{"id":163337,"date":"2026-02-21T01:21:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163337\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T01:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:21:06","slug":"florida-senate-takes-steps-against-manatee-cruise-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/163337\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Senate takes steps against Manatee cruise port"},"content":{"rendered":"

TERRA CEIA, Fla. \u2014 A Florida Senate bill that would protect the ecosystem near Rattlesnake Key has passed unanimously.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The Florida Senate unanimously passed SB 302<\/a>, which includes an amendment to prohibit dredging in the\u00a0Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, a key environmental protection near Rattlesnake Key
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A proposed cruise port could still move forward because the House companion bill does not yet include the same dredging ban language
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Manatee County business owner Corey McKeever of McKeever\u2019s Marine gathered more than 19,000 petition signatures opposing the cruise terminal<\/p>\n

SB 302<\/a>\u00a0includes an amendment from State Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, that prohibits dredging in the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve.<\/p>\n

However, the companion bill in the House does not include that specific provision, meaning a proposed cruise port south of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, where larger ships could dock, could still move forward if the House bill is not revised.<\/p>\n

Corey McKeever, owner of\u00a0McKeever\u2019s Marine<\/a>, recently took on a passion project to protect that area from a cruise terminal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it would destroy everything about Manatee County,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He has lived in Manatee County for decades and has owned the business for 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do everything on boats. When I was younger, I went fishing every day. I would skip school to go fishing at the Skyway,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do 10 boats a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKeever believes his petition against the cruise port \u2014 which more than 19,000 people signed \u2014 has helped the effort to stop the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did help. I would think with the amount of outreach people had, reaching out to the commissioners, the senators directly, anyone that could do anything for this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

SSA Marine<\/a>, which submitted the proposal for the cruise port, declined an interview but provided a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSSA Marine is committed to environmental stewardship and creating long-term economic opportunities that we are confident will be transformative for Manatee County. We look forward to continuing to engage with residents, officials, and community leaders in meaningful\u00a0dialogue to discuss a shared vision for the region,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Manatee County Commissioner Tal Siddique says he supports the amendment that would prohibit dredging in Terra Ceia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to our delegation and with some members of the State Affairs Committee, which is where it will be going through. I have been told there will be some companion language coming through to match the Senate version,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also says he does not believe the cruise port project would come before county commissioners anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is such a massive project, and there are single-family home projects that take a long time to come to us. I would suspect next year, maybe even bleeding into 2028, if this moves forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For McKeever, if the proposal does not move forward, he says it will be a job well done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be great for Florida in general, keeping the environment \u2014 what we moved here for \u2014 to enjoy Florida,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McKeever says he believes in protecting the environment and hopes others will continue working with him to preserve Manatee County\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TERRA CEIA, Fla. \u2014 A Florida Senate bill that would protect the ecosystem near Rattlesnake Key has passed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[274,27600,7088,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278],"class_list":["post-163337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-top-stories","tag-julia-hazel","tag-manatee-county","tag-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}