Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Sen. Marco Rubio is focused on getting a comprehensive water bill through Congress this fall, saying the legislation could be key in combating South Florida’s water woes.
“The single biggest thing we can do to improve the situation is called the Central Everglades Planning Project,” said Rubio. “It’s in the water bill, and our hope and our work is all focused on getting passage in September. It would not be the final step, but it would be the single biggest step taken on this issue in almost two decades.”
Rubio was in Fort Myers Monday to talk with local leaders about water quality issues. He attended a similar meeting on the Treasure Coast, where blue-green algae has clogged the waterways for weeks, later in the day.
While the Miami Republican said there was a sense of urgency to tackle the region’s water problems, he stressed the best option was to complete the Central Everglades Planning Project. But even if Congress approves the water package this fall, it could be years before any of the projects outlined in CEPP are completed.
Approval of the central Everglades projects, which Rubio said include a suite of projects to help hold and clean water, would allow engineers and experts to begin the planning process. Congress would need to come back at a later date to approve funding.
“We are closer than we (have) ever been to getting it done,” he said about CEPP. “We have to get that done in September, otherwise it’s going to be another year of waiting.”
Rubio said he wanted to focus on completing the projects laid out in the CEPP and the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan before moving on to other possibilities, like buying land south of Lake Okeechobee to help move water south. Rubio said he was concerned that pushing for funding for land purchases might distract from the larger projects.
But environmentalists and some local leaders have said that buying land south of the lake is a key component to reducing discharges into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
Thick, green algae has plagued the Treasure Coast’s waterways for weeks. The governor has declared a state of emergency in Martin, St. Lucie, Lee and Palm Beach counties, and has asked President Barack Obama to declare a federal emergency. That request, however, was denied late last week.
The algae was slowing making its way to Southwest Florida. The city of Cape Coral closed the Cape Coral Yacht Club beach on Sunday after reviewing a letter of from the DEP indicating there were some risks. Algae, according to the Fort Myers News-Press, has been reported in the Caloosahatchee River for about a month.
Rubio’s visit to Fort Myers came just days after Sen. Bill Nelson visited the region to discuss water quality concerns.
3 comments
Darrell Keith
July 19, 2016 at 4:51 pm
The public is being led down the wrong path. The largest amount of pollution is entering Lake Okeechobee from the north. There are legitimate environmentalist groups who haven’t given much support to buying the land south of the lake. There are others, like Bullsugar who are posing as environmental groups whose only purpose is to buy the land. They are using this algae crisis to promote their own agenda. To force sugar farmers off their land which is prized property useful for development.
Bobby Fortin
July 21, 2016 at 8:42 pm
Buying the land in the south doesn’t make any sense!
Daisy Eloise Applewhite
July 19, 2016 at 5:54 pm
This is one time I agree with Marco Rubio. He said he was “concerned that pushing for funding for land purchases might distract from the larger projects.” I go a step further: It WILL WASTE taxpayer’s money to purchase land, specifically, the 46,000 acres of U.S. Sugar’s land south of Lake Okeechobee. There is publicly-owned land – 120,000 acres – south of the lake that can become a reservoir for cleaning water before it goes to the Everglades. Rubio should push for funding storage and treatment north of the lake. Some projects have been started but there are other CERP projects that should start as soon as possible. Also complete the CERP projects that will alleviate the pollution and volume of the discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. I commend Sen. Rubio for not echoing the group Bullsugar’s campaign to convince politicians that buying the land is the only solution. It’s a scam.
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