Rick Scott, Bill Nelson battle over algae blooms in U.S. Senate race

Ali Schmitz | Treasure Coast Newspapers

Show Caption Hide Caption Sen. Bill Nelson and stakeholders talk Lake Okeechobee discharges during Stuart visit U.S. Senator Bill Nelson discusses toxic discharges in local waterways, and ways to stop them, Thursday, July 5, 2018, at Stuart City Hall downtown.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Florida Gov. Rick Scott have blamed each other for the toxic blue-green algae blooms plaguing the Treasure Coast and Southwest Florida.

The attacks over the past two months come as Scott, a Republican, challenges the three-term Democrat for the Senate seat Nelson won in 2000.

More: TCPalm elections roundup

While Democrats cite Scott's business-friendly economic plan that weakened the Department of Environmental Protection, Republicans criticize Nelson for not getting Everglades projects approved, implying he’s an election-year environmentalist.

In comparing the candidates' records, voters should consider Scott has far more power when it comes to administering environmental policy in the state. Nelson's job at the federal level is to get Congress to pass laws and approve and fund projects.

"That makes it kind of an apples and oranges comparison," said Frank Jackalone, director of the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club.

More: Spurred by Rick Scott's algae ad, Sen. Bill Nelson says he'll stop playing 'nice-nice'

Lake O algae blooms

On dealing with the algae bloom crisis, Jackalone noted Scott scuttled the deal his predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, made to buy U.S. Sugar Corp.'s land south of Lake Okeechobee to recreate the "River of Grass" from the lake to the Everglades.

"Being able to move that water south would have been tremendous for stopping discharges and algae blooms," he said.

Scott signed the legislation creating the reservoir south of Lake O to curtail the discharges, Jackalone said, but only after the project was reduced dramatically.

"The original plan would have alleviated the algae crisis," he said. "We're very doubtful the new plan will work, and it may put us back to square one on the discharges."

More: What stopped first Lake O reservoir mid-construction

In contrast, Nelson has "always done what we've asked to advocate for more money in the Senate to promote the Central Everglades Restoration Plan," Jackalone said, referring to the massive plan approved in 2000 to restore the flow of clean water to Everglades National Park and cut the discharges to the estuaries.

More: TCPalm's complete Indian River Lagoon coverage

"Under Gov. Scott, Florida has committed funding for Everglades restoration, repairs to Lake Okeechobee’s dike and a new reservoir south of the lake," said Paul Owens, president of 1000 Friends of Florida. "These are all positive steps."

Owen faulted Scott for "some significant setbacks to environmental protection and growth management. ... Funding has been slashed for water management districts, environmental enforcement actions have been sharply curtailed, a law to inspect septic tanks was repealed, and the state’s growth management agency was dismantled."

TCPalm investigation: Damage done by Scott's deregulation

Water quality is a state responsibility, said Alex Gillen of Bullsugar.org, "so blame for yet another algae crisis rests largely with Gov. Scott after eight years" in office.

Scott had "a tremendous opportunity to stop discharges and help Florida Bay with the (reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee)," Gillen said, "but the Army Corps’ review of the reservoir plan makes it clear that relief is far from guaranteed."

Gillen said Nelson "is on the right track by asking for the Center for Disease Control to help out by warning citizens about toxic algae blooms, as the state is failing to protect and warn people about toxic cyanobacteria."

Can we eat the fish? Scientists have discovered a link between blooms of cyanobacteria - blue-green algae - like the kind seen on lakes and rivers in Florida - with Alzheimers and ALS disease. ED KILLER/TCPALM

Allowing pollution

After Scott took office in 2011, DEP laid off 134 people and cut a dozen vacant jobs, saving the agency about $6.5 million. DEP also relaxed rules to make it quicker and easier to get permits, and shifted from enforcing rules to helping violators comply.

Scott also gutted the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades restoration and advises the Army Corps of Engineers on Lake Okeechobee discharges that cause algae blooms in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

More: TCPalm's Lake Okeechobee discharge meter

Scott cut the agency's budget in half, by $700 million, resulting in 500 layoffs and several dozen vacant jobs being cut or frozen. Half of them were scientists, hydrologists, engineers, field technicians and regulators tasked with protecting, conserving or restoring water resources in the 16-county district.

Environmentalists also complain Scott stacked the water district board with appointees who only represent business and agricultural interests.

Nelson is among the many critics who've also railed against Scott for his 2012 repeal of a law requiring routine septic tank inspections to determine if they're leaking untreated waste into water bodies, including Lake O and the Indian River Lagoon. Lawmakers who proposed the repeal said inspections were an expensive burden for homeowners.

"I've got a number of things I could chronicle about what the governor has done," Nelson said at a July 20 campaign event in Fort Myers. "You've got a choice between my record and his record on ... spoiling Florida's waterways and possibly being a health hazard."

Read: Nelson's letter to constituents blaming state and Scott for algae blooms

Scott fired back, saying Nelson hasn’t done enough to prevent algae blooms.

"It’s a shame that Bill Nelson didn’t care to make Lake Okeechobee a priority," Scott stated, "but in Florida, we don’t settle on waiting for Congress to get things done.”

Scott's solutions

In 2016, Scott declared a state of emergency — and unsuccessfully pushed President Barack Obama for a federal one — for algae-affected counties. He issued a similar state of emergency this year and made $3 million available to counties for algae cleanup.

The declaration eases regulations to store and move more water, dedicates more staff to testing water, helping businesses and educating the public about the dangers of exposure to toxic algae. He surveyed businesses, opened a help center for them and offered them loans, though owners scoffed at them as useless.

The governor often cites increased state funding for septic-to-sewer conversions as a solution to preventing blooms, as septic tanks can leak nitrogen that feeds algae.

More: Scott won't commit to Martin County visit

He unsuccessfully proposed $40 million in septic-to-sewer conversion grants for communities surrounding Lake O and along the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. The Legislature did not approve his funding request in 2017 or 2018, instead choosing to fund projects on a case-by-case basis.

Still, clean-water activists blame Scott for algae blooms and criticize him for not visiting Martin County to see them and address constituents this year or in 2016.

When Scott visited the St. Lucie Lock and Dam during a 2013 bloom, he was met by angry protesters demanding he send Lake O water south to the Everglades.

Scott blamed the federal government for not funding Army Corps projects.

Nelson's solutions

None of Nelson's most significant efforts on the algae front have been successful.

He proposed bills to study algae, cut Lake O discharges and automatically authorize the Army Corps to start Everglades restoration projects without congressional approval.

Nelson also proposed a 2017 bill that would have:

Given the heads of NOAA and the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to declare a severe algae bloom as a "nationally significant event," which would make federal resources available to those impacted by the outbreak.

Set aside an additional $110 million over five years for research into the causes/control of large algae blooms and hypoxia, which is when oxygen levels are low, often because of algae, making it difficult for sea life to breathe.

The Senate unanimously passed the bill last year, but the House hasn't heard it.

More: OSU study links algae to fatal liver disease

Nelson also urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to no apparent avail, to study long-term health effects from direct contact with toxic algae.

In his bipartisan efforts, Nelson has worked with Florida Republican House members who have proposed bills similar to his, including freshman Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

Federal support for restoration projects has slowed, and members of both parties have blamed Washington gridlock for previous bills failing.

EAA reservoir

Where Scott and Nelson agree is on their support for the Army Corps building a reservoir south of Lake O to reduce discharges to coastal communities.

Scott was skeptical of initial, larger models that called for the state to purchase 60,000 acres from Glades-area farmers and Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar Corp.

As the plan made its way through the Florida Senate in 2017, Scott eventually supported the smaller model as long as it was built on state-owned land.

Nelson and fellow Florida lawmakers have been pushing Congress to approve the reservoir, which is in the Water Resources Development Act, a wide-ranging bill that approves, but does not fund, Army Corps water projects throughout the country.

The House approved its version of the WRDA bill, but it's stalled in the Senate.

Scott blamed Nelson for not pushing it through. However, Nelson has no control over that; it's the Republican leadership that schedules bills for floor votes.

Nelson has said the reservoir cannot be the only solution and has advocated for more water storage and cleaning areas north of the lake, in the Kissimmee River watershed.

Herbert Hoover Dike

Scott and Nelson also agree repairing the aging, leaky Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake O is an important step in reducing discharges.

Both maintain a stronger dike means the lake can hold more water, though the Army Corps repeatedly has said that's not necessarily the case. The Corps has said it will study the possibility when repairs are close to being completed.

Still, Scott successfully pushed the Legislature to allocate $100 million in state funds to expedite repairs so they’ll be completed by 2022, three years ahead of schedule.

Nelson also supported the partnership with the state, encouraging the Army Corps and the White House budget office to accept the state money.

Sweet on Nelson

Nelson is a longtime beneficiary and supporter of Florida’s sugar industry.

He received about $47,000 from the industry while running for Senate in 2012 and about $10,500 from U.S. Sugar Corp. executives in March 2017.

He’s repeatedly opposed bipartisan efforts to reform the U.S. sugar policy, which allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture to:

Limit foreign imports that could undercut U.S. sugar prices.

Limit how much can be sold to prevent an oversupply and price plummet.

Buy excess sugar to prevent a price plummet.

Loan farmers money.

He said he worries policy changes will allow foreign sugar producers to glut countries with unfairly low-priced sugar, causing a surplus of sugar produced in the U.S.

"They can go out and dump sugar on the world market at lower prices and run our farmers out of business," Nelson said. "That'll be one thing I'll be looking at when the sugar bill — or for that matter, whatever farm bill — comes up."

Sweet on Scott

Scott’s relationship with the sugar industry is more complicated.

In his first gubernatorial bid, he attacked his opponent, former Attorney General Bill McCollum, for receiving contributions from the industry.

“Unfortunately for U.S. Sugar, I can't be bought,” Scott reportedly told the Palm Beach Post in 2010.

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In the last eight years, their relationship has shifted drastically as Scott:

Received $750,000 from U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals for his Florida political committee, Let’s Get to Work, between 2015 and earlier this year.

Received more than $81,000 in May from members of the Fanjul family that runs Florida Crystals sugar company.

Took a sugar industry-funded hunting trip to King Ranch in Texas in 2013.

Signed a 2013 law that blocked lawsuits on 30-year, no-bid leases for sugar farmers in the northern Everglades.

Appointed state board members who often have sided with the sugar industry over environmentalists, including voiding a contract for U.S. Sugar Corp. to sell 46,800 acres to the state for Everglades restoration projects.

The governor does not support any bill that could potentially hurt a major Florida industry, former campaign spokesman Ryan Patmintra said in Scott's defense in May.

"Florida’s sugar industry," Patmintra said, "is an important piece of our vibrant and growing economy."