There was deafening silence from sugar executives Friday in the wake of Sen. Bill Nelson’s suggestion the government seize their land to save Treasure Coast waters from algae blooms that are suffocating sea life and forcing people to wear masks because of the stench. Representatives of Florida Crystals did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment. A spokesman for U.S. Sugar declined to answer questions from Treasure Coast Newspapers. Nelson, during a visit here Thursday to view the thick toxic algae holding Treasure Coast waters hostage, said he supports using eminent domain to help restore the natural flow of Lake Okeechobee water south, instead of sending it east and west, where the polluted fresh water is destroying local economies. A seizure of land south of the lake would allow water to follow its historical course south without wreaking havoc on the environment. When government uses eminent domain to acquire private property, it must go through a court proceeding to offer the owner what’s been determined as a fair price and prove it’s for the good of the public. Eminent domain cases can lead to lengthy lawsuits on land compensation, said attorney Andrew Brigham of the Brigham Property Rights Law Firm in Jacksonville, a firm solely devoted to eminent-domain issues. “If the government and the private individual or entity cannot agree, it may be a jury trial that decides what the measure of compensation is,” Brigham said. Sen. Marco Rubio supports finishing water-conservation and protection projects already on the books, rather than spending more money on new endeavors, including buying land. “Sen. Rubio is focused on addressing the water problems plaguing Florida’s Treasure Coast through the Ten Mile Creek project that’s been transferred to the state because of his law, and through the Central Everglades Planning Project that he helped move along in the Senate earlier this year,” Rubio’s spokeswoman Kristen Morrell said in an email Friday. The Ten Mile Creek Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area in St. Lucie County is expected to hold four times as much water as it does now by summer 2017. It’s now a foot deep with about 171 million gallons of water. The project will be able to store and clean about 5.7 billion gallons a year by the beginning of next year’s rainy season. A state option to buy 46,800 acres of sugar land at fair market value, to create a pathway south for Lake Okeechobee water, expired last year. The state offered to pay at least $7,400 per acre, the price negotiated in 2008 when former Gov. Charlie Crist proposed buying almost four times that much land. That would have cost $346.3 million. A deal to buy out all of U.S. Sugar’s 153,000 acres at fair-market value remains on the table until 2020. Imposing eminent domain for an expansive piece of land is not common, but also not unprecedented, Brigham said.
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