No Way Charlie Crist Stood In The Way Of Everglades Restoration 10/29/14 I will grant Jeb Bush that his FDEP and SFWMD deserve credit for the EAA Reservoir Project as the centerpiece for Everglades restoration if Jeb Bush will grant me that the project was not derailed by Charlie Crist but by Jeb Bush’s FDEP and SFWMD being unwilling to certify that the stored water would be used solely for Everglades restoration in response to a lawsuit filed by NRDC and others. This disqualified the EAA Reservoir Project for CERP reimbursement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the WRDA enabling legislation. That killed the project. How many hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted as a result? Perhaps Jeb Bush believed that his FDEP and SFWMD could finesse the Corps regarding the EAA Reservoir Project as easily as FDEP and SFWMD finessed the conversion of the pits from an abandoned limestone quarry owned by Palm Beach Aggregates into a series of below-ground storage reservoirs known as the L-8 Reservoir Project (L8RP). Together with the construction of the G-160 and G-161 structures, the dredging of the C-18 Canal, and the relocation of the G-92 structure, the L8RP was intended to be used to meet the minimum flows and levels of the Northwest Fork of the Loxahatchee River, portions of which are designated Wild and Scenic and portions of which are listed as mercury-impaired. Unfortunately, the mining operation dug through the limestone in several locations, creating a conduit for the seepage of trapped (connate) sea water into the pits from the underlying aquifer. Despite this seepage, the waters of the L8RP were magically transformed from limestone mining process and process-related wastewater into waters of the state that could be discharged untreated into L-8 Canal with the benefit of a mixing zone under a CERPRA permit issued by FDEP but without a Clean Water Act NPDES permit issued by USEPA Region 4. The high sulfate in the connate seepage will stimulate methylmercury production in the downstream wetlands and floodplains up to the point of sulfide inhibition. That could not be healthy for the fish-eating migratory and endangered bird species foraging in the Grassy Waters Preserve. Instead of being finessed by Rick Scott’s FDEP and SFWMD, the Corps refused to co-fund the L8RP under the Northern Everglades CERP. This forced Rick Scotts SFWMD to reprogram the L8RP as a flow equalization basin (FEB) for the Eastern Flow Path of the Reservoir-Assisted STAs, STAs-1W,-1E, and -2 with the approval of Rick Scott’s FDEP, while Barack Obama’s USEPA Region 4 looked the other way. Then SFWMD Executive Director Melissa Meeker was the midwife for this rebirth. I have previously tallied that the L8RP-related waste, fraud, and abuse caused by the cronyism, collusion, and corruption that occurred on Jeb Bushs and Rick Scotts watch now approaches half a billion dollars ($220M for the L8RP + $160M for the other infrastructure + $60M+ for the new L8RP superpump station + whatever additional infrastructure will be required to connect the L8RP to the Eastern Flow Path for FEB-assisted STA-1W, -1E, and -2). However, if someone has a better estimate of taxpayer losses associated with this fiasco, I would be much obliged. As I recollect two officials elected to the Palm Beach County Commission were convicted of corruption and the civil engineer who certified the project for its intended use temporarily lost his Florida Professional Engineering (PE) certification. I don’t recollect any similar scale of Everglades restoration-related irregularities on Charlie Crist’s watch. Crists only contribution to this fiasco was not to putting a halt to what Jeb Bush had set in motion and what Rick Scott would finish. Larry E. Fink, M.S. Waterwise Consulting, LLC palmbeachpost/news/news/corruption-tainted-200-million-reservoir-brackish-/nL5XX/
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:21:47 +0000
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