|
|
Cabinet
Affairs |
|
|
  |
|
|||||
|
1
2 T H E C A B I N E T
3 S T A T E O F F L O R I D A
4 Representing: 5 STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION 6 DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE 7 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION 8 BOARD OF TRUSTEES, INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND
9 The above agencies came to be heard before 10 THE FLORIDA CABINET, Honorable Governor Chiles presiding, in the Cabinet Meeting Room, LL-03, 11 The Capitol, Tallahassee, Florida, on Tuesday, May 28, 1998, commencing at approximately 9:52 a.m. 12
13
14 Reported by:
15 LAURIE L. GILBERT Registered Professional Reporter 16 Certified Court Reporter Certified Realtime Reporter 17 Notary Public in and for the State of Florida at Large 18
19
20
21
22
23 ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC. 100 SALEM COURT 24 TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32301 850/878-2221 25
2
1 APPEARANCES:
2 Representing the Florida Cabinet:
3 LAWTON CHILES Governor 4 BOB CRAWFORD 5 Commissioner of Agriculture
6 BOB MILLIGAN Comptroller 7 SANDRA B. MORTHAM 8 Secretary of State
9 BILL NELSON Treasurer 10 FRANK T. BROGAN 11 Commissioner of Education
12 *
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
May 28, 1998 3
1 I N D E X
2 ITEM ACTION PAGE
3 STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION: (Presented by Tom Herndon, 4 Executive Director)
5 1 Approved 5 2 Approved 6 6 3 Approved 8 4 Approved 8 7 DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE: 8 (Presented by J. Ben Watkins, III, Director) 9 1 Approved 9 10 2 Approved 9
11 DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE: (Presented by L.H. Fuchs, 12 Executive Director)
13 1 Approved 11 2 Approved 11 14 3 Approved 11
15 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: (Presented by Robert L. Bedford, Ph.D., 16 Deputy Commissioner)
17 1 Approved 13 2 Approved 13 18 3 Approved 13 4 Deferred 14 19 5 Deferred 14 6 Deferred 14 20 7 Approved 15 8 Approved 15 21 9 Approved 15 10 Deferred 16 22 11 Approved 16 12 Approved 16 23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
May 28, 1998 4
1 I N D E X (Continued) 2 ITEM ACTION PAGE 3 ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION: 4 (Presented by Robert B. Bradley, Ph.D., Secretary) 5 1 Approved 17 6 2 Approved 17 3 Approved 18 7 4 Approved 18 5 Approved 18 8 6 Approved 18 7 A. and 7 C. Approved 19 9 7 B. Withdrawn 19 8 Approved 19 10 9 Approved 19 10 Approved 20 11 11 Deferred 20
12 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT 13 TRUST FUND: (Presented by Kirby B. Green, III, 14 Deputy Secretary)
15 1 Approved 21 2 Approved 21 16 3 Approved 21 4 Approved 22 17 5 Approved 22 6 Approved 22 18 7 Approved 23 8 Approved 23 19 9 Approved 23 10 Approved 112 20 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 125 21 * 22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION May 28, 1998 5
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 (Treasurer Nelson and Commissioner Crawford
3 not present in the room.)
4 (The agenda items commenced at 10:44 a.m.)
5 GOVERNOR CHILES: State Board of
6 Administration.
7 MR. HERNDON: Item number 1 is approval of
8 the minutes of the meeting held on May 12th,
9 1998.
10 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I move the minutes.
11 GOVERNOR CHILES: Minutes have been moved.
12 And -- is there a second?
13 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Got to be from you,
14 sir.
15 MR. HERNDON: I think it's going to have to
16 be from you this morning, Governor.
17 GOVERNOR CHILES: I have seconded it.
18 Without objection, the minutes are
19 approved.
20 MR. HERNDON: Item number 2 is approval of
21 a fiscal sufficiency of State of Florida
22 Board of Regents, University of Florida Housing
23 Revenue Bond series in the amount of
24 twenty-seven million eight hundred sixty-five
25 thousand dollars.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION May 28, 1998 6
1 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: And I move Item 2.
2 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
3 Without objection, it's approved.
4 MR. HERNDON: Item number 3 is a submittal
5 of the SBA budget for fiscal year 1998-99. As
6 you know, this comprises not only the SBA's
7 budget, but also that of the Cat Fund, the
8 Division of Bond Finance. And we're also
9 submitting for your information the approval --
10 the budget of the Prepaid College Tuition
11 Board.
12 Before action, if I might just mention a
13 couple of items with respect to the budget. It
14 does represent a proposed increase of
15 4.5 percent. We're also proposing a reduction
16 in the fee that the Board charges to our clients
17 of a quarter of a basis point, which amounts to
18 two-and-a-half million dollars over the course
19 of the year.
20 We're also proposing a one quarter holiday
21 for all of the clients of the Board from the
22 fee, which is approximately four-and-a-half
23 million dollars. A total of about 7 million
24 dollars in fee reductions and/or rebates, the
25 bulk of which would be to the benefit of the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION May 28, 1998 7
1 Florida Retirement System, which will receive
2 over 5 million dollars -- excuse me --
3 five million dollars of the total amount.
4 GOVERNOR CHILES: Is the Board considered
5 clients?
6 MR. HERNDON: The Board is our parent
7 organization. And you -- you operate all of us
8 and all of these -- all of these benefits in
9 your -- to your capable direction --
10 GOVERNOR CHILES: I take it there's nothing
11 new in our envelope then.
12 MR. HERNDON: Well, you can sleep a
13 little bit more comfortable at night that your
14 retirement check will be fully funded, Governor.
15 The other point that I would want to
16 mention is with respect to the Cat Fund, and
17 that is that we do know the Modeling Commission
18 contemplates some additional work for the
19 Cat Fund staff in the form of approving
20 additional models, hurricane models.
21 We anticipate that the budget, as submitted
22 to you, does contain sufficient funds for that
23 purpose. We don't anticipate the need to come
24 back for any future revisions in that regard.
25 That completes that item, Governor.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION May 28, 1998 8
1 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I would move all
2 four budgets, Governor, and with kind of a
3 special thanks for really a fine job from all
4 four of those organizations in this past year,
5 and look forward to the next year.
6 MR. HERNDON: Thank you.
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: I join with that, and
8 second it.
9 And without objection, it's approved.
10 MR. HERNDON: Item number 4 is a report of
11 the Executive Director for the Investment
12 Performance and Fund Balance Analysis for the
13 month of April 1998.
14 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Accept or approve
15 the report.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
17 Without objection, it's approved.
18 MR. HERNDON: That completes the agenda.
19 Thank you.
20 GOVERNOR CHILES: All right.
21 (The State Board of Administration Agenda
22 was concluded.)
23 *
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE May 28, 1998 9
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Division of Bond Finance.
2 MR. WATKINS: Item number 1 is approval of
3 the minutes of the May 12th meeting.
4 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: I'll move the
5 minutes.
6 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
8 Without objection, they're approved.
9 MR. WATKINS: Item number 2 is a resolution
10 authorizing the issuance and competitive sale of
11 up to twenty million four hundred and
12 fifty thousand dollars of new money bonds, and
13 seven million four hundred fifteen thousand
14 dollars of refunding bonds for the
15 University of Florida housing system.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
17 Without objection, that's approved.
18 MR. WATKINS: Thank you.
19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Is it moved?
20 Is that moved?
21 SECRETARY MORTHAM: I'll do it.
22 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: I'll second it.
23 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Yes.
24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Now it's moved and
25 seconded.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DIVISION OF BOND FINANCE May 28, 1998 10
1 (The Division of Bond Finance Agenda was
2 concluded.)
3 *
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE May 28, 1998 11
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Department of Revenue.
2 MR. FUCHS: Item 1 is a request for
3 approval of the minutes of the April 28th
4 meeting.
5 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: So moved.
6 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
7 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
8 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
9 Without objection, they're approved.
10 MR. FUCHS: Item 2 is a request for
11 permission to notice proposed amendments to
12 Rule Chapter 12-3.007 having to do with the
13 delegation of authority for proposed rulemaking.
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
15 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Moved.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
17 Without objection, it's approved.
18 MR. FUCHS: Item 3 is request permission to
19 notice proposed Rule 12A-1.0565 having to do
20 with a waiver of electronic data interchange
21 return filing.
22 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
23 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Seconded.
24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
25 Without objection, that's approved.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE May 28, 1998 12
1 MR. FUCHS: Thank you.
2 (The Department of Revenue Agenda was
3 concluded.)
4 *
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION May 28, 1998 13
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Department of Education.
2 DR. BEDFORD: Governor Chiles,
3 Commissioner Brogan, members of the State Board
4 of Education, good morning.
5 Item 1 are fees for the 1998-99 Work Force
6 Development Programs.
7 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
8 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, they're approved.
11 DR. BEDFORD: Item 2 is the Limited Access
12 Competitive Grant Program. It's identification
13 of the high priority fields.
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
15 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
17 Without objection, that's approved.
18 DR. BEDFORD: Item 3 is the State Board of
19 Community College item dealing with the Student
20 Database Microcomputer Project, Phase III.
21 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
22 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
23 Second.
24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
25 Without objection, that's approved.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION May 28, 1998 14
1 DR. BEDFORD: Item 4, we ask to defer until
2 the June 9th meeting.
3 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move deferral.
4 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
5 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
6 Without objection, it's approved.
7 DR. BEDFORD: Item 5, we wish to defer
8 until the June 9th meeting.
9 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move deferral.
10 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
11 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
12 Without objection, that's approved.
13 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Deferred.
14 DR. BEDFORD: Item 6 we wish to defer until
15 the June 9th meeting.
16 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: And I'll move
17 deferral.
18 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
20 Motion to defer.
21 Without objection, it's approved.
22 DR. BEDFORD: Item 7, we would actually
23 like to take some action on.
24 Rule 6A-5.065, an amendment to the Educator
25 Accomplished Practices.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION May 28, 1998 15
1 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: I'll move the item.
2 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
3 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
4 Without objection, that's approved.
5 DR. BEDFORD: Item 8 is an amendment to
6 Rule 6A-5.066, approval of Preservice Teacher
7 Preparation Programs.
8 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
9 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
11 Without objection, it's approved.
12 DR. BEDFORD: Item 9 is an amendment to
13 Rule 6A-5.071, Master Inservice Plan
14 Requirement.
15 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
16 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
18 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, that's approved.
20 DR. BEDFORD: Item 10, we wish to defer
21 until the June 9th meeting.
22 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move deferral.
23 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded on
25 motion to defer.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION May 28, 1998 16
1 Without objection, it's approved.
2 DR. BEDFORD: Item 11 is a community
3 college action item, Rule -- an amendment to
4 Rule 6A-14.0431, Vacation Leave.
5 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
6 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
8 Without objection, it's approved.
9 DR. BEDFORD: Item 12 is the repeal of a
10 list of rules: Rule 6A-1.067, 6A-5.051,
11 6A-5.052, 6A-5.053, 6A-5.054, 6A-5.055,
12 6A-5.060, 6A-5.0601, 6A-5.061, 6A-5.0621,
13 6A-5.064 --
14 (Commissioner Crawford entered the room.)
15 DR. BEDFORD: -- 6A-5.075, and 6A-5.0752.
16 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move all of Item 12.
17 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
18 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
20 Without objection, items are approved.
21 DR. BEDFORD: Thank you.
22 (The State Board of Education Agenda was
23 concluded.)
24 *
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION May 28, 1998 17
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: And
2 Administrative Commission.
3 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 1, recommend
4 approval of the minutes for the meeting held
5 May 12th --
6 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
7 DR. BRADLEY: --19--
8 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, the minutes are
11 approved.
12 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 2, recommend
13 approval of the transfer of general revenue --
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
15 DR. BRADLEY: -- appropriations --
16 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
18 Without objection, Item 2 is approved.
19 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 3, recommend
20 approval of the transfer of general revenue
21 appropriations for the Department of Banking and
22 Finance.
23 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
24 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and --
25 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION May 28, 1998 18
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- seconded.
2 Without objection, Item 3 is approved.
3 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 4, recommend
4 approval of the transfer of general revenue
5 appropriations for the Department of Children
6 and Families.
7 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
8 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Second.
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, Item 4 is approved.
11 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 5, recommend
12 approval of Items A. and B. for the
13 Department of Corrections.
14 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move approval.
15 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
17 Without objection, Item 5 is approved.
18 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 6, recommend
19 approval of the transfer of general
20 appropriations for the Department of Health.
21 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move approval.
22 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
23 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
24 Without objection, Item 6 is approved.
25 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 7, recommend
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION May 28, 1998 19
1 approval of Items A. and C. for the Justice
2 Administration Commission, and recommend app--
3 we request withdrawal of Item B.
4 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: Move A. and B., and
5 withdraw -- A. and C., and withdraw B.
6 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Is there a second?
8 Without objection, it's approved.
9 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 8, recommend
10 approval of the transfer of general revenue
11 appropriations for the Department of Law
12 Enforcement.
13 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
16 Without objection, Item 8 is approved.
17 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 9, recommend
18 approval of the transfer of general revenue
19 appropriations for the Department of State.
20 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
21 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
22 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
23 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
24 Without objection, Item 9 is approved.
25 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 10, recommend
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION May 28, 1998 20
1 approval of the transfer of general revenue
2 appropriations for the State's court system.
3 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
4 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
5 Without objection, Item 10 is approved.
6 DR. BRADLEY: Item number 11, recommend
7 deferral of this item to June 9, 1998.
8 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move deferral.
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, Item 11 is deferred.
11 DR. BRADLEY: That's all, Governor.
12 (The Administration Commission Agenda was
13 concluded.)
14 *
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 21
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Board of Trustees.
2 MR. GREEN: Item 1, minutes of the
3 April 14th, '98, meeting.
4 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
5 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
6 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
7 Without objection, the minutes are
8 approved.
9 MR. GREEN: Item 2, acceptance of
10 assignment of an option agreement to acquire
11 38 acres in Lake Wale Ridge Project.
12 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
13 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
16 Without objection, it's approved.
17 MR. GREEN: Item 3, an option agreement to
18 acquire 1.08 acres in the Archie Carr --
19 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move it.
20 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
21 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
22 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
23 Without objection, it's approved.
24 MR. GREEN: Item 4 are two purchase
25 agreements to acquire .718 acres in the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 22
1 Coupon Bight CARL --
2 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move --
3 MR. GREEN: -- project.
4 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move the item.
5 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
6 COMMISSIONER CRAWFORD: Second.
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
8 Without objection, Item 4 is approved.
9 MR. GREEN: Item 5, four option agreements
10 to acquire 5 acres in South Savannas.
11 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move the item.
12 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
13 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
14 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
15 Without objection, Item 5 is approved.
16 MR. GREEN: Item 6, acceptance of two
17 assignments of option agreements for 15.3 acres,
18 and request a waiver of marketability.
19 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
20 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
21 Without objection, Item 6 is approved.
22 MR. GREEN: Item 7, two option agreements
23 to acquire 253.6 acres in the Chipola River
24 Greenway.
25 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Move approval.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 23
1 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Second.
2 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
3 Without objection, Item 7 is approved.
4 MR. GREEN: Item 8, a purchase agreement to
5 acquire .95 acres in Cape Romano, and request a
6 survey waiver.
7 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
8 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: Moved and seconded.
10 Without objection, Item 8 is approved.
11 MR. GREEN: Item 9, Rotenberger/Seminole
12 Indian Lands CARL project acquisition procedures
13 and delegation.
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Move approval.
15 SECRETARY MORTHAM: Second.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Without objection, the --
17 Item 9 is approved.
18 Moved and seconded.
19 MR. GREEN: Item 10, a presentation of the
20 status of water levels in south Florida.
21 Governor, we have a number of presenters
22 this morning, and then some -- some public
23 speakers that would like to speak.
24 We anticipate it will take about 30 minutes
25 to get through the presentations, and we hope
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 24
1 that we can get through the -- the public
2 comments in about 30 to 40 minutes.
3 So we're looking at about an hour, an hour
4 and 15 minutes to get -- to get the presentation
5 complete, if that's okay with you.
6 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Governor --
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: Take how long now?
8 MR. GREEN: An hour to an hour and
9 15 minutes to -- to get it complete.
10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Let's get going.
11 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: I'd like to kick it
12 off, if I may --
13 GOVERNOR CHILES: Yes, sir.
14 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: -- and we have
15 circulated a resolution for your consideration,
16 and it's been distributed, I think, to members
17 of the audience.
18 I'd like to -- to move it with one change;
19 get a second; and then open it up, of course,
20 for all the discussions that are about to come,
21 just as a place to start.
22 If I can refer your attention to the first
23 page of the resolution under the now therefore
24 be it resolved. In the last sentence of that
25 first paragraph, it would read with the change:
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 25
1 In addition to meeting all other
2 responsibilities, including the provision of
3 flood control and water supply.
4 So I would be inserting all other, and
5 including the provision of. The rest of the
6 resolution would remain as you have seen it this
7 morning.
8 And with that change, I would move the
9 resolution.
10 COMPTROLLER MILLIGAN: I'll second it.
11 GOVERNOR CHILES: It's been moved and
12 seconded.
13 MR. GREEN: Okay. The first speaker I'd
14 like to bring up is Ernie Barnett. He's working
15 with the slide projector right this second.
16 Ernie is our Director of the Office of
17 Ecosystem Management. It's responsible in the
18 agency for overseeing the Department's portion
19 of the south Florida projects.
20 He will act as Master of Ceremony in moving
21 us through these presentations and the -- and
22 the public comment section.
23 So, Ernie.
24 MR. BARNETT: Thank you.
25 Governor and members of the Cabinet, what
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 26
1 we're here today to present to you is a brief
2 overview of what happened in this past El Nino
3 event in south Florida.
4 We had over 300 percent of the average
5 annual rains during the months of January and
6 February of this year. That caused extensive
7 flooding in the Kissimmee River area. That
8 water eventually flowed down into
9 Lake Okeechobee, causing some serious flooding
10 problems within the lake system.
11 As a consequence of that, we had to do some
12 emergency actions to intervene for the
13 protection of the public safety with some
14 structural integrities of the dam being at
15 jeopardy.
16 And as an unintended consequence of that,
17 there was extreme adverse hydrologic conditions
18 throughout the south Florida ecosystem.
19 What we'd like to present to you today is a
20 multiagency presentation. We also have numerous
21 citizens and advocacy groups who want to present
22 their comments and thoughts to you.
23 What we'd like to do is begin with an
24 overview from the Corps of Engineers. I'll
25 mention who will be speaking today.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 27
1 From the Army Corps of Engineers, we have
2 Stu Applebaum and Cheryl Ulrich; from the
3 South Florida Water Management District,
4 Tommy Strowd; from the Florida Game and
5 Fresh Water Fish Commission, Mr. Brad Hartman;
6 and Mr. Ken Haddad from the Department of
7 Environmental Protection's Marine Research
8 Institute.
9 We would like to --
10 GOVERNOR CHILES: I wonder if we could cut
11 some more of these lights up here so we can see
12 better.
13 MR. BARNETT: We'd like to present to you a
14 background of the C&SF project. Some of the
15 impacts that took place in Water Conservation
16 Areas, and in the St. Lucie and
17 Caloosahatchee Estuaries, an update on the
18 Cape Sable Seaside sparrow, as well as some
19 short-term and -- and long-term solutions. And
20 then we'll wrap up our presentation with that.
21 So I -- I do want to just reiterate, this
22 is a multiagency effort. We have been working
23 very well together. Unfortunately we just had
24 some extreme hydrologic events that we had to
25 deal with.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 28
1 And I think -- well, you'll see, we had a
2 system that was built in 1947 to accommodate a
3 projected total population of about 2 million
4 people. And currently we have over
5 five-and-a-half million people in the region.
6 So with that, I'd like to start off with
7 introducing Stu Applebaum. Stu is in charge of
8 the central and south Florida flood control
9 restudy of the Corps of Engineers.
10 Stu Applebaum.
11 MR. APPLEBAUM: Thank you, Ernie.
12 Good morning, Governor, members of the
13 Cabinet. In order to understand the situation
14 that's occurred this year, and the solutions for
15 solving that, you really need to take a step
16 backwards, and it's important to understand how
17 we got into the situation that we're in. So a
18 little bit of history of the development of this
19 project's in order.
20 There was a long history of drainage
21 activities in south Florida, but the modern era
22 begins in 1947 with two hurricane events, and
23 Florida's request of the Federal Government for
24 assistance.
25 Large areas, as you may be aware, were
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 29
1 flooded in south Florida for long periods of
2 time, and caused significant damages.
3 The Corps of Engineers produced a
4 comprehensive plan, and the Central and Southern
5 Florida Project was authorized by the Congress
6 in 1948.
7 The Corps of Engineers presented a general
8 framework to Congress. It took us approximately
9 20 years to implement the project features, the
10 canals, the levees, the pump stations, and the
11 other structures that were built in the '50s and
12 '60s.
13 We went through an implementation process
14 from the comprehensive plan presented in '48,
15 through detailed planning, design, and
16 construction of the facilities that are out
17 there. This project manages the water resources
18 of south Florida.
19 It is a multiple purpose project, but I
20 would say that flood control was the designing,
21 driving force in the design of the project. The
22 idea was to get the water off the land quickly,
23 so we discharged water to tide, to the estuaries
24 and the Water Conservation Areas, which were
25 large holding areas. The project was designed
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 30
1 to do that, and to do it very efficiently.
2 I would say that the Central and Southern
3 Florida Project has performed its intended
4 functions well. It's allowed for the
5 development of urban areas. We have a
6 population of about 5 million people within the
7 16 counties that make up the South Florida Water
8 Management District. And the projections are
9 that that will increase to about 11 million
10 people by the year 2050, our planning horizon
11 50 years out.
12 It's also allowed for the establish-- the
13 project has the establishment of productive
14 agricultural industry, which is a vital part of
15 the economy of Florida.
16 The project's also caused problems. The
17 natural system has suffered the extremes of too
18 much water at times, and drought at other times,
19 the estuaries have been impacted by those large
20 discharges to tide.
21 We've had urbanization out to the levee
22 line that we've constructed to create the
23 Water Conservation Areas. We've introduced
24 nutrients into natural areas, and, of course,
25 the Everglades is a system that cannot take much
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 31
1 nutrients.
2 We've had a loss of water to tide, again,
3 because of the design of the project for flood
4 control. Approximately 2 million acre feet on
5 an average annual basis are discharged to tide,
6 a tremendous resource that we are losing simply
7 because of design of the project.
8 If you look at its performance from a water
9 supply standpoint, you realize that if you look
10 at the requirements of the planning for
11 House Bill 715, that we look at a one in ten
12 level of service. In other words, that there
13 ought to be water restrictions on the average of
14 once every ten years, you'll recognize, as we
15 look at some of the numbers, that large areas of
16 the service area currently enjoy about a one in
17 three level of service. In other words, every
18 approximately third year, there is some kind of
19 water restriction. And our prediction is that
20 will go to one and two once every other year in
21 the future. So obviously we are far short of
22 meeting the water supply needs.
23 Given that as background on the project and
24 where we are, I'd like to turn it over to
25 Tommy Strowd for the South Florida Water
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 32
1 Management's actions for this year's event.
2 Tommy.
3 MR. STROWD: Thanks, Stu.
4 Again, my name is Tommy Strowd. I'm the
5 Director of Operations of the South Florida
6 Water Management District.
7 And as Mr. Barnett indicated earlier, we're
8 here today to talk about the Water Management
9 actions as a result of the 1997-1998 El Nino
10 event.
11 But before we can do that, I need to talk a
12 little bit about some of the limitations we face
13 as operators of -- on the existing system.
14 This graphic here is a -- compares the
15 natural versus the present condition of
16 Lake Okeechobee. And it's real important in
17 the -- to understand the differences between
18 these two as we talk about the impacts that
19 resulted from this event this year.
20 On your left hand side of the screen,
21 you'll see the -- Lake Okeechobee as its exists
22 in its natural condition. Kissimmee River,
23 Fisheating Creek, Taylor Creek were all natural
24 rivers that flowed into Lake Okeechobee.
25 It was significantly larger than we have
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 33
1 today. As you can see, around the western and
2 the southern boundary, there was a large
3 littoral marsh, freshwater marsh, that
4 surrounded the shoreline of Lake Okeechobee.
5 And during high water conditions, as the
6 lake rose, waters flowed -- flowed over the
7 southern boundary into the Everglades system and
8 down to Florida Bay.
9 Today we have a much different
10 Lake Okeechobee, and it's managed a lot like a
11 reservoir. Because of the hurricanes that
12 occurred in the late '20s, a levee system was
13 constructed by the Corps of Engineers around the
14 lake, and all the inflows and outflows were
15 altered to include structures and channelization
16 to more effectively move water in and out of the
17 lake.
18 And in doing that, some new connections
19 were made. To the east and the west, channels
20 were constructed to discharge water from
21 Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie and the
22 Caloosahatchee Estuary, and very little capacity
23 was constructed to move water south towards the
24 Everglades.
25 And as an example of that, you can see from
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 34
1 the graphic that the outfl-- when you look at
2 the bottom pie chart, which represents the total
3 outflow capacity from Lake Okeechobee, the
4 yellow pie segment shows the amount of water
5 that can move south. It's only about 14 percent
6 of the total amount of water we can discharge
7 from Lake Okeechobee. And that demonstrates the
8 limitation for moving waters to the south.
9 Another constraint we have is the physical
10 limitations associated with the Herbert Hoover
11 levee. The levee, as I mentioned earlier, was
12 constructed to protect surrounding communities
13 from storm surge effects resulting from
14 hurricanes. High stages placed tremendous
15 hydraulic pressure on the levee. And when we
16 see high stages, we find that our seepage boils
17 that come under the levee and actually threaten
18 structural integrity.
19 So to deal with these limitations, we --
20 the Corps developed a regulation schedule to
21 guide us in controlling levels in
22 Lake Okeechobee.
23 The axis -- the vertical axis represents
24 stage and feet above mean sea level. Horizontal
25 axis represents the months and the year.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 35
1 And the -- I've colored each one of the
2 zones to show the intensity of discharges.
3 Zone A, the red zone, we're trying to push as
4 much water as we can out of Lake Okeechobee.
5 And as we move lower through the schedule,
6 we're pushing less and less water out of the
7 lake.
8 The green zone is actually a zone that was
9 modified in the mid-'80s to minimize impacts to
10 the estuary.
11 And the blue zone is predominantly used for
12 delivering water supply to the lake service
13 area, and to the lower east coast.
14 The conservation area also was altered when
15 the project was constructed. And as you can
16 see -- I'll just point to it -- as you can see,
17 the blue areas represent inflows from the
18 Everglades Agricultural Area, and from lands to
19 the west.
20 The small red areas represent discharges
21 from the conservation areas to tide. But the
22 main capacity for this system to move water is
23 south, between conservation areas, and down to
24 Everglades National Park.
25 This year you heard a lot about the El Nino
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 36
1 event. And El Nino is typically warm waters
2 that develop on -- off the coast of Peru on the
3 Equatorial Pacific waters. Typically what that
4 means to Florida is there's decreased hurricane
5 activity.
6 The fronts it moves through in the dry
7 season during the winter are generally more
8 active and produce more rainfall. And the
9 greatest rainfall increase exists between
10 November through March.
11 One of the complications in dealing with an
12 El Nino year is the fact that even though we can
13 estimate there'll be above average rainfall,
14 there's a huge variation in the amount of
15 rainfall. Actually some of the last six major
16 El Nino events, we actually had several that
17 exhibited below average rainfall. So it's a
18 complicated system to try to manage with.
19 And as you can see, this year -- this is a
20 bar graph that takes each region of the
21 District, and looks at the amount of rainfall we
22 receive between November and March.
23 As you can see, Lake Okeechobee, we had
24 almost 300 percent of our normal rainfall. The
25 EAA, the Water Conservation Areas, and the east
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 37
1 coast, they each had about 200 percent of
2 average rainfall. So it was a significant
3 amount of rainfall for a dry season.
4 This graphic represents the stages in the
5 lake, starting in June of last year, and
6 extending through May of this year. The
7 vertical axis again is the elevation of water
8 levels in the lake above mean sea level.
9 As you can see between June and October, we
10 were -- water levels in the lake are fairly
11 low. These blue lines represent lines that we
12 use to give us indication when we need to be
13 watching water supply conditions, called the
14 Water Supply Watch Line.
15 And as you can see, between June and
16 October, we're very close to that. It was -- it
17 was a fairly dry condition.
18 But as the El Nino rain started in
19 November, you can see the dramatic increase in
20 stages in Lake Okeechobee resulting from the
21 rainfall in the upper Kissimmee, came down the
22 Kissimmee River into the lake.
23 As the lake stages rose, the
24 Corps of Engineers and the District worked
25 properly together to try to move as much water
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 38
1 out of the lake as we could to avoid the threat
2 to the levee that I mentioned earlier.
3 Once the stages peaked in February and
4 March and the water level started to recede, our
5 attention turned to minimizing impacts to the
6 St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuary, trying to
7 reduce discharges so we could avoid long-term
8 impacts to the estuary.
9 This is a similar graphic for the
10 Water Conservation Area. The point I want to
11 make here is if you look at water levels
12 represented by this blue line between June and
13 October, it was a fairly normal wet season
14 stage. Water levels dropped in November through
15 December, but as rains started in November,
16 water levels came back up.
17 So the story for the conservation area is
18 that it really didn't see a dry season this
19 year. It was a very short period of time that
20 water conditions were falling.
21 And in closing, I'd just like to say that,
22 as mentioned earlier, the system was designed in
23 the '40s and the '50s, constructed in the '60s,
24 and it was designed with a different view of the
25 environmental impacts.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 39
1 And I think what we saw this year were a
2 number of environmental impacts that resulted
3 from the operation of the facilities that were
4 constructed back in the '50s and '60s.
5 What we did is followed operational
6 protocols established by the Corps of
7 Engineers. However, we've benefited from
8 flexibility in the system, because we were able
9 to get some temporary deviations in order to
10 soften the blow on some of the ecosystems to the
11 extent that we could.
12 And we used some state of the art computer
13 modeling to help us support those decisions as
14 we worked closely with the Corps of Engineers.
15 That ends my presentation.
16 I'd like to introduce Ken Haddad from the
17 Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
18 He's going to talk about some of the ecological
19 impacts to the estuary.
20 MR. HADDAD: Good morning.
21 And -- I'm going to speak briefly directly
22 on the issues that have really precipitated the
23 local citizenry of the St. Lucie Estuary into
24 recognizing and pushing for action relative to
25 the problems that we're seeing.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 40
1 The real galvanizing factor in this has
2 been the appearance of fish disease. What
3 you're seeing behind me is a sheepshead that has
4 the lesions that are characterizing this fish
5 disease.
6 And essentially there are open sores, and
7 they can be very extensive, they can cause the
8 fish to die. So there are kills, but some of
9 them do recover.
10 This is not something you want to catch and
11 bring into a boat. It also just -- due to the
12 fact that there are lesions of this magnitude
13 present, it's created concerns for the estuary
14 and its immediate health. And public health
15 issues have risen in this whole time period.
16 I want to emphasize that this is not new.
17 This is a sheepshead from 1995. The magnitude
18 of the disease may be different this year, but
19 we don't have good information on that.
20 We have identified at least 22 species of
21 fish that are characterized by these lesions,
22 and have had over 400 fish brought in by the
23 public and others to our laboratory to look at
24 kind of the cause and effect that we're working
25 on.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 41
1 This has had an economic impact on the
2 region. Just by the nature of diseased fish
3 making it into the newspaper creates a water use
4 issue. And that is of great concern, and you'll
5 hear that, I'm sure, from some of the citizens
6 that are here today.
7 The -- it's hard to measure that. There
8 are some local interest groups, I understand,
9 that are looking at some of the anecdotal
10 impacts from an economic standpoint.
11 We know that things like this in the past
12 that deter water use, oil spills or red tides,
13 can have large impacts. One red tide in the
14 '70s had up to a 20 million dollar impact.
15 So there's an economic issue here.
16 In response to the local demand, and urging
17 of Representative Pruitt, we have established --
18 probably the first of its kind -- but a fish
19 disease operation center, a trailer where --
20 that we are manning with others 11 to 12 hours a
21 day, working with the citizenry. It's at the
22 Snook Nook. You'll hear from Henry Caimotto
23 later.
24 And it serves a purpose of providing
25 information and making ourselves available to
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 42
1 local public and some coordination roles.
2 What do we know about the disease and its
3 distribution? I'm focusing on that briefly.
4 And this slide depicts a quantitative survey we
5 did. It was more looking at the whole
6 population.
7 If you look at the single numbers, they are
8 not impressive. But if you look at the
9 percentages, particularly where it's 6.4 and
10 3.4 percent, those for fish disease are
11 extremely high numbers within a population.
12 And even if you took 100 people in this
13 room, and had six of them with those lesions,
14 you would still argue that that's an epidemic
15 proportion type of event.
16 We have suspects in the investigation. And
17 those range from salinity changes, down through
18 pesticides, herbicides, contaminants, the normal
19 things we'd look at. We have one additional
20 harmful algal bloom scenario that I'll discuss.
21 And as any investigation like this goes, it
22 could be a combination of these suspects, and --
23 or it could be none of them, and that's just the
24 qualifier.
25 We are looking at the fish, the water, and
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 43
1 the sediments, looking at relationships between
2 contaminants, if there are any, between the
3 various things that we can find, and are putting
4 a good effort into determining the causes. We
5 don't have enough information back to report on
6 that at this point.
7 What do we know? If we look at past fish
8 disease events, this refers to '79, '80, '82,
9 '95, '98. Those are recorded fish disease
10 outbreaks that are correlated with the extreme
11 discharges relative to the St. Lucie Canal. So
12 there's some correlation between this heavy
13 run-off situation, and the fish disease.
14 Another suspected culprit that our
15 scientists believe could very well be playing a
16 role in this is a -- what's called a
17 dinoflagellate, very similar to the west coast
18 red tide that we're all very familiar with.
19 It's called Crypto for short on the -- in the
20 St. Lucie.
21 This particular organism has been
22 associated with fish lesions in the St. Johns.
23 We found the same organism in North Carolina,
24 and in the Chesapeake associated with its
25 cousin, pfisteria, which caused a great concern
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 44
1 in the Chesapeake region, and great economic
2 impact.
3 This is a new organism. It's only been
4 really known for less than two years. There's a
5 lot we don't know about it. We really don't
6 know if it's toxic. Those investigations are
7 taking place now.
8 Similar organisms though are toxic, and
9 this could very well be one.
10 What's -- one of the scenarios that we're
11 looking at on this disease event is the releases
12 of freshwater, wherever they come from; tied in
13 with lowered salinity, things that stress the
14 fish; perhaps contaminants.
15 We also know that this Crypto resides in
16 the sediment. It essentially hatches out under
17 certain conditions. And in those cases, it can
18 release -- this is all under study now. But
19 similar organisms release a toxin that breaches
20 the slimy layer of the fish, and allows the
21 bacteria and fungus to get in and actually cause
22 the lesions.
23 An alternative hypothesis is not just the
24 fish are stressed, and increased bacteria and
25 fungi in the water are somehow causing these
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 45
1 lesions.
2 The -- we are finding that the lesions are
3 caused actually, in essence, by freshwater
4 bacteria and fungi that are actually doing the
5 eating of the body itself.
6 I don't want to -- I spent the time on the
7 fish disease, but I don't want to neglect the
8 fact that these large freshwater discharges are
9 having huge impacts. This slide is showing kind
10 of a boundary layer between the freshwater and
11 saltwater as it comes out of the inlet.
12 The types of things that result are very
13 heavy sedimentation, and you'll hear this from
14 some of the citizens. But heavy sedimentation
15 causes great problems.
16 As potential contaminants, these drastic
17 changes in salinity are affecting sea grasses,
18 oyster beds have died, reefs are being impacted
19 from sedimentation offshore. So it's a -- it's
20 a total environmental stress when this occurs.
21 This is probably an extreme example of what
22 is occurring in other estuaries as these
23 discharges occur.
24 For us, we're finishing up and working to
25 complete the investigation of the fish disease.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 46
1 Working with public health officials to look at
2 what are the implications of fish disease like
3 this relative to human population.
4 And finally, what -- one of the things
5 we're not going to do is leave. There's,
6 I think, a very citizens' concern that once the
7 disease is over and the freshwater is back to
8 normal in the estuary, then we're going to go
9 away. But that's not our intent.
10 Thank you.
11 The next speaker is Brad Hartman with the
12 Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
13 Brad.
14 MR. HARTMAN: Good morning.
15 I'm going to briefly go over the impacts to
16 the State-owned northern Everglades, and some of
17 the long-term problems that we see.
18 The areas I'm going to be talking about
19 will be the Rotenberger area, the Holyland;
20 Conservation Area, 1, 2; and then this area of
21 3.
22 Most of this area is State-owned. A lot of
23 it's managed by the Game and Fresh Water Fish
24 Commission. And it's -- it had some impacts
25 this -- during this same wet season that you've
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 47
1 heard about already.
2 Want to go through briefly just a couple of
3 the other values that we have out there that
4 we're concerned about.
5 We have a large number of wading bird
6 locations and rookeries in the conservation
7 areas especially. And this is something we try
8 to keep track of what happens when we have these
9 high water episodes.
10 One -- one species in particular, the
11 wood stork, has a number of colonies -- or
12 historically has had a number of colonies, and
13 is extremely dependent on hydroperiod for
14 successfully reproducing.
15 We have another endangered species, a
16 snail kite that also depends on hydroperiod, and
17 not necessarily the same one. We have those,
18 depending on the water levels, in the
19 conservation areas.
20 An area that the Game and Fresh Water Fish
21 Commission works with quite a bit is the
22 tree islands of the conservation areas, natural
23 tropical hammocks that occur out in the
24 saw grass marshes, maintain an upland component
25 in this system, and have a -- are very important
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 48
1 in contributing to the total biodiversity of the
2 conservation areas and the -- and the
3 Everglades.
4 This year, with the high water, the impacts
5 that we had was that we pretty much lost our
6 foraging habitat and lost our reproduction for
7 wading birds because the water was just too
8 deep, and there was no place to feed.
9 I don't know if they're going to be able to
10 recover during this dry -- drying down that
11 we're experiencing now before the wet season
12 kicks in. That was a very short-term problem.
13 GOVERNOR CHILES: Speak just a little bit
14 more -- bring your mic up a little bit higher.
15 Thank you.
16 MR. HARTMAN: All right. Try that.
17 In the long term, I think we're going to
18 have some problems with our wading bird
19 populations because many of the willow strands
20 and willow heads that occur throughout the
21 Water Management Areas have suffered badly as a
22 result of this -- perhaps this high water, but
23 also previous high waters.
24 The tree islands -- as you can see from
25 this slide, there's a lot of gray -- there's a
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 49
1 lot of gray canopy areas there. That's -- those
2 are dead trees that are in these tree islands.
3 Maybe not as a result of this particular
4 high water. One of the problems that we're
5 having is that this particular El Nino high
6 water period is not unique at all, and it's just
7 part of the long-term problems that we'll
8 experience in the conservation areas.
9 We've had high water extensively in the
10 last few years. In '94 and '95, most of the
11 mortality that you see in the tree islands
12 probably occurred as a result of that.
13 So this is not an isolated problem just due
14 to El Nino once in awhile. It's an operational
15 problem that when we have extremes of weather,
16 we have more extremes of hydroperiod in the
17 conservation areas. They -- they are wetter
18 than they ever were when it's a wet year, and
19 they're drier when it's a dry year.
20 These tree islands that we're working to
21 protect, and we -- and we do some work on them
22 in the -- in the areas where it's been dry,
23 they've burned; in the areas where it's been
24 wet, they've flooded and killing the trees off.
25 So this is definitely one of our major
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 50
1 concerns in trying to keep the system going, and
2 not just the -- not just the marsh.
3 The areas that we have out there in the
4 conservation areas have also historically
5 suffered exotic invasion by plants. And that
6 probably is related back to hydroperiod problems
7 also.
8 In the long-term, we're -- we're very
9 supportive of the study that's going on, the
10 restudy by the Corps of Engineers. We think it
11 offers a lot of hope to manage these State-owned
12 areas successfully.
13 And one of the problems that we see though
14 is going to be the one that we have had
15 historically in these areas, and that's that
16 when push comes to shove, when you've got to
17 figure out where to put the water, the
18 conservation areas in Lake Okeechobee to the
19 north are always an attractive option. And it's
20 going to be difficult, I think, to break the
21 kind of -- of history that we've established as
22 far as always putting the water into the
23 Everglades when they don't need it, and then
24 drawing it out during the dry periods.
25 So we will see how the restudy goes. There
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 51
1 is definitely some -- some alternatives that
2 seem to make the situation better out there, and
3 we're going to be working hard with the Corps on
4 those alternatives.
5 Thank you.
6 Our next speaker is going to be
7 Miss Cheryl Ulrich with the Corps of Engineers.
8 MS. ULRICH: I'm not as tall as he is.
9 Good morning.
10 This morning I'd like to share with you
11 some of the actions that we've taken to protect
12 the Cape Sable Seaside sparrow.
13 First of all, I'd like to briefly define
14 the sparrow problem, and then give you a
15 historical overview of some of the emergency
16 actions taken.
17 This map is an overlay of the existing
18 sparrow populations in the Central and South
19 Florida Project. You have it in front of you on
20 an 11 by 17 sheet. But basically what I want to
21 highlight to you are these green areas.
22 These are the existing sparrows that were
23 found in the 1997 survey.
24 The Cape Sable Seaside sparrow is found
25 entirely within the Everglades National Park and
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 52
1 the -- and Big Cypress National Preserve.
2 There are basically three core
3 subpopulations that exist: The eastern, the
4 western, and the Ingraham Highway population.
5 Successful breeding for the sparrow is
6 extremely dependent on a very specific
7 vegetation type and a water depth.
8 This table shows you the trends in the
9 sparrow subpopulations. As you can see from the
10 table, the Ingraham Highway population has
11 remained very healthy and stable.
12 However, the western and eastern
13 populations have declined at alarming rates.
14 The western population is only 10 percent of
15 what it was in 1981.
16 Experts on the sparrow have stated that
17 unless the western and the Ingraham populations
18 are maintained, the species' risk of extinction
19 is almost certain.
20 The primary concern for the western sparrow
21 habitat area is -- on the western side is too
22 much water coming into it; and then on the
23 Ingraham Highway side, or the eastern side, is
24 it being too dry or being over-drained.
25 In November-December of this year, as Tommy
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 53
1 mentioned earlier, that we experienced the onset
2 of the El Nino event. In mid-December, water
3 levels were increasing so much that it looked
4 like we were possibly going to have to make
5 releases into that critical western sparrow
6 habitat.
7 In December of '97, the Everglades National
8 Park and the Fish and Wildlife Service sent the
9 Corps of Engineers a letter declaring that the
10 current water levels were creating an imminent
11 threat to the continued existence of the
12 sparrow.
13 Considering that 24 December letter, and
14 the need for immediate action, the Corps
15 determined that the situation represented an
16 emergency.
17 To put this in perspective from a weather
18 standpoint, according to the National Weather
19 Service records for the past 103 years, this
20 December through February was the wettest on
21 record for north central and south central
22 Florida. It was the third wettest for the lower
23 east coast of Florida, and the fifth wettest for
24 the Everglades and the southwest coast of
25 Florida.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 54
1 These events have not only impacted the
2 sparrow habitat, but have placed significant
3 stresses on the central and south Florida flood
4 control system.
5 Now I'd briefly like to -- to share with
6 you some of the emergency actions taken. In
7 Water Conservation Area 1, what we did is we
8 tried to minimize the inflows into this area by
9 making maximum releases to the coast.
10 In Water Conservation Area 2A, we actually
11 changed the regulation schedule, or the maximum
12 water level that that area could handle, and we
13 raised it to fourteen-and-a-half feet from
14 eleven-and-a-half feet.
15 As far as Water Conservation Area 3A, which
16 is right here, we raised it to
17 eleven-and-a-quarter feet from
18 ten-and-three-quarters feet.
19 The other emergency action that was taken
20 in between Water Conservation Area 3A right
21 here, and 3B, there was a 1,000 foot gap cut in
22 this levee right here. And what that did is
23 allowed the water to flow from 3A into 3B.
24 Another action that was taken, there are
25 structures right -- let me -- this is Miami over
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 55
1 here -- I should have said that initially.
2 Sorry. And this is Tamiami Trail.
3 But there are these four major structures
4 that release water into this critical western
5 sparrow habitat right here.
6 Another decision in terms of operations
7 that was made is we kept as structures
8 discharges the same as it was previous to the
9 winter onset of El Nino.
10 And then finally, we made maximum use of
11 the south Dade conveyance system, which is
12 allowing water to flow into this area.
13 The bottom line here, I mean, the struggle
14 that we've all experienced this past winter as
15 water managers is how can we get the water out
16 of the system.
17 And the most optimum way probably to do it
18 would be right through this area in here. This
19 is part of the Everglades Expansion Area, which
20 is still under acquisition, or getting acquired
21 right now.
22 And there's also an eight-and-a-half square
23 mile area which I'll talk to in more detail in a
24 few minutes. But that is a private property
25 area that there are a lot of homes in that area.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 56
1 All these emergency actions that I shared
2 with you, these were coordinated with the
3 Council on Environmental Quality at the
4 White House. An environmental assessment for
5 these actions was prepared and coordinated with
6 the Southern Everglades Restoration Alliance and
7 the public.
8 The good news in all this is Dr. Pimm from
9 the University of Tennessee has just stated that
10 this is the best year for the Cape Sable Seaside
11 sparrow since 1992, and that is in large part
12 due to some of the tough, tough management
13 decisions that were made by the Water
14 Management District, the Corps of Engineers,
15 Fish and Wildlife, and Everglades National Park.
16 Thus far, what you've heard today, what we
17 shared with you, are the constraints of this
18 system and the impacts of the St. Lucie Estuary,
19 the Water Conservation Areas, and the sparrow.
20 The bottom line is this system needs
21 modifications to provide that additional
22 operational flexibility in order to allow us to
23 maximize our environmental benefits and handle
24 all the increased growth in south Florida.
25 We are being proactive on this problem.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 57
1 We've been working on some short-term solutions
2 and some longer term solutions to enable this
3 operational flexibility.
4 From a short-term standpoint, we have
5 Congressionally authorized projects, we have
6 critical projects, and some operational studies
7 ongoing, which I'd like to share with you in
8 additional detail.
9 The Congressionally authorized projects are
10 modified waters, the C-111 project, acquiring
11 this East Everglades Expansion Area, and the
12 C-51 project.
13 The modif-- and this map is also in front
14 of you. I know this is kind of far away.
15 But the Modified Water Deliveries Project,
16 basically all that project is is structural
17 modifications to the existing flood control
18 system. The whole goal of that project is to
19 restore the natural hydrologic conditions into
20 Everglades Park, using Shark River Slough. Or
21 basically being able to take this water -- this
22 is Tamiami Trail again -- taking this water from
23 Water Conservation Area 3A, 3B, and pushing it
24 through the Expansion Area.
25 The critical piece, as I mentioned to you
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 58
1 earlier, is the eight-and-a-half square mile
2 area. Mitigati-- mitigative action must be
3 taken so that we don't adversely impact this
4 area. A locally preferred alternative is
5 currently being worked on by the South Florida
6 Water Management District.
7 Acquiring the East Everglades Expansion
8 Area. Six thousand parcels remain to be
9 acquired still. We're estimating about 1500
10 condemnations will be required to do that.
11 Florida Cabinet's donation to the
12 Everglades National Park of 40,000 acres on
13 northeast Shark River Slough is still the
14 largest parcel to date, and we're very much
15 appreciative of that. This effort is critical
16 to implementing the Mod Water Delivery Project.
17 We also have the C-111 project. And
18 basically what that's allowing is to put the
19 natural hydraulic -- restore the natural
20 hydraulic conditions in through Taylor Slough.
21 We also have a critical restoration
22 project, the Water Resource Development Act of
23 '96. This authorization basically authorizes
24 the Corps, in consultation with the Task Force
25 and the non-favorable sponsor to implement
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 59
1 projects which produce independent, immediate,
2 and substantial restoration, preservation, and
3 protection benefits.
4 The Ten Mile Creek Water Preserv-- Water
5 Preserve Area is one of about 30 critical
6 projects. It will allow cleaning up the storm
7 water run-off before it -- and getting to a more
8 natural salinity range in the St. Lucie
9 Estuary. Reservoir capacity is about 5,000 acre
10 feet.
11 And, finally, the Lake Okeechobee
12 regulation schedule. This is -- basically we're
13 looking at alternative regulation schedules.
14 And those are currently being evaluated.
15 One last thing. I know last week there was
16 a public meeting in Stuart, Florida. There was
17 a lot of short -- other short-term solutions
18 that have been put on the table, and we are
19 working hard to try to implement those.
20 As far as longer term solutions, I want to
21 introduce again Stu Applebaum.
22 MR. APPLEBAUM: Thank you.
23 Very quickly, the long-term solution is the
24 restudy. In 1992, we were asked by Congress to
25 relook at the entire Central and Southern
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 60
1 Florida Project.
2 And in 1996, we were given further
3 authorization and direction for the restudy.
4 And Congress directed we complete a
5 comprehensive plan by 1 July of 1999.
6 They also reaffirmed the multiobjective
7 nature of the study.
8 The study has always been a multiagency
9 effort. It's a partnership among the Federal
10 agencies, the State agencies, local agencies,
11 and tribes, all of us working together towards
12 these solutions.
13 The goals and objectives for this restudy
14 effort reflect the multiobjective nature of the
15 study, restore the Everglades, provide water
16 supply for control needs for the region.
17 Like we did in 1948, this
18 comprehensive plan will define the major project
19 features that will be developed further. We'll
20 lay out the implementation process that we
21 expect will likely take 15 to 20 years to
22 complete as we go from the general nature of the
23 comprehensive plan to site specific planning
24 design and construction.
25 We've worked very closely with stakeholders
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 61
1 throughout the study process. It's been a very
2 open process. We understand their concerns
3 about the restudy on this process, and we've
4 worked closely with the Governor's Commission
5 for Sustainable South Florida.
6 The web site -- our Internet web site is a
7 key to sharing the technical information that we
8 develop with agencies and the public.
9 We've worked with stakeholders, the public,
10 and the Governor's Commission to identify the
11 issues that need to be addressed in this study:
12 Everglades restoration, estuarine problems,
13 water supply.
14 The keys to restoration are to increase
15 storage in the system -- we've described how the
16 system currently operates; ensure adequate water
17 quality; and restore the connectivity within the
18 natural areas of the system.
19 Storage, as I said, is a key, and we're
20 looking at a large number of storage components
21 to try to meet those objectives, and there are
22 various ways that we achieve our storage.
23 As you can see by the map, we have spread
24 out the burden of storage throughout the
25 system. We have tried to look at facilities
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 62
1 located where the water is available to be
2 captured throughout the system.
3 And we have definitely not tried to put all
4 our eggs in one basket, but we've spread the
5 solution out among a number of different places,
6 as well as different solutions such as surface
7 storage, in-ground storage, aquifer storage, and
8 recovery.
9 The schedule we're on, we'll have a draft
10 report out for public and agency review in
11 October this year as we head toward the July 1,
12 1999, target that Congress has asked us for.
13 It's important to note that this
14 comprehensive plan is only the first step of the
15 process. It is a major step though that we need
16 to complete expeditiously. After we complete
17 the plan, we'll begin more detailed planning and
18 design analyses as we move through the
19 implementation project -- process.
20 The decisions we make, however, in the next
21 few months will determine the course we set for
22 the next 20 years.
23 The restudy is about getting the water
24 right, and getting the water right is the key to
25 restoring the Everglades and providing for a
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 63
1 sustainable south Florida.
2 Thank you.
3 MR. BARNETT: That ends the Agency
4 presentation.
5 We -- as you can see, there's no easy
6 solutions. We've had a very comprehensive
7 overview of what the impacts are, and a brief
8 description of some of the long-term solutions,
9 like the restudy; and the short term solutions,
10 like modifying the Lake Okeechobee regulation
11 schedule.
12 I did want to kind of wrap up and say,
13 there truly has been unprecedented interagency
14 cooperation in this. We have tried to deal with
15 a very difficult situation.
16 Specifically in the St. Lucie Estuary, you
17 have a number of speakers that are here today to
18 present their concerns.
19 Representative Pruitt has taken a
20 leadership role down there by organizing a
21 summit that has -- and they have identified some
22 even quicker, interim actions that we can also
23 take in addition to the short-term and long-term
24 solutions.
25 We've been talking with the other
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 64
1 agencies. Secretary Wetherell; Sam Poole from
2 the Water Management District; Colonel
3 Joe Miller from the Army Corps of Engineers; and
4 others, have all committed to work together to
5 find funding and implementation of these interim
6 solutions that you're also going to hear about.
7 But we have numerous speakers. Our first
8 speaker will be Representative Ken Pruitt,
9 followed by Dexter Lehtinen from the
10 Miccosukee Tribe.
11 REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT: Governor, and
12 members of the Cabinet, thank you very much for
13 the opportunity.
14 Governor, I want to say, I started my
15 legislative career with you, sir, and it has
16 been an honor and privilege to be able to serve
17 with you for the past eight years.
18 And I look forward to serving this term out
19 with you as well, sir.
20 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
21 REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT: With all due
22 respect, we are tired of the talk, because
23 that's all that we've been getting up until now,
24 sir.
25 Our St. Lucie River is dying, and unless
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 65
1 immediate attention is forthcoming, we are
2 surely going to lose one of the most treasured
3 resources that we have in Florida. And that is
4 a legacy that none of us want to leave behind.
5 As you know, there are essentially three
6 discharge points for Lake Okeechobee, the --
7 I'm sorry -- Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie
8 Rivers, and moving water south.
9 Because of El Nino, excessive water
10 discharges were made on the Caloosahatchee and
11 the St. Lucie Rivers, and moving the water south
12 was stopped due to the Cape Sable Seaside
13 sparrow nesting habitat.
14 The citizens of Martin and
15 St. Lucie Counties will no longer -- will no
16 longer accept these discharges, unless immediate
17 action is taken to mitigate the destruction that
18 it is causing.
19 El Nino is only a symptom. The disease
20 still remains. And for decades the discharges
21 have been turning our St. Lucie River into a
22 water body of ooze and contaminants, lesion, and
23 dying fish. It is reeking havoc
24 environmentally, economically, and posing a
25 potential healthcare threat to our citizens.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 66
1 We are demanding -- we are demanding that
2 the same attention be paid to our ecosystem as
3 the Kissimmee River and the Everglades are
4 receiving. We deserve no less.
5 Our St. Lucie River's condition is like
6 that of a drug addict. In the beginning, the
7 addict shows some behavioral changes, but no one
8 really thinks much of it.
9 But soon the drugs, the alcohol, the
10 nicotine start to take their toll on the addict,
11 and his vital organs, so full of these
12 pollutants, start to malfunction. Our river is
13 no different.
14 Chemicals, fertilizer, sewage, street
15 run-off, and every other pollutant known to man
16 are taking their toll. It will die unless
17 immediate action is taken.
18 We will leave -- the citizens of St. Lucie
19 and Martin County will leave no stone unturned
20 to stop this havoc from being unleashed on our
21 ecosystem and on our river.
22 Even unwanted spoil items are being created
23 from the sediment due -- from the sediment
24 run-off due to the excessive discharges.
25 You know, they talk about the imminent
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 67
1 threat to the sparrow. It isn't fair to destroy
2 our habitat to protect another habitat. There
3 is a balance, and both can be protected.
4 Governor, you went to court one time, sir,
5 and you told the judge you were going to fix the
6 Everglades. And you're doing that. It will be
7 one of your greatest legacies, sir.
8 Today we ask you to use the same tools at
9 your disposal to fix our St. Lucie River, and
10 every weapon in your arsenal to stop these
11 untreated discharges.
12 We hate to use the words enforcement, we
13 hate to use the term lawsuit. But to be very
14 candid with you, it's getting to that point.
15 This cleanup must be put in high gear, and we --
16 must be made a priority like the Everglades and
17 Kissimmee River were. We want some dirt
18 turned.
19 We appreciate the work of the DEP, the
20 Water Management District, and the Army Corps of
21 Engineer -- Engineers. And our Florida Marine
22 Research Institute is the example of excellence
23 that we have in State Government.
24 And, Governor, you were very supportive of
25 our effort to put a million dollars into
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 68
1 red tide research. However, much coordination
2 and effort remain to be accomplished. This
3 effort is not without community support.
4 Will everybody from the Treasure Coast
5 please stand up, taking their own time and
6 money. And I want to applaud them for what they
7 have done.
8 For years, the citizens of Martin and
9 St. Lucie Counties have recognized the impact
10 that this pollution has had on this river. They
11 have sounded the warnings, but for the most
12 part, have not been heard until now.
13 The St. Lucie River Initiative has for
14 eight years been working to bring forth viable
15 short- and long-term solutions for the
16 St. Lucie River.
17 Other groups such as the River Coalition
18 and St. Lucie River Task Force, who are here
19 today, also have been hard at work to find the
20 solutions.
21 Last Friday we assembled a River Summit,
22 with every affected Federal, State, local,
23 regional agency to work with us to implement a
24 strategy to start the work. It was extremely
25 successful, and was a major step forward. And
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 69
1 I've presented to you today a summary of those
2 goals and the objectives that were adopted.
3 Now we need your influence, and we need
4 your help, your assistance particularly with
5 those agencies where this Legislature has no
6 oversight.
7 There is no doubt that we have the best
8 minds, scientific minds, legal minds, that are
9 addressing this issue, and we need to make sure
10 we put them on the same page.
11 Governor, in closing, and members of the
12 Cabinet, I appeal to you to rise to the occasion
13 with us to assist us in a very serious
14 situation.
15 I commit to you that I, along with
16 Representatives Warner, Minton, Sembler;
17 Senators Myers, Kurth, and Rossin, stand ready
18 to work hand in hand with you to do whatever it
19 takes to move this process forward.
20 And on behalf of the citizens of Martin and
21 St. Lucie County, we appreciate your
22 consideration of Commissioner Brogan's
23 resolution, and our request for your assistance.
24 Thank you.
25 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 70
1 MR. LEHTINEN: Governor and other Trustees,
2 my name is Dexter Lehtinin, and I'm here on my
3 own behalf and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians.
4 The problem that we want to bring to your
5 attention is the destruction of Water
6 Conservation Area 3A, and it has in common with
7 what Representative Pruitt said, that it is a --
8 not caused by El Nino, it's a deliberate choice
9 of policy. El Nino is only a symptom, not a
10 cause, and it pits one part of the Everglades
11 against another.
12 In this case, your part, the part that you
13 hold as Trustees for the citizens of Florida,
14 against the part that you gave to the Federal
15 Government many, many years ago as a national
16 park, and they should not be pitted against each
17 other.
18 The action I'm talking about is the
19 selection of 272 sparrows out of 6,000, less
20 than 5 percent of the population as a
21 subpopulation; the issuance of a jeopardy
22 letter; and the artificial holding of water at
23 Tamiami Trail to keep water artificially low,
24 below what the natural system model would have
25 it in Everglades National Park with the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 71
1 artificial structure of keeping it artificially
2 high in 3A to save less than 5 percent of the
3 population, all in the name of nature.
4 El Nino did not close the 12 structures,
5 and did not change the regulation schedule
6 without following the Administrative Procedures
7 Act. That was a choice of Everglades National
8 Park that did not want the natural flow of water
9 into the park, and chose, therefore, to destroy
10 your 100,000 or more acres north of
11 Tamiami Trail, because on the evaluation of the
12 Federal Government, State-owned Everglades has,
13 according to the EA, not signed but drafted --
14 because there never was an
15 Environmental Assessment -- the Everglades north
16 of Tamiami Trail does not have any value.
17 That's in the Environmental Assessment.
18 The park is to be protected, the Florida
19 portion of the Everglades has no legal value in
20 the Environmental Assessment. It is a shocking
21 statement of policy.
22 The effects have been -- and I can only
23 state this quickly -- the irreparable and
24 significant destruction of 3A, the destruction
25 of the tree islands, the reduction of
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 72
1 biodiversity, the substantial increase of
2 monocultures.
3 We have scientists who would say that. I
4 know it takes another forum. And the he said,
5 she said nature of argument puts you in a
6 position of not knowing. But I urge your Aides,
7 or others, to look carefully at the science that
8 is involved, and a few recommendations that I'll
9 have.
10 And there is no question but that the
11 heartbreak you see when you're in 3A is
12 reflected by Ph.D.s and others who will tell you
13 that the action this year, having the water
14 levels higher artificially than in 30 years, is
15 the substantial cause for the death of 3A never
16 to come back. Those tree islands will never
17 come back.
18 This reflects a lack of balance, because it
19 attaches no value whatsoever to the parts of the
20 Everglades that are not in Federal -- fee simple
21 absolute Federal ownership.
22 The Environmental Assessment says that land
23 north of Tamiami Trail has no value. The --
24 I'll comment on that assessment more in a
25 moment.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 73
1 The lack of -- they've -- this means really
2 that the Federal Everglades is the only
3 Everglades in Florida that's now being protected
4 despite other provisions of law.
5 The other element of lack of balance is --
6 and there's a yellow sheet, as well as a blue
7 sheet, that will be handed out to you.
8 The subpopulation that is being protected,
9 the only part of the sparrow being protected are
10 272 or 288 birds out of 4,000 or 5,000 birds --
11 5,760, depending on the numbers.
12 This is from the only scientist who
13 supports the Fish and Wildlife Service position,
14 that -- the Dr. Pimm. This is from his recent
15 report.
16 The international experts that we've hired
17 on the sparrow say it is completely
18 inappropriate to take a 272 bird subpopulation
19 out of 5,700, and use that subpopulation as the
20 means for a jeopardy letter, or to otherwise
21 destroy other parts of the environment.
22 So there's no balance in -- in referring to
23 the sparrow as threatened when it's less than
24 5 percent of it that is threatened.
25 And incidentally, a newspaper article that
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 74
1 you probably saw has Pimm reporting that 1998
2 was the best year ever for the sparrow.
3 Statistically speaking -- I'm not advocating
4 birdicide or whatever it would be. But
5 statistically speaking, if every sparrow in the
6 western population died, 1998 would still be the
7 best year in the history for the sparrow. It
8 would still have a 35 percent increase in the
9 sparrow's population. The western population is
10 not significant according to our scientists.
11 If you'd say -- and I'll try to
12 summarize -- well, if all this is true, isn't
13 there some legal issue involved in, yes, there
14 are. This violates the Federal laws that
15 guarantee to the Indians that 3A will be held in
16 its natural state, passed by Congress, and by
17 this State Legislature, and the lease signed by
18 the then Trustees that say it will be preserved
19 in its natural state. It violates the
20 requirements of C&SF project to run the project
21 in a way that preserves environmental values, it
22 violates Florida law that calls for protecting
23 3A.
24 Without a doubt, it violates your
25 constitutional rights as Trustees to not have
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 75
1 your property sacrificed this way, as well as
2 other property holders, such as the Indians and
3 some private land holders. State School Board
4 has some of the land.
5 It also inappropriately uses the Endangered
6 Species Act to focus on this very small
7 subpopulation.
8 You might say, well, if they followed the
9 right procedures, that this is okay. However,
10 the Environmental Assessment that's being
11 referred to -- forgive me for saying this -- but
12 that EA was not signed. If it's been signed
13 within the last month, I don't know. But that
14 EA, when it went to CEQ, was not signed. Why
15 wasn't it signed?
16 Because they did not want an official
17 Environmental Assessment which said, in the
18 words of the National Environmental Policy Act,
19 closing the 12 structures will have a
20 substantial negative adverse impact on 3A.
21 Therefore, under the words of NEPA, if that
22 EA was signed, they would have to do an
23 Environmental Impact Statement, and they could
24 not close the 12 structures.
25 So despite the statement at this podium
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 76
1 that there is an EA, when I went to CEQ --
2 which, by the way, has -- was told about this,
3 but has never issued one statement, one policy
4 guideline, never responded whatsoever. CEQ is
5 as silent as you can be on this issue.
6 I mean -- I guess we can legitimately say we've
7 coordinated the CEQ, Council of Environmental
8 Quality.
9 But it would be fair to tell you that CEQ
10 never coordinated back. They just said, that's
11 too hot for us, set it on our desk, you know,
12 we're not issuing a -- a policy statement with
13 respect to it.
14 Also, I find it intriguing that they would
15 say at this podium that the regulation schedule
16 has been amended in 3A, because they will say in
17 court it has not been amended. There was no
18 notice, no Administrative Procedures Act, no
19 rulemaking. They will say in court that the old
20 reg schedule is the law. They are only doing
21 temporary deviations for an emergency basis.
22 Moving to that position, it's a lot harder
23 for them to -- to defend. So they -- to an un--
24 to a group that is not familiar with the
25 history -- not uneducated -- but one not
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 77
1 familiar with the intimate history, they can say
2 the reg schedule was amended.
3 If so, I'd like to know where it's amended
4 to, I'd like the notices, and I'll plead it that
5 way if we have to.
6 The other thing about the procedures,
7 consultation was not undertaken. The material
8 that we were given, we handed to an
9 internationally renowned expert. He said, this
10 material is insufficient to reach any conclusion
11 one way or the other.
12 That's the material we got in the last
13 three months before we FOIAed the Fish and
14 Wildlife Service, Freedom of Information Act,
15 and forced the data to finally be given. That's
16 the lack of consultation.
17 Let me say with respect to other
18 methodological weaknesses. Our experts tell us
19 that it's inappropriate to focus on 272 out of
20 6,000, but they also say that certain critical
21 assumptions make that one scientist's study --
22 and it's only one scientist, not really peer
23 reviewed -- what it is. And that is assumptions
24 like the bird won't move.
25 Now, this bird doesn't fly a lot, and it
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 78
1 moves slowly. But our scientists say that there
2 is no sufficient data in those records to show
3 that if you put water here, that bird won't move
4 over here.
5 So there are lots of -- the historical data
6 is weak, and lots of other problems associated
7 with it.
8 Then let me say this: The conclusion is,
9 this is really an unconscionable destruction of
10 more than 100,000 acres. The destruction part,
11 I'm just saying it, but I think your scientists
12 would back it up.
13 And I urge you to consult with the Tribe.
14 We'll give you our scientific data.
15 The unconscionable part is that it's not
16 needed. This subpopulation will not wipe out
17 the sparrow. There are other alternative
18 approaches, and they don't know if the water
19 went there, whether this sparrow would have died
20 or not.
21 But statistically if the sparrow died, you
22 still have this population doing better than
23 it's ever done in its history.
24 My recommendations then, in sum, would be
25 these: That the Cabinet -- Trustees, I guess
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 79
1 you are, sitting as right now -- should take a
2 position -- if it can't today, then it should at
3 least agenda it -- a position, not just urging
4 examination, but clear opposition to the
5 sacrifice of more than 100,000 State land --
6 acres of State land. There are alternatives.
7 The State land does not have to be second class
8 to the Federal land.
9 If I participated in any implication when I
10 was U.S. Attorney that the State land is
11 secondary to the Federal land, I will tell you
12 today, the only reason we didn't sue to protect
13 State Everglades was strictly standing. My
14 client, the Federal Government, didn't have
15 standing to protect WCA-3A. You folks do. You
16 should protect it as strong as they want to
17 protect their land.
18 Secondly, I'd urge the Attorney General to
19 look at drafting lawsuits on the issues that I
20 have talked about. He'd probably bring them
21 back to you -- I don't know the procedures --
22 but bring them back to you for your
23 consideration, not jump over you. But he ought
24 to do this work, then give it to you, and ask
25 you. If you want to sue, we'd be happy to sue
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 80
1 with you.
2 Third, I would hope the Trustees would
3 instruct FDEP and the Game and Fresh Water Fish
4 Commission, which has found this to be
5 destructive of 3A, to oppose these actions in
6 all of the forums that they participate in.
7 And also perhaps you could instruct FDEP to
8 hold some hearings and give us an opportunity,
9 so those of us who say we have evidence, can
10 have a forum in which the evidence can be
11 presented.
12 In sum, there's a sketching -- I saw it
13 coming in -- on the left rear of a tree island.
14 Statistically speaking today, that tree island
15 probably no longer exists. That's in this left
16 rear entry here.
17 If this kind of activity continues in 3A,
18 if they're allowed to block Tamiami Trail, hold
19 it higher than the law -- the regulation
20 schedule permits on the idea that if natural
21 water flow goes to the park, that's somehow not
22 natural. If that continues, it is certain that
23 that tree island in that etching will not exist.
24 So basically before -- and I'm confident
25 this will happen -- some day the little boy is
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 81
1 going to say, the emperor has no clothes. This
2 myth on the western sparrow, this house of cards
3 will collapse. The only question is whether it
4 will collapse before 3A is completely destroyed,
5 or whether we have to lose 3A before it
6 collapses.
7 I probably went over my time. I certainly
8 appreciate your time.
9 And, Governor, I appreciated it when you
10 were in court years ago, too. We'll remember
11 that forever.
12 Thank you very much.
13 MR. HANSON: Governor, Cabinet members,
14 I think most of you recognize me. I'm
15 Don Hanson with the Marine Fisheries
16 Commission.
17 And I was requested to come up and say a
18 few words concerning the St. Lucie problem. And
19 that's what I'll address it, as a problem, and
20 it's a problem that must be solved just as soon
21 as possible.
22 I want to point out a little bit of
23 geography to you concerning the water flow that
24 goes into Lake Okeechobee. As you know, the
25 Kissimmee Valley, which produces most of the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 82
1 water coming into the lake, has been dug, and
2 it's a ditch now. And that used to be a lake
3 from south of Orlando all the way to
4 Lake Okeechobee. When you would have heavy
5 rains, it would become a -- just one big lake.
6 But this is -- this drains now out of all
7 of Orange County, Osceola County,
8 Highlands County, Polk County, Glades County,
9 Hendry, right on down the line until it comes
10 into the lake.
11 And -- and this is a serious problem,
12 because people just don't understand about how
13 much water was put into Lake Okeechobee this
14 year. On one day, six -- six weeks ago today,
15 on a Thursday, it started raining down south,
16 and in the morning, we had two-and-a-half
17 inches; and by the next morning, we had
18 14 inches.
19 I know very well about that, because I was
20 trying to turkey hunt that morning, and it was
21 about knee deep when we came out of the place.
22 So you can just imagine just what has
23 happened during this period of time. This year
24 nothing really that I remember in my lifetime in
25 Florida has ever -- has ever happened like this.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 83
1 So as we get the water that comes out of
2 the Kissimmee into -- into the lake, we have
3 Fisheating Creek just a little ways from there
4 that drains all of the back country of all of
5 Highlands and Glades County.
6 So this tremendous amount of water going
7 into the lake had to go somewhere. There's only
8 three different places. It either dumps into
9 the Everglades Park, and we -- as you know, we
10 put Alligator Alley in, and it became a dam.
11 This water has to go through the
12 Caloosahatchee, or it has to come out of the
13 St. Lucie.
14 I visited the St. Lucie recently, and
15 talked with a lot of folks over there, and saw
16 the problem that was happening. And as
17 you know, our position on this is not dealing
18 with the water quality or the water quantity.
19 It is dealing with what is happening to the
20 fish. And that's our -- our main concern.
21 But recently I was trying to find kingfish
22 off of the Caloosahatchee, and back out into the
23 Gulf, and there was no -- no fish. But out
24 12 miles -- and this is the water coming out of
25 the Caloosahatchee, and coming out of the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 84
1 Myakka, and coming out of these places, dumps
2 and flows through -- through the giant tarpon
3 fishing area at Boca Grande.
4 And I was 12 miles offshore, and the water
5 coming out of the Caloosahatchee on the Gulf
6 side was completely dark 12 miles offshore.
7 And this year, the kingfish did completely
8 bypass all of that area of -- of the state.
9 I recently came back from Lostman's River,
10 down there where it's -- the water is coming out
11 of the -- out of Lostman's, and it's just pitch
12 black, coal black dark. I mean, it's
13 unbelievable.
14 But this is the thing that's been happening
15 to the Glades and through Lostman's for
16 thousands and thousands of years. It isn't
17 anything new.
18 But my main objective here today is -- and
19 I think if you looked at a letter that was sent
20 to me I put on each one of your -- to read at
21 your leisure.
22 But we have a serious problem over there
23 with the -- with the fish lesions. And I'm not
24 going to go into the problems that are involved
25 with this. I think you have heard enough, and
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 85
1 you'll hear quite a bit more after I sit down.
2 But I just want to say that it is a problem
3 that we have, and we have to confront this
4 problem. And -- and it has to be a solution of
5 not choosing up sides. And it has to be a -- a
6 solution to the problem where all the people are
7 coming together, and work together, to make sure
8 this thing doesn't ever happen again.
9 But you must remember --
10 (Secretary Mortham exited the room.)
11 MR. HANSON: -- that the water has to go
12 somewhere. When it comes out of the
13 Kissimmee Valley, and it's at -- through that
14 big ditch, it has to go someplace.
15 And this -- only the -- as I had mentioned,
16 there's only the three places that it has to
17 go. It can't go -- it'd go through the
18 Caloosahatchee, there, or into the Glades.
19 So just want to say thank you.
20 But in -- in closing, I want to say, I'm
21 very glad that I was here today, Frank, because,
22 as you know, education is one of my main things
23 that I've spent all my life at. And I was very,
24 very pleased.
25 And, Governor, I want to say to you, I'm
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 86
1 very, very happy with what you have accomplished
2 in working with children in this state, because
3 I told a bunch of people the other day at a
4 speech, and I told them, you know, I'm a
5 Marine Fisheries Commission, and there's two
6 things that are very, very important in my life,
7 and that's fish and children, but not in that
8 order.
9 So I thank you very much and appreciate
10 you.
11 MR. BARNETT: Our next two speakers are the
12 Chairperson of the Martin County Commission,
13 Ms. Janet Gettig; and Elmira Gainey --
14 excuse me -- she's the Vice-Chair, and
15 Commissioner Elmira Gainey. Followed by
16 Leon Abood.
17 MS. GETTIG: Thank you.
18 Governor Chiles and distinguished members
19 of the Cabinet, thank you for providing this
20 opportunity for us to speak here today.
21 I want to --
22 (Secretary Mortham entered the room.)
23 MS. GETTIG: -- thank Commissioner Brogan
24 for introducing the resolution which the --
25 which you all passed today. We are elated with
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 87
1 the action. It's a really great first step in
2 helping us with the recognition we need to have
3 the immediate issues addressed with regard to
4 the restoration.
5 We have many people here to speak with --
6 from the newly formed Rivers Coalition.
7 Commissioner Gainey will offer a few comments.
8 Commissioner Chair Melzer who was not able to
9 attend because she's ill.
10 I do want to take this opportunity,
11 however, to discuss a related and crucial issue
12 to our area.
13 Not only have the elected officials in our
14 region been united in their request for prompt
15 action on the restoration of the river, but
16 there has been a united front offered with
17 regard to opposition to House Bills 4141 and
18 4071.
19 The Treasure Coast Regional Planning
20 Council has adopted a letter to forward
21 stressing that opposition, as have several
22 commissions and councils.
23 I do want to say that the Governor's
24 Committee for a Sustainable South Florida has
25 been a tremendous vehicle for consensus
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 88
1 building. These two bills sidestep the
2 impressive progress made by this Commission.
3 They are preemptive strikes against -- aimed at
4 crippling the restudy, a small task force
5 empowered with line item veto power. To pick
6 and choose restoration solutions will slow up
7 the comprehensive solution for south Florida
8 restoration -- ecosystem restoration.
9 The other bill will jeopardize Federal
10 funding for these restoration projects by
11 authorizing a big sugar relief act.
12 We urge you and appeal to you,
13 Governor Chiles, to veto these two bills.
14 Thank you very much.
15 MS. GAINEY: Good morning.
16 Governor Chiles, members of the Cabinet, it
17 is a pleasure to speak with you this morning.
18 On behalf of the citizens of Martin County,
19 we are very happy that you have passed the
20 recent resolution that has been presented by
21 Commissioner Brogan, and we thank you for that
22 resolution.
23 It shows that you share the vision that
24 Martin County has of cleaning up its river,
25 cleaning up the total estuarine system, and we
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 89
1 appreciate that.
2 As you know, in recent months, through the
3 efforts first brought to our attention by
4 Mr. Wade Aycock, we have been faced with a fish
5 kill, or a sick fish syndrome. We're happy that
6 you recognize it also. And, again, that you
7 share our vision for cleaning up our river.
8 The resolution that you have passed today
9 is very important, but I would have you know
10 that our Board of County Commissioners has also
11 stepped to the plate. We have passed a
12 resolution that says that we will support the
13 restudy, we will support totally the efforts
14 that would help us to clean up our -- our
15 estuarine system.
16 This is very important to us because on
17 some occasions we have been a bit divided. But
18 we want you to know that we're together, our
19 citizens are behind us, and we're going to do
20 everything possible to make certain that the
21 river is given the first priority.
22 The river has plagued our system, it has
23 had a devastating effect on our local
24 businesses, and has curtailed our citizens'
25 enjoyment of the waterways.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 90
1 Most importantly, it has warranted public
2 concern as a health issue.
3 Thanks again for addressing that.
4 I had wished to share with you some views
5 of Mr. Doug Shelton, a long-time resident of
6 Martin County, and I'm sure Commissioner Brogan
7 remembers him.
8 He was born in 1921, and he has -- he
9 shared with me a vision of all of the great
10 things that had happened in our river system,
11 and the species that were there, and how even
12 the mullet danced in the night, more or less.
13 But we want you to know that this can
14 happen again.
15 Thank you again for sharing the vision, and
16 for helping us to reestablish a clean waterway.
17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, ma'am.
18 MR. ABOOD: Good morning, Governor Chiles,
19 members of the Cabinet, good morning.
20 My name is Leon Abood, and I currently
21 serve on the Board of Directors for the Realtor
22 Association of Martin County.
23 I'd just like to say, it is an honor and a
24 privilege to be here.
25 I'm here with you this morning as Chairman
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 91
1 of the Rivers Coalition. The Rivers Coalition
2 is a membership of a wide spectrum of business
3 groups, environmental organizations, and
4 citizens. It includes representatives of the
5 St. Lucie River Initiative; Florida
6 Oceanographic Society; Henry Caimotto, whom you
7 will hear shortly, Henry Snook Nook. You all
8 know Henry.
9 But it also includes a diverse group of
10 business, including the Treasure Coast Builders
11 Association on one side, and we've got the
12 Audubon Society of Martin County on the other.
13 We've got the Business Development Group of
14 Martin County, and Florida's Zero Population
15 Growth.
16 The magnitude of these problems, which
17 brought these diverse groups together, cannot be
18 overstated. As you can imagine, our meetings
19 are spirited.
20 But I can report to you with confidence
21 today that the concerns that I bring to you are
22 shared by all the citizens of Martin and
23 St. Lucie County, and all the businesses of
24 Martin and St. Lucie County.
25 We have joined together for a common
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 92
1 mission, which is to fight for a safe, healthy,
2 and ecologically balanced St. Lucie River
3 Estuary and Indian River Lagoon. This group
4 feels that these natural resources are vital to
5 the economy and quality of life of
6 Martin County.
7 It often requires a disaster to unite
8 people. And, Mr. Governor, and members of the
9 Cabinet, I'm here to tell you that we are united
10 in this front.
11 The St. Lucie River initiative has been
12 sounding these alarms for the past seven years.
13 Now, you all know Martin County. We are a
14 service-based economy by nature. We have built
15 our community around our rivers. We have built
16 our businesses around their appeal.
17 The rivers have not been appealing this
18 spring. All the stories of the sick fish and
19 the lesioned fish are not good advertising, and
20 the coalition wants you to know that there is a
21 dollar and cents impact to this.
22 Now, you've heard volumes about the
23 environmental impact. There is a dollar and
24 cents impact to this. This is individuals with
25 no paychecks, this means businesses with no
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 93
1 sales.
2 As important as all that is, what I'd like
3 to share with you as a Martin County
4 businessman, and as a resident of Martin County
5 for 16 years, how much it hurts to watch the
6 river that you love turn sick under these
7 circumstances.
8 This is not a one-day fish kill, sir. This
9 is not a one-month problem. We want permanent
10 restoration of our rivers, which are the
11 lifeblood of our economy for Martin and
12 St. Lucie Counties.
13 Most important, we need to make sure --
14 we're asking you to help us. We need you to
15 make sure that what just happened please does
16 not happen over and over again.
17 We request that you ask specifically the
18 South Florida Water Management District Board of
19 Governors to adopt a Lake Okeechobee regulation
20 schedule which will minimize or eliminate these
21 damaging discharges. We need your continuing
22 help.
23 We need you to move with all available
24 speed on the long-term solutions that solve this
25 problem, including monitor the water qualities,
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 94
1 and making sure that the standards are -- are
2 accurate.
3 It also move -- means moving as rapidly as
4 possible to get the Everglades restudy
5 recommendations adopted and implemented.
6 Our rivers have been assaulted and are
7 dying, and it hurts us all watching it happen.
8 We need your help, and we can't bring them back
9 without it.
10 Thank you.
11 MR. CAIMOTTO: What do you think of the
12 t-shirts?
13 That's what started it. That's what
14 started it all. It took -- it took me -- I'm
15 the one that started the petition drive. I'm
16 Henry Caimotto. I have the Snook Nook. It's a
17 bait and tackle shop in Jensen Beach.
18 You might say I'm an authority on impact.
19 I probably see more anglers, or see more people
20 that are on the water than most people.
21 I'm the one that said, what we need is a
22 petition drive. Now, to give you some idea,
23 we -- it went to print on 3-14, it was counted
24 and tabulated on 4-14.
25 In Martin County, we had 17,544 signatures;
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 95
1 in St. Lucie County, we had 8,612 signatures;
2 other Florida counties, 2,083; out of state,
3 1,016; out of country, 48; for a grand total of
4 29,303. The petitions have gone past 34,000 now
5 though.
6 Every day I get more and more. Here's a
7 little cutout from the News Journal, May 16th,
8 '98. Delaware on the Lookout pfisteria
9 Microbe.
10 I wish we could cross-examine Mr. Haddad.
11 I wasn't going to do this. But if the fish are
12 dying, do not tell us it's not toxic. What does
13 it tell him if the fish are dying?
14 When the canaries went into the mine and
15 they fell off the perch, what did they tell the
16 miners?
17 We had a tuna in Sunday. The fish was
18 caught in 80 feet of water five-and-a-half miles
19 offshore.
20 Tell the Governor what causes red tide.
21 Why don't you get the DEP to come back up here,
22 and let them explain to you what causes
23 red tide.
24 There is no accountability in the
25 Department of Environmental Protection. The
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 96
1 graph was taken that he showed you of the
2 St. Lucie River and the Indian River with the
3 little dots on it. That was five weeks after --
4 five weeks after the fact. Kind of hard to
5 raise a body count five weeks after the forest
6 fire's been put out.
7 We've been front page of the Baltimore Sun,
8 the D.C. Post, the New York Times, the
9 Boston Globe, the Plain Dealer.
10 You know -- and the DEP calls it
11 environmental stress. How about total
12 collapse? Sixty miles of total collapse.
13 Water was so filled with suspension that
14 the water -- it actually was thick. It would
15 splat. It didn't splash.
16 A brown plume 2 miles out of the St. Lucie
17 Inlet, so much the water was -- they put so much
18 water through the St. Lucie Inlet, that at the
19 Evans Crary Bridge, there was no tidal
20 movement. And that's about 2 miles from the
21 Inlet, if you can imagine that. That's how much
22 water was coming out. That's the velocity that
23 it was coming out.
24 And, again, the Department of Environmental
25 Protection, ohh, ohh.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 97
1 I represent the Citizens Coalition for
2 Clean River Action. Last week they finally shut
3 the water off.
4 Our tourist season is our industry. They
5 left early, as much as six weeks early. Crypto,
6 pfisteria, dead fish, our rivers are dying.
7 Carlos deAguilar is the Director of the Florida
8 Department of Environmental department in
9 south-- in our Southeast District. This man can
10 tap dance to any tune.
11 He said -- in no incertain terms, he uses
12 the term, traditionally this is the way we do
13 things. And had the nerve to get up in front of
14 all the other ones and say this --
15 GOVERNOR CHILES: I don't want to interrupt
16 you.
17 MR. CAIMOTTO: Okay. Yeah. I --
18 GOVERNOR CHILES: But --
19 MR. CAIMOTTO: -- understand.
20 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- you know, you're up
21 here -- we're trying to find a solution --
22 MR. CAIMOTTO: All right.
23 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- to this --
24 MR. CAIMOTTO: All right.
25 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- thing.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 98
1 MR. CAIMOTTO: Okay.
2 GOVERNOR CHILES: If you want to just come
3 up here and whip on some people --
4 MR. CAIMOTTO: Yeah. I -- I understand.
5 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- you know --
6 MR. CAIMOTTO: What I'm trying to do is --
7 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- is these --
8 MR. CAIMOTTO: -- the point that I want --
9 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- people that you're
10 talking about work pretty hard, work for us,
11 work to try to solve the thing. And --
12 MR. CAIMOTTO: We need some accountability.
13 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- you know, let's --
14 let's try to find the answer, and let's just
15 don't come up here and just --
16 MR. CAIMOTTO: All right.
17 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- just --
18 MR. CAIMOTTO: We need some --
19 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- whip up on some --
20 MR. CAIMOTTO: -- accountability.
21 GOVERNOR CHILES: -- people.
22 MR. CAIMOTTO: That what we're looking for.
23 We support the restudy, but we need that
24 accountability. That's what's going to make it
25 work.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 99
1 MR. BROTHERS: Governor Chiles, members of
2 the Cabinet, my name is Bill Brothers. I'm
3 President and General Manager of WTCN television
4 in Stuart, Florida.
5 I'll give you the option, Governor, I know
6 you're pressed for time. I can keep my comments
7 to 3 minutes. Or I have a video that's about
8 8 minutes in length, summarized, completed by
9 Congressman Mark Foley. Your choice, sir.
10 Do you have 8 minutes?
11 GOVERNOR CHILES: I -- you know, we were
12 talking about being through by 12:15. We've --
13 we're losing our membership here now.
14 MR. BROTHERS: Yes, sir.
15 GOVERNOR CHILES: I think if you'll leave
16 your video with us so we can look at that, and
17 then -- and maybe just give us your talk.
18 MR. BROTHERS: Thank you, sir.
19 GOVERNOR CHILES: Yes, sir.
20 MR. BROTHERS: My primary concern is that I
21 can find no solid answer for the levels of
22 copper and heavy metals in the St. Lucie
23 Estuary.
24 Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker has an excellent book
25 called Crossing Dark Waters, pfisteria. It's
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 100
1 being embraced currently by the Maryland DEP.
2 They've got similar outbreaks of pfisteria in
3 Maryland, and throughout the eastern seaboard.
4 I would encourage the approval of copper --
5 or noncopper-based fungicides for use in
6 Florida. We are currently using about
7 4.9 million pounds of copper-based fungicides on
8 citrus.
9 All of that drainage comes down the
10 Kissimmee into Lake Okeechobee and out the
11 St. Lucie River. It is causing a severe
12 outbreak of pfisteria.
13 Secondly, I've seen a river historically
14 that was 14 to 15 feet deep in the South Fork of
15 the St. Lucie River 50 years ago, we have
16 testimony to that effect. It is now 2 inches
17 deep, sir. In the middle of the South Fork of
18 the St. Lucie River, caused by sediment outfall
19 down the C-44 canal structure.
20 The river is dying, sir. I encourage you,
21 plead with you, to please take action.
22 Thank you.
23 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
24 MR. PERRY: Governor, members of the
25 Cabinet, Mark Perry with Florida Oceanographic
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 101
1 Society.
2 I just -- I will relinquish my time or
3 whatever to -- I do support the resolution. I
4 appreciate your action today to get some
5 positive action going for this cause. It is a
6 detrimental effect, not only to the environment,
7 as to the economy.
8 It has happened in the past, as you have
9 seen. We need to correct the problem very
10 quickly. So I appreciate your movement to --
11 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
12 MR. PERRY: -- fast action here. And if
13 you want any more details, just come down and
14 we'll talk to you further.
15 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
16 MR. BARNETT: I'm going to call up the next
17 three speakers: Max Quackenbos,
18 Claire Lewinger, and Ed Fielding.
19 MR. QUACKENBOS: Good morning -- or good
20 afternoon, Governor, Cabinet.
21 I've done a severe condensation, and I hope
22 I can get through very rapidly. I'll just make
23 three points.
24 We need your help, number one, in bringing
25 your resolution to the Water Management
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 102
1 District. For its meeting on June 10th, they
2 will be considering at that time an improved
3 lake regulation schedule.
4 Now, in the longer run, we want much more
5 than this schedule will -- will give us. It'll
6 give us something, but we need much more. In
7 the long run, as the study is implemented, we
8 are looking for a goal of no lake releases to
9 our river.
10 Number three, we are anxious to have no
11 discharges also from the two agricultural canals
12 in our two counties, Martin and St. Lucie.
13 They can be -- and should be and must be
14 stored, and rereleased to the river in a
15 controlled fashion.
16 And thank you.
17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
18 MS. LEWINGER: Hi. My name is
19 Claire Lewinger. I'm a representative of Martin
20 and St. Lucie County schools. I'm here with
21 Mike Johnson and Charlie Cook.
22 I just wanted to let you know that we have
23 been working with other students in our county
24 to get as many kids involved, and they are
25 disgusted with the current rate of destruction
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 103
1 going on, and the lack of support to fix the
2 problem.
3 No one seems to realize how important the
4 rivers are to us. But we are not here to tell
5 you about the facts of the death of our fish or
6 the forcing downfall of tourism to Florida,
7 which is vital to the well-being of the state in
8 general.
9 We're here just to let you know that you
10 have our full support to take quick action, make
11 a decision, and make a positive impact on the
12 longevity of our river's ecosystem.
13 We're here to let you know that for every
14 person who comes and goes, who will still be
15 here in ten, fifteen, and twenty years. We will
16 be the business owners, realtors, contractors,
17 and doctors, we will be living in past
18 generations' mistakes, and we wanted to let
19 you know that we have no qualms about you
20 hearing our complaints, our pains, and our
21 sufferings from those mistakes.
22 We're going to fight the fight.
23 Nothing will stop us, and we will do
24 anything and everything that it comes down to to
25 save our rivers from being destroyed.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 104
1 Thank you.
2 GOVERNOR CHILES: We're delighted to have
3 you here representing the young people of the
4 County. Delighted.
5 Yes, ma'am.
6 MS. TOBEY: Governor -- excuse me -- the
7 Honorable -- I'm touched by having the young
8 people here today, and I salute them.
9 The Honorable Lawton -- Governor
10 Lawton Chiles, and respected members of the
11 Florida Cabinet, my name is
12 Kathryn Kenney Tobey, resident of
13 Hutchinson Island, Stuart, Martin County, and I
14 present to you today, please -- I submit to you
15 today letters from -- first to you, Governor,
16 and separately to each Cabinet member, letters
17 from Marriott, Indian River Plantation, which is
18 the enormous resort on Hutchinson Island,
19 fronted by the Atlantic and the Indian River
20 Estuary National Lagoon.
21 Secondly, the second letter is from the
22 Indian River Property Association of
23 Hutchinson Island.
24 I will, please, give them to you.
25 Colleen, thank you.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 105
1 In addition to the ecological tragedy that
2 has affected Martin County and befallen us, I
3 stand here today asking that you remember us. I
4 call to your attention that over 40 people got
5 up this morning in Martin County at 1:00 a.m.
6 and got on a bus and arrived here to be heard.
7 I stand before you today asking you to
8 remember our faces, Governor Chiles, to remember
9 our community, and to remember that we are
10 Florida citizens with rights protected by
11 Federal law that are being violated.
12 We are aggrieved, we are determined, we are
13 angry, we are disgusted, we are honorable, and
14 we are courageous. And we shall not, and I
15 repeat, not stand down until the solutions are
16 effected.
17 Specifically I ask you here today to use
18 the big stick, the Tallahassee big stick, to,
19 one, instruct Florida Department of
20 Environmental Protection to enforce the Clean
21 Water Act, vis-a-vis other agencies; and if
22 necessary to effect this, that the Department of
23 Environmental Protection in Florida be
24 restaffed.
25 Two, that the Environmental Protection
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 106
1 Agency approve noncopper-based fungicides for
2 use in Florida citrus -- for use on Florida
3 citrus, excuse me. These exist, they are not
4 yet approved in Florida and have been
5 overlooked. Copper is a problem.
6 Dr. Shoemaker, University of Maryland, well
7 involved in the pfisteria situation up there, is
8 arriving in Martin County within two weeks. The
9 EPA needs to approve these -- this
10 noncopper-based fungicide.
11 Three, I ask you, I urge you, Governor, to
12 veto House Bills 4071 and House Bill 4141.
13 And in conclusion, number four, I ask you
14 to declare Martin and St. Lucie Counties a
15 disaster, that immediately -- immediately weirs
16 be installed in C-23, 24, and 44, that banks be
17 shoaled, and that sediment traps -- sediment
18 filtration be installed using the National Guard
19 to expedite this if necessary.
20 I ask all of you today to rise to the
21 highest good as defined in our courts as the
22 welfare of our citizens and the welfare of this
23 planet. I ask you to walk away from politics, I
24 ask you to walk to statesmanship.
25 And, Governor Chiles, please allow me to
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 107
1 state today that I believe your greatest legacy
2 has been the recognition of the
3 Florida Everglades as our greatest treasure, and
4 is a gift to the world.
5 I believe this legacy to be the reclamation
6 and healing -- the beginning of the reclamation
7 and healing of the Florida Everglades, and that
8 any impediment to, or burden upon, this
9 reclamation soils and tarnishes your legacy.
10 The world is watching. We are watching on
11 a local level, on a state level, and on a
12 federal level. We will not stand down, and I
13 believe Marjory Stoneman Douglas is watching.
14 Thank you.
15 MR. FIELDING: You've heard just a few
16 minutes about how the St. Lucie Estuary and the
17 Indian River Lagoon have been stressed. That's
18 a technical term for killed. Because that's
19 what's happened to her. Our waterways are being
20 destroyed by the agricultural and the urban
21 drainage.
22 We are seen as the solution to everybody's
23 problem. And that's our problem. Because we're
24 the solution. And we have received an enormous,
25 massive discharges, not just this year. And
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 108
1 that's -- that's a mis-- misdirection. We have
2 been receiving that over the years.
3 This connection between Lake Okeechobee was
4 first constructed in 1923. And since that time,
5 three things have been happening to us, the
6 citizens of Martin and St. Lucie County. Three
7 things.
8 We've been getting massive freshwater
9 discharges; we've been getting silt and organic
10 ooze; and we've been getting pollutants,
11 chemical pollutants. And those are the
12 problems. And those freshwater discharges,
13 however pure they might be, we're not
14 freshwater.
15 So that kills all of our sea creatures.
16 That drives out our fish. Our oysters are
17 dead. They're -- they're not hurt, they're
18 dead. Our grasses are dead. That's what's
19 happening to us, we're being killed.
20 We implore you, we -- however we might
21 entreat you to consider urgently taking some
22 action.
23 There's some things we can do. One
24 immediate thing we can do, on June 10th -- it
25 may be the 11th -- when the Florida Freshwater
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 109
1 Management decides what they're going to do
2 about the lake level holding. That's an
3 important, crucial ingredient, because if that
4 lake level is held lower, specifically 14 feet
5 or lower, during the winter storage period, it
6 will be less problematic that we will then get
7 the overflow, because they'll be lower -- have
8 more room to go with unexpected rains.
9 And we ask you, please, that you might make
10 that suggestion to the Water -- Water Management
11 people.
12 We also ask, as Kathryn has just done, that
13 we ask you, please, Honorable Governor, that you
14 sincerely consider our request about those two
15 House Bills, because they are at -- we see that
16 they're going to jeopardize our hope of
17 solution.
18 They're going to make it too difficult for
19 the acquisition of lands that waters can then be
20 placed upon safely. It's going to make it too
21 difficult to implement the restudy. It will
22 then become a political process and thrown back
23 in the Legislature.
24 And you're experienced in the Legislature,
25 sir. You know that that is all up in the air,
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 110
1 up for grabs.
2 We need a technical approval on the
3 restudy, not back into the political process.
4 We, too, request, sir, and
5 Honorable Cabinet members, that there be funding
6 to buy lands for water storage, as those
7 proposals are placed before you by the
8 Legislature, that storm water control systems
9 for Stuart, Port St. Lucie, Martin County,
10 St. Lucie County, be expedited. Those are
11 urgent things that we do.
12 That silt -- that silt's covering up to
13 22 feet deep in some places on our river
14 bottoms. Twenty-two feet of that organic ooze.
15 That's killing our rivers.
16 We urge you, please, that the actions that
17 are presented to you that might rectify that
18 situation, and as soon as we can stop that silt
19 from accumulating, we need it then removed. And
20 we would urgently request that you consider
21 that.
22 Thank you so much. Appreciate your time.
23 MR. SHEVLIN: Governor, members of the
24 Cabinet, my name is Frank Shevlin.
25 I'm from a little place called
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 111
1 Jensen Beach. I guess that's not in
2 Martin County, because Mr. Fielding didn't say
3 so.
4 I'd like to give some solutions. I not --
5 I didn't come here for -- to complain, because
6 everybody knows that we have the problem. We
7 have sick water; we have sick fish; and if we
8 don't stop it, we'll have sick people.
9 I intend to send a two-page letter to you
10 helping to solve these problems. And I
11 represent a lot of the Veterans in
12 Martin County. We have approximately 25,000.
13 We're sick and tired of the pollution of
14 our rivers, the air, the water, and the other
15 ecology. And we will send you a forward letter
16 trying to help you, with the Veterans, to fix up
17 our -- our ecology and our environment.
18 Thank you.
19 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Governor, if you will
20 allow me, I know that there are some schedules
21 to be kept up here.
22 And I'm not trying to cut off any of the
23 discussion. I'll sit here all afternoon. But I
24 know other people have some important
25 commitments to be honored.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 112
1 If I could, and then return to the podium,
2 suggest that we do have a resolution that's
3 going to require a vote, and that means we've
4 got to have enough people here with which to
5 vote on it.
6 So without curtailing the discussion,
7 I think it's important that we go about the
8 official action of bringing closure to the
9 resolution, and then return to the podium.
10 So certainly, Governor, you're the
11 presiding officer. But if that -- if you feel
12 as though that is acceptable, or not, I'd be
13 happy to go ahead and prompt that -- that action
14 to go ahead and bring closure to the resolution
15 so that others can continue their schedules.
16 Your call, sir.
17 GOVERNOR CHILES: Very well.
18 It's been moved and seconded.
19 Without objection, the resolution is
20 adopted.
21 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Thank you, sir.
22 GOVERNOR CHILES: Yes, sir.
23 MR. HYDE: Good afternoon.
24 My name is William Hyde. I'm here today on
25 behalf of United States Sugar Corporation.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 113
1 I think that you have had brought before
2 you here today some very serious expressions of
3 concern, very legitimate expressions of concern
4 about what's happening in the
5 St. Lucie Estuary. They're very valid, and I
6 commend the people for bringing them to your
7 attention.
8 I did want to take this opportunity,
9 however, to correct some misleading facts and
10 misrepresentations that have been floating out
11 in the media.
12 Specifically I wanted to counter any
13 suggestion that the Everglades Agricultural Area
14 was having an adverse effect on either water
15 quantity or water quality in the St. Lucie
16 area. The discharges in that -- the
17 discharges --
18 Let me just lay the facts out, and you can
19 decide for yourself.
20 The discharges that occur to the St. Lucie
21 Canal are primarily from Lake Okeechobee's
22 northern basins, the Kissimmee River, and the
23 Nubbin Slough, which, as you all know, has very
24 high phosphorus and nitrate contents due to the
25 dairy farms in that location.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 114
1 Only 2 percent, and perhaps as much as
2 4 percent of the water in Lake Okeechobee, comes
3 from the Everglades Agricultural Area. It's a
4 very minuscule percentage of the lake's total
5 capacity.
6 I would also note that the Everglades
7 Forever Act, which Governor Chiles rightly
8 championed, and which we supported back in 1994,
9 mandated a diversion project to ensure that even
10 those waters are sent south to the storm water
11 treatment areas being constructed.
12 And I would note that this disversion
13 project is under construction, and is being
14 reviewed by the Corps of Engineers, and it will
15 send even these waters that were formerly
16 drained from the EAA into Lake Okeechobee to
17 points south.
18 So I think that we are doing our part here
19 in terms of contributing water to this --
20 Lake Okeechobee. We are virtually reducing it
21 to nothing.
22 I would also note for your consideration
23 that neither the Corps, the District, or the
24 Cabinet can lose sight of the fact that
25 Lake Okeechobee serves many functions: Flood
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 115
1 control; water supply for the Everglades
2 ecosystem; and water supply for Dade,
3 Palm Beach, and Broward Counties.
4 Many of us have a short memory, but it
5 wasn't that long ago that El Nino type events of
6 this year would periodically flood a great deal
7 of south Florida, causing a great deal of death
8 and destruction.
9 We need to make sure that we enhance and
10 protect that flood storage capacity.
11 A great many people forget that
12 Lake Okeechobee serves as a potable water supply
13 source for Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach
14 Counties. And you need to ensure that there is
15 water storage capacities so that those water
16 deliveries can be made to those municipal areas.
17 And I would also note that Lake Okeechobee
18 is a source of water to the Everglades. And we
19 need to be very cognizant of the fact that
20 Lake Okeechobee's waters are actually higher in
21 phosphorus content when they come onto our
22 lands, than when they leave them.
23 One cannot just willy-nilly shoot waters
24 down to Lake Okeech-- from Lake Okeechobee,
25 through the Everglades, and expect that there
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 116
1 will be no adverse consequences.
2 One of the unfortunate aspects of dealing
3 with a complex system like this is that if you
4 change one aspect of it, you have consequences
5 elsewhere. And you always need to be mindful of
6 those other consequences.
7 I would note regarding your resolution,
8 that Items 1 and 3 do appear, to me at least, to
9 be somewhat mutually inconsistent. If you
10 reduce the storage capacity of the lake, you are
11 going to reduce its ability to serve as a dry
12 season source of water. One compromises the
13 other.
14 Some people will say, you could have your
15 cake and eat it too. You can't. You need to
16 keep that in mind. There's a delicate balancing
17 that has to go on here, and there are a great
18 many factors that have to be kept in mind.
19 Finally, even though today is not the time
20 or place to talk about the legislation that has
21 been passed in the last session, I would note
22 that Colonel Joe Miller of the United States
23 Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville office --
24 Colonel Miller, by the way, is in charge of
25 implementing the Corps restudy that you've heard
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 117
1 a great bit about today -- has concluded in a
2 memo dated May 11th, 1998, which I shared with
3 your staffs last week, that -- and I'm going to
4 just quote it:
5 The State legislation, referring here to
6 House Bill 4141 and 4071, quote, essentially has
7 no impact on the planning, design, construction,
8 or operation of the Central and Southern Florida
9 Project or the restudy.
10 This is the man in charge of that project.
11 You need to keep that in mind when you hear
12 these claims that somehow the restudy is going
13 to be damaged by these bills.
14 The person in charge of implementing them
15 has concluded that they won't. And you should
16 keep that in mind.
17 And I really don't see how these bills
18 would affect, in the least, St. Lucie or
19 Martin Counties. I think the people that have
20 made these points here today have been
21 unfortunately mislead by some.
22 But keep in mind that the things that I've
23 said here today when you make your further
24 considerations of these matters.
25 I thank you for this time.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 118
1 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
2 MR. RUMBERGER: Good afternoon, Governor,
3 and members of the Cabinet.
4 We would first like to thank you,
5 Commissioner Brogan, for bringing this
6 resolution forward. Obviously it's something
7 that has been needed for some period of time,
8 and you chose to do it, and for that, those of
9 us who are concerned with the environment, are
10 most appreciative of your efforts.
11 I represent the Everglades Trust, which is
12 kind of the combatant arm of Save the Everglades
13 and affiliated organizations, the
14 Everglades Foundation, and so forth.
15 And I want to tell you that we support
16 wholeheartedly, without reservation, this
17 resolution.
18 When Representative Pruitt spoke to you, he
19 was right. But Representative Pruitt was also
20 wrong. When Dexter spoke to you, he was right,
21 but he was also wrong. You cannot look at these
22 issues, concerning yourself only with the
23 St. Lucie River, or only with this, or only with
24 that. It has to be looked at in its entirety.
25 Mr. -- what's your name?
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 119
1 MS. ARMSTRONG: Barnett.
2 MR. RUMBERGER: No.
3 Hyde, yeah. I used to know his mother.
4 She was in the horse business.
5 When we -- they were wrong because they
6 said that somehow these items should be treated
7 in isolation, and they can't be treated in
8 isolation. They simply can't be. You have to
9 look at the whole picture. You have to look at
10 the Everglades.
11 Mr. Hyde said the water goes here or goes
12 there. The fact of the matter is, for
13 time immemorial, the water ran south through the
14 Everglades Agricultural Area, on into the --
15 into the Bay of -- Florida Bay.
16 So the fact of the matter is, they're all
17 dependent upon each other. The restudy
18 objection that we have to the restudy bill --
19 the objection we have to the restudy bill
20 basically is as follows:
21 That unless we get the opportunity to buy
22 and to have and to hold more water storage area,
23 the bottom in the St. Lucie River and the others
24 is going to continue.
25 And the reason we are very fearful of the
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 120
1 restudy bill as proposed by the Legislature is
2 it allows the Legislature to tinker with truly
3 scientific matters, and we would be violently
4 objecting to that.
5 In addition, the cost that's -- goes with
6 the eminent domain bill, 30 or 40 percent
7 increase in the cost and land acquisition,
8 reflect that 30 or 40 percent less land can
9 ultimately be bought, purchased, and used for
10 water storage areas.
11 So these are really -- really terribly
12 interrelated -- interrelated to this whole
13 problem you folks have in the St. Lucie.
14 I again would reiterate our request on
15 behalf of my organization, and a number of
16 others, that these bills be vetoed, Governor.
17 And I would suggest that this requires great
18 study, because we are -- we are in terrible
19 shape, notwithstanding the improvements and the
20 activities that you have provided and the
21 leadership you've provided for the last
22 eight years. It's a new day and could be a very
23 dark thing.
24 Thank you very much.
25 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, sir.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 121
1 MS. ARMSTRONG: Good morning.
2 Eva Armstrong representing the Audubon Society.
3 I just have a couple quick items. I know
4 you've got other things to do.
5 First I want to clarify a couple of points
6 that Mr. Hyde made, because while you heard part
7 of it, you didn't hear all of it.
8 Number one is, while there may be small
9 percentages of releases that go from the EAA
10 into the lake, in fact, they've maintained an
11 artificially high water level on that lake, to a
12 great degree, to ensure agriculture's comfort
13 level about having enough water for irrigation.
14 They do have more of an impact about that lake
15 than he would lead you to believe.
16 Number two, that since the -- he also
17 mentioned a letter written by Colonel Miller to
18 his commanding officer that was, as I understand
19 it, intended to brief that commanding officer on
20 the legislation that was -- had been passed by
21 the Florida Legislature.
22 And they subsequently, because of
23 representations in public, issued a press
24 release that clarified that in that memo, they
25 were strictly looking at the limited viewpoint
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 122
1 of the impact to the Corps.
2 They did not -- specifically did not
3 address, and I'm quoting from the press
4 release. This is dated May 22nd.
5 They did not address questions about the
6 legislation's potential impacts on other areas,
7 including, one, the local sponsor; two, the
8 future project cooperation agreements; three,
9 the message this legislation may send to
10 Congress; and, four, the impacts the legislation
11 may have on the funding stream from Washington,
12 which is what we've been very, very concerned
13 about.
14 Having mentioned that, let me tell you that
15 as unfortunate as this occurrence is, we at the
16 Audubon Society worked very hard to educate
17 people in Florida about the direct link between
18 the quality of the -- quality of our environment
19 and the economy.
20 And what you have here is an example of
21 when we don't value that direct link, and we let
22 things get out of control on one side, which is
23 the environment.
24 We need to get that fixed as quickly as
25 possible, because these people are struggling.
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 123
1 Having said that, I thank you for approving
2 the resolution. I'm not sure these people
3 understand that you took that action. We
4 appreciate it.
5 Thank you for your leadership.
6 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you, ma'am.
7 MR. GREEN: Governor, that completes the
8 presentations.
9 COMMISSIONER BROGAN: Governor, just to --
10 just to wrap up from my perspective, because
11 I think it's -- it's all been said.
12 The idea behind the resolution is to try to
13 bring people together on what's obviously a very
14 important issue, not just to the Treasure Coast,
15 which is my home, but also to the west coast,
16 and certainly to -- to the southern part of our
17 state.
18 I want to thank Representative Pruitt,
19 Commissioners Gettig and Gainey for helping to
20 take some leadership on this; all the citizens
21 and business people who came here, because it is
22 truly an economic and environmental impact that
23 we're dealing with.
24 And I especially want to thank Charlie Cook
25 and Michael Johnson and Claire Lewinger for
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES/INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND May 28, 1998 124
1 coming up here today from -- as students
2 representing the Treasure Coast, as well to,
3 I think, reiterate to all of us that this is an
4 issue we deal with as adults that will impact
5 generations of students to come.
6 And especially thank you, my colleagues,
7 for supporting the resolution that we hope will
8 be a good start to a new day.
9 Thank you, Governor, for the opportunity.
10 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
11 MS. GAINEY: Governor Chiles.
12 GOVERNOR CHILES: Yes, ma'am.
13 MS. GAINEY: We would just like to ask the
14 citizens of Martin County to stand again, and
15 thank each of you for the resolution.
16 GOVERNOR CHILES: Thank you.
17 MS. GAINEY: Thank you very much.
18 MR. GREEN: That completes the agenda,
19 Governor.
20 GOVERNOR CHILES: All right.
21 (The Board of Trustees of the Internal
22 Improvement Trust Fund Agenda was concluded.)
23 *
24 (The Cabinet meeting was concluded at
25 12:49 p.m.)
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
May 28, 1998 125
1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
2
3
4 STATE OF FLORIDA:
5 COUNTY OF LEON:
6 I, LAURIE L. GILBERT, do hereby certify that
7 the foregoing proceedings were taken before me at the
8 time and place therein designated; that my shorthand
9 notes were thereafter translated; and the foregoing
10 pages numbered 1 through 124 are a true and correct
11 record of the aforesaid proceedings.
12 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a relative,
13 employee, attorney or counsel of any of the parties,
14 nor relative or employee of such attorney or counsel,
15 or financially interested in the foregoing action.
16 DATED THIS 4TH day of JUNE, 1998.
17
18
19 LAURIE L. GILBERT, RPR, CCR, CRR 100 Salem Court 20 Tallahassee, Florida 32301 850/878-2221 21
22
23
24
25
ACCURATE STENOTYPE REPORTERS, INC.
|
|||||||
