Díaz-Balart Secures Funding for Everglades Restoration and More

Florida Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R) announced this week that he had secured critical funding for several projects across south Florida. The projects include Everglades restoration and the town of Medley. The funding comes with the passing of the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill for fiscal year 2025.

Rep. Díaz-Balart, who serves as the senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations, issued a statement after the passing of the bill, thanking Chairman Tom Cole (R) and Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson (R). He commended the lawmakers for “reining in wasteful spending while reducing energy costs and protecting American jobs, especially our first responders, in the Department of Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill for fiscal year 2025.”

The bill addresses several concerns posed by the Biden-Harris Administration's alleged "job-killing regulatory agenda":

• Requiring the Biden-Harris Administration to resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales and issue 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing programs on time.
• Halting the Biden-Harris Administration's radical Green New Deal agenda by blocking the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations on light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles.
• Prohibiting the EPA from imposing the Inflation Reduction Act methane fee on oil and gas producers.
• Protecting access to America's public lands by blocking restrictions on hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting on federal lands.

The bill also prioritizes the needs of South Florida:

• $11.6 million for the Everglades Restoration Project through the National Park Service.
• $9 million for the Greater Everglades Priority Ecosystem Program to support the management and restoration of America’s Everglades.
• $8 million for the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge Conservation Area through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
• $73.8 million for the State and Tribal Wildlife Grant Program for the development and implementation of programs benefiting wildlife and their habitats.
• $7.49 million to address water quality by providing funding for critical harmful algal bloom research.
• $1 million in direct funding for South Florida to expand water quality and ecosystem health monitoring and prediction network.
• Full funding for the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, of which Collier County is the largest recipient in Florida.

Rep. Díaz-Balart also announced that the town of Medley is set to receive $1.5 million for the Wastewater Pump Station Improvement Project.

“These dollars will go to redeveloping the pump stations owned and operated by the town of Medley,” he shared. “These repairs will mitigate future flooding and operation hazards due to pump station emergency failure, as well as normal operations.”

Díaz-Balart further addressed that "the project aims to improve public safety, health, and drainage improvements in the community. This will subsequently help the Town of Medley’s Road network enhancement allowing easier flow of traffic, promoting multimodal mobility, emergency evacuations, and improve connectivity and accessibility for the transportation of goods and circulation of heavy equipment in the area."