U.S. Congressman Brian Mast (FL-18) today testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee about the importance of funding the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, which consists of projects designed to restore the Everglades and combat harmful algal blooms (such as the EAA Southern Storage Reservoir). Specifically, he advocated for an increase to at least $200 million per year in funding.
“The federal government, in the last century, they dammed up the Herbert Hoover Dike, they created artificial canals intended to bring water to where it wasn’t wanted and now we don’t get the water to where it is needed into the Florida Everglades that worked to provide all of that drinking water supply. This is the issue that is at stake here,” Rep. Mast testified. “Now, Congress committed itself to a solution to this problem back in 2000 when it authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). This was the framework for restoring this water system. CERP is dozens of components and the only hope for correcting the federal government’s engineering mistakes of the 20th century is to bring these components to completion. This is what we’re advocating for today.”
