| Florida lawmakers push for 'Glades, Indian River Lagoon
funding For visual emphasis, Rep. Mark Foley brought mud from the Indian River Lagoon to a conference room in the basement of a Senate office building. By Lauren Rivera Scripps Howard News Service February 18, 2005 WASHINGTON — They're trying again. U.S. Rep. Mark Foley and Florida's two senators, Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez, reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would authorize funding to clean up the Indian River Lagoon, a key part of the Everglades restoration plan. This bill, which stalled last year, is the first step of a marathon project to reduce toxins affecting the South Florida ecosystem. Restoring the Indian River Lagoon will cost $1.2 billion. The federal government would pay half, with most of the rest coming the state, the South Florida Water Management District, and Martin County's three-year 1 percent sales tax. For visual emphasis, and to show the damage that needs to be corrected in Florida's grassy rivers, Foley brought mud from the Indian River Lagoon to a conference room in the basement of a Senate office building. Behind him, an aerial photograph of the St. Lucie Estuary showed the greenish glow of polluted fresh water leaking from the fingers and outlets of Florida's Treasure Coast into the Atlantic Ocean. "Remove the mud!" he called, holding a sealed, plastic bag of the dense, dark green-brown muck. "There's enough toxins in this much mud to kill any living organism." |
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