Fe. 18, 2015. http://www.wjhg.com
TALLAHASSEE– Water quality
legislation will be at the forefront of the 2015 legislative session, and voters who made sure there would be conservation money in place want lawmakers to know they can't spend it any way they want.
Chanting and holding signs with demands for lawmakers, conservationists and clean water supporters took to the capitol steps to get their messages out. Many of the people, like Bob Fellman, traveled hundreds of miles to voice concerns about their water. "The water is relatively in good shape in some areas and it's on the declining side in other areas," said Fellman.
William Wallace traveled to the capitol from Bay County because he doesn't want his water to be mucked up for future generations. He explained, "Well, water is important, water is life and it's very important that we protect it."
Even though Amendment 1 passed overwhelmingly voters say they're keeping an eye on lawmakers to make sure they're spending the money the way it was intended. The main gripe among the ralliers was that they don't want to see the 750 million dollars allocated for amendment one go toward sewer and infrastructure projects.
Aliki Moncreif, from Florida's Water & Land Legacy said, "We are reminding lawmakers about what voters really meant, what they understood Amendment 1 to be for. It's not so much they're putting money in directions we don't want them to, but we don't want that to happen."
Gerry Swomstedt says people didn't vote for sewer projects, they voted for springs protections. "Here we are, trying to defend them again, even though 75 percent of the voters passed it, and I don't think many of these people were elected by 75 percent of the voters," he opined.
The rally was a pre-emptive strike of sorts. There's no real agreement in the legislature yet of how the money will be allocated.
Florida's agricultural commissioner Adam Putnam came out in support of using some of the money for different sewer projects throughout the state.