Byron Donalds unveils proposal to protect Florida waterways

Filed 1h ago · Via Florida Phoenix · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds unveiled a 'Florida's Coastal Corridor' proposal Monday, modeled on the state's existing Wildlife Corridor, aimed at linking coastal waterways and the inland watersheds that feed them. He said it would coordinate existing agencies and programs rather than add new regulations or funding.

The announcement comes after the Legislature declined to fund Florida Forever, the state's main land-acquisition program, this year, and redirected Wildlife Corridor land money elsewhere. A separate citizen effort for a 'Right to Clean and Healthy Waters' constitutional amendment was blocked from the 2026 ballot by a new law restricting signature gathering.

Democratic rival David Jolly has proposed tying water quality to pollution discharge reduction and septic-to-sewer conversions. Several Pinellas-based Republican lawmakers joined Donalds at the announcement, held at a waterfront restaurant on the Intracoastal.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

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A corridor that uses only agencies already on the books, with no new money attached, is the policy equivalent of rearranging furniture and calling it a renovation. Meanwhile the Legislature just cut funding for the program that actually buys land, and a citizen petition to protect water got blocked by the same Legislature's own rule change. Calling your own backyard pretty doesn't fix the pipe leaking into it.

Source: Read the original at Florida Phoenix → Scored: Look Busy · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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