Lawmakers gear up to free billions for Glades

Miami Herald

September 25, 2007

By Curtis Morgan -With more than $2 billion for the Everglades at stake, Florida lawmakers pledged to challenge an expected White House veto of a major water resources bill that sailed through the Senate Monday.

Judging by broad, bipartisan support in Congress, they may have the votes to override President Bush if he follows up on a warning to reject a $23 billion package the administration calls bloated with ``excessive spending and projects.''

The bill, approved 81-12, would fund some 900 water projects and studies nationwide, with a quarter of the money set aside for showcase environmental restorations of the Everglades, sections of the Mississippi River and the coastal wetlands of hurricane-ravaged Louisiana.

In a joint statement, both Florida senators, Democrat Bill Nelson of Melbourne and Republican Mel Martinez of Orlando, urged colleagues to support legislation they called critical to kick-starting Everglades projects that have lagged along with federal funding.

''No single bill Congress approves will have as much positive impact on Florida's environment than this,'' said Martinez. ``On Everglades restoration, this bill brings the federal government back to the table as an equal partner.''

''These projects are vital to restoring the River of Grass,'' Nelson said. ``The president's expected veto will only delay the restoration of this global treasure and I'm committed to doing everything I can to overturn it.''

The Water Resources Development Act, which has repeatedly stalled in Congress since 2002, would bankroll several key, long-delayed Everglades projects.

It includes $1.36 billion to help clean up the Indian River Lagoon, a struggling estuary that runs through five Southeast Florida counties; $375 million to restore the Picayune Strand in Collier County; $119 million pilot projects and $81 million to build a 1,600-acre water storage reservoir in Palm Beach County.

MIAMI RIVER

Beyond the Glades, it promises $125 million to revive the stalled dredging of the Miami River, $7.5 million to improve drinking water treatment for poor communities that draw from polluted Lake Okeechobee and $1.5 million to study how to speed repair of the lake's aging dike.

April Gromnicki, director of ecosystems restoration for the National Audubon Society, said the long-awaited bill would ''break the logjam of federal participation'' in the Everglades.

The cash flow from Washington has declined considerably since 2000 when Congress signed off on the state and federal governments splitting the restoration bill. In the interim, cost estimates have doubled to more $15 billion and key projects have fallen years behind.

In a policy statement, the White House has said it supports funding for two key Glades projects but argued the resources bill was undermined by pork elsewhere, noting the bill produced by congressional negotiators was $5 billion higher than either House or Senate version and tripled White House proposals.

The administration isn't alone in the criticism. Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, also has been a high-profile foe, complaining of skyrocketing costs and weak oversight of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which builds most of the projects.

Martinez acknowledged some parts of the bill ``are not pretty in terms of government spending . . . But at the end of the day, as a Floridian, Everglades restoration is such an integral part of this WRDA bill we have to take the good with the bad.''

OVERWHELMING VOTE

Both chambers would need two-thirds majority votes to override a potential veto -- a mark easily topped by Monday's Senate vote and earlier 381-40 House approval. It's uncertain if a vote directly rebuffing Bush would track the same, but Republicans haven't been shy about bucking Bush on the bill.

Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, said he would urge the administration not to veto the bill.

An aide for Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, also a Miami Republican, said she had not decided how she would vote on an override but pointed out she'd already voted for the bill.

EVERGLADES SUPPORT

David Goldenberg, chief of staff for Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, who co-chairs Florida's congressional delegation with Diaz-Balart, said his boss intends to reach across party lines for Everglades support.

''At the moment,'' Goldenberg said, ``there hasn't been a coordinated discussion, but that's only because some of us are still holding out hope that the president will do the right thing.''

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