Cloture Motion
Floor Speech
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Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, as you and others are well aware, Florida is often associated with its crystal blue waters, sport and commercial fishing, and pristine vacation destinations. This summer, a thick and putrid algal bloom known as the blue-green algae is threatening all of that and much more along large stretches of the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon.
On Friday, I visited the area, and I can tell you this is an economic disaster in addition to an ecological crisis. I met many of the people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil. The algae has forced the closure of several beaches. Even this morning we were hearing reports of a surf camp where kids go out and learn how to surf and paddle board and so forth. They sign up in the summer to do this, and they are having parents canceling, and in some cases having to cancel themselves because of this.
There were beaches closed during the Fourth of July, which is the peak season for many of these resorts, hotels, and local businesses. That is why I say they have been thrown into turmoil. Beyond that, this algae bloom is killing fish and oysters. It is hurting tourism. It is harming local businesses. It is sinking property values.
Imagine if you just bought a home on the water there--the values are largely tied to access to water and the boat dock--and now you step outside, and sitting right there on your porch, basically, there is a thick green slime that some have compared to guacamole sitting on the surface of the ocean. You can imagine what that is doing to property values. Parents, of course, are viewing all of this and are concerned for the health of their children. There are a number of things we can do to address this immediately, and I have been working to make these things happen.
First of all, let me describe how this is happening. This is happening because nutrient-rich water--water that has things in it like fertilizer--is running into Lake Okeechobee, which is at the center of the State. It is the largest inland body of water in the State. Historically, the water that sat in Lake Okeechobee would run southward into the Everglades. With development, canal systems, and so forth, that all stopped.
Now this water is held back by a dike, which is put in place to prevent flooding. When the waters need to be released, they are released east and west. These waters are already rich in nutrients in Lake Okeechobee, and then they are released into the estuaries and canals, which also have nutrients in them because of runoff from faulty and old septic tanks. When these things reach the ocean, when they reach the estuaries, when they reach the lagoon or the lake or the river and they get into this heat, the result is what we are seeing now.
Last week I wrote the Army Corps of Engineers, and I urged them to stop the discharges from Lake Okeechobee until the balance and health of the ecosystem in the area can recover. By the way, these discharges have been ongoing since January of this year, which has lowered salinity levels, and it caused the algae to bloom. I also invited the Assistant Secretary of the Army Corps to visit the area so they can witness the conditions firsthand.
I was pleased that after my request the Army Corps announced it would decrease the discharges but, of course, much more needs to be done. My office has also been working with the Small Business Administration for months now on the harmful impact of these discharges. In April, we were able to ensure disaster loans were made available to businesses suffering from the discharges. Just yesterday, we were able to confirm that the disaster loans will apply to those currently affected by the current algal blooms.
Perhaps the most important long-term solution that we can put in place is for the Senate and the House to pass and the President to sign the authorization for the Central Everglades Planning Project. The Central Everglades Planning Project will divert these harmful discharges away from the coastlines and send more water south through the Everglades.
This is a project I had hoped would have been authorized in the last water resources bill in 2014, but delays by the administration in releasing the final Chiefs report prevented that from happening in 2014. Thanks to the leadership of Chairman Inhofe, the Central Everglades Planning Project is included in the EPW committee-reported Water Resources Development Act of 2016.
Last week, I joined 29 of my colleagues in urging our leaders to bring this important bill before the full Senate. I plan to continue this support, and I hope we are able to get the Central Everglades Planning Project signed into law as soon as possible.
Finally, we also need to know the long-term health risks posed by this algal bloom. I mentioned a moment ago that many parents are concerned about the safety of their kids as they play outside this summer. Let me tell you why they are concerned. The algae I saw lining the shores and in the coves and inlets will literally make you sick. There are already people complaining of headaches, rashes, and respiratory issues.
At Central Marine in Stuart, you could not stand outside near the water and breathe the air without literally feeling sick. The smell is indescribable. The best thing I can use to describe it is if you opened up a septic tank or opened sewage in a third world country--that is how nasty this stuff is.
By the way, when it dies, it turns this dark green-blue color, and then it becomes even more toxic. No one knows how to remove it. No one knows what is going to happen to it after it dies, except it is going to sit there. That is why we have been in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been working with State officials, and I requested that they keep me informed and that they remain vigilant in their efforts to assist those impacted by the algae.
This is truly a crisis for the State of Florida, but we are fortunate that Florida is well equipped to handle this issue. I have spoken to the Governor and to key officials on the ground about this. This should continue to be a joint effort by the Federal and State governments. Should the government decide this warrants a Federal disaster declaration, I will urge the President to approve it. That means that more resources could flow to those who have been negatively impacted by this, especially small businesses that have seen themselves in the peak season truly hurt by this event.
In the meantime, Florida continues to face this serious problem, and unfortunately there simply is no silver bullet. Its effects will linger for quite some time. For people who are suffering through this right now, that is not a promising thing for me to say. If that were my house facing this algae, if that were my business wiped out with the cancelations, I would be angry too.
It is important to remember this is not just an ecological crisis; it is a tragedy for the people on the Treasure Coast who have had to watch this algae threaten their communities and their livelihoods. This is a heated issue, as you can imagine, because we are talking about people's homes. We are talking about a way of life. Many people came up to me and said they grew up in the area, they remember the days where their whole summers were spent near that water, and now they can't even go in it. When we see a place as naturally beautiful as the Treasure Coast looking and smelling like an open sewer, you have a visceral and angry reaction to it. I know that I did.
Sadly, whenever there are emotional and heated issues like these, people on both sides are willing to exploit them. Anyone who tells you they have the silver bullet answer to this problem is simply not telling the truth. They are lying. I have talked to experts, dozens of them. I visited with people across the spectrum on this issue, and the reality is that solving this issue will take time, persistence, and a number of things. There is no single thing we can do. There are a number of things, and they all have to happen in order for this to get better.
These problems have existed for decades. This didn't happen overnight. This isn't something that started 2 weeks ago. This has been going on for decades. I have now been a Senator for a little less than 6 years, and in my time here, we have made steady progress on this issue. But it is not coming as fast as I would like, and it is not coming as fast as the people of the Treasure Coast need. The worst thing we could do right now is to divert critical resources from a plan that will work, from a plan designed by scientists, from a plan designed by experts that will work, but we have to put that plan in place.
That is why I once again urge my colleagues to move forward on the Central Everglades Planning Project. It will allow us to begin the process of authorizing these important projects that will not only retain more water but will result in cleaner water going into Lake Okeechobee, cleaner water flowing out of Lake Okeechobee, and cleaner water moving south into the Everglades, the way it should be flowing and not east and west into these impacted communities.
I am calling the Presiding Officer's attention to this because, as I have detailed, this is far from being merely a State issue. We do have our work cut out for us on the Federal level to help get this solved, but I am committed to this task. I ask my colleagues for their assistance so we can ensure that 5 and 10 years from now we are not still here talking about this happening all over again.
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