Senate Bill sb1504

    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 1504

    By Senator Pruitt





    28-1044-04                                          See HM 193

  1                     Senate Memorial No. ____

  2         A memorial to the United States Army Corps of

  3         Engineers, urging prompt action to complete the

  4         Indian River Lagoon Restoration Plan on

  5         schedule.

  6  

  7         WHEREAS, the Indian River Lagoon is the most

  8  biologically diverse estuary in North America and is

  9  recognized for national significance in the National Estuary

10  Program, and

11         WHEREAS, the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon

12  have been and continue to be severely degraded by excessive

13  freshwater discharges, nutrients, and sediments from drainage

14  canals constructed by the Central and Southern Florida Flood

15  Control Project, and

16         WHEREAS, the State of Florida has a long history of

17  supporting local, state, and federal programs to improve the

18  environmental health of the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River

19  Lagoon, which health is critical to the economic and social

20  environment of Florida and the nation, and

21         WHEREAS, state support includes forming and funding the

22  St. Lucie River Issues Team, the Indian River Lagoon

23  Restoration Task Force, and 50 percent of the costs of related

24  Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects, and

25         WHEREAS, local government partners, including the Nine

26  County Coalition for the Responsible Management of Lake

27  Okeechobee and St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries, are

28  implementing urban stormwater quality retrofit projects,

29  budgeted at over $100 million, dedicated to cleaning up the

30  St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon, and

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 1504
    28-1044-04                                          See HM 193




 1         WHEREAS, local voters voluntarily approved a special

 2  sales tax referendum for healthy rivers that raised over $50

 3  million to help buy the land necessary to implement the Indian

 4  River Lagoon Restoration Plan, and

 5         WHEREAS, the State of Florida has enthusiastically

 6  endorsed the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Plan, and

 7         WHEREAS, the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Plan,

 8  after numerous bureaucratic delays, is ready for Congressional

 9  authorization and construction, and

10         WHEREAS, the citizens of the United States deserve the

11  prompt authorization and construction of the Indian River

12  Lagoon Restoration Plan, the first major component of the

13  Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, NOW, THEREFORE,

14  

15  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

16  

17         That the State of Florida urges the United States Army

18  Corps of Engineers to complete work on the Indian River Lagoon

19  Restoration Plan and forward it to Congress for authorization

20  as rescheduled in August 2003 and urges federal officials to

21  keep the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Plan on schedule and

22  present it without further delay for Congressional

23  authorization in 2004.

24         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

25  dispatched to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, to

26  the President of the United States, to the President of the

27  United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States

28  House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida

29  delegation to the United States Congress.

30  

31  

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