4 Congressmen Urge Bush To Stand Firm On Everglades Protection

[hatrack]

Four House appropriations subcommittee members have written to President Bush asking him to resist any attempt by Florida to relax its original Everglades cleanup commitment. The July 19 letter, signed by two House subcommittee chairmen, David Hobson, R-Ohio, and Charles Taylor, R-N.C., cited as a cause for congressional concern a Miami federal judge's June 1 ruling that interim pollution levels had been violated in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

The letter called that "troubling" and expressed a fear, with a federal court cleanup deadline 17 months away, "that the State may fall short of its goal" to reduce phosphorus pollution damaging the Everglades. The pollutant, a fertilizer, is entering the marsh in runoff from farms and suburbs.

"We have concerns whether the actions being undertaken by the state will achieve the obligations," the letter said. A shift away from the project's ecological impetus, the letter warned, could weaken future financial support from Congress.

EDIT

Environmentalists and federal government sources said there have been indications the state is making a behind-the-scenes push to try to change a 13-year-old federal consent decree governing the cleanup. U.S. District Court Judge Federico Moreno is enforcing that mandate. Moreno made a recent finding of a phosphorus pollution violation against the state's cleanup stewards, the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. National Audubon Society spokeswoman April Gromnicki said a key message of the letter is "don't mess with the consent decree."

EDIT

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pglades02aug02,0,1131691.story?coll=sfla-news-palm

Yes, I'm sure he'll listen carefully to their plea, given what a committed environmentalist he is . . . :eyes: