Articles by: Gil Smart
Last week, Martin County commissioners were given the opportunity to advocate for our human health and safety. Spoiler alert: they didn’t take it. The back story. In February, a familiar lineup of out-of-town naysayers came to a Martin…
Last summer’s red tide event persisted longer than any in more than 10 years with help from a constant source of nutrients from Lake Okeechobee discharges. Marine life was killed in unprecedented numbers, sparking headlines across the nation that had…
WE NEED YOUR HELP. Our legislature is using the final hours of Florida’s 2019 legislative session to reduce Florida Forever funding. Florida voters like you made it very clear that the Florida Forever program must be fully funded, not least…
The Army Corps asked and the people of South Florida answered–in force. Monday brought to a close more than two months of public comment sessions hosted by the Corps. Thousands of voices weighed in, from across the state and beyond,…
Any legislation that paves the way for private interests to use taxpayer resources to develop the Everglades is not in the public interest. In this episode of Florida politics, Eye on Miami’s Alan Farago takes a closer look at the…
If ever there was a person who captured the spirit of the fight to save Florida’s River of Grass, the famously feisty defender of the Everglades, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was it. And who better to commemorate those efforts than Martin…
There is no question that insufficient and outdated water management priorities have led us to a human health crisis. Holding Lake Okeechobee water levels too high before the rainy season last year resulted in the emergency discharge of 392 billion…
The human health crisis blooming in Florida is becoming harder to ignore. Last week a new study showed that dolphins are testing positive for fatal neurological disorders–similar to Alzheimer’s–after chronic exposure to toxic algae in the same waters that we…
Who would lobby to solve a problem s-l-o-w-e-r? By changing the operational priorities for Lake Okeechobee’s management, we could be on the brink of an amazing shift in water policy with the potential to transform South Florida forever… right NOW……
Hey, look over there! While federal and state agencies and a legion of Florida policymakers and water management experts scramble to rebuild the disastrous Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule–the operating manual that led to last summer’s toxic bloom catastrophe–the state legislature has…
