People

Against the tide

An outdoorsy gadfly uses his considerable skills as a researcher to gather data for the fight against a $110-million desalination plant in Apollo Beach.

By JAY CRIDLIN
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 21, 2003

APOLLO BEACH -- BJ Lower used to hunt pheasant. He paid his way through college by working summers at an oil field in Utah. He even did a little logging in Ashley National Forest.

"These guys could literally carve a tree into nothing in 20 minutes," he said.

This isn't the career path you'd expect of most environmentalists.

But as the technical director of Save Our Bays, Air and Canals (SOBAC), Lower is responsible for finding, organizing and understanding all of the complex scientific data needed to combat a $110-million desalination plant in Apollo Beach.

In other words, if anyone in Apollo Beach has a question about the environment, Lower is likely to know the answer.

"He's become kind of a citizen watchdog for all the pollution that's happening in the Apollo Beach area and that part of Tampa Bay," said Ralf Brookes, SOBAC's attorney. "The work that BJ does requires everyone else to think about the issues."

It's a nearly full-time job.

For the last five years, Lower has suffered from depression, keeping him from regular work. There have been spells where he's slept for days at a time, and others where he simply fell into deep slumps in the office.

"It got to the point where at work, I was literally falling asleep with my finger holding the key down," he said.

SOBAC has given Lower an outlet through which he can focus his energies and considerable skill as a researcher. At home, away from the anxiety of the workplace, he's comfortable researching oxidation levels, salinity discharge, and sea grass disappearance in Tampa Bay.

"When I'm depressed, I can always work on my computer," he said. "I played with my computer anyway, before I started working with desal. But now I've got a subject to always work on."

Lower (rhymes with power) has always taken an interest when it comes to water. Growing up, his father insisted that he and his brother take swimming and lifesaving lessons. He lives on a canal, scuba dives, and has long been an avid fisherman.

"I've fished all my life, since I was a little tiny kid fishing with my dad," he said. "I've always been catch-and-release."

Shortly after college, where he served as class president, Lower moved to Fort Lauderdale for a computer programming job at Electronic Data Systems, the company owned by H. Ross Perot.

A programming job at a tax firm took Lower to Sarasota, and a job with GTE brought him to Bahia Beach. Eleven years ago, he and his wife, Jan, moved to Apollo Beach.

At first, he didn't see many problems with the area's marine environment. But before long, he began seeing signs of trouble.

"What I noticed was, the fish were dropping way down," he said.

The problem was that as he moved up the coast, he was getting closer and closer to Tampa Energy Co.'s Big Bend and Gannon power plants. There were fewer sea grasses near the plants, and as a result, fewer fish.

Lower attended SOBAC's first meeting three years ago and signed up on the spot. Since then, he's served as president of the group, which now has more than 1,000 members.

His role as technical director meshes well with both his technical background and his lifestyle, which changed dramatically because of his depression.

Some nights, he said, he has stayed up until 3 a.m. doing research. When he met with environmental officials to discuss the desalination plant, he brought in 15 boxes of spreadsheets, water content readings and scientific data to support SOBAC'S arguments.

"It's very hard to keep track of all the different consent orders and administrative orders and notices of violations that happen at all these facilities," said Brookes. "He really puts in a long, hard day doing that, and he's done it for months and years on end."

Lower has brought in nationally recognized experts, such as Mike Champ, a former senior science adviser to the White House, to tour the bay in his specially rigged fishing boat. It is outfitted with high-tech fishing equipment, and he's borrowed instruments that measure water quality and oxidation levels.

SOBAC has focused its efforts largely on fighting the desalination plant, fighting land use permits and variances and costing the plant millions in delayed construction. Now that the plant is set to open by the end of May, the group will keep a close eye on wastewater and salt production there.

He also has his own part-time gig on Hillsborough Community College's radio station, where he co-hosts an environmental issues show every other Monday from 9 to 11 a.m. The show can be heard at www.hawkradio.com.

Lower recently taped an three-hour interview on his boat for a National Public Radio segment on the desalination plant, which will be able to pump out 25-million gallons of fresh water per day.

In recent months, he has trained his SOBAC friends how to do the same kind of research he's used to, lightening his load enormously.

"Getting ready for the desal plant," he said, "it got where it was taking all our time. Now, it's not that bad."

With the opening of the desalination plant looming, Lower is optimistic. He takes pride in the effect his organization has had on Apollo Beach's environmental consciousness.

"It's gotten a lot better," he said. "People are paying a lot more attention. And with SOBAC, really good things are starting to happen."

-- To learn more about Save Our Bays, Air and Canals, visit www.sobac.org. Jay Cridlin can be reached at 661-2442 or cridlin@sptimes.com .

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BJ Lower

WHAT BJ STANDS FOR: Bryan John
POSITION: Technical Director, Save Our Bays, Air and Canals (SOBAC)
WIFE: Jan
PETS: One cat, CiCi; one dog, Tasha; one angelfish, Pinky
GREENHOUSE EFFECT: When he and his wife first moved to Apollo Beach, their house was painted lime green, inside and out, except for one mustard-yellow bathroom.
BEST PRANK: In college, Lower and his friends were rival pranksters with a group of girls in the next dorm. Lower once organized a panty raid and hung all the captured underwear on 600 feet of telephone cord between the roofs of two buildings.
THE PRANK THAT MADE THEM DO IT: The girls had removed everything in Lower's room, even his aquarium, and set it up again perfectly in the study hall of their building.
WILD KINGDOM, PART 1: While working in the oil fields of Utah, Lower learned to catch, kill and eat a rattlesnake bare-handed.
WILD KINGDOM, PART 2: Lower used to wrestle a pet cougar his next-door neighbor once owned.
WILD KINGDOM, PART 3: Lower's prize fishing catch is a 9-foot tiger shark in the Keys. It took him two hours to reel in.
WHY NONE OF THAT SCARES HIM: He has completed lifesaving classes seven times.