Last night, I joined the Everglades Foundation at their annual advocacy meeting and reiterated the same commitment I’ve worked toward since the day I was sworn into Congress: we are going to send the water south, where it belongs.
Ten years ago, 237 billion gallons of water were dumped into the St. Lucie River. It turned our river green. Marina workers and residents wore respirator masks because of the smell, businesses built around the water shut their doors, and our community called it another ‘lost summer.’
In the middle of that crisis, then-State Senate President Joe Negron stood at a community center in downtown Stuart to push for building the Everglades Agricultural Area and reservoir, cleaning the lake water, and sending it to Florida Bay. Every year since then, we have fought: fought to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike, to raise the Tamiami Trail, to build the EAA Reservoir, to replace LORS with LOSOM, to make the Kissimmee a river again instead of a canal, and to send the water south instead of east and west.
Everyone in that room last night—and all of you at home—are the reason we are here today, with zero discharges into the St. Lucie River so far in 2026 and the EAA Reservoir five years ahead of schedule from completion.
That’s the day one promise, and I intend to keep it. We will get the job done.
