Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/161733
Sarasota News Leader August 30, 2013 OPINION Page 74 nial, it might be possible simply to reactivate decades ago, to the detriment of the Sarasota that original application and provide new in- Bay estuary. formation to update it. The irony of the Midnight Pass closure was Unfortunately, some county commissioners, its timing: By 1980, an awareness of increaswhile supportive of the overall goal, now are ing eutrophication in the Sarasota Bay estuary concerned about the cost to reopen the in- led to increased regulation of nitrogen loading let and keep it open. And the cooperation of and other contributing factors. Yet the closure FDEP is anything but assured. But this current of the inlet reduced by one-third the amount action is the most encouraging sign for the re- of seawater exchange that occurred with the opening of Midnight Pass since the county's Gulf of Mexico. Now seawater exchange is application in 1991 was denied by the state. limited to Big Pass to the north of Siesta Key, and Venice Inlet, more than 20 miles to the After the county withdrew its application in southeast. 2008, the Midnight Pass Society and several others joined to sue the county, state and The effect has been most grave in Little Sarafederal governments sota Bay. Access to on a host of grounds bay waters to its north to force the reopenWe urge Sarasota County to begin and south have been ing of the inlet. That in earnest to right a wrong set in motion limited by natural and suit, originally filed in three decades ago, to the detriment of the manmade narrowing, March 2011, was withcreating flow bottledrawn by the plain- Sarasota Bay estuary. necks that exacerbate tiffs later that year the stagnation of wabecause of flaws in its construction. The plaintiffs refiled the suit in ters in Little Sarasota Bay. This is compoundJune 2012, but it was voluntarily dismissed ed by stormwater runoff, which decreases this summer when the government agencies overall salinity while increasing nutrient and were excused from the suit on grounds of sov- toxic load. ereignty. That set up the current collaboration between the county and Midnight Pass Soci- Little Sarasota Bay stands out as an obvious ety. factor in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) assessment that the We wrote last week about the City of Sarasota's shortsightedness in ignoring some reali- eutrophication factor in the Sarasota Bay esties of coastal geology, specifically the con- tuary is "moderate high," its second highest stant movement of sand along a coastline in ranking for the deterioration of a watershed. response to winds and tides, as it seeks to pre- NOAA determined that, as a result of these serve Lido Beach to the detriment of Siesta combined factors, the "nutrient related sympKey. Now we urge Sarasota County to begin toms observed in the estuary are likely to subin earnest to right a wrong set in motion three stantially worsen."