By Tyler Treadway
November 9, 2016
TC Palm
Senator Joe Negron
Tuesday’s legislative elections throughout the state should be good for the Indian River Lagoon and a plan to end the destructive discharges to the St. Lucie River. So says the author of the plan and an environmental group supporting it.
Incoming Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said he has “a strong foundation of support” with 25 Republicans in the 40-member Senate to help him push his proposal to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee as part of a system to move excess lake water south rather than east to the St. Lucie River and west to the Caloosahatchee River.
Negron’s plan to buy 60,000 acres and build a reservoir would cost $2.4 billion, split evenly by the state and the federal government.
That “foundation” is one GOP senator short of the 26 in the 2016 session, but because of redistricting, Republicans could have lost more seats in five new Democratic-leaning districts.
For instance, state Rep. Matt Caldwell, a Republican from Lee County and outspoken opponent of Negron’s plan, defeated both a Democrat and an unaffiliated opponent Tuesday to win a fourth term.
Education and health care are high on Corcoran’s agenda, Negron said, hinting that he and the speaker may be able to cut some mutually advantageous deals.
“We’ll have to make our case one legislator at a time,” he said, “but in the end, I think we’ll see both chambers be able to get their goals accomplished.”
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