VoteWater Statements
When Gov. Ron DeSantis came into office in 2019 one of the first things he did was dismiss the sitting South Florida Water Management District Governing Board and appoint a new slate. No longer was the board dominated by special…
The Southland rock mine proposal in Palm Beach County moved ahead last week as the Palm Beach County Zoning Commission voted to approve the plan. Friends of the Everglades Policy Director (and VoteWater Executive Director) Gil Smart testified against the…
A bill was filed last week in the Florida Senate that could be seen as a “good government” bill. It could also be seen as an attempt to cut spending on Everglades Restoration. Senate Proposed Bill 7002 would mandate greater…
For weeks Florida legislators have been meeting in committee, filing and debating bills and preparing for the official start of the 2025 Legislative Session on March 4. This session VoteWater’s Gil Smart will travel to Tallahassee to lobby for clean-water…
Fast is good. But too fast can be reckless. So it was with mixed emotions that we watched Gov. Ron DeSantis’s press conference in Juno Beach last week, where he announced Florida will ask the federal government to let the…
When VoteWater was founded in 2013 as Bullsugar.org, our bare-knuckled advocacy reflected the community’s outrage at toxic algae and the political environment that produced it. We built a movement and demanded change; we made waves. But the fight for clean…
Award-winning photojournalist, writer, captain and friend to the clean-water cause Rusty Chinnis gives VoteWater a shout-out in the Anna Maria Island Sun: “What better resolution to adopt this New Year? Vote Water,” writes Chinnis. “The future of fishing, Florida’s natural…
The first of what looks to be several bills regarding the controversial proposal to develop Florida’s state parks has dropped, and it’s good. But it could be better. Filed by state Sen. Gayle Harrell of Stuart, Senate Bill 80 — the “State Park Preservation Act”…
The rationale behind the damaging discharges to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and Lake Worth Lagoon goes like this: Army Corps officials say the goal of “Recovery Operations” is to give Lake O a break. For six years in…
