U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) along with a bipartisan group of Florida colleagues are working to restore Florida’s Everglades by calling on President Joe Biden to prioritize full funding for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration as part of his upcoming budget.
“I’ve fought every year to secure full funding for Everglades restoration and pushed to prioritize projects like the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir to send water south,” Rep. Mast said. “This is a fight that I’m in 365 days per year, and I’ll stay in it to make sure our kids and grandkids can enjoy all that the Everglades has to offer.”
In a March 6 letter to Biden led by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rep. Mast and seven other lawmakers requested no less than $725 million for Everglades restoration in the president’s forthcoming Fiscal Year 2025 budget request to Congress.
Rep. Mast’s office underscored the economic and environmental importance of the Everglades, home to more species of plants and animals than any other ecosystem in the continental United States. The requested funding would help combat damage caused by the federal government discharging toxic water from Lake Okeechobee nearly every summer into rivers and lagoons.
“The completion of Everglades restoration projects will enable additional water management flexibility for beneficial management and use, lessen the volume and frequency of harmful and wasteful discharges to the estuaries that can kill wildlife and negatively impact quality of life, and prevent water shortages and restrictions across southern Florida,” the Florida members wrote.