Lawmakers grill water manager on Lake O reservoir project start

TALLAHASSEE — A multibillion-dollar reservoir construction plan to protect Treasure Coast waterways got a boost Wednesday from the House Natural Resources and Public Lands Subcommittee but not before legislators grilled the South Florida Water Management District’s executive director on a start time for the project.

Committee members approved a bill that would let the state Department of Environmental Protection start issuing permits under the federal Clean Water Act’s dredge and fill permitting program for the reservoir slated to be built on stateowned land in western Palm Beach County.

The plan calls for sending Lake Okeechobee overflow into an above-ground reservoir, formed by berms up to 37 feet high, to reduce freshwater discharges into the brackish ecosystems of the St. Lucie Estuary.

The reservoir plan was pushed by powerful Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in May after the devastating algae outbreak of 2016, when thick, foul-smelling mats of cyanobacteria covered the St. Lucie River during a period that included the July Fourth holiday — a heavy tourist time for the Treasure Coast.

Water District Executive Director Ernie Marks presented the plan to legislators, outlining affected areas and other plan details.

But state Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, wanted to know when the dirt would start moving. “In your best judgment, when can the project start?” he asked.

That depends in part on how swiftly federal partners — such as the Army Corps of Engineers — move once the district completes and submits its study of the project, Marks said.

A final report from the district on the reservoir plan is due to the secretary of the Army Corps of Engineers on March 30, followed by an Oct. 1 submission to Congress.

“It will take time,” he said. “It won’t happen overnight.”

Budgeting the project could take two years, Marks said.

Or, if the Everglades Coalition has its way, it could take longer. The coalition, a group of 62 environmental organizations, sent a letter dated Tuesday to Scott saying the district’s reservoir plan is insufficient. The coalition asked Scott to make the district resubmit the plan with a larger footprint that would include additional state-owned land that is currently under lease.

Unsatisfied with the lack of a firm start date, Fine shifted his questioning in the committee meeting.

“From the time of the start date, when would the reservoir be online?” he asked.

For that, Marks had an answer: Construction could be completed after five years, he said.

Rep. Kristin Jacobs, D-Coconut Creek, asked if there were parts of the plan the state could “jump-start” and then be reimbursed by the Corps.

Unlike most entities that partner with the Corps, the district actually has the ability to begin construction, Marks said, but reimbursement is unlikely thanks to the cost-share structure of the partnership with each side putting up half of what he estimated would be a $3 billion project.

“It’s a common misconception that the Corps would reimburse us if we do some of the work,” he said. “That’s not how the ledger is calculated.”