Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday near the Miccosukee Indian Village in Miami-Dade County where he addressed the progress in the Everglades Restoration Project.
DeSantis signed off on $625 million for Everglades restoration and other water quality projects in last year's state budget.
According to the governor, the 2021 budget for restoration projects will be completed in the next few weeks, which he predicts will see "a big win in this legislative session for a lot of the key initiatives that so many Floridians care about."
The governor added that he is working with the legislature to put a portion of the federal funding, toward infrastructure through their work program and to do resiliency efforts to build infrastructure to protect some of the state's most vulnerable areas.
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"This is really an important milestone. We are highlighting this project to remove over five miles of roadbed from the old Tamiami Trail," DeSantis said Tuesday. "This roadbed removal is expected to increase the flow of clean, fresh water into the Shark River Slough by billions of gallons."
In January 2020, the state of Florida would purchase a large portion of land in the Everglades in order to prevent oil production in the area. The 20,000 acres will be bought from Kanter Real Estate, the same group that was given approval to drill an exploratory oil well in the Everglades - west of Miramar.
South Florida Water Management District will be putting up between $16.5 and $18 million depending on when the purchase goes through.
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The land will become publicly-owned for restoration and recreation. As a result, the state hopes billions of gallons of water can move through the bay.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection says they are moving forward with the buyout within the next 75 days.
