CS/HM 489

1
House Memorial
2A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3Congress to authorize improvements to bring the Herbert
4Hoover Dike into compliance with current levee protection
5safety standards and to authorize funding to expedite the
6improvements.
7
8     WHEREAS, Lake Okeechobee was impacted by four hurricanes
9during the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, and
10     WHEREAS, subsequently, at the request of local community
11leaders, the South Florida Water Management District Governing
12Board implemented an independent report on the Herbert Hoover
13Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and
14     WHEREAS, the report found that the dike does not meet
15current levee protection safety standards, which constitutes a
16failure of the structure, and
17     WHEREAS, the failure of the structure poses a clear and
18imminent threat of catastrophic proportion to the communities
19surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and
20     WHEREAS, the dike was not built to current levee
21engineering standards and is therefore not authorized by
22Congress to be brought into compliance with such standards, NOW,
23THEREFORE,
24
25Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
26
27     That the Congress of the United States is requested to
28authorize improvements to bring the Herbert Hoover Dike into
29compliance with current levee protection safety standards by
302014 and to authorize funding to expedite the improvements.
31     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
32dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
33President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
34United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
35the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.


CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.