To: Representative Steve Crisafulli and all the people who voted for him and the entire area he represents:
This is my backyard in Jensen Beach, Florida
This could be your backyard!
We need to buy the land so Everglades Restoration can be complete. Clean water needs to go south.
We got the money in amendment one. There is a way to make this happen. Please contact him and ask him to please discuss with the scientists who understand this issue so we can fix this.
“House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, says he opposes the controversial land deal that would enable the South Florida Water Management District to purchase 46,800 acres of land south of the lake at fair market value.”
That’s because when the option runs out the land can be sold for 5 times the amount. Big Sugar is reneging on the deal they made. And that’s ok with with the Speaker of the House Crisafulli.
“Crisafulli wrote in an email response. “At this time, I do not support spending limited state resources to purchase more land south of Lake. My priority is to utilize and care for the land we own now.
This shows his lack of knowledge on the subject. The money is there through amendment 1.
If this doesn’t happen we are going to get discharges forever. Our water will always look like this and YOU the people of Florida would have destroyed not only our portion of what was once the fabulous Indian River Lagoon and the most diverse estuary in North America but our economy, our lives. If this happens this is Florida’s legacy. The people of Florida have let this happen.
By not doing this you are destroying us, the drinking water of South Forida by allowing salt water intrusion, and the Florida Bay.
There are plenty of scientists at the Everglades Coalition I’m sure they would be happy to talk to you!
“Environmental groups, spearheaded by the Everglades Foundation, want the district to purchase the land. They believe that the district could use the land to build a reservoir to store water, which they say would reduce harmful discharges of water from the lake into the St. Lucie Estuary and Caloosahatchee River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases water from the lake into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee when water levels rise and threaten the aging earthen dike that protects farmland and communities around the lake.”
Land Buy Critical for Everglades Restoration. Time is running out.
http://floridawaterdaily.com/2015/03/05/opinion-land-buy-critical-for-everglades-restoration
Ignore the Death Mermaid at your peril
http://contextflorida.com/diane-roberts-legislators-ignore-the-death-mermaid-at-your-peril/
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OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE–When the Death Mermaid shows up, pay attention.
Back in 1881, she appeared to Hamilton Disston, warning him against trying to drain the Everglades. Old Ham, never the most emotionally stable of multimillionaires, shut his eyes tight and swore on his mother’s grave he’d stop drinking cologne.
In 1969, she scared the feds into killing the Everglades Jetport, a project beloved of South Florida Democrats. It would have been the largest airport in the world and bang in the middle of the Big Cypress Swamp.
Last week she materialized at the South Florida Water Management District meeting, urging the water czars to stop screwing around with the Everglades.
You’d think they would listen to a skeletal apparition with long green hair (probably from all that toxic algae gagging Florida waters) and a tail. But these are Rick Scott appointees: they don’t believe in mermaids – or measurable water standards. They shrugged her off: just another crazy eco-chick.”