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LOSOM

We did it: LOSOM is now the law of the land

August 14, 2024

Five years ago we had an opportunity for change. We seized it. And now, at long last, that change has come. On Monday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Atlantic Division Commander signed a Record of Decision for the…

LOSOM takes key step forward – at long last

May 24, 2024

The LOSOM wait is finally over. Almost. More than five years ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began holding public meetings around South Florida to tout the development of a new “Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual,” to replace the…

Lake O discharges start Saturday. What are we going to do about that?

February 14, 2024

For months we’ve been predicting it. Thursday it became official: Beginning Saturday, Feb. 17, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin hammering the northern estuaries with discharges from Lake Okeechobee. In a press release the Corps said water will…

Whatever happened to LOSOM – and why is Big Sugar STILL trying to game the outcome?

February 8, 2024

Hm. Seems we remember this new “lake management plan” that was being developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Lake O… what was that called again? Oh, right — LOSOM. Whatever happened to LOSOM, anyway? As Ed Killer…

Special Report: 10 years after the ‘Lost Summer’ of 2013, what’s changed?

August 1, 2023

Ten years ago today, we were in the eye of the storm. The discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers had begun May 8; by early August 2013 the “Lost Summer” was in full swing, with…

Manatee deaths slowing, but could Lake O discharges change that?

June 29, 2023

First the good news: The record pace of manatee deaths in Florida has slowed. Two years ago Florida saw a record 1,100 manatee deaths. The primary cause of this “unusual mortality event” was starvation due to the loss of seagrass…

Don’t let Big Sugar dominate the LOSOM conversation

August 12, 2022

Big Sugar’s at it again. And if we want a more equitable plan for Lake Okeechobee which minimizes the chance of pulverizing discharges to the coasts, then we need to respond. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the…

If West Palm Beach finds another source of water, shouldn’t Lake O be kept lower?

March 17, 2022

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…

Wilton Simpson will harm our waters – and he’s almost certain to be Florida’s next Agriculture Commissioner

February 25, 2022

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…

Senate Bill 2508: Citizen opposition made a difference

February 17, 2022

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…

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