Gov. Scott declares state of emergency over algae bloom

Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in seven Florida counties to combat the toxic green algae bloom caused by water discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

The order issued Monday covers Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Glades, Hendry, Lee and Okeechobee counties.

It allows the Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District to waive some restrictions to store water in additional areas south of the lake.

The water district was instructed to explore options to move lake water through the Hillsboro, North New River and Miami canals.

Scott ordered the Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to spend more staff time on water testing. The governor also told the DEP to set up a grant program to help local governments pay for clean-up services.

The governor directed state health officials to inform Floridians and visitors of the dangers of algal blooms. The public-private agency Visit Florida also will work with local tourism officials to find ways to reduce the impact of the outbreak on the industry, and the Department of Economic Opportunity will assist businesses impacted by the algae outbreak. The Department of Transportation must identify road projects that can help with flood control and redirect waters.

On Sunday, the Army Corps of Engineers temporarily suspended scheduled flows from Lake Okeechobee down the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

Scott toured algae blooms in Caloosahatchee River near Cape Coral on Monday morning.

“It’s frustrating right now and I’m sure if you’re a boater or fisherman or someone who wants to enjoy the water, it’s frustrating to see this in the water,” Scott said during a boat tour.

The declaration comes as Democrats blame the outbreaks on past budget cuts and regulatory policies imposed by Scott, a Republican who is trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

The Everglades Foundation used Scott’s emergency declaration to push for federal support for a planned reservoir, which is intended to move water south of Lake Okeechobee.

Scott repeated his frequent criticism of the federal government, saying the Army Corps has been too slow in completing Everglades restoration projects.

“Congress and the federal government need to do more to help families who are facing harmful algal blooms because of the water they are releasing into our communities from Lake Okeechobee,” Scott said in news release.

“If they had funded all the projects that should be funded like the state has been doing over the last seven-and-a-half years, some of these events might not have happened,” Scott said.

Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg used the state of emergency to announce a new effort to urge the White House to back the planned reservoir, which would also require Senate approval.

“If we miss this opportunity, the Army Corps goes back to a planning process, which will take three years, which will be more summers of toxic algae, more summers of closed beaches, impact to tourism jobs, let alone human health,” Eikenberg told reporters during a conference call Monday afternoon.

Democrats and conservationists have used the algae outbreaks to deride Scott as an election-year environmentalist.

“No matter what he says today, the facts remain — as governor, Rick Scott has done nothing to actually help the algae bloom problem,” John Capece, of the Florida Democratic Environmental Caucus, said in statement Monday.

Nelson, who toured Florida’s east and west coasts last week, sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requesting federal assistance to determine health risks associated with the water quality.

“We need trustworthy, timely information about the potential health consequences of exposure to toxic algae for prolonged periods,” Nelson said in the letter dated Monday.

On Sunday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted he had asked the White House to order the Army Corps to re-evaluate water flows from the lake.

The Army Corps, which limits the lake’s water level to keep pressure off its aging dike, announced June 21 that it would reduce water flows through the two rivers, which had been blamed for the green slime that coated beaches two years ago.

The South Florida Water Management District, which controls the region’s major drainage canals, in June announced a series of measures, including the installation of temporary pumps, to rush water through the Everglades regions of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties so the lake’s excess water could be moved south.

Scott previously issued an emergency order to move water south rather than inflicting it on the long-suffering coastal areas.

On Thursday, the Army Corps’ Jacksonville office said that $514.2 million is heading toward repair of the Herbert Hoover Dike, which is basically a 30-foot-high earthen structure that surrounds the lake. An overall $17.4 billion in funding for the Army Corps includes additional money for beach restoration and coastal flood control in Florida.

“While getting that additional funding to speed up work on the dike is certainly good news,” Nelson said in a Senate floor speech, “it’s important to remember that fixing the dike is important to public safety to protect the communities that are living around Lake Okeechobee — it’s not the solution to ending the discharging and it’s not solving the algae crisis.”

The repairs are considered an essential step in allowing the lake to hold more water, which would reduce the need for discharges into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee river estuaries to the east and west. Residents on both coasts blame polluted water releases from the lake for what has become an annual summer outbreak of toxic algae blooms in the rivers.

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