Sierra Club Florida News

Press Release: WE DESERVE BETTER: Stop the Burn-Go Green Harvest activists call out the complicit

2021-09-30T16:03:00.001-04:00

September 30, 2021

For Immediate Release

Contacts: Robert Mitchell, MuckCityBLM@gmail.com, (323) 395-6895; Colin Walkes, cokijo@yahoo.com, (561) 475-9227

**PRESS RELEASE**

WE DESERVE BETTER

Stop the Burn-Go Green Harvest activists call out the complicit

BELLE GLADE--On Thursday, September 30, the Stop the Burn-Go Green Harvest Campaign leadership released a statement marking the beginning of the 2021-22 pre-harvest burn season which has been sent, with an accompanying video, to those current public officials named in the statement.

Statement:

“On the eve of yet another pre-harvest sugar field burn season, the Stop the Burn-Go Green Campaign leadership has a message for all those in power who are callously complicit in the continuance of the outdated, toxic, and racist practice of pre-harvest sugar field burning: We deserve better.

Despite recent ground-breaking and revelatory investigative reporting uncovering (1) the lengths to which the sugar industry will go to stop us from improving our lives and our community, and (2) data which further supports existing mountains of medical research from around the world substantiating the common-sense understanding that pre-harvest sugar field burning pollution is harmful, the next harvesting season is set to begin on October 1. Residents in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area will once again be bombarded by toxic smoke and ash that needlessly threatens their health, pocketbooks, quality of life, and surrounding environment for the sake of a cheaper harvest for the multi-billion-dollar Florida sugar industry. We deserve better.

Commissioner Fried’s indifference to our plight is a crime. She has failed to reflect her party’s work championing the rights of the disenfranchised by refusing to lift a finger to end an injustice that she alone, as Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, has the power and authority to right. We deserve better.

Our local elected officials have betrayed us. They have ignored the benefits of green harvesting to our economy, public health, and our children’s future. Whether because of greed, fear, or cowardice, they have promoted the status quo, by parroting Big Sugar propaganda, to the detriment of their constituents’ lives and livelihoods. When it comes to the sugar industry, they sell us out, every time. We deserve better.

Our state lawmakers act only to further condemn us to the dangers of smoke and ash. Big Sugar gets what Big Sugar wants from the state legislature and Governor DeSantis. The passage of SB 88 the “right to harm act” this past legislative session was a case in point. We deserve better.

Our members of Congress have failed us. After hearing the truth reported by the Palm Beach Post and ProPublica, US Congress Members Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Lois Frankel, and Ted Deutch called for additional studies and monitoring of the pollution that chokes our families. Where are their calls for an end to this outdated, toxic, racist practice? Why should we have to wait for studies when Eastern Palm Beach County residents have been protected for 30 years without that extra data? It is so very easy to call for more data -- a popular move by politicians and candidates alike -- which can be tossed to the press without putting their sugar industry campaign donation hush money at risk. Anything less than calling for the sugar industry to immediately begin the phase out of pre-harvest sugar field burning is simply political theater.

The Federal Sugar Program, faithfully passed by Congress, provides sugar producers with wildly high profits nearly twice, on average, as high per pound than what sugar is worth on the global market, thereby removing any incentive to modernize. Sugar growers in Thailand, Australia, Brazil, India, Zimbabwe have eschewed pre-harvest burning and have moved towards burn-free green harvesting because it is the right thing to do for its neighbors, the environment, and their own long-term economic benefits. The cruel avarice of US Sugar and Florida Crystals and their purchase of our nation’s members of Congress combine to keep us shrouded in smoke and ash. We deserve better.

U.S. Sugar’s propaganda—via billboards, mailers, paid advertisements, and false narratives—is a direct attack on our communities. The use of multiple operatives acting on U.S. Sugar’s behalf, under the guise of S.A.F.E. Communities, Glades Lives Matter, and the Clewiston Chamber of Commerce, Lake Okeechobee Business Alliance, is a shameless, ruthless attempt to deny us a brighter future. Lies and innuendo are U.S. Sugar’s most promoted product. We deserve better.

Florida Crystals has wasted its opportunity to lead the way on green harvesting and denied itself and its neighbors the benefits that come from burn-free sugar production. Their production of organic sugar in the Glades proves that they can and do green harvest (sugar cannot be labeled “organic” if burned pre-harvest) but they refuse to fully embrace it. We deserve better.

The Florida Forest Service (FFS) approves over 11,000 burn permits each year, only when the black snow won’t blow toward Eastern Palm Beach County. Because burns cannot be permitted if the wind will send smoke and ash towards the eastern communities, we get smothered by it. The state's sugarcane burning program is managed solely for the profits of the sugar industry, not for any ecological welfare or wildfire prevention and completely contrary to public health, real estate values, economic growth, and quality of life of all who live in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area. If burning is not allowed when smoke and ash is headed toward Eastern Palm Beach County, then it shouldn’t be allowed when it blows toward Belle Glade, Clewiston, Indiantown, Ortona, Pahokee, or South Bay. We deserve equal treatment and protection.

Palm Beach County Department of Health’s protection of the sugar industry casts serious doubt on the integrity of the entire agency. Shielding Big Sugar from the responsibility it has to protect public health is unconscionable, a true perversion of the agency’s mission, and a betrayal of public trust. Director Dr. Alina Alonso’s failure to respond to or address public health issues related to the smoke and ash that pervades the Glades and beyond would be hard to believe if we were not well-versed in Big Sugar’s manipulation of state agencies and their leaders. We deserve better.

The Palm Beach County School Board has sold its soul, and the welfare of its students, to Big Sugar. The black snow that can travel well over twenty miles impacts every school, school child, and educator in the EAA should have long ago prompted the school board to oppose pre-harvest burning. Instead, the district adds insult to injury by leasing land adjacent to Rosenwald Elementary School in South Bay, Pahokee Middle-High School, and the district’s bus depot in Belle Glade, where known toxic pollutants are emitted from pre-harvest sugar field burning. Our children, teachers, and school staff deserve better.

Too many in power either actively participate in or abet one of the most pronounced examples of environmental racism found in the state of Florida. We deserve better.

We call on all who have been complicit to change their course. Cease to be a part of the problem and join our demand for a phaseout of pre-harvest sugar field burning that begins with an immediately implemented 27-mile no-burn zone around impacted communities. Because we deserve better.

This Statement comes not from “outsiders,” but real community residents and leaders!”

Signed,

Fred Brockman - Belle Glade

Sister Laura Cavanaugh - Belle Glade

June Downs - Indiantown

Anne Haskell - Belle Glade

Brittany Ingram - Belle Glade

Elaine Lavallee - Indiantown

Catherine Martinez - West Palm Beach

Steve Messam - Belle Glade

Elena Michel - Belle Glade

Robert Mitchell - Belle Glade

Kina Phillips - South Bay

Shanique Scott - South Bay

Colin Walkes - Pahokee

…………………………………………………………………………………….

September 30, 2021 “We Deserve Better” statement

Video version of September 30, 2021 “We Deserve Better” statement

Stop the Burn—Go Green Harvest website

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Rep. Murphy: Don’t Undermine Climate Action

2021-08-24T13:55:00.003-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

CONTACT: Adam Beitman, adam.beitman@sierraclub.org

Sierra Club to Rep. Murphy: Don’t Undermine Climate Action

A Few House Democrats Threaten Progress on the Most Important Climate Legislation In U.S. History

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A small group of House Democrats, including Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida’s 7th Congressional District, have threatened to halt progress on the most important climate legislation in U.S. history and the only potential vehicle for major action on climate, care, jobs, and justice in near term view.

This comes on the heels of dire warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the extreme weather events we’re already experiencing — including historic droughts, superstorms, record-breaking wildfires, and unprecedented coastal flooding — will continue to rapidly worsen unless the world cuts all carbon pollution in half by 2031.

Other House members who are presenting obstacles to much-needed community investments are Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Filemon Vela of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, and Kurt Schrader of Oregon.

In response, Sierra Club Florida Chapter Chair Steve Wonderly released the following statement:

“We are disappointed that Congresswoman Murphy is threatening the passage of such an important piece of legislation. Her constituents in Florida will benefit significantly from the budget reconciliation bill and are relieved to see federal action on the climate crisis through investment in improved transit and the expansion of clean energy, not to mention the resulting family-sustaining jobs. Congress can pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the budget reconciliation bill; there is no reason to give up leverage now. We encourage Congresswoman Murphy to reconsider her decision.”

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Governor DeSantis: Stop the Greenwash!

2021-08-03T16:14:00.002-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 3, 2021

Contact: Cris Costello, 941-914-0421, cris.costello@sierraclub.org

**PRESS RELEASE**

Governor DeSantis: Stop the Greenwash!

Hold Polluters Accountable

TAMPA—Today Sierra Club Florida responded to Governor DeSantis’ actions regarding the recent Red Tide outbreak and the state’s wider water quality crisis in the following letter:

August 3, 2021

The Honorable Ron DeSantis

Plaza Level, The Capitol

400 S. Monroe St.

Tallahassee, FL 32399

RE: Stop the Greenwash and Hold Polluters Accountable

Dear Governor DeSantis:

Sierra Club, the oldest, largest environmental advocacy organization in the nation with more than 240,000 members and supporters in Florida wants to set the record straight. Yet another summer of slime has unfolded in Florida and we all have been horrified by the devastation to our environment, coastal economy, and quality of life. Our current reality is of course no surprise to anyone – your administration’s failure to implement or even encourage or promote stopping pollution at its source makes our repeatedly toxic waterways inevitable.

All hands are not on deck. Since your election, there has been little to show for all of your “all hands on deck” rhetoric. Photo ops, heralded appointments, and multiple task forces have been all greenwash, an insidious greenwash that makes your inaction even more dangerous to the taxpayers of this state. The most glaring example is your failure to champion legislation that would have implemented the recommendations of your Harmful Algae Bloom/Red Tide and Blue Green Algae Task Forces.

Control and mitigation research and technologies and states of emergencies keep taxpayers on the “clean-up” treadmill but do nothing to stop pollution at its source. “After-the-fact” attention to harmful algal outbreaks is not what Florida needs.

The system is rigged. How many times have environmentalists brought in experts, submitted comments, attended meetings, and served on technical advisory committees or task forces just to have their input ignored in order to make way for whatever the “regulated industry” (the polluter) desired? The public participation process has become yet another way to give your administration a toxic coat of greenwash.

Your dismissal of Piney Point's role in fueling red tide in Tampa Bay is reckless. There is no question that Piney Point has both fueled and intensified this red tide bloom. When you make public statements claiming that red tide blooms are “naturally occurring” and dismiss Piney Point you spread a dangerous false narrative that works to protect polluters from meaningful accountability. Rats are naturally occurring, but we know not to dump household garbage in the streets so as to avoid feeding a rat population explosion. Likewise, the science community has made it clear that dumping nutrient pollution (agricultural and urban fertilizer, animal manure, and sewage) into receiving water bodies, especially ones warmed by climate change, fuels harmful algae and increases the intensity and duration of toxic outbreaks. Your use of “naturally occurring” is a big red flag that the phosphate industry has you in its pocket.

Until pollution is stopped at its source, polluters will go on setting taxpayers up for a never-ending series of costly clean-ups. If we want to get off of the expensive clean-up treadmill, you and your Administration need to champion the strict regulation of the state’s major polluters. The status quo is to give polluters everything they want where water quality legislation and agency action are concerned. That needs to end if we are to fix Florida’s water quality crises.

If you truly believe in “protecting Florida together,” you will end your greenwash campaign. It is time for you to direct your agencies and the legislature to exchange the greenwash for direct, enforced, restorative regulatory action.

Respectfully,

Michael McGrath

Sierra Club Organizing Representative

Red Tide-Wildlands Campaign

2022 Hendry Street, Suite 250

Fort Myers, FL 33901

386-341-4708

michael.mcgrath@sierraclub.org

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Stop The Burn-Go Green Harvest Campaign Statement on Pending NASA Sugar Field Burning Study

2021-08-02T09:29:00.000-04:00

The announcement of the upcoming NASA-funded study highlights the growing public awareness of the injustice posed by the toxic, outdated, and unnecessary practice of pre-harvest sugar field burning. It is a testament to how impacted community leaders in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area, persisting in speaking truth to power for six years, have elevated this issue to a national level, and we are grateful for the attention.

However, although we are not against science or the collection of new data, and are not opposed to the new NASA-funded study, we are wary of it when it may be used against our call for an immediate remedy. Waiting for data before action is taken is kicking the can down the road.

Florida and the nation have a long history of data and research on environmental hazards not translating into meaningful environmental laws or regulations. Cancer Alley in Louisiana, an 85-mile stretch of petrochemical manufacturing facilities along the Mississippi River, serves as an unfortunate example of how increased air quality monitoring alone is no guarantee that environmental justice will be achieved. A 2015 EPA report confirmed that census blocks within the heart of the chemical industry in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley have a cancer risk rate 50-times the national average, and in response, the EPA set up air quality monitoring stations at six separate locations in St. John’s Parish. Despite the EPA monitors consistently recording cancer-causing chloroprene emissions dozens of times higher than EPA recommendations, including one instance in 2017 when chloroprene levels were measured at 755 times the EPA recommended guidelines, true protective regulations on regional polluters have not been implemented.

Denka Performance Elastomer, one of the main corporate polluters in the region responsible for the dangerous levels of chloroprene in the region, has used tactics straight out of Big Sugar’s playbook to cast doubt on scientific research, leverage their resources to obtain lenient state and federal regulators, and drum up support from local politicians representing fence line communities who have ties to the industry.

It is not lost on us that communities of color and lower-wealth neighborhoods, like those in Cancer Alley and in the Glades, are constantly being told to wait, wait until it is politically expedient, wait until the next election, wait until the study is done.

Cancer Alley and the Everglades Agricultural Area highlight the reality that there are two standards of environmental protection in the United States: those afforded to predominantly White higher-wealth communities and those afforded to communities of color and lower-wealth communities. In 1991, public outcry from residents in Eastern Palm Beach County brought about new wind direction-based sugar field burning regulations to protect them without the need of any expensive studies to prove their communities were being harmed by the toxic smoke and ash. Studying, which takes time and money that could be instead spent on the transition toward burn-free green harvesting, rather than phasing out the toxic practice immediately, is a form of environmental racism.

Why are we expected to wait for more data? Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried and her administration have ignored an existing mountain of data on the negative impacts of sugar cane burning.

Commissioner Fried has full authority to add meaningful protections for the communities impacted by toxic sugarcane burning. Commissioner Fried has ignored a long line of public demands for her administration to act. We are not less deserving of quick action than the residents of Wellington, and after 30 years, this disparate treatment is clearly an example of environmental racism.

Even if new data from the NASA study leads to strong regulatory action to end pre-harvest sugar field burning, residents in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area will continue to have their health, quality of life, local economy, and natural environment polluted by pre-harvest sugar field burning for at least 18 more months, when the study is to conclude. We are once again threatened by the next burn season that begins on October 1. We are done waiting.

No new data will make it more necessary to stop pre-harvest sugar field burning. Who doesn't already know that breathing toxic smoke is bad for you? Why else would the Center for Disease Control (CDC) encourage the cessation of agricultural fires during the Covid pandemic? It isn't rocket science. Sugar growers around the world have already modernized and transitioned toward burn-free green harvesting. The phase-out of burning in Florida should begin immediately.

Stop The Burn-Go Green Harvest Leadership Team

Fred Brockman

Sister Laura Cavanaugh

June Downs

Anne Haskell

Brittany Ingram

Elaine Lavallee

Catherine Martinez

Steve Messam

Elena Michel

Robert Mitchell

Kina Phillips

Shanique Scott

Kathey Sullivan

Richard Sullivan

Colin Walkes

PB Post/ProPublica takes aim at Big Sugar’s smokescreen

2021-07-08T18:44:00.001-04:00

On July 8, 2021, the Palm Beach Post, in partnership with ProPublica, published a powerful data-driven investigative report highlighting the environmental injustice of pre-harvest sugar field burning. This coverage is the latest addition to a growing mountain of research and reporting on the threats from sugarcane field burning. The truth uncovered in the report is nothing new to Glades residents who have had to endure the toxic impacts from sugarcane burning on their health, quality of life, and pocketbooks for decades, but this reporting by the Palm Beach Post/ProPublica spells it out for the rest of us:

The Smoke Comes Every Year. Sugar Companies Say the Air Is Safe.

Sugar Companies Said Our Investigation Is Flawed and Biased. Let’s Dive Into Why That’s Not the Case.

5 things to know about Palm Beach Post, ProPublica cane burning investigation

Rick Christie: A worthwhile investment is holding the powerful accountable by giving voice to the voiceless

Editorial: Ban the burning of Florida sugarcane fields

Since the community leaders of the Stop, The Burn Campaign Go Green Campaign first began speaking truth to power about the toxic, outdated, and racist practice in 2015, the Big Sugar propaganda machine has been churning out lies and misinformation in response, some of which would be comical but for the damage, it does to community unity and understanding

When science lines up against the sugar industry’s air quality claims, US Sugar has always fallen back on claiming the information is biased or wrong because the science is linked to the “big bad Sierra Club” and the many imagined conspiracy theories they have concocted against us. This time, the Palm Beach Post and ProPublica beat US Sugar to the punchline.

The investigative report underscores the Stop the Burn-Go Green Harvest campaign demand for a burn-free buffer zone within a 27-mile radius of surrounding communities. Considering the many benefits of green harvesting and the win-win-win situation it is for all parties involved, including the sugar industry itself, how long will the sugar industry persist in its malevolent defense of the known toxic practice of sugarcane burning? How long will Commissioner Fried remain complicit in the environmental racism of this practice by refusing to provide real protection for the impacted communities within and around the Glades?

Tell commissioner Fried to act now.

Sugar field burn in South Bay, FL (April 2021)

DeSantis Unleashes Monstrous Serpent to Strangle Everglades Restoration Efforts

2021-06-15T13:53:00.004-04:00

Sierra Club Statement on Florida Cabinet's Decision to Uphold Miami-Dade Plan Amendment to Extend SR-836

"One thing is undebatable: Governor DeSantis and his friends in the Florida Cabinet care more about political favors than about America's Everglades. Today, instead of cutting off the head of the Everglades Snakeway, they fed it by ignoring the irrefutable evidence presented by plaintiffs, the urgent pleas of Everglades advocates, and Judge Wyk's conclusion from careful review of records and expert testimonies. The fix was in. It did not matter that Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, and innumerable endangered species would be imperiled in the name of cutting 6 minutes from a commute. DeSantis showed his true colors; this should have been an easy victory for our state but the Governor failed us. We thank Commissioner Nikki Fried as the only Cabinet member that voted to uphold Judge Wyk's decision and put an end to this invasive serpent that will strangle Everglades restoration efforts for decades to come."

Diana Umpierre, Organizing Representative, Sierra Club Everglades Restoration Campaign

See also the 6/11/21 letter sent to the Cabinet regarding SR-836.

SIERRA CLUB RELEASES 2021 LEGISLATOR SCORECARD

2021-06-15T12:32:00.000-04:00

For Immediate Release

June 15, 2021

Contact:

Deborah Foote, 850-727-4039, deborah.foote@sierraclub.org

David Cullen, 941-323-2404, cullensea@gmail.com

**PRESS RELEASE**

SIERRA CLUB RELEASES 2021 LEGISLATOR SCORECARD

TALLAHASSEE, FL.– Today Sierra Club Florida released its Florida Legislator Scorecard for 2021. Designed to give a snapshot of legislators’ votes on priority bills for which Sierra Club Florida dedicated considerable time and resources, it also includes “thumbs up and thumbs down” award winners noting those legislators who either championed or actively worked against the environment and democracy.

Republicans almost unanimously voted against Sierra Club’s priorities by:

· Egregiously attacking voter participation and first amendment rights via the Florida Voter Suppression Bill (SB 90) and the Anti-Public Protest bill (HB 1);

· Continuing their assault on the citizen initiative process (SB 1890) by hamstringing efforts to gather a huge number of petitions without being able to raise adequate money to pay workers to collect them;

· Prohibiting mandatory beneficial electrification requirements by hamstringing local governments’ ability to implement and achieve clean energy transition targets (HB 919) and prohibiting gas station bans thus making the transition to electric vehicles more difficult (HB 839);

· Greenwashing methane-rich bio-gas by rebranding it as a “renewable energy” so that corporate utilities can build out natural gas infrastructure while making even more money from ratepayers through cost recovery (SB 896);

· Removing local input and control over industrial solar power plant siting by allowing placement of these potentially massive power plants on any land classified as “agriculture” (SB 896);

· Inserting subsurface rights and mineral estates into the definition of “real property” which gives an oil or gas developer a legal wedge to force a locality or DEP to refrain from actions that would “inordinately burden” the property by preventing fracking or other oil or gas exploration and production; and

· Continuing to use preemption as a way to invalidate local regulations seeking to protect the environment (SB 1194)

Legislators from both chambers and parties hid behind the need to “protect farmers” by approving unprecedented protections for “farm operations” against any party who may be injured by them and seeks justice through the courts. This potentially guts the class action suit (and any future action) against Big Sugar for injury to western Palm Beach County residents caused by smoke and ash from the outdated, toxic and inherently racist practice of pre-harvest sugar field burning (SB 88).

“We are concerned that the public buys in to the majority party’s rhetoric about their so-called environmental achievements,” said Deborah Foote, Acting Chapter Director, “we now have state-recognized Springs Protection Awareness Month and Oceans Day, yet the legislature failed to pass even one recommendation from Governor DeSantis’s own Blue Green Algae Task Force, the entity created to work on harmful algal bloom crisis.”

“Passing a trio of bills aimed at funding some aspects of sea level rise adaptation fails to address the causes of sea level rise or protect those most vulnerable to its impacts. There aren’t enough taxpayer dollars to hurricane-proof Florida. We cannot adapt our way out of climate change. We must mitigate the causes by reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses,” said Cris Costello, Senior Organizing Manager.

The Scorecard applauds eight Representatives who sided with the Sierra Club’s positions 100% of the time: Ben Diamond, Fentrice Driskell, Anna Eskamani, Joy Goff-Marcil, Omari Hardy, Dotie Joseph, Angie Nixon, and Carlos Guillermo Smith.

It condemns a number of Republican legislators for their actions including:

· Sen. Travis Hutson for sponsoring multiple pieces of anti-clean energy legislation which are being passed around in conservative playbooks across the country.

· Rep. Bobby Payne’s statement that questions the impact of humans on climate change.

· Rep. Randy Fine for his reasoning for the actions of the legislature: “because we can.”

· Rep. Spencer Roach, who represents Fort Myers, and his never-ending intrusion into issues affecting Key West.

A chapter of the national Sierra Club, Sierra Club Florida is made up of volunteer leaders and civic activists representing over 240,000 members and supporters from all over the state.

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Sierra Club to Florida Cabinet: Stop the Everglades Snakeway!

2021-06-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

Last week, Sierra Club Florida sent the following letter to Florida Governor DeSantis and rest of the Florida Cabinet ahead of their vote Tuesday, June 15th to ask them to uphold the ruling of a FL Administrative Law Judge that found Miami-Dade's resolution for the proposed 836 tollway expansion violated numerous provisions of the Community Planning Act and were inconsistent with the County's Comprehensive Development Master Plan.

"It is time for the Florida Cabinet to cut off the "head" of the invasive #EvergladesSnakeway 🐍 that threatens Everglades restoration efforts and the climate resiliency of South Florida." - Diana Umpierre, Organizing Representative, Sierra Club Everglades Restoration Campaign.

_____________

June 11, 2021

Governor Ron DeSantis

Ashley Moody, Attorney General of Florida

Nicole "Nikki" Fried, Commissioner of FL Department of Agriculture &

Consumer Services

Jimmy Patronis, Chief Financial Officer of Florida

Via email:

GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com

ashley.moody@myfloridalegal.com

Nikki.Fried@FDACS.gov

CFO.Patronis@myfloridacfo.com

RE: Miami-Dade County SR-836 Extension Recommended Order

DOH Case Nos: 18-005696GM and 18-005695GM

Dear Members of the Florida Cabinet:

On behalf of Sierra Club Florida and its nearly 240,000 members and supporters, we urge you to adopt the Petitioners' Joint Proposed Final Order, which directs Miami-Dade County to rescind the Comprehensive Plan (Plan) amendments adopted by Miami-Dade County on September 27, 2018. The Governor and Cabinet can and should uphold the recommended order on Limonar Development, LLC, et al. v. Miami-Dade County, Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) Case No. 18-5695GM, by Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk, which found that the Plan amendments violated numerous provisions of the Community Planning Act and were internally inconsistent with the Plan itself. It held that the proposed expansion of Miami-Dade's SR-836 tollway demonstrated inconsistency with Everglades restoration efforts, with Miami-Dade County's Comprehensive Development Master Plan, and with state law. We also urge you to reject Miami-Dade County's forty-seven (47) exceptions to the Recommended Order.

Sierra Club is a long-time member of the Everglades Coalition, along with Everglades Foundation, Everglades Trust, Audubon Florida, National Parks Conservation Association and Tropical Audubon Society. The Everglades Coalition has written numerous letters over the years, the most recent sent on June 24, 2020, explaining why the Coalition is opposed to a highway extension at the proposed location; this has been an on-going battle for over twelve years. Other comments in opposition to the SR-836 Extension include an April 9, 2018 Guest Opinion from Everglades Coalition Co-Chairs, a June 19, 2018 letter signed by multiple organizations, and a September 26, 2018 Sierra Club letter. These letters expand upon the reasons why the proposed SR-836 Extension would be catastrophic to Everglades Restoration efforts and sabotage the investments made over the decades to protect this one-of-a-kind natural resource.

The strong arguments against the tollway extension are many.

The SR-836 Tollway Extension:

Would eliminate the open space buffer that is critical to Everglades restoration and provides other essential ecological services that benefit South Florida.
Was adopted by the County absent a determination of consistency with Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), therefore their decision was based on inadequate data and analysis.
Would destroy wetlands in habitats critical to threatened or endangered species, including the Pennsuco, which is inconsistent with the County's Comprehensive Development Master Plan (CDMP).
Threatens the Redland; it would reduce our agricultural lands by inducing sprawl.
Would strangle the Everglades by spurring development of buffer lands, impacting our drinking water recharge basins, wetlands, and lands needed to re-establish much needed freshwater flows to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
Be a blow to the commuters of Miami by adding more traffic to the Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways, while shortchanging transit projects that would deliver better and longer term commuting options for a sustainable Miami.
Raised concerns by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) in 2009 and 2011 because MDX's proposed plan lacked sufficient data to make a determination about the project's effect on Everglades restoration.
Raised concerns by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) in 2018 regarding the road's potential impact on an Everglades restoration project during the state review process.
Threatens the Bird Drive and Dade-Broward Pennsuco project investments meant to direct water from the east and west to the Southern Everglades while ensuring that water remains in the natural areas and away from the urban corridor. These wetlands act as the hydrological buffer between the high water table of Everglades National Park and the Water Conservation Areas, and the lower water table of the developed areas to the east.
Imperils the agricultural and wetlands that act as essential buffers between the Everglades conservation water conservation areas, Everglades National Park and urban Miami-Dade County, that recharge the Biscayne water supply aquifer, and feed freshwater to Florida Bay.
Would cost more than $1 billion dollars, a heavy burden to taxpayers, without resolving the transportation challenges faced by the county; the new corridor might make meager improvement to mobility in the West Kendall area but no overall improvement in commutes from West Kendall to downtown, the airport, or other employment and urban centers to the east and north.
Does not solve the problem it was intended to solve; it creates new expensive problems and offers only unproven benefits at the cost of proven harms.
Violates state planning law.

It has been shown, in Florida and across the nation, that new highways lead to more cars on the roads and renewed patterns of traffic congestion. We do not have to look far for proof: In 2013, former Miami-Dade Chief Planner Mark Woerner stated it well: "Look at the history. We built the Palmetto and filled that up. We built the Turnpike to the west and filled that up." Testimony from the county's own experts in 2019 revealed that drivers would shave a mere six minutes off a two-hour commute as a result of this project's implementation, which belies the claims made by the project's promoters.

The SR-836 Tollway Extension would snake 14 miles outside of the Miami-Dade Urban Development Boundary (UDB) through active agricultural lands, through environmentally sensitive lands, and through the West Wellfield, only to connect with the existing expressway operating at a level of service lower than it operates at today. It would impact water quality and disrupt fragile ecosystems and natural resources on the Miami-Dade County periphery, which the State has invested significant resources toward protecting and preserving for the benefit of all Floridians. Placing this tollway outside of the UDB is inconsistent with the very intent of the UDB, and the proposed tollway, unfortunately, would harm rather than help the people, land, water, and wildlife it would literally and figuratively touch.

The State of Florida and federal government have invested billions of dollars to restore America's Everglades. A county must not unilaterally jeopardize taxpayers' investment in Everglades restoration.

In August of 2019, the U.S. EPA stated that "this project as proposed may have substantial and unacceptable adverse secondary impacts to the Greater Everglades wetland ecosystem and direct impacts to 350 acres of freshwater wetlands located in the Bird Drive Basin and within Congressionally authorized CERP project boundaries that are an [Aquatic Resource of National Importance] ARNI." We agree.

In September 2019, the Cabinet denied a request by Harmony Ranch that would have negatively directly impacted over 2,000 acres of agricultural land located outside the Urban Services District. The MDX proposed 836 extension would imperil a much greater area of land and a much broader array of natural resources and listed species.

We urge you to uphold the Judge's ruling and close this chapter to make way for new projects that will benefit and protect us all. There are proven and more effective ways to address mobility issues in Miami-Dade, and there are many already working on making the transportation system in the county both sustainable and efficient. One such proposal, with far less impact to CERP and natural resources was presented to the Miami-Dade County Commission in 2018 before their vote and ignored. This highway extension puts the resilience of not just Miami-Dade, but all of South Florida, at risk.

Sincerely,

Deborah L. Foote, MPA

Acting Chapter Director

Sierra Club Florida

200 West College Ave. # 314

Tallahassee, FL 32301

deborah.foote@sierraclub.org

850.727.4039 (office)

251.533.1798 (mobile)

Diana Umpierre, AICP, GISP

Organizing Representative

Sierra Club Everglades Restoration Campaign

PO Box 2347/136A S Main St, Belle Glade, FL 33430

diana.umpierre@sierraclub.org

954.829.7632

Noel Cleland

Chair

Sierra Club Miami Group

ncleland@earthlink.net

cc: Chief of Staff Adrian Lukis: adrian.lukis@eog.myflorida.com

Deputy Chief Of Staff Alex Kelly: alex.kelly@eog.myflorida.com

Deputy Chief Of Staff Anna DeCerchio: anna.decerchio@eog.myflorida.com

Deputy Chief Of Staff Beau Beaubien: Beau.Beaubien@eog.myflorida.com

Legislative Affairs Director Stephanie Kopelousos: stephanie.kopelousos@eog.myflorida.com

Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez: LtGovernorJeanette.Nunez@eog.myflorida.com

Barbara Leighty, Clerk, Administration Commission: barbara.leighty@laspbs.state.fl.us

_____________

PRESS RELEASE: SAY WHAT US SUGAR? “Burning Cane” Report Reveals Big Sugar Lies

2021-05-20T15:44:00.002-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 2021

Contacts:

Patrick Ferguson, patrick.ferguson@sierraclub.org, 954-288-4234

Steve Messam, smessam@me.com, 989-400-4225

**PRESS RELEASE**

SAY WHAT US SUGAR?

“Burning Cane” Report Reveals Big Sugar Lies

BELLE GLADE—Today, Stop The Burn-Go Green Harvest Campaign released “Burning Cane: Assessment of Current Air Quality Monitoring During Sugarcane Harvest in the EAA,” a report authored by Dr. Jessica L. McCarty, PhD, Co-investigator for the NOAA NASA Fire Influence on Regional and Global Environments and Air Quality Experiment (FIREX-AQ) Field Team and Associate Professor and Director of the Geospatial Analysis Center at Miami University of Ohio. Sierra Club Florida asked for and funded the report in order to explore what had appeared to be misinformation advanced by the US Sugar Corporation relating to (1) air quality monitoring in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA); and (2) air quality in the EAA.

The report lays bare the insidious misinformation callously promoted by the sugar industry that has kept the communities of color in the Glades shrouded in the toxic smoke and ash that robs them of their health, quality of life, and economic opportunity while the whiter more affluent communities to the East get protection.

The report concludes the following:

Sugarcane burning is a common practice in South Florida, creating smoke pollution and unhealthy air quality conditions for the residents of the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Eliminating burning within 10 miles of communities in the EAA and growing coastal towns and suburbs would reduce sources of sugarcane burning emissions by almost 60%.
The readings from the individual sensor in Belle Glade are an assessment of smoke and other aerosol pollution for that specific location - and not a proxy for the air quality of the entire region.
Readings from a single sensor in one location within the EAA cannot capture smoke pollution across the 700,000-acre area – let alone the contiguous towns and suburbs.
There is a clear need for regulatory-grade air quality sensors in the EAA communities, including but not limited to Belle Glade, Pahokee, Indiantown, Loxahatchee, Wellington, and Royal Palm Beach.
Missing sensor data from coincident smoke event days during sugarcane field burning underscores the uncertainty of whether the Belle Glade monitoring station can be compared to the monitoring station in West Palm Beach.
A reporting and verification system for “black snow” should be added to the online Florida Forest Service prescribed burning web mapping service to monitor ash plumes from sugarcane burning.

Steve Messam stated: "This report bolsters the demand for the creation of burn-free buffer zones to protect our communities from toxic pre-harvest sugar field burning. Commissioner Fried needs to use this information to protect our communities and push the industry to adopt green harvesting "

Colin Walkes added: "No amount of billboards, mailers, and other forms of propaganda can hide the truth we in the Glades have known from experience, that pre-harvest burning is not good for our air quality or health. We hope this report will wake up Glades residents along with local and statewide leaders to the lies they have been fed by the sugar industry and start to demand better from our industry. When you know better, you do better.”

"This report debunks the lie spread by US Sugar that field burning is not a source of toxic pollution. No more will they be able to callously hide behind misrepresented regional air quality data to justify poisoning the surrounding Glades communities with the outdated and unnecessary practice of pre-harvest sugar field burning,” said Patrick Ferguson, Sierra Club Organizing Representative, Stop Sugar Field Burning Campaign.

Link to report

Link to press conference recording

BACKGROUND:

Since launching the Stop Pre-harvest Sugar Field Burning Campaign in 2015, the Sierra Club has worked with local activists in and around the Everglades Agricultural Area to promote the end of the outdated, toxic practice and to challenge the status quo narrative provided by the sugar industry. US Sugar very recently provided the perfect example of this narrative with a new billboard in Belle Glade:

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Press Release: Turkey Hunting in the Panther Refuge?

2021-05-10T23:31:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 10, 2021

Contacts: Diana Umpierre, diana.umpierre@sierraclub.org, 954-829-7632

**PRESS RELEASE**

TURKEY HUNTING IN THE PANTHER REFUGE?

Crazy Math Doesn’t Add Up

NAPLES—Tomorrow, on May 11, 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a virtual meeting from 6-9 pm, on their “Proposed Visitor Services Plan including Proposed Hunt and Fish Opportunities” on the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. The idea includes opening the panther refuge, the only land truly dedicated to keeping the Florida panther from complete extinction, to wild turkey hunting with crossbows and shotguns. On May 4, the US Department of the Interior announced that this plan is a part of its promotion of public access to public lands.

“You don’t need a Ph.D. in mathematics or accounting to see that this is gold-plated nonsense,” stated Diana Umpierre, Sierra Club Organizing Representative. “There may be up to 230, but could be as low as 120 adult Florida panthers left in Florida. Millions of dollars have been spent in an attempt to keep those panthers alive over the past few decades and the Service is proposing to spend a net $15,500 a year so that hunters can bag 70 turkeys? That’s FWS spending $220 per turkey from funds that should go to managing the Refuge.”

Rhonda Roff, Sierra Club Calusa Group Executive Committee member, said: “If the Service has enough money to squander on giving hunters access to kill 70 turkeys, then let them do it elsewhere. The panther does not need another threat to its existence, especially not in its own refuge.”

The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Draft Visitor Services Plan and Environmental Assessment (Assessment) which includes APPENDIX A: Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Turkey Hunting and Sport Fishing Plan, speaks for itself:

Excerpts:

Page 154 of the Assessment (page 8 of the proposed hunting plan):

“The vast majority of Florida Panther NWR’s 26,609 acres would be open for turkey hunting during permitted hunts. We specifically propose to annually open 25,560 acres of the refuge.”

“Three hunt weekends (2 limited/quota hunts and 1 limited family hunt weekend) are proposed. A Family Quota Permit is defined by FWC as a type of limited entry permit required for an adult and up to two youths age 8 to 15 to participate. The following information provides further details on specific information regarding these permits. The maximum number of quota permits that would be issued annually would not exceed 50 individual quota permits and 10 family permits consisting of 2 permits per family. However, Florida Panther NWR would monitor the turkey population and hunter access to allow for adaptive management in the number of permits issued annually. The bag limit would be one bearded turkey per hunt permit.”

Page 159 of the Assessment (page 14 of the proposed hunting plan):

“F. FUNDING AND STAFFING REQUIREMENTS

Hunting

Expenses for conducting annual hunts would be borne through general refuge funds. The costs would include personnel costs to facilitate hunts, annual management planning and turkey monitoring, additional law enforcement patrols, early gate opening and closure, maintenance of boundary posting and gates, installing and maintaining information panels, posting and removing signs, preparing the hunt brochure, maintaining roads, and covering all related fuel costs. These annual costs are estimated to run about $17,500. This costs estimate does not cover the cost of habitat management such as prescribed fire and invasive species management. Fees from turkey hunting may annually average an estimated $2,000; they could be higher, dependent upon permit costs and quota levels. Though this revenue amount is insufficient to cover the cost of managing the hunt program, the relatively low cost of this program can easily be covered using station funds. Some additional costs may be defrayed by cooperating with partners; for example, FWC may provide Game Wardens for law enforcement patrols during hunts.

Table 9. Funding and Staffing Requirements for hunting Identifier

Cost Staff (Maintenance Workers, Biologist, and Refuge Managers) $6,000

Maintain roads, parking lots, trails* $3,000

News releases, fact sheets, and reports $500

Maintain signage $2,000

Law Enforcement $6,000

Total Annual Cost $17,500

*Refuge trails and roads are maintained for a variety of activities. Costs shown are a percentage of total costs for trail/road maintenance on the refuge and are reflective of the percentage of trail/road use for hunting and fishing. Volunteers account for some maintenance hours and help to reduce overall cost of the program.”

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Female Florida Panther with Kittens on Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Credit: David Shindle, US Fish and Wildlife Service