Sally Swartz: One Florida Foundation not the clean water group it claims

In the world of water politics, people are not always who they seem to be. On the Treasure Coast, One Florida Foundation Inc. (OFF) isn’t exactly the “clean water advocacy” group it claims to be, either. Instead, it promotes sugar industry and agriculture agendas.

Nyla Pipes, who lives in Port St. Lucie, and Don Voss, of Fort Pierce, organized the nonprofit group in March 2014, with Steven W. Edmonds Jr. of Oviedo.

It started after the Treasure Coast’s “lost summer,” when water managers sent Lake Okeechobee’s excess water into the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon. The discharges killed sea grass, made fish sick and sent residents, fishermen, boaters and tourists away.

Former St. Lucie County Commissioner Charles Grande said Voss told him the three organizers each contributed $1,000, and Robert Coker of U.S. Sugar Corp. offered to match the money to start OFF.

Pipes would not confirm or deny sugar industry contributions. Voss, however, said Coker gave OFF “one check for $1,000, which we used for supplies and lunch for 17 people.”

OFF also accepted a $700 check from unsuccessful Martin Commission candidate Barbara Clowdus when she dispersed money raised for her campaign. Clowdus publishes a monthly newspaper that runs large ads from the sugar industry.

Pipes, Voss and his wife, Dyana, joined river rallies and helped raise money for a trip to Washington D.C. But Voss soon alienated people in the environmental community with attacks in Facebook posts. Voss said attacks went both ways and he stopped posting anything after September.

The River Warriors, a group allied with the Indian Riverkeeper, distanced itself from Voss and OFF.

Pipes and the Vosses joined the Conservation Alliance of St. Lucie County, President Shari Anker said, and took on jobs the aging members at first were glad to share. But abrasive encounters, she said, began to chase away members and Dyana Voss tried to get Pipes on the board.

Pipes, meantime, appeared at Martin’s Local Planning Agency and County Commission meetings with a former Pahokee mayor to protest changes to Martin’s protective growth plan that put restrictions on agriculture. That seems to be far from OFF’s mission to promote clean water.

At a recent Everglades Coalition Conference in Key Largo, Pipes and Voss revealed an alignment with Tom McNicholas ’public relations firm. The firm paid for their rooms and Voss listed the firm as his contact email.

McNicholas often supports growth industry causes and clients. His firm’s website touts its success at “marginalizing” environmental groups protesting Florida Power & Light projects.

Ken Hinkle of the River Warriors calls OFF “a pro-sugar, pro-development lobbyist group disguised as an environmental group.”

Last week, the Conservation Alliance’s problems with OFF came to a head. Anker said she feared a hostile takeover. Growth industry supporters engineered a similar takeover of Audubon of Martin County in 2012.

Pipes would not confirm or deny OFF’s plans. “There’s a lot of drama on the Treasure Coast,” she said. But the St. Lucie group was prepared. At its meeting a week ago, the Alliance welcomed a dozen new members from the River Warriors.

Dyana Voss turned over a treasurer’s report before the meeting and left to care for her husband, who’s recovering from shoulder surgery. Pipes was absent. The Alliance elected a new board of directors and officers.

So much for the local situation. But OFF also has pushed its way to the front of the grass-roots movement, and has met with state officials, claiming to represent local water advocates and touting the sugar industry agenda.

Long-established groups, such as the Rivers Coalition and Florida Oceanographic Society, agree on solutions for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon: Buy sugar industry-owned land near the lake, and send more water south to the Everglades.

Instead, OFF favors a mix of projects, most north of Lake Okeechobee, that would not stop the discharges to the river or impact sugar industry lands south of the lake.

Sadly, sugar and agriculture industry supporters already have influenced Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who last week put the northern projects at the top of his list.

One postscript: While I was interviewing him for this column, Don Voss accused me of writing about One Florida because the Alliance recently gave me an award for “journalistic excellence and integrity.” I really like the little alligator tray they gave me, but I would have written this anyway.

Sally Swartz is a former member of The Post Editorial Board. Find her blog posts and others at The Palm Beach Post Opinion Zone.