Posted on April 5, 2022
President Joe Biden’s 2023 budget request includes $407 million for Everglades restoration projects, including the Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir designed to curb Lake Okeechobee discharges to the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.
If Congress approves the request, a “substantial amount” of the proposed Everglades money will go toward building the EAA reservoir, according to Michael Connor, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works. That money will be used to build the reservoir’s foundation and embankments, though no exact amount was provided during a news call Monday afternoon.
Biden requested about $57 million more than last year to restore the South Florida ecosystem, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Jim Yocum. It’s the largest single-year federal spending request since Everglades restoration began over two decades ago, said Everglades Foundation CEO Eric Eikenberg.
“Today’s release of President Biden’s budget recommendations to Congress demonstrates, once again, the strong bipartisan nature of Everglades restoration,” Eikenberg said in a statement. “The Everglades is a vital ecosystem that supports Florida’s economy, which is dependent on tourism, real estate and recreation.”
Once completed in 2029, the EAA reservoir will store about a half-foot of water that otherwise would sit in Lake O. At 23 feet deep, the reservoir will hold about 78 billion gallons. That’s enough water to fill over 118,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
On top of the Everglades spending, the president’s budget includes $5.7 million for improving navigation in the St. Lucie Inlet and $1.4 million for ecosystem restoration in the Okeechobee Waterway, which connects Lake O to the St. Lucie River, according to the proposal.
The latest budget request could add to a fast-growing pot of money for restoring Florida’s historic River of Grass. Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act already allocates roughly $1.1 billion for Everglades restoration projects, which the White House dubbed “the single largest investment in history” for the ecosystem.
In January, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (R-Palm City) criticized how funding for the EAA reservoir wasn’t included in the infrastructure law. Mast said it was a “middle finger” to Florida while DeSantis called it a “whiff.”
The infrastructure law included enough funding to complete the Indian River Lagoon South C23/C24 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area. That project will consist of two reservoirs and a manmade marsh on either side of State Road 70, just west of Sneed Road.
The reservoirs will store over 4 billion gallons of rainfall runoff annually that now drains from an 827-square-mile watershed in western St. Lucie County into the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, polluting it with nutrients, bacteria, herbicides, pesticides and more.
“This iconic American landscape provides drinking water supply for more than 8 million Floridians, supports the state’s $90 billion tourism economy, and is home to dozens of endangered or threatened species,” reads the budget proposal document.
Max Chesnes is a TCPalm environment reporter focusing on issues facing the Indian River Lagoon, St. Lucie River and Lake Okeechobee. You can keep up with Max on Twitter @MaxChesnes, email him at max.chesnes@tcpalm.com and give him a call at 772-978-2224.
