'Dirty Money': It's not about party.

It's about power

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At VoteWater we know both "sides" take "Dirty Money," campaign contributions from polluters.

What we didn't realize until we started digging into the data was how closely the money tracks political power.

At the state level, the Republican Party has a supermajority in the Legislature, chairs all the committees and gets more legislation passed. As such, the GOP gets considerably more money from polluting special interests.

But at the federal level, Congress is split more evenly — and so is the Dirty Money; among the Florida delegation, Democrats pull in some of the biggest hauls.

The numbers show that Dirty Money is thoroughly bipartisan; it's not about ideology, it's about ensuring decision-makers remain "friendly" to your cause — even when your cause results in dirty water.

Check out our latest blog post for more details.

'Stop the Burn' protest targets Health Department inaction on sugar field burning

VoteWater's Gil Smart (that's him in the blue checkered shirt at left) took part in a protest outside the Palm Beach County Department of Health offices in West Palm Beach on Nov. 1, demanding that officials issue health advisories for residents of the Glades communities when Big Sugar sets fire to the cane fields.

The event was organized by the Sierra Club's Stop the Burn campaign and attracted about 30 protesters and local media; the story subsequently made the front page of the Palm Beach Post.

The burning of the cane fields in preparation for harvest rains "black snow" — ash — down onto the Glades communities. The smoke triggers respiratory ailments; one study linked it to one to six prematures deaths in South Florida every year. When winds blow toward wealthy coastal communities, the burns are prohibited; when the winds blow toward the poorer Glades communities, they're allowed to take place.

It's a manifestation of Big Sugar's privilege and political clout, and a grotesque environmental injustice.

For more information about the Stop the Burn campaign, visit the Sierra Club's Facebook page; and our friends at Friends of the Everglades address the issue in depth on their website.

With the drier weather, Lake Okeechobee water levels are nosediving. The lake stood at 16.02 feet on Thursday; after trending higher all summer than any of the past four "water years," the lake is now about where it was at this point in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

But high lake levels have taken a toll on submerged aquatic vegetation, and there may be considerable pressure in the coming months to get the lake lower — even as an El Nino is expected to trigger more rain than usual over the dry season.

Bottom line: The northern estuaries avoided damaging discharges this summer. But we're not in the clear yet.

Last week we articulated our Legislative Priorities for the upcoming 2024 session. There's a lot we're asking legislators NOT to do, like preempting local authority on fertilizer ordinances and wetlands. At the same time, we're asking legislators to act (finally!) on more recommendations from the state's Blue-Green Algae Task Force, to address the failure of the state's Basin Management Action Plans to curtail pollution and more. For the full wish list, check out the blog post; again in 2024, VoteWater will be traveling to Tallahassee to lobby lawmakers on the cause of clean water — and these priorities will be our roadmap.

P.S. Signatures Needed! The "Right to Clean and Healthy Waters" petition needs 900,000 signature by November 30 to get on the 2024 ballot. The petition can be printed out and signed here: http://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/