April 2001 


Everglades Village News

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30-April-01


AUDUBON OF FLORIDA APPLAUDS GOVERNOR BUSH ON ASR DECISION

Miami, FL- Audubon of Florida today commended Florida's Governor Jeb Bush for the position he has taken in providing leadership to both the house & senate in ensuring that Florida's water quality continues to be a top priority for the state.

The Governor's clear instruction to the Department of Environmental Protection of pursuing additional research in ASR technology demonstrates his commitment to the people of Florida as well as to the Everglades restoration process.

"ASR needs a careful, well coordinated scientific evaluation before it can be approved for general use in Florida and the Governor has wisely responded to the high level of public concern about this," stated Stuart Strahl, President & CEO of Audubon of Florida / Vice President, National Audubon
Society.

 

Editorial

A voice for the bay to get state dollars for Biscayne

Biscayne Bay is about more than the controversy between the national park that bears its name and Stiltsville leaseholders, or the occasional sewage spill that spoils a weekend for beach goers, or the ongoing debate about what to do with Bicentennial Park.
Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Bush's Agenda This Week Written in Green Ink

.... "'I think it is the indispensable state,' says Matthew Dowd, a top political adviser to President Bush. 'Unless something weird happens, I don't know how you win without Florida.' Indeed, both Republicans and Democrats now see Florida as the pivotal battleground on an electoral map divided almost evenly between the two sides -- the single state most likely to pick the winner if the presidential race is close next time. ... "While
he has not yet traveled to California, for instance, Bush already has visited Florida twice -- and is scheduled to return next week ... His budget ... would provide a $40-million increase in funding to restore the Everglades--even as Bush seeks to impose reductions on other environmental programs."
(Washington Post, 4/20/01)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40873-2001Apr20.html

Intrigue of Everglades Tainted
By Nate Dickinson
© Scams-n-Scandals
A recent, first-time visit to the Florida Everglades, along with the opportunity to read the March 20th [2001] edition of Everglades Echo , made it quite clear that this fascinating tract of land is not immune from nasty political hassles and intrusive government. In reality it should be a haven from controversy. Russell Tuff, Echo Publisher, stated in his column that it would be fun to watch the strategy of the National Park and Fish and Wildlife Services in accumulating larger budgets, grasping more power, and pushing their weight around, if it did not have such a drastic effect on so many lives. He noted that, if it is any consolation, we are not alone, since it is just as drastic in other parts of the United States.  Read more

 

29-April-01

Wade article  

"More harm in suing than in back-pumping"... "Lake gains less phosphorous than during rainy times"... "take the water from the vast farming area and store this cleaner water in the lake for future use..."Back-pumping helps without harming."... "district tests results on the initial back-pumping show P well under the goal of P = 180 ppb".    
Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

State's water shortage expected to take toll on Okeechobee's wildlife

Higher and drier than it has ever been, the marsh called Little Grassy is scattered with the carcasses of fish and alligators whose decaying hides entice silent vultures and loud flies. It's a deceptive scene. Despite the drought, this seemingly barren expanse is not dying, perhaps for the first time in decades. ... ``Those seeds have probably been here since 1981, just waiting to stick out their little heads,'' marvels state wildlife biologist Don Fox, who documented the bulrush die-off from some 18 million stalks to a stunning 188 last spring, which explains why locals took to calling the spot Very Little Grassy. ... Environmentalists,
who for years fought the South Florida Water Management District to lower the lake, now fear the water will drop too far for too long. That could potentially reverse a revival in the marshes that cover about a fifth of the lake and are the key to the entire ecosystem. ... The lake was supposed to stay below 13 feet for just eight weeks. It's been nearly 11 months. ...There's even concern that should a series of storms hit, the district would allow the lake to refill too fast. The emerging plants, Fox and Gray say, can survive only about a foot of change a month.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/dade/digdocs/080188.htm

Planting for the future [photo caption]

Wellington - Forest High School students help plant cypress seedlings Friday along the C-4 Canal equestrian trail. More than 2,000 trees were given to the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation by the National Tree Trust in Washington. About 30 students were offered scholarships based on the number of hours worked.
(Palm Beach Post, 4/29/01; not online) http://www.pbpost.com
Richard Graulich staff photographer

Losing the forest to the trees

A mechanical tree harvester, part of a timber crew run by K.P. Green Logging, snips a row of slash pine during a thinning operation on private land south of Bristol.
COLIN HACKLEY

.... All trees perform a priceless environmental service. They inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, cleansing the air we breathe and the water we drink with leaves and roots that filter pollution. They create soil, provide shade, prevent erosion. NEARLY HALF of Florida is covered in trees -  millions of acres planted in neat rows of mostly slash and loblolly pines that feed an insatiable demand for wood and disposable paper products.
``The ecological value [of the plantations] is just a fraction of the old-growth forests they've replaced,'' says Mark Ferrulo of the Florida Public Interest Research Group. To state forestry officials, the biggest threat to the state's remaining natural forests now is not tree farms, but subdivisions, roads and shopping centers. ``Trees are a great alternative to pavement and rooftops when you're talking about recharging the aquifer and our water supplies,'' says Phil Gornicki, a forester for the Florida Forestry Association. But a true forest is more than trees. It is a diverse and complex ecosystem - from the microscopic fungi that fix nutrients in the soil, to the plants and animals that compose a vital web of life.
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGASCD284MC.html
Jan Hollingsworth covers the environment (813) 259-7607 

 

Florida Forestry Association

Helping others see the significant role that forestry plays in our economy and our environment and promoting responsible and economic use of Florida's renewable forest resource by encouraging a healthy business climate and sound political policies. Working through a network of over 2000 members statewide.
http://www.floridaforest.org/

Early residents pay Everglades homage

Everglades City — Arita Hoffman Parker knows all about the Everglades. She was born here less than 10 years after the Tamiami Trail opened. She and other early residents of this city, carved out of a subtropical wilderness, came together Saturday to celebrate a human history of the Everglades. The occasion was the third birthday of The Museum of the Everglades, which honors the pioneers who finally completed the Tamiami Trail in 1928. ... Barron G. Collier was the man who promised the State of Florida he would finish the Tamiami Trail in exchange for the state recognizing the lands he had amassed as Collier County, said Donna Ridewood, museum manager. ... Deep Lake Hammock was the first property that Barron Collier bought [1921] in what was to be Collier County. Ridewood wants others to share that knowledge. She hopes to produce a booklet with the recollections of Parker and the other people who gave oral histories Saturday about their community in the Everglades City area. "I think it’s an untapped resource here," she
said.
http://www.news-press.com/news/today/010429profile.html

Animals find own space in city

It's easy to envision wildlife thriving in the wooded wings of South
Florida civilization -- in Everglades muck, or on the plains of rural farm
lands. But would the mind's eye conjure images of peacocks in downtown Fort
Lauderdale, or monkeys swinging from trees on Fort Lauderdale beach? A
resident fox in Rio Vista? A turkey in Palm Beach Gardens, stray goats, a
boa constrictor, green Quaker parrots, giant lizards that seemingly walk on
water all over South Florida? As urbanized as South Florida is, exotic and
native animals alike continue to live, thrive and breed among the suit-
wearing businesspeople, millionaire visitors and party animals. What little
green space is here, an animal claims for a residence -- like the burrowing
owl that lives on a tiny median island in a parking lot in Plantation. ...
Diane Watchinski, director of development at the Wildlife Care Center, the
main animal hospital in the tri-county area and largest in the state
(www.wildcare.org), said exotic animals are a downright nuisance.
http://www.sunsentinel.com/news/ (Last item under Broward County)
http://www.sunsentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cwild29apr29.story

Mine site reborn as nature preserve

A 423-acre nature preserve for fishing, hiking and birdwatching is open for business north of Indrio Road, only a few minutes' drive for most county residents. Boating with electric motors or human paddle power is allowed at the Indrio North Savannas Preserve, but a 30-foot drop near the edge of the lake makes it unsafe for wading. The lake's 50-foot depth is the product of a sand-mining operation... A condition of their permit required them to give the lake to the county when the mining operation ended. Nature lovers can see a variety of birds, including a bald eagle, roseate spoonbills, wood storks and ibis. Scrubjays and gopher tortoises also inhabit the property.
http://gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/sunday/martin_stlucie.html
(Second article)

Mining company seeking expansion

On Monday, Lee County commissioners will hear Corkscrew Mining Ventures’ request to rezone 602 acres of land to allow for a mining operation. The proposed mine, on the north side of Corkscrew Road, 10 miles east of Interstate 75, is an expansion of an existing mining operation on 291 acres. Corkscrew Mining Ventures also wants to operate a horticultural incinerator on the property. ... Estero resident Donald Mitchell, whose property abuts the proposed mine site, is worried about noise from blasting and trucks, as well as smoke and ash from the incinerator. The hearing examiner recommended the incinerator be at least 250 feet from Mitchell’s property. His home is another 400 feet from his property line. "There’s lots of trucks and heavy equipment noise and they’re a half-mile away. I can only imagine what it will be like when they’re 800 feet away," Mitchell said. Mitchell is also concerned about the blasting the company plans. "When they first got the mining permit they said, ‘We don’t have to blast, it’s all sand,’ " Mitchell said. "Now that they want to expand, they said ‘Well, when we started digging, we found all this rock.’ "
http://www.news-press.com/news/today/010429mine.html
 

Editorial

Red flags waving on accesses

Collier commissioners passing the buck on County Road 951: Collier County commissioners should not duck their responsibility for limiting access to the proposed extension of County Road 951 through an environmentally sensitive area in the north part of the county.  ... The County Road 951 extension is an environmental and planning disaster waiting to happen, unless officials choose the least damaging alignment and do everything they can to make this what it is supposed to be, a north-south alternative to Interstate 75, crossing or touching on sensitive wetland areas where development should be strictly limited. Limiting access is a test of both counties’ willingness to protect wetland habitat, water supplies and open space east of I-75, which the state and federal governments, as well as voters, are looking at closely. Collier should nix the Mirasol access now.
http://www.news-press.com/opinion/010429edi1.html

 

Letter to the editor   

Task force worthwhile

Over the past few years I have voiced my displeasure with the commercial development in Lee County. The developers and the Board of County Commissioners have joined hands in making Lee County the mess that is today. I place the planning board one rung below the commissioner on the ladder to disaster. ... Growth will, and is, happening. I have found a
group, the Lee County Smart Growth Task Force, that is willing to act as a continuation of growth, balanced economic development, environmental preservation, sound government fiscal policy and sustained improvement in quality of life. ... I urge all concerned citizens of Lee County to attend these meetings and become a part of and have a voice in what is going on. You may contact the Smart Growth Task Force at 338-3161 (Office of Economic Development).
http://www.news-press.com/opinion/010429mailbag.html

 

Changes to county land code anger city officials:

Some Naples City Council members are unhappy with changes in Collier County's land development code that will allow a 10-story, 68-unit hotel in the Vanderbilt Beach neighborhood just north of the city, where less than a year ago only 26 units were acceptable.
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/naples/d555814a.htm

Opinion

Commission indicates it may finally rein in rapid growth:

....discussion [by Collier County Commissioners] gives some glimmer of hope to the notion that this commission may be ready on a larger scale to rein in, not stop because that is both unrealistic and undesirable, but rein in development that threatens to overwhelm the county infrastructure, alter the character of the community and diminish the quality of life that attracts people here in the first place. Initially members of the county staff recommended the variances be granted. The reason, as expressed by county planner Charam Badamtchian, was that without the variances, there wasn't much the property owner could build on a 50-foot lot. That may be true, but that's a risk an entrepreneur takes when buying commercial property.. ... Hmm, come up with a plan, stick to that plan, don't grant
variances to the plan just to accommodate a developer's interest. Sounds crazy enough to work.
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/naples/d555826a.htm
 

Opinion

Engineering firm seems more the county's leader than consultant

How tight is the relationship between Collier County government and the powerhouse WilsonMiller consulting engineering firm? This will help define it. On Thursday, the county issued a press release... WilsonMiller is the county's planning consultant on this project. The county's change of heart on the traffic impact review was successfully pitched to regional planners by the boss himself, president Alan Reynolds. The release quotes two
technical experts: Skip Camp, director of the county's facilities management department, and Reynolds. Who was listed under the county's turkey logo as the contact for more information? Not Camp. Reynolds.  WilsonMiller in charge. ... It's something to file away as you watch county and other local bureaucrats go to work for WilsonMiller, and the ease with which WilsonMiller's development clients win County Commission approval — and more contracts.
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/perspective/d613704a.htm

Chief's hold on Seminoles is slipping

James Billie, who led the Seminole Tribe of Florida to prosperity, faces open dissent over his leadership and business deals. And the FBI also is investigating.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/042901/State/Chief_s_hold_on_Semin.shtml
 

Tribe's operations manager earns praise -- and criticism

Timothy W. Cox has come a long way since leaving behind a checkered law enforcement career in Georgia to take a job with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Cox, who is married to a Seminole, started in the tribe's personnel department. Today he is the tribe's $170,000-a-year government operations manager. Considered a tireless worker and highly proficient in finance, Cox oversees dozens of tribal corporations and helped negotiate a deal to build Hard Rock Cafe hotel-casinos on Seminole land in Hollywood and Tampa. But Cox's secret dealmaking has prompted public questions at community meetings called by tribal members who question whose interests he represents.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/042901/State/Tribe_s_operations_ma.shtml
 

Fines for watering may be revised

To help make watering rules more fair, the county is considering a stepped
scale of fines for violators.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/042901/Hernando/Fines_for_watering_ma.shtml

Editorial

Fine environmental agenda: 

(The following are excerpts from an editorial from The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.): President Bush has enacted meaningful environmental policies recently that have been unfairly dismissed as mere gestures by many in the environmental community. Bush
should be given credit where it's due as he articulates his environmental agenda. His decisions on behalf of an international treaty to ban dangerous chemicals, expanding wetlands regulation, reducing industrial lead and mercury emissions and increasing national park funding will benefit the environment and aid conservation. ... Bush's environmental agenda ought to be scrutinized on its actual content, not on the basis of ideological
presumptions. Reasoned discourse can't be sustained in a poisonous atmosphere of blind partisanship.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/opinion/opcol/digdocs/013133.htm

 

Editorial

Log on to Washington’s more humorous side:

Think government is boring? Think Congress is especially boring? Here is some good news. Government can be fun and funny. We’ve discovered a Web site that you also may enjoy. It offers a dose of humor along with loads of valuable information about members of Congress, including how to reach them and how to influence them. The site is www.yourcongress.com. (It’s your Congress. Learn to laugh.) The site has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Government and Law category by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
http://www.news-press.com/opinion/010429edit2.html

 

YourCongress.com 

During his 10 years on Capitol Hill, Christopher Porter realized that there is so much that Congress does - both good and bad - that people never see. When Chris would meet with constituents, the complaints were always the same: newspaper and television coverage of
Washington is inadequate, and no one has time to go to the library to check up on Congress. And if you watch C-SPAN, it's like they're speaking a foreign language. After reading a People Magazine article about Northern Virginia-based Motley Fool, which uses humor to teach people about stocks and investing, Chris' wife Rosalyn had an idea: why not employ the Motley Fool model to teach people about Congress?
http://www.yourcongress.com/

Now, a website for e-Parrotheads

You can go to the island of St. Somewhere. St. Anywhere. Just boot up your PC, make a drink, put on your headphones and close your eyes. ``There are no restrictions,'' says singer Jimmy Buffett. ``No FCC. It's like the old pirate radio stations that sat offshore and played what they want.'' Radio Margaritaville - http://www.radiomargaritaville.com is owned by Jimmy Buffett. But it's not just a jukebox that spits out its namesake tune and
other Parrothead favorites. ``We hope we can take folks away,'' says program director Steve Huntington. ``It's really a theater of the mind. You supply your own pictures.''
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/060993.htm
 

 

28-April-01

Drought inhibits birds' breeding

As the drought parches the Everglades and water levels dwindle, tens of thousands of wading birds are opting for lives of singlehood. The Everglades attracted more than 120,000 egrets, ibises, herons, spoonbills and wood storks two months ago, a jump of 75 percent above the same period last year, federal surveys show. But biologists say relatively few of the herons and egrets are breeding. And this spring is turning out to be a less-
than-stellar nesting season even for the birds that are breeding in big numbers -- chiefly, the white ibis and the endangered wood stork, species that tend to thrive with shallow water. ...the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County is experiencing record numbers of nests, including as many as 18,000 by white ibises --
perhaps because it's wetter than Everglades marshes to the south.  ...more than 800 wood storks, egrets, ibises and other birds have colonized a stand of melaleuca trees in a wet stretch of Everglades in north Broward County, the first they've nested in that spot. Wading birds also seem plentiful in other spots outside the Everglades: Lake Okeechobee, the Grassy Waters Preserve in West Palm Beach, and an abandoned rock-mining pit next to the Palm Beach County landfill on Jog Road.
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_3.html

Groups `miles apart' on plan to store excess polluted water

A controversial proposal to pump polluted water deep into Florida's underground aquifers will be scrapped if state officials and environmentalists don' t reach a compromise, the bill's Senate sponsor warned on Friday. The proposal to relax the standard for water pumped into deep injection wells -- which currently has to be of drinking-water quality -- has unleashed a torrent of criticism from environmentalists, who last week convinced one senator to change his vote. Environmentalists have been working with Department of Environmental Protection officials -- who support the bill -- to limit the scope of the measure, but no deal has yet been struck and bill sponsor Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, said he would rather pull the measure than undergo more debate on the Senate
floor. ... Environmentalists had hoped to limit the bill to cover only a pilot project, with a limited number of wells. ... Suzi Ruhl, president of the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation said ``We're still miles apart.''
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/100399.htm

Editorial

Senate bill is the right step for growth

The Legislature has a chance to start reforming growth management in Florida without demolishing the state’s vital oversight role. Gov. Jeb Bush has made streamlining growth control one of his top priorities. There is wide agreement that the process by which the state reviews major projects and makes sure local governments are keeping up with infrastructure needs is often cumbersome, expensive and confusing. But reforming the system must not be used by opponents of good growth management to gut the law. ... The
Senate bill is a good first step in this process, which needs to be thought out carefully over at least a couple of sessions. Urge our legislators and the governor to support the Senate bill.
http://www.news-press.com/opinion/010428growth.html

House expands growth management bill  

The Florida House expanded a growth management bill Thursday in ways that lobbyists for environmental and planning groups said would weaken control over development. However, Gov. Jeb Bush, who has made revamping Florida’s growth management laws one of his top priorities, was satisfied with the House action. "Several of the amendments proposed by the home builders would have gutted it and they were beaten back, and that’s a good thing," Bush said.  ... "Now we see a bill just loaded with stuff, some of which is
destructive, some of which we haven’t even seen before," said Laurie Macdonald of Defenders of Wildlife. "Among the troubling aspects of the final product are allowing delegation of the state’s growth management duties to the local level without appropriate criteria and safeguards," said Charles Pattison, executive director of 1000 Friends of Florida, an environmental group.
http://www.news-press.com/news/today/010427growth.html

Legislators seek to tap preservation fund for budget crunch

Conservationists were outraged Friday after House and Senate budget negotiators tentatively agreed to drain $75 million from one of the largest land-buying programs in the nation. Despite his heated objections, Gov. Jeb Bush may be unable to intervene. Known as Preservation 2000, the program has set aside $300 million a year from taxes on most real estate transactions and used it to rescue Florida wilderness from the developer's
bulldozer. It is set to expire this year and be replaced by Florida Forever, a similar but not identical program. Senate Republicans insist they can dip into leftover money this year without sacrificing preservation. State regulators say pending land buys would be threatened across the state. The compromise is particularly ironic, Lee said, after 89 of 120 Hou se members, Democrats and Republicans alike, signed a pledge last week not to take dollars from the fund.
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_8.html

Governor supports water upgrades

Gov. Jeb Bush, impressed by rare consensus among government leaders charged with water-quality improvements in the Keys, announced Friday that Florida would seek $17.5 million in funding to help pay for wastewater and storm-water upgrades. ... Last week, government heads from unincorporated Monroe and the Keys' five municipalities -- all frequently at odds -- agreed to a plan outlining where the $100 million will be spent locally on sewage treatment. ... With Bush's commitment to seek funding, county and city officials now have 60 days to develop a plan showing how the wastewater and storm-water projects will be prioritized. Government leaders say the prompt development of that plan, coupled with the state funding pledge, will help ensure that Congress follows through with an appropriation in next year's federal budget.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/keys/digdocs/044596.htm

Environmentalists Object to Florida Water Pollution Rule  

The Florida Environmental Regulation Commission voted Thursday to adopt the rule, which changes the statistical method for selecting impaired water bodies. The panel's action, however, is subject to an administrative appeal before the rule goes into effect. The decision came after the state received a letter from EPA that reversed the agency's position against the method under the administration of former President Bill Clinton. "It is a disgrace that the state of Florida is taking the lead - nationally - in undermining the Clean Water Act," wrote Linda Young, southeast regional coordinator for the Clean Water Network and representatives of nearly 50 other state and local groups in a letter to seven-member state commission.  Eric Livingston, state Department of Environmental Protection watershed chief, said the only waters that would come off the list would be those that fail to meet dissolved oxygen standards because of natural conditions, not pollution.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGADN6TD2MC.html
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/florida/d592678a.htm

Airport growth worries EPA

.... The $400 million project is intended to give the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport a second runway that could accommodate big jets, allowing it to handle more traffic without an increase in delays. The Federal Aviation Administration has released an environmental impact statement on the project. But in a letter to the FAA, Heinz Mueller, chief of the EPA Office of Environmental Assessment, said there had been an insufficient assessment of the project's likely effect on air quality. He said the FAA's noise projections were unrealistically low. And he said the FAA failed to explain why such a large area of wetlands must be destroyed.  He also questioned the safety of erecting a bridge that would allow the runway to pass over U.S. 1. The EPA's comments will come as welcome news to Dania Beach, where residents are waging a fierce fight against the project.
http://www.sunsentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cairport28apr28.story

2 recognized for conservation work

St. Petersburg - The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has named a Pinellas public official and a longtime guardian of Tampa Bay's birds the recipients of a major conservation award. Jake Stowers, an assistant administrator for Pinellas County, and Rich Paul, manager of Audubon of Florida's coastal island sanctuaries, received the Chuck Yeager Award, which carries a $15,000 prize to be used for conservation programs. Paul, who has been with Audubon for 29 years, has been managing island sanctuaries in the Tampa Bay area since 1980. He has worked closely with Stowers, a 30-year veteran of Pinellas government, on a variety of projects. Stowers helped establish the Agency on Bay Management and is deeply involved in the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.
http://www.tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGAEFDYT2MC.html

 

Pipe breaks cut off water:

More than 20,000 Upper Keys residents were left with no or little tap water Friday... Water service was cut off in areas between mile markers 68 and 92, though flow was expected to be restored by about 8 p.m. Friday. The trouble started Friday morning at about 11 a.m., when a 30-inch pipeline that sits under U.S. 1 at about mile marker 69.2 started leaking from a hole in the bottom. Aqueduct crews raced to replace a three- to four-foot section of the pipe, only to have another catastrophe strike at 3:30 p.m., when what appeared to have been a split in another part of the pipe at mile marker 94... Not long after the second pipe burst, as residents tried to turn up the pressure on their faucets, an air relief valve at mile marker 106 opened, releasing a torrent of water into the air. With all the water loss in the midst of use restrictions prompted by a drought in South Florida, the aqueduct authority is now concerned about its reserves.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/keys/digdocs/101067.htm

Commissioners push for earlier eight- or ten-laning of Interstate 75

.... County officials want the road widened because of continued population growth in Southwest Florida that is leading to traffic congestion on I-75. ... Bonita Springs and Lee County leaders are also expected to pass similar resolutions advocating an eight- or 10-lane I-75. It is hoped that the push will encourage state legislators in Tallahassee to allocate more money toward widening the interstate. DOT spokeswoman Debbie Tower said no decisions would be made on how I-75 will be widened until a preliminary design and engineering study is completed. ... If it is decided that the road needs to be widened to eight or 10 lanes immediately, then the state will look for ways to pay for the project and will probably consider using tolls as an option, Tower said.
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/naples/d632655a.htm

 

High-Speed Rail Study Commission Gets Costlier 

Lawmakers worried about the cost of a bullet train that voters ordered them to build are considering creating a commission to figure out how to pay for it. Now, how to pay for the study?  One of the items being negotiated between the House and Senate as they try to work out the differing budgets they passed is how much to spend on figuring how much a train would cost. A House bill (HB 489).... House members settled on $3 million after reviewing how much such a commission would cost. The Senate bill (SB 1178) would go a
little farther than the House plan and cost $8 million. It would establish an authority to actually take the preliminary actions necessary to get the train up and running. That includes engineering and environmental studies and seeking federal and private money. The authority would have to return to the Legislature to get the train on the tracks. ...begin building a rail
line by November 2003 that will ultimately link Florida's five biggest urban areas. The trains will have to travel at least 120 miles an hour. The network's cost estimate ranges from $6 billion to $20 billion.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGABG36H2MC.html
http://www.sunsentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-ftrain28apr28.story
 

Guest editorial

Is anybody there? Who's running the government?

.... George W. Bush had in place and confirmed by the Senate only 29, barely 6 percent, of his 488 top executive branch appointments. ... In the Kennedy administration, it took an average of 2.4 months to nominate and confirm an appointee; in the Clinton administration it was 8.5 months. The problem is part evolutionary, part institutional. Paperwork intended to ensure national security and ethical government has ossified into a bewildering mass of overlapping and conflicting red tape. ... Jealous of its perks, the Senate takes its time on confirming appointees and it insists on its right to confirm far too many positions — 1,125. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has reviewed the failing process, agreed there was a problem and even held two days of hearings but legislation has yet to be forthcoming.  The federal government can't fairly be accused of inefficiency when for
long periods of time there is no one there to run it. 
Scripps Howard News Service
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/perspective/d628228a.htm

Letter to the editor

Fix this mess

We are concerned that during the past year, the Board of Collier County Commissioners has quietly changed the land development code to allow the building of a 10-story hotel on a less- than-one-acre parcel of land on Gulfshore Drive. Prior to this change, this development would have been wholly illegal. This establishes a dangerous precedent, dramatically adding to the population density in a high flood plain risk area, appearing to
violate the FEMA agreement signed by Collier County, the state of Florida and the federal government. It also challenges the traffic, water and sewerage problems confronting us presently. We hope that the commissioners will revise this situation and rescind their recent decision which altered the original density code.
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/perspective/d628054a.htm

Letter to the editor

Oil and water

What is all this fuss about drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Florida? Why are we so concerned about the oil polluting our beaches? We have a more serious and dangerous situation concerning our drinking water. The Florida Legislature is about to consider a bill to allow pumping treated sewer water (waste water?) into our aquifers, with
total disregard of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act regarding sodium and coliform bacteria standards. I say if we can pollute our underground aquifers with coliform bacteria, it is surely OK to pollute our beaches with crude petroleum.
http://www.naplesnews.com/01/04/perspective/d628054a.htm

 

12-April-01

SFWMD ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS TO GOVERNING BOARD WATER RESOURCES ADVISORY COMMISSION 

The South Florida Water Management District Governing Board approved appointments to its new Water Resources Advisory Commission today. This action completes the first step of a resolution passed last month to create a blue-ribbon advisory body to the Governing Board in order to enhance public participation and consensus-making on critical water resource issues, projects and programs affecting South Florida and its citizens. 

Governing Board member Michael Collins was named chair of the new commission by Governing Board Chair Nicolas Gutierrez. "It is important for us to focus and set a definitive agenda," Gutierrez said. "Mr. Collins, with his many years of experience working with different groups on water-related issues, is the perfect person to kick it off and and get the commission going." Under the resolution guidelines, commission membership reflects a balanced, cross-section representation of South Florida, including appointees from the business community, water supply utilities, public interest groups, local government, agriculture and environmental organizations.

District General Counsel John Fumero noted the community leaders who agreed to participate in the commission and recommended issues for consideration by the commission. These issues include drought management, Lake Okeechobee water quality protection initiatives, and implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Governing Board member Patrick Gleason suggested water supply plans, funding for alternative water supply, real estate acquisitions, as well as the development of short- and long-term Lake Okeechobee back-pumping plans.  The commission will meet prior to the next Governing Board meeting to begin developing a Water Resources Advisory Commission priority plan. 

Governing Board appointments to the Water Resources Advisory Commission are: 

South Florida Water Management District news release http://www.sfwmd.gov/newsr/3_newsrel.html    
http://www.law.miami.edu/everglades/news/2001/04/04120l sfwmd wrac appointments.htm

 

08-March-01

Utilities fight water rules
Limits on development raise objections

South Florida's utilities are balking at pending state rules to protect the Everglades, warning they could jack up consumer costs and force building moratoriums over the coming decades.  Miami-Dade County utility directors consider the potential impact on grand suburban expansion plans so sweeping they are asking the County Commission today to pass a resolution urging that the South Florida Water Management District put the rules, already nearly 30 years overdue, on indefinite hold.  ``This is a very, very critical rule,'' said Jorge Rodriguez, assistant director of Miami-Dade's Water and Sewer Department. ``In the case of Miami-Dade County, we'd have to wait 20 years for the water we need.''  Environmentalists scoff, saying the rules help ensure survival of water resources. They contend that booming urban communities, even in the face of a historic drought and a monumental $8 billion federal and state plan to restore the Everglades, refuse to confront the reality of a limited water supply.
 Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

  Press Releases/News media

30-April-01


AUDUBON OF FLORIDA APPLAUDS GOVERNOR BUSH ON ASR DECISION

Miami, FL- Audubon of Florida today commended Florida's Governor Jeb Bush for the position he has taken in providing leadership to both the house & senate in ensuring that Florida's water quality continues to be a top priority for the state.

The Governor's clear instruction to the Department of Environmental Protection of pursuing additional research in ASR technology demonstrates his commitment to the people of Florida as well as to the Everglades restoration process.

"ASR needs a careful, well coordinated scientific evaluation before it can be approved for general use in Florida and the Governor has wisely responded to the high level of public concern about this," stated Stuart Strahl, President & CEO of Audubon of Florida / Vice President, National Audubon
Society.

 

  Litigation

28-August-01

(Filed on 08-Feb-01)

BARLEY vs. SFWMD

The Supreme Court of Florida accepts jurisdiction and sets calendar for oral argument 
Case No.: SC00-1998 Lower Tribunal No.: 5D98-3178

MARY BARLEY, ETC., ET AL. vs. SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Petitioners Respondents

ORDER ACCEPTING JURISDICTION AND SETTING ORAL ARGUMENT

The Court has accepted jurisdiction of this case and will hear oral argument at 9:00 a.m. TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2001. A maximum of TWENTY minutes to the side is allowed, but counsel is expected to use only so much of that time as is necessary. Petitioners' brief on the merits shall be served on or before MARCH 5, 2001; Respondent's brief on the merits shall be served 20 days after service of petitioners' brief on the merits; and petitioners' reply brief on the merits shall be served 20 days after service of respondent's brief on the merits. Please file an original and seven copies of all briefs. UNLESS BRIEFS ARE TIMELY FILED, THE PRIVILEGE OF ORAL ARGUMENT WILL BE FORFEITED. The Clerk of the District Court of Appeal, FIFTH District, shall file the original record on or before MARCH 26, 2001. NO CONTINUANCES WILL BE GRANTED EXCEPT UPON A SHOWING OF EXTREME HARDSHIP.

HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE AND QUINCE, JJ., concur. LEWIS, J., dissents.

[signed] Thomas D. Hall Clerk, Supreme Court

Served: HON. FRANK J. HABERSHAW, CLECK JON MILS PAUL L. NETTLETON REBECCA O'HARA RICHARD A. KELLER RUTH P. CLEMENTS WILLIAM L. HYDE

Notes:

The above notice is posted here in pdf download format under February 2001: http://www.flcourts.org/sct/clerk/Review%20Granted/index.html

Fifth District Court of Appeal opinions are not online.
To watch/hear oral arguments live: http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel/

  Legislation

  New Bills

Senate action:

 

•  Search Thomas 

  Congressional Testimony

 

 

  Regulations


  Case Law


  Law Review Articles

March 2001

Alligators and Litigators : A Recent History of Everglades Regulation and Litigation
by Keith W. Rizzardi

To many Florida lawyers, litigation in the Everglades seems as old as the Everglades itself. Its history can be traced back to the 1800s when Hamilton Disston and Henry Flagler were draining, dredging, and filling Florida's land while fighting in the courts with shareholders, speculators, and state land administrators.  The modern history of litigation in the Everglades is dominated by agricultural interests, environmental interest groups, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, and state and federal agencies. Along the way, important precedents have been created, affecting the Everglades as well as Florida administrative and environmental law in general.

Copyright  © 2001  The Florida Bar Journal 

  Reports

Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem

  Aquifer Storage and Recovery in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan: A Critique of the Pilot Projects and Related Plans for ASR in the Lake Okeechobee and Western Hillsboro Areas.  A federal law enacted in December calls for a multi-billion dollar effort to restore the Florida Everglades' natural ecosystem. This report offers advice on restoration pilot projects that would involve storing excess surface water underground and pumping it back up for use during droughts.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan: A Critique of the Pilot Projects and Related Plans for ASR in the Lake Okeechobee and Western Hillsboro Areas

Copyright  © 2000 National Academies  All rights reserved.

 

  Research


01-Nov--00

Missing Pieces in Ecosystem Restoration: The Case of the Florida Everglades   
Economic Systems Research, VoL 12, No. 3, 2000
RICHARD WEISSKOFF
(Received January 1999; revised November 1999)

ABSTRACT The largest ecosystem restoration in the world-a $7.8 billion rescue package-is now beginning in the Florida Everglades. This paper examines both the economic impact of the restoration itself and those pieces that are 'missing' from the official project analysis; namely, increased tourism, urban construction, in-migration, and changing agricultural patterns. These pieces comprise a variety of scenarios that are tested for a 45 year planning period with an augmented input-output model derived from a regional SAM. The new output and employment generated by the 'missing pieces', which are small relative to the vast economic base of the region, do represent a considerable increase over the annual growth, especially by the year 2045. We conclude with a discussion of ways in which a growing regional economy might be reconciled with ecosystem restoration.


  Conferences, Hearings 

19, 20-Feb-01

22-Mar-01

All Eyes on Florida: Revitalizing, Restoring and Revisiting
The seventh annual public interest environmental conference

University Conference Center Doubletree
Gainesville, FL
March 22-24, 2001

This student-run conference brings together diverse interests to take part in panels discussing a multitude of environmental issues. This form of interaction allows the parties to develop understanding and even cooperation on difficult environmental conflicts that may otherwise be impossible.   The University of Florida College of Law's Environmental and Land Use Law Society in cooperation with the Florida Bar

05-Sep-01

Wetlands and Remediation: The Second International Conference

Background: In November, 1999, Battelle Memorial Institute, a not-for-profit research organization based in Columbus, Ohio, sponsored and organized a wetlands and remediation conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, that brought together more than 300 wetlands and remediation experts to discuss common issues related to cleaning up contaminated wetlands and using wetlands (both natural and constructed) for treating contaminated ground-, surface-, and wastewater. Based on the success of that meeting, Battelle is pleased to announce that Wetlands and Remediation: The Second International Conference will be held September
5-6, 2001, at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, Vermont.

Organization: Karl Nehring of Battelle (614/424-6510, nehringk@battelle.org), Conference Chairman, will be responsible for coordinating the development of the technical program. Carol Young (614/424-7604, youngc@battelle.org) will be the Conference Coordinator, responsible for scheduling, correspondence, and issues involving abstract and manuscript submittal and preparation. The Conference Group (800/783-6338, conferencegroup@compuserve.com) of Columbus, Ohio, is
handling the meeting logistics.

Format: After an opening plenary session, there will be multiple platform sessions (two or three concurrent tracks), and a poster session on Wednesday evening. Speakers at the Plenary Session will include Dr. Jean-Paul Schwitzguebel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Dr. Barry Warner of the University of Waterloo (current vice president of the Society of Wetland Scientists) and Dr. John Pardue of Louisiana State University.

Sponsorship: Battelle is the sponsor and organizer, and we are hoping to add co-sponsors for the 2001 conference. Parsons Engineering Science, Morrison Knudsen Corporation, the U.S. DoD Environmental Security Technical Certification Program/Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, and the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command were co-sponsors of the 1999 Conference. Organizations interested in co-sponsoring the 2001 Conference should contact The Conference Group.

Participating Organizations: Organizations committed to helping with publicity for the conference and encouraging participation should contact The Conference Group at 800/783-6338. Participating organizations for the 1999 meeting included The Center for Wetlands and Riparian Design (University of Utah), Environmental Business Journal, the USDA NRCS Wetlands Science Institute, the University of Florida Center for Wetlands, The Michigan State University Institute of Water
Research, the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park (The Ohio State University), The Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences/Coastal
Ecology Institute (Louisiana State University), The U.S. Army Construction Engineering Laboratory, the Utah Water Research Laboratory (Utah State University), the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the New York State Wetlands Forum.

Exhibitors: Companies or organizations interested in having an exhibit booth at the conference should contact The Conference Group at 800/783-6338.

Schedule: The Call for Abstracts will be mailed in November 2000; the deadline for submitting abstracts will be March 5, 2001. Once the program has been finalized and accepted presenters have been sent acceptance letters, a preliminary program will be mailed. 

Proceedings: A proceedings volume will be prepared and then published by Battelle Press and mailed to registrants shortly after the conference. Proceedings papers will be optional but strongly encouraged from all presenters, both platform and poster. Authors wishing to have their papers appear in the proceedings will be requested to provide camera-ready copies of their papers by July 13.

Registration: Because registration fees are by far the major source of funding for the conference and a significant percentage of registrants will make presentations, all presenting authors and session chairs are expected to register and pay the standard fees.  Potential topics for this conference include:

- Natural Attenuation in Wetlands
- Biological and Ecological Considerations
- Risk-Based Wetlands Remediation
- Regulatory Trends 
- Economic Factors in Wetlands Remediation and Restoration 
- Wetlands Hydrology and Morphology 
- Wetlands Microbial Ecology 
- Phytoremediation and Macrophytes in Wetlands 
- Wetlands for the Remediation and Treatment of Wastewater 
- Wetlands Treatment of Contaminated Sediments 
- GIS and Remediation 
- Innovative Technologies for Wetlands Investigations 
- Non-point Source Pollution and Agricultural Runoff 
- Redox Processes in Wetlands 
- Contaminant Fate and Environmentally Acceptable Endpoints 
- Wetlands Design and Construction 
- Creating Wetlands using Dredge Spoils 
- Wetlands Restoration and Mitigation 
- Explosives and Wetlands 
- Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Wetlands 
- Mine Waste Considerations 
- Metals and Inorganics in Wetlands 
- Perchlorate-Contaminated Wetlands 
- Groundwater/Surface Water Interfaces

  Links

03-April-01

 

Link:  Organizations (Federal Government)

Geological Survey activities in connection with the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP: General information, vision statement, team members and program coordinator
http://fl.water.usgs.gov/CERP/cerp.html

Recent USGS water resources publications about Florida
http://fl.water.usgs.gov/recentpubs.html

U.S. Geological Survey, Florida District
http://fl.water.usgs.gov

 

Links:  Ecology (Advocacy) links

The Last Noah’s Ark

Brazil

What is it?
The environmental program The Last Noah’s Ark is result of years of studies of his idealizer Antonio Silveira Ribeiro dos Santos in natural history and environmental area. Created in August 1995 and registered at 7th notary public office of São Paulo (n0 249.836). Author rights register n0 106.123, book 158, pages 418.

The Purposes
• Conscious about the necessity of nature’s preservation and conservation;
• Development of studies for an effective protection of species and main ecosystern;
• Promoting environmental education at all levels;
• Improving the quality of global life;
• Supplying subvention for the improvement of Environment’s Rights.

What makes the difference?
It is a program created and developed by a person who puts together concerned people with the same idea and an equal participation, without obedience. It is not an ONG.
The program does not accept any direct monetary help. Eventually the interested people may collaborate by lending goods to the program.

http://www.aultimaarcadenoe.com/indexingles.htm

 

08-March-01

Legal (Academic Organizations) links

Florida State University
The Florida Resources and Environmental Analysis Center (FREAC) 

Established in 1969, is the original center within the Institute of Science and Public Affairs (ISPA) at Florida State University (FSU). FREAC professionals conduct research in the general areas of resource management and environmental analysis, as well as provide advice and technical assistance to state and local agencies. Public lands research and analysis, geographic information system development, and graphic representation of digital databases are current and long-range FREAC research interests. FREAC also trains university students in these areas through direct involvement in projects, providing real-world experiences.

             •   FREAC - Florida Resources and Environmental Analysis Center  

08-March-01

Water Resources Atlas of Florida (1998) Florida State University Editors:
Edward A. Fernald and Elizabeth D. Purdum

Library of Congress Catalog Number 98-072985
ISBN 0-9606708-2-3

Complete update and revision of the widely acclaimed 1984 atlas. The comprehensive reference on Florida's water resources and their management.  Hundreds of full-color maps, photos, charts, and graphs.  Contributors are from U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Water Management Districts of Florida and universities. Information on purchasing the Water Resources Atlas of Florida and other publications can be obtained here:
http://www.freac.fsu.edu/atlases.html

Section I: Introduction

1 Water Issues: Global, National, State, Ecosystem

Section II: Florida's Water Resources

2 Weather and Climate
3 Groundwater
4 Surface Water
5 Natural Systems
6 Water Use
7 Water Quality

Section III: Management and Regional Diversity

 8 History of Water Management
 9 Northwest Florida Water Management District
10 Suwanee River Water Management District
11 St. Johns River Water Management District
12 Southwest Florida Water Management District
13 South Florida Water Management District

Section IV: Issues and Conflicts

14 Water Economics and Finance
15 Law and Policy in Managing Water Resources

Illustration Examples

Photo album (direct links below)
http://www.photoloft.com/view/Album.asp?s=plft&u=71267&a=967559

Florida topography (light-to-dark)
0-50-100-150-200-250-300 feet above sea level
http://www.photoloft.com/view/Image.asp?s=plft&u=71267&a=967559&i=6417964

Florida wetlands (1989)
http://www.photoloft.com/view/Image.asp?s=plft&u=71267&a=967559&i=6417973

Florida water management districts
http://www.photoloft.com/view/Image.asp?s=plft&u=71267&a=967559&i=6417973

More illustrations can be seen here:
http://www.evergladesvillage.net/atlas_of_fla/atlas.html

 

10-Feb-01

The American Association of Law Libraries

The American Association of Law Libraries was founded in 1906 to promote and enhance the value of law libraries to the legal and public communities, to foster the profession of law librarianship, and to provide leadership in the field of legal information.

Today, with over 4,800 members, the Association represents law librarians and related professionals who are affiliated with a wide range of institutions: law firms; law schools; corporate legal departments; courts; and local, state and federal government agencies.

http://www.aallnet.org/

SEAALL

the Southeastern Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries.  SEAALL is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in Florida with the purposes of promoting law librarianship and developing and increasing the usefulness of law libraries, particularly those in the Southeastern area of the United States.

SEAALL was originally established in 1954 -- an expansion of the Carolinas Chapter (established in 1939 as AALL's first chapter).   Today our membership is over 500 strong, representing law librarians from the private sector, the government, academia, and more. For more on the history of SEAALL, please see From the SEAALL Attic, by Hazel Johnson. A continuing mission for SEAALL has always been to provide educational services for its members.  This is primarily accomplished through the many educational offerings at our annual meeting and through instructive articles, pathfinders, and bibliographies in our newsletter, The Southeastern Law Librarian.

http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/seaall/index.shtml

 

06-Feb-01

•  Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Ramsar and Wetlands International 1999 Directory of Wetlands of International Importance

Web directory

Revised:  06/23/03