Joe Garcia, Sierra Club and South Florida Environmental Community Call Out Curbelo for Putting Biscayne Bay at Risk

Miami, FL—Today, former Congressman Joe Garcia, Sierra Club Florida Chairman Mark Walters, former Miami-Dade Commissioner and former Florida Secretary of Commerce Charles Dusseau, and local environmental activists held a press conference to call out Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo for trying to hand over control of a vital marine preserve in Biscayne National Park to Governor Rick Scott.

​”Biscayne National Park is too important to allow Carlos Curbelo to hand it over to Rick Scott—who has been a disaster for Florida’s environment,” said Mark Walters, Chairman of Sierra Club Florida. “Curbelo and Scott have already done enough to dirty our waters and weaken environmental safeguards, and we can’t let them do the same to Biscayne Bay.”

Curbelo and his Republican allies want to put Biscayne National Park at risk by placing much of it under Governor Scott’s control even though he has been a disaster for Florida’s environment. Governor Scott and Florida’s Legislature have voted to increase the amount of toxins in our waterways, have approved fracking and have even allowed polluters to keep the toxins they put in our water a secret.

“South Florida needs leaders who work to stop abuses against the environment, not people like Mr. Curbelo who work to enable them,” said former Congressman Joe Garcia, candidate for Florida’s 26th Congressional District. “I proudly defended the Obama administration’s EPA safeguards and the National Park Service so that every Floridian could enjoy the natural treasures Florida has to offer.”

This is not the first time Curbelo has voted to endanger our waters. He voted to allow coal polluters to store their waste in aquifers that leak into the groundwater Americans use. He also voted to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and to protect subsidies for oil produced on public land, and even expressed his strong support for offshore oil drilling while visiting an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s why he has a 23% score with the League of Conservation Voters.

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Joe Garcia served South Florida in Congress from 2013 to 2015.  He is currently running for election against Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo in a Congressional District that has been redrawn and favors Democrats. National and local Democrats have invested heavily in Garcia, with the DCCC placing over $5 million in television and radio ads that are currently running in the district.  Joe Garcia is beating Curbelo in the most recent poll.

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