As Toxic Algae Chokes Fla Waters Into State of Emergency, Petition Urges Chain to Drop Big Sugar
Erin Elizabeth | Health Nut News
July 1, 2016
http://bit.ly/29d5B1U

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Everyone agrees on this: Florida’s waterways are facing an unprecedented emergency. Toxic algae blooms have choked waterways across the state, closing beaches and rivers to tourists and residents. Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in two counties.

There’s less agreement about who’s at fault. Scott’s blamed the feds for letting a dam on Lake Okeechobee deteriorate. But many environmentalists point toward a more familiar foe: Big Sugar, which sparked the bloom, they say, with massive pollution runoff into Lake O.

One surf shop manager hard hit by the crisis says he’s had enough. He’s started a petition demanding that Publix stop carrying products from U.S. Sugar and Florida Crystals — and he’s garnered more than 10,000 signatures this week backing his cause.

“Publix is a Florida-owned company that says they’d support our environment,” says Brent Meinhold, who manages the Ohana Surf Shop in Stuart. “We’re not trying to put Publix or even Big Sugar out of business, but we want them to acknowledge their role in creating this disaster and their need to fix it.”