Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has halted all Lake Okeechobee discharges into the St. Lucie River.
Friday's announcement came on back of a previous announcement about a two-week pause on water releases, which started March 30th. After that announcement, Congressman Brian Mast said two weeks was insufficient, calling for an end to all discharges.
"They are crapping on our community and they do it in impunity. And that's worth being upset about. It is literally an injustice and injustices are worth being upset about."
After Friday's decision was announced that eastbound releases were being halted while minimal discharges will continue to the west, Mast took to Facebook to call it a win, but says "we need a long-term solution."
Major Cory Bell with the Army Corps says that current atmospheric conditions are making it possible to stop the discharges into Treasure Coast waterways, but made it clear that if there's a need to begin again, they will have to do that.
In recent weeks, there have been health alerts issued for the St. Lucie River over toxic blue-green algae being spotted in the water.
Mast claims that algae is covering about 20 percent of Lake Okeechobee.
The discharges ramped up in February as the lake was higher than the feds want it to be as we near hurricane season. It's now just above 15 feet.