HM 539

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the President of the United States and the
3	United States Congress, urging the prompt enactment of
4	legislation to authorize funding to construct the Indian
5	River Lagoon Restoration Project and the development of a
6	comprehensive plan to assist in the implementation of the
7	Lake Okeechobee and Estuary Recovery Plan.
8
9	WHEREAS, the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary
10	encompass the most biologically diverse estuary in North America
11	that is recognized for national significance in the National
12	Estuary Program, and
13	WHEREAS, the Indian River Lagoon and the St. Lucie Estuary
14	have been and continue to be severely degraded by excessive
15	freshwater discharges, nutrients, and sediments from Lake
16	Okeechobee and the drainage canals constructed by the Central
17	and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, and
18	WHEREAS, the State of Florida has a long history of
19	supporting local, state, and federal programs to improve the
20	environmental health of the Indian River Lagoon and the St.
21	Lucie Estuary, the health of which is critical to the economic
22	and social environment of Florida and the nation, and
23	WHEREAS, the support of the State of Florida includes
24	forming and funding the St. Lucie River Issues Team and the
25	Indian River Lagoon Restoration Task Force and providing 50
26	percent of the cost of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
27	Plan projects, and
28	WHEREAS, local government partners, including the Nine
29	County Coalition for the Responsible Management of Lake
30	Okeechobee and St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuaries, are
31	implementing urban stormwater quality retrofit projects, funding
32	over $100 million to restore the Indian River Lagoon and the St.
33	Lucie Estuary, and
34	WHEREAS, water being released into the Caloosahatchee River
35	westward from Lake Okeechobee has introduced too much fresh
36	water into the Caloosahatchee River and its estuaries, causing
37	great damage to the aquatic life in that fragile system, and
38	WHEREAS, local voters in Martin County voluntarily approved
39	a special sales tax referendum for healthy rivers that raised
40	over $50 million to assist in the purchase of the land necessary
41	to implement the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project, and
42	WHEREAS, the State of Florida has enthusiastically endorsed
43	Congressional authorization of the Indian River Lagoon
44	Restoration Project, and
45	WHEREAS, the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project, after
46	numerous bureaucratic delays, has now undergone full
47	administrative review and is ready for Congressional
48	authorization and subsequent funding and construction, and
49	WHEREAS, the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project is the
50	first of over forty major components of the Comprehensive
51	Everglades Restoration Plan that require Congressional
52	authorization, and
53	WHEREAS, Congressional authorization of the Indian River
54	Lagoon Restoration Project will pave the way for Congressional
55	authorization of the other major components of the Comprehensive
56	Everglades Restoration Plan, and
57	WHEREAS, Lake Okeechobee is the gateway to America's
58	Everglades and the largest freshwater lake in the southeastern
59	United States, and
60	WHEREAS, the health of Lake Okeechobee is vital to the goal
61	of restoring America's Everglades, and
62	WHEREAS, the recent catastrophic hurricanes have caused
63	massive pollution of the lake's waters and destroyed essential
64	plant life within the lake, and
65	WHEREAS, the recent catastrophic hurricanes have made it
66	extremely difficult to maintain the level of the lake without
67	damaging releases into the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie
68	Estuary and the Caloosahatchee Estuary, and
69	WHEREAS, on October 10, 2005, Governor Jeb Bush announced
70	the Lake Okeechobee and Estuary Recovery Plan, an initiative by
71	the State of Florida to accelerate the recovery and restoration
72	of Lake Okeechobee, and
73	WHEREAS, the people of the United States, and the
74	generations of Americans to follow, deserve the environmental
75	and economic benefits of the restoration of America's Everglades
76	that will be derived from the implementation of the entire
77	Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, NOW, THEREFORE,
78
79	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
80
81	That the State of Florida urges the United States Congress
82	to pass, without further delay, the pending legislation to
83	authorize the Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project and
84	requests the President of the United States to sign that
85	legislation into law and further requests the President to work
86	with the Congress to develop and enact a comprehensive planning
87	and funding initiative to be implemented in coordination with
88	the Lake Okeechobee and Estuary Recovery Plan announced by
89	Governor Bush on October 10, 2005.
90	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
91	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
92	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
93	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
94	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

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