Gov. Rick Scott announced Monday that he is proposing $50 million in his budget to help accelerate the fixing of the Herbert Hoover Dike at Lake Okeechobee.
Scott was in Clewiston to make the announcement.
"Well, what happened after Irma, this lake got to over 17 feet... the Corps is doing discharges to the Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee so we get, you know we get the risk of algae blooms over the Indian River Lagoon and the dirty water over toward Sanibel," Gov. Scott said.
“I appreciate Governor Scott’s leadership in ensuring that we make the best use of both state and federal tax dollars as we work to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike and build additional southern storage through the implementation of Senate Bill 10. I look forward to working with him again this session on these important issues to ensure we have an effective state and federal partnership that leads to the elimination of harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee,” Florida Senate President Joe Negron said in a statement released by the governor's office.
Monday's announcement from Governor Scott comes after President Trump promised to speed up repairs to the 80-year-old dike just last week.
Right now, the Lake Okeechobee's water level is a little more than 17 feet.
The Herbert Hoover Dike surrounds Lake Okeechobee and protects tens of thousands of people from what could be catastrophic flooding.
After Hurricane Irma, many worried about the strength of the dike as the water level continued to rise.
The Army Corps of Engineers is working on a repair project that should be complete in 2025, but the governor wants it done by 2022.
That would require an extra $200 million in funding per year.
The Army Corps has been doing regular checks of the dike since Hurricane Irma, and so far has not found any major issues.
