PROTECT Florida Act

The PROTECT Florida Act (H.R. 3819) would require the Army Corps of Engineers to fundamentally change how water resources in Central and Southern Florida are managed by placing public health at the top priority across all existing project purposes. Specifically, it directs the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to adjust operations to ensure public health considerations overlay flood control, navigation, water supply, groundwater and salinity control, wildlife, and recreation. A key element is the explicit focus on reducing toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and other harmful algal blooms, preventing discharges of cyanotoxins to downstream waters, maintaining the integrity of the Herbert Hoover Dike, and ensuring water quality standards are met while supporting Everglades restoration and habitat for the region. The bill also requires a Master Operational Manual to manage the system as an integrated whole, and calls for a National Academies study on legacy pollution and nutrient loading to identify solutions for downstream waters. It prohibits using restoration funds for deep well injection of floodwaters and authorizes funding as needed to carry out these provisions, while preserving existing water rights, tribal, and state standards and schedules.