an article from two years ago

Rick scott, the utterly useless opie putnam, desantis, and the rest of the utterly corrupt florida state government have refused to do anything about this.
The voters of florida overwhelmingly voted for an amendment in 2014 to begin buying institutung measures to begin to prevent this. They used it for their own corrupt purposes, and raked in millions in pig sugar bribes and grift, aka known as campaign contributions and lobbying donations.
It is time to vote again, florida watersports men and women.
This time to remove these dirtbags from office, and prevent them from continuing to do this to us.

"Gov. Rick Scott has reacted with unwavering impotence, declaring one state of emergency after another while blaming the federal government for failing to upgrade the dike surrounding the lake so that more dirty water can be retained.

Cleaning up that dirty water is not a priority for this Republican governor or this Republican-led Legislature. In exchange for a deluge of campaign donations, they have worked steadfastly to gut pollution regulations and put the biggest polluters in control of state water policy.

This year their shameless sellout was complete. One of the worst water management bills in Florida history was passed and quickly signed by Scott, basically allowing big agricultural operations to police their own chemical discharges with little or no enforcement by the state.

Meanwhile, most of the millions of dollars earmarked by voters for the purchase of conservation lands continues to be diverted by lawmakers for other expenses. The constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved almost two years ago by Floridians is now toilet paper in the governor's mansion.

The whole world is now seeing the result of Scott's execrable stewardship of our priceless natural resources. It's an ecological nightmare for the state, and a political nightmare for him"

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It's a democratic hoax

Edited: 08/16/2018 at 08:14 AM by nukeh2o

At the same time that they passed that bill, they sent Pam Bondi to Washington to join a lawsuit seeking to block implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement. They wanted to make sure the EPA wouldn't be able to step in when Florida violated the Clean Water Act. Of course they got Scott Pruitt/Andrew Wheeler from Trump so their problem with the EPA was solved by the 2016 election.

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In comparing the candidates' records, voters should consider Scott has far more power when it comes to administering environmental policy in the state. Nelson's job at the federal level is to get Congress to pass laws and approve and fund projects.

"That makes it kind of an apples and oranges comparison," said Frank Jackalone, director of the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club.
On dealing with the algae bloom crisis, Jackalone noted Scott scuttled the deal his predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, made to buy U.S. Sugar Corp.'s land south of Lake Okeechobee to recreate the "River of Grass" from the lake to the Everglades.
"Being able to move that water south would have been tremendous for stopping discharges and algae blooms," he said.
Scott signed the legislation creating the reservoir south of Lake O to curtail the discharges, Jackalone said, but only after the project was reduced dramatically.
"The original plan would have alleviated the algae crisis," he said. "We're very doubtful the new plan will work, and it may put us back to square one on the discharges."

...Owen faulted Scott for "some significant setbacks to environmental protection and growth management. ... Funding has been slashed for water management districts, environmental enforcement actions have been sharply curtailed, a law to inspect septic tanks was repealed, and the state's growth management agency was dismantled."
Water quality is a state responsibility, said Alex Gillen of Bullsugar.org, "so blame for yet another algae crisis rests largely with Gov. Scott after eight years" in office.

Allowing pollution
After Scott took office in 2011, DEP laid off 134 people and cut a dozen vacant jobs, saving the agency about $6.5 million. DEP also relaxed rules to make it quicker and easier to get permits, and shifted from enforcing rules to helping violators comply.
Scott also gutted the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades restoration and advises the Army Corps of Engineers on Lake Okeechobee discharges that cause algae blooms in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
Scott cut the agency's budget in half, by $700 million, resulting in 500 layoffs and several dozen vacant jobs being cut or frozen. Half of them were scientists, hydrologists, engineers, field technicians and regulators tasked with protecting, conserving or restoring water resources in the 16-county district.
Environmentalists also complain Scott stacked the water district board with appointees who only represent business and agricultural interests.

Sweet on Scott
Scott's relationship with the sugar industry is more complicated.
In his first gubernatorial bid, he attacked his opponent, former Attorney General Bill McCollum, for receiving contributions from the industry.
"Unfortunately for U.S. Sugar, I can't be bought," Scott reportedly told the Palm Beach Post in 2010.
In the last eight years, their relationship has shifted drastically as Scott:
Received $750,000 from U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals for his Florida political committee, Let's Get to Work, between 2015 and earlier this year.
Received more than $81,000 in May from members of the Fanjul family that runs Florida Crystals sugar company.
Took a sugar industry-funded hunting trip to King Ranch in Texas in 2013.
Signed a 2013 law that blocked lawsuits on 30-year, no-bid leases for sugar farmers in the northern Everglades.
Appointed state board members who often have sided with the sugar industry over environmentalists, including voiding a contract for U.S. Sugar Corp. to sell 46,800 acres to the state for Everglades restoration projects.
The governor does not support any bill that could potentially hurt a major Florida industry


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It's a democratic hoax

GOOD!

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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

Yeah, because you can never have too much nitrogen in the water.

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and you CLAIM to be a fisherman

Someone needs to force feed you some of the Okeechobee outflow.






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I was right.

Edited: 08/16/2018 at 05:24 PM by Cole

Thats all due to OBAMA!



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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

duuhhhhhhh........

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It's a democratic hoax

Jesus what a poseur.

classic s u c k e r

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When America was "great"

Thats all due to OBAMA!

Har, dee, har, harr

Wanna see the law that was passed in this state that allows Big Ag to police themselves when it comes to the crap they put in the water? It's on the books and it was signed into law by Governor Algae.

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I was right.

You repeatedly prove that you're brainwashed dimwit incapable of an original cognitive thought...... or just a MAJOR TROLL

I seem to remember that we got red tides during the tenure of dem governors. In digging into it a bit, I see that I am correct (as usual). Red tide in Florida. And looky there! An unbroken string of red tide episodes that continue to this very day began in 1998, under the dems of course. Why is it that we Republicans are always having to clean up after dems?

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I :heart; Q

yeah, red tide in Lake Okeechobee discharge...

Sooooo....shit for brains....tell us all how long red tide has been here and when and why it started!

Us 'brainwashed dimwits' will be waiting!

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The REAL truth is....both of the forum idiots are OWNED.
-BOTH of them have no clue who their owner is.
-They are both card carrying narcissists.
^These are PROVED facts.

The picture I posted isn't red tide, but it is killing the estuary and near shore reefs.

Red Tide comes and goes, the current episode began in October, so it will be a solid year. I'm pretty sure that's not normal.

Are many of you really saying that the discharge for Okeechobee has no effect on our water and sea life?

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I was right.

No Red Tide in that photo. Bluegreen Algae is the topic of this thread. That is the fault of DEP and complete refusal of Florida to do anything about nutrient overload of just about all of our coastal water. Fertilizer in ag and lawns. Over application of sewage sludge "biosolids" on pasture and sod. Way too many septic tanks. Out dated sewage treatment plants that don't remove nutrients and/or that have to dump raw in rain storms. The IRL is 30 years behind Tampa Bay watershed on dealing with wastewater and Scott et al. have blocked just about any and all move to control nutrients; gut the WMDs and DEP and passing that last joke of a water bill. Killing a few Gizzard Shad in Lake George is not going to clean up the lower St. Johns; sure as hell isn't going to offset the phosphorous loads coming into the west side of the upper basin from biosolids application on soils that aren't even phosphorous limited.

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On the red tide front. They form due to circulation patterns offshore. Butt... when they get advected onshore and find themselves in nutrient rich waters they grow a lot worse than they would otherwise be. Scientists have been looking at nitrogen isotopes in the red tide and find that the heavy near-shore blooms are feeding on nutrients coming from human waste and other land sources. That red tide is getting fuel from the Peace River, Caloosahatchee Lake O contribution, all of the gazillion canals in SW Florida. Do you know how many septic tanks were complete flooded out and discharging straight up raw sewage for months in SW Florida after Irma?

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High time we got rid of that piece of trash for good..

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There are NO white people at all in the Bible... take all the time you need with that...
Please stop feeding the trolls - they will go away if you do...

Best that I can remember, red tide has been with us for a quite a while, and seems to be getting worse - and more frequent - as time goes by.... Hate the gulf especially in the summer.. Water temps are like piss.. Come to think about it, so has global warming and it's only getting worse every year. Any co-relation here?

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There are NO white people at all in the Bible... take all the time you need with that...
Please stop feeding the trolls - they will go away if you do...