http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/06/a15a_letterfile_0106.html

Palm Beach Post

Letters: 'Anti-sugar' trumps 'clean lake' to detriment of all

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Congratulations. A federal court essentially outlawed the cleanest 3 percent of the water going into Lake Okeechobee while ignoring the worst 97 percent. ("Stop pumping pollution" editorial, Dec. 16.)

We seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. By focusing on "anti-sugar" instead of "clean lake," the true problems in the system never will be fixed. Why on Earth would you outlaw the cleanest water in the system while ignoring once again the heavily polluted water pouring into Lake Okeechobee from the northern tributaries? Not only is the water south of the lake some of the cleanest water in the entire system but the farming areas south of the lake account for less than 3 percent of the water that goes into Lake Okeechobee. Water is back-pumped from the rural communities of Belle Glade, South Bay and Clewiston only when excessive rainfall would otherwise flood these farming communities. The federal ruling stopping the pumping will cause these communities to be under water every year.

People in the Glades are growing weary of being singled out and treated differently than every other area in the system. Ninety-seven percent of the pollution and the water that flow into Lake Okeechobee come from the northern half of the watershed, draining development from Orlando, south. This is the 800-pound gorilla responsible for damaging both the lake and the coastal estuaries, yet not one lawsuit has been filed to stop this water or to demand that it be cleaned before entering the lake. Instead, precious time and tax money are wasted on lesser issues.

Everyone in South Florida lives in a man-made drainage system that we all recognize is not perfect. There are more than 3,000 structures around the lake that move water so that people, their homes and their property do not flood. Yet, only three of those structures, conveniently located in the farming communities, were the target of this judge's ruling. The Palm Beach Post, the lake and the people of South Florida would be better served by strongly insisting on a clean lake, not on hurting sugar farmers and flooding the Glades communities.

ROBERT E. COKER

Vice president, U.S. Sugar Corp.

Clewiston