NEWS-PRESS
By Ledyard King
WASHINGTON – A congressional deal to address a public health crisis in Michigan could help fix the environmental crisis in the Everglades.
The House on Wednesday approved a massive water bill authorizing $1.95 billion for projects to help restore Florida’s River of Grass. It did so thanks to a last-minute agreement lawmakers hashed out to address drinking water contamination some 1,500 miles away in Flint, Mich.
The House vote comes two weeks after the Senate approved its version of the bill -- the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 -- that also authorizes money for the Central Everglades.
The ambitious multi-year program is designed to restore the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee south towards Florida Bay and away from coastal communities to the east and west, where polluted runoff and algae blooms have endangered residents, killed fish and hurt businesses.
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Read the specifics about the Everglades earmark in the final legislation of 2016.