BOCC Approves Resolution to Support Expediting and Funding of Everglade Restoration Projects with Priority of Water Flow to Florida Bay

MARTAHON – The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners approved a resolution Wednesday that strongly supports the expediting and funding of Everglades Restoration projects that prioritize restoring water flow to Florida Bay.

To emphasize the critical need for these projects to move forward now for the water quality, ecosystem and economy of the Florida Keys, Monroe County Mayor Heather Carruthers will hand deliver the detailed and well-vetted resolution to Gov. Rick Scott next week when he attends a ceremonial signing of the Florida Keys Stewardship Act.

“I think our resolution will get more traction because of its complexity and level of detail,” Carruthers said during the BOCC monthly meeting at the Marathon Government Center. “We are not just waving our hands and saying: ‘Do something.’ … This resolution says to them all: ‘Let’s get it done’.”

Mayor Pro Tem George Neugent, who has been working on water quality issues throughout his two decade tenure on the BOCC, added that the Keys’ municipalities, environmental organizations and the County are “all in this together.”  During the meeting, the Commission asked the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association to issue its own similar resolution on the Everglades Restoration projects. The association’s executive director Bill Kelly said he would add it to the agenda at that night’s board meeting.

The resolution calls for the expedited Congressional authorization, appropriation and implementation of the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP), which includes the construction of new storage and conveyance projects to direct new water through Everglades National Park and into Florida Bay.

This “re-plumbing” of the Everglades – which will help return the natural water flow that was altered due to development and the building of the Tamiami Trail on the mainland – is critical to prevent hyper salinity that leads to massive seagrass die-off and algal blooms that threaten fisheries and other wildlife in Florida Bay.

Now, the ecological conditions of Florida Bay are seriously compromised and continually under threat due to drought and the low natural flow of fresh water through the southern region of the Everglades.

The resolution also calls for the entire suite of Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projects to be completed for the long-term health of Florida Bay. These projects include critical additional storage in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA), which need to become a higher Congressional state priority.

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