Big bucks
United Way to invest millions in county
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Chimps create primate art
Save the Chimps launches art auction
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For the veterans
JessLee sings for beloved cause
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PALM CITY/TESORO
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 4/ISSUE 27
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2016
Water goes to Washington LEFT: Congressman Patrick Murphy collects bottles of water filled with blue-green algae. He plans on taking the contaminated water to other members of Congress. Murphy is pushing for House of Representatives leadership to schedule a vote on the Water Resources Act to speed the Central Everglades Planning Project, a series of projects to help restore the southern flow of water from Lake Okeechobee, which could help reduce discharges into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.
RIGHT: River Kidz’s Jack Maldonado stands next to a St. Lucie River bay covered thickly with blue-green algae. Jack, 10, attended a press conference by Congressman Patrick Murphy on Sunday, July 10. Staff photos by Patrick McCallister
Murphy offers Congress bottled blue-green algae Patrick McCallister STAFF WRITER
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TREASURE COAST — Sunday, July 10, was a sunny morning by the St. Lucie River. There were
few boats on the water. There was a light breeze, however. When it shifted westward, everyone groaned. A small bay nearby was covered in a thick blanket of cyanobacteria, blue-green algae. When the sun hit it right, the algae bloom looked like a solid, beautiful alien landscape one could walk on. It glimmered in rich, surreal colors. But —
“The smell speaks for itself,” Congressman Patrick Murphy said to about two dozen reporters and water activists gathered at Central Marine Stuart. Most wore painter masks. Those did little to hold back the stench. Murphy hosted the press conference after which he collected bottles of blue-green algae to take to Capitol Hill and the White House. Murphy recently sent a letter to
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Majority Leader, urging a quick vote on the Water Resources Development Act. The bill includes Everglades restoration projects to help restore southern flows of water from Lake Okeechobee. Florida has dried Everglades land since the 1880s. Part of that
See WATER page 10
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