Marco Rubio sides with environmentalists against small airport at Homestead

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is urging the Pentagon to scrap a plan to bring a small airport to Homestead Air Reserve Base, citing concerns that construction of the project would hamper the site’s military mission and damage surrounding wetlands.

Supporters of the plan say those worries are baseless, noting the airport would serve private jets and not the FedEx and Amazon cargo planes Rubio and environmentalists say are the project’s real goal.

Those opposed point to Miami-Dade County analyses confirming the project, which the Miami-Dade Commission approved in 2020, would harm wetlands and other endangered habitats and invite further development.

– Jesse Scheckner, Florida Politics