Florida awards $390M in water quality grants, including $25M for Caloosahatchee Watershed
Florida awards $390M in water quality grants, including $25M for Caloosahatchee Watershed
Updated: 1:47 PM EDT Mar 25, 2025
Well thanks so much. It’s great to be here back in Palm Bay. I’m joined with our DEP secretary Alexis Lambert, as well as South Florida Water Management Board Chairman Chauny Goss. I know we’ve got some other dignitaries, uh, from the local community, and I want to thank them for coming out. We got *** great announcement today about what we’re doing to continue to lead the way on conservation and water quality and restoration of important. State treasures like the Everglades and the Indian River Lagoon, and I wanna thank everybody that’s been involved in that first, before we uh get into that, uh, we were able to last Friday when we were up in Washington meet with Elon Musk and Doge uh we had money that was given supposedly under Biden that had all these strings attached so they had the infrastructure bill $330 million but then we had to. Uh, monitor people’s tailpipe emissions. I’m not doing that in Florida. We are not going to let them, uh, change our policies by by putting the money there. So we rejected the money. The FT secretary sent *** letter to them saying, here, you know, you know, it’s not something we’re going to use. Take it back, and they didn’t really know what to do. They didn’t, they never uh took back the allocation. So and then we had another thing with massive amounts of money for these refugee stuff which goes to these NGOs and there’s so much corruption in that. Let me tell you. So that was over 500 million. So we went and we said, listen, you know, we wanted to reject this federal government under the previous administration wouldn’t take it, and Elon’s, oh no, we’ll do it. And so they literally got on the phone with Treasury, worked uh and, and, and revoked the the allocation and the authorization. Um, and so that’s almost *** billion dollars that would have been frittered away, um, doing what the Green New Deal and tailpipe emission monitoring, um, and now can, can be, uh, residing in the, in the federal coffers and it’s rare that states do that because most of them it’s like gimme, gimme, gimme, uh, but the reality is, is we all have *** role in trying to change the fiscal trajectory of this country. And you can sit there and say that oh, you know, just uh whatever nothing about me, but the reality is, is, uh, what we’re doing is unsustainable. It’s been unsustainable for *** long time. So, so that’s one thing we’ve done. Hopefully other states will fall and look, I’m not saying, you know, if 25 states gave some money back and you ended up with 1015, 20 billion going back as the federal. debt goes that is still pretty small amount, but, but I think that this idea that unless you’re eliminating the entire deficit or debt that somehow it shouldn’t matter, that’s bad thinking. Every little bit counts and that’s how you have to be good stewards and that’s part of the reason why, you know, I just got back. I was in Idaho and Montana working with their legislature, so the Florida legislatures want to. 27 states that have certified resolutions uh for *** balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution, so we have to balance our budget in Florida and we actually run big surpluses and we’re spending less money this year than we did last year, but the federal government obviously has not done that. So if you look at the budget that was passed by the House of Representatives, Republican majority. Uh, they forecast this is what they voted for. Uh, we have $36 trillion in debt now by the end of 2034. They’re forecasting 56 trillion debt and it’s just like, you know, that’s these Republicans. I mean, so that’s just not gonna work. So you need 34 states to be able to write an amendment and then eventually send it to the states for ratification. We have 27. Idaho and Montana are kind of on the on the bubble. There’s some support, but maybe not enough. And so, you know, we went and met with the legislatures, met with the governor, governors of both states, and, and, and, and I think having some, some success and just making the point that if all we’re gonna do is hope Congress changes its behavior. We are never ever going to solve the problem. Like they’re not going to ultimately change their behavior. There may be *** little blip here, *** little blip there where there’s some sanity that reigns, but ultimately the incentives in Washington and the culture of Washington is going to keep them going in the direction that they’re going. Go back 25 years ago, the turn of the 21st century, from the time George Washington put his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office as our first president in 1789 until through the year 2000, the US government accumulated $5.6 trillion in total debt since that time. We’re now at $36 trillion over the last 25 years, so *** $30 trillion increase in *** quarter century, whereas we had over 200 years to get to $5.6 trillion and even adjusted for inflation, you know, it’s still *** significant difference, so you do need to impose *** constitutional constraint on the ability of these. Politicians to bankrupt the country and that’s what we’re looking to do. Florida was *** leader in this and has been for some time. Uh, Florida is also the legislatures also certified, uh, term limits for members of Congress, which I’m *** big supporter of and I know some other states are considering that. Don’t have as many states yet on that one as the balanced budgetmen because the balanced budget thing has been something that’s been percolating, you know, it’s interesting, we actually had *** balanced budget in the late 90s in this country. Uh, and during that time there was *** push for *** balanced budget amendment and it failed by one vote in the US Senate and had it got that vote, now the states still would have had to ratify it, but since we already had *** balanced budget, we probably would have had *** good shot at that. Just think if they had done *** balanced budget requirement uh 25 years ago, how much different things could look in terms of the trajectory of the country, because now we’re in *** situation where we’re spending over $1 trillion just to pay. Interest on the existing debt, that’s more than what we spend on the federal government’s core function which is national defense, and it’s only going to escalate, particularly if you have to refinance at higher rates and so the only way you’re gonna ever be able to solve the problem is to just constitutionally limit what they’re able to do because it’s always the easiest to just put it on the credit card. Right? I mean, some people want that want spending. If you put on the credit card, then people tend to not get as upset. If you reduce the spending, some people don’t like it. Obviously we want low taxes. If they raise taxes, they know that they will face political blowback. Uh, so it’s always the path of least resistance to do that. We don’t have that luxury in the states. 49 states have *** balanced budget requirement. And Florida, not only have we balanced, we’ve had big surpluses in in the state of Florida. In fact, if you look at Florida’s entire history and look at all the debt Florida accumulated just since I’ve been governor, we’ve paid off 41% of the total debt in the state so we now. So we now have uh the lowest uh per capita state debt of any state in the country. Now there are *** couple states I think that don’t have any state debt. I think Montana is one of them kudos to that, but of the ones that do, we have the lowest um percentage or the lowest per capita, uh, debt, which is, which is really good, and we want to do more and continue to do it. So all that being said, uh, as we’ve done that and we’re. Spending less money this year than we did the year before, uh, we’ve paid down debt we’ve almost quadrupled our rainy day fund, we’ve cut taxes, done all this, uh, but, uh, we’ve also done things that really are central to the state’s vitality that people want to see addressed, and we’ve used taxpayer dollars very prudently, but we’ve used them to make *** big impact on *** variety of subject matters. We’ve done it in transportation. We plowed billions and billions of dollars to accelerate road projects, so you’re now having projects and I know, look, these things take *** lot longer than I I would like, but because of what we’re doing, we’re going to deliver some of these projects in these congested areas 5, 10, even 15 years ahead of schedule. Uh, just think of all the traffic that that’s gonna save by doing that. And so we know that that’s important. It’s *** growing state. I tell these people I’m not asking for people. Go to move here because we’ve got *** lot of people, uh, but people are free to go, go where they want in the United States, uh, and that includes travelers. I mean we’ve got *** lot of tourists, you know, we were out with our kids, um, *** couple weeks ago and I got all these Canadians coming up to me and I was like I thought you guys were boycotting. No, there’s *** lot of folks down here doing all that. So, so, so all that being said, we understand we got to do that. Uh, we’ve also done *** lot on education. Uh, we have Universal School Choice in Florida 540,000. Students are on scholarship now, most in the in the country by far. We also have over 400,000 students in charter schools, but then each year since I’ve been governor, we’ve increased compensation for teachers, including the most recent year we did $1.25 billion that was earmarked only for teacher salaries, you know, because people say, oh, increase education, you send the money to the districts, it doesn’t mean they’re gonna spend it on teachers. In fact, *** lot of it goes to bureaucracy, so we created in the. Budget *** special um uh I guess we call it *** categorical that it can only be used for teacher salaries and we’re looking to do even more this year but we’ve done more in the last 5 or 6 years on that than the state of Florida has ever done uh by far so we we we think that that’s important. We also have done *** lot with our universities although we haven’t raised tuition or let them raise tuition so in state tuition is about $6300 for *** Florida resident, which is. Lowest in the entire United States, uh, and you also have, uh, we have 4 of the top 50 ranked public universities now in the United States of America, USF, uh, FSU, uh, UF, um, and then Florida International University, but then UCF’s done good and others have done good. So, so that’s *** great value and who knows, you know, if you’re at University of Florida, maybe you’ll be at *** national championship basketball team winning, you know, who knows, right? Uh, we’ll see. I get some applause for that. We probably have some Florida State fans in the crowd. I can tell you I am not sure my kids having, you know, been in Tallahassee for for their formative years, um, I try to tell them I said listen, you know, you know, dad’s governor, he didn’t go to any of those. We want all, all, all the Florida teams to do well. Uh, you can’t be, you know, rooting against like it’s one thing if you’re *** Florida State fan and you want to root for them against Florida or Miami at that point, OK, but guys, you know, if Florida’s playing Duke and basketball, you gotta root for the Gators. I don’t know if I’ve closed that sale with the kids yet, so we’ll see. We’ll keep you posted. So, so you’ve done the education commitment has been fantastic. Uh, tax relief has been fantastic. We’ve done billions and billions of dollars. Uh, we’re now looking to eliminate the business rent tax. We’ve reduced it *** lot. We’re the only state in the country that actually taxes business rent. It makes it harder for small businesses to get off the ground, uh, so that’ll be *** win for Florida if we’re able to to retire that and then. Setting up to be able to do property tax relief, which is really needed in Florida, uh, you know, you assess these values first of all, until someone pays you for your property, you don’t really know how it’s worth how much it’s worth. So if you pay $250,000 for for *** home 10 years ago, now they come and tell you, oh. It’s actually worth $800,000. Pay up and more taxes. Well, really, who says that? Just because some other house may have sold it doesn’t mean that’s what and the market fluctuates. So I think people have gotten pinched on this. Now property tax is local. It’s not something that the state controls. We would need to put something on the ballot in 2026, but we’re going to do that. We’re going to put something on the ballot to give people relief. But we’ve also, even with that fiscal responsibility, even with The support for taxpayers we have addressed better than any time in the state’s history the protection of Florida’s natural resources and the improvement of water quality in the state and I when I came in, we launched ***, *** big initiative, uh, not just about Everglades restoration, but that was kind of the crown jewel because that’s the biggest restoration program in the United States and maybe even in the entire world, uh, incidentally on that we, we were. Meeting with some folks in the White House and I’ve spoken to the president about this too. Our our uh projects that we do for Everglades restoration, we do them much quicker than the Army Corps of Engineers does that. You remember with SERP, it’s like *** 50/50 cost share. This was 25 years ago. The feds are gonna do we’re gonna do well, we’re doing our part and we’ve done *** lot over the last 6 years to really move it forward as as quickly as I think humanly possible. Not so much with the feds, particularly under Biden and the Army Corps, they just moved very slowly. uh, I think this is the way it’s organizers bureaucracy, it’s cumbersome, and I think this is in keeping with the president’s vision to empower the states you know what we’ve asked is send us the money, we’ll build the damn reservoir ourselves we’ll get it done. We will do it quicker. You can still take credit for your part of the cost share. We’re not asking for that to change. It’s still federal money. But let us do it. And, and I think that they want to do that. So we’re working with the folks in the budget office to be able to get that done, but wouldn’t that be great if we were able to have that money block granted here and then we could just run and do. I mean, you even look at the reservoir, um, on the Saint Lucie side of Lake Okeechobee. We did it and now you have problems where there’s leakage and the feds are doing and it’s just slow and, and we move *** lot quicker here. I mean, just think about when *** hurricane comes. You have city, county, state really there for the immediate response and the immediate aftermath. Is there anyone here that would rather have FEMA take over those functions in Florida than the state of Florida? Anybody? I don’t see any hands. We just move quicker. We just, we have *** culture in Florida where we don’t want to be bogged down by bureaucracy and red tape. If there’s *** job to do, get it done, uh, and let’s get an answer and let’s move. Forward, so I’m, I’m optimistic that we’re gonna be able to do that, but we’ve also recognized the importance of the Indian River Lagoon, Florida springs changing from septic tanks to sewer systems to be able to, uh, mitigate runoff into our into our nice areas, and we’ve put huge resources into this and, and we’ve had *** lot of success already and we’re continuing to build on the success and so that’s why. We’re here because we are going to be announcing major grants or we are announcing major grants to improve water quality and water quantity across the state of Florida, and I’m proud to say that we are awarding $389 million in these grants, and this includes $189 million in water quality improvement grants, so. This was the, the legislature decided to put some of these water qua the water quality program in ***, we get money from the Seminole Tribe for the revenue share to put this in. To where every year you would just have it earmarked that this would go to these grants there’s, uh, I think about *** 3 month period where localities can apply for the grants, then it goes to the criteria that the legislature has enacted, uh, and then the grants are selected and and awarded, uh, so we’re happy to be able to do that. These are gonna make *** big difference across the state of Florida. We’re also pleased to award $55 million to expand. And alternate alternative water supply projects and we’ve got *** lot of um water issues in Florida that we deal with uh making sure we have adequate water supply is is sometimes overlooked, but it’s something that’s important and we’re pleased to say $100 million for the newly established Indian River Lagoon protection program which is very important to people in this part of the state. So this is the most biologically diverse estuary in all of North America, and it’s *** key economic driver both for the region and the state. With today’s awards, we’ve now invested nearly $500 million in water quality improvements in this area alone since I became governor in 2019. The selected projects will provide the community with funds to upgrade wastewater facilities, convert septic systems to sewer. And reduce harmful runoff into the into the Indian River Lagoon, and we’re really excited about that and I want to thank everybody that’s been involved with that. We’re also doing $25 million to the Kalusahatchee Washed grant program to reduce nutrients from depositing into the Kalusa-hatchie River and estuary. These investments support our communities and support our larger Everglades restoration projects. And we are going to have uh the reservoir on the western side of Lake Okeechobee uh completed. When is that scheduled? Pretty soon, yeah, so for July. So you will have that completed reservoir. You have the reservoir that we have completed on the eastern part of Lake Okeechobee that the feds are still kind of what do we know what’s the timeline on the feds finishing, uh, whatever remediation they have to do this, this decade. He’s being *** little facetious, but, but I could ask them, we could take that over too, probably, right? Yeah, OK, well, maybe we’ll do that one too, but what you’ll have, and then we have the reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee, which is the one we want to, so we already did the stormwater treatment area from that ahead of schedule. We, uh, want to have the full reservoir which the Army Corps is in charge of doing, and we’re just saying just give us the, the grant, we’ll go ahead and plow forward and do that, but you’ll be in *** situation where if that lake gets too high. They can put money in the they can put the send the water these reservoirs, clean it, and then let it flow and there’s not gonna be any problems with these algae blooms or anything like that. So, uh, and on the Colusahatchee, you know, 2018, that was before I was governor, they had *** lot of problems with the algae. We’ve had *** lot of problems on the east coast of Florida in 2016 in particular. Uh, it has gotten *** lot better partially when President Trump was in the first time. You know, I asked him, can you please ask the Army Corps to manage because it’s, we don’t do the lake, you know, when, when water is discharged, that’s the Army Corps. I was like, can you please have them manage it better so that they’re not spewing this, this algae into, into the estuaries and, and they did, they did change the way they did it and I know they worked *** little bit differently when Biden was president, but we feel like we’re in *** much better spot on that but both. Sides of Lake Okeechobee are really, really important. We’re also pleased to announce 20 million to support the Biscayne Bay Water quality improvement program. This will expedite water quality improvements and will reduce nutrients flowing into the bay. That’s *** very important treasure for people in the Miami region, and we’ve been very supportive of helping Biscayne Bay for the entire time that I’ve been governor. So the
Florida awards $390M in water quality grants, including $25M for Caloosahatchee Watershed
Updated: 1:47 PM EDT Mar 25, 2025
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that $25 million is being awarded for targeted water quality projects in the Caloosahatchee watershed to reduce pollution and protect Southwest Florida’s vital ecosystems. The funds are part of a larger $389 million investment in water quality and supply across the state.Watch the full news conference aboveAccording to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the $25 million will support four projects that aim to reduce nutrient pollution and restore water quality in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary. The region is one of Florida’s priority ecosystems due to its environmental and economic importance.“These investments will help safeguard water quality statewide and accelerate restoration efforts in key ecosystems like the Indian River Lagoon, Caloosahatchee River and Estuary, and Biscayne Bay,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis.He said the projects will focus on reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels, improving stormwater and wastewater systems, and enhancing environmental infrastructure.Statewide, 31 high-priority projects were chosen from 348 proposals, requesting more than $2.2 billion in funding.These efforts are expected to collectively remove more than 1.1 million pounds of nitrogen and 286,000 pounds of phosphorus from Florida’s waterways each year, according to the governor’s office.DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that $25 million is being awarded for targeted water quality projects in the Caloosahatchee watershed to reduce pollution and protect Southwest Florida’s vital ecosystems. The funds are part of a larger $389 million investment in water quality and supply across the state.
Watch the full news conference above
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the $25 million will support four projects that aim to reduce nutrient pollution and restore water quality in the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary. The region is one of Florida’s priority ecosystems due to its environmental and economic importance.
“These investments will help safeguard water quality statewide and accelerate restoration efforts in key ecosystems like the Indian River Lagoon, Caloosahatchee River and Estuary, and Biscayne Bay,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis.
He said the projects will focus on reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels, improving stormwater and wastewater systems, and enhancing environmental infrastructure.
Statewide, 31 high-priority projects were chosen from 348 proposals, requesting more than $2.2 billion in funding.
These efforts are expected to collectively remove more than 1.1 million pounds of nitrogen and 286,000 pounds of phosphorus from Florida’s waterways each year, according to the governor’s office.
DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more.