Governor Rick Scott has released a statement in response to a roundtable Senator Nelson hosted over the weekend in North Fort Myers with environmental and Cape Coral leaders.
In the statement, Governor Scott notes that Senator Nelson has been in office for years and has done nothing to help the algae situation the sunshine state currently faces. The statement reads that “Nelson himself acknowledged in Cape Coral that the problems surrounding Lake Okeechobee came from decades of mistakes, but he had nothing to say about his own decades of inaction when asked why solutions were so slow.”
The statement adds that “When Bill Nelson repeatedly failed to step up, it was Governor Scott who secured state funding for Lake Okeechobee, supported legislation to accelerate the EAA reservoir, and now secured funding through the Army Corps of Engineers.”
Finally, it explains that “It’s absurd for Nelson to say that a bill that was overwhelmingly passed by the legislature only six years ago to save homeowners money is somehow responsible for a problem that has lasted for generations. Additionally, under Governor Scott’s leadership, Florida established the most comprehensive nutrient pollution standards in the nation and became the first state to adopt complete nutrient standards protecting all lakes, rivers, streams, springs and estuaries. Ultimately, Bill Nelson’s misleading attacks make it clear that with no accomplishments of his own after nearly half a century in office, he has no choice but to go negative.”