Audubon commends Senator Joe Negron (R-Palm City) for having the courage of his convictions to vote against final passage of HB 7003 on the Senate Floor today. An amendment offered by Senator Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee) to put in place a plan to secure land in the Everglades to store and treat the polluted water harming coastal estuaries would have greatly improved the Senate water bill. Senator Negron, in debate on the Soto amendment, called for appropriating $45 million of Amendment 1 funds to fund a plan to solve South Florida’s polluted water crisis.  

“The Senate’s water bill is missing the part about fixing the polluted water pouring from Lake Okeechobee into coastal areas. Until that problem is fixed, the bill is incomplete. We hope that on their return, the House and Senate will take up and pass a measure to require projects to treat and store water from the Lake and stop the damage to our coastal waters,” said Eric Draper, Audubon Florida Executive Director.