Instead, Focus on July 7 to Ask Martin County Commissioners to Support Lawsuit.

Let's take a day off, Gang. There will be no meeting for June.

We'd like everyone to focus on the Martin County Commission to request that it support our federal lawsuit aimed at halting the periodic discharges from Lake Okeechobee that devastate our great St. Lucie estuary.

We're asking the commission to file an amicus petition in support of the lawsuit pending in the Court of Federal Claims in Washington.

"There's just no excuse for the commission to ignore this opportunity to help stop the damaging discharges," said Rivers Coalition Chairman Leon Abood.

Although the city of Stuart and town of Sewall's Point strongly support the lawsuit, the county commission majority in past years has stayed on the sidelines. Now, however, a new mix of commissioners is to take a fresh look at the lawsuit on July 7 (we'll confirm in a follow-up notice).

The lawsuit on behalf of 22 waterfront property owners contends that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violates the constitution by sending polluted water from inland into the St. Lucie in wet times. That amounts to a taking of riparian rights, according to the action. (See details at www.RiversCoalition.org.)

The plaintiffs do not seek any personal gain and have waived rights to compensation. Instead, the ultimate goal is to have excess lake water sent south through a new storage-flowway.
Rivers Coalition members and other concerned citizens should plan to attend the county commission session to request full support of the board.