There is a fascinating project going on in Florida....where some kind-hearted folks settled on this idea of saving the Everglades....or maybe just restoring the Everglades.....or maybe doing nothing for the Everglades....depending on your point of view.
Somewhere in the midst of this....is the South Florida Water Management District. They went out and got the $250 million to build this manificent 25-square-mile reservoir....largest damn reservoir in the world. Some folks think the final cost will be around $800 million by the end (2010, maybe).
There is another organization out there....by the name of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Naturally, they are defensive in nature....otherwise, they couldn't exist.
These folks from the NRDC say that the state just isn't committed to restoring the Everglades and this is all a bogus project. Goodness....truly bogus? When the state started....they said 80 percent of this reservoir would be for the Everglades and twenty percent for agriculture or development. The thing is....no one actually wrote a legal document saying anything.
I almost wept when I read that. To be so dang involved in a $800 million dollar project and not have a single legal document to guarantee how the water is used at the end....just makes my eyes puff right up. Brilliant....just absolutely brilliant. Not even Karl Rove could have dreamed of such a episode. Getting the $800 million and proudly talking about saving the Everglades must have gotten everyone's attention and made this a legit operation. But now? Those NRDC guys must have suddenly awaken and realized that things just aren't what folks say they are.
What happens next? If I were on the water commission....I'd write a powerful 400 page document and guarantee the Everglades water eternal....everlasting....and permanent. And around 2015, when you need this water...you pull out the document and change it. I'm guessing the NRDC guys are smarter than that though, and maybe there has to be a legislative effort here. I'm guessing also....that the state will run up a quick "fix" here and vote it quickly in. And in 2015, when you need that water....you just have a quick "fix" wrote up, vote it in, and then you steal the water back.
Those NRDC dudes may be smart.....but they aren't "Karl Rove-smart".
Somewhere in the midst of this....is the South Florida Water Management District. They went out and got the $250 million to build this manificent 25-square-mile reservoir....largest damn reservoir in the world. Some folks think the final cost will be around $800 million by the end (2010, maybe).
There is another organization out there....by the name of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Naturally, they are defensive in nature....otherwise, they couldn't exist.
These folks from the NRDC say that the state just isn't committed to restoring the Everglades and this is all a bogus project. Goodness....truly bogus? When the state started....they said 80 percent of this reservoir would be for the Everglades and twenty percent for agriculture or development. The thing is....no one actually wrote a legal document saying anything.
I almost wept when I read that. To be so dang involved in a $800 million dollar project and not have a single legal document to guarantee how the water is used at the end....just makes my eyes puff right up. Brilliant....just absolutely brilliant. Not even Karl Rove could have dreamed of such a episode. Getting the $800 million and proudly talking about saving the Everglades must have gotten everyone's attention and made this a legit operation. But now? Those NRDC guys must have suddenly awaken and realized that things just aren't what folks say they are.
What happens next? If I were on the water commission....I'd write a powerful 400 page document and guarantee the Everglades water eternal....everlasting....and permanent. And around 2015, when you need this water...you pull out the document and change it. I'm guessing the NRDC guys are smarter than that though, and maybe there has to be a legislative effort here. I'm guessing also....that the state will run up a quick "fix" here and vote it quickly in. And in 2015, when you need that water....you just have a quick "fix" wrote up, vote it in, and then you steal the water back.
Those NRDC dudes may be smart.....but they aren't "Karl Rove-smart".
