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Everglades Won't Be Saved If Scientists Are Muzzled

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 1, 2007

Federal officials have some explaining to do about what's going on with the restoration of the Everglades, the hydrological heart of South Florida.

It's bad enough that Washington, which agreed to split the cost of what had been estimated to be an $8 billion project, has fallen far behind. As the Tribune's John Allman found, the federal government's dawdling has created delays, increased costs and forced the state to borrow money to keep the project going. The overall costs now are expected to exceed $10 billion.

Confidence in the federal government's commitment to the Everglades is further undermined by reports that the U.S Environmental Protection Agency removed a key water-quality expert from the project because he objected to a plan to pipe polluted water to the coast.

The St. Petersburg Times reports that Richard Harvey's supervisors banished him from Everglades restoration work after he objected to the Army Corps of Engineers' plan to pipe nutrient-rich Lake Okeechobee water into waterways that empty into Biscayne National Park.

The South Florida Water Management District has been dumping excess water from Lake Okeechobee, which would naturally flow into the Everglades, into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers. This protects the River of Grass from the pollutants, but causes algae blooms and fish kills in the rivers. As an alternative, the corps proposed piping the lake's excess water to the coast.

During a conference-call meeting last year, Harvey bluntly warned, "We are extremely concerned because the track record when the district and the corps move dirty water around is some resource gets trashed."

Harvey was unaware that a reporter was listening to the meeting. His comments were reported and a few months later his supervisor removed him from serving as the EPA expert on Everglades water quality, a subject he has studied for seven years.

His superior chastised him for the manner in which he raised his concerns and said she had discussed the matter with representatives of other agencies.

Tellingly, the corps ultimately dropped the pipeline plan. So Harvey's candor likely prevented Florida's coastal waters from being "trashed" and spared taxpayers from funding a worthless project.

Harvey may not be diplomatic. He once criticized the Everglades plan for resembling "a massive urban and agricultural water-supply project" rather than an effort to save the Everglades.

That was harsh. After all, the Everglades system stretches from Central Florida's chain of lakes to Florida Bay, south of the River of Grass. It's a formidable challenge to revive the Everglades, while ensuring sufficient drinking water, maintaining flood control and protecting agricultural interests.

But effective solutions won't be found - and tax dollars won't be spent wisely - if scientists are not allowed to speak freely.

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