Political Quotes

“Madam President, over the past few weeks, I have been meeting with residents and business owners in South Florida who are continuing to experience the health impacts and the financial troubles as a result of the persistent algae blooms which are on the east coast of Florida. On the west coast, those algae blooms that are going down the Caloosahatchee River are supercharging the red tide bacteria in the gulf, and the profound ecological effect is that of dead sea life literally littering the beaches. The smell is pungent, and it is irritating. I am here to urge my colleagues to support the Water Resources Development Act--what we refer to as the WRDA bill--because it contains the authorization for an important reservoir project that could help alleviate some of the discharges. When discharges come out of the big lake, Lake Okeechobee, that are already combined with local runoff and discharges of nutrient-laden water into the waters and lakes of Florida--particularly the Caloosahatchee on the west coast and the St. Lucie on the east coast-- then all of that nutrient-laden water is like throwing fertilizer into water. Since algae is already in the water, if you throw fertilizer into it, the algae is going to grow. The algae grows, and it turns into this green gunk. It absorbs all of the oxygen in the water, and it becomes a dead waterway. The fish can't live because the oxygen is not there.…”