Bush to consult some in Congress before signing Everglades bill
By JULIE HAUSERMAN
Published May 9, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday he will soon sign a controversial Everglades bill unless Washington lawmakers give him a good reason not to.
So far that hasn't happened, Bush said, though he acknowledged: "I'm getting a lot of grief on the Everglades bill, Lord have mercy."
Bush said he will meet next week with Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw and others in Washington to discuss the bill passed by the Florida Legislature. Shaw, of Fort Lauderdale, and some other powerful Republicans in Congress, including House Appropriations Chairman C.W. Bill Young of Indian Rocks Beach, have urged Bush to veto the bill.
The Washington lawmakers say the legislation could jeopardize billions in federal aid that Congress promised to send to Florida to clean up the vast marsh, polluted by fertilizers flowing off sugar and vegetable farms, dairies and suburban lawns. State and federal taxpayers are splitting the $8.4-billion tab.
Under state law, Florida faced a 2006 deadline to reduce phosphorus levels in the Everglades. But the Legislature passed a bill supported by Everglades sugar growers and Bush's Department of Environmental Protection that delays the deadline to 2013.
Lawmakers such as Shaw say that makes it harder for them to persuade Congress to send money to Florida. Bush said he's been asking lawmakers for more specifics.
"All I hear back are vague discussions about how this is hurting the federal-state partnership," Bush said. "I've committed to speaking to Shaw and others before signing the bill."
Changing the law also could land the state in legal trouble because it is the basis for a settlement that ended a lawsuit between the state and federal governments. In 1988, the U.S. Justice Department sued Florida, saying the state allowed too much pollution in Everglades National Park.
Last week, a federal judge in Miami said he will hold the state to the 2006 deadline. A Justice Department attorney called the language in the Florida bill "puzzling" and hinted that his agency hoped the governor would veto it so federal officials will not have to "grapple with the questions" it raises.
But it isn't clear how family politics might play out, since the Justice Department answers to the governor's brother, President Bush.
Three Democratic presidential candidates - Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Florida Sen. Bob Graham and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean - have expressed reservations about the Everglades bill.
Dean weighed in Thursday in a news release that said: "We must not allow the Everglades to be destroyed by politicians who kowtow to the interests of Big Sugar."
