WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, Dec. 20, President Trump signed a federal budget into law that includes $200 million for Everglades restoration.

“President Trump has followed through on his promise to deliver for Florida and America’s Everglades,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “This investment in Everglades restoration will build on our efforts at the state level for critical projects like the EAA Reservoir, the Caloosahatchee Reservoir and the C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area. I look forward to continuing to work with the president and our local, state and federal partners on preserving and restoring Florida’s environment.”

Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projects are funded with a 50-50 match of federal and state funding.

State funding also in place
State funding for the EAA reservoir project is also assured — unless the Florida Supreme Court overturns the most recent appellate court ruling.

State funding for the Everglades Agricultural Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area (STA) project continues to go back and forth in the courts.

The most recent court ruling favored the state’s plan to use Amendment 1 funds for the project.

Article X, §28 of the Florida Constitution, commonly referred to as “Amendment One,” mandates that “33 percent of the revenues accrued from the excise tax on documents, after deducting costs of collection and enforcement, be paid into the Land Acquisition Trust Fund (LATF) for a period of 20 years from the effective date of the constitutional provision.”

In November 2014, Florida voters passed Amendment 1.

In June 2015, Earthjustice filed a suit in the Leon County Circuit Court on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation, the St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, challenging how the funds would be used.

“The constitutional amendment is clear,” said Earthjustice attorney David Guest. “A third of the tax on real estate deals is to be used to prevent every last inch of Florida land from getting chewed up by development. But most lawmakers are simply not listening. That’s why we have to go to court.”

In June 2018, Judge Charles Dodson ruled that the Land Acquisition Trust Fund can only be used for acquisition of new land and can only be used for improving land purchased after 2015.

That ruling created a problem for the EAA reservoir plan. The state land for the project was purchased long before 2015.

“That kills this reservoir, because that land we are going to construct this reservoir on was acquired decades ago,” explained then South Florida Water Management District General Counsel Brian Accardo at the Nov. 8, 2018, SFWMD governing board meeting.

Florida Senate Bill 10, which expedites construction of the EAA reservoir, calls for using $64 million a year from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund for reservoir bonding of $800 million. The state is responsible for 50 percent of the funding for Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projects. The EAA reservoir is a CERP project.

Attorneys for the legislature appealed the ruling, claiming Judge Dodson’s ruling “drastically curtails the expressly stated purposes” of Amendment 1.

In November 2019, the 1st District Court of Appeal sided with the Florida Legislature, overturning Judge Dodson’s ruling.

On Nov. 26, 2019, attorneys for the Florida Defenders of the Environment filed a brief asking the Florida Supreme Court to consider the case. Joseph Little, attorney for Florida Defenders of the Environment, wrote that the appeals court’s interpretation “defeats the intent of the Florida voters who approved the amendment for inclusion in the Florida Constitution.”

“FDE (Florida Defenders of the Environment) submits that the only authorized purposes are to acquire new conservation and recreation lands and to restore and manage lands so acquired,” Mr. Little wrote.

So far, the legal battle has not delayed the EAA reservoir and STA plans. State funding has continued during the appeal process.