News: Letter: Demand every candidate’s promise to save Everglades

TCPalm 
09/01/10

Now that the primaries are over, lots of people already have their favorite candidates for November. Now is the time to let your candidate know why Everglades restoration is important. Why the St. Lucie River will die without comprehensive Everglades restoration and why no one in Martin County will vote for them unless they make a commitment to restoring the Everglades and saving the St. Lucie.

We're voting for U.S. House and Senate candidates and Florida's governor. Those people will decide the future of our river. If they think Everglades restoration is a nice idea but we can't afford it, then the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan will die and so will the St. Lucie. Everyone familiar with the hydrology of Lake Okeechobee knows that if the state doesn't buy enough land now to move water south from Okeechobee, the estuaries will forever be a dumping ground. There is no other solution.

Those familiar with the legislative process understand that if Congress doesn't move forward with a Water Resources Bill that contains the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan projects with approved plans, then the plan will die. The C-44 reservoir is approved and ready to funded by Congress. Likewise the C-43 reservoir on the Caloosahatchee side is ready to go. They are not in the Water Resources Bill because of a squabble over earmarks. We need to tell everyone running for Congress from this area that the squabbling has to stop. Those projects have to be included in the bill.

Tell all the politicians that if they won't vote to save our river, Martin County residents won't vote for them. The effort needs to be bipartisan. Every candidate running should be on the same side on these issues. Let your candidate know we really care about our river and we want an absolute commitment.

Maggy Hurchalla

Stuart