Florida Gov. DeSantis announces environmental upgrades on Earth Day

Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton joins governor

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached Monday, March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed Don't Say Gay. (AP Photo/Phil Sears, File) (Phil Sears, Copyright 2023 the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference in West Palm Beach on Earth Day, where he discussed the latest upgrades for the state’s natural and environmental resources, WPLG-TV reported.

He spoke from the Cox Science Center and Aquarium and was joined by Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton.

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“As of January 2025, we are on track to acquire $6.5 billion in upgrades for the Everglades Restoration Project since 2019,” DeSantis said.

The funding also includes an additional $1.5 billion to invest in wastewater treatment upgrades.

“We, as Floridians and Americans, want to utilize clean waterways. I want us to enjoy it, but I don’t want to waste resources,” he said.

“The investments in water quality are the key to our survival and the governor is putting an additional $1.5 billion into its improvement which will help millions,” Hamilton said.

Two bills — SB 1136, which focuses on the regulation of water resources, and HB 1565, addressing the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative — have been recently introduced to DeSantis.

DeSantis did not sign those bills during Monday’s press conference, but he did say the wastewater grant will go into effect on July 1.

The DeSantis administration says this funding is in addition to the money from the Seminole Gaming Compact that will be redirected to fund water quality improvement and land conservation. That was part of SB 1638, which the governor signed earlier this month.