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Elected officials' silence on discharges is deafening

Wait, do you hear that? Neither do we.

As discharges from Lake O continue to punish the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and Lake Worth Lagoon, few elected officials have used their "bully pulpit" to demand change. In fact, many have said nothing at all about this environmental crisis.

In Martin County, Sen. Gayle Harrell and Reps. Toby Overdorf and John Snyder have been silent. In Lee County, Sens. Kathleen Passidomo, Ben Albritton and Jonathan Martin have been similarly mum, as have Reps. Adam Botana, Tiffany Esposito, Jenna Persons-Mulicka, Mike Giallombardo and Spencer Roach.

Yes, all were busy with the 2024 Legislative session, which ended last week (see below). But for communities along these estuaries, there is no bigger issue right now. They need elected officials to go to bat for them — but most of those officials aren’t even in the ballpark.

Click on your legislator's name in the paragraph above to drop them a line and ask them why.

Aerial photo of the St. Lucie Inlet courtesy of LightHawk.

But we'll be talking about the discharges

Thursday March 21 in Sewall's Point

VoteWater will host a Town Hall meeting on the discharges Thursday, March 21, from 6-8 p.m. at Sewall’s Point Town Hall, 1 S. Sewalls Point Rd, Sewall’s Point, FL 34996. The free, nonpartisan community event will feature a history of the discharges, the ecological and economic impacts, current efforts to address the problem and a discussion of what more can be done.

No need to RSVP – just be there!

Where are all the political candidates?

Florida's primary is next Tuesday, March 19, but aside from the Presidential contest, you'd be hard-pressed to find many races in Florida. In fact, virtually none of Florida's incumbent legislators are facing primary challengers – and most may not even face a general-election opponent!

Where are all the clean-water candidates? If qualified candidates don't step up, we'll be stuck with the status quo – and it's tough to "vote water" when the only candidates on the ballot are those who carry (dirty) water for polluters like Big Sugar.

Take a look at who's running (so far) this year – and do all you can to encourage clean-water candidates to toss their hat in the ring.

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2024 Legislative session ends (finally!)

The 2024 Legislative session is over, thank God. It could have been worse. But it could have been better, too.

A long-feared last-minute attempt to extend a ban on new fertilizer ordinances never materialized. Rep. Toby Overdorf’s polluter-friendly House Bill 789 flamed out and died.

But then there was a $25 million budget allocation for the Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University to do a "comprehensive water quality study" which will include scrutinizing Lake O. What's the point? At least one observer thinks this could lead to another power grab by, you guessed it, Big Sugar.

For more on the story, check out our latest blog post at VoteWater.org. And be sure to register for the live post-mortem from our friends at Friends of the Everglades scheduled for noon on Thursday, March 21.