Local News
Indian River Dr. Violations
A St. Lucie County contractor working on the controversial Indian River Drive stabilization project could have illegally allowed dirt and pollutants to erode into the lagoon, a state pollution enforcement manager said .
I call this one "New and improved"
What a joke! This is what is being installed where the culverts are being replaced. As you can see it is as bad as before they replaced it. Runoff water will run right down the concrete and into the Indian River Lagoon. Is this an improvement? or just another example of how to spend our dollars without any regard for the environment. I would rather not have the culvert than to have this trash built on my private property.
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Indian River Drive was undermined when Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne eroded the steep bank separating the roadway and the Indian River Lagoon. County officials said the road was in danger of collapsing completely in some areas.
Their solution was a $30 million restoration plan that called for sloping the steep banks, lining the bottom 6 feet with concrete block and placing sod and other plants on the upper portion of the bank.
Officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection sent a "warning letter" to Dickerson Florida Inc. the Stuart-based contractor on the north end of Indian River Drive Jan. 11. The letter said to contact DEP within 15 days to discuss the problems about the controversial Indian River Drive stabilization project which could include illegally allowing dirt and pollutants to erode into the lagoon, a state pollution enforcement manager said.
With possible fines of up to $80,000 per day, it is the first time a state or federal agency raised formal concerns about the 14-mile project, which is the subject of two lawsuits and numerous resident complaints.
"A warning letter is fairly serious," said Geoff Rabinowitz, a state environmental administrator in Tallahassee. "There have been areas of erosion, and being directly alongside the Indian River Lagoon, there is a potential to discharge into the waterway."
County officials hope to complete the work by March 24 to get the maximum amount of federal money possible to pay for the project.
The county obtained a $3.3 million grant for native vegetation to help combat erosion along the bank.
Two lawsuits have been filed, one asking a federal judge to stop the project until a detailed environmental impact study is completed. That could take months or years.
A second lawsuit by 18 homeowners seeks to block the county from any work on their property.
Critics of the project said the county should use more natural materials than concrete and vegetation to combat erosion along the 13-mile project.
The letter said an inspector visited the site on Dec. 29 and again Jan. 4, 2005 and noticed several possible violations, including:
• Storm drains that allow sediment from the road to get into the Indian River Lagoon.
• A sediment barrier that should have been floating instead was partly buried in the sand.
• Fill dirt placed on the bank between the roadway and river was eroding.
Dickerson Vice President Bernie Barille did not return a phone call Wednesday seeking comment.
St. Lucie County Engineer Mike Powley said Dickerson and DEP are discussing the problems.
"Notice that the letter said 'potential violations,' " Powley said. "We will check the other two contractors to be sure they are in compliance."
He said no complaints have been filed against the other contractors and said Dickerson had the misfortune to be working in an area where "a complainer" lives.
Neither he nor the DEP documents identified the complainant.
In the letter, an inspector who visited the project in December outlined eight potential violations of a permit regarding a federal program called the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which demands contractors develop and implement a plan to control erosion into nearby waterways.
Officials with the program, administered through the DEP's Tallahassee office, were notified by local state environmental scientists after they received complaints and pictures from a resident.
Regarding the yellow barriers designed to stop dirt from flowing into the lagoon, the inspector wrote in the letter that "The floating turbidity barrier was entrenched in the sand on the beach" and "Erosion was noted undermining the floating turbidity barrier or washing soil over the barrier."
Neither a representative from Dickerson Florida nor St. Lucie County officials could be reached for comment.
Dirt seeping into the lagoon can increase the cloudiness of the water, smother sea grass beds and cause an overall decline in water quality.
Kevin Stinnette, executive director of the Indian Riverkeeper group who is suing the federal agencies funding the project, said erosion has been a problem since the work began in November.
"What is going on in the north is going on everywhere," said Stinnette, who also lives on Indian River Drive. "This morning, I saw the turbidity curtain in many pieces and large chunks on the beach again."
Rabinowitz said he was unaware of the details of the project, and hoped to learn more when he meets with a representatives of Dickerson Florida, one of three contractors working on the repairs.
If, after the meeting, it is determined that the violations did occur, the contractor can be fined up to $10,000 per violation per day, Rabinowitz said.
Still, Linda Nunn, the resident who complained to local scientists about the erosion into the lagoon, said she was disappointed that the main permitting agencies — the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers — did not respond to her concerns.
She also thought the process was taking so long that the project, scheduled to be completed by the end of March, could be finished before the issue is resolved.
"What's most infuriating is they're racing to dump as much as we can," she said. "All that's left is the dirt that will end up back in the water."
From a Compilation of Media Sources |
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I was very interested in the article that stated state and federal agencies were satisfied with the County's changes to fix erosion control problems. What fixes?
The turbidity booms are still on the beach, still buried, and there are areas where sediment is flowing in a steady stream into the lagoon.
I ran into the "three people monitoring the barriers" for the north project on my walk. Three folks with shovels digging up isolated areas of buried boom and setting it on top of the sand doesn't effectively change anything.
The sediment simply runs under the booms and into the lagoon. I have as yet to understand why a government entity is allowed to maliciously violate their permits, destroying a protected waterway, and nothing happens. If I did this I would be in jail!
As if the completely useless "erosion control measures" weren't enough to stomach at the start of my day, I found many other violations throughout the project. There is one area where several tires have been dumped with the fill onto the embankment.
Is this what qualifies as "clean fill" under the permit conditions? I also found several areas where recent rains caused significant erosion from the upper bank due to road run off.
Although I pointed out to both crews in the field and the County Engineer by e-mail weeks ago that debris and exotic foliage was being buried instead of removed, nothing was done.
In these areas of erosion debris is clearly visible, imbedded in the bank, where the contractor buried it. How stable will the bank be when the wood and plant material they buried has decomposed and the bank settles?
Again, there is absolutely nothing being done with any care or concern on this project. Its not enough that sediment is flowing freely into the lagoon, but garbage is now embedded in the banks of all private properties.
It is beyond comprehension to me, but it is obvious this County has simply "sold" the Indian River Lagoon for $30 million dollars.
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This one is called " No Tree left behind!" |
Here is a fine example as how they could have saved hundreds of trees. Look how they worked around this tree. The Contractor and the County engineer said that these trees would have to be removed in order for them to build this wall. Well I guess this tree snuck back down to the beach when no one was looking.
Everyday we see more and more trees cut down and removed, a few weeks ago I watched the Contractors destroy an old oak in the Walton Scrub area, when I asked why I was told because "it was in the way". If you drive from North to South each day you will see new piles of trees, many with the yellow tags still on them. Most of which could have been saved and left alone.
If you are as mad as I am over the destruction of something as sacred as the Indian River Lagoon, then isn't time you spoke up?
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Views below Sent by Adam Locke, John Holt and Linda Nunn contibutors |
We know what happens to a shoreline during stormy weather. Indeed, the shoreline is a result of the interaction of the energy of the water where it meets the solid land. Shorelines change shape and move in reaction to severe weather. We have seen it happen in our own lifetime.
There used to be an A1A on South Hutchinson Island that was washed away. Earlier inhabitants didn't even live on the barrier islands. Perhaps they knew better, but we're still permitting development on the beachfront.
In California, decades of clearing and development have put homes where there should still be trees and other plants to stabilize the hillsides.
Where there are still appreciable trees, many years of "management" and prevention of the natural fires has left enough fuel for occasional catastrophic fires which kill the forest, leaving nothing to hold the soil in place, or prevent flooding of the valleys.
Again, recognition of natural controls, better planning and a better rein on "sprawl" would have prevented much misery.
The entire state of Florida sits atop a limestone block. Limestone is porous and soluble in water. Florida's limestone is saturated with water. Now how much water do you suppose you can pump out before some of the caverns that have been dissolved out of the limestone begin to collapse?
And the poor abused Indian River. We have in our front yard one of the finest, most productive lagoons in the United States, and an economic boon for the area. Yet we further its destruction by destroying native vegetation and applying armor in an ill-conceived attempt to maintain a roadway that overlooks it.
There is a natural process going on here, just like on the oceanfront. We are guaranteeing the next generation a poorer Indian River and a more extensive and expensive new seawall to build later on.
We could have patched up the old road and started immediately building a new road up on top of or slightly behind the ridge where it will eventually have to go anyway.
It would mean biting the bullet and paying for our own mistakes rather than just feigning ignorance and leaving it for tomorrow's citizens to face.
What we need is an Environmental Department in our county government, one that can overrule the engineers when necessary. A group that understands that our environment has its own rules, and trying to live within them is much easier and far less expensive than insisting on having our own way all the time, regardless of the rules.
A little attention to reality, greater recognition of scientific knowledge, a lot less arrogance, and more thought for the future might prevent some of the costly bulldozer solutions. I would like to see the legacy of my generation shined up a bit.
John Holt
Linda Nunn
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