Kelly: Algae, pressure on Caloosahatchee front-of-mind for Army Corps
Emphasizing that the current third iteration of the controversial Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) is still in flux, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Jacksonville District Commander Col. Andrew Kelly talked to members of the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce about the importance of algae blooms and the Caloosahatchee River as manual evolution goes forward.
He spoke to a gathering of 140 at the Aug. 11 luncheon business meeting at the Pink Shell Beach Resort on Fort Myers Beach, in partnership with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association.
“What you’ve seen so far isn’t really what it’s (LOSOM) going to look like in the end,” Capt. Daniel Andrews, with Captains for Clean Water, said in introducing Kelly.
He called LOSOM the legacy of Kelly, who announced earlier that day his impending 2022 retirement while introducing Col. James Booth as his successor.
Andrews commended attending chamber leaders John Lai of Sanibel-Captiva, Jacki Liszak of Fort Myers Beach and Colleen DePasquale of Greater Fort Myers for their strong roles in encouraging advocacy about water quality issues, resulting in more than 9,000 letters landing on Kelly’s desk.
Kelly admitted he welcomed and read all the letters.
“We wanted this to be a process where everybody participates, where everything is openly discussed,” he said. “We ask for your input. We ask for your criticism. We’ve learned a ton from it. Our stakeholders teach us a lot.”
Whereas most water control manuals require 18 months for completion, the Army Corps planned a timeframe from 2018 through 2022 for LOSOM. He walked attendees through the years to this point in layman terms, asserting that “Mother Nature is absolutely in charge. What the Corps has to do is to seize opportunities that Mother Nature gives us to do good.”
Kelly promised that future iterations of LOSOM would strive to alleviate the problem of too much stress on the Caloosahatchee and to send more water south. In the end, the manual will provide overarching guidelines, instead of arbitrary constraints, he said. The goal has more flexibility to make decisions based on natural conditions, especially the presence of algae bloom and favorable algal conditions.
“How we’re going to get the most bang for our buck when we talk about algae is how we make the day-to-day decisions,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to operationalize that.”
He assured attendees that the Army Corps is paying attention to the needs of Southwest Florida.
“It’s a personal thing that this team is working tremendously hard on … Thanks to opportunities like this, the plan continues to get better,” Kelly said.
Comments from the audience thanked him, especially for his intervention with the 2018 algae crisis that killed tons of marine life and very nearly tourism in the area.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who serves the 19th Congressional District, spoke briefly to also commend Kelly’s work and encourage optimism and continued advocacy among his constituents.
“Repeat with me: This process is not over,” he insisted three times until responses strengthened.
“All in all, the meeting brought more hope than controversy to the forefront,” Lai, president and chief executive officer of the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce, said. “We thank the colonel’s team, FRLA, and our sponsors for such a productive meeting and for helping make possible the beautiful beach view — free of any negative algae impact — we were able to enjoy that afternoon.”
Captains for Clean Water and Rapid Response Team co-sponsored the meeting.