Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Phil AmmannDecember 15, 2017

Extending a two-decade record for Everglades restoration south of Lake Okeechobee, a group of farmers — armed with an effective water quality treatment strategy — have posted historic water-quality performance levels in 2017, sending more clean water than ever flowing south. Seizing on numbers announced this week by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), […]

Guest AuthorMarch 31, 2017

In my previous role as Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, it wasn’t often I would find consensus on issues involving local water management districts, the state and federal government. But after years of studying the options to best reduce the occurrence of discharges used to lower Lake Okeechobee, those involved in these three […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 26, 2017

So far, 2017 has been unkind to proponents of buying land south of Lake Okeechobee. That’s the takeaway from two January Senate committee meetings that have been held on the issue. In the titanic legislative battle pitting landowners, minority residents from the Glades and state and water management district officials against Senate President Joe Negron and environmental groups, the […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 24, 2016

It’s not surprising that David Guest and his radical Earthjustice group would use a true weather-related crisis – record rain and flooding across Central and South Florida – to level yet another mean-spirited and false assault on local farmers living and working in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Guest’s statement regarding the state and federal government’s […]

Peter SchorschDecember 8, 2015

Industry “food fights” are nothing new, with a few running battles that go on for so long, opponents forget what the fight was originally all about. What they know is they just don’t want the other guys to win. Disputes over the Seminole Compact (or other gaming bills for that matter) rarely pass the Legislature […]

Phil AmmannJuly 28, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott appointed Miami-Dade grower Sam Accursio to the South Florida Water Management District, the regional agency that administers water resources for 16 counties. SFWMD serves 8.1 million customers from Orlando south to the Florida Keys. Accursio, 52, of Homestead, owns Sam S. Accursio & Sons Farms, which cultivates 2,000 acres in Miami-Dade County. […]

Guest AuthorJune 1, 2015

Last month, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) voted to forgo purchasing U.S. Sugar-owned land to build a vital reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). That decision is a setback to Everglades restoration and to communities enduring damaging discharges of polluted Lake Okeechobee water along Florida’s east and west […]

Guest AuthorMay 31, 2015

Last month, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) voted to forgo purchasing U.S. Sugar-owned land to build a vital reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). This decision is a setback to Everglades restoration and communities enduring damaging discharges of polluted Lake Okeechobee water along Florida’s east and west coasts. […]

Diane RobertsApril 20, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE – The annual Harlot Show and Prostitution Expo – commonly called the Florida legislative session – has been such a wowsa so far, we’ve neglected to pay sufficient attention to the mack daddy in the Mansion. You know, Rick Scott. He’s not governing; he has people for that. He’s running for the United […]

Guest AuthorMarch 11, 2015

Only two months into the New Year and already the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started to release polluted water from Lake Okeechobee, resulting in water flowing into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, and the Indian River Lagoon, which is expected to continue over the coming weeks and months. Millions of Floridians are […]

Tag: SFWMD

Everglades farmers celebrate another record year of clean water flowing south

Herschel Vinyard Jr.: Listen to water experts in Lake Okeechobee debate

Proposed plan to buy farmland south of Lake Okeechobee off to slow start in Florida Senate

Phillip Roland: Environmental activist’s claims about Everglades water and farmers don’t square with facts

Are environmental groups becoming the new gaming interests?

Gov. Scott names Sam Accursio to South Florida Water Management District

Eric Eikenberg: Everglades Foundation still eager to work with Legislature on water storage

Eric Eikenberg: Everglades Foundation still eager to work with Legislature on water storage

Diane Roberts: Rick Scott street-walkin' his way to Washington

Eric Eikenberg: To stop polluting rivers, buy land for reservoir