More on Lake Skimming:

The good news is that the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)
that governs Lake Mary Jane, Lake Hart and Lake Whippoorwill will not grant
the utilities company or the county the right to take water from our lakes.
The bad news is that Board of County Commissioner (except Commissioner
Stewart and Jacobs) voted in March to spend over 1 million dollars of tax
payer money to mount a legal battle against the SFWMD to reverse this
decision!  All of this in an era of severe budget cuts!  And they voted to
approve this lawsuit without any public input or meetings!  Here is the link
to this story from the Orlando Sentinel :
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-waterwar0508apr05,0,3036747.story

And now the newest threat to finding the right solution - this past Thursday
(May 15th) Mayor Crotty assigned Commissioner Bill Segalof District 5 ( a
big proponent of development) to work with SFWMD on this issue - even though
this effects the lakes and the residents that are all in District 4!  Our
District 4 Commissioner Linda Stewart understands and supports the concerns
we have and feels very strongly that we need to focus more on education and
conservation - and look to desalinization plants for future water sources.

Why should we care? Because both the County and the City (OUC) are basically
asking existing residents to pay for a cheap and dependable water supply for
residents who are not even here yet! And they are using our property taxes
to legally challenge the right of the SFWMD to rightfully refuse the
request!  Neither the LMJA or the County or OUC know exactly what impact the
drawing down of the lake water will have on our wells, or to the
environmental and recreational health of the lakes. There is however, one
thing we can be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of - if they start taking water from our
lakes to service future development and the cooling of a power plant
expansion there will be NO turning back - even if it does do harm to our
wells and/or the health of our lakes!  This is the perfect example of a
"slippery slope"scenario!  Once they tap into a reliable source of water for
power plant cooling water and water for new development, there is little
chance of turning the source off - no matter what the effects on the lives
of a few thousand people living in rural settlements.

The water wars are beginning.  Our opinion is that new development should
pay their fair share for new water resources! The LMJ Alliance is not
Anti-Growth, we are Pro-Smart Growth.  Smart growth means new development
should not not have a significant negative impact on existing residents.
Unfortunately, this is a classic example of an unfair policy of having
existing residents pay to keep growth affordable for developers and new
residents!  It is imperative that our residents speak up now before the
process moves further along! Because this effects more than the residents of
LMJA, we will be joining forces with the residents of the Lake
Hart/Whipporwill rural settlement.

Next Steps:  Instead of giving you a list of emails to send a letter to - we
are trying to make things even easier.  We will be sending an email from the
LMJA president to the Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners  - with a
copy to all of you.  This letter asks that Our District 4 commissioner be
allowed to represent our district in any dealings with the South Florida
Water Management District.  If you agree with the LMJ Alliance on the
content - please take 1 minute
 to simply  "REPLY ALL"  and just type in a response like "Or District 4
Commissioner should be representing us" or "We oppose removing water from
these lakes!" or "We support the views of the LMJ Alliance" or something
like that.  Then please sign your name and address and send the email.
(I've set this up so this will not reply to all the residents - just the
Mayor, Commissioners, and a copy to Alliance.)  And for those of you that
have never emailed the Commissioners or Mayor before -  don'tworry - when
they are receiving tons of emails on the same topic - you will not be
receiving a response - unless its automated.  The board takes a count of how
many residents respond on issues like this to see if they need to pay
attention.  You are more than welcome to type more (please stay positive) -
but this is all the commissioners need to see is that MANY of the residents
oppose this!  If they only get a few replies - then they ignore our request.
Remember, no need to "Reply ALL" to THIS email, just the formal email from
the LMJA to our government representatives. If you have any problems or
questions - just contact me and I'll be glad to work with you.

 Thank you so much for taking the time to help protect our wells, our lakes,
and the environment.
Over and over again we have proven that together we can make a difference!

 Suzanne Arnold
Communications Chairperson
Lake Mary Jane Alliance

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