By Isadora Rangel
August 24, 2016
TC Palm
A plan to reduce
Image from flsenate.gov
Lake Okeechobee discharges received much praise from Treasure Coast elected officials and environmental activists, but some Republican lawmakers and the sugar industry were lukewarm, to say the least.
Florida Senate President-elect Joe Negron acknowledged he will have to spend a lot of political capital to push through the proposal he announced this month in his hometown of Stuart.
“I told everyone up front this will be difficult,” Negron said.
Negron’s challenge is twofold. First, he must persuade his fellow Republican state lawmakers to allocate the state’s $1.2 billion share next year. Some of those represent areas of Florida with their own environmental problems and have strong ties to the sugar industry. Even harder will be persuading Congress to give the same amount. The $2.4 billion total would be used to buy 60,000 acres south of Lake O and build a reservoir, which would connect to existing canals to move water into the Everglades instead of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
There already are signs of the kind of opposition Negron will face.
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