'A Government-Sponsored Disaster': Florida Asks For Federal Help With Toxic Algae
Source: npr
July 9, 20161:00 PM ET
Greg Allen
The blue-green algae is called cyanobacteria. It can release toxins that affect the liver and nervous system.
Greg Allen/NPR
............"We are one of the exit valves, the safety valves for when the lake builds up to high levels," Fielding explains. "It was an enormously unusual wet year. The lake can build up six times faster that we're able to release."
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has asked President Obama to declare a federal emergency and make federal emergency funds available to deal with the algae bloom.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has asked President Obama to declare a federal emergency and make federal emergency funds available to deal with the algae bloom.
Greg Allen/NPR
The Corps is keeping the water level low in Lake Okeechobee to prevent a possible breach of the 80-year-old earthen dike that surrounds the lake — a breach that could be catastrophic and lead to flooding in nearby communities.
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Read more: http://www.npr.org/2016/07/09/485367388/a-government-sponsored-disaster-florida-asks-for-federal-help-with-toxic-algae
Very interesting story on how this came to be--in short--a levee upstreem is to weak-so they let the water out--and now the toxic algae is a problem downstream.
Another Red state--- Gov Scott asking for a handout.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Having chased (or been chased by) numerous disasters during my prior life, I've learned the art or science of managing emergencies, which involves a cycle of four phases:
1. Planning and Preparedness;
2. Response;
3. Recovery; and
4. MITIGATION
Put in its simplest terms -- even so you could understand it, Shithead -- that fourth phase involves preventing or minimizing the impact of recurrence of the same disaster.
The responsibility for managing all four phases of this cycle rests with all levels of government: local, state and federal. The feds are there to support, but -- as anyone who lives in a flood-prone area can attest -- there's a limit to the number of times a family, community or state can go to that particular well for a financial bale-out. Hence, mandatory flood insurance for those who insist on staying in areas that flood every time a dog lifts his leg or someone has a good cry.
As governor, it's YOUR responsibility to mitigate this emergency. By allowing and encouraging Big Agra in Florida to over-fertilize or by failing to mandate replacement of septic systems with sanitary sewers, by ignoring the citizens' mandate to restore and preserve our environment (re-allocating money to your pet projects, not the least of which is economic development), and -- in this particular instance -- by cancelling plans to convert Big Sugar's acreage back to the Everglades watershed, YOU HAVE FAILED.
For all the right reasons, FEMA and President Obama should tell you that YOU created this shit-storm, and you need to deal with the consequences, economic, political, but most especially ecological.
But that's not going to happen.
Florida is a swing-state, and in an election year, the Democratic administration at the federal level will bale your sorry ass out once again.
This time, try to show a little decency. And gratitude. And stop blaming the Corps of Engineers for this.
Next up: climate-change-denier Gov. Snott will ask FEMA to help save Miami Beach, the Florida Keys and other barrier islands (which, despite their unsuitability for human habitation, were built up (vis: economic development)), and now are prone to flooding due to rising sea levels. And mitigating that situation is way, way beyond your skill set or resources.
has not been mentioned.
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/11/lake_erie_algal_bloom_of_summe.html
Same type of stuff that exploded in Lake Erie last summer in record amounts, is exploding in Florida's largest lake this year -both being due to the unchecked runoff of fertilizer and sewage.
And now they want the gub'mint to fix their mess for them.
Because, of course, they couldn't expect the polluters to pay for cleaning up their mess, could they? 
