The latest deal to save the Ocklawaha River dam not only ignores ecological concerns but puts the state on a crash course with the federal government.

Rodman Dam is like a bad habit the Florida Legislature just can't shake. Lawmakers know they should get rid of the dam on the Ocklawaha River before it gets the state in an expensive battle with the federal government, but they just can't bring themselves to do the right thing.

For years, governors, Cabinet members and environmentalists have vowed to breach the dam, and for years the Legislature found a way to protect it. Former Sen. George Kirkpatrick, R-Gainesville, usually led the way for the bass fishing industry, which wants to keep the dam and reservoir. In 1998, instead of acting to remove the dam, lawmakers renamed it the Kirkpatrick Dam. In 2000, Kirkpatrick's last year because of term limits, his attempt to declare the dam a state park failed only when powerful Republican moderates stopped it.

With Kirkpatrick gone and Gov. Jeb Bush favoring removal of the dam (he put $800,000 in his budget for it), many thought this would be the year the Legislature would decide to breach the dam and begin restoration of the beautiful Ocklawaha River. Instead, Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, filed a bill that would make the dam permanent, and it gained approval from two House committees.

Now, Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, told the Gainesville Sun he has struck a deal to keep the dam while spending $1-million to study river cleanup and $1.5-million to build a recreation center on the reservoir's shore. The future of the dam would be decided later. While King told the Sun the governor's office has agreed to the deal, a Bush spokesperson denied it. The deal makes little sense. If a recreation center is built on the reservoir, it would make it even harder to get rid of the dam.

The Rodman/Kirkpatrick dam and reservoir have changed the natural state of the Ocklawaha River and its banks. As part of a now defunct project to build a barge canal across the state, the 7,200-foot-long dam was completed in 1968. Construction destroyed 3,400 acres of forest, and the resulting reservoir flooded an additional 4,000 acres. Before the dam, the river was a jewel, with plentiful habitat for endangered and threatened species, including Florida sandhill cranes, black bears and manatees.

The reservoir is a favorite of bass fishermen and the businesses that serve them. But it has degraded the water in the reservoir and river. The dam keeps essential nutrients from moving downstream, which has "reduced fish and shellfish productivity in the lower Ocklawaha River and adjacent St. Johns River," according to a U.S. Forest Service report. Meanwhile, stagnant water behind the dam has increased the growth of nuisance plants such as hydrilla.

There is another problem. Some of the land under the dam and reservoir belongs to the Ocala National Forest. The federal government wants its land back, and if the state fails to go forward with plans to breach the dam and restore the river, the federal government could do the work itself and bill the state. That work has been estimated to cost between $5-million and $23-million. In the long run, however, keeping the dam will be even more expensive. The dam needs $2.5-million in repairs and costs $500,000 a year to operate. The state also might have to pay $9-million to owners of land flooded by the reservoir.

The deal by Sen. King to save the dam is just the latest attempt to forestall a decision on the dam and will cost the state millions of dollars more. Yet no amount of embarrassment, environmental damage or expense to taxpayers seems to shame the Legislature on this issue. It's difficult to shake a bad habit.

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