EXTRA LISTENING – GAP-FILL 2018

PRACTICE 1: Red Tide Boosts Blue Wave

CURWOOD: From PRI and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts
Boston this is Living on Earth. I’m Steve Curwood.

In Florida, large (1)…………. of toxic green algae blooms and so-called “red tide” blooms have (2)
………………………………………., killing marine life, harming humans, and stifling the (3)
……………………... And there’s a fourth way it could alter the future of the sunshine state, and that’s
in the 2018 midterm elections. Republican governor and US (4) ………………... Rick Scott has been
praised for his handling of the hurricane emergencies, but he’s being blamed by protestors for the (5)
……………………………... Rick Scott holds a narrow lead in most polls over his Democratic opponent,
incumbent Senator Bill Nelson, but anti -algae activists could influence turnout. For a look at how the
algal blooms might influence Florida politics in November, we turn to Politico Senior Reporter Michael
Grunwald. Welcome to Living on Earth!

GRUNWALD: Thanks for having me.

CURWOOD: So, briefly for our listeners who just may not be up to speed on this issue. What are these
red and green toxic algae blooms, and why are they impacting Florida's coastline in the first place?

GRUNWALD: Well, as you mentioned, we have two different types of algae blooms. One is this kind of
neon green guacamole glop that is toxic and has been linked to cancer and various
(6)………………………………….., and then you have these sort of rust colored red tides, and that's
where you've probably seen on TV the millions of fish rolling up dead on the white sand beaches of the
west coast. And essentially you're talking about (7) ……………………………. that, as Rick Scott's
administration is always pointing out, they are naturally occurring but they feed on nutrients, the crud
that human beings put into the water, and that's what really super charges them and makes them
bloom. And right now we've got a real nutrient problem and that's why you see it really taking off and
(8) …………………………………………… on both coasts.

CURWOOD: How important is the health and safety of Florida's waterways to its citizens?

GRUNWALD: Well, you know it's generally bad when the water that's all around us is kind of
destroying our health. And remember, I mean, most of us came down here because it's nice. Florida's
environment really is its economy, and it's the reason you have 20 million people living here and 100
million annual tourists visiting here is because it's a really beautiful place. And when you can't breathe
at the beach, when you can't go into the water, when the (10)…………………… that are considered
the most (11) ……………… in North America are covered with this blanket of foul-smelling, green
scum, that's not really popular.

CURWOOD: No, I don't think so. So, Governor Rick Scott is the (12) ……………………. this year. Why
is he bearing the brunt of the blame over these red tide blooms?

GRUNWALD: Yeah, this is a rough time for Governor Scott, or as he's now becoming known on social
media they're calling him "Red Tide Rick". I mean, look I think it's partly because he's sitting in the
chair, right? He's been governor for eight years and suddenly there's an (13) …………………

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happening on his watch. He's also he's a Tea Party Republican, and he's described himself as the
jobs-jobs-jobs governor, and part of his push for promoting Florida's economy has been dismantling
some of its (14)……………, and particularly regulations that have to do with nutrients. He actually
signed a law (15)……………………………….. of septic tanks that have been sending some of these
nutrients into the waters. And he actually specifically asked the federal government for relief from (16)
………………………………………. And he has really gutted some of the environmental agencies that
we're doing (17) ………………………………………. of the nutrients that are in the water. So, there is a
pretty plausible case that keeping nutrients out of the water has not been his top priority and that
pollution right how is creating these really serious, not just environmental but economic, problems.

CURWOOD: And when you say nutrients we're really talking about things like poop, fertilizer,
excesses and such like that.

GRUNWALD: Yeah, exactly we're talking about nitrogen and phosphorus. Nutrients sound great
because they make things grow, right? They're nutritious. Unfortunately, they also happen to be
nutritious for algae, and that's why you're seeing these super charged blooms on both coasts.

CURWOOD: You know, we talk a lot about slime in politics, but this is one of the first times that I've
ever talked about it literally.

GRUNWALD: I would say, like you generally when you're a politician you don't want to be a meme,
and you definitely don't want that meme to involve scum.

CURWOOD: [LAUGHS] So, to what extent are the candidates here for Senate addressing, or maybe
they're not addressing, the issue of these blooms?

GRUNWALD: Well, it's been a huge issue for Senator Nelson, who of course, is saying that this is Rick
Scott's pollution, that he is directly responsible. And Governor Scott has already put $20 million dollars
of his own money into (18) …………………………. and he's taking this head on and making this kind
of circuitous this argument that actually this is Senator Nelson's fault. And his argument has to do with
Lake Okeechobee and in the middle of the (19) …………………….. which is known as the kind of
liquid heart of Florida, and 90 percent of it this year was covered in toxic algae...when the lake gets too
high the Army Corps of Engineers has to blast that filthy water east and west into the (20)
……………………….. that have had some really serious toxic algae blooms.

And Governor Scott has argued that because the Congress has not provided enough money for fixing
that dike, they have had to let the water out at an earlier time than they would have had to otherwise,
and that therefore that's why it's happening and then Senator Nelson who has been in the Congress
for too long hasn't done enough to get money to fix the dike. Well, of course, most people are sort of
saying, like, well yeah, but the water is dirty...it's not supposed to be dirty and the state is in charge of
water quality in Florida and every state.

CURWOOD: So, how much is this hurting the campaign of Rick Scott?

GRUNWALD: Well, it's definitely not helping. One of the problems he's facing is that the brunt of the
toxic algal blooms are largely being felt in really staunchly Republican coastal areas. We're talking

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about actually around his own hometown of Naples. He actually had to cancel an event that he was
supposed to do there because there were going to be so many (21)………………….. He got chased
out of a restaurant in Venice, another staunchly Republican area on the west coast. And over in Stuart
on the east coast where President Trump got 66 percent of the vote, he hasn't been able to get out of
his car because there's been so many protesters yelling at him about the glop in the water. So, this is a
real problem for him. That's one of the reasons he's fighting back so hard with his campaign ads.

CURWOOD: So, now these protesters. Are they trolls that have been hired by the opposition, or are
these folks in neighborhoods that are really upset?

GRUNWALD: No, people are really mad and you can see there's all kinds of evidence. Look, people
don't like slime in their backyard. Now, do Republicans end up coming out and voting for Scott anyway
just because he's a Republican or because they like what he says about taxes or because they don't
like Chuck Schumer? That's certainly possible, but every election and every statewide election in
Florida is close. Governor Scott won both of his races by one point. So, this is something where if the
slime, if it flips a few voters or if it persuades a few voters to leave the Rick Scott space blank, that
could really spell the difference between losing and winning.

CURWOOD: So, how have environmental issues featured in past elections in Florida?

GRUNWALD: You know, Florida is...in the last 20 years, Republicans have won the (22)
………………………, have dominated the legislature. It's obviously a swing state, but has definitely
tilted red but it has always tilted green. The story I like to tell is that Jeb Bush in 1994, when people
were talking about him that he was sort of the heir apparent to his dad who was most likely going to be
president some day, that was 1994, a huge Republican year, and Jeb ran as a (23) …………………...
He was actually making fun of environmentalists on the campaign trail, and he turned out to be one of
the only Republicans to lose that year, and his brother became the kind of heir apparent. Four years
later, one of the first things he did after he lost the election was he joined the Audubon Society, and
Jeb ran in 1998 as a green Republican and he won in a landslide. So, this is something where it's not
always the deciding issue, but it's an issue where you don't want to be on the wrong side of, and so far
in Florida that really has been lacking, and that's become a really big issue in the governor's race
where you see a Democrat, Andrew Gillum, who is talking about making it a (24)…………………….
and in the Senate race where Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, who is not anybody's idea of a
particularly inspiring or effective leader mobilizing action on climate change, but has been at least on
the side of doing something, and Rick Scott hasn't and he's trying to make that an issue.

CURWOOD: By the way, what about climate change? As governor, Rick Scott is famous for telling
agencies not to use that phrase. And yet, you guys have been horribly slashed by Hurricane Michael.
Irma, down south in Florida pretty tough time last year. How does climate figure into this?

GRUNWALD: I lived until a couple years ago in South Beach and we'd have sunny days where
Biscayne Bay was rising through our storm drains at high tide. (25)………………. is with the possible
exception of Alaska, it's as tangible in Florida as it is anywhere else. Most of our state is very close to
the coast. We are a peninsula jutting into the Gulf Stream, we're right in Hurricane Alley. These are all

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incredibly (26) ………………………. for Floridians to at least pay attention to climate change and that
is an issue where Rick Scott has been on the other side.

CURWOOD: Um, Michael, looking ahead, what hope do you see the Florida will remain a livable and
economically viable place in these coming decades given all these issues?

GRUNWALD: Well look, I'm a sort of (27) ……………………………………………. and a

(28)…………………………. I voted with my feet. I moved here. I'm raising two kids here. We're just
going to have to figure out how to live more (29) ………………….. and we're going to have to take
better care of the waterways that make this such an awesome place. We are just going to have to stop
dumping our crap and it and what people like me have always said is that eventually Mother Nature is
going to scream loud enough that we're going to have to listen, and certainly right now we're hearing
that scream and we'll see if the politicians listen.

CURWOOD: Michael Grunwald's book is called "The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics
of Paradise." He's a senior reporter with Politico. Michael, thanks so much for taking the time with us
today.

GRUNWALD: Thanks for having me.

CURWOOD: For the record Governor Scott did declare a state of emergency for red tide and said, “As
Southwest Florida and the Tampa Bay area continues to feel the (30)…………………………… of red
tide, we will continue taking an by using all available resources to help our local communities.”

PRACTICE 2: Fly-fishing Saved From Pollution

CURWOOD: The wilder parts of the American West are famous for fly-fishing, but there are a lot of
spots to catch (1) ……………………… in the Eastern U.S. including central Pennsylvania.
And that’s despite pollution from (2)……………………………………. Julie Grant of the Allegheny Front
went to meet some of the people who are working to keep those (3) …………………………… clean.

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GRANT: It’s just before sunset, and 27-year-old Matt Kowalchuk is standing in the river, near the bank
of Penns Creek in central Pennsylvania, not far from State College. He’s a fly-fishing guide, and
chooses a lure meant to catch wild trout.

KOWALCHUK: We’re going to see if we can get one to eat a stonefly, It’s hard to pass up a big meal.

GRANT: Kowalchuk attaches the fly to his line, and walks deeper into the center of the fast-moving
creek. He casts (4) ………………. His line doesn’t dance through the air like in A River Runs Through
It, but the lure lands lightly on the water, and floats down a ways. He doesn’t get any bites, so he pulls
the lure out, and casts upstream, again.

KOWALCHUK: And you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, the
next thing you know, a bar of gold just rolls up and (5)………………….. your fly. That’s pretty intense. It
gets the adrenaline pumping.

GRANT: Kowalchuk considered moving to Montana or Colorado after college, but he loves it here
KOWALCHUK: In the middle of Pennsylvania, mountains all around you, watching the (6)
…………………………. chase the osprey for the trout.

GRANT: In high summer, the water is still cool at about 60 degrees. It stays that temperature because
it’s fed by cold springs and mountain creeks. Unlike some streams, the state doesn’t stock Penns
Creek with trout.

KOWALCHUK: It doesn’t need it, this stream is Class A wild trout water, meaning that it has a naturally
(7)……………………………… of fish that does not need us to do anything about. If you come here in
October and November, you can walk the stream and find the fish actively (8) …………………………,
and that is cool to see.

GRANT: One reason the trout do well here is the (9) ……………………………... When I visited,
Kowalchuk was just finishing up with the angling frenzy around the hatch of green drake, an especially
large mayfly.

KOWALCHUK: That’s the reason that everyone comes to fish, the green drake, It’s actually pretty
insane.
GRANT: Even closer to State College, in nearby Spring Creek, a spill of cyanide at Penn State in the
1950s wiped out the green drake population. The mayflies have never recovered there. There’s usually
not one big pollution source anymore, today, it’s more like death by a thousand cuts. (10)
…………………………………… in State College, like rooftops, roads and (11)…………………….,
cause runoff and pollution in Spring Creek. In the more rural Penns Creek watershed, it’s the farms.
One-third of the land here is used for agriculture corn, soy and dairy.

MARTINEC: This is a cow pasture, and that was a cow pasture. David Martinec is working with PVCA,
a local (12) …………………., to restore the streambed at his long time family farm. He points to the
high bank on the far side of the creek, where a backhoe is moving hemlock logs brought in for a (13)
………………………………….

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MARTINEC: When we took the cattle off, the non-native (14) ……………………… just grew up , and
choked everything out.
The PVCA’s Lysle Sherwin who leads many area landowners on projects like this, says the bare soil of
the cow pastures left these stream banks without tree roots for structure.

SHERWIN: They’re falling into the stream, (15) …………………………….

GRANT: You can see silt from the eroding bank filling up the (16) ………………… here. Sherwin says
this (17) …………………………. is the spawning ground for trout, and the (18) ………… literally
smothers their eggs.

That’s why they’re building what’s basically a reinforced wall of logs along the stream.

SHERWIN: It simulates an eroded bank that has structure and function to it, but it’s a built bank, it’s a
(19) ……………………...

GRANT: Sherwin has worked on 14 improvement projects like this in recent years, and says the more
they do, the more landowners want to try it.

SHERWIN: It’s sort of keeping up with the Joneses. ‘Oh wait a minute, they did that stream project,
and it worked for them. And they seem happy with it.’

GRANT: Many of these projects get funding through a United States Department of Agriculture
program that’s proposed to be cut in the House version of the 2018 Farm Bill.

Sherwin hopes funding doesn’t dry up, because the more (20) ……………………. the better for the
wild brown trout in Penns Creek and for the anglers who pour in to catch them.
I’m Julie Grant.

CURWOOD: Julie Grant’s story comes to us courtesy of the Allegheny Front.

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