Lakepointe and the Pacific Legal Foundation

Lakepointe and the Pacific Legal Foundation.

When it looks like a duck, and walks like duck, quacks like a duck it’s a duck.

Or in this case a big polluting rubber ducky.

I’ve written about the Pacific Legal Foundation and explained who they are. When I first moved here I read about Lakepointe and even wrote to some friends about them. Something was not kosher there. Something was rotten in Denmark. Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t have the knowledge to really understand.

Well wow. Now things are falling into place.

Here we found out how the Pacific Legal Foundation is messing with our Panthers

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/09/panthers-manatees-and-bears-oh-my/

Then we asked why are they even involved in all this.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/10/who-is-the-pacific-legal-foundation-and-why-are-our-panthers-manatees-and-bears-their-business/

They are a Koch Brothers, Scaife Foundation lackeys hiding out in bosom of an unending cash cow and really sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong but where their masters want them to go.

and they want to go to Martin County. They want to destroy us.

Then I wrote about their relationship to Martin County and our Economic Foundation

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/07/11/bring-it-on-home-the-pacific-legal-foundation-and-martin-county/

Don’t believe me. Believe this:

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2009/08/wade-hopping-follows-jim-king-by.html

“Hopping was also chairman of the Pacific Legal Foundation. The PLF “was established in 1973-74 by a group of attorneys from California’s Justice Department to counter reform of the welfare system and the liberal public interest legal groups that were pressing for better environmental and health regulations. Especially targeted were the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund. Governor Ronald Reagan of California appears to have provided the required financial links to Pittsburg billionairre Richard Mellon Scaife who funded the initial office in Sacramento.” The PLF’s interest in Florida coincided with the acceleration of government initiatives to protect the the Florida Keys and East Everglades in the early 1990’s.

The PLF obituary notes, “(Hopping’s) notable achievements included coordinating the Florida business community’s efforts to enact laws relating to manatee protection, an expedited environmental permitting process, and the Bert J. Harris Jr. Property Rights Protection Act.” The Bert Harris Act is the best example how the unintelligent design of laws provides energy to a precept of radical conservatism: that self-interest of corporations can protect the public interest better than rules and regulations.”

We have a comp plan in Martin County. Developers don’t like it. They don’t like some of our commissioners. They certainly don’t like that we pay attention and we don’t want to be an extension of the cement jungle of South Florida. and they don’t like Maggy Hurchella who is one of our greatest gifts. Maggy fights for us day and night and all she got for her efforts was a silly SLAPP suit which is costing her thousands of dollars.

http://opinionzone.blog.palmbeachpost.com/tag/maggy-hurchalla/

“Lawsuits meant to silence questions about development in Martin don’t pass smell test”

Smart growth forum defends Martin against SLAPP suits?

SLAPP at Hurchalla shows law needs to be reformed

This is how you destroy American. Quietly through money supplied by the Koch Brothers.

This is from last year from the Hobe Sounds Currents. (The pro Lakepoint pro development paper)

http://hobesoundcurrents.com/hard-to-keep-up-with-comp-plan-lake-point-lawsuits/

“The evidence from Heard’s hearing, according to court records, is important to Lake Point’s case against former County Commissioner Maggy Hurchalla for allegedly making false statements to county commissioners with the intention of interfering with Lake Point’s ability to conduct business. Lake Point filed suit at the same time against Martin County and the South Florida Water Management District for breach of contract.

Lake Point filed a motion in January seeking permission from the court to amend its lawsuit to charge Martin County with tortuous interference. A public records request filed by Lake Point with County Attorney Michael Durham asked for copies of all correspondence, public and private, between three county commissioners and Hurchalla regarding Lake Point. Apparently the request was ignored for a year.”

http://hobesoundcurrents.com/blog/page/4/

“The Pacific Legal Foundation—a 40-year-old public interest firm known for winning its cases to protect US landowners against excessive government regulation and the loss of private property rights—questioned this week not only the county commission’s closed-door sessions, but also the apparent disregard of Florida’s Public Records Laws by two commissioners, Ed Fielding and Sarah Heard, for failing to report and protect their private electronic communications used to conduct public business.

If the allegations by Lake Point Water Restoration Project attorneys prove accurate regarding the “manipulation” or deliberate destruction of Fielding’s and Heard’s secret emails with environmentalist Maggy Hurchalla, both commissioners also are likely to face criminal charges, as well as ethics violations.”

Maggy is a citizen. She is not an elected official. This is just a circus pointed to our commissioners to destroy Martin County.

http://www.tcpalm.com/business/key-player-in-lake-point-restoration-project-to

“George Lindemann Jr., a key partner in the Lake Point Restoration project, and companies associated with him have been very generous to Martin County commissioners and commission candidates who support business causes.

Lindemann Jr. and the companies based at 4500 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, Suite 105, contributed a total of $32,000 in the past five years to the political campaigns of three county commissioners and two commission candidates, campaign finance records show.

He is the son of George Lindemann Sr., an investor whose family is reported by Fortune magazine to have a net worth of $2.2 billion.

Lindemann Jr. gained national prominence in the early 1990s as an equestrian with Olympic aspirations. He made headlines when he received a 33-month prison sentence in January 1996 after his conviction in federal court in Chicago for fraudulent insurance claims on a show horse he ordered killed, according to published media reports.

In Martin County, Lindemann Jr. is known for the controversial Lake Point project in southwestern Martin County and his campaign contributions to five pro-business candidates for countywide office since 2008.

Commissioner Doug Smith and former Commissioner Ed Ciampi received a total of $9,000 each from Lindemann and his companies in the past five years, records show. Former Commissioner Patrick Hayes received a total of $7,000.

They said they believe the Lake Point stormwater facility is good for the environment and Martin County because it reduces the amount of polluted water going into the St. Lucie Estuary.

The rock mine also provides building materials and jobs that are helping Martin County’s economy, Smith said.

“It is to clean up the nutrients out of the water,” Smith said. “Every project that we add into the mix that diverts dirty water … is a good thing.”

How’s that going Doug?

“But new Commission Chairwoman Sarah Heard and some of her political allies questioned Lindemann’s campaign contributions to their political adversaries and the Lake Point rock mining agreement that calls for the donation of about 1,800 acres to the South Florida Water Management District in 20 years..

“I don’t think it’s a good deal for Martin County taxpayers,” Heard said about the “It looks to me like all they’re doing is digging holes and selling off the rock or sand, whatever they’re mining out there. How is that a benefit for Martin County?”

Critics of the Lake Point project like Maggy Hurchalla, an environmentalist and former county commissioner, say a proposal to siphon water from the St. Lucie Canal into the Lake Point property and send it south to utilities in Palm Beach County could harm the St. Lucie Estuary instead of helping it.

The St. Lucie Canal receives water from Lake Okeechobee, Hurchalla said. So increasing the number of customers relying on the lake for water could lead to more water storage, higher lake levels, larger discharges of polluted water into the St. Lucie Estuary, and less water for the Everglades.”

How’s that working for our Estuary? Maggy ,as usual, was right. Who’s threatening her? Let me repeat.

This is who she is fighting against.

“Lindemann Jr. gained national prominence in the early 1990s as an equestrian with Olympic aspirations. He made headlines when he received a 33-month prison sentence in January 1996 after his conviction in federal court in Chicago for fraudulent insurance claims on a show horse he ordered killed, according to published media reports.”

Who approved this in the first place? Who does that ? Who allows a horse killing felon to operate in our county?

Translated he was convicted of killing a horse to collect the insurance money. Because why? He didn’t have enough money?

Now Sarah Heard and Ed Fielding who have supported the river and supported the comp plan of Martin County are being attacked by Lakepointe
In the same lawsuit, Lakepointe claims the commissioners smashed their own computers and hid their emails in a secret plot against the rockpit company.”

A secret plot? Funny. It’s always a secret plot.

There will be a hearing on those charges before Judge McManus at 9:30am Thursday Aug 27 at the Martin County Courthouse. Ed and Sarah will be testifying.

Please understand that this is beyound issue even between a local business and our commissioners. We have been targeted here in Martin County by the Pacific Legal Foundation and unless we do something about this it will never end.

We will loose everything. Our environment. Our wetlands. I may as well have stayed Palm Beach County because we’re gonna look just like them. A cement jungle ruled by a bunch of big businesses.

Summer Book Club: Paving Paradise Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and Failure of no Net Loss.

Aug8

Summer Book Club: Paving Paradise Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and Failure of no Net Loss by Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite.

What is no Net Loss? Is it even on our radar?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_net_loss_wetlands_policy

“No net loss” is the United States government’s overall policy goal regarding wetlands preservation. The goal of the policy is to balance wetland loss due to economic development with wetlands reclamation, mitigation, and restorations efforts, so that the total acreage of wetlands in the country does not decrease, but remains constant or increases. To achieve the objective of no net loss, the federal government utilizes several different environmental policy tools which legally protect wetlands, provide rules and regulations for citizens and corporations interacting with wetlands, and incentives for the preservation and conservation of wetlands. Given the public benefits provided by wetland ecosystem services, such as flood control, nutrient farming, habitat, water filtration, and recreational area, the estimations that over half the acreage of wetlands in the United States has been lost within the last three centuries is of great concern to local, state, and federal agencies as well as the public interest they serve.”

So while all these political people are running around having debates etc. I’m concerned with the BS that goes on. How people say one thing and do another? I’ll bet not one of these people running understand this including the two from Florida because it’s so far off their radar.

I think we need to start making a reading list for anyone running for office. This would be on the top of my list.

You guys know I hate to read books my self. Books are meant to be talked about, discussed, educate people.

This is what I’m reading this summer.

http://www.tampabay.com/features/books/review-paving-paradise-by-craig-pittman-and-matthew-waite-illuminates/988011

Bulldozed and buried wetlands underlie the foundations of thousands of mines, highways, golf courses and shopping malls all over our state, despite clear federal and state policy calling for no net loss of wetlands. It was President George H.W. Bush who first articulated this policy in 1988. “We are going to stand wetlands protection on its ear,” declared the marsh- and duck-loving president.

Pittman and Waite explain why that hasn’t happened, and their probing, well-crafted narrative will keep you turning every page of their book. The prize-winning pair of St. Petersburg Times reporters spent four years researching the state of wetlands protection in Florida. They interviewed hundreds of people, ferreting out political pressure points, cynical numbers games and all the inventive ways we are lied to. (You don’t really believe in mitigation, do you?)

http://gothere.com/Florida/paving-paradise-book-review.htm

Florida has lost over 84,000 acres of wetlands since 1990, this despite “no net loss” mandates. For 4 years Journalists Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite investigated how Federal, state and local legislators failed to protect Florida’s wetlands from developers and their developments.

In this book Pittman and Waite explain how “wetland protection” often just gives the illusion of protecting the environment while it allows Florida’s native habitat to be paved over.

Pittman and Waite are both reporters at the St. Petersburg Times and have twice earned the top investigative reporting prize in the nation from the Society of Environmental Journalists as well as the Waldo Proffit Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism in Florida.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4251875-paving-paradise

Florida possesses more wetlands than any other state except Alaska, yet since 1990 more than 84,000 acres have been lost to development despite presidential pledges to protect them. How and why the state’s wetlands are continuing to disappear is the subject of “Paving Paradise”. Journalists Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite spent nearly four years investigating the political expedience, corruption, and negligence on the part of federal and state agencies that led to a failure to enforce regulations on developers. They traveled throughout the state, interviewed hundreds of people, dug through thousands of documents, and analyzed satellite imagery to identify former wetlands that were now houses, stores, and parking lots. Exposing the unseen environmental consequences of rampant sprawl, Pittman and Waite explain how wetland protection creates the illusion of environmental protection while doing little to stem the tide of destruction. What is happening to Florida’s ‘protected’ wetlands?

Here is Craig’s Twitter which is very funny and informative. You can see for yourself.

https://twitter.com/craigtimes

Here is the book’s website. This is one person that Elliot or the RC could invite invite to talk to us.

http://pavingparadise.org/

n an award-winning newspaper series, two investigative reporters from the St. Petersburg Times chronicled how federal rules meant to protect the nation’s wetlands were more illusion than law. Now, that series has been expanded into a book, delving into how we got to this point, starting with land speculators making waterfront property out of sand dredged from the bottom of the ocean. Now, read how the nation’s wetlands protections were formed in clashes between developers, bureaucrats, judges, activists and con artists over Florida swamps.

“This is an exhaustive, timely and devastating account of the destruction of Florida’s wetlands, and the disgraceful collusion of government at all levels. It’s an important book that should be read by every voter, every taxpayer, every parent, every Floridian who cares about saving what’s left of this precious place.” — Carl Hiaasen”

“I am amazed, horrified and delighted that you wrote Paving Paradise! You have uncovered the perfidy that we always knew existed … You have named the key figures that led to the loss of thousands of acres of Florida wetlands.” –Nathaniel Reed”

and don’t tell me the ending!

When will our medical community step and do something about people getting sick and dying in the Indian River Lagoon

Aug4

When will our medical community step and do something about people getting sick and dying in the Indian River Lagoon?

I just want to say THANK YOU to our TC Palm reporters and also to Eye on Miami for actually paying attention to this issue and being a supportive voice and advocate for our Indian River Lagoon.

Three years ago we were talking about this. Before I even got involved in the water but doing research for a potential documentary I read reports about people going into the water and getting sick and dying. Then when we got organized and starting talking to each even more information came forward. One of our local citizens has been collecting data but there is really nothing that is out there and a part of our hospital system and health department.

Here is Robert Lord from Martin Memorial talking about our unhealthy water at our rally last year.

Our friend, Cliff Barnes suggested we called it Lagoon water born flesh rot disease after Gov. Scott. I said “Rick Rot.” Some people said “Rick Scott Rot.”

Some one even invented this.

(Here is the website https://www.facebook.com/PrepConsultantsPC/app_410312912374011?hc_location=ufi)

Last year this happened.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/indian-river-lagoon-bacteria-killed-fort-pierce-man-in-2014_97423759

Bill Benton went swimming in the Indian River Lagoon on a Saturday afternoon. He was dead by Tuesday, a rare fatality from Vibrio vulnificus bacteria.

The bacteria occurs naturally throughout the lagoon year-round, but infections increase in summer, according to researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce.

Benton was among seven people who died from Vibrio vulnificus in Florida in 2014. It’s unknown whether Vibrio vulnificus is to blame in the July 20 death of Port St. Lucie resident David Trudell, two days after a fin fish punctured him while fishing in the lagoon. Doctors attributed his death to the incident, but did not determine what type of bacteria it was.

Then this happened.

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/bacteria-from-indian-river-lagoon-fish-fin-puncture-kills-port-st-lucie-man_79674879

We all knew what it was.

“A 65-year-old Port St. Lucie man died Monday, two days after being stuck by a fish fin while fishing in the Indian River Lagoon.

David John Trudell died from a blood infection as a result of a bacteria that entered his body because of the fin prick, said Treasure Coast medical examiner Dr. Roger Mittleman.

The type of bacteria could not be determined, Mittleman said.”

Why were there no blood cultures drawn at the time?

Then it happened to one of our own River Warriors. Because our friend Gayle posted the above article our friend Barb took her husband Bruce to the ER.

She wrote this

“Barbara Osborn

July 25 at 5:09pm · Stuart, FL

Took Bruce to the ER yesterday for an infected left leg. He had a sore on his knee on Monday, went in the IRL on Wednesday. We took several church families out on our new catamaran and anchored off Sailfish point (near the Walgreen house). Of course they all jumped into the IRL from the deck of the boat.

Yesterday Bruce’s knee and leg was black and swollen, hot to the touch and oozing. He had a fever. He NEVER complains of pain but I forced him to the ER. GOOD thing. The doctor thinks it is a blood infection from the bacteria from the IRL water on Wednesday. We will get the culture back on Monday to see what the bacteria actually is.

Gayle Ryan’s link to the TC Palm article regarding the local man who died within two days of a fish fin puncture bringing in bacteria from the IRL into his system, probably saved Bruce’s life. I wouldn’t have taken a closer second look at Bruce’s knee had I not read her article link. The doctor lanced and drained the “volcano” the size of a grapefruit on his knee. His whole leg was swollen and hot to the touch.

Today Bruce’s leg ‘s swelling is down and it is not throbbing anymore. He is on Bactrim and Keflex. Doctor said he was so correct to come into the ER when he did, could have become so dangerous to Bruce. Thank you Gayle Ryan.”

It looked like this.

Here’s is a great piece from our friend at Eye on Miami.

http://www.eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2015/07/floridas-water-crisis-impacts-compound.html

“This post on Face Book should remind Miami that the current water crisis is not just one in a series of crises: it is a cumulative event where impacts are compounded. The mismanagement of fresh water resources in South Florida is mainly to benefit the big campaign contributors to state legislators and to Gov. Rick Scott. Big Sugar.

In a just world, state legislators would be made to swim in the Indian River Lagoon, then see how much they like gambling with people’s water to benefit their patrons.”

You got that right Mista Gimleteye!

A friend of mine asked me if I would go on the news. I said no. This is not about me. What I will say is our local Health Department and People running the hospital need to read the newspaper. Then they need to come up with a plan to alert the physicians in the area and come up with some sort of tracking system and people need to be warned before they go in the water. I know that everyone has a lot on their plates but this is something we have to do. What if I didn’t know any of this and my grandson had a cut and I took him in the lagoon and he died?

You can check the salinity level

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/worried-about-vibrio-check-salinity-levels

“Water quality sensors in the lagoon and its tributaries can’t detect the deadly bacteria’s presence, but the salinity level is a good indicator of whether there’s Vibrio. The bacteria can’t live in saltwater, but thrives in stagnant, nearshore, freshwater — particularly near rainfall runoff discharges.”

Really so the millions of gallons of freshwater discharges have nothing to do with that? Really?

SFWMD and ACOE you need to be aware. After all we have begged you to fix the issue with the discharges. It comes down to one thing: Salinity of the water. So besides all the other damage that you do we can add killing people to the list.

So we know this

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/cuts-are-key-to-infection-by-indian-river-lagoons-deadly-bacteria_66884711

“Healthy people who boat, fish and swim in the Indian River Lagoon are not likely to get a potentially deadly bacterial infection, especially if they take certain precautions, according to a researcher conducting a premier study of Vibrio vulnificus.

It’s people with cuts and weak immune systems like the elderly, infants, alcoholics, diabetics and those with other long-term illnesses who are at most risk and need to take the threat most seriously.”

HEALTHY PEOPLE ARE NOT LIKELY TO GET AN INFECTION! NOT LIKELY.

But

“The people most likely to get it — in this order — are: lagoon fishermen, seafood processors and waders or swimmers.”

http://www.tcpalm.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-health-officials-must-improve-tracking-reporting-of-waterborne-illnesses_15574383

And the longer this vacuum persists, the greater the threat to Treasure Coast residents who swim, boat, wade, paddleboard and fish in the waterway.

“The bacteria, which is also found in estuaries like the St. Lucie and St. Sebastian rivers, occurs naturally and is not linked to pollution, Barbarite said. Quantities vary depending on climatic conditions.”

But it is connected to the Salinity of the water which also is what kills everything else like our oysters. So by forcing millions of gallons of fresh water down the river into the lagoon the salinity is changed.

“Most likely in spots near freshwater discharges.”

“29.5 percent of cases resulted in deaths (2004-13)”

People affected: Those with Alcohol Abuse, Liver Disease, Diabetes, Heart Disease

I can’t wait to see the spin. Because just two years ago we were assured there was nothing wrong with the water.

http://www.tcpalm.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-health-officials-must-improve-tracking-reporting-of-waterborne-illnesses_15574383

“and the longer this vacuum persists, the greater the threat to Treasure Coast residents who swim, boat, wade, paddleboard and fish in the waterway.

Two recent incidents — one fatal — have ratcheted up the importance of identifying the microbial culprits, case by case, and establishing cause-and-effect relationships between exposure to tainted lagoon water and bacterial infections.”

“Health officials and health care providers need to get ahead of the issue. Given the fact doctors don’t have a protocol for testing or reporting waterborne illnesses, it’s easy to see why so many questions remain unanswered.”

It should be standard procedure for doctors to report all suspected cases of waterborne illnesses to the Florida Department of Health.

Moreover, this information needs to be collected in a database. Over time, this knowledge may reveal trends that prove beneficial in protecting lagoon aficionados and treating those who contract waterborne infections.”

http://www.floridahealth.gov/about-the-department-of-health/about-us/mission-and-vision.html

MISSION :

To protect, promote & improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, & community efforts.

VISION :

To be the Healthiest State in the Nation

VALUES (ICARE) :

I nnovation: We search for creative solutions and manage resources wisely.

C ollaboration: We use teamwork to achieve common goals & solve problems.

A ccountability: We perform with integrity & respect.

R esponsiveness: We achieve our mission by serving our customers & engaging our partners.

E xcellence: We promote quality outcomes through learning & continuous performance improvement.

” Salt is the key to safe water.” by Tyler Treadway

I’ll post the link when I can find the article. According to Gabrille Barbarite death are rare but how do we even know this if no one is reporting or logging water born illnesses? So I would refraise that to ” We have no earthly idea how many people have gotten sick from the Indian River Lagoon.”

“Some areas of the lagoon are safer than others.”

You can check the LOBO and Kilroy water sensors.

http://sea-birdcoastal.com/lobo

http://www.oceanrecon.org/cfiles/kilroy_manateepocket.cfm

But keep in mind salinity can change with rain or out going tide.

What do we need now?

Our local lawmakers need to all talk to our health departments and our hospitals and doctors and urgent cares and come up with some kind of reporting system.

Warnings need to be posted for people with immune system disorders, alcoholics, people with liver diseases, diabetes, heart disease , the elderly and infants etc. We have this information now. We have a duty to warn people.

Our wonderful Dr Edie Widder from Orca said in this piece that she suspects these cases have gone unreported for years. She also said she does not think that clinics and doctors are not taking the time to culture the bacteria. How hard is that? One Agar plate zoom zoom zoom done! Or a blood culture. 2 second blood draw.

The world has gone a little wild and we have seen it up close and personal this past year with our legislators. Lets not let this happen with the people are suppose to be taking care of us. I’m sure there is a grant out there that someone can get to do what needs to be done and there are plenty of volunteers in the medical field that would be willing to help.

If we don’t speak up nothing will be done.

Where do we start? Please add your suggestions to this blog post!

Let’s make this happen.

Atrazine: It brings bad things to life!

Aug3

We spent a lot of time talking about the discharges to our rivers from Lake O. We talked fertilizer. We have a fertilizer ban.

We really don’t talk about pesticides and herbicides and they are everywhere.

Invisible to us.

Today I want to talk about Atrazine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine

“Atrazine is a herbicide of the triazine class. Atrazine is used to prevent pre- and postemergence broadleaf weeds in crops such as maize (corn) and sugarcane and on turf, such as golf courses and residential lawns. It is one of the most widely used herbicides in US^] and Australian agriculture.^]It was banned in the European Union in 2004, when the EU found groundwater levels exceeding the limits set by regulators, and Syngenta could neither show that this could be prevented nor that these levels were safe.

As of 2001, Atrazine was the most commonly detected pesticide contaminating drinking water in the United States.Studies suggest it is an endocrine disruptor, an agent that can alter the natural hormonal system. In 2006 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had stated that under the Food Quality Protection Act “the risks associated with the pesticide residues pose a reasonable certainty of no harm”, and in 2007, the EPA said that Atrazine does not adversely affect amphibian sexual development and that no additional testing was warranted. EPA´s 2009 review concluded that “the agency’s scientific bases for its regulation of atrazine are robust and ensure prevention of exposure levels that could lead to reproductive effects in humans.” EPA started a registration review in 2013.

The EPA’s review has been criticized, and the safety of atrazine remains controversial.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16967834

Abstract

Int J Occup Environ Health. 2006 Jul-Sep;12(3):260-7.

European Union bans atrazine, while the United States negotiates continued use.

Sass JB¹, Colangelo A.

Author information

Abstract

“Atrazine is a common agricultural herbicide with endocrine disruptor activity. There is evidence that it interferes with reproduction and development, and may cause cancer. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved its continued use in October 2003, that same month the European Union (EU) announced a ban of atrazine because of ubiquitous and unpreventable water contamination. The authors reviewed regulatory procedures and government documents, and report efforts by the manufacturer of atrazine, Syngenta, to influence the U.S. atrazine assessment, by submitting flawed scientific data as evidence of no harm, and by meeting repeatedly and privately with EPA to negotiate the government’s regulatory approach. Many of the details of these negotiations continue to be withheld from the public, despite EPA regulations and federal open-government laws that require such decisions to be made in the open.”

PMID:

16967834

[PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.nrdc.org/health/atrazine

“Atrazine: Poisoning the Well

Atrazine Continues to Contaminate Surface Water and Drinking Water in the United States

Banned in the European Union and clearly linked to harm to wildlife and potentially to humans, the pesticide atrazine provides little benefit to offset its risks. In 2009, NRDC analyzed results of surface water and drinking water monitoring data for atrazine and found pervasive contamination of watersheds and drinking water systems across the Midwest and Southern United States. This May 2010 report summarizes scientific information that has emerged since the publication of our initial report and includes more recent monitoring data.

Approximately 75 percent of stream water and about 40 percent of all groundwater samples from agricultural areas tested in an extensive U.S. Geological Survey study contained atrazine. NRDC found that the U.S. EPA’s inadequate monitoring systems and weak regulations have compounded the problem, allowing levels of atrazine in watersheds and drinking water to peak at extremely high concentrations.

The most recent data confirms that atrazine continues to contaminate watersheds and drinking water. Atrazine was found in 80 percent of drinking water samples taken in 153 public water systems. All twenty watersheds sampled in 2007 and 2008 had detectable levels of atrazine, and sixteen had average concentrations above the level that has been shown to harm plants and wildlife.

Given the pesticide’s limited usefulness and the ease with which safer agricultural methods can be substituted to achieve similar results, NRDC recommends phasing out the use of atrazine, more effective atrazine monitoring, the adoption of farming techniques that can help minimize the use of atrazine and prevent it from running into waterways.”

http://www.panna.org/resources/specific-pesticides/atrazine

Atrazine in drinking water

“Atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S., and is found in 94% of U.S drinking water tested by the USDA — more often than any other pesticide. An estimated 7 million people were exposed to atrazine in their drinking water between 1998 and 2003.

The highest levels of contamination are in the Midwest where it is widely used on corn fields. USGS monitoring shows drinking water concentrations typically spike during the spring and early summer as rains flush the freshly applied herbicide into streams — and into local water supplies.

Data from the EPA’s Atrazine Monitoring Program show that atrazine levels in drinking water can spike above the legal limit of 3 parts per billion in some U.S. water supplies. Although the EPA bases its limit on an annual average (not seasonal peaks), the monitoring results reveal alarming levels of human exposure.”

In Florida

“http://sofia.usgs.gov/projects/eco_risk/atrazine_geer03abs.html

To determine the distribution and concentration of atrazine at south Florida sites, multiple water samples were collected from several canals/ditches at each of two agricultural sites every two weeks from February through June, 2002 . Adult toads were collected from two sugarcane agricultural areas Canal Point (CP), and Belle Glade (BG) as well as from a University of Miami pond/canal (reference site with little to no atrazine use or agricultural input) during April-June 2002. Adult Bufo marinus were collected from these three sites: Canal Point (N=55), Belle Glade (N=50), and University of Miami (N=24). Body weight, length, and coloration were recorded, blood was collected, and gonads were removed and weighed. This species is sexually dimorphic, with females having a mottled appearance and males having a solid coloration. Sex was identified as follows: the presence of ovarian tissue and absence of testicular tissue = female; presence of testes and absence of developing eggs, oviduct, and ovarian tissue = normal male; and presence of testes with developing eggs or oviduct or ovarian tissue = intersex . Macroscopic identification of additional testicular anomalies included: segmented testes, abnormal shaped testis, twisted or curled testes, and multiple testes. Gonads from each individual that had testicular tissue were both macroscopically and histologically examined. Blood plasma was analyzed for phospho-lipoprotein (an indirect measure of vitellogenin) and estradiol and testosterone concentrations were analyzed using RIA procedures.

Children at a water park in Belle Glade directly across from a huge sugar cane field.

Playground at Pioneer Park in Belle Glade directly across from a huge sugar cane field.

Atrazine levels were highest at Canal Point during March, but were highest at Belle Glade in February. B. marinus tadpoles were potentially exposed to atrazine concentrations as high as 20ppb during development at Canal Point and 26ppb at Belle Glade during 2002. Toads collected from the nonagricultural /reference, University of Miami, site exhibited the characteristic gender-specific pattern which correlated to subsequent gonadal morphology and histology. However, all toads collected from both agricultural sites, Belle Glade and Canal Point, exhibited the distinctive female pattern, although subsequent gonadal morphology and histology demonstrated male, intersexed, and female toads. The frequency of males exhibiting “testis abnormalities” was not significantly different among sites. The frequency of intersexed animals was significantly different among sites: 39 percent and 29 percent of the individuals at the agricultural sites, Canal Point and Belle Glade. No individuals from the non-agricultural/reference site were intersexed. The types of abnormal female tissue found in association with testicular tissue varied between CP and BG. Plasma sex steroids did not differ between intersexed and normal males. However, plamsa phospholipoprotein (an indirect indicator of vitellogenin was increased in intersexed males to levels which were similar to those for vitellogenic females.

Sugar cane in Belle Glade across from Pioneer Park

The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine if animals found in sugarcane exhibit reproductive abnormalities similar to those seen in African Clawed Frogs exposed to atrazine in the laboratory. The incidence of testicular anomalies, other than intersex were similar across sites. However, the incidence of intersex was increased for both agricultural sites as compared to the non-agricultural/reference site. Nonetheless, Bufo marinus adults were active and breeding at all sites. Data suggests that agricultural exposure, including exposure to atrazine, may explain the differences in the percent of intersexed individuals and length of oocytes between Canal Point and Belle Glade sites. However, we can not conclude that atrazine is responsible for these abnormalities, since other agricultural chemcials are likely present at both sites. In addition, water quality analyses were not conducted for the non-agricultural/reference site (University of Miami) and exposure to atrazine at this site is unknown. The University of Miami site is expected to have low levels of atrazine, but is probably not atrazine free. Further research should be conducted to determine whether atrazine is capable of causing the effects we have documented in B. marinus under controlled laboratory conditions as well as expanded field studies of these and other sites. Nonetheless, these results indicate an increased incidence of intersex in toads exposed to agricultural contaminants. The implications of these data to future and ongoing restoration is unknown, however, a redistribution of water resources in the greater everglades ecosystem could result in additional exposures for amphibian populations in this sensitive ecosystem.

Contact: Timothy S. Gross, USGS-FISC, 7920 NW 71st St., Gainesville, FL 32653., Phone: 352-378-8181 Ext 323, FAX: 352-378-4956, Tim_s_gross@usgs.gov”

A Million people a day are exposed to Atrazine. Atrazine is used in sugar cane fields. Read this or watch the videos and weep.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrone_Hayes

In 1997, the consulting firm EcoRisk, Inc. paid Hayes to join a panel of experts conducting studies for Novartis (later Syngenta) on the herbicide atrazine.^[1]^[3] When Hayes’ research found unexpected toxicities for atrazine, he reported them to the panel, however the panel and company were resistant to his findings. He wanted to repeat his work to validate it but Novartis refused funding for further research; he resigned from the panel and obtained other funding to repeat the experiments.^[1]^[3]

In 2002 Hayes published findings that he says replicate what he found while he was working for EcoRisk,^[1] that developing male African clawed frogs and leopard frogs exhibited female characteristics after exposure to atrazine, first in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)^[4] and then in Nature.^[5]^[6]

In 2007, Hayes was a co-author on a paper that detailed atrazine inducing mammary and prostate cancer in laboratory rodents and highlighted atrazine as a potential cause of reproductive cancers in humans.^[7] At a presentation to the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in 2007, Hayes presented results of his studies that showed chemical castration in frogs; individuals of both sexes had developed bisexual reproductive organs.

In one of the 2005 e-mails obtained by class-action lawsuit plaintiffs, the company’s communications consultants had written about plans to track Hayes’ speaking engagements and prepare audiences with Syngenta’s counterpoints to Hayes’s message on atrazine. Syngenta subsequently stated that many of the documents unsealed in the lawsuits refer to “ideas that were never implemented.”,

Sea Level Rise in Miami and Politics. Let’s just say no to the “deniers.”

Jul31

Sea Level Rise in Miami and Politics. Let’s just say no to the “deniers.”

The last election was the first election I participated in a long time. I felt very disenfranchised and I realized how important it was to get people out to vote. I put together a list of clean water candidates because I thought it would bring us together and it did. It did in a way. In a way it didn’t. We really really need to do this all together.

Now we need this more than ever. Miami is floating away.

When Michael Grunwald was here he talked about the tides comes up to his house.

What’s going to happen? What’s going to happen is what has happened. People are going to stick their necks in the sand and its going to get worse and our fellow citizens are in danger. Please go talk to your party and tell them they need to start paying attention to the infrastructure. Even Libertarians believe in infrastructure. What is up with the denying this? What is the end game of that. Are we selling Miami at a good price? Will Miami be on sale if it gets destroyed? Why is no one helping? There has got to be money involved. Why else would all these people deny that the water is rising in Miami?

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/texas-gop-what-climate-change

Texas Republicans have a new policy on climate change: There is no climate change.

While traditionally the state’s GOP has focused on abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency while ignoring climate change, this year’s temporary policy platform is taking it one step further, calling for party members to explicitly dismiss it, too.

“While we all strive to be good stewards of the earth, ‘climate change’ is a political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives. We urge government at all levels to ignore any plea for money to fund global climate change or ‘climate justice’ initiatives,” the platform writes.

So funny I just wrote the above and then I found this. This article is from 2010. Like most things American until we actually feel the pain we’re not interested.

http://grist.org/article/2010-09-09-the-rights-climate-denialism-is-part-of-something-much-larger/

“However! It does seem to me that the right’s climate denialism hasn’t been properly linked to the larger phenomenon of epistemic closure on the right. When Jim Manzi, everyone’s favorite sensible conservative, criticized fellow conservative Mark Levin for peddling intellectually shoddy skeptic arguments in his bestselling book Liberty and Tyranny, Levin went nuts, joined by a half-dozen other NRO writers. How could they not? The very same skeptic talking points in Levin’s book appear in thousands of blogs and comment sections across the interwebs. If they are intellectually bankrupt, a whole lot of people are going to look stupid.”

We are sick of talking points. You put them out. The news picks them up and repeats them over and over until you believe it.

This has got to stop.

“The right’s project over the last 30 years has been to dismantle the post-war liberal consensus by undermining trust in society’s leading institutions. Experts are made elites; their presumption of expertise becomes self-damning. They think they’re better than you. They talk down to you. They don’t respect people like us, real Americans.”

And you thought these people just wanted to keep your taxes lower. I don’t think so

“The decline in trust in institutions has generated fear and uncertainty; where there are fear and uncertainty, there are reactionaries to exploit them. Stress reinforces in-group bias — tribalism, nationalism, and xenophobia. Today’s conservative movement has created a self-contained, hermetically sealed epistemological reality, a closed loop of cable news, talk radio, and email forwards, meant to stoke in-group anxiety and reinforce group identity.

Consider what the Limbaugh/Morano crowd is saying about climate: not only that the world’s scientists and scientific institutions are systematically wrong, but that they are purposefully perpetrating a deception. Virtually all the world’s governments, scientific academies, and media are either in on it or duped by it. The only ones who have pierced the veil and seen the truth are American movement conservatives.”

They don’t care about us. That’s for sure.

I was told recently that one of our State Rep Marylynn Magar said at a forum that with the ten bucks we’re saving on our cell phone tax a small family could treat themselves to a Pizza. Where Marylynn is this ten dollar pizza? What does each child get? Here’s a half a slice honey. Eat it and praise RIck Scott!

Or Gayle Harrell saying that people who are sick can go to free clinics and then those free clinic’s funding was taken away.

Sorry rant.

You get the picture. OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.

So what do we do when the people running are OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY? Do we vote for these people even though they are in your party? Don’t we help our own friends that are out of touch with reality?

How about this? How about YOU take control and not let people run who are OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.

So here’s REALITY so you can be IN TOUCH WITH REALITY.

Climate change is here and residing in Miami.

I’m going to post some articles and you can read them. Reading them will put you back in touch with the present and with reality.

Maybe you could send to the people who are running for things like President who live in Miami but have no clue the people will drowning soon and clue them in so they can be IN TOUCH WITH REALITY!

and if they’re not. Please! Just say no.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising?CMP=share_btn_fb

“Climate change is no longer viewed as a future threat round here,” says atmosphere expert Professor Ben Kirtman, of the University of Miami. “It is something that we are having to deal with today.”

Every year, with the coming of high spring and autumn tides, the sea surges up the Florida coast and hits the west side of Miami Beach, which lies on a long, thin island that runs north and south across the water from the city of Miami. The problem is particularly severe in autumn when winds often reach hurricane levels. Tidal surges are turned into walls of seawater that batter Miami Beach’s west coast and sweep into the resort’s storm drains, reversing the flow of water that normally comes down from the streets above. Instead seawater floods up into the gutters of Alton Road, the first main thoroughfare on the western side of Miami Beach, and pours into the street. Then the water surges across the rest of the island.

The effect is calamitous. Shops and houses are inundated; city life is paralyzed; cars are ruined by the corrosive seawater that immerses them. During one recent high spring tide, laundromat owner Eliseo Toussaint watched as slimy green saltwater bubbled up from the gutters. It rapidly filled the street and then blocked his front door. “This never used to happen,” Toussaint told the New York Times. “I’ve owned this place eight years and now it’s all the time.

Today, shop owners keep plastic bags and rubber bands handy to wrap around their feet when they have to get to their cars through rising waters, while householders have found that ground-floor spaces in garages are no longer safe to keep their cars. Only those on higher floors can hope to protect their cars from surging sea waters that corrode and rot the innards of their vehicles.”

Hence the construction work at Alton Road, where $400m is now being spent in an attempt to halt these devastating floods – by improving Miami Beach’s stricken system of drains and sewers. In total, around $1.5bn is to be invested in projects aimed at holding back the rising waters. Few scientists believe the works will have a long-term effect.”

This is from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

I mean really what do you know? Maybe you should call Rush Limbaugh on the phone.

Call the Rush Limbaugh Show Program Line

Between 12 noon and 3pm Eastern Time: 1-800-282-2882

This is from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/blog/2014/10/03/sea-level-rise-in-miami/

“The mean sea level has risen noticeably in the Miami and Miami Beach areas just in the past decade. Flooding events are getting more frequent, and some areas flood during particularly high tides now: no rain or storm surge necessary. Perhaps most alarming is that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating.

Diving Into Data

Certified measurements of sea level have been taken at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School on Virginia Key since 1996 (Virginia Key is a small island just south of Miami Beach and east of downtown Miami)[1]. Simple linear trends drawn through annual averages of all high tides, low tides, and the mean sea level are shown below, and all three lines are about 3.7″ higher in 2014 than they were in 1996.”

We have a senator in who lives in Miami who apparently can’t even find the time to go to leading academic oceanographic and atmospheric research institutions in the world?

Just say no.

This is the “World Resources Institute.”

Miami-Dade County, Florida has more people living less than 4 feet above sea level than any U.S. state, except Louisiana.

This fact sheet provides information specific to Miami-Dade County, Florida including the local impacts of—and near future vulnerabilities to—sea-level rise and extreme weather events.

Here is Eye on Miami. You have to go and listen to the audio.

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2015/04/sea-level-rise-in-miami-dr-harold.html

Sea level rise in Miami: Dr. Harold Wanless on podcast, “This Can’t Be Happening” … by gimleteye

Harold Wanless, a leading climatologist and geologist based at the University of Miami, returns to the “This Can’t Be Happening!” program after a year to revisit his claim that global warming and sea level rise are going to be much more dramatic than the consensus predictions of the UN Climate Committee, NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and other groups. With recent reports of faster melting on Greenland and in both the Eastern and Western Antarctic, Wanless tells host Dave Lindorff we are now facing a catastrophe that could see sea levels rising by more than 20 feet by the end of the century, and perhaps, if methane begins seriously erupting from the Arctic seafloor, even reduced oxygen levels that could threaten mammals, including humans.

Are you sick of me yet?

Here is some video. Excellent and well done and also talks about the Biscayne Aquifer and salt water intrusion. Richard Grosso also in this.

This is here. We cannot have anyone running for President who ignores this. Either address it or we will just say no.

Florida! Let the Good Times Roll!

Jul30

Florida! Let the Good Times Roll!

Sometimes I think I live in this other world where we see things and then there is this other place where things get reported and the only thing I can say is “huh?”

From the Florida Water Daily

https://twitter.com/FLWaterDaily/status/626707194868662272

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-lake-water-waste-20150704-story.html

What if instead of draining away about 2 billion gallons of water a day, there were better ways to put that water to use?

“nearly 200 billion gallons of Lake Okeechobee water was drained to the east and west coasts to ease the strain on the erosion-prone dike that protects South Florida from flooding.”

“*SEVEN MONTHS OF DRINKING WATER: The amount of Lake Okeechobee water drained east and west and out to sea was enough to supply about seven months of drinking water for the nearly seven million people in Palm Beach County, Broward County, Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys. Water plants in southeast Florida churn out about 840 million gallons of drinking water a day.

*NEARLY 40 PERCENT OF EVERGLADES’ WATER NEEDS: Everglades advocates have called for moving almost 500 billion gallons of Lake Okeechobee water south each year to help replenish Florida’s struggling River of Grass. The volume of lake water drained east and west for flood control between January and June equated to almost 40 percent of that Everglades restoration goal.”

What can I say. I have posted hundreds of hours of video of people pleading to save our water.

This is recent letter to the Miami Herald from Maggy Hurchella.

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article28476553.html

When you kill the environment to get more water, you end up with less water and you end up with very dirty water.

This is the same James Moran who lectured a crowded meeting room in May.

The crowd was there to ask the SFWMD Board to buy land and send the water south.

Moran said that was impossible and unnecessary, “And I don’t know why you claim it will save the Dade County water supply. They get their water from wells.”

He finally seems to have figured out that Miami-Dade’s wells are in aquifers that are recharged by water flowing south from Lake Okeechobee.

Too late.

Maggy Reno Hurchalla, Miami”

These are people in charge of our water. We know what’s happening. They don’t.

You can help conserve water by following year-round irrigation rules for your area. Find when you can water at http://t.co/N3Rp6btFl1.

— South Florida Water Management District (@SFWMD) July 15, 2015

http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/levelthree/water%20conservation

On the website on SFWMD they have loads of information about water conservation and have been on the news multiple time even having the nerve to tell us to conserve ( I don’t have an issue conserving but I do have an issue with them not conserving. Not just not conserving. Just totally wasting millions and millions of gallons of water send out to tide and destroying our estuary.

Then this happened and i knew the world was just turned upside down.

Rick Scott gets an environmental award.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-developer-to-give-gov-rick-scott-environmentalist-award-7782775

“But Rodney Barreto thinks Scott has been a tree-hugging warrior for Mother Gaia. The Miami developer, who also chairs the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, announced via email this week that at the BlueGreen gala this fall, he’ll honor Scott for his conservation work.

“Governor Scott has been instrumental in helping develop a strong connection between fish and wildlife conservation and traditional outdoors activities like hunting and especially fishing,” Barreto says in a release.

Local environmentalists are aghast at the news. “It’s laughable,” Alan Farago, president of Friends of the Everglades, tells New Times. “In terms of the environment, I think he’s the worst governor in modern Florida history.”

Aghast doesn’t even cover it.”

Fishing. Yes I dare you Rick Scott to come swimming in the Indian River Lagoon.

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2015/07/gop-puzzled-by-gov-rick-scotts.html?spref=tw

“Today, a report by AP’s Gary Fineout, “Florida Gov. Scott against at odds with Florida Republicans” sheds light on the award, in the context of a deeply strained relationship between court-penalized Republicans, shuddering at the prospect of having to draw fair districts, and an isolated governor.

What to do with a governor hunkered down in his coastal multi-million dollar estate from which he doesn’t emerge, except to his private jet clutching talking points? Give him an environmental award! Cheer up his mysterious spirits, unknowable except to special interests and cronies.”

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-environment-award-rick-scott-maxwell-20150728-column.html

“On Tuesday morning, I began reaching out to other sponsors of the event. But Tuesday afternoon, the foundation had removed all the sponsors’ names from its website.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

Even the sponsors know its BS. But it will interesting to see who sponsors this event. Let’s stay tuned for that one.

Here is the new guy he picked for the SFWMD board.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article29209648.html

Accursio, 52, whose family owns and farms 2,000 acres in South Miami-Dade County, has been among farmers bitterly complaining about Everglades restoration efforts flooding fields and causing crop losses in the region.

Someone Save Pahokee’s Old Prince Theater! Former Mayor was too busy obsessing.

Jul27

Someone Save Pahokee’s Old Prince Theater! Former Mayor was too busy obsessing.

When I lived in Palm Beach County Pahokee was that place way out there. I don’t even think when I worked in home health from Boca I ever went out there. It’s pretty torn up. Yet the people that live there are so nice. Real people. I’d rather spend a day in Pahokee than a day in Palm Beach. Truly.

I feel like the whole area are the forgotten people but whats so funny is they haven’t forgotten themselves. They just go on with their day. This is their life.

So if you go to downtown Pahokee you see this: An old movie theater and the base is made from coral.

Here is some info about the “Prince Theater.”

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/26826/comments

Joe Vogel on April 4, 2015 at 4:40 amThe original Prince Theatre was replaced in 1940. The April 5, 1940, issue of The Film Daily had this item:

“Dobrow to Erect New Theater Building, Refurnish Another“Pahokee, Fla. — A call for bids is being made by Abe Dobrow of the Everglades and Prince Theaters, for a new structure to replace the present building housing the Prince theater. Bids will be opened April 8. Plans also call for complete refurnishing of the Everglades theater.”

This follow-up item is from the January 3, 1941, issue of The Film Daily:

“Open New Pahokee House“Pahokee, Fla. — New $40,000 Prince theater, has been opened. The 600-seater is owned and operated by Gold & Dobrow. Don Hiller & Sons, Pahokee, were the contractors.”

Listings of the Prince Theatre in FDY’s from the 1930s consistently give it a capacity of 250, so it was less than half the size of the new house. It seems unlikely that the original Prince Theatre would have been demolished in 1940 if its building was only nine years old, so it’s likely that it was either an older theater that had operated under a different name earlier in its history, or it was in an older commercial building that had been converted into a theater in 1931.Architect Chester A. Cone was still in practice at least as late as 1985, so it seems likely that it was the 1940 rebuilding of the Prince Theatre that he designed, rather than the original house.

In 1966, the Gold-Dobrow chain leased three of their five theaters, including the Prince, to a Miami-based chain. An article about the transfer in the December 21 issue of The Palm Beach Post said that the Gold-Dobrow chain had been “…organized about 35 years ago….” That would be consistent with the 1931 opening of the original Prince Theatre, whether it was a new operation or an old house renamed by the new owners.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/pahokee-sues-business-owner-demands-teardown-of-th/nL9xX/

From 2010:

“A fight is brewing over the crumbling, pink Prince Theater on Main Street, where country music singer Mel Tillis got his start and Glades children spent countless Saturday afternoons.

But city leaders aren’t fighting to restore the 70-year-old landmark. They want to force its new owner to tear it down.

The city sold the theater to businessman Emilio Perez for $8,500 on March 1, with the understanding he would demolish the building and use the site to expand a gas station for economic development. Now the city is suing Perez for breach of contract after he started to repair the building instead.

“The bottom line is: ‘Just do what you said you would do,'” Mayor J.P Sasser said. “All we want him to do is honor his original agreement.”

In a June 29 letter to the city, Perez said he had a change of heart about demolishing the theater after residents asked him to fix and re-open it.

The 500-seat theater was built in 1940 and showed first-run movies and live performances for about 25 years until it closed in the mid-1960s. Tillis, who grew up in Pahokee, said he got his start singing at talent shows at the Prince Theater in the late 1940s

The theater sat dormant for more than a decade, and its owners donated it to the city in 1976. After residents led by Harriet Seldes raised more than $100,000 to renovate the building, it reopened in 1980 for community events and later for movies.

“We were doing this not only for the adults in the community but also the children,” said Seldes, who now lives in Port St. Lucie. “There was no other theater, nothing else for children to do but football.”

The theater closed again after a few years. Tropical Storm Fay in 2008 damaged the roof so badly that city officials decided it was beyond hope of repair, Sasser said.

Pahokee resident Larry Wright said the Prince should not be torn down. He suggested that a nonprofit theater group could be organized to put on plays there using local children.

Sasser said that before being elected this year he had worked with a group that tried to find money to save the Prince, but it was a lost cause because of the extent of roof damage and other needed repairs.”

Seriously JP you spend too much time obsessing about the septic tanks in Martin County to pay attention to your own town the wonderful place it could be. You could find a roof company and try to raise the money to fix this. You want it replaced with a Gas station?

You could fix this place out. Have a children’s theater. Show some good movies. Have some concerts. Who would want to demolish such a gem. You could have brought people to pahokee!

We need to help Pahokee!

Maybe someone from the Island of Palm Beach could invest in this. It would be awesome. We need to invest in the children of Pahokee.

Pahokee out by Lake O.
Forgotton building could be something wonderful.

Hopefully the new mayor will fix this place up!

http://florida.newszap.com/belleglade/121121-113/walkes-named-new-pahokee-mayor

“Sasser has been one of the most visible representatives of the Pahokee area on the state and federal level, taking trips to Tallahassee and Washington D.C. to argue his case for his hometown and for the Glades area. Along those same lines, it was his sharp tongue and his haranguing of other elected officials that landed him in the headlines. Sasser defended the area in a distinct way, and a harsh scolding of the county or state was one of the many cards Sasser played to get his message across.

With a convincing loss to a political newcomer, Sasser said his political career in Pahokee in over.”

Oh Goody! The water issue has got to be fixed! But looking at the old Prince theater which is a jewel that you want to tear down instead of putting effort into having something for the children of your town is beyond me. Good for the guy who bought it and changed his mind.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/former-pahokee-mayor-dont-let-lake-o-flood-us

JP Sasser’s belief that we want to flood out Pahokee.

“He said, “The first thing Senator Negron did was to sit me down and assure me that nobody wants to flood Pahokee. I told him, ‘Oh, yes, they do. They want all the lake water flowing south. Do that and we’re done.'”

It’s very hard to deal with someone who has their own belief system and just won’t listen. I wrote this a while back. I’m so sick of rehashing this point. But you can watch the Sugarland Video and see that we all sincerely wanted to work together and it was the people that lived out on the Lake that started this whole ‘They want to flood us out thing.” I know where it came from.. That’s not what was said. You all are still in danger.

https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/06/10/acoe-and-the-herbert-hoover-dike-we-should-be-up-in-arms-together/

I know where it came from.. That’s not what was said. You all are still in danger. And no you can’t build giant cities out there with new Walmarts. Because you can’t have it both ways. We discharges to protect you guys. No one in their right is going to put anyone else in danger.

No one wanted to flood them out. This is just Big Sugar BS for lets change the subject and make all those tree hugging liberals look bad.

yes this is me hugging a tree.

No one wanted to flood you out JP. We wanted you to do your job and take care of the people of Pahokee. If you weren’t so obsessed with us perhaps you could have done that.

Now JP is suing the River’s Coalition.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/treasure-coast-environmental-group-slapped-irs-deceptive-practices-complaint

It’s so absurd that I can’t post parts of the article. I read it and laughed. Seriously are you kidding me?

Why not take the money your spending on lawyers and fix the Prince theater and ask some famous local actor to come out there and have a program for the children you were supposed to represent.

Here is the new mayor of Pahokee!

http://www.colinwalkes.com/home/4575702688

Glad to see a new face and hope to see some good changes out there.

This is what the people want. I know this because I saw it painted on their store fronts.

Let’s all be aware of what is going on in Pahokee and perhaps the people of Palm Beach County which has a population of 1,397,710 – If each person sent one buck they could save the prince theater and there would be money left over to do something else for the kids out there.

Florida Back Roads: Kissimmee River Restoration

Jul25

Florida Back Roads: Kissimmee River Restoration

Ever since I’ve been involved with water issues I’ve heard about the restoration of the Kissimmee River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissimmee_River

The Kissimmee River arises in Osceola County as the outflow from East Lake Tohopekaliga, passing through Lake Tohopekaliga, Lake Cypress, Lake Hatchineha and Lake Kissimmee. Below Lake Kissimmee, the river forms the boundary between Osceola County and Polk County, between Highlands County and Okeechobee County, and between Glades County and Okeechobee County before it flows into Lake Okeechobee. The river was originally 134 miles (216 km) in length, 103 miles (166 km) of which was between Lake Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee. It forms the headwaters of the Kissimmee River-Lake Okeechobee-Everglades ecosystem.

The Kissimmee River watershed of 3,000 square miles (7,800 km²) is adjacent to the Eastern Continental Divide, with triple watershed points at the Miami (north), Withlacoochee (northwest), and Peace (west) rivers’ watersheds and the Lake Okeechobee watershed (southwest).The floodplain of the river supports a diverse community of waterfowl, wading birds, fish, and other wildlife.

Every time I drove out there all I saw was this.

Kissimmee River at Basinger

and this

Kissimmee River looking north at Basinger

I was always whizzing through and I never took the time to stop and explore.

It took us a while to find what we were looking for.

http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xweb%20protecting%20and%20restoring/kissimmee%20river

“The Kissimmee Basin encompasses more than two dozen lakes in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes (KCOL), their tributary streams and associated marshes and the Kissimmee River and floodplain. The basin forms the headwaters of Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades; together they comprise the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades (KOE) system. In the 1960s, the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control (C&SF) Project modified the native KOE system extensively throughout South Florida, including construction of canals and water control structures to achieve flood control in the Upper and Lower Kissimmee basins.

Major initiatives in the Kissimmee Basin are the Kissimmee River Restoration Project (which includes Construction Projects), the Kissimmee River Restoration Evaluation Program, the Kissimmee Basin Modeling and Operations Study and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Long-Term Management Plan. A number of activities are associated with these projects, including ecosystem restoration, evaluation of restoration efforts, aquatic plant management, land management, water quality improvement and water supply planning.”

We ended up here.

Whoops.

Then we ended up here .

It was one of those “It’s got to be here somewhere!”

Then we found this

You are here!

We were disappointed that you could not walk out on the lock.

and a little down the road heading south you can put in with your canoes or kayaks.

So this was great right!

http://www.protectingourwater.org/watersheds/map/kissimmee_river/

“The very northern end of the Kissimmee River Basin is primarily urban and includes a small portion of the city of Orlando, three large theme parks (Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios), Orlando International Airport, and the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud. There are some pockets of residential development along the Lake Wales Ridge (in the cities of Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, and Lake Placid) and a military installation (Avon Park Air Force Range). However, agricultural lands (citrus groves, cattle ranches, caladium fields, and sod farms) as well as wetlands and upland forests dominate the remainder of the Kissimmee River Basin and all of the Fisheating Creek Basin.”

So every time someone flushes a toilet at Mickey’s a seahorse dies in the Indian RIver Lagoon.

It was everything I imagined except for the lock part. If we have Locks that go down the river why do we need water storage and farming to hold the water back?

I tried to find a map but I couldn’t but I did find this. I found four locks.

http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xrepository/sfwmd_repository_pdf/nr_2011_0131_kissimmee_lock_renovations.pdf

Just as a reminder here is our great teacher Mark Perry telling us how important the restoration of the Kissimmee River is.

Sinkholes: Its the Geology stupid!

Jul23

#Florida

Sinkholes: Its the Geology stupid!

So after I wrote my blog I was wondering if we get sinkholes here in Martin County. Will my house get get sucked up in a hole. Will I be calling 911 saying “I’m in the ground!” Yikes.

I live on a ancient sand dune by the Indian RIver Lagoon. I live on a hill. I expect my house will be water view in about 50 years if we don’t do anything about sea level rise. I picked this area besides being so close to the lagoon, it was on a hill and out of the flood zone.

So much for planning.

The sinkholes of Martin County.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/30/192278.htm

RiskMeter’s Top 10 Sinkhole-Prone Counties in Florida are:

Pasco
Hernando
Hillsborough
Marion
Pinellas
Citrus
Polk
Orange
Seminole
Lake

Geology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Florida

During the early Mesozoic Era (251 – 66 mya) the supercontinent of Pangea began to rift and break apart. As North America separated from Africa a small portion of the African plate detached and was carried away with the North American plate. This provided some of the foundation upon which Florida now rests.

(I love this. Pretty cool if you think about it.)

The Florida peninsula is a porous plateau of karst limestone sitting atop bedrock known as the Florida Platform. The emergent portion of the platform was created during the Eocene to Oligocene as the Gulf Trough filled with silts, clays, and sands. Flora and fauna began appearing during the Miocene. No land animals were present in Florida prior to the Miocene.

The largest deposits of rock phosphate in the country are found in Florida. Most of this is in Bone Valley.

Extended systems of underwater caves, sinkholes and springs are found throughout the state and supply most of the water used by residents. The limestone is topped with sandy soils deposited as ancient beaches over millions of years as global sea levels rose and fell. During the last glacial period, lower sea levels and a drier climate revealed a much wider peninsula, largely savanna.

Science

Really incredible explanation on connection between farming and sinkholes and how the aquifers are pumped out and how cavities are left over and then they collapse.

He brings us up a lot of good points.

http://dep.state.fl.us/geology/geologictopics/hazards/sinkholes.htm

“Sinkholes become more of a problem in areas where sediments that lie above the limestone are mainly clays mixed with sand. Clay causes these sediments, which also range in thickness from 30 to 200 feet, to be cohesive. They are not very permeable to water. In these areas sinkholes are most numerous. They vary in size and may form suddenly. In a few areas of Florida over 200 feet of sediments cover the underlying limestone. These sediments are cohesive because of the clay and layers of limestone they contain. Although there are not many sinkholes in these areas, the ones that occur are deep and wide. These types of sinkholes are referred to as “cover-collapse sinkholes” because cohesive layers of sediment collapse into underground cavities when they form.”

Do we really need to be messing around in the land underneath us?

Do we need to look for oil? DO we need to suck the water out of the earth? Why are we messing with Mother Nature? Do we need to frack?

no. no. no.

We need to find betters ways to preserve or we’ll be the ones sucked down and yelling “I’m the ground!”

Here is a lesson. I’m not sure what grade it’s for but if your 6th graders can understand this stuff perhaps our legislators can.

http://teachingboxes.org/seaLevel/lessons/lesson4_reefs/index.htm

Coral reefs only grow in shallow, clear sea water (in the photic zone).

Reefs and Sea Level

When sea level is stationary, reefs will grow laterally in a seaward direction as reef sediments accumulate. Over long periods of time reef sediments will accumulate, and the growing pile will buid up in a seaward direction. Over time, this reef material will build broad shoals and platforms just below and near the ocean’s surface. However, if sea level rises and reefs are submerged by deep water, tehy will die. The deep water isolates them form the necessary solar light and warm water conditions they require. Similarly, a drop in sea level could leve them exposed on land.

Image source: U.S. Geological Survey (http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/fact-sheet/fs025-02

There’s even an extra brain teaser on the bottom!

Extra Brain Teaser: read about Florida’s sinkholes and what they tell of about sea level in the past!

Man I love Science!

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/02/28/oil-prospectors-seek-their-next-big-strike-south-floridas-everglades-245596.html

“The letter was printed on plain white paper in plain black type, and but for its unfamiliar globe logo “Total Safety” and its unsettling message, it was no different from most of the junk mail filling the mailboxes of 30 homes in a rural south Florida area called Golden Gate Estates, east of Naples.

“Dear Sir or Madam,” it read, “Total Safety US, Inc. is currently going around your area gathering information on households for Dan A. Hughes, so we can develop a contingency plan. We need the name of the main contact of the household, the number of people in your household, address and a number where you could be contacted in case of emergency, if you have transportation to evacuate and if you have any special needs in transportation.

With a little research, one of the many perplexed recipients, a retired artist by the name of Jaime Duran, learned that Dan A. Hughes was a Beeville, Texas-based oil outfit and that the company planned on drilling a test well on the pasture alongside his log cabin, less than 1,000 feet from his front porch.

The geological traits that make Florida good for oil exploration might also make it particularly environmentally risky. Andrew Zimmerman, an associate professor in the University of Florida’s geology department, tells Newsweek that the state’s oil is found in cracked, porous limestone formations. This is also the same rock sourcing drinking water. Plus, south Florida already has its share of water problems. In addition to water managers constantly balancing over-wet or over-dry conditions, they are often being caught between the two bad choices of over-drawing from aquifers or dumping fresh water into the ocean. Lake Okeechobee, which is also a major player in the region’s water sources, is another ongoing problem, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently diverted polluted water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers from the lake to prevent its 80-year-old dike from bursting. That has dealt a near deathblow to these rivers’ estuaries, with locals complaining that the lake’s waters containing agricultural chemicals from nearby farms have killed numerous manatees, dolphins, fish and oysters.”

In a worst-case scenario, drilling could have deadly consequences.

Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that smells of eggs but rivals hydrogen cyanide in its potential to kill and is often present in fields with sour crude oil, the kind found in south Florida.

You have to watch and listen to this video! Lets not be the one’s who get sucked into the ground.

Florida Inc: It’s all about the water: muck fires and sinkholes

Jul23

#Florida

Muck Fires: What is that awful smell?

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/local-news/martin-county/smoke-from-palm-beach-county-wildfire-smelled-throughout-treasure-coast_55076727

“Earlier Monday, smoke from a more than 10,300-acre wildfire in Palm Beach County could be smelled throughout the Treasure Coast thanks to winds out of the south.

The fire began July 8 with a lightning strike in the Arthur R. Marshall/Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and is about 75 percent contained, a release states.

Reports of smoke came in from throughout the Treasure Coast, as far north as Sebastian in Indian River County, according to information from the St. Lucie County Fire District and Yunas.”

This is what was reported to us and we just knew there was more to the story.

Last week we all woke up to not just smoke but a really nasty smell. There was a fire in Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and other brush fires around. This smell was nasty and we are not the only ones who woke up to this and had to endure for days. It smelled like plastic burning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muck_%28soil%29

“In the terminology of North American agriculture, muck is a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland. Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitats and results in a variety of environmental problems. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so it becomes progressively shallower. :

http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/07/09/smokey-smell-caused-by-estero-bay-state-preserve-burn/29906137/

“A pervasive, smoky smell throughout south Lee County, Estero and into Cape Coral Thursday was the result of a muck fire in the Everglades District, according to the Florida Forestry Service.”

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/news/2006-05-10-florida-muck-fires_x.htm

“Basically, a muck fire is going to burn down until it hits water,” said Sean Gallagher, a spokesman with the Florida Division of Forestry. “It burns with such intensity that it lights the dirt.”

Muck ignites from the burning brush above and from lightning strikes. Enough oxygen penetrates the parched, loosely packed peat, causing underground embers to smolder for weeks. The muck can cook and kill roots, causing trees to topple. After their leaves dry out, they kindle more brush and the downed trees themselves.

Muck is soil rich in carbon-based compounds from dead plants and organisms, usually more than a third of the soil content.

It becomes flammable when the groundwater dips below normal for an extended period of time.

Burning muck can lower the ground elevation enough to ultimately change swamps into lakes or ponds.

Firefighters cut fire breaks around the muck and till up the ground so they can see the glowing hot spots and soak them.

“Before farmers and developers drained natural wetlands, muck fires were much less common because low-lying areas stayed underwater throughout the year.”

The reason I bring this up is because Maggy Hurchella brought this up in her pleas to SFWMD this past winter. Drought=muck fires.

Sinkholes are the results of groundwater pumping. watch this video. warning language. totally worth the watch.

Florida Sinkholes are Swallowing Cars: America’s Water Crisis (Part 2/3)

Why do I bring this up? Because there are lots of clueless people managing our water and their mismanagement is hurting us. Their leader of course is Rick Scott and politics and Florida Inc is in charge of our future.

Right now they are not doing a very good job!

cyndi lenz

psych nurse, documentary filmmaker, photographer, crazed river warrior of the Indian River Lagoon.

Category Archives: clean water

Lakepointe and the Pacific Legal Foundation

“Lawsuits meant to silence questions about development in Martin don’t pass smell test”

Smart growth forum defends Martin against SLAPP suits?

SLAPP at Hurchalla shows law needs to be reformed

Summer Book Club: Paving Paradise Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and Failure of no Net Loss.

When will our medical community step and do something about people getting sick and dying in the Indian River Lagoon

Atrazine: It brings bad things to life!

European Union bans atrazine, while the United States negotiates continued use.

Author information

Abstract

“Atrazine: Poisoning the Well

Atrazine Continues to Contaminate Surface Water and Drinking Water in the United States

Atrazine in drinking water

Sea Level Rise in Miami and Politics. Let’s just say no to the “deniers.”

Call the Rush Limbaugh Show Program Line

Sea level rise in Miami: Dr. Harold Wanless on podcast, “This Can’t Be Happening” … by gimleteye

Florida! Let the Good Times Roll!

Someone Save Pahokee’s Old Prince Theater! Former Mayor was too busy obsessing.

Florida Back Roads: Kissimmee River Restoration

Sinkholes: Its the Geology stupid!

Florida Inc: It’s all about the water: muck fires and sinkholes

Florida Sinkholes are Swallowing Cars: America’s Water Crisis (Part 2/3)