The people turned this hysteria into sanity

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By HOWARD TROXLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 2, 2001

Hysteria prevailed over science.

-- state Sen. Ken Pruitt, on the defeat of the plan to pump untreated water into Florida's aquifer

With all respect for the well-drillin' Sen. Pruitt:

No, it didn't.

What prevailed was restraint by the people of Florida in the face of the unknown.

The only "hysteria" over storing untreated water in Florida's aquifer was the hysteria inside the Legislature to ram it through despite the mixed scientific opinion.

The Senate tripped over itself to pass it. The House even mocked that handful of members who tried to speak out against it. The governor was itching to sign it into law.

Only sissies worry. Real men drill first and ask questions later. Hey, don't worry, we'll monitor it for you once it's down there.

All in all, it might have been the weirdest display of flat-earth thinking in a state capital since Tennessee debated rounding off "pi" to an even 3.

The Legislature's bosses said, this is a done deal. The members obeyed. All that was left was a final Senate vote, a technicality.

Then something interesting happened.

People took notice.

We're talking about actual citizens, who took time from their daily lives to do something. They called their legislators. They wrote letters. Some of them even protested, in an unorganized, actual-citizen kind of way.

Les Miller is a state senator from Tampa, a Democrat. He is not a bad guy, but he said something that sounded stupid when he voted yes the first time: If the aquifer gets polluted, he said, "I'll be the first one to apologize."

He heard from the people, too. A week later, realizing perhaps that he hadn't given it enough thought, Miller announced that he was changing his vote. It was a sign that the ground in Tallahassee was shifting.

Pruitt now complains that "extremists" are "costing the Everglades $400-million." No they're not. They are preserving a corner that the Legislature was trying to cut. (Remember, the issue is whether to store untreated water, while current law requires the water to be treated first.)

Gov. Jeb Bush also was whiny in defeat. Bush grumbled that he still thinks it is a good plan but that he wouldn't ask his political friends to take a vote that could be "grossly distorted."

Distort this:

At the very best -- at the very best -- the verdict on this process is not in. The National Academy of Sciences says so. The EPA says so. Some states won't allow it. A University of Miami scientist calls the idea "idiocy."

The governor and his environmental chief, David Struhs, say the pumping can be carried out safely. Here is the key point: Maybe they're right. The point is, how do we know?

In a news release, Struhs' office says the department now will "pursue a more comprehensive scientific understanding" of the process. "The best available experts will be identified to review the soundness and objectivity of the current science in this area."

(A friend of mine says the headline should read: "Cart Found To Work Better With Horse In Front.")

In short, they didn't prove it to enough people on the front end. And you don't test whether something is risky on the scale of 1-billion gallons a day. Neither do you ram it through the Legislature with raw power.

It was every bit as unfair for the governor to ask this of the people of Florida on faith as it is for his brother, the president of the United States, to ask us to accept oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

So the people didn't accept it. In the end, that's the only important thing.

- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.

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