"Lake Okeechobee is the gateway to America's Everglades. Restoring this dynamic system is critical to the long-term economic and environmental health of South Florida."
Gov. Jeb Bush
Group Hails Bill on Everglades Cleanup
May 09, 2007 — By David Royse, Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Environmentalists are hailing a new bill to expand Everglades cleanup by extending the effort to the
northern reaches of the ecosystem.
A bill lawmakers sent last week to Gov. Charlie Crist doubles the amount of money going into Everglades cleanup, up to $200
million from the $100 million the program has received yearly since state and federal officials pledged in 2000 to try to reverse
decades of pollution-caused problems in the River of Grass.
With matching money from local governments and state funding for other related projects, the total spending will be close to $500 million,
said state Sen. Burt Saunders, who led the effort in the Senate.
The measure also includes new restrictions on polluted stormwater runoff from new developments, and on the dumping of sewage sludge
into the Lake Okeechobee watershed, which environmentalists say is a major victory.
The legislation expands the notion of cleaning up the Everglades to restoration of Lake Okeechobee and the rivers that flow south into the
lake -- the water that eventually ends up in the Everglades. It sets out a plan for acquiring land and creating water treatment mechanisms north
of the lake.
"The water pollution problems actually start in the suburbs of Orlando," said Eric Draper, a lobbyist with Audubon of Florida, which worked on
the legislation.
The move to expand the cleanup and curb pollution was rare in its consensus, involving the farm community as well as environmentalists.
Mary Ann Gosa, a lobbyist for the Florida Farm Bureau, said the effort was a more comprehensive approach to cleaning up the ecosystem,
rather than the piecemeal approach that officials have had in the past. And it drew accolades from environmentalists like few other legislative
initiatives in recent years.
"It's the first major law to combine water pollution and water management solutions, and it puts the (government) on an aggressive timeline,"
for implementing the new cleanup projects, said Draper.
In addition to Lake Okeechobee, the legislation also calls for the expansion of programs to protect the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie River
watersheds. Lawmakers' efforts also drew praise from Crist.
"Let's talk about the environment! $200 million for the Everglades," Crist said this past weekend, calling the bill a "big deal."
Lawmakers also approved spending money for programs to help the St. Johns River in northeast Florida and the Indian River Lagoon.
The biggest items in the Everglades legislation provided for:
-- $49 million for the first phase of a Lake Okeechobee protection program.
-- $30 million for projects to improve the hydrology, water quality, and aquatic habitats of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie watersheds,
including Lake Okeechobee watershed improvements, and engineering of a stormwater treatment area.
Source: Associated Press Recovering Lake Okeechobee’s watershed is critical to the success of Everglades restoration.
Audubon is pushing to include the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes region and Lake Istokpoga’s watershed in the Everglades restoration plan.
These two systems cover about 40% and 10% of the Okeechobee watershed respectively. Cleaning the water and gaining storage in these
regions will help these lakes, Lake Okeechobee can do nothing but become the states largest source of Drinking Water and Tourist Mecca as
time goes by.....