Write the Army Corps and other permitting agencies c/o the Indian Riverkeeper. Send it to our address at the bottom of the page or bring it by the Snook Nook.

Headquarters
Army Corps of Engineers
ATTN:CECW-P (IP)
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20314-1000

Subject: Indian River Lagoon South Feasibility Study

To Whom It May Concern,

In November of last year you received a letter from G. Edward Dickey, a former Corps planning chief and ex-deputy assistant secretary of the Army saying the Indian River Lagoon South Feasibility Study was flawed.

He suggests that compliance with the Clean Water Act is beyond the scope of the Corps Principles and Guidelines.

He suggests that there is no description of the ecological and economic benefits to be derived. The benefits of ensuring the survival of South Florida's ecosystems are so apparent that they should not even need to be spelled out in the document. Florida's largest industry, tourism, is dependent on the health of coastal waters. Our water supply will be put under severe pressure by the influx of new residents. Our natural systems filter and store water more efficiently than any engineered system. These are urgent needs that the Corps must address in order to comply with provisions of the Clean Water Act.

Dr. Dickey's letter suggests that the plan is incomplete because it lacks standards for the waters, descriptions of Best Management Practices and habitat restoration. All of these concerns are addressed under the Clean Water Act. If the Corps follows federal law it will address these concerns whether they are described in CERP or not.

The South Florida Water Management District and the Jacksonville Corps staff are working on a Project Implementation Report (PIR) that will detail the process by which the plans prescribed by the Indian River Lagoon South Feasibility study will be undertaken. They will no doubt address the concerns that Dr. Dickey expressed in his letter.

We are compelled to demand that Corps staff be directed to devote the energy needed to have the PIR completed in time for consideration for the next congressional budget.

I am asking that you consider the effects of not going ahead with the projects planned in the first portion of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).

The Indian River Lagoon South portion of the CERP will in the words of a South Florida Water Management District manager, "...avert the collapse of the St. Lucie Estuary."

The Indian River Lagoon is suffering from the effects of too much nutrient laden runoff and wetland loss due to explosive development. Nutrients from agriculture surrounding Lake Okeechobee are discharged with runoff that accumulates in the watershed. These nutrients contribute to hyper enrichment in the Indian River Lagoon and on near-shore reefs that has led to the displacement of ancient reef communities by alga both native and exotic. Continued discharge of this nutrient laden water, not a part of the original natural watershed runoff, threatens seagrass communities in the most diverse estuary in North America.

This problem is immediate and the window of opportunity to save habitat that is essential to Florida's tourist and sport fishing industries is closing fast.

We are not asking for a favor.

The Clean Water Act says that America's waters will be restored to historic uses and that pollution discharges will go through a permitting process in order to meet standards and bring restoration. ACOE control structures are the most damaging sources of pollution in our estuary. The Corps must look beyond the Everglades restoration aspect of this plan and consider its potential to immediately solve the most challenging problems facing South Florida. The Corps has a responsibility to reduce nutrients, turbidity, salinity pollution and other contaminants to the "maximum extent possible" as prescribed by the Clean Water Act.

Florida is being invaded and the Army Corps of Engineers is feeding the enemy. Our enemy becomes entrenched and gains territory with each passing day, smothering reefs that provide tremendous benefit to our country.

The Corps has been given a battle plan, created over many years with the input of some of the finest scientific minds in our country. It is a plan that has the approval of politicians, environmentalists, municipalities and agency personnel. It is a plan that communities across Florida have taxed themselves to implement and for which the people of Florida have purchased thousands of acres of land.

It is a plan that is not an expense but an investment.

We must have the Indian River Lagoon Project Implementation Report as soon as possible in order to keep momentum going before we lose our precious resources and our way of life. We must ensure that our children do not lose their birthright; clean water to drink, swim in, fish in and enjoy.

Indian Riverkeeper
P.O. Box 1812
Jensen Beach, Fl. 34958