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Everglades advocates opened up what could be a legislative session – long fight over funding.  As Matt Galka tells us, the push is on for the state to make a land buy…and time is running out.

Environmentalists are making a full court press and will attempt to get the Governor and the legislature to buy in to a land deal before time runs out this year.

Everglades advocates have started to roll out television, radio, and internet ads pressing the state to buy thousands of acres of land in the name of Everglades restoration.  Florida signed a deal in 2010 with US Sugar and the clock is ticking.

The legislature has until the end of the 2015 session to act on buying the land. If not, the contract would expire.

The purchase would cost around $350 million bucks.  The campaign says the state can use Amendment 1 money to buy the land. Advocate Will Abberger says that’s what it’s meant to do anyway.

“It is a water and land conservation amendment so we’re talking about using land conservation as a tool to protect water at its source and keep pollution out of those water bodies by buying the land around them,” he said.

The proposal focuses on the area around Lake Okeechobee to get water to flow further south in the State.

Clearly amendment 1 specifically talked about providing funding for everglades restoration.

How to deal with water is expected to be one of the prominent issues for the next two month as the legislative session plays out. Insiders expect the US Sugar industry to respond in the coming weeks.