Florida’s greatest challenge is not hurricanes, more shuffleboard housing, hotels built uptight to the surf or Gulf Oil drilling. It’s regenerating water flowing South from Lake Okeechobee
You can read the following Everglades Foundation response about a legislator doing the right thing (FL Senate Bill 10), State Senator Rob Bradley (R-Fleming Island). He’s attempting to the right a wrong, a rarity in Florida’s falsely labeled “conservative” state; filing legislation to Store, Clean & Send Lake Okeechobee water South to the Everglades where it can be nature cleansed, provide drinking water for millions, stabilize Everglades National Park – Florida Bay and restore fisheries on both coasts from ecological collapse.
Florida’s state conservative labeled governing body is rooted in good ole boy ways, not conservatism by any stretch of the imagination. They use designated funds for whatever suits them, not what they were intended for or voted for; allow pollution if reimbursed with “campaign” funds, and of course they are preoccupied with legislating what women can and cannot do with “their” vaginas.
You can read the same reliable account of Senate Bill 10 in any news outlet in the State of Florida or beyond.
This is what it was like when it worked perfectly. A version of original has to include water from Lake O traveling South, or it’s game over… eventually.
Gangrenous causing sludge that lives in infamy within the confines of one of America’s greatest lakes (Okeechobee), is sent by the Corp managed spillways into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers – deadly toxins going unchecked miles out into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico – destroying everything in its path. The negative economic impact is staggering
January 26, 2017 / The Everglades Foundation
[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]esterday, the Everglades Foundation released the following statement, attributable to its CEO Eric Eikenberg, regarding the filing of legislation, Senate Bill 10 by State Senator Rob Bradley (R-Fleming Island), to respond to the water crisis facing the coastal estuaries and the Everglades.“We thank Senator Bradley for recognizing that a water crisis anywhere in Florida is a water crisis and filing this important legislation. Coastal communities were under a state of emergency for 242 days in 2016 as a result of Lake Okeechobee discharges. The creation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan nearly two decades ago recognized the great need for a water storage reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area to reduce the harmful discharges to the estuaries and to preserve water for when it’s desperately needed during the dry seasons.
“Senator Bradley’s filing of SB 10 today moves us closer to having this critical water storage reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee that will be cost-matched by the federal government, and we applaud him for taking action to respond to Florida’s water crisis this legislative session.
“We’d also like to praise Senate President Joe Negron, who has made it one of his priorities this session to put a viable action plan in place to alleviate the harmful discharges that devastated the communities and businesses along our coastlines just last year.
“Last year’s events – which affected Floridians and tourists alike and resulted in local businesses and beaches closing, jobs being lost, property values declining and loved ones getting sick from the toxic algae that plagued our waterways – should serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting our water, now and in the long term.
“We look forward to working with Senate President Negron, Senator Bradley and members of the Senate, as well as the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and members of the House, as we work to protect our environment, economy, and well-being.”
For more information on The Everglades Foundation . . .
NOTE: Featured Image is of Sandy Moret – Florida Keys Outfitters, Islamorada, Florida.
