The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently discharging nearly four billion gallons of water per day to the east and west of Lake Okeechobee without regard for the quality of water or safety of the impacted communities. As a result, blue-green algae has been already found on the Treasure Coast and this algae has measured with low levels of toxins.

It is unacceptable that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would discharge massive amounts of water into our community without knowing whether the water was safe. That's why I'm calling on them to immediately cease the discharges until they can prove that the water is safe! You can read my letter to the Army Corps here.

Our community cannot afford more devastation. For far too long, our so-called leaders in government have failed to act. They’ve ignored us as toxic algae made people sick. They’ve ignored us as businesses were forced to close. They’ve ignored us as our pristine waterways turned sludge green. They’ve ignored us as dead fish washed up on our once idyllic beaches. This cycle of abuse must end.

The good news is that this week we passed major legislation to defend our waterways, including:

• A placeholder to authorize the EAA southern storage reservoir (from Senator Negron's SB 10)
• Development of a massive water filtration system capable of removing harmful algal blooms
• Beach restoration in St. Lucie County
• Reevaluation of the Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule (LORS) to decrease the frequency of discharges