Tag Archives: amendment one

Discharges stopped for the moment.

@BarackObama

@joenegronfl

@RepMurphyFL

@SteveCrisafulli

@MaryLynnMagar

@Gayle_Harrell

So this what happened. Thursday,  Kenny Hinkle  Jr. and Captain Mike Connor went up to Port Mayaca and made a video and took photos showing green algae.

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Then Senator Negron saw and told them to shut it down.

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/possible-bluegreen-algae-found-in-st-lucie-canal_46291092

“Senator Negron Calls on Army Corps to Immediately Suspend Harmful Releases from Lake Okeechobee Due to Algae Bloom”

Stuart, Fla. – Today, State Senator Joe Negron (R-Stuart) called on the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately suspend the harmful releases from Lake Okeechobee due to the current toxic blue-green algae bloom in water adjacent to the lake.

“I have personally seen video and photos confirming that water adjacent to Lake Okeechobee is currently experiencing a toxic blue-green algae bloom,” said Senator Negron. “With the elevation of Lake Okeechobee at less than 14 feet, there is simply no reason whatsoever for the Army Corps to be discharging water at this time.”

“While releases from Lake Okeechobee are always harmful, discharging water with a toxic blue-green algae bloom is particularly dangerous to our lagoon and estuary,” said Senator Negron.

“Right now, there is zero chance of any breach or damage to the dike,” said Senator Negron. “At the same time, there is a hundred percent chance of damage to our lagoon and estuary when the Army Corps pours hundreds of millions of gallons of polluted water into our community. Why would they do that?”

The Army Corps of Engineers will suspend discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River so state agencies can run tests on a possible blue-green algae bloom that has been found in the western end of the St. Lucie Canal.

How long the discharges will be curtailed for the testing by the South Florida Water Management District and the state Department of Environmental Protection was not confirmed.

Then this happened:

http://www.tcpalm.com/franchise/indian-river-lagoon/health/possible-bluegreen-algae-found-in-st-lucie-canal_46291092

today its all over the news

https://www.facebook.com/irene.n.gomes/videos/vb.1230436264/10204036954024068/?type=2&theater

Really amazing teamwork guys.

Press Release from Rick Scott’s Office: For Immediate Release, Office of the Governor, Lake Okeechobee Toxic Algae and ACOE’s Halting Releases to St Lucie River.
April 24, 2015
Contact: media@eog.myflorida.com
(850) 717-9282

Governor Rick Scott Dispatches Florida Department of Environmental Protection Team to Test Potential Algae Blooms in Lake Okeechobee
LAKE OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott made the following statement following claims of harmful blue green algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee.
Governor Rick Scott said, “Today, following reports of harmful blue green algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee, I’ve asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to immediately dispatch a team to test water for harmful algae blooms. The Army Corps of Engineers did the right thing by halting their releases this afternoon. President Obama also needs to live up to his commitment to repair the dike and responsibly manage Lake Okeechobee.

Today Obama is managing Lake Okeechobee? Wow. Because a few weeks ago it was the state. Oh that’s right it’s suppose to be a partnership.

I want to drive this point home.

1. Even if this water was totally clean and devoid of all the nasty nutrients and toxic green algae it would still kill us because it  is fresh water. So the legislature needs to know this – even the clean water will kills us. I don’t understand why this particular important point is never mentioned. NO FRESH WATER!  Please find a hydrologist and ask them to explain salinity.

2. Now add on toxic green algae to the mix. been there. done this. bought the t shirt. But know this -it only happens when this stuff comes out of Lake O. So whenI hear talk in Tallahassee of not buying the land because we have enough land (Sen ALAN HAY) and how water needs to be stored north. I have to wonder what kind of information are these people getting and who are they getting it from.
Who are you getting it from?

 

How in the world do you recharge the aquifers if you store the water north of the lake? How do you fend off salt water intrusion if the water does not flow south?

HOW?

Just proves to me that our legislators have no understanding of what is going on here.

I know its hard but if we can understand this stuff so can you.

and why would any one push this stuff? They do because its sugar speak. Anything to avoid what would save us. We didn’t like  but we lived through discharges from our own water shed which was mostly AG BTW. This is what no one tells you and big sugar wants you to believe.

What kind of person does that anyway? What kind of people distorts the truth for their own personal gain? When is enough enough?

Because this is the truth and this what happens and this has got to end. We CANNOT have another toxic summer.

Do the right thing. Buy the land. Don’t destroy us.

and stop taking money from Big Sugar. I’m sure there is lots of other corporate welfare out there.

 

President Obama said “We want to restore the natural flow of the Everglades.”

@BarackObama

@joenegronfl

@RepMurphyFL

@SteveCrisafulli

Yesterday, On #Earth Day 2015, President Obama came to the Everglades.

Here is his speech

miami.cbslocal.com/video/11416318-web-extra-president-barack-obama-talks-climate-change-in-the-everglades/#.VTgwYPBYm3Z.facebook

“In the words of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas there are no other Everglades in the World.”

“If we don’t act there might not be an Everglades as we know it.”He talked about salt water intrusion, and how South Florida, 7 million Americans, get their drinking water from the Everglades.”

“The pentagon says that climate change poses a risk to our national security”

“All of this poses a risk to Florida’s 82 billion dollar tourist industry on which many jobs and livelihoods depend.”

“Protecting our parks is a smart thing to do for our economy.” (you know jobs, jobs, jobs)

President Obama said “We want to restore the natural flow of the Everglades which we know is one of the best defenses against climate change and rising sea level.”

“This is not some impossible problem.”

“If you’ve got a storm. You prepare for the storm. You don’t stick your head in the sand.”

The pentagon says that climate change poses a risk to our national security.

That’s so true. Read this book. It was a total non partisan issue to screw up the plumping.

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The Federal Government has invested millions of dollars and with out buying the land in EAA Everglades Restoration will never be complete. The Aquifers will not be recharged. The salt water intrusion will continue. We will get discharges forever. The drinking water of South Florida will be destroyed.

So if our President of the United States, a guy who is really busy, understands this simple message why doesn’t our Florida Legislature?  Do they hate him so much they would destroy our Everglades, our drinking water and continue to to allow the toxic discharges  and the wasting of millions of gallons of water?  President Obama, millions of gallons of water are sent out to tide and are destroying our northern estuaries.

earth day everglades copy

When our President says we have to do this we have to do this and our Florida Legislators must make this happen. They can no longer keep their heads in the sand. They need to prepare for the storm.

Please call your legislators today and tell them we must buy the land.

#buytheland #sendcleanwatersouth

State Sen. Alan Hays: The Fox in Charge of the Hen House.

To

State Sen. Alan Hays

To all the people that voted for him: thanks! yikes

To the press that quote him over and over again: really?

To Everyone else: Understand clearly who is making decisions about OUR DISCHARGES, OUR DRINKING WATER, OUR EVERGLADES.

To the new outlets: Didn’t you think this was necessary to include this information in your reports?

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-02-24/news/os-lk-lauren-ritchie-conservation-hays-20130224_1_conservation-land-extreme-bill-national-parks-and-forest

February 24, 2013|Lauren Ritchie, COMMENTARY

This is the time of year when state Sen. Alan Hays usually tries to turn one of his extreme opinions into law by filing a bill that the Legislature has to consider with a straight face.

Session 2013: The Umatilla Republican does not disappoint.

Hays has offered bills in the past that delighted his insurance and development backers but would have left his constituents seething. The worst among them was a bill that would have deregulated the insurance industry, launching the cost of homeowner premiums into the ozone.

The winner of the annual competition for Hays’ Most Bizarre Bill is SB 584, an absurd measure that seeks to prevent the state, counties and cities from buying any more conservation land than they already own unless they sell an equal amount of publicly held property.

Yep, that’s it, folks. Sell some of that “useless” property you’re just hanging onto for no reason if you want another park. You’ve hit the cap.

Now fast forward to now:

miami.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/little-land-buying-in-senates-amendment-1-plan

Sen. Alan Hays, a Umatilla Republican who is chairman of the subcommittee, said the state might already have enough land within its preservation inventory.

to now

http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2015/03/21/still-little-land-buy-funding

Many lawmakers see the issue much differently. They say Florida owns enough land, and argue that the amendment language is broad enough that they can steer nearly all the money to other environmental priorities.

Hays chairs the Senate committee that was responsible for creating an environmental spending plan that conforms with the constitutional amendment.

Of course they do.

This is Florida where the fox is in charge of the hen house.

Fox_henhouse02

Now they are laughing at us.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20150321/NEWS/150329844

We live in Florida so this sounds just about right.

Unpaid volunteers make choices about our water

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www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page/portal/xweb about us/governing board

The South Florida Water Management District is directed by nine Governing Board members who set policy for the agency. They reside within the agency’s 16-county region and represent a cross section of interests, including the environment, agriculture, local government, recreation and business. Governing Board members are unpaid citizen volunteers appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. They generally serve four-year terms.

The South Florida Water Management District encompasses two major watershed basins, the Okeechobee Basin and the Big Cypress Basin. The Big Cypress Basin also has a Basin Board, with appointed members setting policy. One Governing Board member also serves as the chair of the Big Cypress Basin Board.

The Governing Board appoints the Executive Director, who directs all South Florida Water Management District activities. The Florida Senate confirms this candidate.”

So the people on the board of South Water Management District are unpaid volunteers. We are volunteers. They are volunteers that are friends of Rick Scott.  We get bubka’s.

Why does a group of unpaid volunteers get to make a decision about our discharges, our water, our everglades?

Here is the discussion at the end of the meeting last week about why the land will not be bought.

CBS news interviews guy who duped actors as real person.

So i’m good with the attention and the general message. But I’m not cool with giving Everett Wilkenson any attention at all! Just two weeks ago he paid 50 actors 75 dollars and duped them into thinking they were shooting the backdrop for a tea party documentary. I know channel 12 knows this because i personally went over to the news truck last Thurs and told them myself.
read here: https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/04/07/actors-duped-in-tea-party-protest-at-south-florida-water-management/

"I don't know anything about people being paid! These are real protestors"

“I don’t know anything about people being paid! These are real protestors”

Here is the piece! Again thanks so much for investigating but please don’t give any attention to fake people.Why are we talking about “Land Grabs?” Its a conspiracy theory.

Coffee talk ! Let’s talk!

For two years I’ve been begging people to talk to each other  in the paper. We are so blessed to have the very best dedicated lagoon team. Now we can send articles to our friends! Our voices and the voices of the Stuart News is intragral to being heard.

So thank you who ever made this happen. (I think the person has the initials E.S.) because now we can talk to each other and reach out even more.

Thanks for publishing my letter.

Thanks to all the people who commented.

 

So here I am telling the board of govenors about my trip to the beach.

@SFWMD

I wrote four speeches.  One all typed out. 2 more I wrote out on the way to the meeting and the last I wrote on scrap paper. In the end I threw them all away and spoke from heart minus the curse words. Afterwards I cried.

From Katy:
Katy Lewey ‎Cyndi Lenz

“Thank you for bringing our message home today.”

I havn’t downloaded my video, so thanks to Irene for shooting this nice video of me talking to the Board of Governors at South Florida Water Management.

This week the item was on the agenda. Afterwards Kevin Power’s said for sure  he’d be a River Kid. Instead of just moving on to the next subject there was discussion. Not the one we wanted. They want to finish projects.

Years of talking to these people and we will still have discharges probably forever. The Everglades will be destroyed. Our drinking water destroyed. I’m sure they have something up their sleeves about that one and it will include spending lots of money and the cost will be passed on to you.

How dare we ask for clean drinkable water. We have a lot of nerve.

How dare the people of the Treasure Coast ask to have our clean water back.

We passed amendment one to buy this land. How difficult is it going to be in the future to get people to sign on and pass citizen initiatives if the legislature is just going to go what they want to do?

In our next election will people really think about who they are voting for and are they going to put up deeper into this hole of being manipulated by Big Sugar and other Big Business and not whats good for us?

Right now the best thing we can do is pray for a drought.

So here is my message to Rick Scott, our legislature and the Board of Governors of South Florida Water Management District.Stop the discharges. You figure it out! We did everything we possibly could, we got you the money, we got the support, we pulled everyone together.  Keep the locks closed.  Close them forever. and bring us some oysters. ” Then go home and find us people who can come up with solutions not constraints. Because no one. Not one single person should have to deal with this.

We’re not actors nor do we play one on tv!

For Immediate Release: Contact Cris Costello, Sierra Club, 941-914-0421 (cell). Julia Hathaway, Sierra Club, West Palm Beach, 202-315-8211 (cell)
Floridians demand Gov. Scott’s appointees initiate US Sugar purchase
Residents will wear stickers saying: “I’m not an actor”
When: Thursday, April 9, 2015
Time: 9 a.m.
Where: South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Headquarters Auditorium: 3301 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, Florida, 33406
What: Large turnout to Buy Sugar Land NOW!
Florida Senator Joe Negron (R) said he is planning on introducing legislation asking for $500 million for land purchases, money that could buy U.S. Sugar lands.
Supporters of US Sugar purchase will once again convene at the West Palm Beach headquarters of the South Florida Water Management District to demand that Governor Rick Scott’s appointed water managers purchase 48,600 acres of US Sugar land to restore the Everglades and protect the coasts from pollution. The state of Florida has an option to purchase the land by October, but water managers must take action now for the process to begin.
Last week, actors were paid $75 to attend a Tea Party protest against the purchase.
**VISUALS** Residents wearing “I’m not an actor” stickers. Signs. An enlarged photo of hundreds of Buy the Land supporters from Tallahassee.
Why: The South Florida Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are dumping more about a half billion gallons of highly polluted fresh water a day into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, polluting critical marine habitats and harming communities.
Residents are incredulous that Governor Scott and his appointees will not consider the 48,600 acre purchase option in the US Sugar contract in spite of algal blooms and massive marine die offs that occurred in Indian River Lagoon in 2013 and are now threatening. According to the University of Florida, the land purchase must be considered to stop marine life die-offs.
As polluted water is dumped to the coasts, the Everglades subject of a multibillion restoration project, is starving for water. The solution, according to University of Florida scientists, is to pursue 48,600 acres of sugar land to store and clean the water. Governing board members have largely ignored those pleas and appear intent to allow Big Sugar to walk out of a deal and let restoration evaporate forever.

Make the calls to buy the land!

I made my call.. Now you makes yours.

Attention: Florida Senator Joe Negron

@joenegronfl

(850) 487-5032

#buytheland

This past weekend I went to celebrate this little guys celebration of a complete rotation around the sun.

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mista sunshine

I drove five hours to Anna Maria Island. The last hour sitting in traffic to get over the bridge to the island. When I got there

I saw this.

clean water

Anna Maria Island

I spent the entire day at the beach in that water. It was the first time since 2013 that I could swim in clean water.

This is my house.

March 18, 2015 photo of SLR/SIRL flying north over St Lucie Inlet and the east side of Sewall's Point. (JTL)

What’s wrong with this picture?

This is my letter to the Editor in the Stuart News Today.

http://www.tcpalm.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letter-untenable-stall-in-implementing-measures-to-save-our-waterways_53480270

”

What’s the obstacle? U.S. Sugar wants out of its contract. Instead of selling the land like it agreed to do, it now urges the Legislature to drag its feet until the agreement expires later this year.

We can’t go through this again, and if our local legislators and Gov. Scott turn their backs on us, it is time we turn our backs on them.”

I left you a message at your office today.

We want this:

clean water

Not this:

March 18, 2015 photo of SLR/SIRL flying north over St Lucie Inlet and the east side of Sewall's Point. (JTL)

It’s not that complicated. One piece of land will complete everglades restoration, save the water of South Florida, protect our drinking water, Protect the Everglades and for goodness protect and represent the people you are suppose to represent.

Thank you,

Cyndi Lenz and Mista Sunshine

Attention President Obama! You’re our only Hope!

Welcome President Obama!

@BarackObama

Welcome President Obama to the Treasure Coast and welcome from all of us that have been working hard to Save the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

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We have been are being decimated by the discharges from Lake Okeechobee. What once was the most diverse estuary in North America has been destroyed. Our lagoon has lost massive amounts of sea grass and it is filled with muck.

Would you allow this in your backyard?

603852_10206557698880725_1922935298490148311_n

People will tell you “It’s Complicated!” Its not. We need to buy this land. We need to do this now before the  option on the land runs out.

This purchase can be funded through our Amendment 1 which specifically states that the money is to buy the land.
Florida Water and Land Conservation Initiative, Amendment 1 (2014)‬
The Florida Water and Land Conservation Initiative, Amendment 1 was on the November 4, 2014 ballot in the state of Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment, where it was approved. The measure was designed to dedicate 33 percent of net revenue from the existing excise tax on documents to the Land Acquisition Trust Fund.
The Land Acquisition Trust Fund was developed to acquire and improve conservation easements, wildlife management areas, wetlands, forests, fish and wildlife habitats, beaches and shores, recreational trails and parks, urban open space, rural landscapes, working farms and ranches, historical and geological sites, lands protecting water and drinking water resources and lands in the Everglades Agricultural Areas and the Everglades Protection Area. The fund was designed to manage and restore natural systems and to enhance public access and recreational use of conservation lands.
The campaign in support of the initiative was led by Florida’s Water and Land Legacy.
It passed with 74.96%

The people of Florida support this.
We got the money

Rick Scott  and our Florida Legislature wants to finish up existing projects which will result in the option running out and in the end Everglades Restoration will never be able to be completed.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-oped-lake-okeechobee-response-20150204-story.html

Billions of gallons of polluted water have been wasted flowing into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Rivers. All the projects that we have going now will never be complete unless we buy this land and build a reservoir and send clean water south.

This not only helps us on both coasts but will help South Florida with its drinking water which is in peril, help with salt water intrusion and sea level rise in Miami and help to save the Florida Bay which is also in peril because it does not get enough fresh water.
The Everglades is the water supply for one-third of our states Population.

Florida has negotiated a contract to purchase land, including 26,000 acres directly south of the lake. Buying this strategic parcel will provide water managers with a new option to store, move and clean water south of Lake Okeechobee before it reaches the Everglades.

We are done ask our legislators why they won’t do this.  They serve themselves. The certainly don’t serve the citizens of Florida. We have done everything in our power to make this happen.

Rick Scott ignores the Science of Climate change. Rick Scott is ignoring the science of sea level rise. There are wells in  South Florida filled with  salt water and soon be undrinkable. This is our drinking water.

Who are you going to believe? The scientists or the Governor of Florida who has muzzled free speech by not allowing people to even say the words “Climate Change.”

http://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2015/03/uproar-against-florida-gov-rick-scott.html

You cannot let this happen to us! Delay is  a self-serving position for special interests. Please help us.