© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
In South Florida, where the Everglades meet the bays, environmental challenges abound. Sea level rise threatens homes and real estate. Invasive species imperil native plants and animals. Pesticides reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases, but at what cost? WLRN's award-winning environment reporting strives to capture the color and complexity of human interaction with one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet.

DeSantis Announces Sweeping Fixes Meant To Clean Up Florida Water Woes

Tampa Bay Times via Miami Herald
Two days after he was sworn in at the Old Capitol in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis visited a Gulf Coast research field station Thursday to announce a suite of measures to fix Florida's troubled waters.

Two days after he took office, Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled sweeping measures to clean up Florida's troubled waters, including spending $2.5 billion and launching more aggressive policies to address algae choking Lake Okeechobee and polluting the state's coasts.

The newly minted governor, who angered environmentalists on the campaign trail by dismissing climate change as a significant threat, also promised to establish a resiliency office to address impacts.

"The people of Florida wanted to see action and this was action that was requested regardless of your party," DeSantis said in a morning briefing at a Florida Gulf Coast University field station in Bonita Springs, north of Naples. "This is something that can unite all Floridians."

Included in an executive order: increase water monitoring around the state and establish a task force to address blue green algae, a growing threat worsened by pollution and a warming planet that now regularly fouls rivers flowing from a massive lake half the size of Rhode Island.

DeSantis also promised to speed up construction of a 17,000-acre Everglades reservoir in farm fields south of the lake and try to end polluted discharges.

"I’d like to see no discharges," he said. "We’re working with the White House and as difficult as it is, working with the Army Corps to mitigate that."

The new governor also promised to appoint a chief science officer so "we’re doing sound science making sure we’re getting ahead of the curve on these issues."

Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald

More On This Topic