Gary Kuhl is a
former executive director of the Southwest Florida Water Management District
and County Administrator for both Citrus and Hernando counties. He is also the former
Water Team Leader for Hillsborough County and is currently an active member of
the Florida Conservation Coalition. His
letter is published here with his permission.
It rings with validity and carries significance because of his professional
background – he’s an engineer – and his considerable experience in Florida
water resource management.
- Sandspur
Not So Fast My Friend
Just when it was starting to feel like the Governor and the
Florida Legislature might be trying to head in the right direction and “get the
water right”, things sure look like they are going south AGAIN. The Governor
recently suggested putting money in the State’s budget to assist with Everglades
management and improvement in water routing to minimize the disastrous impacts
seen this past summer in the Indian River Lagoon---putridly polluted runoff
waters released into the Lagoon from Lake Okeechobee apparently killed hundreds
of dolphin, pelicans and manatees over this past year. Granted the Governor’s
proposed budget amount for the Eveglades is a pittance compared to what is
needed, yet it seemed like a positive start. State monies were recently spent
with great fanfare to cleanup some of the State’s springheads including the
Chassahowitzka spring in southwest Citrus County. It is well known that it is
going to take serious action upstream of these springheads to stop the nutrient
and water consumption problems, but again these springhead cleanup projects
seemed to be a good start. And Southwest Florida Water Management District
employees have tried hard to keep local citizens informed of progress on these
spring projects. There SEEMED to be a few other good signs of recognition by
elected State officials of our water problems and hence potential problems for
Florida’s future.
 |
| Rainbow River Photo by Gary Kuhl |
But not so fast my
friend---enter Pam Bondi, Florida’s Attorney General, who surely receives
direction and supervision from our own Governor Scott, to join some twenty
other state attorneys general with formal letters supporting a lawsuit by the American
Farm Bureau Federation filed against the feds and the State of Maryland for
(GASP!) cleaning up Chesapeake Bay! She, Bondi, claims her only desire here is
to stop federal overreach, i.e., to stop a cooperative environmental cleanup
program between six states, the District of Columbia and yes, the federal
government. How does her action make any sense? It’s embarrassing for our
State. When’s the last time you ate an oyster or crab harvested from Chesapeake
Bay?? That Bay is a mess--kind of like Indian River Lagoon.
Right behind Bondi comes Florida Panhandle Representative
Jimmy Patronis with proposed legislation (HB 703) to eliminate or severely
limit Florida counties and municipalities from managing and regulating their
own local development and projects impacting our environment. Remember the
Florida Legislature two years ago dismantled Florida’s growth management laws
and the State department responsible thereof. The reason given was, gosh, the
local county and city governments could handle all that stuff. Is there a
pattern here?
Is there a decided approach to dismantle the substance of
forty some years of environmental consciousness promulgated by bipartisan
Florida governors and legislators? Looks like no one will be overseeing
development or long term planning or “you name it” in Florida, a state that has
now has almost 19 million residents and millions more annual visitors. Guess
who supports this bill, HB 703? Is it the same folks who are suing Maryland
because they are trying to clean up their own Chesapeake Bay through planning
and, yes, regulation of farming and development practices? On the long haul,
fair and well thought-out regulations are job savers, not job killers.
And finally along comes our Speaker of the House, Will
Weatherford, who proclaims that he is “punting the water stuff” to next year’s
legislative session. He acknowledges that Florida’s water issues are real and
have been a long time in the making and will take a long time to solve. It is very
hard to understand how a responsible leader in our State government could make such
an ill-considered statement for non-action. It is a problem, it will take a
long time to solve it. So let’s put it
off another year!??
Kudos to Senator Charlie Dean along with four other Florida
Senators who have drafted a proposed bill aimed at protecting and enhancing
Florida’s dying springs, and really, our fresh groundwater resources for
drinking, irrigation and industry use. Senator Dean in a recent presentation at
the annual meeting of the Friends of the Crystal River Wildlife Management Refuge
Complex, explained the bill he was instrumental in drafting. He cited the
proposed bill as long overdue and the “right thing to do” for our State. These five Senators and their proposed bill
need our strong support through citizen letters and phone calls to elected
officials, such as our Governor and other senators and representatives. Senator
Dean along with getting his proposed bill passed, will need to fight to quash
HB 703. Patronis’ bill opens the door to
the old days in Florida----totally unmanaged growth along with an apparent path
to privatization of our water resources. Guess who is already strongly lobbying
against Senator Dean’s bill? You got it---lobbyists for agricultural and
development interests.
Don’t get me wrong, I personally like agricultural, chamber
of commerce, industry and home builder folks----many of us have relatives and
good friends in these groups. I like Representative Patronis; several of us met
with him this past summer to express our concerns about his bill that passed
last year, further weakening water management districts in Florida. I like jobs
being created here in Florida and good pay for employees. Positive cash flow
into our state is probably good. BUT, if we mess up what brings people and
businesses to our beautiful and unique State, its water and its environment, we
can kiss it all good-bye. Selling or polluting our natural resources for the
highest bidder, to get re-elected as governor or attorney general or
legislator; or to bring big bucks to a few folks to the detriment of a long
term healthy Florida is dead wrong. Maybe many have never seen a Florida spring in
the wild and maybe some could care less about “the environment” but we
taxpayers will pay the bill to try to fix the mess if our water is not properly
managed NOW. We have got to help Senator
Dean get his bill passed and kill House Bill 703.
Respectfully submitted,
Gary W. Kuhl
February 20, 2014
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