The big news of the week was about the Southern Storage Reservoir:

R.D. James - the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, who oversees the Army Corps of Engineers - sent us a letter updating Congress on the status of the Southern Storage Reservoir project, and it had some good news in it that I’d like to share with you.

First, the Assistant Secretary has ordered the Jacksonville District to begin a process called Preconstruction, Engineering and Design. This is an absolutely critical next step in the construction process that I’m excited to say has begun and is being funded.

Additionally, he has directed the Army Corps to enter into a Pre-Partnership Cost Agreement with the South Florida Water Management District within the next few months. It’s critical that this occurs ASAP so that we can get construction underway as soon as possible and the state of Florida gets that commitment from the federal government that they will have support on this project.

While I would have liked to get a more thorough and detailed report this week from the Army Corps, this is still positive progress that is being taken to get the reservoir underway.

Check out this week’s Week In Review video for more information.

P.S. I also continued to fight this week to make sure that the Coast Guard is paid during the shutdown. The Coast Guard always upholds their duty to our country, continuing to perform their work to protect our country and we must uphold our duty to them by ensuring their paychecks continue on schedule.