Bad Legislative proposals threaten to undermine billions in environmental spending One step up, one step back is not progress Dear VoteWater community: The things we’d really like Santa to bring would never fit into a stocking. Clean water: Santa could pour some in but it would make a mess. Of course, it couldn’t hold a Christmas candle to the mess we’ve already made here in Florida. Our environmental problems remain severe. The question is whether a tsunami of new spending can change that. Earlier this month Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled his proposed 2024 budget, which includes $1.1 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality projects around the state. It includes $550 million for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), $64 million for the EAA Reservoir, $50 million projects to reduce harmful discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries and $81.5 million for the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program. There’s $135 million for the Water Quality Improvement Grant Program to help pay for septic-to-sewer conversions and other nutrient-reduction projects. Another $100 million will go to the Indian River Lagoon Protection Program to fund water-quality projects; $50 million will go to protect Florida’s iconic springs; and more. All this is good news. But in the meantime, the Legislature is hard at work on anti-environmental legislation. There are bills that would undermine wetlands protections, efforts to intimidate citizens who challenge environmental permits — and other destructive proposals rumored to be waiting in the wings. In other words, we’re undermining all the clean-water spending with new dirty-water bills that threaten to perpetuate — or worsen — the problems all that spending seeks to solve in the first place. One step up, one step back is not progress. That’s why we’re reluctant to cheerlead all the proposed environmental spending. Simply throwing money at our problems will not solve them. We need legislators who value our waterways as much as they value the next campaign check from Big Sugar. We need local officials willing to tell a developer “no” every now and then. Santa won’t bring these things, of course. But you can. With your support, we can keep fighting for a future defined by clean water and open spaces, not pavement and harmful algal blooms. With your support, we can make real and sustainable progress. So let’s make 2024 the year where natural Florida is no longer seen as something to be exploited — but something to be cherished.   Executive Director VoteWater DONATE TO VOTEWATER Lake O levels may not dip much this winter The admission was grim: At the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting Dec. 14, officials acknowledged that with the massive weekend storm bearing down — and other El Nino storms likely to dump more rain during the dry season than usual — it's possible Lake Okeechobee won't dip below 15 feet this season. Usually the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers likes to get the lake down to about 12.5 feet over the winter to make room for the summer rains. But the lake didn't go lower than 13.7 feet in 2023, and the lake's been outside the "ecological envelope" (the range of beneficial ecological conditions) since April. With submerged aquatic vegetation in the lake falling to low levels not seen in years, the pressure to lower the lake level will increase — and something will have to give. ICYMI: Right project in a controversial place Also at last week's South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting, a group of officials from Okeechobee County asked the governing board to stop a proposal to construct a stormwater treatment area along the Kissimmee River about three miles upstream from Lake Okeechobee. Okeechobee officials say the project creates a flood risk and poses a hazard to nearby airports, as birds that utilize the STA's man-made marshes could cause airplane crashes. We took a closer look at the proposal in a recent "Deep Dive," and asked the question: Should a project with regional benefits be scuttled due to local concerns? The answer could have significant implications for efforts to keep nutrients out of Lake O. Stay tuned. Become a member Donate to VoteWater P.S. Signatures Needed! The "Right to Clean and Healthy Waters" petition needs 900,000 signature by November 30 to get on the 2024 ballot. The petition can be printed out and signed here: [link removed]     VoteWater | 3727 SE Ocean Blvd., Suite 200A, Stuart, FL 34996 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!