News

Be Informed.

Member Portal

Unanimous Decision to Damage Silver Springs Just a Little More

sj-approval1

 

sj-approval1
Precise Moment When Board Chairman Miklos Gives Sleepy Creek Its Permit

Today the St. Johns Governing Board followed the advice of their staff and legal advisors and decided, unanimously, to accept the recommendation of Administrative Judge E. Gary Early who ruled in favor of Sleepy Creek Lands, against the environmentalists and the springs.

No one in the large crowd in attendance was surprised.  Board members  listened to four or five speak in favor of agriculture, and to dozens who spoke against the permit.

robbins
Mr. Robbins began the mechanisms for the vote. Ironically, he is a member of the Jacksonville Environmental Protection Board.

After a few questions regarding monitoring the withdrawal,  some board members began praising the St Johns staff for their diligence and competence, and extolling the cattle industry as a clean and exemplary enterprise.  The lauditory remarks continued as several members expressed their admiration for Sleepy Creek and the benefits this foreign corporation would bring to Central Florida, a prelude to the unanimous vote.

bournique In: Unanimous Decision to Damage Silver Springs Just a Little More | Our Santa Fe River, Inc. (OSFR) | Protecting the Santa Fe River
Mr. Bournique describes the cattle industry as the “Crown Jewel” of Florida

 

The term “public interest” was repeated many times over in the room.  First by several speakers who politely pointed out that permitting this additional damage to an already damaged springs system was certainly not in the public interest, then later by attorneys for Sleepy Creek and then the water district, who said the opposite.

None of the board members voiced concerns over the drawdown of the springs, and obviously did not believe  those who repeatedly pointed out that this permit was an additional step in the deliberate killing of our resources.  Or if they did believe, they felt it was not important.

At any rate, a controversial decision was reached by a controversial board, still smarting over recent firings of staff said by some to be the victims of political cleansings in order to remove obstacles to damaging and unconscionable actions such as those which transpired today in the district of the St Johns Water Managers.

sj-kids1
“Out of the mouth of babes. . .” but no one listened

 

You might be interested in …

13 Comments

  1. Typical Republican shortsightedness, preferring corporate profiteering in the here and now for the 1% meanwhile sacrificing the long term good for the rest of the 99%. Disgusting decision.

  2. I really didn’t “like” this decision at all today although nearly everyone attending knew what the outcome was going to be. When will our public officials stand up and do the right thing?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to content