Jan. 3, 2017
Sworn into the 115th Congress
Brian Mast is sworn in to represent Florida's Treasure Coast — making clean water and Everglades restoration a day-one priority.
Send the water south: TRACKING OUR FIGHT FOR
Zero discharges
The problem never went away.
We haven't dealt with a "lost summer" in eight years, but all of the conditions that created it are still there. When Lake Okeechobee's water level gets too high, the Army Corps opens a floodgate to release its overflow into the St. Lucie River. As the lake's nutrient-laden freshwater enters our communities' coastal estuaries, toxic algal blooms develop. Until it has somewhere else to go, every wet season is a dice roll. I have fought for a remedy since day one, and a huge part of that is called the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir. The EAA Reservoir will store the lake water, clean it, and send it back where it belongs: the Everglades and Florida Bay.
Mast action Project milestone Press coverage The goal
Phase One — The Fight Begins
2017 – 2018
Feb. 27, 2017
March 2, 2017
Mast calls on the President to establish an Everglades restoration taskforce
May 2, 2017
May 8, 2017
Mast introduces the Everglades FIRST Act to expedite federal planning for southern storage
July 27, 2017
Mast secures $150M for the Everglades and $82M for rehabilitating the Herbert Hoover Dike
June 20, 2018
June 20, 2018
Outrage from D.C. to Tallahassee
When the Army Corps reopened the lake's release gates ahead of the wet season, Politico reported the discharges had ignited bipartisan fury from the Treasure Coast to Florida's state capital.
Read on PoliticoJune 22, 2018
Algae water on the floor of the House
On day 22 of Lake Okeechobee discharges, with roughly 42 percent of the lake covered in algal blooms, Mast held a jar of algae-choked St. Lucie River water on the floor of the House to show his colleagues — and the nation — the crisis firsthand.
Read the press releaseJuly 10, 2018
White House clears the reservoir
As toxic blooms spread across the Treasure Coast, the White House budget office approved the plan for an EAA Southern Storage Reservoir at Mast's urging.
Read the press releaseJuly 2018
Visible from orbit
NASA's Earth Observatory captured the bloom from space — a green stain sprawling across more than half of Lake Okeechobee, the source of the water forced into Treasure Coast waterways.
See the imageJuly 11, 2018
Mast calls for a federal state of emergency declaration for Florida
July 18, 2018
Mast grills the Army Corps on discharges at a congressional hearing
Aug. 29, 2018
Nearly 50 times over the “safe” limit
TCPalm reported blue-green algae at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam testing nearly 50 times the level considered hazardous — a snapshot of what became another "lost summer."
Read on TCPalmSept. 20, 2018
Mast to U.S. Senate: the Treasure Coast is dying while the bill stalls
If you feel the water is acceptable for our children to play in, for us to fish in and for our endangered animals to live in, then it should be good enough for you to swim in also. Rep. Mast to the Army Corps — June 14, 2018
Scenes from the lost summer
Swipe or use arrows
Phase Two — Authorization
2018
May 29, 2018
A commitment to build, won in committee
Rep. Mast secured a commitment from Transportation & Infrastructure leadership to authorize the EAA Reservoir in 2018's water infrastructure bill (WRDA) — and passed his own amendments to develop new algae-filtration technology and re-evaluate the Lake Okeechobee discharge schedule known as LORS.
Read the press releaseSept. 10, 2018
Bicameral momentum
Mast worked with then-Sen. Marco Rubio and former Sen. Bill Nelson to draft language authorizing the reservoir, lining up support on the Senate side.
Read the press releaseOct. 10, 2018
Through Congress
The Water Resources Development Act — America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 — cleared Congress with the reservoir authorization intact and headed to the President's desk. The Senate passed it 99 to 1.
Read the press releaseOct. 23, 2018
Signed into law
President Trump signed the bill (P.L. 115-270), which included nine sections written by Mast. For the first time, the EAA Reservoir — the single most important project for ending discharges to the St. Lucie — was federally authorized.
Read the press release
Lives are quite literally hanging in the balance, and I will continue doing everything I can to get this across the finish line. Failure is not an option. Rep. Mast — July 10, 2018
Phase Three — The Push for Groundbreaking
2018 – 2022
Dec. 14, 2018
Mast and Rubio request White House intervention to prevent further delays
May 21, 2019
At Mast's urging, the Appropriations Committee increases Everglades funding to $200M
Oct. 23, 2019
Holding the Corps to the law
One year to the day after authorization, with the Army Corps behind on a required report, Mast and Rubio called the delays "simply unacceptable" and demanded the Corps stop stalling the project.
Read the press releaseDec. 17, 2019
Feb. 10, 2020
President requests a historic $250M for Everglades restoration
2020
Clearing the "new start" roadblock
When the Corps tried to slow the project by labeling it a "new start," Mast introduced language clarifying that no such designation was necessary for construction to begin.
Read the WRDA pageDec. 22, 2020
Jan. 18, 2022
Left out of Biden's infrastructure bill
Mast warned that Joe Biden's “once-in-a-generation” infrastructure law allocated no money specifically for Everglades restoration or the EAA Reservoir — leaving the project's funding to the Army Corps.
Read the press releaseFor almost a year, I fought to include funding for the EAA southern storage reservoir in Joe Biden's ‘once-in-a-generation’ infrastructure plan, but the Democrats in Congress and the White House both failed to specifically allocate any money for Everglades restoration. Instead, they kicked the can over to the Army Corps. Rep. Mast — Jan. 2022
June 8, 2022
Dec. 9, 2022
Prioritize and expedite: by law
WRDA 2022 codified Mast's report language directing the Army Corps to prioritize and expedite completion of the reservoir, alongside his $100M Northern Estuaries Restoration Plan (NERP).
Read the press releaseThe Corps cannot simply ignore the parts of federal law that they find inconvenient or don't want to comply with. Delays will not be tolerated. Rep. Mast — Dec. 14, 2018
Phase Four — Checking the Boxes
2024 – 2029
January 2024
Project milestoneThe treatment marsh is finished
Florida completed the 6,500-acre stormwater treatment area beside the reservoir — the wetland that cleans the water before it heads south.
SFWMD project pageJune 10, 2025
Hosting the Everglades Summit on Capitol Hill
Mast hosted America's Everglades Summit in Washington, where hundreds of advocates from the public and private sectors gathered to recommit their support and fight for completion of the EAA Reservoir.
Read the blogJuly 18, 2025
Project milestoneFive years ahead of schedule
A landmark agreement between the State of Florida and the U.S. Army moved the expected completion date from 2034 to 2029 by transferring more authority to the state.
Read the agreementSept. 10, 2025
Project milestoneBlue Shanty Flow Way breaks ground
Crews began removing ten miles of berm along the Tamiami Trail — the "last mile" that lets clean water flow south into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
Nov. 6, 2025
Project milestoneThe pumps that move the water
Groundbreaking on the inflow pump station — nine pumps built to move roughly 3 billion gallons of Lake Okeechobee water into the reservoir each day.
Jan. 8, 2026
Historic funding advances
Mast voted to pass legislation delivering the highest level of Everglades restoration funding ever included in an appropriations package — $461 million for the restoration of South Florida's ecosystems.
Read the press releaseApril 13, 2026
Project milestoneEvery federal contract, executed
All federally approved contracts for the reservoir were finalized with more than $2 billion secured, locking in the accelerated schedule.
Read the press release2029 — The goal
Water flowing south
When complete, the EAA Reservoir will hold 78 billion gallons, clean it, and send it south — restoring natural flow and preventing the discharges that create toxic algal blooms in our waterways.
"That's the day one promise, and I intend to keep it. We will get the job done."
Rep. Brian MastBrian Mast • Florida's Treasure Coast