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President Barack Obama To Travel To Everglades

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – President Barack Obama, on Earth Day, will use South Florida's iconic River of Grass as a backdrop to talk about climate change.

President Obama is set to arrive in South Florida Wednesday and will make his way to Everglades National Park.

According to the White House, he plans to discuss the threat climate change poses to our economy and the world.

Ahead of Obama's Everglades visit, Governor Rick Scott has a message for the president; Repair Lake Okeechobee Dike and restore Everglades funding cuts.

Governor Scott put out a statement Tuesday that read, in part, ""President Obama needs to live up to his commitment on the Everglades and find a way to fund the $58 million in backlog funding Everglades National Park hasn't received from the federal government."

Scott said that the backlog funding "has caused critical maintenance delays in the Everglades to linger for over a year." Scott's statement calls for the federal government to "step up their commitment to Everglades restoration by immediately requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to repair the Lake Okeechobee dike."

Earth Day's mission each year is to broaden, diversify and activate the environmental movement worldwide through a combination of education, public policy and consumer campaigns, according to the website.

The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970.

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