PALM BEACH POST
May 01, 2007
Water district makeover requires one more step
Editorial
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/05/01/a12a_wmdedit_0501.html
Gov. Crist rates a big
high-five for naming Shannon Estenoz to one of two
remaining vacancies on the South Florida Water Management District Governing
Board. He'll rate another if he fills the second vacancy even nearly as well.
Ms. Estenoz, a fifth-gegoverning board could consider isolated Phase III
restrictions for several east coast communities when it meets May 9 and 10. governing board could consider isolated Phase III
restrictions for several east coast communities when it meets May 9 and 10. neration Floridian, is a regional director for the National
Parks Conservation Association and worked as Everglades
program director for the World Wildlife Fund. She served on the Governor's
Commission for the Everglades and has a bachelor's
degree in civil engineering. Ms. Estenoz won't be
just a strong voice for the environment on a board that hasn't had one; she has
the expertise to ask good questions.
But Gov. Crist has more
work to do. Ms. Estenoz fills the Broward
County spot. He still must fill the
Palm Beach County
board slot held by Chairman Kevin McCarty, who is married to Palm Beach County
Commissioner Mary McCarty. If the governor is serious about Everglades restoration and Florida's
environment, Mr. McCarty also must go.
Appointed by Gov. Bush in 2003, Mr. McCarty voted
the day he was sworn in to weaken a super-strict pollution limit for the Everglades.
Later, he approved a permit for the Harmony Ranch subdivision in Martin
County on land earmarked for Indian
River Lagoon restoration. That decision enabled the Army Corps of Engineers to
approve the permits, and land that easily could have been saved was lost.
Also, Mr. McCarty failed to disclose his role in
a deal that may allow landowners west of Boca Raton
to become part of Broward County,
to avoid stricter development rules. Mr. McCarty submitted to the board a
resolution backing the secession, without disclosing that the text of the
resolution came from a lawyer for the landowners. And he, along with three
other board members who weren't reappointed, approved a permit to allow an
unneeded Palm Beach County
golf course to suck more than 200 million gallons of water from the Everglades
each year. That same day, the board imposed water restrictions on residents.
The board reversed its decision after a Post story revealed that a water
district staffer who endorsed the irrigation permit shares a house with the
project consultant.
Leah Schad, a former
National Audubon Society director who served a four-year board term under Gov.
Lawton Chiles, has applied for the Palm Beach
County spot. She also would provide
balance. For that matter, Mr. McCarty's departure by itself would provide
balance.