Protect the ’Glades, not sugar farmers

Senate President Joe Negron sees “extraordinary progress” on one of Florida’s most important environmental restoration projects. We hope that he’s right.

That project is a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee that would produce two big benefits. It would reduce — and possibly eliminate — the need to dump polluted water into fragile coastal estuaries when the lake rises high enough to threaten the Herbert Hoover Dike. It also would provide water to re-hydrate Everglades National Park.

Negron represents Martin County, where last year massive discharges during a wet winter again caused algae blooms in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon and closed beaches. Last week, a Florida Senate subcommittee heard testimony on Negron’s idea for the 60,000-acre reservoir. Negron proposes that the state and federal government each pay half of the $2.4 billion cost.

In an interview with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Negron said his takeaway from the hearing is that “there is a consensus that we need water storage south of the lake, that the status quo is not fine.” Negron has identified two parcels for purchase but is “open to options if someone can show other locations that might work.”

The most persuasive testimony came from Wendy Graham, director of the University of Florida Water Institute. Her report concludes that protecting the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, while getting more water to the Everglades, will require far more storage than current plans envision.

The state owns land south of the lake, but it’s designated for another use. “Everything authorized now,” Graham said, “is insufficient to achieve the restoration goals, so the path forward requires significant long-term investment in the infrastructure.”

Graham’s report, Negron said, “makes clear that a reservoir south of the lake is indispensable.” Negron is correct. He’s also correct to call the reservoir proposal “not a radical, new idea.” Scientists have considered it part of Everglades restoration for two decades.

Unfortunately, the most important state agency involved with Everglades restoration remains committed to the interests of sugar farmers instead of the environment.

At Wednesday’s hearing, South Florida Water Management Executive Director Peter Antonacci restated the district’s opposition to Negron’s proposal. Antonacci told senators that buying the land actually could hurt restoration efforts.

Why does the water management district oppose the idea? Because U.S. Sugar opposes the idea, and U.S. Sugar has donated $425,000 to Gov. Rick Scott’s political action committee since the 2014 election cycle. The company owns only a portion of one of the two parcels, but U.S. Sugar doesn’t want any more farmland out of production.

Scott appoints the nine water management district board members. In 2015, the board rejected calls from environmental groups to buy nearly 47,000 acres from U.S. Sugar. The district retains an option, which expires in 2020, to buy another 153,000 acres.

We know that Antonacci speaks for the governor. In 2015, the Scott administration forced out the agency’s former director and told the board to replace him with Antonacci, Scott’s former legal counsel.

The governor isn’t just allowing the water management to district to oppose the reservoir. He’s allowing the district to be needlessly confrontational. Last fall, the Everglades Foundation issued a study that supported water storage south of the lake. On Jan. 9, in a letter to the foundation’s vice-president for programs, Tom Van Lent, a district official said the study was based on “irresponsible science” and dismissed it as “a misrepresentation of the facts.” Van Lent responded with a letter in which he called the district’s conclusions “baseless” and a “personal attack” on the foundation.

Understand that the reservoir is Negron’s top priority. As Senate president, he can block any of the governor’s priorities if he chooses. If Scott intends to challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018, one wonders why he wants to look bad on such an important environmental issue.

Which brings us back to U.S. Sugar. The company and its entities donated roughly $6 million during the last election cycle to state legislators, parties and political action committees. Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Orange Park, chairs the appropriations subcommittee of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which held last week’s hearing. He received $5,000 from U.S. Sugar. Vice-Chairman Lauren Book, D-Plantation, received $3,500. Committee members Travis Hutson and Debbie Mayfield received $7,500 and $4,000, respectively.

The reservoir issue is so important that the committee couldn’t get to all the testimony. Next week, members will hear from environmental groups — Van Lent will represent them — and farmers who oppose the reservoir. The science supports the reservoir, and Negron has a source of money — the Amendment 1 trust fund. Voters approved it three years ago. The water management district should become part of the progress.