TALLAHASSEE, Florida — State and federal officials celebrated a change Monday to “multibillion-dollar” contracts between Florida and the Trump administration that would accelerate a massive project to restore the Florida Everglades.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has modified two contracts to expedite the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir, part of a larger project to improve the quantity, quality and distribution of water that flows to the Everglades. All federally funded contracts for the EAA reservoir have been fully executed, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, and are scheduled to be completed by 2029 instead of a previously estimated completion date of 2034.
The governor’s office, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection and Army Corps did not immediately share specifics on how much the contracts are worth. The completed reservoir, located south of Lake Okeechobee, would hold 78 billion gallons of water and deliver billions of gallons a year to the Everglades.
“President Trump’s legacy as a great American builder is on display here today, because he never shies away from an opportunity to take on grand projects,” Wesley Brooks, a senior official at EPA’s Office of Water, said during a press conference in South Bay on Monday.
