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January 10, 2002
WASHINGTON -- President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, signed an agreement Wednesday to guarantee water for a major effort to restore the Florida Everglades.
The blueprint envisions spending $7.8-billion over 30 years to restore about 2.4-million acres of the Everglades ecosystem.
"I think it has been referred to as the agreement between the Bushes," the governor joked. "It's an $8-billion project, that's a lot of money and the taxpayers want to get a return on this, so we're going to do it in the right way."
He added, "It was really nice to be in the Oval Office and make this agreement."
A water resources bill passed by Congress two years ago required the president and the Florida governor to sign a pact ensuring there is sufficient freshwater available to restore the Everglades. The measure sets up a cost-sharing partnership between the federal government and Florida. It will make available an extra 1.7-billion gallons of freshwater each day in South Florida.
Environmental advocates cheered the plan even though they were skeptical due to concerns officials may route the water to utilities through water use permits.
"There's this big fear, and it's legitimate, the state would issue 20-year water permits," said Brad Sewell, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. "This agreement was to make sure the state didn't permit it all ahead of time to the utilities."