Grand Canal dredging project in the Indian River Lagoon
The Grand Canal muck dredging project is on a required break to accommodate manatees who frequent the warmer canal water.
Dredging removes the rancid organic gunk on the bottom, clearing the water of excess sediment and algae that cloud sunlight from reaching seagrass — vital food and habitat for manatees, fish, and other marine life.
According to Brevard County Natural Resource Management Department, 426,117 cubic yards of muck have been removed. Resulting in the reduction of 1,957,257 pounds of Nitrogen and 430,596 pounds of Phosphorus. Those nutrients fuel further algae growth.
Estimates are that 5 million to 7 million cubic yards of organic muck cover the lagoon bottom in Brevard, the legacy of more than a half-century of runoff and erosion.
Dredging is not a lagoon cure-all but a move to correct an ecological crisis decades in the making, resulting in widespread algal blooms, seagrass, fish, and manatee die-offs.
Money for the Grand Canal project is from the 10-year half-cent sales tax voters OK'd in 2016, coupled with state funding.
Straight-talk about the lagoon.
If you have questions about projects to restore the Indian River Lagoon, there’s an event tomorrow where you can get answers. WFIT’s Rick Glasby has details:
The Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition is hosting a Lagoon Straight Talk event this evening. Learn about the impact that restoration projects are having on the Lagoon. And the state required septic tank upgrades. The event is free, but room is limited, so register at HelpTheLagoon.org.
The event starts at 5:30 this evening at the Eau Gallie Civic Center on Highland Avenue.
Florida Rep. Joel Rudman files bill to allow open carry
State Rep. Joel Rudman, who is running for Congress in a special election, filed a bill Monday to allow guns to be carried openly in public in Florida.
Rudman stated, “It reiterates my commitment to freedom and to the Constitution. My bill repeals Florida’s unconstitutional red flag laws and makes Florida an open carry state. ’Shall not be infringed’ will mean something here in the Gunshine state!”
The bill would also allow guns to be carried in polling places, on college campuses and in career centers – all places where firearms are currently banned under state law.The red flag law allows friends or family members of an individual, or law enforcement officials themselves, to petition a court to confiscate their firearms if they’re deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
Judge Weighs Oil Drilling Plan
Monday, an administrative law judge heard arguments in a hearing in a legal fight about a plan to drill for oil and gas in part of rural Northwest Florida.
The environmental organization Apalachicola Riverkeeper is challenging a draft permit that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved for drilling an exploratory well in an unincorporated area of Calhoun County between Tallahassee and Panama City.
At a rally outside the DEP headquarters Monday, Apalachicola Riverkeeper Executive Director Susan Anderson said the plan poses an unacceptably high environmental risk to the nearby Apalachicola River and that oil and gas has never been found in Calhoun County or in immediately surrounding areas.
“If there is one clear land use principle, it’s that you don’t put heavy industrial uses adjacent to one of the most pristine environments that we have left in the entire world.”
Attorneys for the company said the environment would be “thoroughly protected,” and commercially viable oil and gas likely will be found.
More: www.floridatoday.com