This session I have joined several of my friends, neighbors, and fellow Glades residents in the many efforts to stop the ill-conceived plan to buy more farmland south of Lake Okeechobee. Why? Because Senate Bill 10 puts our economic, environmental, and financial future at risk.
At its core, our opposition to this plan is primarily about one thing: saving local, American jobs. Senate Bill 10 absolutely will harm farming communities south of Lake Okeechobee. If passed, it will take between 60,000 to 153,000 acres of active farmland out of production, costing the Glades communities thousands of jobs. According to at least one sugarcane farming company, this land grab would put them out of business, destroying at least 1,000 jobs. These are American jobs that help to keep our domestic food supply safe from foreign threats.
The proposed land buy is under consideration after 120,000 acres of farmland have already been sold to the government for conservation purposes over the last two decades. Currently, 43 percent of land in South Florida is owned by the government. There is no reason to take any more when enough is already under government ownership for Everglades restoration.
Additionally, this bad bill could halt progress that is being made in Everglades restoration. Today 95 percent of water in the Everglades is meeting the strict 10 parts per billion standard for phosphorus required by law. Water in the Everglades is cleaner than water you buy in a bottle from the store. Current plans for Everglades restoration include building storage east, west, north, and south of Lake Okeechobee on land that has already been purchased. Scientists are urging our leaders to stick to these plans, which are scientifically designed to clean water in the Everglades and reduce the frequency of discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
Senate Bill 10 will NOT solve problems plaguing the local estuaries, like the algae blooms on the east coast in the summer of 2016. In 2016, more than 5 million acre feet was discharged from Lake Okeechobee. A 60,000 acre reservoir south of the lake would only hold 4 percent of this water. In wet years like last year, the Everglades to the south are flooded and cannot take any more water when lake releases are made. The reservoir proposed by SB 10 would have still required up to 4.2 million acre-feet to be discharged to the estuaries. It also would not have provided treatment for the water flowing into the St. Lucie River, where science shows up to 80 percent of the nutrients that contributed to the algae blooms came from the local communities and from sources such as septic tanks, fertilizer, and urban runoff. In years when there are no discharges from Lake Okeechobee, these communities can still experience algae blooms.
This flawed plan, which was surprisingly proposed by a Republican, relies on a $2.4 billion payment scheme with bonding -- money that can be used to continue Everglades restoration now instead of a land-buying boondoggle that no government agency is requesting. Since when have Republicans been in favor of getting government into the real estate business? Instead of borrowing money on the backs of our children for a plan that is half-baked, we should stick to current plans -- designed by actual scientists -- that will have a meaningful impact on restoring the Everglades and stopping the Lake Okeechobee discharges.
Julia Du Plooy is the founder of the Lake Okeechobee Business Alliance. She resides in Clewiston.
