Opinion: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Give Gov. Rick Scott credit. His administration has succeeded in moving what has been an agonizingly slow initiative to restore the Florida Everglades. The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently approved the governor's $1.5 billion proposal to clean up the region's polluted water, a necessity if Everglades restoration is to become a reality.

Up until last week, the joint effort to help the River of Grass has moved in fits and starts. Funding problems from Washington, decisions out of Tallahassee that left major parts of the restoration efforts unfinished, not to mention the longstanding rift between federal and state environmental officials over clean water standards, even as pollution problems from stormwater runoff continued almost unabated.

This, however, is a welcome breakthrough and a far cry from the bitter disputes the Scott administration is currently embroiled in with other federal agencies, most notably the U.S. Department of Justice over the state's controversial voting purge. In this case, policy won out over politics.

Fortunately, the EPA agreement is the latest in a string of good news for the River of Grass. The U.S. House is expected to pass a bill that would pour an additional $145 million to complete projects in the Kissimmee Valley, the Picayune Strand in Collier County and the Indian River Lagoon along the Treasure Coast to remove pollutants before the water reaches the Everglades.

The Everglades funding has bipartisan support, and while the legislation could be held up with other parts of the energy-water appropriations bill, news of additional support from Washington is encouraging as something has to give to help develop a comprehensive strategy that will pass muster with the courts and gain credibility with the public. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection plan that was forwarded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week can't hurt.

The plan calls for the construction of new water storage and treatment areas, targeted hot spots that would require stricter pollution controls for where phosphorus runoff remains a problem. More important, the proposal includes the completion of the unfinished 16,700 acre reservoir in southwest Palm Beach County, an idea-turned-boondoggle that cost taxpayers roughly $280 million before the project was shelved as part of the U.S. Sugar land deal.

As an idea, the DEP plan is a big step forward. Still, it won't matter much if either the governor or the Florida Legislature balks at backing up the plan with money and the commitment to implement it. The lack of both was a major reason why Florida found itself facing the possibility of having an even more costly alternative imposed on it by the EPA.

The Everglades is often touted as a national treasure, not to mention a source of water for one of the nation's largest metropolitan communities. It's time for both the federal and state governments to treat it as such and finally develop - and ultimately execute - a comprehensive plan that actually restores it.

Copyright © 2012, South Florida Sun-Sentinel