Waiting to Exhale! It’s a long road to our reservoir!
It’s been a long and winding road so far to send and convey clean water south where it is needed. This year’s legislative session has been a total nail biter for me.
According to Paul Laura who is the chair of the newly formed Treasure Coast Democratic Environmental Caucus there is still a ways to go.
We need to call/email the Governor to approve the bill. Please call Gov. Scott – (850)488-7146 or Email: [email protected]
We also need to call or Email our representatives in Wash DC and Senators Rubio and Nelson to get money set aside for Federal part of the project. (More to come on this action).
These are important dates!
By July 1: The South Florida Water Management District requests the Corps to jointly develop what’s known as a “post-authorization change report” for the Central Everglades Planning Project to revise the A-2 element of the project.
By Aug. 1: If the Corps agrees, work on the post-authorization report must begin.
By Jan. 9: The South Florida Water Management District must report the status of the post-authorization change to the Florida legislature.
By Oct. 1, 2018: The District and the Corps must submit the post-authorization change report to Congress.
By Dec. 1, 2019: Congress must approve the post-authorization change report.
If the timelines aren’t met (and no extension is granted), the district must request that the Corps initiate the planning for A-2 parcel as it was originally envisioned as a shallower basin mainly for water filtering, and look for another site in the Everglades Agricultural Area to put a reservoir.
The current plan calls for holding about 60,000 acre feet of water, compared to the 240,000- to 360,000-acre feet the Negron reservoir is envisioned to store. Holding that much water would help reduce overflows from Lake Okeechobee that contribute to destructive algae blooms and tainted runoff on Florida’s east and west coasts.
Stolen Amendment One money
In today’s Miami Herald there was a great piece by beloved our Carl Hiaasen. Carl has not only been writing about the environment for years in his columns and his books. He also lives in Vero Beach. This makes him a River Warrior.
He talks abut the same issue with the water. We all understand this part. I think we are grateful to have gotten to this point.
The other thing he wrote about it our Amendment 1 money literally being stolen.
With a casual disdain for the words on the ballot and the will of the voters, the Legislature has been bleeding Amendment 1 to buy state vehicles, pay salaries, and cover other expenses that normally come from general revenue.
A lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of several environmental groups alleges that the state wrongly diverted about $308 million of the $713 million available for land-buying and conservation in fiscal 2015-2016.
What do we need to do?