Will Sarasota be at the center of water quality debates at the federal level?

Mote Marine Laboratory President and CEO Michael Crosby will fly to Washington, D.C. this week to serve as an expert witness at a special meeting of the Florida Congressional Delegation. That’s good for this region in several ways. One, of course, is that Mote will boost its profile among federal officials representing all parts of Florida, and potentially get some attention from allies across the country. The other less obvious but at least as valuable boon is that Sarasota’s problems will be treated as Florida’s problems.

The silver lining of the terrible red tide bloom in 2018 that shut down most of Florida’s coastal tourist and fishing economies was that for a few brief months, everyone in this state shared the same concern about toxic algal blooms. But blooms like that thankfully don’t happen every year. Lucky for this region, a number of long-term investments were made at the time that put Mote in a key position to study red tide and develop solutions for years, whether a nasty event took place off its coast or not.

Another bit of political fortune? U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, serves as the Republican co-chair of the Florida delegation. That’s a position he has held for several years, as opposed to the Democratic co-chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Sunrise. She took over the role a few months ago. That doesn’t necessarily mean much, but when it came time to fill out the expert list for the delegation’s meeting on water quality, Buchanan’s office was in the position to be picking names.

I don’t mean to call this all dumb luck. Mote worked for years to set itself apart as a national authority on all matters of marine science, and naturally have a tremendous understanding of the Gulf of Mexico’s ecology as a matter of geography. The delegation co-chairmanship is a post Buchanan sought out and landed after years in Congress, and a job members tend to hold until their last day in office. It’s hard work that moved these planets into alignment. But all should realize planets don’t stay in one place, and the most should be made of an alignment of regional influence that results in addressing community needs.

It’s easy to think that when it comes to matters like water quality, everyone representing Florida will work together across party lines. That’s true to an extent, but party lines aren’t the only ones out there. Just look at how House members have taken on competing positions on water discharges from Lake Okeechobee based more on their home counties’ proximity to that water body or to the rivers where water flows.

It’s not a given every politician in Florida will always view red tide as a pressing problem. It will remain top of mind for every representative with a district office close enough to the coast to smell a fish kill. While we have the attention of every federal official in the state, it’s important our leaders, elected and otherwise, use that.

I suggest taking a page from some of our state leaders. The 2018 disaster happened just as former Sen. Bill Galvano was ready to take over as Florida Senate president, and he in turn helped land the recurring funding for a red-tide-focused institute headquartered at Mote in the first place. Let’s hope similar magic can happen and earn Sarasota some federal support and keep our voice — and our environmental priorities — relevant in Washington for years to come.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA.