(WTXL) - U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced the South Florida Clean Coastal Waters Act on Thursday.
The legislation would direct the Interagency Task Force on Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) to asses the causes and consequences of HABs in Lake Okeechobee and around Florida’s south and southwestern coast.
That will help determine the federal resources available to solve the challenges.
After completing the required assessment, the Task Force would be required to develop an Action Plan in line with the state and local stakeholders that would:
- Address monitoring needs identified in the assessment
- Develop a timeline and budgetary requirements for deployment of future monitoring assets
- Identify requirements for development and verification of HAB predictive models
- Propose the development of an early warning system for alerting local communities to HAB risks to human health
