A hard-fought victory for fishing guides, Captains For Clean Water, and conservation groups across Florida
At a press conference in Fort Myers, Governor Ron DeSantis stood shoulder to shoulder with fishing guides and announced the long-awaited veto of Senate Bill 2508.
DeSantis acknowledged he heard the thousands of fishing guides, boat captains, business owners, clean water advocates, and concerned citizens throughout Florida who voiced their opposition to the bill over the past few months and recognized the threat it posed to Florida's environment.
Halfway through the Florida legislative session in February, Florida Senate leaders fast-tracked Senate Bill 2508 which included major water-related policy changes that would write into law preferential treatment of the industrial sugar industry. It was filed as a budget conforming bill which allowed it to circumvent the standard legislative process and minimized opportunity for public input.
Thank you Governor DeSantis for standing firm in your commitment to protect Florida’s waterways by vetoing Senate Bill 2508—the bad water policy that would have reversed years of Everglades restoration and water quality progress, elimination of Lake Okeechobee discharges, and equitable distribution of water use, all in favor of Big Sugar. Our organization and others worked hard to weaken 2508 and this veto is the final nail in the coffin.
—Capt. Daniel Andrews, Executive Director, Captains For Clean Water
In its original form, this legislation affected two critical components to solving south Florida’s water crisis. It undermined the new lake operations schedule (LOSOM) which is slated to reduce harmful Lake Okeechobee discharges by 37% annually and send three times more water south to the Everglades and Florida Bay. It also prioritized additional projects which could have diluted funding for the EAA Reservoir, the cornerstone project of Everglades restoration.
Captains For Clean Water organized and responded with massive awareness campaigns and public action opportunities, leading a groundswell of opposition against the bill.
Over 50,000 Captains For Clean Water supporters expressed opposition through 156,000 emails to legislators, 1,500 phone calls to legislators, 50,000 petition signatures, and multiple trips to the State Capitol, forcing the Florida Senate to amend the bill twice removing most of the harmful Everglades language and the proviso language that held hostage $300+ million in state Everglades funding contingent on passage of 2508.
Dozens of fishing guides had canceled booked charters to travel to Tallahassee alongside other Captains supporters and clean water advocates to publicly oppose the bill.
Following the veto announcement, local fishing guides posed with Governor DeSantis and toasted a celebratory beer named "Send It South" locally-brewed by Fort Myers Brewing Company to benefit Captains For Clean Water.
The veto of Senate Bill 2508 comes as a welcome victory for all Floridians in the fight to restore and protect Florida's water.
State funding for the Everglades
In addition to the veto announcement, Governor DeSantis highlighted the signing of the Freedom First Budget and more than $1.2 billion for Everglades restoration and the protection of Florida’s water resources.
Florida has now surpassed Governor DeSantis’ four-year goal with a total investment of more than $3.3 billion for Everglades restoration and the protection of water resources since 2019. Details on the environment budget can be found here.
“Protecting Florida’s natural resources has been a top priority since my first day in office,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “The health of the Everglades, Florida’s springs, and so many other resources are the foundation of our communities and economy and play an important role in the everyday lives of Floridians. I am committed to leaving our natural resources better than we found them so that future generations can experience what brings people from around the world to our state.”
