Think green, vote green
To the editor:
Six canals in Cape Coral are now being overrun with algae. The runoff from the phosphorus fertilizers are part of the problem. This fertilizer is outlawed from use during the summer because the runoff into our canals creates a toxic green bio-hazard that can cause air born respiratory damage and brain damages.
Perhaps the city council should extend the moratorium an extra month next year to help the canals repair themselves. Perhaps more aggressive curtailment — banning of the sale of fertilizer during our rainy season, is needed. You can support these ideas by emailing your city representative.
But clearly the DeSantis administration has orchestrated conditions where toxic water from Lake Okeechobee is disproportionately funneled to us western Floridians by the Army Corps of Engineers. The chief cause of our polluted waters is state behavior. The Federal EPA and the Clean Water Act need reactivation here to evade the corruption of our one-party system. Granted that DeSantis inherited this sorry state from former Republican Gov. Crist, and other sugar-subsidized politicians. But he is still polluter/campaign donor adverse to clean water enforcement.
We the people are the final backstop on what we are willing to put up with. If your vote is not for sale, please protect your children and your property. I do not propose that we change the name of our town to Love Canal and move elsewhere. I propose that we ask the politicians running for local office to explain how they will pay for the extra sewage treatment plants needed in the build-baby-build world they espouse. I think we should all demand that no home be sold nor resold that is not connected to a sewage treatment plant.
AND yes, we should stop using fertilizer an extra month. Really your lawn looks great when I don’t need a hazmat suit to drive past it. Can you give it a rest with the fertilizer already? Thanks, neighbor. And btw: thanks for registering to vote in August primary. If you are a Green GOP, be sure to ask those running to do right before then.
Ellen Starbird
Cape Coral