November  2001 

 

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30-Nov-01

Group examines region’s environmental concerns

Political, social issues cited as problem areas

Some of the nation’s top scientists said they were surprised by Southwest Floridians’ lack of trust in local government when it comes to the environment. The prestigious National Academy of Sciences’ Everglades restoration advisory board visited Fort Myers for the first time this week. Some 50 people attended a board meeting Thursday in hopes that the group will bring more attention to this area’s needs. The message scientists got was that Southwest Florida environmental problems not only stem from a lack of scientific data but political issues and social issues as well. “I was surprised by the perception that it’s easy to obtain permits,” said Steve Parker, director of the Water, Science and Technology Board, parent group of the committee.  Mike Bauer, the Southwest Florida policy director for Audubon of Florida, said he fears the region will be built out by the time science shows political leaders what to do. “We can’t wait for the science to happen,” Bauer said. “I think the reason for this is the permit system is you get a permit unless you prove that you’re damaging something. It should be the other way around.” Linda Blum, an ecologist from the University of Virginia, said Southwest Florida issues deserve more thought and more work.

Copyright © 2001. The News-Press. All rights reserved.

 

Watershed council leaders learn about Collier water restoration efforts Collier residents pay taxes levied by the Big Cypress Basin and the South  Florida Water Management District.

A grass-roots effort to coordinate planning and better use of Southwest Florida's water resources came to Collier County on Thursday so group leaders could learn more about water restoration projects in the works here. Clarence Tears, director of the Big Cypress Basin that's an arm of the South Florida Water Management District, gave members of the Southwest Florida Watershed Council a primer on the basin board and emphasized that taxes collected in Collier for water basin projects stay in Collier. Other Southwest Florida counties, such as Lee County, don't have a separate basin and therefore lose tax money to east coast water projects.  Collier residents pay taxes levied by the Big Cypress Basin and the South Florida Water Management District. The six representatives to the Big Cypress Basin Board are appointed by the governor. Lee County residents pay taxes to the water management district and the Okeechobee Basin that includes 15 counties. Tears told members of the watershed council that Collier is getting more accomplished for its money.

Read more...

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

 

EPA official: Conservation effort must balance growth with restoration

Local government and the development industry were treated like firing range targets Thursday during a meeting of science experts and environmentalists. The second meeting this week of the Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem brought local science and environmental experts out in droves. About 50 members of the public attended the morning session. The committee makes recommendations to agencies carrying out the restoration of the Everglades, a $7.8 billion project that's expected to take 30 years. The group meets every three months and was in Fort Myers this week for the first time. Many at the meeting asked committee members to help protect what's left of Southwest Florida's native habitat. Calling for assistance from the federal level, some said local government and permitting agencies have sat idle while development has destroyed environmentally sensitive areas throughout Southwest Florida.

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

TOP PORT OF PALM BEACH EXPORT BELIEVE IT OR NOT, IT'S MOLASSES
By Susan Salisbury, Staff Writer, Palm Beach Post
© U.S. Sugar 
CLEWISTON -- At Suga-Lik, they make liquid gold. Actually, it's blackstrap molasses, the thick dark syrup that remains after sugar has been crystallized from sugar cane juice. The molasses is mixed with other nutrients to create more than 100 kinds of cattle feed products,
said Pat Whidden, who directs the molasses department at Suga-Lik, a division of Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar Corp. Palm Beach County's three sugar companies -- the other two are Florida Crystals Corp. of West Palm Beach, and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of
Florida in Belle Glade -- produced 624,000 tons of molasses last year. One-third of it was shipped to Europe, the Far East and Mexico. It is the largest export out of the Port of Palm Beach, which also is the home of the Florida Molasses Exchange. In contrast, none of last year's 2 million-ton Florida sugar crop, valued at $760 million, was exported. Industry experts say that's because the United States doesn't have enough sugar to meet the demand, but molasses is in short supply in other countries.  Read more

 

29-Nov-01

Norton owes Floridians Everglades commitment

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., is correct to hold his ground in a standoff with Interior Secretary Gale Norton over Ms. Norton's decision to close the Everglades restoration office in West Palm Beach. In a meeting with Ms. Norton Tuesday, Sen. Graham refused to lift a "hold" he has placed on President Bush's nominee to run the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service until Ms. Norton provides written specifics about Interior's role in Everglades restoration over the next two years. A senator can block a nomination indefinitely, and in most cases, including this one, a lawmaker does so because of a disagreement with the administration. Sen. Graham held up a vote on the nomination of Steven A. Williams Nov. 8, two days after Ms. Norton abolished the office that President Clinton established to make sure that Everglades restoration actually restored the Everglades. Aides said Sen. Graham expects Ms. Norton to come up with a two-year plan for the Everglades by Dec. 8. The plan would include such details as the names of those at Interior responsible for carrying out restoration and a timetable with deadlines for the first projects in the $8.4 billion federal-state effort.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

 

Science, politics and money main debate topics at Everglades restoration meeting

Science, politics and money were the topics of debate Wednesday as engineers and scientists from around the country gathered in Lee County to mull over issues related to the 30-year Everglades restoration program. The Committee on Restoration of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem held its seventh meeting during a day-long session at the South Florida Water Management District's Fort Myers office. About 25 members attended the meeting. The groups meets again today at 7:50 a.m. at the water management office on McGregor Boulevard. The restoration committee is an advisory arm of the National Academy of Sciences and is charged with providing the best available science and information for the restoration of the Everglades. Its members make recommendations to agencies, such as the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, that make up the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program. Those agencies will implement the restoration project. The groups were formed two years ago after the federal government set aside funds for the Everglades restoration, a project that's expected to cost at least $7.8 billion. Half of the money will come from the federal level and half from the state. The overall effort includes 68 different projects.

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

28-Nov-01

Graham keeps heat on Everglades plan

Sen. Bob Graham said on Tuesday he would continue his hold on a Bush administration appointment until the Department of Interior presents him with a detailed plan for Everglades restoration.  Graham, D-Fla., met with Interior Secretary Gale Norton and top aides for half an hour on Tuesday, almost three weeks after placing a hold on Steve Williams, a Kansan chosen by President Bush to be director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Graham's hold is a parliamentary move that allows individual senators to delay a full vote on appointments indefinitely. Graham placed the hold in retaliation for Norton's announcement that she was closing a West Palm Beach Everglades restoration office and reassigning its head, Michael Davis, to Washington. The move angered Graham and environmentalists because Davis, a former Army Corps of Engineers official, was a key player in getting the restoration program approved.  "I expressed my feeling that his removal sent a signal to a number of people ... that there might be a retrenchment on the part of Interior's commitment to the Everglades," Graham told reporters after the meeting. "Mrs. Norton assured me that was not the case, that the department continues to be very committed to the Everglades."

Copyright  © 2001 Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

 

Graham holds up Bush nominee over Everglades plan

Continuing a standoff over the Bush administration's commitment to restoring the Everglades, Sen. Bob Graham met Tuesday with Interior Secretary Gale Norton, but refused to lift a hold he has placed on President Bush's nominee to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Norton, meanwhile, indicated she does not plan to reopen the Everglades restoration office in West Palm Beach, which she closed this month with the transfer of its director, Michael Davis, to a temporary post in the Interior Department's Washington headquarters. Graham, D-Fla., described the 45-minute meeting with Norton in his Capitol office as "frank, specific and constructive," but said he wanted to see the administration's restoration plans for the next two years before he would decide whether to allow the Senate to vote on the nomination of Steven A. Williams for the crucial fish and wildlife post. Graham placed the "hold" on Williams' nomination on Nov. 8, two days after Norton's announcement that the Everglades office was being closed.

                                                                                                                                         Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

 

Nomination still linked to work on Glades

Sen. Bob Graham told Secretary of Interior Gale Norton Tuesday that he will continue to block the confirmation of one of her appointees until he is assured that Norton will stay actively involved in Everglades restoration. Graham, a Florida Democrat, asked Norton in a ``frank, constructive meeting'' for the Interior department's plans for the next two years as the complex, $7.8 billion restoration project begins. After he sees the plans, Graham said he will decide whether to remove the ``hold'' he placed on the nomination of Steven Williams as director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ``That decision will be based on performance, not rhetoric,'' said Graham, after a meeting with Norton in his Capitol office. Hugh Vickery, a spokesman for Norton, said the department would ``move crisply'' to provide the two-year plan to Graham, so that Williams can be confirmed. Vickery said the plan was already in the works. Norton also stressed that she supports the restoration plan, said Vickery.

 

Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

27-Nov-01

Collegiality and Courtesy are the magic words to success for this list.

he Governor and all six members of the Cabinet voted today to reject a major marina project in downtown Miami near the mouth of the Miami River. The Brickell Key Marina proposed to be located within the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve would have presented a direct conflict with Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve rules and statutory provisions requiring that projects be limited to those which are needed to resolve an "extreme hardship" and which are shown to be a "public necessity". The Cabinet supported a recommendation by DEP Secretary David Struhs that the lease be denied. The rejected marina would have included 62 slips, 20 for power boats, 35 for sailboats, 7 for transient docking and 6 for the City's Marine Patrol. The 62 slip marina was substantially reduced in size from a 106 slip marina proposal which the Cabinet rejected earlier in March, 2001. The reduction in the number of boat slips resulted in removal of objections to the project by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission based on manatee impacts because the lower number of slips came into compliance with the Miami-Dade County manatee protection plan. The single issue remaining to be decided by the Cabinet was whether the revised project met the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve hardship and public interest tests.

 

Copyright © 2001. Everglades Village. All rights reserved

23-Nov-01

NY Times Editorial:
Two Bushes and the Everglades

Nearly one year has passed since President Clinton signed into law a $7.8 billion measure to restore the Florida Everglades. The bill commanded overwhelming bipartisan support and provided the framework for the most ambitious ecosystem recovery project in history. Because the costs will be shared equally by the federal and state governments, the responsibility for getting this momentous undertaking off to a solid start rests squarely with President Bush and his brother Jeb, the governor of Florida. And that has made many friends of the Everglades a bit nervous.  The president and governor both have pledged their devotion to the Everglades and both have found room in their budgets for $200 million each in first-year costs. The nervousness arises from doubts about their willingness to stay the course against what is sure to be determined opposition from Florida's developers and agricultural interests as well as some local communities.  The purpose of the Everglades project is simply stated — to replicate as nearly as possible the historical flows of fresh water that once made South Florida a biological wonderland. These flows slowed to a trickle over a half-century ago when Congress, following back-to-back hurricanes, ordered up a massive flood control project and the Army Corps of Engineers responded by draining 500,000 acres south of Lake Okeechobee with a vast web of levees, canals and pumping stations. This spectacular feat of engineering made Florida's east coast safe for development and its midlands safe for profitable sugar cane. But it robbed the Everglades and the fishing grounds of Florida Bay of their traditional sources of water, and nearly killed both.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

 

18-Nov-01

Bush Team Is Reversing Environmental Policies

In the last two months, the Bush administration has proceeded with several regulations, legal settlements and legislative measures intended to reverse Clinton-era environmental policies.  These include moves to allow road- building in national forests, reverse the phase out of snowmobiles in national parks, make it easier for mining companies to dig for gold, copper and zinc on public lands, ease energy-saving standards for air-conditioners, bar the reintroduction of grizzly bears in the Northwest and, environmentalists say, make it easier for developers to eliminate wetlands.  Environmentalists are angered that in some cases the administration, in the name of national security, is taking steps that they say promote the interests of timber, mining, oil, gas and pipeline companies, at the expense of the environment.  "They've used the smoke screen of the last two months to make key decisions out of public view," said Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. "The most difficult situation we face is that the attention of the media is almost exclusively on Afghanistan and anthrax."  Most notable, critics say, is the administration's renewed advocacy of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. As President Bush said last month, "The less dependent we are on foreign sources of crude oil, the more secure we are at home."  Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the administration's view that oil drilling in Alaska was a matter of national security represented a "false patriotism."

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

The Green Revolution: It's Also the Color of Money

Advocates for roadless wilderness and similar conservation issues have traditionally emphasized the ethical imperatives and aesthetic rewards of promoting environmentalism. But, perhaps noticing that money is green, too, a growing, hardnosed component in the environmental community, often led by constituents in the outdoor industry, is hammering out a different kind of message: that there are great practical, economic benefits to protecting the environment, and in promoting outdoor recreation.  In a study that will be released next week, "The Bottom Line: Protecting the Value of America 's Public Lands," Business for Wilderness, a program of the Outdoor Industry Association, quantifies the economic impact visitors have on a wide range of communities near recreation areas. These are not all A-list areas, like Montana's Glacier National Park or Florida 's Everglades , either. Yet many of them generate significant, steady revenue, often for distressed rural communities. The report also identifies the prime threats posed to such areas by proposed activities such as mining, development and acid rain pollution.  The Business for Wilderness program ultimately seeks to increase the recreation industry's profile and its involvement in decisions about United States public land. Its goals include protecting wilderness (and roadless) areas, expanding the number of national recreation destinations and protecting public access.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

17-Nov-01

Six years in the making, Lake Trafford restoration under way

Bass fisherman Ted Roebuck recalled the dismay he felt in 1996 when seeing thousands of dead fish in murky Lake Trafford in Immokalee. "It was unbelievable. I didn't think that many fish could even live in the lake," said Roebuck, 55, of Immokalee. "I thought, 'How did I miss all these fish?' As a sport fisherman it was sickening to see all that. Anticipating a future of clear water and thriving aquatic habitats, Collier County residents and environmental officials celebrated six years of lobbying and planning Friday at a groundbreaking ceremony for the restoration of Lake Trafford.  The aim of the Lake Trafford Project, scheduled to begin later this year or early next year, is to dredge the 1,500-acre lake of an accumulation of 8.5 million cubic yards of muck and chemicals that killed masses of fish in 1996 and 1997.  "You wouldn't believe how far you could go out and pick up mud," said Roebuck, one of one of about 100 people who attended the ceremony at Lake Trafford Marina, 6001 Lake Trafford Road. "It's just soupy."

 

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

 

Sugar industry decries ads as false

An advertising campaign launched in major magazines this month by the company that markets Save Our Everglades sugar has angered South Florida's sugar industry.The ads -- one showing chicks, another an alligator and the third a dead tree -- blame sugar growers for Everglades pollution. The ad picturing chicks reads, "Dead chemical runoff from Florida's sugar industry has helped push life in the Everglades to the brink of extinction." Local sugar growers say the claim is false."The statement that we are causing animals to become extinct is outlandish and false," said Jorge Dominicis, spokesman for the Fanjul family's Florida Crystals Corp. in West Palm Beach. "When they say things like that to sell a product, when they have to rely on false images, it calls into question their credibility."

 

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved

 

Graham move the same way as blackmail to get way

On Nov. 9, The Post reported that Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., was holding up the nomination of Steven Williams to be head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He took this action in opposition to the closing of the local Everglades restoration office.  This I would classify as blackmail by Sen. Graham to get his way. Whether the Everglades restoration office should be closed is a different subject and could be discussed and debated properly. The nomination of Mr. Williams should not be held captive by blackmail. If Mr. Williams is not qualified, Sen. Graham should so state. 

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved

 

Graham right to oppose closing Everglades office

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., again has demonstrated real leadership by opposing the closure of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project office headed by Michael Davis. I hope others will follow his lead and speak out against this action, which threatens the Everglades restoration process.  Sen. Graham has real vision, and I hope his efforts succeed in reversing this decision.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved

 

Boynton Beach officials irked over limits on aquifer water

BOYNTON BEACH -- The gallons of water Boynton Beach is allowed to suck out of the ground is not enough for the city's changing population, city staff say.  And if the amount of water is not increased, future building could come to a standstill, Assistant City Manager Dale Sugerman said.  The South Florida Water Management District regulates the amount of water cities can take out of the underground aquifer to serve their residents.  Boynton Beach is allowed to withdraw 142 gallons of water from the aquifer per person per day.  But that might not be enough water for the approximately 90,000 customers the city serves, Sugerman said. Within the next month, the city plans to renew its permit and ask the district to increase the amount of water it can withdraw. Sugerman estimates that the city's actual usage is about 174 gallons per capita per day.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved

 

16-Nov-01

The World Descends on the Everglades

Isn't it funny how there are some things we Floridians never do unless we have visitors in town? We often don't appreciate the things around us until someone else comes to town to remind us.  Some of the world's leading environmental experts, from famous ecosystems known the world over, are congregating in South Florida this week. They are here to remind us that the mighty Everglades are known on the same level as famous places such as the Amazon rainforest, the savannahs of Africa, and the Galapagos Islands.

Copyright (c) 2001 National Broadcasting Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Water Groups Plan to Face Higher Demand

Growth is expected to almost double the area's need by the year 2020.

Growth will exceed the water supply in an area of Central Florida that includes the northeast corner of Polk County within two decades, officials of two water districts were told by experts this week during a joint meeting in Orlando.  "The critical thing is not when there's going to be a water shortage, but how we can be prepared for that shortage," said William Kerr of the St. Johns River Water Management District.  Growth in the area, which includes parts of Seminole, Lake, Osceola, Orange and Polk counties, is expected to result in a water demand of 632 million gallons per day by the year 2020, said Chris Sweazy, a senior planner for the South Florida Water Management District. That's almost twice the demand the area saw in 1995, which was 323 million gallons a day.

Copyright © 2001 The Ledger.  All rights reserved.

 

River runs a bit low now

Putting the bends back in a portion of the Kissimmee River has restored some of the natural beauty that was destroyed when the Army Corps of Engineers created a 56-mile canal out of the 103-mile meandering waterway in the 1960s.  The 15 miles of restored river are a sight, but with dry season starting this month, officials warn that boaters must be careful. That's because water levels in the restored portion of the river are once again dependent on rainfall, just as they were before the river was channelized.  "Traveling the Kissimmee River is much more interesting and full of life than in years past. In some sections, it's not the same deep, wide and straight waterway that boaters have known for 30 years," said Harkley Thornton, the St. Cloud resident who is on the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District.

Copyright © 2001, Orlando Sentinel. All rights reserved.

 

Contractor suit threatens to slow Everglades fix

The Everglades restoration could be hobbled for up to six months after a contractor filed a legal challenge accusing water managers of unfairly denying the company a crucial slice of the $8.4 billion project. Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp. says the South Florida Water Management District wrongly made last-minute changes in the way it ranked three companies vying for a $25 million restoration contract, thus creating "opportunities for favoritism."  Foster Wheeler's petition says water managers also allowed an attorney for another unsuccessful rival, CH2MHill, to violate district rules against lobbying board members. The attorney, Justin Sayfie of Fort Lauderdale, is a former aide to Gov. Jeb Bush. The challenge means that for now nobody gets the contract to help the district manage the first five years of the four-decade restoration. The winner would work on tasks such as negotiating land purchases and dealing with lawmakers.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

 

15-Nov-01

Norton: Closing local office will help Everglades project

The Post's Nov. 12 editorial on the Interior Department's efforts to improve stewardship and streamline Everglades restoration ("Reopen Everglades office") overlooked three important points. First, President Bush has made a strong commitment to Everglades restoration. The administration shepherded through Congress a $31.4 million, or 37 percent, increase in the Interior Department's budget for Everglades restoration.  Second, we will save $1.3 million in duplicative administrative overhead, which the department will redirect to important restoration projects at National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge and the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.  Third, coordination of Everglades activities will be elevated and intensified. Col. Terrence "Rock" Salt, the highly respected executive director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, will play an enhanced role in Everglades restoration activities and report directly to my office. Also, National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, the former director of the Florida Recreation and Parks system, is infinitely familiar with the Everglades and will work aggressively on this important project.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

 

14-Nov-01

Tourist destination plan unveiled for ex-air base

If the faltering plan for a commercial airport at the old Homestead Air Reserve Base eventually dies, county officials should use the surplus land to create ``a destination'' for tourists visiting the Everglades, Florida Keys and Biscayne National Park, according to a plan released Tuesday by Miami-Dade County's economic development agency.  Dubbed ``Destination Everglades,'' the proposed hotel, conference and ecological research center would take advantage of the property's location between South Florida's three great natural areas in hopes of capturing a bit of the eco-tourism industry booming worldwide.  If approved by county commissioners Dec. 4, the proposal would provide an alternative to plans to build a commercial airfield on the Air Force land that have been mired in controversy since the base closed after Hurricane Andrew.  Indeed, the Department of Defense outright rejected the idea of an airport earlier this year, prompting county commissioners to sue. At the same time, county officials hedged their bets.

Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

09-Nov-01

Graham holds up Bush appointment for closing of 'Glades office

WASHINGTON · Unhappy about an announcement this week that the Department of Interior plans to close an Everglades restoration office in West Palm Beach, Sen. Bob Graham retaliated Thursday by putting a hold on a Bush Administration appointment. Graham's hold, a parliamentary move that allows individual senators to stall presidential appointments indefinitely, will delay a final vote on the nomination of Steve Williams, a Kansas official chosen by President Bush to be director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Graham, who was instrumental in getting the $8 billion Everglades restoration plan through Congress last year, has asked for a meeting with Interior Secretary Gale Norton to discuss the closing of the office. "I look forward to speaking directly to Secretary Norton about the administration's commitment to the Everglades in light of the decision to close the office in West Palm Beach," Graham said, in a prepared statement. No meeting had been set as of Thursday night.

Copyright  © 2001 Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

 

Sen. Bob Graham places 'hold' on Fish and Wildlife nomination Senate rules allow any senator to block a presidential nomination from making it to the floor for a confirmation vote.

Between the ducks and the alligators, President Bush's nominee to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can't catch a break.  Sen. Bob Graham placed a "hold" on the nomination of Steve Williams on Thursday, citing a disagreement with Interior Secretary Gale Norton over her decision to close the department's Everglades restoration office in West Palm Beach.
A week ago, Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., also placed a hold on the nomination, in this case because of a dispute with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott over the length of the duck-hunting season in Mississippi, Lott's home state, and five other Southern states. There was also talk about a third hold being placed on the nomination Thursday by an unidentified senator. The holds last indefinitely.  Senate rules allow any senator to block a presidential nomination from making it to the floor for a confirmation vote. Senators do not have to reveal their identities or their reasoning in placing the hold, and Senate leadership won't even confirm whether a hold exists. But Graham, D-Miami Lakes, and Dayton revealed their actions because they feel so strongly about the issues at hand.

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

Graham uses nominee as Everglades protest

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to get the administration to reconsider its move to close the Everglades Restoration Office, Sen. Bob Graham has placed a hold on President Bush's nominee to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Graham acknowledged that he is using the parliamentary device -- by which individual senators can indefinitely block a nomination from being considered by the full Senate -- in response to Interior Secretary Gale Norton's controversial closing of the office in West Palm Beach.  "I look forward to speaking directly to Secretary Norton about the administration's commitment to the Everglades in light of the decision to close the office in West Palm Beach," Graham said. The Interior Department's action -- which took Florida lawmakers by surprise and angered some environmental groups -- was announced Tuesday. The nomination of Steven Williams of Kansas is the first related to the Interior Department to come before the Senate since the announcement. Williams' nomination was endorsed earlier Thursday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

 

Graham blocking Fish and Wildlife nominee
The Florida senator has put a hold on Bush's selection after an Everglades Restoration office was closed.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bob Graham has moved to block President Bush's nominee for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director after federal officials announced the closing of a West Palm Beach Everglades Restoration office earlier this week. On Tuesday, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton approved a plan to shut down the office as a way of streamlining bureaucracy and freeing $1.3-million over three years for other activities. To show his displeasure, Graham, D-Fla., used a maneuver called a hold, which prevents the Senate from considering the nomination of Steven Williams to head the Fish and Wildlife Service. Now the director of Kansas' Department of Wildlife and Parks, Williams was nominated by Bush in the summer. Graham aides have been in contact with Interior officials throughout the week, but the senator and the secretary have not spoken. Graham's displeasure seems to be aimed more at Norton's silence than at Williams' political leanings or past actions.

 Copyright  © 2001 St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

 

08-Nov-01

Miccosukee sues to limit flooding on tribal lands

The Miccosukee Tribe is again asking a federal judge to order the Army Corps of Engineers to ease flooding on tribal lands by opening water-control gates that have been shut to help an endangered sparrow.  The closing of those gates along the Tamiami Trail on Nov. 1 made tribal lands in the central Everglades too waterlogged, the tribe argues in a motion filed Wednesday in federal court.  In taking such "emergency" action, the Corps deviated from lawful water-management rules and violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the tribe argues.

Copyright  © 2001 Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

 

Lake O wells will get clean water

OKEECHOBEE -- Water managers will not pump untreated surface water into the underground drinking water supply as they move ahead with Everglades restoration plans that include building more than 300 wells where water can be stored and pumped back up for future use. "We have made a commitment that the water we pump underground will meet all environmental standards," said Henry Dean, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District.  Dean and Col. Greg May, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Jacksonville district, met with officials from a seven-county coalition Wednesday to discuss Lake Okeechobee restoration plans and lake levels. The coalition is made up of government officials from Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Okeechobee, Lee, Hendry and Glades counties, all of which have an interest in the way Lake Okeechobee is managed.  The "aquifer storage and recovery," or ASR wells, are a major part of plans to capture and save water that now is dumped in canals that lead to the ocean. The district is just beginning to test the technology. The general idea is to build 300 wells deep into the limestone near Lake Okeechobee. During the rainy season, water managers would pump as much as a billion gallons of fresh water a day into the brackish aquifer. During the dry season, it would be pumped back out when water is needed.

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved

 

07-Nov-01

Miccosukee Tribe Seeks Injunction to Protect Tribal Everglades Asks Court to Force Corps to Open Gates and Comply With NEPA

Today, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, who live in the Florida Everglades, announced that they have filed a Second Motion for Preliminary Injunction and a Supplemental Complaint in federal court asking that the Corps be required to open the S-12A gates to move water south off of Tribal lands. The Motion and Supplemental Complaint filed in Case No. 00-33-CIV-MOORE allege that the Corps has initiated a deviation from the lawful Water Control Plan
without conducting the environmental reviews required by law. The Water Control Plan contains a regulation schedule that regulates how high water can get on Tribal Everglades lands in Water Conservation Area-3A before the flood gates must be open to let water out. The Water Control Plan requires that the S-12 flood gates be open when the water elevation in WCA-3A is 10.5 feet. The Tribe contends that the Corps closed the S-12A flood gates on November 1, 2001, even though the water was over 11 feet, and the gates remain closed today even though the water has reached 11.19 feet. They also contend that unlike the previous four annual so-called "emergency" deviations that the Corps conducted, and which the Tribe contested, this time the Corps has not sought, nor obtained, permission for an "emergency" from the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to deviate from the regulation schedule before complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

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Norton Closes Everglades Office, Environmentalists angered by Interior decision

Norton’s decision to shut down the West Palm Beach office, which was created in the last month of the Clinton administration, and to transfer director Michael Davis, an often controversial figure who had helped sculpt the bipartisan $7.8 billion Everglades restoration plan over the last decade. Davis also criticized the move, as did former Clinton administration officials and a local Republican congressman.
       “I am disappointed in Secretary Norton’s decision,” said Davis, a biologist with 23 years of federal service. “I believe that the office is unequivocally justified and consistent with the president’s desire to get senior managers out of Washington and into the communities affected by agency actions. The establishment of the office reflected a vision and an understanding of the critical and fragile nature of the next few years.” 

Copyright  © 2001 Washington Post  All rights reserved.

 

Letter by Michael L. Davis, Director of Everglades Restoration, US Department of the Interior, re:

Department of the Interior closing its Everglades Restoration Office in West Palm Beach

I am sure that by now most of you are aware that Secretary Norton has decided to close the Office of Everglades Restoration in West Palm Beach.  I am disappointed in the Secretary's decision and continue to believe that the office is not only justified but necessary if we are to successfully coordinate the many initiatives associated with Everglades restoration. The establishment of the office reflected vision and an understanding that an effort of this nature cannot be managed solely out of Washington. Further, it reflected an understanding of the critical and fragile nature of this early phase of implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan.

Read more...

 

U.S. closes Glades restoration office in West Palm Beach

  WASHINGTON -- The Department of Interior decided Tuesday to close the Office of Everglades Restoration to ``streamline'' the bureaucracy handling the massive project, and the move created an immediate environmental controversy.   Interior officials said closing the West Palm Beach office, set up to coordinate the complex restoration effort costing $7.8 billion over three decades, would save $1.3 million that would be better used for environmental projects in South Florida.  But the director of Everglades restoration, Michael Davis, said he was ``disappointed'' at the decision to eliminate his job and the office.  He said the interlocking series of projects to restore the Everglades ``requires senior-level management in this community -- it can't be done from Washington.''  Rep. Peter Deutsch, whose district includes much of the Everglades, criticized the decision, saying it showed Interior Secretary Gale Norton's ``continuing insensitivity to environmental issues -- I hope it's not a final decision.''  The Interior Department said the year-old office, set up by the Clinton administration, duplicated work done by two of its bureaus, Fish and Wildlife and the National Park Service.

Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

Gale Blows Off Florida

In a decision environmentalists say is symbolic of the Bush administration's lack of commitment to conservation issues, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced the closure of the federal Office of Everglades Restoration yesterday. The office was created in the last month of the Clinton administration to implement the nation's most ambitious ecosystem restoration project ever -- the 30-year, $7.8 billion recovery plan for the Florida Everglades. Norton said the office was closed to reduce bureaucratic overhead, but critics say Bush was doing a favor for his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who has fought to limit the Interior Department's role in the restoration project. "We think this is a huge step backward," said Save Our Everglades spokesperson Joe Garcia.

  straight to the source: Washington Post, Michael Grunwald, 06 Nov 2001
straight to the source: Miami Herald, Frank Davies, 07 Nov 2001
do good: Take action to stop the destruction of the Everglades

© 2001, Earth Day Network. All rights reserved.

 

Closure of Everglades Restoration Office Draws Complaints

Environmentalists and some Florida lawmakers are criticizing President Bush's administration for closing the local Everglades restoration office, saying the move signals a lack of commitment to the massive project.  The Interior Department announced Tuesday it was shutting down the Office of Everglades Restoration in West Palm Beach and reassigning the director.  Interior officials said they wanted to streamline the bureaucracy of the recovery effort, which aims to repair the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades and restore natural water flows over three decades.  "I think it does cast doubt on our new administration's commitment to Everglades restoration when they take one of the star players out of the game," said Eric Draper, a lobbyist for the Florida Audubon Society. "It just does not make sense to set him aside."  Federal officials said the closure saves $1.3 million that can be used for two other South Florida environmental projects: saving endangered Florida Key deer habitats and removing invasive weeds in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

Copyright  2001.  TBO. All rights reserved.

 

06-Nov-01  

Everglades Restoration Office to Close

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton announced today that she is closing the federal Office of Everglades Restoration, vowing to slash redundant bureaucratic overhead without diminishing the Bush administration's commitment to reviving the Florida Everglades.  Environmentalists denounced Norton's decision to shut down the West Palm Beach office, which was created in the last month of the Clinton administration, and to transfer director Michael Davis, an often controversial figure who had helped sculpt the bipartisan $7.8 billion Everglades restoration plan during the past decade. Davis also criticized the move, as did several former Clinton administration officials.  "I am disappointed in Secretary Norton's decision," said Davis, a biologist with 23 years of federal service. "I believe that the office is unequivocally justified and consistent with the president's desire to get senior managers out of Washington and into the communities affected by agency actions. The establishment of the office reflected a vision and an understanding of the critical and fragile nature of the next few years."  Some of the critics compared the move to earlier Bush administration decisions to close offices dedicated to AIDS and women's issues, saying it demonstrates a real and symbolic lack of commitment to the largest ecosystem restoration in history. Others described the move as an anti-environmental favor to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, who has fought to limit Interior's role in replumbing the parched Everglades. But administration officials said the shutdown will save $1.3 million, which will be redirected to help relocate endangered deer and control non-native trees at two wildlife refuges in South Florida.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

 

05-Nov-01

 In the 1960s, the Amy Corps of Engineers drained one-half of the Everglades' 1.6 million acres for agribusiness and urban development. Since then, the sugar industry has used that land to help wipe out millions of native plants and animals with poisonous chemical runoff from pesticides and fertilizers. Please help us stop them by using Save Our Everglades Sugar, 100% pure cane sugar grown in America, outside our Everglades.  It does no environmental harm. And with every purchase you contribute to the Everglades Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to restoring this national treasure for future generations. The choice is yours.

Copyright © 2001 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

 

29-Oct-01

Battle for environmental causes losing ground

Not even egrets and alligators can escape the shadow of Sept. 11. For the Everglades, the fate of an $8.4 billion restoration is in limbo, as terrorism, war and a sinking economy have upended the nation's priorities and squeezed spending. It's just one example of a chill that has settle on a variety of environmental causes in wartime America, where data on toxic chemicals have vanished from some government websites and activists have felt compelled to refrain from criticizing President Bush. The increasing instability of the Middle East has also fueled efforts in Congress to open the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling, and the Florida Gulf Coast might not be far behind.  But environmental lobbyists hope the crisis also could generate support for solar and wind energy, along with increased fuel efficiency in cars. Environmentalists say they're still optimistic, although some expect an even tougher fight than usual to get money and public support. Many of their adversaries are in the same position, however.  "Yes, it's true that protecting the environment is now a secondary or even tertiary issue," said Joe Browder, a Washington-based lobbyist and board member of the group Friends of the Everglades. "But so is almost everything else."

Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

 

18-Oct-01

 

08-Oct-01 Time Magazine Ad

Signs in the Everglades tell the story of fifty yeas of pollution and neglect. Deadly chemical runoff from pesticides and fertilizers used in sugar production have helped decimate native wildlife. There are 48 endangered species, 14 more threatened, and 93% of all migratory birds have been killed or driven off. The entire food chain is poisoned. But you can help by using Save Our Everglades Sugar. Grown in America, outside the Everglades, it's 100% pure cane sugar that does no harm to this fragile ecosystem. And the money from every purchase of Save Our Everglades Sugar goes to the Everglades Foundation. The choice is yours.

Copyright © 2001 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

 

05-Sept-01  

Reno Meanders Into Race for Governor of Florida

	(AP) Former Attorney General Janet Reno, at her home in a Miami suburb, became a candidate for the Florida governor's race on Tuesday.
			In Depth Campaigns

MIAMI, Sept. 4 — For months, Janet Reno sure looked like a candidate for the Florida governor's race. Today, she officially became one.

After conducting a four-month unofficial exploratory campaign for governor, Ms. Reno said simply, "I am seeking the office," in an interview today from the back porch of her home in Kendall, a suburb of Miami.

The low-key manner in which she made the announcement provided a preview of what is likely to be a campaign played without a rule book. Instead of speaking before a bank of microphones with spotlights aimed at her, Ms. Reno invited reporters to "show up" at her house for five-minute, one-on-one interviews about her decision to open a campaign fund with the state election's office as the first step in seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

Hours earlier, she released a statement confirming her intention to take on President Bush's brother Jeb when he is up for re-election next year.

"I want to build the best education system in the nation, protect the environment and stand up for our elders," Ms. Reno said in the statement. "People tell me they share my vision and are looking for strong independent leadership. That's why today I am taking my first steps in organizing my campaign for governor."

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

 

03-Sept-01  

Hunters could soon be extinct in Everglades National Park

Starting with the opening of archery season this week, rangers will mount what they call an `education campaign.'  Hunting is illegal in Everglades National Park but for the last dozen years rangers have largely ignored the sharp echo of rifles and shotguns across a swath of northeastern sawgrass.  That's because the East Everglades was really part of the park only on paper, a line on a map outlining nearly 110,000 acres of remote West Miami-Dade that Congress added to the park in 1989.  Much of the property remained in private hands, and life pretty much went on as it had for generations. Meaning hunters, banned everywhere else in the park, glided over the marsh in airboats and told tall tales in cabins hidden in the maze of jungled tree islands.  Now, with some 95 percent of the area purchased, park managers finally are ready to fully claim the East Everglades. Starting with the opening of archery season this week, rangers will mount what they call an ``education campaign'' to ease hunters outside park boundaries.

Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

Reno Is a Definite Maybe for Florida Governor Bid

	Andrew Itkoff for The New York Times Former Attorney General Janet Reno on Saturday at her home in Kendall, Fla., as she neared a decision on whether to run for governor.
			In Depth Campaigns

It is a sweltering Labor Day weekend afternoon, but Janet Reno does not seem to mind the heat. She grew up in it and still has an air-conditioner in only one room in her house here. And she does not seem to mind that her phone rarely stops ringing or that reporters and photographers are driving all over her golf-course-green lawn on what might otherwise be a lazy day in the shade.

Ms. Reno, the former United States attorney general, created this stir when she unexpectedly announced in May that she might run for governor of Florida when the president's brother, Jeb Bush, is up for re-election next year.

So far, Ms. Reno has not tipped her hand, but in an interview at her home on Saturday she suggested she might announce her decision in the next day or so.

"I've got more people to talk to in the next day or so, but I'm coming very close to a decision," she said, sitting in the screened-in back porch at her house in Kendall, a suburb of Miami, sipping diet ginger ale with a half-eaten bowl of sliced honeydew melon nearby.

For months, she has been traveling the state in her Ford Ranger on a loosely organized exploratory campaign. She has spoken to a broad spectrum of voters, including retirees, college students and victims of domestic violence, on issues like the environment, education and preventive medical care, none of which are being adequately addressed in Florida, she says.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

 

Reno Plans to Run for Florida Governor

Janet Reno plans to take the first official step Tuesday in the race for Florida governor, setting up a possible matchup between the former attorney general and the president's brother, The Associated Press has learned.  Reno will file paperwork to enable her to raise money for the gubernatorial bid, two Democratic sources said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.  Reno said Monday that she planned to announce whether she would seek the office.  ``I think you should stay tuned,'' Reno told reporters at a Labor Day picnic near her home in southwest Miami-Dade County on Monday.  Her face shaded by a wide-brimmed straw hat on a steamy afternoon, Reno said she had not ``made up my mind yet'' on the race and planned to make a few last-minute calls to supporters.  ``People want somebody who will lead with independence, with strength, who will work hard for what is important,'' Reno said.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

NY Times Editorial:  A Victory for Endangered Species

Last week's agreement between Interior Secretary Gale Norton and several conservation groups on ways to administer the Endangered Species Act more efficiently came as a pleasant surprise. However, the agreement should not obscure one basic fact: it would never have been necessary if, over the years, Congress had provided Interior with the resources it needed to enforce the act in a systematic, timely way.  Under the deal, the groups have agreed to stop suing Interior for its failure to meet legally mandated deadlines for designating "critical habitat" for eight species already listed as endangered. The department will then divert the money it is now spending on those lawsuits to the more immediate task of protecting 29 threatened species, including some that appear to be on the verge of extinction. Once a species is listed as endangered, the department can order private landowners and public agencies to take a variety of actions to help the species.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

31-August-01

Treaties May Curb Farmers' Subsidies

Every five or six years Congress argues over how to subsidize farmers. But this time around the forces against big subsidies have a new weapon: the international trade agreements the United States signed promising to reduce those payments.  For the first time in the tumultuous debate over farm policy, lawmakers trying to increase already ballooning farm subsidies could be forced to retreat because of limits required under the World Trade Organization for certain subsidies.  The trade dispute has become a major political battle within Republican ranks. Free-trading Republicans, particularly Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, are up against several influential farm- state Republicans in the House who want to keep the large payments. This summer Representative Larry Combest, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, criticized Ms. Veneman as giving in to treaty requirements, in what he called "unilateral disarmament."

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online   All rights reserved.

29-August-01

Activists: Force Glades polluters to pay cleanup

Environmental activists who convinced Florida voters five years ago to amend the state Constitution to make polluters pay to clean up the Everglades turned to the state's high court Tuesday to enforce the amendment.  Attorneys for Save Our Everglades told the Supreme Court justices they want a court hearing to determine who should be responsible for paying the costs under a 1996 constitutional amendment that says polluters in the designated Everglades agricultural area should be ``primarily responsible'' for paying the costs of the pollution.

Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Group wants Florida high court to reexamine 'polluter pays' tax

An environmental coalition Tuesday asked the Florida Supreme Court to strike down a "polluter pays" tax they say is falling on the shoulders of taxpayers who aren't part of the problem while letting big sugar companies get by cheap.  Five years after Florida voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment aimed at requiring agricultural interests to pay more to clean up the Everglades, state lawmakers have yet to put the law into effect.  Environmentalists say the 1996 amendment passed by 68 percent of voters explicitly requires that only those who pollute within the region known as the Everglades Agricultural Area, a 700,000-acre, sugar-farm-dominated region located just south of Lake Okeechobee, are required to pay.  Instead, officials continue to levy a tax on property owners throughout much of the South Florida Water Management District. The tax now raises $32 million a year targeted specifically for pollution abatement. That, they argued, is an unconstitutional application of the law.
Read more...
Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

Everglades amendment backers ask high court to allow lawsuit

Five years after voters passed a ballot measure designed to make the sugar industry pay for pollution it creates in the Everglades, the question Tuesday in the state Supreme Court was whether the constitutional amendment means anything.  Voters put the language in the Florida Constitution in 1996.  The "polluters pay" proposal requires landowners in the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee to pay the costs of cleaning up water pollution they cause.  The sugar industry has most of the region planted in sugar cane; the area also has vegetables and citrus.  The state Supreme Court said in 1997 that the constitutional amendment was not "self-executing" and could only be implemented through a statute passed by the Legislature.  But lawmakers have yet to pass a law to implement the amendment.

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

Make polluters pay, high court urged

In 1996, voters passed an Everglades cleanup amendment that the Legislature has never enforced. Now there's a lawsuit.

It has been five years since Floridians went to the polls and voted -- by a whopping 68 percent -- to force farm interests in the Everglades to pay to clean up their pollution.  The "Polluter Pays" mandate went into what seems to be the state's most ironclad document, the Florida Constitution.  But even though voters approved it in 1996, the Polluter Pays amendment has never been enforced. Why? The Legislature never enacted a law to carry it out.  Tuesday, the Florida Supreme Court took up a case filed by Everglades cleanup activists who say ordinary citizens shouldn't be paying property taxes to clean up the Everglades when the state Constitution says polluters, not homeowners, are responsible.

Copyright  © 2001 St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

Don't make taxpayers foot the bill for farmers' pollution, lawsuit says

Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1996 requiring that polluters of Florida's Everglades be made to pay the cleanup tab.  But, in reality, millions of nonpolluting taxpayers from Orlando to Key West are illegally shouldering about one-third of the $800 million cost, the Florida Supreme Court was told on Tuesday.  Attorneys for the Everglades Foundation told the justices that all they want is their day in court to prove the tax being levied on property owners in 16 counties by the South Florida Water Management District to fund the Everglades Forever Act is unconstitutional.  "It's geographically impossible for most of the taxpayers, who don't live in the Everglades Agricultural Area, to pollute," Jon Mills, a former Florida House speaker and an attorney for the environmental group, told the high court. "Does the constitutional provision mean nothing?"

Copyright  © 2001 Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

Court caught between voters and Big Sugar

What happens when the people speak and the legislature doesn't listen?  That question hovered uncomfortably over the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday as justices took up the latest skirmish between Everglades activists, water regulators and the state's largest sugar growers.  At issue is whether millions of homeowners who live in a water management district that stretches from Orlando to Key West should pay to cleanup pollution that comes from distant farms and fouls a distant treasure, the Everglades.  Echoes of a 1996 constitutional amendment that voters overwhelming approved -- and that the legislature refused to implement -- reverberated throughout the courtroom as attorneys argued the case of Barley vs. South Florida Water Management District.

Copyright  © 2001 Naples News  All rights reserved.

27-August-01

US Judge asked to hold Norton, Other Officials in Contempt

A judge is being pressed to find Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other officils in contempt for allegedly misrepresenting their efforts to fix a trust fund that squandered royalties from American Indian lands.
"Defendants have participated in a pattern and practice of deception and cover-up, repeatedly violated court orders, intimidated witnesses, destroyed ... trust documents and data, and have filed innumerable frivolous motions," the plaintiffs said Monday in the contempt request to U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth.
 

Copyright  © 2001 Wall Street Journal  All rights reserved.

 

26-August-01

Interior Tries to Fix Indian Trust Accounting System

Interior Department officials are working to fix a complex accounting system central to a $10 billion lawsuit over royalties from American Indian land that the government allegedly mismanaged, attorneys for the department said.  Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton has ordered an outside appraisal of the accounting system designed to track the Indian trust funds, department attorneys said in court filings last week.  Norton has also hired a staffer to focus specifically on the accounting system and given more authority to a trustee overseeing trust fund reform.  A court-appointed investigator slammed the $40 million accounting system this month, saying it was faulty and "may not be salvageable."  

Copyright  © 2001 Washington Post  All rights reserved.

 

22-August-01

Lawyer urges Interior misconduct probe
By Bill McAllister

 In a stunning reversal, the Interior Department's top lawyer has called for an internal investigation into whether senior Bush and Clinton administration officials have engaged in misconduct in fighting a lawsuit over Indian trust accounts.The action by newly installed Interior Solicitor William G. Myers III could pose potentially embarrassing problems for Interior Secretary Gale Norton and her top aides. Bruce Babbitt, the Clinton administration's secretary and some of his aides, also could be implicated in the investigation.

Copyright  © 2001 Denver Post  All rights reserved.

NY Times Editorial:  Retreat on Clean Air

Christie Whitman says that one of her main goals as President Bush's chief environmental officer is to streamline the Clean Air Act without diminishing its effectiveness. On the face of it, this is a laudable objective. Even Mrs. Whitman's predecessor at the Environmental Protection Agency, Carol Browner — who built a stellar record on clean air by aggressively using nearly every regulatory lever the act has to offer — was heard to complain about its complexity.  The key test of reform, however, will be whether it strengthens an important statute or weakens it in ways that please President Bush's contributors in the utility and mining industries. There are disheartening indications that the latter is what the White House has in mind. Most worrisome are reports that the administration plans to scale back if not abandon altogether an aggressive Clinton-era initiative to reduce emissions from aging coal-fired power plants. Mrs. Whitman supported the initiative when she was governor of New Jersey.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online  All rights reserved.

 

Sugar growers, farmers want to pour more pollution into Everglades

In a battle forming over the amount of phosphorus that will be allowed in the Everglades, the sugar industry is expected to push for permission to pour perhaps twice as much of the pollutant into the `Glades as scientists say is found in its pristine areas.  Phosphorus is found in unspoiled parts of the Everglades at levels below or around 10 parts per billion, say scientists from the South Florida Water Management District.  At a public meeting Thursday before state regulators, the sugar industry and other farmers are expected to argue that they should be allowed to pour 15 to 20 parts per billion, or more. Their numbers are based on findings from their own studies.  "It may sound like a very mundane and boring technical dialogue but a lot is at stake here," said Ernie Barnett, director of ecosystem projects for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. "Both sides are pretty polarized."  According to an Audubon of Florida official, if the limit goes higher than 10 parts per billion, "the Everglades dies."  The scientific analysis out there "all seems to irrevocably point to 10 parts per billion as the appropriate criterion," Charles Lee, the group's senior vice president, said.

Copyright  © 2001 Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

 

`Big sugar' gears up to defend subsidy
Consumers paying millions, report says

Florida's sugar producers, a potent force in state business and politics, are preparing to fight off another attempt to end an agricultural program that some call the sweetest subsidy of them all -- the support of sugar prices by the U.S. government. The program costs consumers of sugar, from families to food businesses, $800 million to $1.9 billion a year, according to a detailed report by the General Accounting Office issued last year. And last fall, when sugar prices plummeted, U.S. producers forfeited $430 million of raw sugar to the government rather than pay back federal loans in cash, a tab picked up by taxpayers. After Congress returns from vacation next month, a coalition of consumer, environmental and business groups -- food manufacturers seeking cheaper sugar -- will try to phase out the entire program, which includes import limits as well as price supports and keeps U.S. sugar prices two to three times higher than in other markets. The wide variance in the sugar program's estimated cost to the consumer is because no one knows how much savings a candymaker, for example, would pass on if the price of sugar dropped sharply, said Jay Cherlow, a GAO economist who worked on the report.

Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

21-August-01

An Environmental Nominee Is Opposed

Democratic critics and environmental groups are stepping up pressure to halt President Bush's nomination of Ohio's top environmental regulator to be the lead enforcer for the Environmental Protection Agency.  Critics say that the regulator, Donald Schregardus, was lax during his tenure in Ohio and that several programs for which he was responsible are under investigation by the federal agency. Mr. Schregardus also opposed lawsuits filed by the federal government during the Clinton administration against power plants, many of them in the Midwest, which emit pollution that drifts toward the Northeast. As a result, his nomination is shaping up as the latest battleground in the regional war over acid rain and other policies affecting clean air.  Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, today joined Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, in putting a "hold" on Mr. Schregardus's nomination. That effectively blocks the nomination from being voted on by the full Senate.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online   All rights reserved.


EPA Haze Plan Attracts Skepticism

The once-clear vistas in many national parks and wilderness areas are turning a hazy shade of winter from pollution traveling hundreds of miles from old, coal-fired power plants and factories.  But the Environmental Protection Agency has a plan to clear the haze plaguing some of the nation's most popular scenery. At a public hearing Tuesday, federal regulators straddled industry opposition and environmentalist alarm.  The EPA plan calls for a set of guidelines to help state air quality agencies put pollution controls on the hundreds of power plants built between 1962 and 1977.  ``Many of these facilities previously have been exempt from federal pollution control requirements under the Clean Air Act,'' Lydia Wegman, head of the EPA's Air Quality Strategies and Standards Division, told the nearly 100 people who came to testify.  ``The proposed rule does not set federal emission limits for these plants,'' Wegman said. ``States will set those limits as they implement the regional haze rule.'' The guidelines will be made final by late summer or fall 2002.

Copyright  © 2001 AP  All rights reserved.

Democrats Block Bush's EPA Enforcer Nominee

 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Two Democratic senators have effectively blocked President Bush's nominee for chief enforcement officer at the Environmental Protection Agency out of fear the administration won't pursue lawsuits against polluting businesses.  U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., placed a hold Monday on the nomination of Donald Schregardus, keeping the appointment from being voted on by the full Senate.  Schumer said he would not release the nomination until the Republican administration clarifies its role in pending lawsuits against power plants and explains its plan to improve air quality in the Northeast.  For eight years, Schregardus directed the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency after serving in the federal EPA during the administration of Bush's father.  The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved his nomination Aug. 1 over the objections of the four Democrats on the committee.  Schumer said Schregardus isn't supportive of the federal role in the acid rain lawsuits and said the nominee supported a 1996 Ohio law that grants immunity from civil action when utility companies voluntarily report violations of environmental regulations.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online   All rights reserved.

 

19-August-01

Norton Charts a Different Course for the Interior Department

On the stump, Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton was painting a picture of an Arctic wildlife refuge stocked with nearly invisible oil drilling pads, pumps, pipes and roads. She told oil and gas executives that the size of the industrial "footprint" in wildest Alaska would amount to a mere fraction of Denver International Airport, and then a few days later here in Idaho she compared the print to the much smaller Spokane airport in eastern Washington.  Out in the hallway at the second event, her newly named ambassador to the West, an energy industry lobbyist named Kit Kimball, was expressing concerns about the wolves now roaming the Rocky Mountains, and promising Western officials and business leaders that a fresh day had dawned at Interior.  Few things reveal what a change in power means so much as when someone new takes over at Interior. The secretary is the emperor of the outdoors, in charge of 436 million acres of public land, as well as the nation's leading water manager, controlling access to 31 million people. And thrown in as a sort of historical afterthought is the domain of American Indian trust lands.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online   All rights reserved.

No Greens Need Apply

While Congress and the country have been debating high-profile environmental issues, like whether to drill for oil in the Arctic, President Bush has been quietly filling key subcabinet posts with conservative activists and industry lobbyists who have spent their careers criticizing the laws they are now sworn to uphold.  These appointments should dispel any doubts about Mr. Bush's intention to weaken the strong environmental protections he inherited from the Clinton administration. Unlike his father, who reached into academia and even the environmental community for some of his appointments, Mr. Bush seems determined to return to the Reagan era, when ideologues like James Watt ran the Interior Department and most of the important regulatory jobs were filled with representatives of the businesses being regulated.

Copyright  © 2001 NY Times online   All rights reserved.

15-August-01

Everglades restoration at risk, Gov. Bush told
Environmentalist painted a bleak picture of the future of a 
$7.8 billion Everglades restoration project on Tuesday, warning that the
state is losing a race against the developers' bulldozer and skyrocketing
property values.  "We're in a development race against the train, so to 
speak," Erin Deady, an attorney with Audubon of Florida, told Gov. Jeb 
Bush and the Florida Cabinet during a marathon meeting. Instead the Cabinet 
took no formal action. [On creating a new area of critical state concern] 
However, Bush sent a few signals that gave environmentalists hope.  He 
ordered Seibert to keep a closer eye on development in restoration areas.  
"There's a lot of work to do, Mr. Seibert. I hope you were listening," Bush 
said.  Perhaps more significantly, Bush and his top administrators signaled 
for he first time their willingness to consider borrowing against an Everglades
land acquisition fund to speed portions of the project. 
Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

Letter to the editor  
Is there no agency that really will protect lake?

The Post's front-page Aug. 2 article "No slowdown to Lake O runoff pumping"
begins: "Sugar growers and water managers are opposing regulators who
question the quality of runoff water." The public should recognize that the
sugar growers and water managers are virtually one and the same, not two
separate entities. They see the lake through the same eyes; their disdain
for the lake's water quality is identical.

Now, we see that "the twins" have a third brother, that being the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection, which announced July 18 that it
would issue an order to stop the Belle Glade pumps, where the nutrient-
laden "water" is the worst. Now, the DEP won't enforce its own order
because officials "can't get the wording right." Evidently, stop is not in
their vocabulary.

The condition of the lake isn't a concern just for the few thousand of us
who pursue our recreation there. How many tourists will be lured back to
miles of algae blooms and decomposing fish?

Coastal dwellers, beware. When the lake reaches its fill of witches' brew,
the overflow will be headed for the Indian River Lagoon. This isn't
speculation -- just history repeating itself. http://gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/wednesday/opinion_5.html
Copyright  © 2001 Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.



Florida Forever land purchase OK'd for $6.5 million
(AP) -- Forever started Tuesday for fragile lands in Florida.  Gov. Jeb Bush and 
the Cabinet approved the first purchase of a parcel of environmentally sensitive 
land for preservation under the ``Florida Forever'' program.

The state has been buying land to keep it from being developed for more
than a decade under the Preservation 2000 program.  But that program expired 
last year and lawmakers replaced it with Florida Forever, which will spend $3 
billion in state money over the next decade to keep sensitive lands and water bodies 
out of development.

Bush and the Cabinet approved the purchase Tuesday of more than 2,400 acres
adjoining the Lake Wales Ridge Wildlife and Environment Area in Highlands
County.  The state will pay $6.5 million for the parcel along the western shore of
Lake Istokpoga. The land has primarily been used as a cattle ranch and a
hunting area.  The land, being sold by Silver Harbor Ranch Inc., also contains an
important archaeological site. A burial mound used by Indians about 2,000
years ago, one of the earliest known burial mounds in that part of Florida,
is on the ranch.

Evidence collected at the site shows Indians in the area used the mound
between 1 and 350 A.D. There are also at least 10 rare plant species on the
ranch, and it is home to Florida black bears, at least two bald eagle
nests, gopher tortoises, scrub jays and Florida sandhill cranes.  The property will be 
managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission. 
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/047271.htm
Copyright  © 2001 Miami Herald  All rights reserved.


Everglades land buying too slow, Bush told
Rising land prices threaten to make the $8-billion Everglades
restoration plan more costly.

Environmental advocates urged Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday to
step up efforts to buy land for the massive Everglades restoration plan,
before escalating prices doom the River of Grass.  

"We need to improve the speed of this land acquisition program," warned
Charles Lee, senior vice president of Audubon of Florida. "Everglades
restoration is either going to be real or Everglades restoration is going
to be a mirage."

Bush and the Cabinet took no formal action, although Bush acknowledged a
need for changes in the way the state handles land acquisition.

The governor used far stronger language in June, when the Cabinet split
over buying an 18-acre parcel for Everglades restoration for $44,000 an
acre, a significantly higher price than expected.

Bush was so angry then that he said his blood was boiling. The governor,
who once worked in real estate, said no one could really develop the swampy
property, but it was priced as if it could be.

He blamed local governments in South Florida, which he said were doing such
a poor job of managing their growth that they were hurting the state's
efforts to protect the Everglades.

"I just despise paying these prices because there is some kind of
underlying assumption that counties are going to change their urban service
boundaries to allow for development to occur, so we have to buy the land at
that prospective price," Bush said. "I'm going to vote no on this . . . and
it'll probably be used as a campaign ad against, you know, the crazy
governor. But this is wrong. This is absolutely wrong."

Comptroller Bob Milligan agreed, noting that every time the state pays an
outrageously high price for one parcel, it boosts the value of other
properties in the area, further driving up the price.

The Everglades plan is supposed to restore the River of Grass, as it is
called, to a semblance of its former glory, as well as provide enough water
for South Florida's population to double. When approved last year by
Congress and the Legislature, the plan's cost, which is supposed to be
shared equally by the federal and state governments, was figured at $7.8-
billion. But in recent months the estimate has crept above $8-billion, and
last month federal officials said it could wind up closer to $11-billion.

Some of the increase is tied to rising land costs. According to Audubon's
figures, more than 105,000 acres have yet to be acquired, at an estimated
cost of $1-billion. But the estimate may be too low. Audubon officials
pointed out that the plan calls for buying one 930-acre tract in Palm Beach
County at a cost of $8.5-million, yet 640 acres of the property recently
sold at auction for $13-million.

Frank Jackalone, co-chairman of the Everglades Coalition, urged Bush to
tell the state Department of Community Affairs to closely review any land-
use changes in South Florida that might harm the Everglades plan. Audubon
officials suggested floating a bond issue that would provide money
immediately for buying land.

At June's Cabinet meeting, state Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher
suggested formally declaring land related to the Everglades restoration to
be an Area of Critical State Concern. Such a move would give the state a<