Sanibel Mayor Asks For Federal Assistance On Lake Okeechobee
DC Meeting. Left to right- Sanibel’s Congressman Curt Clawson, Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane, and Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson, Courtesy Of City Of Sanibel.
Sanibel Mayor & Fort Myers Mayor & Cape Coral Mayor Ask For Federal Assistance On Lake Okeechobee
The City Of Sanibel issued the following news release which included a request for federal assistance.
The delegation is stressing the need to fund and construct long-term solutions to the Lake Okeechobee releases. Today, the delegation met with Congress member Curt Clawson (Florida 19th District), representatives from United States Senator Marco Rubio’s office, and the other members of the Florida congressional delegations.”
- Adopt a 2016 Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) bill and authorize the funding Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP). This project will move approximately 210,000 acre-feet of water south of Lake Okeechobee and will address some of the damaging flows to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries by creating the infrastructure needed to move water south.
- Fully fund all improvements to the Herbert Hoover Dike to minimize risk of a catastrophic dike failure and impacts to the communities surrounding Lake Okeechobee and to help reduce the impacts of damaging freshwater releases to the coastal estuaries.
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Left to right- Sanibel’s Congressman Curt Clawson, Cape Coral Mayor Marni Sawicki, Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson, and Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane, Courtesy Of City Of Sanibel.
Continue to support the State’s request for a 90-day emergency temporary deviation from federal and state water quality criteria and restrictions that limit discharges south into Everglades National Park during extreme wet conditions and events.
- Working with the SFWMD, we request the Army Corps of Engineers accelerate implementation of the EAA (Everglades Agricultural Area) Reservoir and proceed with design, and obtain lands needed for implementation. This project would increase water storage within the system by approximately 360,000 acrefeet, providing ~20-25% of the total storage needed south of Lake Okeechobee (1.3 million acre-feet).
