[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 14 (Friday, February 11, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 11, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           EAST EVERGLADES WATER MODIFICATION DELIVERY SYSTEM

 Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, last night, the Senate approved 
legislation I introduced last year with my colleague from Florida [Mr. 
Mack] to authorize the use of previously appropriated funds for land 
acquisition in the Frog Pond, the Eight-and-One-Half Square Mile Area, 
and the Rocky Glades Agricultural Area east of Everglades National 
Park. This legislation is a significant step in expanding the options 
available to the Park Service, the State of Florida, the South Florida 
Water Management District, and Dade Country in their unified efforts to 
recapture the irreplaceable ecosystem of south Florida.
  Over the past few months, I have been meeting with all the partners 
involved in the project to purchase land east of Everglades National 
Park, and I am pleased to report that we are making significant strides 
in resolving many of the funding and land management issues. The 
legislation passed by my Senate colleagues last night will enable the 
partners to begin taking real action to help Florida Bay, which makes 
up over one-third of Everglades National Park.
  This legislation was a cooperative effort of many people, but I would 
like to especially thank Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Assistant 
Secretaries George Frampton, and Bonnie Cohen, Peter Hamm in the Office 
of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Everglades National 
Park Superintendent Dick Ring. The support of Tom MacVicar and Kathy 
Copeland with the South Florida Water Management District, and Florida 
Governor Lawton Chiles and Estus Whitfield of his staff was also 
greatly appreciated. Due to the work of my colleagues in the Florida 
delegation, in particular Congressmen Peter Deutsch and Clay Shaw, this 
bill has already been approved by the House of Representatives and will 
soon be signed by the President.
  I would also like to take this opportunity to commend President 
Clinton for the significant show of support for restoring south 
Florida's delicate environment in his 1995 budget proposal. A total of 
$57.3 million is pledged by the Department of the Interior for various 
activities in the area, including land acquisition, research, and 
resource management. Another $13 million would be spent by the 
Environmental Protection Agency, the Corps of Engineers, and the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Clinton budget is 
a strong statement that the Everglades is indeed a trust--a unique 
treasure of the world that should be protected and restored to a 
previous, more natural condition.

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