FINALLY: Discharges to

St. Lucie end; reduced to Caloosahatchee

After 109 days, the Army Corps is winding down Lake Okeechobee "Recovery Operations" and harmful discharges to the St. Lucie and Lake Worth Lagoon will end — while discharges to the Caloosahatchee will be cut significantly.

Already, earlier this month, the Corps had cut harmful discharges. The St. Lucie had been getting pulse releases of 1,200 cfs (cubic feet per second), which was reduced to 500 cfs March 20. The Caloosahatchee had been getting 2,100 cfs, which on March 20 was cut to 1,400 cfs. Releases to the Lake Worth Lagoon fell from 300 cfs to 120 cfs.

As of today, March 29, the Caloosahatchee will get 1,200 cfs, while the St. Lucie and Lake Worth Lagoon will get ZERO.

Corps officials say the lake, on Friday standing at 12.68 feet, has receded enough to allow for the reduction. "Recovery Operations" were designed lower the lake to 12 feet for a period of 90 days, or 11.5 feet for 60 days, to help submerged aquatic vegetation bounce back from several years of high lake levels.

Still, VoteWater and other groups questioned whether the benefit to the lake outweighed the damage inflicted on the estuaries.

Thanks to all VoteWater supporters who called or emailed Corps officials asking the discharges be stopped! Your messages helped keep up the pressure on the Corps to terminate "Recovery" as soon as possible; and your advocacy will now help the estuaries regain balance and (hopefully) begin recovering — until the next time.

Big Sugar loses EAA reservoir appeal

We love the smell of Big Sugar flop sweat in the morning.

On March 25 Big Sugar lost a key legal challenge when the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a case that could have derailed the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir project.

Big Sugar — U.S. Sugar Corp., Okeelanta Corp., and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative — had sued the Army Corps, arguing that construction of the reservoir and adjacent stormwater treatment area effectively robbed them of water that had been promised to the industry via the “savings clause” in the 2000 Water Resources Development Act.

The court disagreed and sided with the Army Corps.

Between this big loss and the class-action suit filed against Florida Crystals which we highlighted in recent days, it's been a bad month for the sugar barons — but a good one for those of us pushing for change.

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