Lake Okeechobee
One of the most passionate clean-water advocates in South Florida just got kicked to the curb. As we detailed last week, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch had been a member of the South Florida Water Management District’s Governing Board since 2019. The Sewall’s…
You know those massive algal blooms that cover much of Lake Okeechobee each spring and summer? The ones that threaten the St. Lucie River and Caloosahatchee River estuaries, and everyone who lives around or spends time on them, with toxins?…
The mood at the Rivers Coalition meeting in Stuart Jan. 19 was upbeat, almost triumphant. Gov. Ron DeSantis had issued an executive order earlier in the week, promising more money for Everglades restoration and the Indian River Lagoon. Lake Okeechobee…
Ever noticed that when Mother Nature — and Florida water managers — dole out adversity, Big Sugar is always at the back of the line? It’s happening right now. After Hurricane Ian and then Hurricane Nicole slammed Florida, Lake Okeechobee…
The following is commentary by Ray Judah, a member of the VoteWater Board of Directors and a former Lee County Commissioner. Poor water quality in the Caloosahatche river and our coastal estuaries is a political problem and requires a political…
In Florida our iconic waters are central to our quality of life; perhaps even our culture. But we do not have a “culture of clean water.” The phrase was coined by Dr. Paul Gray of Audubon Florida, speaking at a June…
Florida: We’re Number One! In polluted lakes, that is: The state’s waters have long been fouled by dirty stormwater and algae blooms fed by fertilizer run off from farms. Now a new study examining water quality across the U.S. shows Florida ranking…
Toxic blue-green algae on Lake Okeechobee isn’t just a problem for the lake, or for the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee when those estuaries are being blasted with discharges from the lake full of cyanobacteria. Increasingly, as this article in the…
When the bigwigs in Tallahassee are committed to corporate privilege over clean water, you get what we’ve got – a long crisis that can only get worse. Case in point: Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson, who is running for Agriculture…
They blinked. The night before a profoundly damaging bill for the Everglades and Florida’s environment in general was slated to go before the state Senate, word came: There was an amendment. And many of the worst provisions in Senate Bill…