This is scary, Toxic algae. they didn't even mention it's Lee county affected (Cape Coral: buying, tax)

[elston]

I believe it is much more a matter of agricultural run off and water being back pumped into Lake O.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by elston

I believe it is much more a matter of agricultural run off and water being back pumped into Lake O.

Agree. And........Lee County ordinances prohibit fertilizers containing Nitrogen (N) and/or Phosphorus (P) from being applied by professional landscape businesses or institutional landscapers on turf and/or landscape plants from June 1 through September 30. All of the companies on the signs in the picture would be registered with the County and subject to these rules and associated fines for violations. They can still apply other treatments to lawns during this period, but those treatments would not materially contribute to algae problems. Very similar ordinances in incorporated cities like Cape Coral and FMB and adjoining counties.

[BugManTPC]

If you are a Tweeter:


#CleanRivers #CleanEverglades #BigFloridaAgSux Florida Ag business receives property tax breaks, priority work visa processing, a blind eye to terrible worker conditions. Why are Florida Tax Payers suffering toxic Algae? The least BIG AG can do is keep and clean its water run off, farm by farm. #NoMoreAgTaxBreaks #WeWantCleanWater

[BugManTPC]

we need to up the political pressure by following the money and holding the abusers accountable...

In my mind the issues can be fixed if we require Big Ag, really all Agriculture in general to "Hold their water"

If we applied the same building code to Ag that we hold other businesses to; every farm would have their runoff flow into a retaining area with a Storm Water Over Flow.

in regards to this situation, no storm water over flow (since that is the root cause of this issue). The water stays on their property, if they choose to filter and reuse, they will have nutrient rich water to recycle and reuse. Other wise it will evaporate leaving a slime filled reservoir.

Currently, all of their runoff during times of heavy rain is forced into the Spreader Canal system and flushed downstream into the Okeechobee.

Ag is not held to same Best Management Practices as businesses and residential homes are held to. For example: if a homeowner uses fertilizer during the summer, they can be fined up to $500.

Fertilize Smart Don't Feed the Monster - Fertilize Smart

for more information, these ordinances have been in place since 2008. The effort is to reduce fertilizer use and prevent these issues, unfortunately we are beholden to Ag and their pursuit of High Crop Yields. As tax payers we subsidize our nations food production on so many levels it is ridiculous. In my opinion, we have gone past the point of knowing how much we actually pay for our food.

We know what the weekly grocery bill is, but we don't actually know how our tax dollars are spent on this issue.

Would a 20% increase in our food cost fix the problem?

Big Ag always threatens that they will go out of business if they are heavily regulated...

I would like to know what the actual cost would be if we made them clean the water..

[LifeIsGood01]

Originally Posted by TenKW

Then it rains.

It's a big problem in the canals in North Fort Myers where we have septic systems and not a city sewer system.

[don1945]

Originally Posted by elston

Our senate candidate and former governor Rick Scott....bears a lot of the responsibility for this catastrophe. He refused and continues to refuse the bribes of the sugar industry to allow them to despoil southern Florida, kill the everglades and ruin the tourist economy. How much damn sugar do we need anyway?

Yep, and now he trying to act like Mr Environmentalist, saying he will fight this thing. He has had years to do it but now wants a Senate seat, and is lying through his teeth.

If there was ever a poster boy for crooked politicians, it would be Rick Scott...…….he even looks shady.

[BugManTPC]

Originally Posted by don1945

Yep, and now he trying to act like Mr Environmentalist, saying he will fight this thing. He has had years to do it but now wants a Senate seat, and is lying through his teeth.

If there was ever a poster boy for crooked politicians, it would be Rick Scott...…….he even looks shady.

Big Eye Roll

if you are going to write it, you need to "Site it"



South Florida officials reject buying sugar land for Everglades restoration - Sun Sentinel

it wasnt good business and US Sugar was out to screw Florida Tax Payers..

[holmesbulldog]

Originally Posted by BugManTPC

Big Eye Roll

if you are going to write it, you need to "Site it"



South Florida officials reject buying sugar land for Everglades restoration - Sun Sentinel

it wasnt good business and US Sugar was out to screw Florida Tax Payers..

If you have lived here for anytime at all, and have been involved with any of the clean water groups, you would know Scott is beholden to Big Sugar and Big Ag. They own him and Marco Rubio, as well as Putnam.

[BugManTPC]

Floridian...

Lived through years of destructive Democrat behavior, false promises and raping of our environment..

Still no solutions on either side of the isle.

Waterways are Federal, land is state.. right course of action is regulation and enforcement..

But we subsidize All Ag at Federal and State Level.

I’m fairly certain your information is biased and it goes in the opposite direction. If US Sugar doesn’t keep close political ties at all level and on both sides, they would go out of business.

“We” the taxpayer, pay for our Food at a lot of different levels.

Since they “Ag” own the land that is leveraged to the hilt, they needed tax payers to fund the buy back.

Scott killed it, because they wouldn’t budge on price and the Fed wasn’t going to follow through with the restoration..

He saved us “Billions” in land sales and bonds.

Now we are in a position of strength and could use this tragedy to push for a change..

Let’s see which side actually makes it happen.

I got $5 on the right..

The left hasn’t accomplished anything in 30 years.

[BugManTPC]

As my wife and I are discussing this issue, the following has just occurred to me:

Since we are in a “State of Emergency “ what would the political ramifications be if “Emmient Domain” was put in play to acquire all lands required for the restoration?


What would the politics blowback be is US Ugar was presented the option..

Fix it..

Or

We take it, pay you the pennies on the acre you paid 150 years ago and then move on..

It’s a well studied issue. The lawyers couldn’t turn it around, could they?