YellowSub1962
06-05-2001, 08:49 AM
<font color="yellow">I posted this due to the recent discussion we had on damage in the Everglades...</font c>
http://www.foxnews.com
Bush Highlights Commitment to Everglades Restoration
Monday, June 04, 2001
WASHINGTON — President
Bush is renewing his
pledge to help restore
the Florida Everglades, touring
the celebrated but
scarred wetlands as he seeks to
build a conservationist
image.
Bush on Monday was
making his third trip to Florida since
becoming president,
hiking the Anhinga Trail, named for
a fishing bird that
inhabits the Everglades. He also was
expected to announce he has signed a
bill that will enhance cooperation
between federal agencies as they work
to reduce wildfire risks.
Everglades National Park is
undergoing a 40-year, $7.8 billion restoration
project aimed at improving water
quality, storage and flow into the region.
Bush's proposed 2002 budget includes
$219 million spread over five federal
agencies for Everglades restoration.
That is $58 million more than this year,
aides said.
"The president's been looking for an
opportunity to go down there to talk
about what's in the budget to protect
the Everglades," said White House
spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish.
But the administration could be
wading back into a bitter Everglades debate:
the future of Homestead Air Force
Base, which is within 10 miles of the park
and within two miles of Biscayne
National Park.
The Air Force decided Jan. 16 against
allowing Miami-Dade County to
convert the hurricane-battered base
into a commercial airport. Bruce Babbitt,
President Clinton's interior
secretary, said such an airport would "surely
degrade both national parks."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
said last month he had decided to
"review that decision for consistency
with established policy," apparently
reopening the question of whether the
base will be developed for
commercial flights.
"If I determine there was a deviation
from that policy, I will advise you in the
matter and take appropriate action,"
Rumsfeld wrote in a May 10 memo to
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of
the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who
represent the Miami-Dade area in the
House, had asked Bush to reconsider
the prohibition on commercial uses.
Clinton signed a law in December
authorizing the federal government to pay
half the cost of the restoration
project, and Bush's budget proposal
represents his commitment to that.
The state of Florida is to pay for the other
half.
The costly undertaking comes more
than four decades after the Army Corps
of Engineers began siphoning water
out of the Everglades -- 300 miles of
swampland, sawgrass marshes, cypress
trees and mangrove estuaries that
stretch from central Florida and the
Kissimmee River north of Lake
Okeechobee to Florida Bay and the
Keys.
The corps, at the behest of Congress,
built canals and waterways to develop
farm lands and divert water from
South Florida's coastal areas to prevent
flooding and increase agricultural
and urban development.
Over the years, altering the flow of
the water has meant the disappearance of
half of the original Everglades and
the loss of indigenous plants, birds, fish
and animals such as the Florida
panther. Daily, 1.7 billion gallons of water
drain from the Everglades into the
sea.
Bush also has alarmed Florida
environmentalists by opening the possibility
of drilling off that state's coast.
In March, Interior Secretary Gale Norton
notified Gov. Jeb Bush, the
president's brother, that she planned to proceed
with a proposal to auction oil and
gas development leases in a large tract in
the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Some of
it comes within 30 miles of the western
tip of the Florida Panhandle.
Gov. Bush, who was traveling with the
president on Monday, opposes the
move. The state Sierra Club planned
protests at their appearances.
The president has not been shy about
visiting Florida, ground zero in last
year's epic recount fight. He
vacationed there just after the deadlock ended in
December, and has visited Orlando and
Panama City since taking office.
Late Monday, Bush was celebrating his
successful push for a major tax cut in
a ceremony at Legends Field, the
spring training site of the New York
Yankees in Tampa.
On Tuesday, he was to help build
homes in Tampa with Habitat for
Humanity, a group that he says
exemplifies his call for religion-based social
programs.
http://www.foxnews.com
Bush Highlights Commitment to Everglades Restoration
Monday, June 04, 2001
WASHINGTON — President
Bush is renewing his
pledge to help restore
the Florida Everglades, touring
the celebrated but
scarred wetlands as he seeks to
build a conservationist
image.
Bush on Monday was
making his third trip to Florida since
becoming president,
hiking the Anhinga Trail, named for
a fishing bird that
inhabits the Everglades. He also was
expected to announce he has signed a
bill that will enhance cooperation
between federal agencies as they work
to reduce wildfire risks.
Everglades National Park is
undergoing a 40-year, $7.8 billion restoration
project aimed at improving water
quality, storage and flow into the region.
Bush's proposed 2002 budget includes
$219 million spread over five federal
agencies for Everglades restoration.
That is $58 million more than this year,
aides said.
"The president's been looking for an
opportunity to go down there to talk
about what's in the budget to protect
the Everglades," said White House
spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish.
But the administration could be
wading back into a bitter Everglades debate:
the future of Homestead Air Force
Base, which is within 10 miles of the park
and within two miles of Biscayne
National Park.
The Air Force decided Jan. 16 against
allowing Miami-Dade County to
convert the hurricane-battered base
into a commercial airport. Bruce Babbitt,
President Clinton's interior
secretary, said such an airport would "surely
degrade both national parks."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
said last month he had decided to
"review that decision for consistency
with established policy," apparently
reopening the question of whether the
base will be developed for
commercial flights.
"If I determine there was a deviation
from that policy, I will advise you in the
matter and take appropriate action,"
Rumsfeld wrote in a May 10 memo to
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of
the Senate Armed Services
Committee.
Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who
represent the Miami-Dade area in the
House, had asked Bush to reconsider
the prohibition on commercial uses.
Clinton signed a law in December
authorizing the federal government to pay
half the cost of the restoration
project, and Bush's budget proposal
represents his commitment to that.
The state of Florida is to pay for the other
half.
The costly undertaking comes more
than four decades after the Army Corps
of Engineers began siphoning water
out of the Everglades -- 300 miles of
swampland, sawgrass marshes, cypress
trees and mangrove estuaries that
stretch from central Florida and the
Kissimmee River north of Lake
Okeechobee to Florida Bay and the
Keys.
The corps, at the behest of Congress,
built canals and waterways to develop
farm lands and divert water from
South Florida's coastal areas to prevent
flooding and increase agricultural
and urban development.
Over the years, altering the flow of
the water has meant the disappearance of
half of the original Everglades and
the loss of indigenous plants, birds, fish
and animals such as the Florida
panther. Daily, 1.7 billion gallons of water
drain from the Everglades into the
sea.
Bush also has alarmed Florida
environmentalists by opening the possibility
of drilling off that state's coast.
In March, Interior Secretary Gale Norton
notified Gov. Jeb Bush, the
president's brother, that she planned to proceed
with a proposal to auction oil and
gas development leases in a large tract in
the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Some of
it comes within 30 miles of the western
tip of the Florida Panhandle.
Gov. Bush, who was traveling with the
president on Monday, opposes the
move. The state Sierra Club planned
protests at their appearances.
The president has not been shy about
visiting Florida, ground zero in last
year's epic recount fight. He
vacationed there just after the deadlock ended in
December, and has visited Orlando and
Panama City since taking office.
Late Monday, Bush was celebrating his
successful push for a major tax cut in
a ceremony at Legends Field, the
spring training site of the New York
Yankees in Tampa.
On Tuesday, he was to help build
homes in Tampa with Habitat for
Humanity, a group that he says
exemplifies his call for religion-based social
programs.