fbpx

News

Martin County Pressured to Weaken Conservation Rules

October 18, 2017

Why is Doug Smith’s Martin County commission weakening protections for the St. Lucie? It comes down to money and sugar. Whenever you call attention to the sugar industry’s responsibility for destroying Florida’s rivers, their executives immediately blame local communities for overdevelopment,…

Progress on SB10 at Risk

October 12, 2017

Please read “A Catastrophe in the Everglades and How to Fix It” by Hal Herring in the latest Field & Stream (click here). No one has ever crafted a sharper picture of what’s at stake in South Florida and how close we are…

Why Didn’t We Throw Tomatoes at Ernie Marks?

October 5, 2017

Last week, Ernie Marks, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, faced a crowded room at a Rivers Coalition meeting in Stuart. He’d joked about getting hit with tomatoes. He did get some sharp questions, including from Bullsugar, but he…

Without SFWMD Model, EAA Reservoir is on Track to Fail

September 28, 2017

Right now billions of gallons of fertilizer, sewage, and legacy pollution from Lake Okeechobee are spewing into the St. Lucie River, carrying a new threat of toxic algae. Water managers may say Irma left them no choice, but of course that’s a…

Guides’ Guide to Available Assistance

September 26, 2017

Irma’s next victims will be the fishing, hospitality, artist, and service communities in South Florida.  The next urgent task is to help supplement those without sufficient financial buffers against unexpected catastrophe of this scale. As recovery begins, we should be…

Sugar Back-Pumping Increases Dike Failure Risk

September 21, 2017

With weeks left in the 2017 hurricane season, and open speculation about how long the Herbert Hoover dike can hold back a rising Lake Okeechobee, how can the sugar industry possibly justify adding to the danger by back-pumping billions of gallons of water off…

Irma Recovery: How You Can Help

September 14, 2017

Your help is still needed. For every person sighing in relief at a near miss, there’s another who’s lost everything to Irma. As Florida begins the long process of recovery, thousands of people still need our help. The Center for International Disaster…

Hurricane Information Sources

September 7, 2017

Please stay safe and look after your neighbors as Hurricane Irma tracks toward Florida. All people in South Florida are vulnerable to storms like this. We need a water management system that provides better protection for everyone here, and we need…

Sugar Lobbyist Caught Rewriting SFWMD Policy

September 1, 2017

Email records prove that a U.S. Sugar lobbyist has been directing policy at a state agency. TC Palm’s Lucas Daprile uncovered a truth this week that too many people already knew: Sugar controls the South Florida Water Management District and actively blocks…

Sales-Tax-Funded Sailfish Splash Barely Afloat

August 29, 2017

Did Martin County taxpayers get their money’s worth from the $10 million waterpark funded by a recent sales tax hike? Commissioner Ed Ciampi stood up before twenty or so attendees at last week’s town hall and delivered the answer… One-point-three…

Archives