We have made some great progress for our waterways this year. Thanks to our efforts to lower Lake Okeechobee, the Army Corps of Engineers has been able to manage the lake more responsibly without discharging toxic water to our coast.

This week, I have some more great news to share: the House of Representatives passed our bipartisan South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act to combat harmful algal blooms in Florida!

This is so important because, in May, the EPA announced a new standard that any algal blooms containing more than 8 parts per billion microcystin were too toxic for human contact. As you probably remember, last summer we received discharges containing 495 parts per billion of this toxin!

To be blunt, this is unacceptable, and it’s absolutely ridiculous that a federal study has never been done to address these harmful algal blooms in Florida. That’s exactly what this bill is all about - forcing the state and federal government to work together to finally come up with a comprehensive plan to combat harmful algal blooms in our community.

Together, I’m confident we can continue building on this progress and get this bill signed into law!

Check out this week’s video to learn more.

In case you missed it, here are a few other things that happened this week:

• I spoke on the House Floor in support of my South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act.

• I met with the Florida League of Mayors to discuss our continued fight to clean up our waterways.
• I received an update from the Bahamian Ambassador on our efforts to help our neighbors in the Bahamas recover from Hurricane Dorian.