by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Jacksonville’s top lobbyists think the statewide tug of war over Northeast Florida’s ample fresh water supply won’t really begin until Gov. Jeb Bush leaves office. But Jacksonville could win or lose that battle in 2005 as the area’s policy shapers try to seize the early initiative in Tallahassee.
The man who will guide the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s lobbying in 2005 thinks the debate over water rights will continue to lurk below the surface of the Florida headlines. But Jim McCollum, who took over Tuesday morning as chairman of the Chamber’s government affairs committee, said the debate would eventually surface as the State’s dominant issue. In question is whether local water management districts, including those in water-flush Northeast Florida, will continue to manage local supplies. The debate essentially splits the State into two halves divided by Interstate 4, with water-starved overdeveloped South Florida looking to tap into underground aquifers in the North.
“It’s not recognized as such right now, but at some point it will be the critical issue facing the State,” said McCollum, the regional director of corporate and external affairs at BellSouth.
That’s why McCollum will direct part of his efforts next year to staking out Jacksonville’s position on the emerging debate. McCollum echoed Mayor John Peyton’s sentiments in summing up Jacksonville’s arguments. Basically: don’t expect North Florida to pick up the tab for poor planning in the South.
Both McCollum and Blue Cross Blue Shield lobbyist Mike Hightower, McCollum’s predecessor has the Chamber’s top volunteer lobbyist said the St. Johns River Water Management District had done an admirable job managing the local supply as the surrounding area has developed, albeit at a slower pace than South Florida. McCollum said the debate will ultimately boil down to two questions: Is the aquifer a local resource or does it belong to the State? And, if the aquifer supply is to be distributed statewide, then what compensation should local interests receive?
“What’s the appropriate price to pay us for putting in a pipe and pumping the water south?” said McCollum.
Jacksonville will likely need its supply more than ever as the local pace of growth accelerates, said McCollum. But he conceded that North Florida could be facing an uphill battle against influential South Florida interests. “We might go down, but we won’t go down without a fight,” he said.
Hightower said he doesn’t see the State’s approach to water management changing from its local oversight while Gov. Jeb Bush is in office. Bush’s priorities center on improving education before he leaves office in 2006, said Hightower. Until that time, local interests need to “keep our ears to the ground” to figure out where the challenge will come from and what form it will take, he said.
“We have a unique opportunity to understand all the sides of this debate and to develop our strategic plan in response,” he said.
That response will likely frame a challenge to the current water management policies as an attack on local autonomy that has been largely effective.
“We’ve been good stewards of the resource,” said Hightower. “We’ve got good quality water and we’ve taken care of it,” said Hightower. If we change the way the water is managed, the unintended consequences could be disastrous.”