PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave remarks Thursday morning at a ribbon-cutting in Palm Beach County.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton, South Florida Water Management District Chairman Chauncy Goss and others joined DeSantis at the EAA Reservoir Project Site, near the north entrance to the South Florida Water Management District A1 Flow Equalization Basin.
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The event celebrated the filling of the first call of the 6,500-acre Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Stormwater Treatment Area, meant to relieve pressure on estuaries while sending clean water to the central and southern Everglades. DeSantis called the state’s ongoing restoration of the Everglades the largest and most significant of such efforts taking place in America today.
“The country really isn’t even close in terms of what we’ve embarked upon. Obviously, this has been going on for decades now, but we came into office where we needed to start to really reignite these efforts and we did put emphasis on the importance of restoring the Everglades and would not been here today if we had not done that five years ago,” DeSantis said. “We set out in January of 2019 to dedicate $2.5 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality improvement efforts during my first term as governor — a billion dollars more over what had been done over the previous four years — and so that was ambitious and a lot of people didn’t think that that was something that was even going to be achievable. Well, that first four years, we didn’t do the $2.5 billion, we did $3.3 billion for those efforts and so over the last five years we have either completed or broken ground on 67 different Everglades-related projects.”
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The EAA Reservoir is the crown jewel of Everglades restoration, and will help move water south which nourishes the Everglades, replenishes Florida’s aquifers and supports the Florida Bay. Additionally, the reservoir will help to reduce harmful discharges to the St. Lucie River, the Caloosahatchee River and the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Governor’s Press Office | Governor Ron DeSantis Attends Ribbon Cutting for EAA Reservoir Stormwater Treatment Area (excerpt)
See Thursday’s event again in the video player below:
After taking second place in Iowa, DeSantis on Sunday suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination ahead of Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire, which Trump also won.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in a video on X, fka Twitter, the same platform used to launch his campaign in May 2023. “...He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
In a statement, Trump’s campaign said it was honored to receive DeSantis’ endorsement.
[RELATED: Will Gov. Ron DeSantis run for president again in 2028?]
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