DeSantis, Biden at odds over Everglades Reservoir funding

Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden are at odds again, this time over funding for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir project.

At a news conference Monday in Palm Beach County, the governor was joined by members of the state’s Congressional delegation, who called on Biden to provide federal funding for the EAA Reservoir project and to allocate at least $725 million for Everglades restoration in the upcoming federal fiscal year 2023 budget.

The EAA Reservoir Project, a 50-50 partnership between Florida and the federal government, was designed to reduce harmful discharges from Lake Okeechoebee and send clean water south to the Everglades and Florida Bay, while also protecting drinking water for 9 million Floridians. DeSantis first expedited funding for the reservoir project through an executive order he issued on his second day in office.

DeSantis was joined by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Congressmen Brian Mast and Byron Donalds, all Republicans, as well as state officials and other stakeholders.

The group criticized the Biden administration after the White House announced it was making "the largest single investment ever to restore and revitalize the Everglades in Florida" of over $1 billion. But funding excludes the reservoir, the most critical part of Everglades restoration, DeSantis said. Instead, it prioritized other projects that “won’t help to meaningfully reduce harmful discharges” from Lake Okeechobee.

“The EAA Reservoir project is the crown jewel of Everglades restoration, providing relief from harmful discharges to the estuaries and sending more clean water south to the Everglades,” DeSantis said. “Advancing the state’s portion of this project is our number one priority, but the federal government has stalled, most recently failing to dedicate a single cent from its infrastructure package to its portion of this project. The Biden Administration must reverse course and dedicate the funds necessary to timely advance their portion of this important project. Florida is doing its part and the Biden administration needs to follow the path blazed by the Trump administration and provide the promised federal support.”

Mast, whose district includes the eastern portion of the lake, said when DeSantis came into office he looked at environmental projects strategically and “asked ‘What could make the biggest possible difference and help the most people? Well, if we do this reservoir, we can help the Everglades, we can help the East Coast, we can help the West Coast, all in one swoop. So let’s do that’,” he said referring to DeSantis’ plan. “The state legislature put the dollars towards this and we’re just waiting on the federal dollars to come in,” he said, referring to the federal infrastructure bill he voted against as “the opportunity to do it.”

“The governor said [the EAA Reservoir] was a crown jewel for the environment for the state of Florida, that’s exactly why you’re not seeing one dollar go to it from these federal appropriations,” he added. “That’s the Biden administration sending a middle finger over to Florida unfortunately, and this is what we see over and over again. Floridians are going to suffer as a result.”

The EAA project “is the single most important project for reducing harmful discharges and sending more water south,” Rubio said. “Unfortunately, the Biden administration did not allocate a single dollar for the project” in the transportation bill he also voted against.

The Army Corps of Engineers announced it plans to fund “the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration program at $1.098 billion, a historic funding level that will enable significant progress in restoring Florida’s nationally significant Everglades ecosystem.”

According to a project description chart it released, the $1,097,967,736 in funding doesn’t include the EAA Reservoir project. It includes funding construction of the Broward County Water Preserve Area C-11 Impoundment feature, the Indian River Lagoon- C23/24 North Reservoir feature, the Central Everglades Planning Project South - S-356 Pump Station feature, Biscayne Bay & Southern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration, and CERP Design - Western Everglades Restoration Project.

Agricultural Secretary Nikki Fried, a Democrat running in the governor primary to unseat DeSantis, tweeted after his announcement that “DeSantis is such a Karen – always the victim, always whining and complaining. It’s so annoying. … I might win because people are tired of hearing him whine.”

But DeSantis' work on restoring the Everglades and $4.4 billion proposed for environmental projects has received a wide range of bipartisan support, including receiving praise from environmental groups like Audubon Florida and the Everglades Law Center.

His budget proposed more than $980 million to restore the Everglades and protect Florida’s water resources, building on the $2.5 billion he first called for in his executive order. The additional proposed funding brings Florida’s four-year investment to $3 billion, doubling the investment of the previous four years.

It includes more than $660 million for Everglades restoration, which Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, said was “the largest investment in the history of the program.” In addition to restoration efforts, the funding will “create and save jobs, boost our state’s tourism-based economy, and yield tangible benefits for Floridians,” he said.

"There is bipartisan support for advancing [the EAA Reservoir] project that will send water south to replenish the Everglades and Florida Bay, while also protecting the water supply for 9 million Floridians,” he said Monday. “No project will play a bigger role in reducing algae-causing discharges from Lake Okeechobee, with the added benefit of massive carbon sequestration to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.”

“We hope the President’s budget request includes at least $725 million to enable the Jacksonville District to expedite this project and continue the momentum to restore America's Everglades," he added.

“Everglades restoration is about more than preserving an incomparable landscape. It’s also about sustaining the quality of life for millions of Floridians,” Chief Resilience Officer Dr. Wes Brooks said. “By recreating historic water flow volumes and patterns we can boost the resilience benefits that the Everglades and our coastal wetlands and coral reefs provide to communities in southeast Florida. That’s why accelerating completion of the EAA Reservoir is so critical to our resilience work."