CS/HM 489

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to authorize improvements to bring the Herbert
4	Hoover Dike into compliance with current levee protection
5	safety standards and to authorize funding to expedite the
6	improvements.
7
8	WHEREAS, Lake Okeechobee was impacted by four hurricanes
9	during the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, and
10	WHEREAS, subsequently, at the request of local community
11	leaders, the South Florida Water Management District Governing
12	Board implemented an independent report on the Herbert Hoover
13	Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and
14	WHEREAS, the report found that the dike does not meet
15	current levee protection safety standards, which constitutes a
16	failure of the structure, and
17	WHEREAS, the failure of the structure poses a clear and
18	imminent threat of catastrophic proportion to the communities
19	surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and
20	WHEREAS, the dike was not built to current levee
21	engineering standards and is therefore not authorized by
22	Congress to be brought into compliance with such standards, NOW,
23	THEREFORE,
24
25	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
26
27	That the Congress of the United States is requested to
28	authorize improvements to bring the Herbert Hoover Dike into
29	compliance with current levee protection safety standards by
30	2014 and to authorize funding to expedite the improvements.
31	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
32	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
33	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
34	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
35	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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