Sen. Marco Rubio and members of Florida’s Congressional Delegation have requested $725 million in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget from President Biden for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration to address weather-induced water management challenges and accelerate infrastructure projects.

Sen. Marco Rubio and members of Florida’s Congressional Delegation have formally petitioned President Joe Biden to allocate $725 million in Fiscal Year 2025 budget for the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration (SFER) efforts.

In a letter to the President, the coalition states that recent weather phenomena, including El Niño conditions, have exacerbated water management challenges, leading to harmful water discharges into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers, necessitating enhanced infrastructure to manage. The requested funding would accelerate restoration projects, such as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir that will reduce discharges from Lake Okeechobee and improve water flow southward.

“The completion of Everglades restoration projects will enable additional water management flexibility for beneficial management and use, lessen the volume and frequency of harmful and wasteful discharges to the estuaries that can kill wildlife and negatively impact quality of life, and prevent water shortages and restrictions across southern Florida,” Rubio wrote.

Joining Rubio were U.S. Representatives Carlos Gimenez, Byron Donalds, Brian Mast, Gus Bilirakis, Laurel Lee, John Rutherford, Mike Waltz, and Jared Moskowitz.

The letter additionally explains that current infrastructure inadequacies hinder the efficient distribution of water to the Everglades National Park, impacting wetland hydration. Finalizing the Everglades restoration efforts, the lawmakers contended, would enhance water management, reduce harmful discharges to estuaries, protect wildlife, improve residents’ quality of life, and avert water shortages and restrictions throughout the region.

“The completion of Everglades restoration projects will enable additional water management flexibility for beneficial management and use,” the letter reads.

The Delegation also notes approximately $3 billion in federal funds needed for the EAA Reservoir’s timely completion, noting previous project delays. They advocated for the broader application of programmatic incremental funding within the SFER program, similar to what has been approved for the EAA Reservoir, to ensure smoother construction progress, expedite the completion of Everglades restoration efforts, and lower overall costs.

“Of funds made available for SFER, it is our expectation that substantial investments will be made available to finance the construction of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, which is the single most important Everglades project for reducing the volume and duration of harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee and for sending more water south,” they wrote.

The 2024-25 state budget, agreed upon by the Florida Legislature this week, contains $2.4 billion in Everglades cleanup and water quality restoration.