Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise to support the en bloc amendment, which includes my amendment to protect Water Conservation Areas in the Everglades from oil wells. It is important to point out that as of last year, the Federal Government and the State of Florida had spent more than $3.7 billion to restore the Florida Everglades, the river grass. I am here to say, by offering this amendment, I want to ensure that we not roll back that progress. My amendment would ensure that avaricious oil companies who care for nothing but profit, cannot turn our famed river of grass into an industrial oil field. An investment company has applied to drill an oil well just west of the city of Miramar in Broward County, my home county, much of which I represent. Drilling an oil well in the middle of a Water Conservation Area that is 20,000 acres wide, between two canals, when you have 8 million people who rely, for their drinking water, on the aquifer beneath the Florida Everglades, is the definition of insanity. My amendment would ensure that the Army Corps of Engineers could not issue this heinous permit when it is applied for. We have, under the Federal and State Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, water managers who want to connect two conservation areas that are part of southern Florida's hydrological system.…”