PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–It was a no go on the Everglades bill for Gov. Ron DeSantis as he vetoed it, expressing concerns about wetland destruction.
In a veto letter to the Secretary of State, DeSantis said the bill could have hindered Everglades restoration which he had deemed important when he took office in 2019.
“While the bill that was ultimately passed by the Legislature is an improvement over what was initially filed, SB 2508 still creates unnecessary and redundant regulatory hurdles which may compromise the timely execution and implementation of Everglades restoration projects, war control plans and regulation schedules,” the governor wrote to Secretary of State Cord Byrd.
Outgoing Senate President Wilton Simpson had pushed lawmakers to pass the bill during the regular session that ended in March. DeSantis did not like the original version and criticized it which led the legislators to rework the bill dealing with a massive Everglades reservoir project.
“We want to continue going on the path that we set out in January of 2019. And we don’t want anything to derail us from that,” DeSantis said at a press conference on June 8 on Fort Myers Beach. “There was a lot of people that put a lot of good input in. Very very passionate folks – we hear you and we’re going to continue on the course that we started a little over three years ago.”
After the bill was filed, DeSantis said the state needed to prioritize money for the reservoir.
Senators said that critics of the bill “misunderstood” it and that the reservoir wouldn’t receive less priority. However, they responded to the criticism by rewriting the bill to include revising Lake Okeechobee water-release schedules or cutting funding for the reservoir project.
Prior to DeSantis taking office in 2019, the reservoir was approved in 2017 to help reduce the release of contaminated water from Lake Okeechobee into St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries, which have been blamed for destroying sea grass that Manatees depend on for sustenance and have struggled in recent years with moving water south into the Everglades.
During budget talks between the Florida Senate and House, additional changes to the bill were added and approved, providing more oversight to DeSantis and the Legislature about directives given to the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) concerning the management of the water in Lake Okeechobee.
However, environmental groups have expressed concern that the bill would have caused wetland destruction. The bill would have allowed the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to enter into contracts with public entities, notably utility companies like Florida Power and Light, to expedite environmental resource permits or pay into a state fund for the work.
Last week before DeSantis vetoed the bill, the environmental group Audubon Florida sent a final appeal telling the governor that while the bill was “much improved,” it still “creates unnecessary bureaucracy for Everglades restoration and undermines Florida Forever, the state’s land conservation program.”
After DeSantis announced the veto, Jonathan Webber, legislative and political director for Florida Conservation Voters issued a written statement, “this will be a signal to lawmakers to stop using legislative tricks to sneak harmful environmental policy past the Florida public.”
Another group, the Florida Wildlife Federation issued a statement that “vetoing this bad bill is necessary for the restoration of the Everglades and protecting the quality of our water.”
However, the veto was not well received by some.
South Florida Water Coalition said the veto was based on “narrow, inaccurate concerns.”
“By vetoing this legislation, Gov. DeSantis has disappointed the more than seven million people in South Florida that depend on a stable supply of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee,” Ryan Rossi, director for the South Florida Water Coalition said in a written statement.
DeSantis was joined at the press conference by Daniel Andrews, executive director of Captains for Clean Water, who said that the governor’s action “sends an incredibly powerful message” to people advocating “counter efforts to water quality issues ... You’re gonna get steamrolled by Gov. DeSantis.”
Last week, DeSantis signed a budget for 2022-2023 that included $500 million for Everglades restoration projects and approximately $558 million for water-quality projects that target the reduction in nutrient levels in key waterways around the state. The governor vetoed $350 million for aquifer-storage wells that reduce pollutants entering the north side of Lake Okeechobee, which was one of (Senate President) Simpson’s priorities.
