ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 23, 2007
Crist wants Everglades restoration to have focus to the north
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
Gov. Charlie Crist took a boat along the St. Lucie River on Friday, heard hoe it's being damaged by Lake Okeechobee water releases and then pledged to support a plan that would focus Everglades restoration on areas north of the lake.
Realizing that pollutants that flow into Lake Okeechobee from the north eventually wash through the Everglades and into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, the Legislature wants a plan to stop the problem at its origin.
"If you don't stop that water, which literally is just pouring into the lake, you will never get ahead of it because that water goes south," said Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, who took the tour with Crist.
The plan would include purchasing land north of the lake, creating storage areas that could clean the water before it flows south and working with farmers to reduce the amount of fertilizer and pollutant runoff. Pruitt said the Senate will take it up as one of its first priorities when the annual legislative session begins March 6.
Until now, the $10.5 billion federal-state restoration project has focused on areas south of the lake.
"We're not messing around here. We're trying to get about the business of helping Florida , because she deserves it," said Crist, who plans to meet Monday with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., about the federal role in the restoration. "These environmental issues are key and they are significant."
While on the river, South Florida Water Management District Executive Director Carol Wehle showed Crist photos of green slime that recently affected the area. High phosphorus levels coming from the lake feed algae blooms. The Army Corps of Engineers controls the lake level with a dike system and releases water into the rivers when the level reaches a certain height.
"Every time this structure is opened the first thing that comes out is a flush of sediment and there's no reason for that," Wehle said.
Even without the high phosphorus levels, the fresh water flowing into the estuaries damages oyster beds, sea grass and keeps fish from spawning. The plan to store water north of the lake may help reduce the need to release water from it, said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole.