Let’s stand up for the Lagoon

April 10 is the official start of the Florida 2023 Legislative session, but the action has already begun. If you care about restoration of the Indian River Lagoon, you need to follow what’s happening in Tallahassee.

Here’s why and how?

Why?

Because the devil is in the details. For example, on Jan. 10, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order 23-06, calling for the Legislature to direct $100 million per year during the next four years to restoring the Lagoon. Great news, I think.

Then, we found out that he intends to take the $400 million (and the $3.5 billion for Lake Okeechobee) out of the Amendment 1 Land Acquisition Trust Fund, approved by voters by 75% in 2016. So, short the land acquisition purpose of Amendment 1 and spend it on helping the Lagoon. This will become controversial.

Last year, we saw several

Lagoon Straight Talk

From the Brevard Indian River Lagoon Coalition bills that sounded good but rang hollow. For example, HB 349 Seagrass Mitigation Banking sounded like it would help our vanishing seagrass. Instead, the bill would have allowed seagrass destruction in new development areas provided they tried to grow it somewhere else. But no one has mastered growing seagrass. And, growing it outside the Lagoon definitely wouldn’t help the Lagoon. We defeated it. How?

Glad you asked! The short answer is to follow our Lagoon Voices current campaigns website (helpthelagoon.org/ get-connected/currentcampaigns/). It tracks bad (and good) bills and tells you how you can help.

The Lagoon Voices is our growing army of advocates standing up for the Lagoon. Last year, we helped defeat HB 349. We also worked with the Captains for Clean Water (CCA) and other groups to kill SB 2508 that would have restricted already appropriated funds from being spent for clean water. It turned into a big fight. Ultimately CCA brought hundreds of fishing boats to Tallahassee to protest the bill.

Yes, Please Stand Up for the Lagoon, join the Lagoon Voices (helpthelagoon.org/ get-connected/about-lv/). The Lagoon needs you to speak on its behalf. We also recommend (facebook.com/BIRLC) and website (helpthelagoon.org/) to stay informed VV

For more about our piece of paradise — the Lagoon, visit HelpTheLagoon.org, facebook.com/BIRLC/ and twitter.com/HelpTheLagoon.

BY NANETTE HEBDIGE