Reporter Asks Ron DeSantis Point Blank About Alligator Alcatraz_ 'What Concerns Do You Have_'

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During a press conference on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was asked about Alligator Alcatraz.

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00:00Yes, ma'am. Jennifer Crawford, WGCU News in Fort Myers.

00:03What concerns do you have about an expanded footprint of this facility on the Everglades,

00:09which you have really fought hard to restore?

00:11None, because we've looked at it, it doesn't have an impact.

00:14As Kevin said, there were hundreds of flights going in here, training flights.

00:17There are less flights now doing that.

00:20Everything that you see built is on the existing infrastructure, so it's not going to have an impact.

00:25And I would note, particularly for people in your region,

00:28you know, I just did something no one thought, you know, could get done as quickly as we did,

00:32open the C-43 Reservoir.

00:34And so you remember, before I became governor back in 18,

00:37there was a lot of water being spewed out of Lake Okeechobee.

00:40It interacted with the red tide.

00:42It created some real serious problems for quality of life, tourism, and the economy.

00:49And now we've got a massive reservoir that can store that water, clean it.

00:54It can send to southwest Florida in the dry season when they want it.

00:58And that is a huge, huge thing.

01:00So the number one environmental issue that was present in 2018,

01:06this stuff being spewed in from the lake,

01:09we addressed it head on and have completed this massive infrastructure project.

01:15And if you also look at the hydrology of the Everglades,

01:18what I said was, you know, we got to have water flow south as nature and God intended.

01:23And the amount of water flowing south compared to when I became governor, dramatic, dramatic increase.

01:29This thing, you know, I looked into, should we buy it and then like, you know, grow over it?

01:34Would that, but it doesn't really do a lot to increase the hydrology.

01:38Like that money could be spent much better doing the stuff that we're doing.

01:42So there's not going to be an impact here.

01:45But even if this wasn't here, like if I had to pay money to mothball it,

01:48I think that money would probably be better off doing the pump stations like we're doing at the EAA reservoir

01:54that the Army Corps has given us responsibility over.

01:57So that's going to be bid on and procured.

02:00We're going to move forward with that.

02:01So all those things I think are very important.

02:03But this has been huge success that we have had with Everglades restoration.

02:09We're continuing the momentum.

02:11This delegation of authority that we announced down in Marco Island last week,

02:14huge, huge deal for the state of Florida.

02:17They were looking at the federal share being done 2034.

02:21Now it's going to be done five years earlier

02:23because the state is being given resources to be able to go forward and do this.

02:28And so it's been a huge cornerstone of what we've done.

02:31The progress is undeniable.

02:34This is not anything that's impacting.

02:37In fact, there are less flights as a result of what we're doing than there were before that.

02:42Can you explain all the waste?

02:44What happens with all the...

02:45They truck it out.

02:46Yeah, yeah.

02:46There's no sewer or anything.

02:47They just truck the waste out.

02:49They bring in potable water and they do it.

02:51So, you know, look, that's more expensive to do.

02:53That's more cumbersome.

02:55But we weren't willing to do this facility if we weren't managing that in a way that was not going to have impacts.

03:04And so that's what we're trying to do.

03:05So they're running these things out of here all the time.

03:07And I think they've done a really good job doing it.

03:09And they're basically this existing concrete is what they're using.

03:13I mean, you look, there's like grass in the interior here.

03:15Like, honestly, there'd be no reason that you couldn't use.

03:18That's not going to affect Everglades.

03:20But they're not even using that.

03:22They're literally just staying on the concrete.

03:24So I think it's been a really incredible footprint that they've been able to...

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