FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Nearly 70 feet below the ocean's surface, off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, is a reminder of a bad idea from the 1970s: hundreds of thousands of used tires sitting on the ocean floor. The Industrial Divers Corporation of Fort Lauderdale was contracted by the state in 2015 to remove the tires, and has continued to work over the last four years. Some loose tires damaged coral, and it's estimated only 10% of the tires ever became marine habitat, according to Quinn. According to a report from Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, state lawmakers authorized $1.8 million for the project in 2016. The Legislature in 2017, 2018 and 2019 appropriated an additional $4.5 million for reef protection which is currently being used to remove tires from the reef under the Industrial Divers contract and for other reef protection efforts.