EAA Reservoir Archives

Big Sugar’s big lie

Big Sugar wants you to think Everglades restoration is approaching the finish line. The pollution data tell a starkly different story. Last week, after Gov. DeSantis’ dog-and-pony show at the $4 billion Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, Florida Crystals issued a press release hailing the project as “the final and most important project to restore the southern Everglades.” “We commend the Governor and the Army Corps for this milestone in finalizing Everglades restoration," a Florida Crystals executive said in the press release. (Emphasis mine.) Final? It’s a laughable claim. The EAA Reservoir project is being built on a shrunken-down footprint (just one-fourth of the land needed), with insufficient cleansing marshes — even as pollution from Big Sugar’s fields continues to [...]

Allie Preston2026-04-21T09:44:40-04:00April 21st, 2026|EAA Reservoir, Rescue the River of Grass, Voice of the Everglades|

Beyond the EAA Reservoir: Florida must plan the next phase of Everglades restoration

https://www.youtube.com/live/HVlOhhhnqIM?si=emUmXWJ91uiKwQsM&t=2052 WATCH as Friends of the Everglades policy director Gil Smart voices concerns about declaring premature victory regarding the completion of CERP at the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting November 13, 2025. In recent comments to the SFWMD Governing Board, Friends of the Everglades policy director Gil Smart cautioned that completing the EAA Reservoir won’t mark the end of Everglades restoration. Decades of scientific consensus show that roughly a million additional acre-feet of water storage is still needed south of Lake Okeechobee to truly protect the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and deliver enough clean water to the Everglades and Florida Bay. In his comments, Smart urged governing board members to begin planning now for the [...]

Allie Preston2025-11-18T11:40:10-05:00November 18th, 2025|All Posts, EAA Reservoir, Rescue the River of Grass|

WATCH NOW — A major Everglades project is failing us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekjAbMkFi2E From the desk of our Executive Director, Eve Samples, your Voice of the Everglades update: There’s a mantra in journalism that often arose during my two decades in the news business: “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.” In other words: verify, verify, verify. That philosophy guides our work at Friends of the Everglades, too. We don’t take politicians’ talking points at face value. We let science lead the way — and we make sure government agencies follow through on promises to the public. Regrettably, we just discovered a major Everglades restoration project is falling WAY short of promised environmental goals. The Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir A-2 STA is a 6,500 acre man-made marsh [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-19T16:46:31-04:00August 20th, 2024|EAA Reservoir, Voice of the Everglades|

Proposal for EAA Reservoir STA will not reduce harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges

Will this STA become just another tool for cleaning up sugarcane pollution? Friends of the Everglades is on high alert after learning how state and federal water managers intend to use the A-2 Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) — a crucial component of the $4 billion EAA Reservoir project. Much political fanfare surrounds this 6,500-acre man-made marsh, which was billed to the public as a remedy for harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges that are dumped on the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and Lake Worth Lagoon. Just six months ago Gov. Ron DeSantis attended a ribbon-cutting for the project and touted its benefits: “When I signed our executive order when I first took office back in 2019, [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-15T13:03:08-04:00August 15th, 2024|All Posts, EAA Reservoir, Friends of the Everglades Statements, LOSOM|

Miami Herald op-ed: A vicious legal battle is the result of putting politics over science

The following op-ed was published in the Miami Herald on January 22, 2024. As scientists with collectively more than five decades of experience in the Everglades, we know the critical importance of transparency in science. Restoring the Everglades is the most complex ecosystem restoration project on the planet. It’s expected to cost taxpayers $23 billion (and counting). The merits or shortcomings of any Everglades project must be openly vetted to ensure the public interest is served. The crux of that vetting is science. Withholding or distorting science to fit politically palatable outcomes does not serve the greater good. The open exchange of research, models and data is the accepted gold standard. That’s why the legal action brought by the [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-15T12:04:29-04:00January 29th, 2024|EAA Reservoir, Everglades Restoration, Science-driven solutions|

Everglades in the News: The New York Times spotlights the truth about toxic algae

The front page of Monday’s New York Times spotlighted a threat we contemplate every day at Friends of the Everglades: Lake Okeechobee, still full from Hurricane Ian’s deluge last fall, is now brimming with fertilizer-fueled toxic algae. That toxic algae is likely to be discharged east toward the Atlantic and west toward the Gulf of Mexico as the lake rises this rainy season, posing a threat to our environment, economy, and public health. It’s a crisis we’ve been working to resolve for years, as the government-supported sugarcane industry continues to occupy about a half-million acres south of Lake Okeechobee — impeding true restoration of the River of Grass. The story also highlights Friends of the Everglades’ commitment to science-backed solutions [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-15T12:05:12-04:00July 11th, 2023|All Posts, EAA Reservoir, Lake Okeechobee, LOSOM, Science-driven solutions|

An open letter from our Board in support of Dr. Tom Van Lent

We’re standing up for scientific integrity in the Everglades Dr. Tom Van Lent is among the most knowledgeable scientists in the world when it comes to America’s Everglades. In recent months we have been proud to work alongside him in his new role as Senior Scientist for Friends of the Everglades, where his expertise informs and sharpens our mission to save this unique ecosystem. Yet this week, on May 10 and 11, Dr. Van Lent faces a hearing on criminal contempt charges brought against him by his former employer, the Everglades Foundation. Because we respect the Everglades Foundation’s history as a nonprofit colleague with decades of experience advocating for protection of the Everglades and South [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-15T12:04:48-04:00May 8th, 2023|EAA Reservoir, Friends of the Everglades Statements|

Recording Available Now! Clean Water Conversations: What’s up with the EAA Reservoir?

Thank you to everyone that joined us today for our Clean Water Conversation surrounding the EAA Reservoir. If you missed parts of the conversation or want to share this with a friend, you can find the full recording HERE. https://youtu.be/vXu-UAoBr8s A big thank you goes out to Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch and Diana Umpierre for making this a successful and informative event. Today's topic of conversation will continue to evolve. We'll be sure to pass on new information and chances for the public to weigh in on the project as we come across them. We’ll keep you posted and hope you’ll join us for the next Clean Water Conversation. By the way, this effort is funded by people like you who care about protecting [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-15T12:03:06-04:00May 21st, 2020|All Posts, Clean Water Conversations, EAA Reservoir, Everglades Restoration|

Join us virtually! Clean Water Conversation: What’s up with the EAA Reservoir?

What are you doing at noon Thursday? If you’re working from home, as I am, I hope you’ll grab a sandwich and tune in live to our next Clean Water Conversation, streamed via Friends of the Everglades’ Facebook page. The topic: What’s up with the EAA Storage Reservoir? No concept has dominated the conversation about Everglades restoration more than this project, and we have some important new developments to discuss. The $1.8 billion reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee is intended to send clean water south to the Everglades, while delivering a degree of relief from toxic Lake Okeechobee discharges to the northern estuaries. But the EAA Reservoir, as planned, is a shadow of the 60,000-acre undertaking once envisioned for the [...]

Allie Preston2024-08-15T12:03:14-04:00May 19th, 2020|All Posts, Clean Water Conversations, EAA Reservoir, Everglades Restoration|

Are We For or Against the Everglades Reservoir? (From Bullsugar)

So are we for the EAA reservoir, or aren’t we? This question, swirling around Everglades policy circles all winter, touched off a string of debate-club arguments that left everyone confused and divided. Which is exactly what it was supposed to do.It’s a dishonest question, asked mostly by people who don’t really care whether the reservoir delivers meaningful relief to the Everglades or the impacted fisheries. If you do care, you can’t answer yes or no without knowing what we're getting: how much clean water will go to Florida Bay, how much dirty water will be kept out of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie? No one really knows. But if the reservoir can deliver the performance engineers at the South Florida Water Management District say it [...]

admin2024-08-15T12:03:40-04:00March 20th, 2018|EAA Reservoir|