Scott gets flak over red-tide research plan
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott wants state wildlife commissioners to seek tax dollars for a red-tide research center and to restart a task force, as Florida’s Gulf Coast continues to face an expanding outbreak of the algae.
Environmentalists said Scott’s latest proposals won’t cure the ongoing problems and criticized the proposal as a campaign stunt.
In a letter Thursday to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Scott urged creation of a Florida Center for Red Tide Research and reestablishment of the Florida Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force. He also called for seeking a funding increase next year from the Legislature for research, as the current outbreak has persisted for 10 months and is believed to have caused the deaths of thousands of fish, manatees, sea turtles and dolphins.
Susan Neel, a spokeswoman for the commission, said the “commissioners look forward to discussing his recommendations.”
The commission has reported that the bloom spans about 145 miles along the coast of Southwest Florida, and the agency has documented 115 manatee and 318 sea turtle deaths this year in the region that are suspected to be related to red tide.
Fish kills have been reported in Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier and Monroe counties.
Despite recent news releases from the governor’s office about state efforts to address red tide, Scott has faced criticism because of policies his administration has pursued since he took office in 2011, from reducing funding for water-management districts to easing regulations regarding water-quality testing. The criticism comes amid Scott’s campaign to try to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
Protesters converged on a Scott campaign appearance this week in the Sarasota County community of Venice.
A separate campaign event planned for Naples was later canceled.
Aliki Moncrief, executive director of Florida Conservation Voters, said that while Scott’s requests to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission “aren’t bad,” they fail to address immediate problems that were “caused by his policies.”
“I feel like we’re getting to the point where the red tide is getting worse, now it’s all the way up to Pinellas, Tampa Bay and the Panhandle, it’s reaching epic proportions,” Moncrief said. “To me, he’s doing it (taking the steps) for his own self-serving reasons, which is trying to fool, to trick Florida voters that he’s going to do something as a U.S. senator.”
Moncrief said the state needs to address impacts of climate change, agricultural and stormwater runoff and a lack of mandatory septic-tank inspections.
Sierra Club Florida Chapter Director Frank Jackalone was more critical of what he called “a half-baked, ineffective plan to Florida's ongoing water crisis.”
"Scott's proposal for more research won't cure red tide and green slime,” Jackalone said in a statement. “The only way to reduce the occurrence, size and severity of harmful algae blooms is to stop the pollution that is feeding it at its source. We need prevention, not more studies.”