U.S. Rep. Brian Mast's bill to feds: Treat toxic algae blooms as disasters

April 14--RIO -- U.S. Rep. Brian Mast wants the federal government to know what Treasure Coast residents have known for generations: Algae blooms are a disaster.

On Friday the Republican congressman from Palm City unveiled the language of a bill he plans to file calling for harmful algae blooms caused by "a water transfer carried out by the (Army) Corps of Engineers" to be eligible for disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Currently, algae blooms like the one that blanketed much of the St. Lucie River with toxic sludge last summer are not listed in the legislation -- the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act -- that tells FEMA which disasters to respond to.

Mast noted that last July, the Obama administration twice turned down Gov. Rick Scott's requests that counties affected be declared a disaster area because FEMA was not authorized to clean up algae blooms.

If the bill Mast is calling the "Federal Do No Harm Act of 2017" had been in effect then, he said, "the president would have OK'd the request."

In fact, a FEMA official said at the time Scott's request was denied because he failed to prove the state wasn't able to handle the "severity and magnitude" of the blooms without federal help.

"The state of Florida is the (fourth) largest state in the nation with a population of almost 20 million people," FEMA spokesman Rafael Lemaitre told Treasure Coast Newspapers in mid-July 2016. "The state has robust capability to respond to emergencies and disasters."

Scene of the grime

Mast unveiled the text of his bill at Outboards Only, a marina and boat repair shop on the north shore of the St. Lucie River in the Rio community that had thick mats of toxic blue-green algae in its football-field-sized boat basin last summer.

Mast's bill doesn't specify how algae blooms would be removed. That would be up to FEMA, he said, adding he would push for using "local resources."

Stuart-based Ecosphere Technologies removed the algae from Outboards Only in a weeklong effort from July 9 to 15, but the work was "not viewed favorably" by Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Several Ecosphere employees demonstrated their certainty the water was clean by jumping into the boat basin when the project was completed.

Speaking alongside Mast, Outboards Only owner Chris Hope said Friday his business lost about $180,000 because of the bloom.

It wasn't the only water-related businesses in Martin and St. Lucie counties seriously affected by the algae blooms. Numerous bait shops, kayak and paddleboard renters and boat dealers and repair shops reported lost revenue; and a few closed.

Tourism spending in Martin County fell $4.8 million in 2016 and hotel room demand was down 3.3 percent while it was up 1.2 percent statewide.

Research by the Florida Realtors showed that the dirtier the water in the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, the less homes along and near the water are worth. The study concluded that for every 1-foot decrease in water clarity in the river and lagoon, Martin County's total property value drops by $428 million.

Cleaning up algae "doesn't make things right, but it makes things better," Mast said.

The bill he plans to file when he returns to Washington on April 24 should get support in Congress, Mast said, "because there are algae blooms in places nationwide."

Hold accountable

Holding the federal government in general and the Corps specifically responsible for environmental and economic damage done by the discharges has come up before.

At an August 2013 hearing in Stuart, state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, asked why, if a business or private citizen can be prosecuted for polluting state waters, can't the Corps be held accountable for discharges killing the St. Lucie Estuary.

Herschel Vinyard, then head of the state Department of Environmental Protection, replied succinctly: Actions by the Corps are exempt from lawsuits under the federal Clean Water Act in matters of flood control and navigation.

The Rivers Coalition, a consortium of environmental groups, homeowners associations, fishing clubs and businesses, filed a federal lawsuit against the Corps in 2006 alleging pollution from Lake Okeechobee was an unconstitutional "taking" of riparian rights of waterfront property owners.

The lawsuit was shot down when both a trial judge and a federal appeals court ruled it was filed after the six-year statute of limitations had run out.

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