Water District fails public on drawdown

Water District fails public on drawdown



By NEIL A. ARMINGEREON
Jacksonville
Publication Date: 05/02/09

Readers of Susan Hughes' guest column on April 26, cheering the siphoning of the St. Johns River had a right to wonder if she even attended the recent meeting of the Water Management District board.

I know she was there; I saw her; she chaired the meeting. But, her one-sided comments reflect that she is just parroting the script the District staff wrote for her. Using bureaucratic speak, the Governing Board chair rationalizes, no, sanitizes, one of the most disturbing hearings I've attended in two decades of environmental activism.

Although the Governing Board did vote to allow Seminole County to divert the river's water to initially water lawns, Hughes conveniently fails to mention that she broke a 4-to-4 vote tie among the board members. Half the board quite sensibly opposed siphoning millions of gallons a day from the river. Does a one-vote margin sound like an overwhelming endorsement of this ill-conceived idea?

Let's examine some of those who voted for withdrawal.

Mike Ertel, a Seminole County elected official, voted for a project that his own county proposed. Why didn't he recuse himself? Why didn't the District's lawyers tell him to recuse himself?

How can Hughes, an executive with the Jacksonville utility, JEA, the largest holder of an District consumptive use permit, not realize she is in a conflicted situation? Especially now that the executive director of JEA has admitted that the utility is, itself, considering taking water from the St. Johns River? Why shouldn't the public suspect quid pro quo?

This squeaker of a vote is only part of the story. What happened in Palatka, under Hughes leadership, goes far beyond the numerical vote count.

The District knew a large crowd was going to Palatka for the public hearing, and the District failed to act accordingly. Countless citizens were turned away. Many, many people were told they would not be allowed to speak and were told to leave.

The violation of people's right to attend was the tip of the iceberg.

Weeks before the hearing, the District began to block e-mails from citizens who were trying to send comments to the Governing Board members.

An attorney for the District confessed that the agency had blocked 19,000 e-mails, including e-mails from the St. Johns Riverkeeper Web site, Save the Manatee Club, Welaka Women's' Club, and 36 individuals. Citizens' rights to contact their officials were compromised by the District, and their constitutional rights were violated.

Hughes' describes the vote as "difficult." If so, the failure to hear from everyone who wanted to be heard, in person or by e-mails, was a grave mistake. Because the real test is whether the siphoning was in the public interest, what those who were excluded had to say may have moved one vote. But, for those of us who were allowed to attend and experienced the injustice, we are left with the gnawing feeling that the deal was done. The hearing, such as it was, showed that the District, as presently managed and constituted, has failed the public, failed the river, and turned its back on its mission.

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Neil A. Armingereon is the St. Johns Riverkeeper. He works for St. Johns Riverkeeper, a non profit advocacy group on behalf of the river, its watershed and the public, He previously served as the Environmental Director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation in New Orleans. He previously was project director for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, one of the state's largest environmental groups., He has a bachelor of science degree from North Carolina State University and a master's degree in environmental management from Duke University. He can be reached by e-mail at narming@ju.edu or at 256-7591.

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