Everglades Coalition 1000 Friends of Florida Arthur R. Marshall Foundation Audubon Florida January 16, 2018 Audubon of Southwest Florida Audubon of the Western Everglades Audubon Society of the Everglades Governor Rick Scott Backcountry Fly Fishers of Naples Bullsugar Alliance State of Florida Caloosahatchee River Citizens Association/ The Capitol Riverwatch Center for Biological Diversity 400 S. Monroe Street Clean Water Action Conservancy of Southwest Florida Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001 Defenders of Wildlife “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society Earthjustice Re: Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir Environment Florida Everglades Foundation Everglades Law Center Dear Governor Scott: Everglades Trust Florida Conservation Voters Education Fund Florida Defenders of the Environment On behalf of the 62 member organizations of the Everglades Coalition committed to Florida Keys Environmental Fund Florida Native Plant Society the protection and restoration of America’s Everglades, we respectfully submit the Florida Oceanographic Society Friends of the Arthur R. Marshall following concerns and recommendations related to implementation of Florida Statute Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge 373.4598 (2017 Senate Bill 10), which you signed into law in May 2017. Our member Friends of the Everglades Hendry-Glades Audubon Society organizations have remained engaged through the rigorous schedule of public International Dark-Sky Association, meetings that have taken place since the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) reservoir FL Chapter Izaak Walton League of America planning kickoff in late October of this year. We commend South Florida Water Izaak Walton League Florida Division Izaak Walton League Florida Keys Chapter Management District (District) staff for the tremendous workload being undertaken to Izaak Walton League Mangrove Chapter meet the ecological goals and project timelines outlined in the legislation in such an Last Stand League of Women Voters of Florida abbreviated time period. Loxahatchee River Coalition Martin County Conservation Alliance Miami Pine Rocklands Coalition In its mandated January 9th report to the legislature on the status of planning the Miami Waterkeeper National Audubon Society Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, the District has failed to configure a National Parks Conservation Association project footprint that can store and clean the water necessary to provide Everglades National Wildlife Refuge Association Natural Resources Defense Council National Park and Florida Bay the freshwater flows the ecosystem requires. The North Carolina Outward Bound School Ocean Research & Conservation AssociationDistrict’s report does not represent the optimum configuration of a plan that will Reef Relief Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation maximize reduction of estuary discharges. Save It Now, Glades! Sierra Club The Everglades Coalition urges you to direct the District to model alternative Sierra Club Florida Chapter Sierra Club Broward Group configurations that consider additional state-owned lands, including lands currently Sierra Club Calusa Group Sierra Club Central Florida Group under lease, and made available for use in Florida Statute 373.4598. The bill signed into Sierra Club Loxahatchee Group law in May of last year requires analysis of “the optimal configuration”, but to date the Sierra Club Miami Group Snook and Gamefish Foundation District has only offered options that would squeeze water storage into an industrialSouth Florida Audubon Society Southern Alliance for Clean Energy scale smaller footprint with massive walls and without adequate water quality The Florida Wildlife Federation treatment for conveyance south. The District has presented alternatives to construct The Institute for Regional Conservation The National Wildlife Federation The Urban Environment League of Greater Miami Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Tropical Audubon Society Committed to full protection and restoration of America’s Everglades 450 N. Park Road # 301, Hollywood FL 33021 │ www.evergladescoalition.org │ info@evergladescoalition.org water storage and treatment based solely on land in state ownership within the A-1 and A-2 parcels and the A-2 expansion area. The identification of the optimal reservoir configuration, as required by Florida Statute 373.4598 compels the District to go beyond the A-1 and A-2 lands to identify the necessary acreage and configuration of storage and treatment that best meets ecological goals in the most cost-effective manner. This additional necessary acreage, per Florida Statute 373.4598, can be made available through the termination of state leases whether or not willing sellers of privately held land come forth. The footprint of the project can be further optimized by land swaps using both terminated leases and lands in the District’s surplus database. We further urge that the design not impact the operational A-1 Flow Equalization Basin (FEB) lands which are effectively treating water quality as part of overall Restoration Strategies. Alterations to this project introduce potential delays at the Federal level. We are deeply concerned that the limited array of alternatives identified by the District thus far will result in a reservoir plan that is neither costeffective nor likely to be approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Congress. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the consideration of a broad range of alternatives and requires decision-makers to “rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives.” (40 CFR 1502.14 (a)). This analysis is considered “the heart of the environmental impact statement,” and “should present the environmental impacts of the proposal and the alternatives in comparative form, thus sharply defining the issues and providing a clear basis for choice among options by the decision-maker and the public.” (40 CFR 1502.14) The alternatives identified by the District thus far are very similar, are artificially constrained to only include the existing A-1 and A-2 lands, and thus fall short of the broad array of alternatives contemplated by NEPA. Because of the failure to consider reasonable alternatives that rely on additional acreage, the analysis developed by the District fails to demonstrate whether additional acreage would result in the optimal configuration of the EAA reservoir most likely to meet federal cost-benefit analyses and the funding requirements identified in Florida Statute 373.4598. The inclusion of alternatives that incorporate additional acreage would allow an analysis of shallower storage options with greater acreage available for water quality treatment. Such an analysis is likely to increase ecosystem benefits in a more costeffective and efficient manner. We urge you to direct the District to model further reasonable options, including the alternative provided by the Everglades Foundation last December, which incorporate additional acreage available through the termination of state leases, so as to identify the optimal configuration for the EAA Reservoir Project. Doing so will demonstrate to the Florida Legislature and taxpayers how the state will meet the intent of Florida Statute 373.4598 to achieve the goals of water quality and storage capacity Committed to full protection and restoration of America’s Everglades 450 N. Park Road # 301, Hollywood FL 33021 │ www.evergladescoalition.org │ info@evergladescoalition.org while simultaneously meeting federal cost-benefit analysis and planning process requirements. The District must identify the acreage of additional land needed to achieve this result before it is too late. The Everglades Coalition remains fully supportive of accelerating the EAA Reservoir Project and is committed to working with the District to identify the optimal reservoir configuration to ensure the success of this critically important project. Sincerely, Mark Perry Co-Chair Michael J. Baldwin Co-Chair CC: Secretary Noah Valenstein, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Chair Daniel O’Keefe, South Florida Water Management District Governing Board Committed to full protection and restoration of America’s Everglades 450 N. Park Road # 301, Hollywood FL 33021 │ www.evergladescoalition.org │ info@evergladescoalition.org Committed to full protection and restoration of America’s Everglades 450 N. Park Road # 301, Hollywood FL 33021 │ www.evergladescoalition.org │ info@evergladescoalition.org