Today’s entry: If Nikki Fried has violated the Clean Water Act for three straight quarters, why are we just hearing about it?
Bottom Line: Good question. Potentially for all the reasons, important news is often omitted but also because Congressman Brian Mast brought this to our attention following last week’s alarming report by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection showing record high toxic algal levels in Lake Okeechobee.
The level measured 860 parts per billion, which is 107.5 times what the EPA has stated is safe. The level of toxicity is enough to potentially be deadly to every marine animal, in addition to people who’d come in contact with it. That’d be dire news at any time but especially given discharges had taken place from the lake within the prior two weeks and that the record toxicity was recorded in April. Previous peaks during toxic algal blooms have occurred in late summer, exacerbated by summer heat. These developments take us to Congressman Brian Mast’s flagging reporting issues at Florida’s Agriculture Department.
Last June Governor DeSantis signed Florida’s Clean Waterways Act into law. As part of the Act, Florida’s Department of Agriculture is tasked with gathering data on the total amount of nitrogen and phosphorus used on properties participating in the Best Management Practices (BMP) program. Additionally, FDACS must complete site visits to confirm BMP participants are implementing best management practices.
The law mandates that quarterly reports on these tasks are to be provided to Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection. That’s yet to happen and here we are already facing an algal bloom crisis which is why Mast is now demanding that Fried complies with the law. Remarkably, despite the unanimous approval by both bodies of Florida’s state legislature, the extent of commentary provided by Nikki Fried was this.
Somehow, Florida’s Clean Waterways Act became about the state’s unemployment system and COVID-19 reporting to Nikki Fried. Suddenly, the policy approved with the vote of every Democrat in Florida’s legislature was part of a “partisan power grab”. And for some reason, Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner would rather have the feds have more control of Florida’s waterways than Floridians. Especially odd given that federal interference has been a common cause of issues such as toxic algae releases from Lake O’.
Could Nikki’s diversion from Florida’s Clean Waterways Act with discussions of the state’s unemployment site and COVID-19 reporting and her non-compliance with the law be related to a potential conflict of interest? I have no evidence to this effect – though there’s plenty worth looking into here.
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