Harrell Vision

Cleaning up the St. Lucie River, Lake Okeechobee, the Indian River Lagoon, and the Everglades is a priority for Gayle Harrell.  As a State Representative, Gayle Harrell secured over $25 million for the St. Lucie River Issues Team, $175  million for Lake Okeechobee and Estuary Recovery Plan and worked to fund the Everglades Restoration Plan with $1.2 billion during her service in the legislature. 

Gayle Harrell has been and will continue to be an effective advocate for restoring and cleaning up these natural wonders.

She supports a comprehensive approach to stopping the releases in the St. Lucie River.  Reestablishing the natural flow of  the Kissimmee River from Orlando all the way to Lake Okeechobee, limiting runoff into it, and building filter marshes to clean the water before it flows into Lake Okeechobee are all necessary measures to help clean up the water before in enters Lake Okeechobee.   

In addition, the purchase of appropriate tracks of land must continue in order to create a spillway south from Lake Okeechobee to carry water to the Everglades.  However, filter marshes and other cleansing mechanisms to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen levels of water entering the Everglades must be part of the spillway plan.

Gayle believes the federal government must contribute its fair share for the restoration efforts.  She will continue to push the Federal Government to do its share of putting money into the entire cleanup. The State of  Florida has spent over 2 billion dollars on this cleanup while the federal government has put about two hundred million into the clean-up.

Harrell Record

• Gayle has sponsored a Memorial or message to Congress every year for the past 4 years to send a strong message to Congress to fund the Everglades Restoration program.
• Worked diligently to fully fund Florida Forever Program to purchase environmentally sensitive lands.
• Secured over $25 million in funding for St. Lucie River Issues Team.
• Voted to fund over $175 million for Lake Okeechobee clean-up
• Voted to fund over $1.2 Billion for the Everglades Restoration Plan