During Hurricane Irma, much of Florida was awash in water. Lake Okeechobee was already high, in fact on its way to one of its recent historical highs. Yet sugar cane farmers south of the lake began pumping water from their fields, untreated water, back into Lake O. The discharges to the coasts resumed, as did questions about the integrity of the dike at Lake O, while the sugar industry was adding to the height of the lake.
“Even then, as another major storm, Hurricane Maria, was strengthening and its path was uncertain, possibly coming to Florida,” said Chris Maroney, one of the founders of advocacy group Bullsugar, “they were backpumping. Those sugar growers pretend that they care about the people who live around the lake, but if they did they…
