Governor Bush's Rodman Intentions
August 2000
Much of the media have been doing a lousy job of letting the public know current events related to Rodman Reservoir. Citizens are being led to believe that Rodman will be drained soon according to what is published in many newspapers and aired on television. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Some of the Cross Florida Greenway lands are owned by the State of Florida, some of these lands are owned by private citizens who granted flood easements to the state and some are leased from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). About half of Kirkpatrick Dam and most of Eureka Dam sit on leased lands. The lease expired in January of this year. Florida was supposed to renew the five year lease by July 1, 2000 - they didn't. The USFS wrote the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on July 5 and stated that they felt that the fact that the state had not renewed the lease on time was probably an oversight and they would give the state until July 14 to request extra time to renew the lease, but they expected the renewal application by August 31, 2000. The renewal application must be accompanied by an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) describing how partial restoration (Rodman's destruction) would be accomplished. The USFS also stated that if they did not receive the renewal application accompanied by the EIS that they would consider the lease abandoned. The USFS would take possession of the lands, remove the structures and bill the state.
Finding himself between a rock and a hard place, Governor Bush made the statement that it would probably be the best course of action to restore the Ocklawaha River. Governor Bush's statement was made about the same time the DEP submitted the lease renewal application. The lease renewal states, "The Florida department of Environmental protection, will, pending necessary appropriations, carry out the proposed action."
Think about it! Nothing has Changed! Before restoration can begin three things must happen:
Another restoration problem has surfaced. Rodman is cleaning the water flowing into it from the Ocklawaha River before allowing this water to enter the St. Johns River. Florida has invested $175 million to remove 15 million tons per year of pollutants from the St. Johns River. The levels of pollutants (total nitrogen and total phosphates (fertilizers)) flowing from lake Griffin and the Silver River far exceed the amount cleaned from the St. Johns River. Neither the DEP or the SJRWMD want these pollutants in the St. Johns River. It is estimated that this pollution problem will take at least ten years if not longer to control.
Rodman is here to stay for a long, long time despite what the media would have you believe. If Governor Bush really wanted Rodman destroyed it could have easily been accomplished by refusing to renew the lease with the USFS. The Forestry Service would have then removed the dam.