Mast tries to delay storage north of lake

WEST PALM BEACH – Congressman Brian Mast this week asked the South Florida Water Management District to delay approval of the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project (LOWRP). In a Dec. 11 letter to SFWMD exeutive director Drew Bartlett, Congressman Mast claimed LOWRP “could jeopardize the timely completion of the Everglades Agricultural Area storage reservoir project which provides far greater benefits to reduce harmful discharges and restore the Everglades.”

“The letter asking you to delay northern storage with the LOWRP is irrresponsible and it is absolutely pushing forward a false narrative that sets up one Everglades Restoration Project against another,” Nyla Pipes of One Florida told the SFWMD governing board at their Dec. 12 meeting. “The EAA reservoir will not work to the full benefit without the northern portion of Everglades restoration.”

The state legislature right now has money set aside to help, on their end, with the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Restoration Project, she continued. The money set aside for LOWRP by the state is not in competition with the funding the state has pledged for the EAA reservoir and stormwater treatment area (STA) project.

Mrs. Pipes added that certain environmental groups have recently objected to the use of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wells which are included in LOWRP.