Articles by: Gil Smart
It won’t work. A newly published, peer-reviewed scientific evaluation of the EAA Reservoir plan is calling for a dramatic shift in design to ensure that good intentions don’t just end up polluting our waters and making us and our Everglades more…
At last month’s House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing on the Water Resources Development Act, two voices stood out in a crowded room to speak for the decades-long decline of South Florida’s waterways. Congressman Brian Mast, a Republican from the…
13 months ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t track toxic algae in Lake Okeechobee discharges. Today, they are changing the way they manage the lake specifically to prevent harmful health effects from toxic algae. This is huge news, and…
Ohana Surf Shop is one of dozens of local businesses on the Treasure Coast that has struggled. After discharge years cost the shop thousands of dollars in surf lessons and paddleboard excursions, we caught up with them to get a…
How familiar does this sound? Climbing summer temperatures and nutrient-rich runoff had been feeding algae blooms on the state’s biggest lake for some time. Reports were sporadic. Officials weren’t overly concerned. It wasn’t news. Then, in a matter of days,…
“How toxic is too toxic?” Don’t ask. A year ago, Congressman Brian Mast questioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about their role in tracking toxicity and warning affected communities when cyanobacteria blooms occur. His questions highlighted what has historically…
No one with knowledge of the decades-long decline of South Florida’s estuaries could have been prepared for what we heard yesterday. After years of static, after seemingly endless sidestepping and half-truths and flat-out lies from officials at every level, a…
On this 4th of July, we’re taking a moment to express gratitude for the protection of our right to clean water as Americans, and we commend the difference that a year and a change in operational priorities can make. This…
Outdated priorities and a broken operational system have left Florida in a tailspin of escalating catastrophes. Recently, a sharper look at the downstream effects of massive Lake Okeechobee discharges impacting health and human safety has taken center stage as more…
This week, Congressman Brian Mast took a stand for clean water and human health when he filed the PROTECT Florida Act. This landmark legislation proposes a unified solution with immediate impacts for three critically important waterways, by declaring protection of…