Weve always been at bottom of totem pole!!! We can have both -short term long term!!! Its the rivers turn here in MARTIN COUNTY!!! SAVE THE RIVERS!!! YOU WANT RIVERS DEATH?? The incoming Florida House speaker wants a statewide water policy rather than a “piecemeal approach.” A state Senate panel wants $220 million to address problems facing the Indian River Lagoon. Are we heading for a clash of the Titans at the 2014 legislative session this spring? State Rep. Steve Crisafulli, a Merritt Island Republican elected Speaker of the House for 2014-15, wrote in a guest column Sunday in the Orlando Sentinel, “Water is so essential to our existence; yet water policy is often overlooked or tackled in a parochial manner. ... Focusing on one community at a time in a piecemeal approach can lead to new problems down the road.” Crisafulli noted in response to the environmental and economic damage of this year’s Lake Okeechobee discharges into the St. Lucie River and Caloosahatchee River estuaries, “Rightly, local public officials at every level mobilized to address the problem.” Referring to the Senate’s Select Committee on the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee Basin, Crisafulli wrote: “Many of the ideas that have come out of the task force spearheaded by Sen. Joe Negron correctly consider the state as a whole and the connectivity of our waterways. But, with emotions high and attention so focused on one region, there is a need to guard against tunnel vision and focusing exclusively on one problem to the detriment of others.” NEGRON’S REACTION Negron, R-Stuart, said Monday he didn’t interpret Crisafulli’s column as critical of the committee’s proposal to earmark $220 million for the lagoon. In fact, he said, Crisafulli played “a big part” in making sure $20 million of the money goes toward removing muck from the northern lagoon, which is in the on-deck speaker’s district. “(Crisafulli) is an ally in our effort to protect and clean up our waterways,” Negron said. “He specifically recommended (the money for muck removal) when we met.” Negron said developing a statewide water policy and spending money on local projects are not mutually exclusive. “The Lake Okeechobee discharges are a subset of the larger environmental picture,” Negron said. “There are a number of proposals that will come to the Senate in the upcoming session dealing with long-term commitments to a good, safe water policy. But the first thing they do when you go into the emergency room is stop the bleeding, and I think everyone in Florida agrees that this year our community went through an environmental nightmare.” ‘LOW-HANGING FRUIT’ State Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, a member of the lagoon committee who had the muck project attached to the panel’s wish list, said Monday he had not read Crisafulli’s column but has heard him call for a statewide policy before. “Obviously I agree with the need for a comprehensive water policy,” Altman said. “We all agree that we’ll never fully resolve our water problems without a comprehensive approach. But I do think there are some low-hanging fruit that need to be addressed on the Indian River Lagoon, things we can do right away to resolve that immediate problem. And I think Mr. Crisafulli would agree with us on that as well.” The long- and short-term projects the Senate panel proposed after a series of hearings in Stuart and Tallahassee include, in addition to muck removal, reservoirs to shield the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, flow fixes for the Kissimmee River before its water enters Lake O, water quality monitoring and oyster bed and sea grass restoration. COMPETING INTERESTS Both legislative chambers will have to approve most of the recommendations during the March-through-May session. The 2014 Legislature is expected to consider a budget with a $845 million surplus. On the flip side, Gov. Rick Scott, who is up for re-election next year, is requesting $100 million in agency cuts and $500 million in tax cuts, both of which will shrink the pot of available state money. Negron said he doesn’t think Crisafulli’s call for comprehensiveness over parochialism will make getting money for the lagoon any harder: “I’m happy he’s bringing further attention to these issues.”
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 14:18:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015