Good old Boys
I believe that The Broward Workshop coupled with the Broward Alliance is actually a "good old boy network" in disguise. Nearly 20% of the members are in both groups, and they serve together in mixed groups on various inter-related boards and committees. Their motives are somewhat self serving, as each looks out for the other. The bulk of the group consists of contractors, realtors, accountants, hoteliers, and insurers that stand to reap monstrous profits from the expansion at FLL, and the more expensive the expansion program, the higher the anticipated profit.
They, as a group, have endorsed the south runway expansion plan, most likely because it is an extremely high dollar pork barrel project, and because this plan does not involve the inconveniencing of fellow members at the airport itself. Without a doubt, some of the members are honest to a fault, but vast sums of money bring out the larceny in the best of people.
The FAA is about to drop something over $650,000,000.00 for the runway expansion, but when you factor in the cost overruns, graft, kickbacks and payola inherent to a government project of this magnitude, not to mention the annual rise in construction costs in a long term project, I expect the total cost to be well in excess of $1,000,000,000.00. Needless to say, when this kind of money is involved, people line up like vultures on a limb to try to grab as much of it as they possibly can.
These are the people that have used their influence to sway the judgment of unsuspecting dupes like the Tamarac Yellow Shirt Brigade to lend credence to the decision of an inept County Commission in approving the south runway expansion plan. The only real involvement these public spirited citizens will ever have with FLL will be to pay their relative portion when the final bill is due. The FAA is supposedly footing the bill, but the money the FAA uses comes from the people who fly in or out of our airports, in the form of departure taxes and other miscellaneous user fees. Our great-grandchildren will still be paying the tab when they are senior citizens.
Choosing the most expensive alternative provides the most opportunities for the most people to siphon off the most money, and the process may well have already started. All of the Commissioners that voted for the south runway expansion have dubious ties to the construction management firm that oversees all of the construction at FLL, a fact that I find outrageous. Elected officials promise to serve the people who elect them, not their own interests.
As time progresses, it becomes increasingly evident that in pushing for the construction of the south runway, the north runway option lurks in the background for future expansion. Once the south runway is completed, the way will be clear to then move the facilities that are presently in the way of the north runway expansion to the currently available 40 acres on the south side of the airport and then reconstruct the north runway, giving FLL 3 runways that, although are still inadequate to handle the New Larger Aircraft, are yet large enough as pork barrel projects to provide the opportunity for several people in the "good old boy" network to become extremely wealthy.
If the north runway were to be built first, there is a possibility, perhaps even a probability, that the south runway would not be built. By pushing the south runway option, the more lucrative opportunities are insured. I am sure that the Commission members that voted for the south runway are aware of this and don't want the possibilities for financial gain to slip from their grasp.
Somewhat under the radar, but at the same time, these same people are working toward the expansion of Port Everglades, which will essentially combine both facilities, separated only by the electrical transmission lines from the Port Everglades FP&L plant. Again this expansion is fueled more by greed than by need. No plausible argument has been advanced that shows an actual need for expansion, only the desires of the Broward County Commission and the Port Everglades Management team, and of course, the people that stand to reap the concomitant profits.
The public is being misinformed about the negative aspects of this expansion plan, by omission. No one has mentioned the fact that Port Everglades, FLL and two FP&L plants, the four largest contributors of atmospheric pollution in Broward County, are within four miles of each other, and although FP&L has made tremendous strides in reducing their pollutant contribution, when the present emissions are to be combined with the elevated emissions that will be contributed by the expanded Port and Airport, the effect will be devastating to humans, wildlife and vegetation, and with our variable winds, it will affect all of Broward County.
Broward County presently ranks fourth in 67 counties in the state and two-hundredth in 3,109 counties nationally in pollution, placing us in the 94th percentile. The average lifetime cancer risk from diesel soot for a resident of Broward County is 1 in 3,142. This risk is 318 times greater than the EPA's acceptable level of 1 in 1 million, and exceeds the risk of all other airborne toxins tracked by the EPA combined. This is of little consequence to the mercenary thinking prevalent in the "good old boys network" who seem to share the opinion of Chairman Mao, who, in a 1960 speech, declared that the "environment is here for the plundering".
"Protecting the environment through structural considerations and operational practices is another initiative that the Port Department is pursuing as the Master Plan is developed. We are also making environmental protection, maintenance and enhancement an important component of Port Everglades’ future development,” Port Everglades Director Phillip C. Allen said, adding that the Port Department recently hosted a workshop to ask the local community and environmental experts for their input about how they believe the Port can progress while remaining a good environmental steward.
The last remaining wetlands in the Dania Beach area lie between the airport and the Intracoastal Waterway, but with the combined expansions, the whole ecosystem supported by the mangrove swamps will be obliterated, and cannot be mitigated These mangroves are already a threatened species, but in some peoples minds, they are standing in the way of progress.
There is a misconception that this environmental damage will be mitigated by enhancing West Lake Park, but wildlife chooses its' environment because the needs are satisfied by a particular set of circumstances, and if those needs were met by the conditions at West Lake Park, the wildlife would already be there. The same can be said for the dredging of Port Everglades, the Intracoastal Waterway or the Dania Cutoff Canal. The mix of wildlife will be changed forever because the conditions will no longer suit the present mix. Port Everglades, for example, is a noted breeding ground for sharks, but in adding six feet to the overall depth, the water temperature, the bottom conditions and the vegetation will all be moderated, and a whole new ecosystem will evolve. Any dredged area will suffer the same consequences. It's all well and good to say you will mitigate, but in the end the choice is not ours.
The Florida coastal reef system is the only reef system on the east coast of the US, and when it is damaged by a ship grounding, the shipping company is charged thousands of dollars in fines for a couple hundred feet of damage, but these forward thinking people plan to decimate 15 acres of this already threatened ecosystem in the deepening and widening of the port entrance. There is no mitigation for damage that extensive. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.
The fill purloined by this proposed dredging is to be utilized in the building of the elevated runway at FLL, but dredged fill must be allowed to dry prior to its' use as structural fill, a process that could take years. The bottom dwellers, shellfish and vegetation unfortunate enough to be vacuumed up in the dredging process will be ground into fish meal as it passes through the pumps and become part of the fill. During the drying process, this soup will be left to rot, and the odor will be unbearable.
If any prior chemical or toxic spills ever occurred within the dredging area, the toxins that settle to the bottom will also become part of the fill, and during the drying process, these salts, toxins and rotted flesh and vegetation will leach into the soil and will very likely find its way into our potable water supply. The toxic matter that doesn't leach out during the drying period will, in all probability, be washed into the aquifer in the compaction that must take place to stabilize the fill.
The compaction process will require the use of in excess of 234,000,000 gallons of water at a time when South Florida is in the worst water crisis in recorded history. Coincidentally, the Dania Beach area is currently enforcing the most stringent water restrictions in Broward County. Where is the logic in letting our plants and lawns die of thirst while wasting nearly 10% of the total water used in Broward County in all of 1994, the last year that I could find figures for, and when there were no water restrictions.
6,000,000 cubic yards of fill, no matter where procured, would be far better used in the current Everglades restoration project in filling in some of the canals dug without foresight, and allowed by a previous short-sighted Commission. The restoration project is at a virtual standstill for a variety of reasons, one of which is a shortage of fill. Must we allow a project that has been proven necessary to languish and begin one that may or may not be necessary? A previous document from the FAA states that runway expansion at FLL will increase capacity 0%.
The inexhaustible supply of limestone in Dade County is becoming exhausted and the limestone pits will be forced to shut down in the not-too-distant future. Plans call for using some of the remaining limestone supply as fill in Port Everglades to build an area for the importation of limestone. What will that do for construction costs that have historically escalated at a rate between 2% and 8% annually? The construction phases of both projects are expected to take from 5 to 8 years, and rising costs could add from $400,000,000.00 to $500,000,000.00 to the total cost of each project. Nearly $1,000,000,000.00 in cost overruns.
We do not own this world. We only borrow it from future generations, and we, as the Earth's stewards, must learn from past mistakes and prevent damage of this nature from happening. We owe it to our heirs.
Grant Campbell
2321 SW 44 St
Dania Beach, Fl. 33312
954-989-4921
grantcampbell_1@yahoo.com
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