Major Cory Bell (Army Corps of Engineers) gave a very encouraging update on the Corps’ Lake Okeechobee Recovery Operation at the Rivers Coalition April 24th meeting. The goal was to get the lake level below 12 feet for 90 days or 11.5 feet for 60 days, to enable the lake’s decimated submerged aquatic vegetation to recover. 

On April 24th, Maj. Bell said, the lake level had fallen to 11.62 feet, and had been below 12 feet for eleven days. Even better: the Corps’ models projected the lake level would remain below 12 feet for 138 days -- well above their 90-day goal. (And as this is being written, on April 27, the level has fallen below that second benchmark to 11.45 feet, per https://eyeonlakeo.com/, Todd Thurlow’s incredible data-filled website.)

This is really good news for the St. Lucie River/Estuary: 

1) Discharges to the east were stopped March 29th. They will not be resumed.

2) Barring a lake level rise above 17 feet from extreme rain events (think hurricanes), the Corps does not anticipate needing to discharge lake water to the east during the next five years. (Five years!)

Meanwhile, Eve Samples and Gil Smart (Friends of the Everglades) gave an update on bills currently making their way through the Florida Legislature, scheduled to adjourn May 2. They noted this has been a particularly chaotic session (only 53 bills out of almost 2000 have been passed), largely because the House and the Governor’s office are feuding. As a result, things are going to evolve unusually rapidly next week.

They focused on two bills:

The Protect State Parks Bills (HB 209 and SB 80). The House bill, which has already been passed, is much stronger than Sen. Harrell’s bill. They would very much like to see the Senate pass the House bill rather than the Senate bill.

Wetlands Mitigation (HB 1173 and SB 492). This would expand allowable mitigation offsets beyond the affected watershed. A Treasure Coast developer, in other words, could provide a mitigation offset via something in the Panhandle. This is obviously not beneficial for local environments, and they would like to see these bills go down in flames.

A cautionary note: The Legislature must, by law, pass a budget bill. It looks like the House and Senate will not be able to reach a compromise by May 2 – which will lead to an extended session or special session. The big problem with that is the unscrupulous rascals in Tallahassee have a nasty habit of sneaking controversial things into that must-pass budget bill at the very last minute, so the battles may not be over yet.

Finally: We learned that although legislators don’t read their emails they do count them – and the numbers do influence their decisions. So you don’t have to pen a lengthy treatise explaining your position on a bill; a terse email simply urging them to vote for or against a bill is all it takes. 

-- Walter Deemer, League of Women Voters Martin County Chapter Representative