Opposing Deep Injection Well Plan for Everglades

South Florida Water Management District voted June 8th to go against Army Corps of Engineers decision not to include deep injection wells as a part of Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project. Last Stand joined 73 organizations and businesses in a letter to Governor Scott protesting SFWMD action to move forward with constructing deep injection wells. This decision was made without any advance public notice or opportunity or meaningful stakeholder input. Implementing this decision to develop deep injection wells would dispose of billions of gallons of fresh water and pay for the project with public state tax dollars.

The letter recommends the best solution to reduce and ultimately eliminate harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the northern estuaries during extreme weather events is to speed up the long term restoration of the Everglades ecosystem. It urges the Governor to ensure that public state tax dollars are invested in Everglades restoration projects that are fully vetted, consistent with CERP, do not jeopardize our public drinking water supply and do not waste the state's precious fresh water resources.