DeSantis unveils major environmental reforms including $1B increase for water quality protection

It’s news millions of Floridians have been waiting eight years to hear: Their governor plans to take the state’s water quality seriously and to back up those plans with serious money.

A day after his inauguration, Ron DeSantis began a three-stop tour in Southwest Florida, still reeling from months of crisis-level toxic algae and red tide, to unveil a multifaceted executive order on water policy vastly different from his predecessor’s. Later that afternoon, the dramatic action continued as he asked the entire board of the South Florida Water Management District to resign.

Among the highlights of his order: $2.5 billion for Everglades restoration and water protections — the highest level of restoration funding in the state’s history — a blue-green algae task force, creating a chief science officer position, phasing out septic tanks, putting teeth in environmental crime enforcement and creating an office of resilience and coastal protection to fund and coordinate response to rising sea levels.

More:Editorial: Gov. Ron DeSantis' water quality order a must for Florida

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That last item is in stark contrast to previous administration policy, which forbade employees from even using the terms "climate change" or "global warming" in official communication.

DeSantis made the announcement Thursday morning in Bonita Springs at Florida Gulf Coast University's Vester Marine and Environmental Science Research Field Station in front of a throng of lawmakers and environmental advocates. He called his executive order the "most comprehensive, boldest actions that we have seen in Florida in a long time. … We can solve a lot of these problems, but it has got to begin now."

This summer the then-candidate got up close and personal with those problems when a team of environmental advocates took him for a spin through the region’s algae-matted canals. “He wanted to see for himself what all the talk was about,” said Rae Ann Wessel, of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. The choking stench alone made a convincing argument for action, Wessel said. “That smell was its own advertisement.”

Daniel Andrews, of Captains for Clean Water, one of the groups that showed DeSantis around, said the waterways looked apocalyptic. "When you see oyster beds die and seagrass beds die ... you start to see the whole ecosystems struggling," said Andrews, a former fishing guide. "It's not good for fishing. It's not good for the dolphins. It's not good for the shells. It's not good for anything in the water out here. We need that restored state to where estuaries are protected all the time."

Wessel appreciates how DeSantis acted on what he learned. “He took the time, he made the effort, he expressed the interest, and then he surrounded himself with people who will connect the science and the solutions,” she said. “Somebody’s got to step up and be the leader, be the big person in the room. … That’s what the CEO of a corporation would do: Stop, figure out the problem, solve it, and then you’d stay in business. And ultimately that’s what we want to do because we have invested in this place.”

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For Rob Moher, president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the timing of DeSantis’ announcement speaks volumes as well.

”The most good news for all Floridians will be that the governor, on his second day in office, has made water and the environment a priority by focusing on it within a day after his inauguration,” Moher said. 

The extra money, which Moher points out is almost a 40 percent increase in the budget, “is a good start; we've got to celebrate more investment.”

The thread of science was woven throughout DeSantis’ announcement, which impressed FGCU President Mike Martin. “Among the most important things is that science is going to trump, so to speak, everything else,” he said. “That’s important for us. We believe that both diagnosing issues of this consequence and then solving them really rests on good, sound science.”

That was good news for Moher’s Conservancy too. “We are a science-based organization. And I heard the governor make a commitment to have a chief director of science. … We have to have good science to guide decisions and good policy; we are solely lacking in enough data to make good decisions.“

Moher is also enthusiastic about the emphasis on compliance, which “is very sorely lacking,” he said. “Money alone is not going to solve this problem. So he has made a commitment to really ramp up the enforcement of the Department of Environmental Protection, which means the secretary will actually have the tools and the political support to go and support the laws, (which) are being broken every day in the state of Florida and are contributing to these horrific outbreaks of algae blooms.”

Calusa Waterkeeper John Cassani is also heartened to hear of DeSantis’ plans, which he calls “a breath of fresh air,” especially the algae task force, which he and his nonprofit have been calling for for years.

However, Cassani said, “I don’t mean to be a buzzkill, but my next question is how the Legislature is going to come up with all that money.”

Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, is wondering the same thing. “There is no identification of where that money will come from,” she said in a statement.

Some area politicians were more enthusiastic. "We want the same thing that the governor wants, which is to make significant short-term and long-term improvement in the environmental crisis that we see happening here in the state of  Florida," Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, said. "Our goals are the same. We want him to be successful because it makes our communities better."

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Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said she thinks the governor's plan has a good chance of getting the support it will need in the Legislature. "It is something that is attainable," she said. "We will sit down and work with him. It's his No. 1 priority. If it's his No. 1 priority, we are going to do our best to help him accomplish that goal."

Eric Eikenberg, CEO of The Everglades Foundation, praised the governor for taking quick action to try to solve the state's water problems.

"The governor on Tuesday delivered a tremendous inaugural address," he said. "That was the poetry. Today is the prose. With the signing of this executive order, our governor less than 48 hours after taking his hand off the Bible has set in motion an aggressive, comprehensive plan to solves these issues."

"All in all I think what we have done is really strong," DeSantis said. "I think the people of Florida wanted to see action."

And that, he told the crowd, is something Floridians can get behind — regardless of political party.

The governor's executive order also calls for:

• Creation: The establishment of a Blue-Green Algae Task Force to speed progress toward reducing the adverse effects of toxic blooms over the next five years. Restoration plans for the Caloosahatchee River, Lake Okeechobee and the St. Lucie River must be updated to ensure the task force has what it needs to guide the Department of Environmental Protection as it works to improve water quality.
• Action: The South Florida Water Management District must immediately start the next phase of the Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir Project design and ensure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves the project according to schedule.
• Coordination: The creation of the Office of Environmental Accountability and Transparency charged with organizing and directing integrated scientific research and analysis to ensure all agency actions are aligned with key environmental priorities.
• Oversight: The appointment of a chief science officer to coordinate and prioritize scientific data, research, monitoring and analysis to ensure alignment with current and emerging environmental concerns most pressing to Floridians.
• The order expedites key Everglades projects including the C-44 reservoir and stormwater treatment area, C-43 reservoir in western Hendry County, Tamiami Trail and additional projects to protect waterways.
• The order directs DEP to establish a septic conversion and remediation grant program with a local government match requirement.
• The order creates the Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection to help prepare Florida’s coastal communities and habitats for effects from sea level rise by providing funding, technical assistance and coordination among state, regional and local entities.
• It directs state agencies to take actions to adamantly oppose all off-shore oil and gas activities off every coast in Florida and hydraulic fracturing in Florida.

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