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Army Corps of Engineers

Florida calls for $27 billion in hurricane recovery funding

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In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, along with 26 U.S. representatives from Florida, submitted Friday a line-item list of budget requests totaling $26.945 billion worth of federal hurricane recovery funding.

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‘Nothing, nothing.’ Aid lags in hurricane-torn Puerto Rico

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Relatives helped Maribel Valentin Espino find shelter when Hurricane Maria roared through her community in northern Puerto Rico. Neighbors formed volunteer brigades to cut fallen trees and clear twisty mountain roads after the storm had passed. Now, friends and a local cattle ranch provide the water they need to survive in the tropical heat.

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Joe Negron: Army Corps will speed up Lake O work

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Senate President Joe Negron on Friday said progress on a southern reservoir outlined in legislation passed this year, addressing South Florida’s water quality, is getting a kick-start. “…The Army Corps of Engineers intends to expedite the federal approval process … The Corps has determined the best option for achieving southern storage is not to seek new federal authority, but to use existing authority to pursue a modification to the current (project),” Negron said in a Friday statement.

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Feds say ‘stay the course’ with Everglades, rejecting Joe Negron’s land buy

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Joe Negron’s controversial plan to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges is not going over well with federal officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Last week, many of those involved in Everglades restoration called for Florida to stay the course on federal restoration projects; many were critical of the Senate President’s plan to build a reservoir south of Lake O. At least two of them suggested using taxpayer money to buy land is not a priority. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said Negron’s…

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Vern Buchanan to co-chair Florida Delegation meeting on water issues

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The co-chairs of Florida’s congressional delegation, Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, and Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings will hold a bipartisan delegation meeting on some of the state’s most pressing water issues. The meeting is Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 8:30 a.m. in 2020 Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington, DC. The delegation will discuss red tide, harmful algal blooms, beach renourishment and other water quality issues. This will be the first meeting of the 29-member bipartisan Florida congressional delegation in 2017.…

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Beyond the pale: Enviro activist calls for “death of thousands” in Lake O discharge controversy

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With much of the nation embroiled in the 2016 presidential campaign, it’s almost understandable that some things in Florida have escaped widespread notice. For those of paying attention, however, they have no doubt been aware of the release of excess water from Lake Okeechobee, a result of historically high El Niño rainfall in South Florida. Unsurprisingly, environmentalists have been vocal in opposition. But this time, the rhetoric may be getting out of hand. The Army Corps of Engineers’ release, as…

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22 members of Florida congressional delegation call on feds to reconsider plans for Apalachicola River

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Most of Florida’s 29 congressional representatives in Washington, D.C., signed a letter to a high-ranking U.S. Army official on Tuesday calling for federal action to help revive the ailing Apalachicola River. Some 22 members of Congress — an evenly divided 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats — wrote Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy to express their concern over newly released federal documents regarding the ecologically sensitive Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin. The bipartisan group of senators and representatives told Darcy an environmental impact…

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