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algae blooms

New Lake O algae blooms reported, so why are environmentalists silent?

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After millions of gallons of untreated water entered Lake Okeechobee this summer, significant algae blooms are now beginning to form – with nary a word from environmentalists. Both the Palm Beach Post and the TC Palm report on new blooms in Lake O, but (unlike last summer) absent any discharges from the lake there are no threats to the St. Lucie River and Caloosahatchee basins or Martin County Beaches.

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Daughter of Everglades Foundation founder says group ‘badly lost its way’

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The daughter of Everglades Foundation founder George Barley says the group today is nothing like the one her father launched decades ago. In an op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel Catherine Barley-Albertini, now a freelance writer in California, says the Everglades foundation has “badly lost its way” from its initial mission of Everglades restoration. Barley-Albertini reflects on her father’s “passion for nature,” and the family vacations centered around it. She says she still visits Florida frequently, and possesses a deep appreciation…

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Diane Roberts: Will Joe Negron make Everglades deal happen? Maybe.

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As the old Vulcan proverb goes, “Only Nixon could go to China.” Maybe only Joe Negron can make an Everglades land deal happen. Negron, the incoming state Senate president and a conservative Republican, wants to acquire 60,000 acres south of Lake Okeechobee, land that would help clean up the filthy, nutrient-choked lake water currently sliming South Florida from Fort Pierce to Cape Coral. Using Amendment One money, the state would pay for half (about $1.2 billion), and the federal government…

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Water managers divert billions of gallons from Lake O to Martin County FPL facility

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In response to the toxic algae blooms emergency on Florida’s coastline and waterways, billions of gallons of Lake Okeechobee water are now being diverted to the Florida Power and Light Clean Energy Center in Martin County. The plant serves hundreds of thousands of homes, using primarily natural gas and solar, reports LobbyTools. Located in Indiantown, the facility holds a 6800-acre reservoir as a cooling pond. “The water is used to help cool the plant, to allow us to generate power,”…

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Diane Roberts: Rick Scott’s breathtaking hypocrisy on water pollution

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Rick Scott, our Trumpster-diving governor, has declared a state of emergency. He’s suddenly discovered Florida’s waters are choking in toxic algae, green as arsenic, and malodorous as a pile of rotting mullet. Images of slime-covered sand, and fish gasping their last on closed beaches are appearing in print and on screens around the world. It’s not just another day in paradise. Scott blames “the inaction and negligence of the federal government not making the needed repairs to the Herbert Hoover…

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‘Guacamole-thick’ algae causes crisis on Florida coastline

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A smelly, “guacamole-thick” muck is fouling a stretch of beaches promoted as Florida’s “Treasure Coast,” where lawmakers and residents blame the federal government, saying the algae crisis is fueled by freshwater flows controlled by Army officials to protect an erosion-prone dike. The blue-green algae is the latest contaminant featured in yearslong arguments over water flowing from Lake Okeechobee, which is critical to South Florida’s water supply and flood control systems. At Central Marine boat docks in Stuart, pea-green and brown…

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Federal action sought for Florida coastline tainted by algae

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Officials want federal action along a stretch of Florida’s Atlantic coast where the governor has declared a state of emergency over algae blooms. The blue-green algae is the latest contaminant in yearslong arguments over water flowing from Lake Okeechobee, which is critical to South Florida’s water supply and flood control systems. The Martin County Commission is inviting the president to view deteriorating water conditions that local officials blame on freshwater being released from the lake, according to a statement released…

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