Riverkeeper Sues. Chamber Bails.

Jacksonville, FL —  In one week’s time, a year’s worth of stakeholder negotiations on the Jacksonville harbor dredging may be dead in the water.  On August 6, Mayor Curry unexpectedly disbanded the Port Task Force which was set to reconvene this month.  On August 11, the St. Johns Riverkeeper said it will sue the feds over the lack of environmental mitigation on the project.  On August 14, the Chamber of Commerce pulled out of an agreement with the riverkeeper and the city to help seek the additional mitigation.

The riverkeeper announced on Tuesday it is filing a Notice of Intent to sue the Army Corps of Engineers over the Corps’ port analysis.  The group has been studying the economic and environmental impact of dredging for three years, and has said all along if it would only sue if it couldn’t get its concerns addressed.  They made several presentations to the Port Task Force detailing concerns with the Corps’ analysis, and recommended restoring the Ocklawaha River by removing the Rodman Dam as mitigation for increased salinity from dredging, which the task force had agreed with.

In Tuesday’s press release, riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman said, “Once the damage is done, there is no turning back  We simply cannot afford to get this decision wrong.”  She went on to state the Corps’ lack of adequate mitigation forced them to challenge the project.  Other concerns with the Corps’ Environmental Impact Statement are:

• Two different salinity models were used for the river and the tributaries, making the “evaluation unreliable.”
• The economic analysis is incomplete because it doesn’t take into account the effect of competition by other ports who are also dredging.
• Impacts of blasting on endangered species, like North Atlantic right whales, sea turtles, manatees, and shortnose sturgeon wasn’t adequately studied.
• The proposed mitigation of about $3M to buy conservation land has no direct impact on the river and falls far short of a meaningful amount.

In early 2015, the riverkeeper had entered into a non-binding agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Jacksonville to work together to obtain the state’s approval and funding to remove the Rodman Dam. The agreement was hailed at the time as a successful pairing of the environmental community, the business community, and government.  But fissures soon appeared when Putnam County officials, where the dam is located, expressed outrage at not having been included in the talks.  Chamber CEO Daniel Davis appeared at a town hall meeting in Putman County in February to apologize to county officials and citizens for excluding them from the talks and for not informing them before the agreement was made public.  At the meeting, he agreed to “start over” with Putnam officials at the table.  Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman said she was still hopeful the issue would be taken up in the 2015 Legislative Session in March or April.

On March 17, the St. Johns River Caucus met in Senate chambers in Tallahassee.  The caucus is made up of legislators from all the counties that touch the river, and was formed in 2010 by then state Senator John Thrasher to keep legislators focused on issues affecting the St. Johns River. Rinaman stated her case for removal of the dam, followed by numerous Putnam County officials who strongly opposed it.  In the end, legislators did not take any action on the issue.  At a later task force meeting in Jacksonville, political consultant Susie Wiles said plans were in the works to get the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to update its report recommending approval of Rodman Dam removal and to bring the issue before the 2016 legislative session.

After the Jacksonville mayoral change in May, the task force was temporarily on hold.  Newly-elected Mayor Curry indicated he would reconvene the task force in August, but then ended up disbanding August 8, stating the city would work directly with the port authority, JaxPort, to obtain funding.  The task force had been about two meetings away from concluding its mission, co-chair John Baker had told the group.  They had already voted in favor of the project, but planned to recommend much more in mitigation than the Corps’ plan of about $3M.  The task force planned to seek $50M, of which half was for removal of the Rodman Dam, and half for other projects that would directly benefit the river.  “This is a moment in time to have a top notch port and take the quality of our river to another level,” co-chair Hap Stein had said when the vote was taken.

The chamber’s announcement today caught Rinaman by surprise, who, just like in Putnam County, had not been informed about the Chamber’s decision prior to it being made public. The chamber blamed its decision on the fact that permits haven’t been issued for the dam removal,  which Rinaman called “disingenuous.”  “The permitting is not an issue,” she said.

After filing the Notice of Intent to Sue Tuesday, the riverkeeper will have 60 days to actually file the lawsuit.