Rep. Rooney pushing for more Everglades aid despite Trump's budget

WASHINGTON - The new congressman from Naples doggedly pursuing federal aid for Everglades restoration acknowledges the daunting challenge he is facing to get the money.

But Rep. Francis Rooney said he remains optimistic about increased funding in the 2018 federal budget for Florida’s massive public works project, despite President Donald Trump’s initial proposal last month to cut money for water projects by $1 billion.

“We’re going to have a tremendous fight on our hands to get whatever we can get,” the first-term Republican said Thursday after meeting with Everglades Foundation officials in his Capitol Hill office.

“I don’t think any of it’s ever going to be easy, given how broke our country is right now, how swallowed up in entitlements we are," Rooney said. "But I’ve got to try. That’s my job.”

The federal government has appropriated a total of $737 million over previous years for the Central Everglades Restoration Plan.

The state, which has contributed about $1.4 billion of its share, is counting on an additional $4.2 billion from Washington.

Related: Trump's budget would eliminate key program that tests Everglades water

Related: Trump's cut to Corps of Engineers' budget could slow Everglades restoration

Florida’s mission to get the federal government to pony up its share got an important assist when the head of the Jacksonville District of the Army Corps of Engineers — Col. Jason A. Kirk — told Rooney he would request the agency’s budget include $190 million in 2018 and $150 million in 2019 for the project.

If Trump administration officials approve the request, it would be a major boost from fiscal year 2016, when the allotment for the Central Everglades Restoration Plan was $81 million. The amount for 2017 has not been determined yet because Congress has yet to approve a final budget.

The money would be used to pay for design and construction of key components of a project aimed at restoring the Everglades to its original water flow patterns southward toward Florida Bay and away from communities along Florida’s east and west coasts.

Projects that could benefit from increased funding for the Central Everglades Restoration Plan include:

• The Picayune Strand Restoration in Southwest Florida.
• The C-44 Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area near the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast.
•  The Kissimmee River Restoration Project.

Rooney has been scrambling to muster unity among the Florida delegation for the increased funding. He has been speaking at hearings, meeting with key advocates and eagerly sharing his portfolio of charts and maps spelling out the project’s importance to the state’s environment and economy.

But Trump’s promise last week to Gov. Rick Scott that the Corps of Engineers will provide the money necessary to fully upgrade the Herbert Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee by 2022 — three years earlier than current funding would enable — could make his job as chief Everglades pitchman tougher.

To meet that 2022 goal, the Jacksonville District is recommending that funding for the dike double to about $200 million in each of 2018 and 2019, according to Rooney. At the same time, the president’s budget blueprint unveiled in March proposed cutting the Corps of Engineers' annual budget from $6 billion this year to $5 billion next year.

Rooney acknowledged a bump in funding for the dike when the overall Corps budget is being slashed could make it more difficult to find the money for Everglades restoration. That’s especially true given the multitude of requests from lawmakers elsewhere pushing their own water project priorities.

So would Rooney, a fiscal conservative, vote for a budget that would cut funding to the agency by $1 billion?

“That would depend on how much Everglades money and Okeechobee money it has,” he said.

Contact Ledyard King at lking@gannett.com; Twitter:@ledgeking