When Gov. Ron DeSantis came into office in 2019 one of the first things he did was dismiss the sitting South Florida Water Management District Governing Board and appoint a new slate. No longer was the board dominated by special interests; now there were a few — gasp! — conservation-minded members.

It seemed like a new era. But that “new era” imploded last week as the SFWMD — and DeSantis — reverted to the dirty-water mean.

First, DeSantis filled the long-vacant seat once held by Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch — one of those “conservation minded” members who had been reappointed to the board in 2023 but was blackballed by the Florida Senate for being a little too “green.”

DeSantis also had a second seat to fill after he let the term of Cheryl Meads expire without reappointing her. Meads reportedly got the news she was done as she was driving to the Governing Board’s meeting last Thursday.

Filling these two seats: Developers.

The first, Thomas Hurley, is the CEO and chair of Becker Holding Corp., and the face of one of the most controversial developments in recent Martin County history. His “Atlantic Fields” project in Hobe Sound required the creation of a new “Rural Lifestyle” land use designation, which allows more intensive development on agricultural lands outside the urban service boundary.

Hurley also contributed $5,000 to DeSantis’s “Empower Parents” PAC in 2021, according to state records.

Can we guess where his sympathies will lie as a governing board member?

The other newbie is Robert Spottswood Jr. of Key West, a developer and attorney who appears to have some legit environmental bona fides. But appointing a developer to a board long run by special interests is still a bad look for DeSantis. And it will have ramifications.

There are still some conservation-minded members on the SFWMD board but their numbers are thinner, their influence less pronounced. The balance has shifted in favor, once again, of the same old special interests, primarily Big Sugar and Florida’s insatiable growth machine.

As a result, bad projects like the Southland rock mine proposal in the EAA may have an easier time getting through the district’s approval process.

Our water may ultimately be even dirtier.

And that appears to be just the way our Governor wants it.