Sen. Nelson links Gov. Scott's environmental record to algae blooms

Frank Gluck
The News-Press

With the green-tinted Caloosahatchee River as a backdrop, Sen. Bill Nelson took aim at Gov. Rick Scott's environmental record and sought to directly link it to algae blooms now plaguing South Florida communities.

Speaking to an audience of a couple dozen party activists and environmentalists Friday at a restaurant in North Fort Myers, Nelson pointed to Scott's environmental record as governor.

And, in a jab to emphasize that point, noted that the governor was fundraising with oil and gas executives this week in Oklahoma City. 

Sen. Bill Nelson addresses the water quality issues facing Southwest Florida at a round table discussion on Friday at 3 Fishermen Seafood Restaurant in North Fort Myers.

"I've got a number of things I could chronicle about what the governor has done," Nelson said. "You've got a choice between my record and his record on, ultimately, is something like this — spoiling Florida's waterways and possibly being a health hazard."

Nelson pointed to Scott's repeal of a law in 2012 that had required that septic tanks be inspected for leaks every five years. Such leaks may contribute to algae blooms, some scientists believe. 

"Now, I'm here to tell you that a lot of this algae is the result of nutrients that come into this river, not just from the dumping of Lake Okeechobee, but also the drain off and the leaching through the soil of the nutrients that end up in waterways like the Caloosahatchee River," he said. 

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Nelson also accused Scott and Republican lawmakers for diverting Amendment 1 money away from land and water conservation projects that could reduce harmful runoffs. Nearly 75 percent of Florida voters approved that measure in 2014. 

And he accused Scott of denying well-established climate change science. Experts say South Florida is among the most vulnerable regions in the country to rising sea levels.

Nelson noted that water quality issues stem from decades of poor water quality planning. 

Scott’s campaign, citing that fact, shot back at Nelson’s claims and questioned why he had not done more as a senator to fix the problem.

“Nelson himself acknowledged in Cape Coral today that the problems surrounding Lake Okeechobee came from decades of mistakes – but he had nothing to say about his own decades of inaction when asked why solutions were so slow,” Scott’s campaign said in an emailed statement.

Nelson also used the campaign stop in North Fort Myers to tout his efforts to speed up Everglades restoration and his push for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study algae blooms and their potential health effects.

The green, soupy waterways have become a familiar sight in recent weeks in parts of Fort Myers and Cape Coral.

Toxic algae blooms in Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers have been so bad this summer that  Scott recently declared a state of emergency in Lee, Hendry, Glades, Martin, Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties.

Scott, who visited Fort Myers earlier this month to talk about water quality shortly after Nelson's last visit, has blamed the federal government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for not moving quickly enough on Everglades restoration work. 

According to the Florida Department of Health, toxins in blue-green algae can affect the liver, nervous system, and skin. People are particularly at risk when they ingest water containing high amounts of toxin.

Parisima Taeb, a Fort Myers doctor and a Democratic candidate running against incumbent Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen in Florida House District 78 this November, told Nelson that some of her patients have been affected.

"I see a lot of patients every day in my office, probably a dozen or so, who are complaining of respiratory symptoms," Taeb said. "This is important for elderly patients who have underlying problems, such as COPD, asthma, bronchitis."

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Friday's event was not completely a partisan affair. Cape Coral Mayor Joe Coviello,who questioned Nelson on why he had not done more as a U.S. senator to fix the problem, said state and federal agencies need to work together to solve it.

"There's a lot of finger-pointing. I'm not one to do that," Coviello said. "I'm one to say, we need a solution. We need to have it sooner rather than later. And we need to work together as a unit — whether it's federal, state or municipal government — to fix the problem."

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