Florida Senator Marco says that businesses hurt by the algae bloom qualify for disaster loans from the Small Business Association which he helped secure in April.
He also said he's sending a letter to get the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention involved.
"What does that mean in the long term for air quality? What about kids if it's washed up in the sand and kids are digging in there? What dies it mean for the water long term? There is a chance this could turn into a number of things harmful to the population well after the algae stops growing," Senator Rubio said.
He said that the answers he has aren't necessarily what residents want to hear. "The projects that help solve this take a lot of money and a lot of time. We're doing everything we can. We finally got the chairman of the Water Committee, my friend Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, after many years of being against it, is going to support the Central Everglades Planning Project. If we can move forward on that we can begin to put in place projects that can solve this over time. But I get it, I understand. There aren't a lot of easy immediate answers other than offering as much aid and assistance as we possibly can in the short term. That's what I'm going to do as well."
The senator spoke to NewsChannel 5’s Jon Shainman. You can watch the interview in the attached video.
Senator Bill Nelson also released a statement urging lawmakers to pass the water bill and called on the state to use Amendment 1 funds to buy land south of Lake Okeechobee.
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