August 9, 2007
After contentious public input on Aug 8, the SFWMD Governing Board voted 4-3 on Aug 9 not to resume backpumping into Lake Okeechobee from the Everglades Agricultural Area, a practice that ended in 2001.
Voting against backpumping were 4 of the 5 appointees of Governor Crist to the board:
Charles J. Dauray (Southwest Florida representative)
Shannon A. Estenoz
Melissa L. Meeker
Eric Buermann
Voting in favor of backpumping were:
Nicolás J. Gutiérrez, Jr., Esq.
Patrick J. Rooney, Jr., Esq.
Harkley R. Thornton
Abstaining was U.S. Sugar Vice President and SFWMD board member Malcolm “Bubba” Wade, due to conflict of interest limitations. Absent from the meeting was Michael Collins.
The stations that were used for backpumping prior to 2001 are S-2, S-3, and S-4 located at the outfalls of Lake Okeechobee to the Hillsboro Canal, Miami Canal and Industrial Canal, respectively.