Published by Miami Herald, May 20, 2020
By Eric Eikenberg
Florida’s most effective response to the increasing threat of rising sea levels is one that scientists and policymakers agreed upon more than 20 years ago. We were finally making progress until last week, when a senseless bureaucracy threw a wrench into the gears.
After years of discussions involving policymakers, scientists and stakeholders at the federal, state and local levels, Congress in 2000 adopted the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), a remarkable bipartisan bill that encompassed more than 60 separate public-works projects to be built over a 30-year span.
Despite its complexity and cost, when you reduce CERP to its core, it comes down to four words: Move more water south. That’s also the best prescription for sea-level rise induced by global climate change, because by doing so, we will increase the offsetting pressure of encroaching seas with fresh water.