On Monday, Governor Rick Scott’s office announced the state would spend nearly $2.2 million to expand research into ways to control the massive red tide outbreak along the Gulf Coast of Florida. One experimental treatment is to use ozone to kill red tide algae. Another is to use “a form of specialized clay to quell the effects of red tide.” But opponents are skeptical. That includes the Florida chapter director with Sierra Club, Frank Jackalone.
“They’ve experimented with clay before. Mote Marine Laboratory has been experimenting with clay for fifteen years. And clay has not proven to be the panacea and the instant solution that people thought it would be.
“It produces other ecological effects that could be far worse. So what you’re doing is you’re spreading all this clay all over this very large red tide area. The clay then combines with the red tide [organism] and theoretically sinks it to the bottom of the Gulf where then it coats the Gulf of Mexico. And then it kills other sea life in the process. So, this may be a sure way of killing the Gulf long-term just to get rid of the red tide bloom.
“Let me remind your listeners about the BP oil spill disaster. The solution that we came up with, unfortunately, was spraying Corexit over the BP oil spill. Corexit is a dispersant and it dispersed the oil but the oil didn’t go away. And the Corexit then caused additional problems in the Gulf of Mexico. So that now you had two problems: the oil residual plus the toxic dispersant. That made the Gulf of Mexico that much more sick. And we don’t want to repeat that with this kind of solution.
“The other thing I’ll mention is that this clay is an experimental clay that’s coming from China. So, it is highly dependent on our being able to buy the clay from China, getting adequate supplies, then testing it in the Gulf of Mexico to make sure that it works, making sure that there aren’t other harmful effects.
“And it’s not just clay. They combine the clay with an artificial polymer. So that then you really have a substance that is foreign to the Gulf of Mexico going in there. And nobody really knows what the impacts will be.
“So if anybody thinks this is a quick fix, it’s not. This is something they’re going to research and test over several years before they apply it to the Gulf as a whole. And the better solution is to immediately take action to enforce our clean water laws in the state of Florida, stop the pollution that is fueling these red tide blooms.”
Listen:
Here’s a link to the FWC Red Tide FAQ.
3 Responses to “Sierra Club criticizes use of clay to stem red tide outbreak”
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Mote has been talking about red tide for about 50 years, and saying that they have been studying red tide for about 40 years now. Over the last couple of decades Mote has received millions of dollars, almost all via political pork from politicians like Vern Buchanan. After all of that Mote has shown no meaningful results at all, now we now find ourselves in the midst of the largest, most severe, and longest lasting red tide in history. Ironically Mote now will get millions more in political pork based on its useless (except perhaps for a few wealthy canal-front mansion owners) ozonation (that has been used for aquarium disinfection for decades) and totally infeasible and potentially environmentally dangerous clay treatment. While coastal environments were being damaged by uncontrolled development and environmental damage during those 40=50 years, Mote totally avoided being involved in or spending donated funding toward environmental protection. Its administrators insisted that its scientists not involve themselves in environmental protection because many/most of its donors and sources of political pork were closely financially tied to development and real estate self interests. Now Mote’s CEO is saying that politicians like Rick Scott, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush bear no responsibility for environmental neglect and lack of attention and funding that culminated with the the most severe red tide ever — another example of Mote’s caring only about obtaining more political pork funding by not alienating the politicians that provide that pork. There may not be any realistic solution to red tid, and reversing all the environmental damage that has occurred over those decades may not be possible. In the mean-time, the public should see Mote for what it is — a private self-serving organization that cares about more money and that has no accountability for what it does or for how little it accomplishes. If there is to be real science and real progress, funding for red tide should be done through a process of peer-reviewed competitive grants allowing the universities and research institutions to compete for funding on an accountable basis based on the strength of their science, ideas, and their record of accomplishment and productivity with the funds they have received. Throwing more pork to Mote for red tide is not the answer. Monitoring of red tide and red tide research should be done by State agencies who have direct responsibility and accountability to Florida citizens and environment.
My Seniments Exactly
It’s important to point out that Mote monitors the open waters of Sarasota Bay for impacts of stormwater runoff, including nutrient loads that contribute to proliferation of red tide. This monitoring program for MS4 permits was developed in collaboration with Mote, CDM (then consultant to Sarasota Co.) and FDEP, with close family ties between employees of Mote and CDM. Conflicts of interest aside, Mote and others (including the NEP) continue to cast a blind eye on these inputs without regular monitoring of the very point discharges that contribute to water quality and red tide problems. Why? Because they receive funding from the county, city and others and don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them! Of course they will take political handouts that are nothing more than a smokescreen to fool the public into thinking they care and Scott, etc. should be elected. Grifters are everywhere in political circles, which seems to be spilling over to the scientific community ($$$$). Scott has all but eliminated good science at the FDEP, Buchanan and his 1% buddies on LBK are only worried about red tide’s impacts on their properties only, DiSantos has jumped on the bandwagon as someone who “suddenly” has knowledge of the situation (just another lawyer politician looking for money and notoriety). If someone recommended clay and ozone treatment in Lake Okeechobee it wouldn’t be economically feasible. But the Gulf of Mexico? This doesn’t pass the straight face test. So unmonitored stormwater, industrial, and agricultural runoff continues to impact our waters unabated. Enforcement is nonexistent. Please vote for politicians who have at least some idea of what science is in November. Chances are they won’t be Republican.