Florida Senate Bill 2508 Is A Threat To Clean Water

[Dave LeGear]

Middle of the night insanity reinvented (again) in trying to undo years worth of hard work by many...



If implemented, SB 2508 will:

• Prioritize water supply to sugar farms south of Lake Okeechobee over all other users
• Result in more harmful Lake O discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers
• Jeopardize funding and expedited construction of the EAA reservoir, the critical project needed to reduce damaging discharges and send more water to the Everglades

More information can be found here on the subject that we have covered here of years now:

https://www.performanceoutdoors.net/threads/what-a-mess-this-has-become-for-south-florida.9008/

And now more recently:

https://ccaflorida.org/senate-bill-2508/

And here you can also sign to help with the fight:

https://captainsforcleanwater.org/urgent-sign-our-petition/

Thanks much!
Dave

 

[Dave LeGear]

From Captain for Clean Water:

A galvanizing moment for clean water, but the fight's not over yet.


In the fight to KILL SENATE BILL 2508, we are making progress. Our mission is to kill this bad bill. And although the bill is proceeding through a long and complicated legislative process with many stops, we have wounded it. And we will continue to weaken this bad water legislation until we defeat it altogether.

Yesterday, an amendment to SB 2508 was approved in the Senate with a 37-2 vote, but that does not mean that the bill has passed into law. The amendment has removed the worst of the worst language from the original bill.

Be assured, this amendment is a WIN for clean water. However, we have to continue to encourage our lawmakers to reject SB 2508 while chipping away at the remaining harmful language as it moves on through the legislative process.

This amendment is a direct result of YOUR efforts! It would have never happened if not for the 40,000 petition signers, 1,200 people who called their senators, and couple hundred that rallied in Tallahassee yesterday.

Your passion for our waters was noticed—they felt the pressure and responded with a step in the right direction. That’s a win! But it’s not THE FINAL win, there is still more work to do and we need you all to stay in the fight.

To learn more about the bill and yesterday's clean-water rally in Tallahassee, check out this article in the Miami Herald.

What's next for the bill?

Since this bill was tied to the overall annual Florida budget, the next step for it is the the budget conference between the House and Senate.

Up to this point, the Senate and the House have been working separately on their own proposed budgets. Now, they’ll come together to construct a combined budget for the state that will eventually be proposed to the Governor at the end of legislative session (~mid March).

So, the provisions in this bill are still going to be evaluated through that conference process. That’s why we have to keep up the pressure to oppose this bill and the harmful contents it still contains.

Legislative session goes through March 11th, and anything can happen between now and then. Stay with us, thanks for all your support!

 

[Dave LeGear]

TAKE ACTION NOW
Urge Florida Legislators to Reject SB 2508


We are in the final days of the Florida Legislative Session and the fate of bad water bill, Senate Bill 2508, rests in the hands of the House and Senate members in the budget conference.

This week, selected members of both chambers (conferees) began hammering out the differences in their respective budgets. The output of this process will be one combined state budget that will head to Governor Ron DeSantis’s desk.

At the time of this email, the House has taken up SB 2508 and deleted the entire bill after the beginning clause. We would like to see the Florida House continue to stay strong and refuse to accept any of the Senate’s language in 2508, thereby killing 2508.

These Legislators need to hear from YOU. Take 1 minute to send an email using our pre-written template in the link below. Your voice matters in this fight!

Be the force to stop SB 2508

Thanks much!
Dave

 

[k9reno]

I signed. We need to get south Florida back to the way mother nature intended. Or at least as much as possible.
Just a side thought. Sugar is one of the most adictive things around and not really all that good for you. we really
don't need any more than is around.

 

[Dave LeGear]

From Captains for Clean Water:

"The final days of the fight to kill SB 2508 have arrived and your voice is more important than ever!
This week, selected members of both chambers (conferees) began hammering out the differences in their respective budgets. The output of this process will be one combined state budget that will head to Governor DeSantis’s desk.

At the time of this post, the House has taken up SB 2508 and deleted the entire bill after the beginning clause. We would like to see the Florida House continue to stay strong and refuse to accept any of the Senate’s language in 2508, thereby killing 2508.
Public pressure is key to killing this bill. We need your voice!

We’ve made it easy make your voice heard. Email, call, or post on social—however you choose, just SPEAK UP TODAY!

• You can email the House and Senate conferees using our easy email tool, available at https://linktr.ee/cfcw.
• Call the House and Senate conferees!
Contact list available at https://linktr.ee/cfcw.
• Get vocal on social media! Post your opposition to SB 2508 or share our content using the hashtag #KillSB2508.

This very moment is why Captains For Clean Water exists. We must stand together as a community and take action to protect Florida’s waters against this bad bill."

Residents of the Great State of Florida need to pitch in and help! From the Meeting I attended Last Night on this subject, the Governor can really only Veto the entire Budget (both Good and Bad parts) to stop it, and quite sure he would prefer to have to not do such so much better IF this part dies before it gets to his desk...

Thanks again, for all your efforts in letting Our Combined Voices are indeed heard, on the this one

Dave

 

[Dave LeGear]

Update from Captains for Clean Water:

"You all have beat up Senate Bill 2508 pretty good, but it's still not dead yet. It's still zombie-sludging through the last few days of the process, and it's still a threat to clean water.

We need you to make your voice heard again, even if you have already.

Since we were blindsided by this backwards, bad-water policy proposal, we've been told we were misinformed, misled, and confused. We've made two trips to Tallahassee, gathered tens of thousands of petition signatures opposing SB2508, sent thousands of emails and made thousands of phone calls to the Florida Legislature.

The bill was amended a couple weeks ago, removing the worst of the worst, but there are still some items left that absolutely must be removed in these final days of negotiations at the Florida Legislature.

This is the last week of Legislative session, and this bill will have to be wrapped up in the next few days. It's now or never. Time to harness your inner Rick Grimes and go full Walking Dead on this bill.

Stand up for our waters today—even if you've already done so.
Let the Florida Legislature know that they MUST remove everything harming the Everglades and the estuaries from this bill and they MUST get rid of the budget boobytrap that holds over $300 million in state funding for Everglades restoration hostage to the passage of this bad bill."

Call or email them today!

Call: https://captainsforcleanwater.org/call-your-senators/

Email: https://captainsforcleanwater.org/urgent-email-your.../

Thanks again, for all your efforts in letting Our Combined Voices here in Florida are heard on the this one!

Dave

 

[Dave LeGear]

Another Update on this issue from CFCW:

"The politicizing and maneuvering of our water that holds the fate of a national treasure, The Everglades, at stake is WRONG! It is wrong, it must end, and we will not put up with it any longer. We're paying attention, and we are not going anywhere."

Only a few days left in the process for Senate Bill 2508—keep your voice strong with us!
Keep calling, emailing, and sharing on social. For links to do all three: linktr.ee/cfcw

Thanks again, for all your efforts in letting Our Combined Voices here in Florida, are actually heard on the this one!

Dave

 

[Dave LeGear]

Another Update on this issue from CFCW:

Yesterday, SB 2508 passed 33-0 in the Senate and 99-8 in the House, but the final version of bill that passed looks a lot different than the one filed five weeks ago.

During last week's final negotiations, the bill was amended again, further watering down the remaining threats that the bill posed. Even though it passed yesterday’s vote, the major harm to our waters was avoided thanks entirely to YOUR unprecedented efforts.

The bill still doesn't do anything to help our waters, and there are some concerns remaining, but the threat it presents is significantly reduced because you all fought harder than we've ever seen before. What started as an absolute train wreck for Everglades restoration now looks more like a fender bender.

Let's take a look at how 43,000 petition signatures, thousands of phone calls & emails to the legislature, insane social participation, and two trips to Tallahassee were able to impact the final language in SB 2508...

• KILLED: Dilutes funding for the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir by opening a dedicated funding stream to other competing projects. (Line item removed ✓)
• KILLED: Subjects LOSOM and all other future Lake Okeechobee regulation schedules to the CERP savings clause. This would reduce beneficial environmental flows to the Everglades and the Caloosahatchee during the dry season, forcing higher lake levels at the start of the wet season and creating less capacity to take on summer rains. The result would be more toxic discharges and more nutrients to fuel red tide blooms. (Line item removed ✓)
• KILLED: Ties over $300 Million of Everglades restoration funding to the passage of the bill, making it challenging for the Governor to veto. (Line item removed ✓)
• KILLED*: Requires SFWMD reports be sent to the Legislature providing opportunities for them to be legally challenged. (*Still requires reports to be sent, however, the final legislation specifies the reports are not challengeable.)
• WEAKENED: Takes authority away from SFWMD to change rules on how Lake O is managed at lower levels. (Final version of SB 2508 removed the portion turning existing rules into state law. However, it still creates an opportunity for the Legislature to block SFWMD rule changes, making them very difficult to change and ultimately benefiting the status quo.)

Thank you for your relentless push-back against this bad bill—without it, a water-quality catastrophe was inevitable.

 

[Dave LeGear]

Public Opposition Prevented SB 2508 Water Crisis
Thank you for using your voice to defend Florida’s water.


Weeks have passed since Senate Bill 2508 was launched into existence, threatening to undo years of Everglades restoration and clean water progress. The original bill would have allowed more harmful discharges, toxic algae blooms, and incalculable economic losses.
Together with over 50,000 Captains For Clean Water supporters, you led the groundswell of opposition against SB 2508. With 156,000 emails and 1,500 phone calls to legislators, and more than 49,000 petition signatures, your pressure forced the Florida Senate to amend the bill twice removing most of the harmful Everglades language and the proviso language that held hostage $300+ million in state Everglades funding contingent on passage of 2508.


Public Pressure Influences Policy Action
Proof of Your Impact


You helped protect Florida’s water from yet another political scheme intended to preserve the status quo water mismanagement which has destroyed our economy and quality of life for far too long. By using your voice, this is what you helped achieve:
• Exposed Florida Senate sneak attack. Prevented original bad bill from being fast-tracked into law.
• Amendment #1. Removed the "worst of the worst" language.
• Budget ‘boobytrap’ removed. Killed the proviso language that held $300+ million Everglades restoration funding hostage contingent on passing 2508.
• Amendment #2. Removed the remaining harmful Everglades language.
• Lawmakers held accountable for their actions that affect millions of Floridians.


Join Our Mission: CFCW Membership page

Together, we are working to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems for the use and enjoyment of all. Join us.

Thank you again for your relentless push-back against this bad bill—without it, a water-quality catastrophe was inevitable.

Dave