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Yellow River dam is vetoed
By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 20, 2001
Gov. Jeb Bush delighted environmental activists by vetoing $250,000 the Legislature approved for planning a dam for the Yellow River in the Panhandle.
The Okaloosa County Commission agreed in January to seek state funding for a plan to dam the river just north of the rural community of Milligan. The dam would back the river up 15 miles, all the way to the Alabama state line, flooding 10,000 acres to create a reservoir and provide drinking water for the fast-growing county.
The dam is opposed by the Florida Wildlife Federation, Audubon of Florida, Sierra Club and Florida Defenders of the Environment. They note that the reservoir would inundate land that the state has spent millions of dollars preserving. And a dam would harm endangered and threatened species, such as the gulf sturgeon, which live in the river, they say.
Florida Wildlife Federation president Manley Fuller said he was "very happy" with Bush's veto.
The governor said he was vetoing the money because the appropriation had not been requested by the Northwest Florida Water Management District or the state Department of Environmental Protection.
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