“To modify the project for Central and Southern Florida to include public health considerations, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section requires the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to modify management of the Central and Southern Florida Project (C&SF Project)—a water infrastructure system for flood control, navigation, water supply, salinity control, fish and wildlife enhancement, and recreation—so that public health overlays all authorized purposes. Public health is defined to include minimizing toxic cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Okeechobee and the C&SF Project; preventing discharges of cyanobacteria or toxins into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee watersheds; ensuring Herbert Hoover Dike integrity; complying with applicable water quality laws; and delivering sufficient water volume and quality to the Everglades, Tribal lands, Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, and Caloosahatchee Watershed. The section further (1) directs the Secretary of the Army to modify operations of all project elements accordingly; (2) requires development or update of a Master Operational Manual, in cooperation with Florida, to manage project elements as a system for public health and Everglades restoration (with updates for new elements); (3) mandates a study, with the National Academies of Sciences, on legacy pollution, nutrient loading, and soil amendments, including their impacts on Everglades restoration and proposed remediation for downstream watersheds; (4) specifies that it does not alter the Seminole Tribe water rights compact, Miccosukee or state water quality standards, related permits, or schedules for authorized Everglades restoration projects; (5) prohibits use of restoration funds for deep well injection of excess waters; and (6) authorizes appropriations as necessary.