Everglades Plan Needs a Do Over

By Sally Swartz, <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Palm Beach Post E= ditorial Writer Wednesday, December 31, 2003= -sally_swartz@pbpost.com

Elected officials = and appointed public servants this year made some decisions that weren't their = best work. If it were possible to turn back time, her= e are a few I would nominate, on this last day of 2003, for do-overs.

Gov. Bush and the Florida Legislature delayed Ever= glades cleanup by 10 years, to 2016, in legislation hastily written by sugar indus= try lobbyists. They had help from South Florida Water Management District Direc= tor Henry Dean and David Struhs, who heads Florida's Depart= ment of Environmental Protection. Mr. Dean and Mr. Struhs, officials we pay to protect the Everglades, helped persuade legislators and the governor to do the sugar industry's bidding. Mr. Struhs later compounded the insult= by weakening water quality standards, which will allow more polluted water to enter the Everglades.

The South Florida Water Management District reprimanded, demoted and cut the pay of one of its top scientists, Lou Toth, the man responsible f= or the district's most successful, least controversial and widely admired project,= the restoration of the Kissimmee River. Mr. = Toth directed a plan that put the kinks and curves ba= ck in one section of the river and reflooded wetlands, which enticed long-absent fish, birds and wildlife to return. His error? Telling a reporter that= the restoration is behind schedule.<= /p>
The water district this year qualifies for dozens of do-over decisions in its nightmare mismanagement of Lake Okeechobee, the upper lakes chain north of it and the east and west coast estuaries that take Lake O's overflow.

Among the worst: Keeping the lake too high for too long killed off much of the underwater gr= ass beds where fish live and breed. Dumping too much water too late made the St. Lucie River and parts of the Indian River look like root beer, chased away fish and birds and brought nearly a thousand Ma= rtin and St. Lucie County residents to a protest rally.

Undaunted, the district began removing water from Lake Tohopekaliga anyway, fueling fears that the extra water sent = to Lake Okeechobee later would be dumped in coastal ri= vers. After Indian Riverkeeper Kevin Stinnette filed suit against the Army Corps of Engineers, the district's partner in managing the lake, the district decided to pay farmers to keep some of the excess water on their land and store some on public lands. With those chang= es to help keep water from overwhelming Lake Okeechobee= and the rivers, the courts last week approved the Lake Toho drawdown.

That's enough. Mak= ing a longer list could get depressing. I might have to do it over.