NEWS PRESS
April 2, 2007

Response to McCarthy

By Paul Reynolds, Sanibel (395-3390)

In his letter to the editor of the News-Press, Kevin McCarthy, Hendry County Commissioner poses the question, "when are coastal activists going to quit pointing the finger at the agricultural industry for our algae and red tide problems".

Proudly considering myself one of the coastal advocates I would like to answer Mr. McCarthy. We are going to quit blaming the agricultural industry for these problems when we start to see solutions that don't exclusively benefit them. They and their influence is directly responsible for the pollution of Lake Okeechobee . They are directly responsible for the excessive, and dangerous, quantities of water maintained in the lake for their irrigation needs. They are directly responsible for the various "solutions" to the problems, which interestingly profit only them.

They and their agents have controlled and manipulated this system for their advantage, and even now plans to cure the problems are little more than the creation of additional water storage and treatment areas to continue the status quo of protecting the farm industry to the determent of everyone else along the waterways.

I will tell Mr. McCarthy when we are going to quit pointing the finger at the agricultural industry; it will come when we achieve fair representation on governing agencies like South Florida Water management District board, when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection begins to live up to its name, not down to its actions. Perhaps when government officials like Kevin McCarthy start to look for solutions that benefit us all, we can stop identifying the culprits in this crisis.

Until he does that he may be absolutely certain, the finger-pointing is going to continue.