's conumdrum: Since November, thanks to a court-ordered, redistricted state map, Negron has represented territory previously foreign to him -- Pahokee and areas that abut the southwestern side of Lake Okeechobee.
The interests of these people are diametrically opposed to the interests of the more afflueunt residents of the Treasure Coast, those most affected by lake discharges that result in damaging algae blooms.
So on Wednesday, when the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Environment and Natural Resources reconvenes, it won't be only the representatives of sugar complanies on hand to protest Negron's multi-billion-dollar plan. It will be residents and community leaders from Pahokee, Belle Glade and South Bay, formed as a group called Guardians of the Glades -- all Floridians who fall under Negron's umbrella.
The Guardians call the Negron plan "a distraction from making real progress in solving the pollution problems in the coastal estuaries." They say it would reshuffle the deck "from the carefully synchronized, system-wide suite of environmental projects" going forward on Everglades restoration." More than that, if implemented, they say, it will have a devastating impact on the Glades communities.
Rangel quotes Belle Glade pastor Robert Rease in her TCPalm story. Rease, one of the founders of Guardians of the Glades, repeated the the big fear in south lakeside communities: "A sugar cane mill that employs about 600 workers and is operated by the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida could shut down" if Negron has his way.
Rease said the state should focus on water entering Lake O from the north and use land the state already owns to create more storage south. Environmentalists, however, say state-owned land already is used or is planned for other water projects.
Guardians formed primarily because its members are aware the Everglades Foundation and their Martin County followers in particular "are pushing to put this land out of production," Rease said. "It's going to have an impact on our community."
Besides Guardians of the Glades, other groups have sprung up to come to the aid of communities likely affected -- for example, Glades Lives Matter and EAA Farmers, Inc.
There are some signs that leaders in many quarters, even those who have supported Negron's plan, are beginning to see it through the eyes of Glades residents and recognize its downsides -- looking for ways to make sure residents' worst fears aren't realized.
New U.S. representative for the Treasure Coast Brian Mast, for instance, likes the Negron plan, but says he hears Glades residents loud and clear. He doesn't think there's any reason to dislodge their homes, their lifestyle or their jobs. No need to buy farmland, Mast is quoted as saying in Rangel's story. "We can find (other) land. There’s a lot of land south of (Lake Okeechobee)."
Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who represents Pahokee, Belle Glade, South Bay, and smaller unincorporated communities such as Canal Point, admitted to TCPalm -- sure, Kings Ranch owns 30 percent of the land Negron has targeted for reservoirs. But she said small and family-owned farmers actually farm that land for the company.
Florida Crystals owns about 60 percent of the land in each each of the targeted areas, but farms some of it on behalf of the Sugar Cane Cooperative, made up of 45 small and medium-size farms, McKinlay told TCPalm.
Take that land out of production, she said, and you injure or destroy other small, agriculture-related businesses, from tractor companies to the shops where workers spend their money.
Hendry County Commissioner Janet Taylor, chairwoman of Glades Lives Matter, said in a stirring oped in the Huffington Post, "The attacks on our communities in South Florida are a shame, and taking our land would be a tragedy. Recently, I joined with other black leaders in South Florida in beginning the #GladesLivesMatter movement, because I don’t want my children growing up in a state where our livelihoods are constantly threatened. The future black leaders of our communities deserve better."
"Negron visited Pahokee," reported Rangel, "and assured local leaders those two circles are just suggestions and he's open to looking at other parcels."
In fact, in public discussions since November, Negron has dropped mention of the specific parcels he pinpointed in two circles on an Everglades map he unveiled in June.
"We'll be there Wednesday," Emil Dubois of Belle Glade told Sunshine State News. "But when we go to these meetings, we're never recognized. We never get to talk. There's never time for us," he said.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
