Today is Day 13 of damaging discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the northern estuaries. On Instagram, our friends at Friends of the Everglades posted video of water rushing through the St. Lucie Lock and Dam with the caption “This is what government-sanctioned harm looks like.”

Government of the people, by the people, for the people? In Florida, it’s the government AGAINST the people.

Witness our state Legislature, which in recent years has sought to punish citizens who challenge decisions on environmental grounds. In 2024 it was House Bill 789 and Senate Bill 738, which would have required anyone who loses an environmental court case to a county or municipality to cover the winner’s legal fees. Those bills failed, but in 2023 Senate Bill 540 became law, requiring anyone who loses a suit over a comprehensive plan to pay the winner’s legal fees.

It’s a short hop from there to what’s going on now in Cape Coral, where three fishermen — Dan Carney, Jim Collier and Kevin Sparks — challenged the city’s attempts to get rid of the Chiquita Lock on the Caloosahatchee. They lost that battle after a judge ruled the Florida DEP could issue a permit for the lock’s removal.

Now, as reported by Craig Pittman and others, the city is going after the anglers and wants them to pay some $2 million in legal fees for their “frivolous” challenge.

The lock — though reportedly neglected for years as the city sought to remove it — forces water from the city’s canals to filter through mangroves so that once it reaches the Caloosahatchee River and Matlacha Pass, it’s cleaner.

But the City of Cape Coral apparently thinks clean water is “frivolous.”

Make no mistake, the city — indeed the Florida Legislature — is sending a message: Challenge our decisions on clean-water grounds? You’d better win that challenge — or else.

Cape Coral voters need to remember this come the next election. Same with our state Legislature; but in the meantime, we expect to see more such despicable proposals this session.

If and when we do you’ll know about it — and we’ll be counting on your help to shoot them down.