Greater Pine Island Civic Association Membership Meeting Minutes
Jan. 9, 2024 | Pine Island United Methodist Church
Board Members Present: Deborah Swisher-Hicks, President; Nadine Slimak, Vice President, Mike Sweeney, Treasurer, Sue Dahod, Scott Wilkinson, Tim Heitz, Shari Perkins and Steve Eldredge, Acting Secretary. Connie D’Alessio, excused.
President Deb Swisher-Hicks opened the meeting at 6:34 p.m.
Treasurer’s Report
Mike Sweeney presented the December 2023 GPICA Treasurer’s report, including a Chiquita Lock funding update:
ACCOUNTS
- Money Market $16,764.78
Checking $7,343.49
CD Investment $78,548.43**
Cash Box $103.00
Square fees for all of 2023 $128.46
INCOME TOTAL (since December 5 meeting) $1,352.46
Breakdown
- $85.00 (cash memberships)
$367.46 (Square membership plus lifetime membership)
$900.00 (Noel and Karen Andress donation for church rentals)
EXPENSE TOTAL (since December 5 meeting) $3,000.00
Breakdown
- $3,000.00 2nd payment to Chiquita Lock attorney
CHIQUITA LOCK (CL)LEGAL DEFENSE STATUS**
- Original GPICA Pledge: $2,500
Donations from Members: $2,975
Matching GPICA donations: $2,975
Bill#1 Chiquita Lock Lawyer: ($2,500)
Bill#2 Chiquita Lock Lawyer: ($3,000)
Current Total: $2,950
**Background: GPICA agreed to a funding match for all Chiquita Lock donations made by GPICA members. Currently three donations have been submitted using our online payment system, Squareup.com, which deducts a fee for the use of its services. GPICA is supporting the full match and making up the payment difference.
GPICA received the follow donations through Square:
- $25.00 for which we received $23.97, service fee of $1.03. $200.00 for which GPICA received $194.70, service fee of $5.30. $100.00 for which GPICA received $96.80, service fee of $3.20
Difference GPICA will be making up the service fees in the amount of $9.53.
The Treasurer’s Report was accepted by the membership without question.
The November and December 2023 General Membership minutes were approved without questions.
Board Elections
Scott Wilkinson presented information on the Board election process. Elections will take place at the February General Membership meeting. We are to vote in February on three positions. The Board recommends Connie D’Alessio and Sue Dahod for reelection and Steve Eldredge, who will be eligible February 5 for election to the Board. Scott then made a request for nominations from the floor. There were no nominations from the floor.
BMAP/TMDL Discussion
President Swisher-Hicks then introduced our featured speakers John Cassani, Calusa Waterkeeper Emeritus and Kevin Erwin, Principal Ecologist for Kevin L. Erwin Consulting Ecologist, Inc. In turn Mr. Cassani introduced Codty Pierce who is the lead advocate and voice of Calusa Waterkeeper. Mr. Cassani led a discussion about water quality issues in our area and the process we might employee to have a BMAP (Basin Management Action Plan) developed for our area.
There are currently two BMAPs in Lee County. They both address low levels of dissolved oxygen and nutrients as the causative agent. One is the Everglades West Coast, which is for the Imperial River and Hendry Creek. The second one is the Caloosahatchee River Watershed BMAP, including all the impairments up to Lake Okeechobee (started out as the Estuary BMAP). The reason why BMAPs and TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Load) are developed is when a waterbody does not meet state water quality standards and no longer supports its designated uses.
The Clean Water Act at this point requires the states to restore those waters. The TMDL for the Caloosahatchee River, established in 2009, sets the restoration target and the BMAP (adopted in 2012) implements the TMDL. Essentially, the BMAP process measures success based on presumptions about projects that will reduce the load issue in question. When a local government does a project to improve water quality in the context of the total load issue, the state has a formula that assign credits for load reduction. Load credits are the measure of success. Unfortunately, this does not look at the absolute load changes over time, which continue to move up. The state legislature requires a 5-year review of each BMAP. The 5-year review was last done in 2022. Currently, there is 1.2 million more pounds of nitrogen being loaded into the Caloosahatchee than the starting load back in 2012. FDEP recently came out with a press release that said that we had achieved 80% of our load reduction credit.
Many of the monitoring stations (not run by FDEP, but by municipalities) have insufficient data given the onerous requirements to provide the formatted data to FDEP. So, FDEP continues to provide information that suggests daily loads are getting better, despite total loads increasing over time. This is largely due to credits for past projects being used to show that yearly required load reduction amounts are being met. It’s a struggle to feel good about the obvious trajectory that we are on.
Mr. Erwin noted the rapid speed at which this area is changing regarding the eco-system, animal, and plant life. He lamented the lack of studies needed to provide baseline information to compare against today’s existing situation. He does not believe we are getting the assistance we need from FDEP or any of the other state agencies to deal with these issues. Mr. Erwin expressed hope that groups like ours would take their scientific information and become advocates for the impaired waters determined by science. Mr. Irwin is looking into the idea of forming a consortium of environmental groups within SWFL.
Member Questions/Comments
-Who do we talk to, what do we need to do with FDEP to initiate a BMAP for Matlacha and Pine Island Sound?
-Would we talk to the restoration wing or the regulatory side of FDEP?
-Why are a lot of the reporting station showing insufficient data or not reporting?
-Is nitrogen the main source of nutrients around load issues?
-How do load credits work?
-What do you see for the future of SW FL waterways if things don’t change?
-Is there any way to bring the Federal government to bear, in terms of the Clean Water Act, to get the State to act?
-MEMBER COMMENT: In the Chiquita Lock issue, Cape Coral spent nearly $1.5 million defending their right to remove the lock, while those in favor of keeping the lock in place have spent around $40 thousand. Litigation costs can be significant and often petitioners are litigating against heavily funded entities.
-MEMBER COMMENT: The State legislature passed the Live Local Act which suspends all of the land use plans and extended for 3 more years a moratorium so that no municipality, county, or state agency can restrict growth in any way. So, the only way we will get anywhere on these issues is to go into federal court using the Clean Water Act. Also, previous, infrastructure needed to be in place first to support growth, now growth may come without support of the appropriate infrastructure. Kevin has a good idea about forming a group, which should be supported by organizations like GPICA, that would lobby the FDEP to see if we could get a TMDL for this area.
-How do we get standing for federal challenges?
-Does the petitioner have to pay the other side’s legal fees?
-How do we assess the true value of our water resource locally?
Next meeting is FEBRUARY 6, which is also our annual meeting.
—Minutes respectfully submitted by Steve Eldredge, Acting Secretary