EDITORIAL: Keep water decisions public
Palm Beach Post Editorial
2009-05-27
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Imagine if a county administrator in Florida could make development decisions in secret, without asking the county commissioners. Only if the administrator denied a request would the commissioners have a say.
Lousy, right? Hiding public business from the public, right? So, Gov. Crist should veto a bill that would allow such secrecy about the state's most important resource: water.
Florida has five water management districts, one for each of the state's major watersheds. This area is part of the South Florida Water Management District. The districts make lots of big decisions about flood control and the environment, but perhaps the biggest decisions are on permits for how much water a government or a development or a farm can use. Currently, the districts' governing boards approve or deny permits during the monthly public meetings. Senate Bill 2080 would give all those decisions to the districts' executive directors. The board would have a role only if a water permit were denied.
SB 2080 didn't start out this way. It began as legislation from Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, to create the West-Central Florida Water Restoration Plan, which would rehydrate 5,100 square miles of the state that are part of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. But Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, added the unrelated amendment about water permits. Her changes also include limits on how much water districts can issue in bonds without approval from the Legislature.
According to critics of the bill, Rep. Grimsley got mad when the South Florida Water Management District approved the U.S. Sugar deal. Her district includes Hendry County, where U.S. Sugar is based and opposition to the deal - that still has to close - remains strong. This legislation, though, is the wrong response. Rep. Grimsley argues that district staff members review all permit applications, that boards can delegate decisions now and that most decisions aren't controversial. For the controversial ones, though, public review and oversight are essential.
Based on her comments to The Post, Rep. Grimsley is threatening retribution if Gov. Crist vetoes SB 2080. It reauthorizes all five water management districts. A veto would push reauthorization to next year, and Rep. Grimsley tossed off the irresponsible comment that perhaps the state wouldn't need all five districts.
In fact, the early '70s creation of the districts - which, among other things, made environmental preservation as important as flood control - was one of the Legislature's visionary actions. With Florida's population having nearly tripled since then, decisions about water have become even more important and deserving of public scrutiny. Revenge politics would be the wrong way to set water policy in Florida.
