Authorizing Exchange of Certain Land in Everglades National Park

AUTHORIZING EXCHANGE OF CERTAIN LAND IN EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK -- (House of Representatives - July 19, 2004)

Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3785) to authorize the exchange of certain land in Everglades National Park, as amended.

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Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I am actually glad that I am doing this now because the Speaker pro tempore is also from Florida, understands the Everglades very, very well, and has been a strong supporter of Everglades restoration.

Let me just briefly talk about what this is. First, the district that I am privileged to represent includes the Everglades National Park. I spent much of my State legislative career assisting with the implementation of the Everglades restoration plan. This plan is showing extreme success, and this legislation before us today will greatly contribute to that success, to continuing that success.

Mr. Speaker, the people of Florida have a strong commitment to the restoration of the Everglades. Not only is it a national treasure, a global treasure, really an international treasure, tourists from around the country and around the world come to experience the wonders, the beauty that is the Everglades. But the people of Florida as well as the taxpayers of the country have also put a lot of resources to try to make sure that the Everglades is as pristine as possible and gets back to as much of its natural state as is possible.

This legislation will allow for the implementation of a component of the 1994 general reevaluation report that provided for the construction of a buffer and detention system along the eastern boundary of Everglades National Park. This system seeks to establish a hydraulic ridge to both prevent excess loss of seepage from the park and to reestablish the historical surface water flow from Northeast Shark River Slough to Taylor Slough.

Again, as I mentioned before, these are not inexpensive propositions. These are not only expensive, they are also very time-consuming projects.

Again, the people of the State of Florida, the State legislature in the State of Florida, the governor in the State of Florida and again previous governors as well but particularly this governor, Governor Jeb Bush, have shown that they are extremely committed to this effort; and again, the taxpayers, the State legislature and the governor have put in a lot of money to make sure that it is not just the Federal taxpayer, the Federal Government, that is contributing to this wonderful effort.

Specifically, Mr. Speaker, this legislation will authorize the exchange of approximately 1,054 acres between the South Florida Water Management District and the Everglades National Park to carry out the construction of the buffer and detention system. Currently, 2.5 miles of the detention and buffer system have been already constructed, and the Federal lands conveyed in this legislation are to be used by the South Florida Water Management District to construct the remaining 5.5 miles of the system.

This is a vital part of the Everglades restoration that again, I repeat, that both the Federal Government has put a lot of emphasis, a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money, and the State as well; not only the State but also the local taxpayers again through the water management district have also put up a lot of money, a lot of effort, a lot of time to try to get this done. This is a vital part of that restoration.

I particularly need to thank the efforts of Chairman Pombo. Chairman Pombo has been just wonderful to work with on this. His staff has been great. My staff has been working with his staff. They have been extremely receptive, not only receptive but their in-depth knowledge of this national treasure has been wonderful to see. We have not had to educate them on something that those of us in Florida know and love so much. Chairman Pombo and his staff are so familiar with this project and it has been just a wonderful experience.

Again, one of the things that I want to just reemphasize is that this is not a State of Florida project, that this is a national treasure. The Everglades is a national treasure that is also a threatened national treasure, an extremely delicate ecosystem, one that is vital for the entire State and I would then say for the entire Nation. When we think about the Everglades, we should not only think about that swampland that a lot of people just see in the airplanes when they are flying by, but we should also think about the impact that that has on, for example, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, the Florida Keys, the reef system. It is all interconnected. The heart of that is a vital, clean, vibrant, alive Florida Everglades.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank again Chairman Pombo and his staff for allowing me to bring this bill up here.