WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — For the second time this month, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., has sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the ongoing discharges from Lake Okeechobee.
The congressman is once again demanding that the Corps "initiate a long-term halt" of freshwater releases from the lake into the St. Lucie Estuary.
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"We went from water that was Bahama blue to water that you can't even see your hand in," Mast said in a Wednesday statement. "A two-week pause in discharges, as recently announced, is a woefully inefficient half measure. The only way to prevent another lost summer is a long-term halt."
Read Mast's full letter below:
The Army Corps began discharging in February up to one billion gallons of water into estuaries to get lake levels down and prevent flooding.
As of Tuesday, the lake was down about a foot from where it was last month to 15.39 feet.
The Army Corps announced last week that water releases would pause for two weeks ahead of the oyster spawning season.
Oysters need high salinity levels to survive, and twice already salt levels in the river dropped below the morbidity line.
"When it drops below that for a duration of time, oysters can't survive," Florida Oceanographic Society Executive Director Mark Perry said.
A gauge on Wednesday revealed that salt water levels in the St. Lucie River were near zero.
Mast and environmentalists worried the decision by the Army Corps to pause discharges for two weeks would do little to help the beleaguered estuary.
"The ongoing discharges, are not only incredibly damaging to our estuary but also directly contradict the [Corps'] best available science and modeling," Mast wrote. "I urge you to immediately cease discharges to the St. Lucie Estuary."
The Army Corp of Engineers Col. James Booth told WPTV anchor Michael Williams on Tuesday that after the two-week pause, he anticipated the resuming discharges to be much lower releases.
"Because we've seen nearly a foot come off the lake," Booth said.
Yet critics feared it was too late for even that to help.
"We've been over 40 days of these releases from Lake Okeechobee constantly causing freshwater conditions and the pollution that comes with it into these estuaries, and that is not healthy for oyster reefs and sea grass beds," Perry said. "As they are under stress and even dying off, they can't just take a 14-day break and then just start again with other releases, even if they're smaller releases."
An abnormally wet winter has already helped to foster an algae bloom on Lake Okeechobee, fueling fears that the problem will worsen ahead of hotter weather and the rainy season.
"Safe to say the outlook looks grim?" WPTV reporter Kate Hussey asked Perry.
"It does look grim," Perry said, "and the Corps and the District need to come up with a better plan."
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection identified Wednesday at least five areas with visible blue-green algae in Martin County, including Charlie Leighton Park, which they are now testing for toxins.
Some of that algae was seen in the backyards of homes in Palm City.
"It was right here between the two mangroves," resident Jodi DiTerlizzi said from her backyard. "A lot of times the smell is even worse than the blue-green algae. I was smelling it, I think, before I came down here. It's disappointing."
"I mean, we live on the water, we play here, we work here and to see this time in and time out ... it's the same thing every year," resident Riki Russell, who also had blue-green algae lapping at his door, said. "I understand the need to protect people, but we're also talking about the estuary, which is where we get a lot of our game fish. I mean, when is enough enough?"
The Army Corps of Engineers had originally said it was going to roll out a new water release schedule, called LOSOM, last summer.
The goal of the new schedule was to send water south to replenish the Everglades, and nearly, if not completely, eliminate discharges east and west into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
However, that schedule was delayed multiple times due to what the Corps said was concern raised over the environmental impact Lake Okeechobee's waters could have on the ecosystem south of the lake, and so far, the schedule still has not been implemented.
WPTV reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers, asking when they expected to implement it, and were given the following statement:
"While we do not have a definitive timeframe to resolution, the Jacksonville District is continuing to manage Lake Okeechobee levels under its current plan, using that plan’s existing flexibilities, in a LOSOM-like manner. While we can’t provide a definitive timeframe on the execution of the LOSOM Record of Decision (ROD), we will keep everyone informed as discussions continue."
Mast has scheduled a 10:45 a.m. Thursday news conference at Stuart City Hall regarding the discharges.
There is also a River Coalition Meeting at 11 a.m. at Stuart City Hall to discuss the issue. Multiple leaders, along with Booth, are expected to attend.
The congressman previously sent a letter dated March 1 to Col. James Booth Mast urging more transparency about the spending of $1.5 billion to strengthen the Herbert Hoover Dike.
In response to WPTV's questions, the Army Corps of Engineers sent the following response, reading in full:
"Water levels must continue to come down before the beginning of both the wet season and the Atlantic hurricane season, for both the ecology of the Lake and the safety of the citizens in the communities around the lake. Lower lake water levels provide flood risk management as well as decrease the probability of large releases occurring during the summer, which is also the peak of algal bloom season. High Lake stages are also linked to increased bloom activity within the Lake.
Through Friday, USACE water managers will continue targeting the maximum allowable flows under the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule 2008 (LORS08) maximum practicable releases south, an average of 4,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at Julian Keen Jr. Lock and Dam (S-77) to the west, 1,800 cfs at St. Lucie Lock and Dam (S-80) to the east, and up to 500 cfs to the Lake Worth Lagoon through the C-51 canal to the southeast.
To protect salinity within the estuaries, as we said we would, we will be implementing a two-week long rest period after the 29th before we commence any further releases to ready the lake for the oncoming wet and hurricane seasons. Unless conditions significantly change, flows after the rest period will be less than 4,000 west and 1,800 east.
We understand the current lake releases are stressful for the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee River estuaries and adjacent communities. We know from our consistent engagement with stakeholders that water quality remains one of their significant concerns. As such, it is also one of the principal considerations integrated into our decision-making as we strive to balance the multiple project purposes for Lake Okeechobee water management.
We have multiple projects in planning, design and construction that will help provide relief to the estuaries and send water south. As projects complete construction and we begin to operate them we will begin to have more flexibility to move water where it is needed for restoration and reduce the need for damaging discharges. Restoration efforts depend on improving the storage, treatment, and conveyance of water.
This year alone, we anticipate awarding $3.1 Billion in new construction contracts to keep Everglades restoration projects moving forward and to ensure they are operational as soon as possible, providing additional water storage and increased water flows where needed for restoration, and reduce damaging flows to the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie estuaries. We are consistently working with our partners in the State of Florida to invest in long-term solutions with ecosystem restoration projects that are underway to restore the Everglades and limit damaging releases into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries and move water south to the central Everglades and Florida Bay.
The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and the Department of Commerce, Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere met in mid-December and again in January. They discussed the need to find resolution on the environmental baseline used to analyze the effects of LOSOM in the Biological Opinion. While we do not have a definitive timeframe to resolution, the Jacksonville District is continuing to manage Lake Okeechobee levels under its current plan, using that plan’s existing flexibilities, in a LOSOM-like manner. While we can’t provide a definitive timeframe on the execution of the LOSOM Record of Decision (ROD), we will keep everyone informed as discussions continue."
