Get The Landowners In A Room
Everglades Trust Calls For Immediate Action By Governor Scott
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., July 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Everglades Trust today called for Florida Governor Rick Scott to take the first step toward alleviating the harmful release of Lake Okeechobee water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and estuaries by immediately convening a meeting of the landowners controlling the land critical to the solution.
In a letter to Governor Scott, Kimberly Mitchell, Executive Director of the Everglades Trust, underscores the dire need for construction of a reservoir in the Everglades Agricultural Area that has been part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan since its inception and authorization by Congress in 2000.
While CERP projects are cost-shared with the federal government, it is the state's responsibility to acquire the land needed for the project. "It has been sixteen years since the State of Florida agreed to this project. You [Governor Scott] alone possess the authority to finally make it a reality," Mitchell wrote.
The one CERP project that will provide the most relief to the coastal communities receiving the discharges, the Everglades and Florida Bay is the EAA reservoir. Without additional storage in the EAA, the Everglades will not be restored, Florida Bay will continue to suffer from a lack of fresh water, and the coastal communities will continue to receive harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges.
"Governor Scott holds the power and the ability to convene a meeting of a few of the most influential landowners to begin the process of negotiating for the land needed to once and for all reverse decades of flawed public policy," Mitchell went on to say. "Will he do it, is what we are waiting to hear."
The Everglades Trust, founded in 1994 by the iconic Everglades protector, George Barley, is an organized group of businesses, community leaders and citizens who are committed to protecting and restoring the Everglades through the process of influencing the formation of public policy.
The letter to Governor Rick Scott and a map of the EAA and list of landowners can be accessed and downloaded at www.EvergladesTrust.org
The Everglades Trust, founded in 1994 by the iconic Everglades protector, George Barley, is an organized group of businesses, community leaders and citizens who are committed to protecting and restoring the Everglades through the process of influencing the formation of public policy.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160706/386917
SOURCE The Everglades Trust
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