News - March  2003   

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Water law change proposed
Wording grabs attention of state, county
A freshman legislator — with the help of developers — proposed a change in Florida water law that ruffled feathers across the state and in Lee County. “It was to get attention and boy did we get attention,” said James Garner, a lobbyist for the Association of Florida Community Developers Inc., which helped write the legislation. Rep. Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven, had proposed a bill that would eliminate water reservations — an emerging management tool designed to set aside water for the “protection of fish and wildlife or the public health and safety.” Lee County is seeking a reservation for the Caloosahatchee River. But Troutman’s bill is changing now that he and his entourage have the environmental community’s attention, Garner said.   
Copyright  © 2003  News Press  All rights reserved.

Students soak up lessons on water issues
A hands-on exhibit teaches children about conserving and protecting the state's water resources.
Gerard DeChristofaro marched over to two large rocks sitting on a pedestal and gave a mini-dissertation. "This is limestone from the Floridian aquifer," Gerard, 9, said as he lifted an oversized magnifying glass to give a closer look. "In some of the parts, you can see fossils. There's leaves in there, and some shells. If you look real close, it has real small holes." His fourth-grade classmates at Suncoast Elementary School, near Seven Hills in south-central Hernando County, were equally well-versed on other aspects of water conservation and environmental protection. Emily Kling, 10, walked over to an aquarium filled with sand, clay and gravel. "This is a model of the aquifer," Emily said. "We learned how the water percolates through each layer. 
Copyright  © 2003  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

                Related Links,

                Florida Department of Environmental Protection

                "Beyond Drought" Information sheet (4 pages, PDF) *

                Southwest Florida Water Management District information and education

                * pdf file (must have Acrobat Reader to open)

In the Know: Kudzu and the Everglades
Question: Ten years ago, the Naples Daily News reported that kudzu had been discovered in the Everglades and could become a major threat to plant life there. Plans to  search and eradicate kudzu vines were announced. What happened? Is there still a kudzu threat? And for that matter, how about destruction of the melaleuca trees?  — W.N. Butler/Naples Answer: "Kudzu is an exotic invasive plant," says Jonathan Taylor, a botanist with Everglades National Park in Miami, "but it is not a threat or problem within the park  boundaries at the present time." Taylor explains that kudzu does not invade areas unless it has been intentionally planted. Regarding the melaleuca, Bill Synder, forestry technician with Big Cypress National Preserve, said, "We have a handle on the melaleuca trees in the preserve."  
Copyright  © 2003  Naples News  All rights reserved.

                Related Link,

                Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council

Editorial: Sugar won't come clean
The sugar industry is trying to weaken environmental regulation on two fronts, and the meddling could hinder cleanup of the Everglades and restoration of the Indian  River Lagoon. On the state level, the board of the South Florida Water Management District, under pressure from sugar growers, recently changed wording in an Everglades  cleanup plan to allow unacceptably high levels of pollution from farms and urban areas in water sent to the Everglades. If that happens, it would thwart a 1994 law  designed to improve water quality in the troubled ecosystem. Scientists oppose the higher level, and Gov. Bush has said he agrees. The governor, however, has yet to intervene -- he appointed the water district board members -- and make sure that the lower standard survives. Two federal researchers have said that allowing the higher pollution level won't fix the Everglades. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

30-March-03

Students get the dirt on Indian artifacts dig site

Just yards from the shaded banks of Ten Mile Creek, where American Indians fished about 5,000 years ago, archaeologists focused on a swatch of land no bigger than a canoe for clues about the natives' lives. Using flat trowels to slowly strip away layers of darkly colored dirt, the scientists proved the land in western St. Lucie County — where water managers plan to build a 550-acre reservoir — is rich with history. During the past six weeks of excavation, archaeologists have found bottle-cap-sized bits of brown, sandy pottery, stone spearheads, animal bones and a small circular stone that could have been a weight for a fishing net. In preliminary digs in October, workers found the artifacts — slowing the water-quality project by 10 months, but offering the experts and local elementary school students a close-up look at what life was like in 3,000 B.C. 
Copyright  © 2003  Stuart News - TC Palm  All rights reserved.

29-March-03

Wood storks don’t like rain
Waterfowl prefer lower water levels in nesting season

As the single-engine Cessna banked sharply over Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Friday morning, Jason Lauritsen photographed then counted nesting wood storks, which looked a lot like dandruff on a green wool sweater. After about a dozen passes, he came up with a tentative number of 650 nests, down from a high of 1,000 in January. Whether the remaining nests at Corkscrew, the largest wood stork nesting colony in North America, will fledge a new generation of the endangered species depends on the weather between now and the summer wet season. “With the recent rains we’ve had, it looks like about 350 pairs have abandoned their nests,” said Lauritsen, the sanctuary’s resource manager. “We might have more abandon their nests. Some are renesting, but those that renest this late may be lost.”        
Copyright  © 2003  News-Press All rights reserved.

28-March-03

Editorial: Preserve manatee budget
The federal government continues to support manatee protections, but two Florida lawmakers have introduced legislation that would undermine protection for the endangered sea cow. A federal judge ruled last week that the Interior Department must continue creating manatee sanctuaries and designating new slow-speed zones in Florida waters. Under an order from U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan, issued in Washington, the proposal would establish three new protection areas where powerboats either would have to reduce speed or be banned. Gov. Bush, who once declared the manatee to be his favorite mammal, has opposed federal safeguards, claiming with others that slow speed zones could cause economic problems in southwest Florida. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has singled out that area, which has a high rate of boat-related manatee deaths, for special restrictions, such as more controls on dock-building.
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

Aspect of water project questioned
Activists want to know where water in reservoirs slated for Martin and St. Lucie counties will end up.
As federal scientists work to answer new questions by top officials about Everglades restoration projects on the Treasure Coast, St. Lucie River advocates say one of their own lingering concerns has yet to be addressed: Who will get all the water stored in the reservoirs planned in Martin and St. Lucie counties? The answer, local activists said, should include the water-starved Everglades and the Caloosahatchee and Loxahatchee rivers, both of which are struggling with saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico and the Jupiter Inlet. Making that clear, they said, could meet the concerns of political foes of the plans and increase support from environmental groups throughout the state. "We can't expect authorization without that part of the puzzle put together," said Kevin Henderson, executive director of the St. Lucie River Initiative. 
Copyright  © 2003  Stuart News - TC Palm  All rights reserved.

A 'rotten' law stymies fight over well
An environmental group is frustrated by a new state law that won't let it challenge a water permit.
An environmental group contends that treated waste water from the county's Zemel Road landfill may be tainting the ground water supply. But the state says the group doesn't have a legal right to challenge the reissuance of a permit for a deep-injection well, which shoots the waste water a half-mile under the dump. The reason: The group, known as the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, has only three members in the county. That wouldn't have mattered a year ago. But a state law passed last May requires environmental groups who want to challenge water permits to have at least 25 members in the county where a proposed project is located. "That is a rotten piece of legislation," said ECOSWF president Becky Ayech. 
Copyright  © 2003  Herald Tribune  All rights reserved.

27-March-03

Rules Approved to Reduce Pollutants at Power Plants
Power plants in New York State will have to sharply cut their output of pollutants blamed for acid rain, smog and other environmental ills beginning next year under rules approved yesterday by state regulators.  The regulations, which will be phased in over the next five years, are expected to reduce by tens of thousands of tons a year the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides generated by the plants across the state. Those emissions combine in the atmosphere to produce smog, while also poisoning lakes and killing fish, especially in the Adirondacks.  Gov. George E. Pataki, in announcing the rules, said that they put New York ahead of the rest of the country in protecting air quality. He said the restrictions on sulfur dioxide will be the most stringent in the nation.  Environmentalists and health experts said they were less sure. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

DIGEST: Law would require reports on water
Law would require reports on water
Democratic House members joined environmentalists Wednesday to promote a bill that would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to issue reports every six months with statistics on water being pumped in and out of underground storage wells. Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said the information the state now provides on aquifer storage and recovery wells is difficult to understand. "This is all simply about providing people with information," said Gelber, who sponsored the bill (HB 1503). "The current situation is intolerable if folks that are interested in this cannot figure out what is going on." Environmentalists have opposed the process of injecting water into the ground to save for future use, saying the water being pumped in may contaminate natural aquifers. 
Copyright  © 2003  Tallahassee Democrat / Associated Press  All rights reserved.

                Related Articles,

                March 27, 2003
                What's being pumped into the aquifer?

                March 27, 2003
                Bill Seeks Better Well Information

Bill Seeks Better Well Information
Democratic House members joined environmentalists Wednesday to promote a bill that would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to issue reports every six months with statistics on water being pumped in and out of underground storage wells.  Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said the information the state now provides on aquifer storage and recovery wells is difficult to understand: ``The current situation is intolerable if folks that are interested in this cannot figure out what is going on."  Environmentalists have opposed the process of injecting water into the ground to save for future use, saying the water being pumped in might contaminate natural aquifers.  The bill would require the state to list on its Web site the location of injection wells along with the amount of water being pumped into and out of the wells, the source of the water injected and other information. 
Copyright  © 2003  Tampa Tribune  All rights reserved.

                Related Articles,

                March 27, 2003
                What's being pumped into the aquifer?

                March 27, 2003
                DIGEST: Law would require reports on water

What's being pumped into the aquifer?
Adopting a new strategy to rekindle an old debate, environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers want to force regulators to do a better job of telling the public what's being pumped into the Floridan Aquifer, the underground drinking water supply for millions of residents.  Flanked by lobbyists for the Sierra Club, Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, rolled out a bill (HB-1503) on Wednesday that would force the Department of Environmental Protection to list all of the underground injection wells it regulates -- and the substances they pump deep underground -- in a reader-friendly format on its public Web site.  "Floridians should not have to feel that they are in an episode of Fear Factor every time they drink a glass of water," Gelber said. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

                Related Articles,

                March 27, 2003
                Bill Seeks Better Well Information

                March 27, 2003
                DIGEST: Law would require reports on water

Water committee end sours some
Members of the Lake County Water Authority’s Citizen Advisory Committee reacted in different ways Thursday to news that the all-volunteer group has been disbanded. The water authority board voted 4-3 Wednesday in favor of doing away with the group because no specific task had been assigned to it during its one-year existence. “We just didn’t utilize them,” said Larry Everly, water authority board chairman. Mike Perry, executive director of the water authority, echoed that reason. “If the board wasn’t going to use the committee it’s not fair to the members to devote their time and energy and it’s not an efficient use of staff time,” he said. But soil scientist and state-licensed geologist Greg Gensheimer said the committee wasn’t twiddling its thumbs. It had great potential and made many recommendations to the board, he said. “It’s really disappointing. We really had an opportunity to help out,” Gensheimer said. 
Copyright  © 2003  Daily Commerce  All rights reserved.

Scientists Lobby For Network of Networks

Shared access to ecological 
measurements could greatly aid 
ecologists and researchers. 
(Photo courtesy High Performance 
Wireless Research and Education 
Network)

Advances in scientific observation and measurement over the past century have provided far reaching knowledge about individual species and local ecological processes, but scientists are quick to point out that there is still far more to be discovered about how ecosystems interact and change. "Ecosystem models are more constrained by lack of accurate input data than by lack of basic understanding," said John Aber, professor at the University of New Hampshire's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space. To remedy this, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is calling for a new scientific infrastructure - a "network of networks" - that standardizes measurements, affords instant data sharing and facilitates cooperation between the nation's variety of field stations and environmental observatories. 
Copyright  © 2003  Environmental News Service - ENS All rights reserved.

                Related Link,

                For additional information about NEON, see: http://www.nsf.gov/bio/neon/start.htm

26-March-03

State budget squeezing out waterway cleanup plans
Pensacola Bay project could take funding hit
Programs to clean up Florida's lagoons, estuaries and lakes would be severely scaled back under legislative budget proposals, jeopardizing the very waterways that pump life into the state's ecotourism industry.  At risk are at least $118 million in water pollution programs currently under way to help clean up Pensacola Bay, Indian River Lagoon and Loxahatchee River.  Only the biggest environmental projects - Everglades restoration and Florida Forever, the state's land-buying program - would be spared, Rep. Jerry Paul, R-Port Charlotte, said in a Tuesday House budget briefing.  "At this time, most of the (state revenue) we had available we had to put on high-priority issues," said Paul, who chairs the House budget subcommittee that drafted the cuts. 
Copyright  © 2003  Pensacola News Journal  All rights reserved.

Press Release: Service Officer Honored for Contributions to Wildlife Conservation
Special Agent Frank Kuncir, who works in the Fish and Wildlife Services law enforcement office in Fort Myers, Florida, has received the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's 2003 Guy Bradley Award for his contributions to protecting the Nation's wildlife resources. The award, which is named after the first wildlife law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, was presented to Kuncir at the annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on March 26. Special Agent Kuncir and his Federal and State counterparts risk their lives every day to uphold wildlife protection laws in this country, said Service Director Steve Williams. We are proud that one of our agents has won this prestigious award and join the Foundation in applauding the contributions that law enforcement officers make to wildlife conservation throughout this country.  Read more . . . 
Copyright  © 2003  National Fish and Wildlife Foundation All rights reserved.

25-March-03

Editorial: Threats and Alaska Oil
To the Editor:
Re "Drilling in Alaska, a Priority for Bush, Fails in the Senate" (news article, March 20):
The threat of retaliation implied by Ted Stevens, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, to those opposed to drilling for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge echoes what is becoming an all too common theme among some Republicans: trying to silence those who disagree with them.  Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's suggestion that Senator Tom Daschle's criticism of President Bush's diplomatic failures may serve to aid our enemies is more of the same.  Such intimidation and character assassination is behavior more reminiscent of repressive dictatorships than of our democracy, whose fundamental principles of free speech and respect for others' opinions these elected officials claim they wish to export. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 20, 2003
                Drilling in Alaska, a Priority for Bush, Fails in the Senate

Big Cypress official transferring
The National Park Service announced Monday it is transferring John Donahue out of Big Cypress National Preserve, where his crackdown on off-road vehicles infuriated hunters and earned praise from environmentalists. Donahue, who was superintendent of the preserve for three years, will take over Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, one of the most heavily visited parks in the United States. He said the transfer was voluntary. But it comes at a critical time for Big Cypress, a vast stretch of wet prairies and cypress swamps that has become an environmental battleground. The preserve is working on a plan for managing hunting, off-road vehicle riding and other activities on 147,280 acres that were added to it in 1988. Hunters are demanding access to these areas, known as the Addition Lands. But environmentalists are pushing to protect some areas from rifles and swamp buggies. 
Copyright  © 2003  Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

Cabinet orders negotiations for Miccosukee Everglades land
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet ordered the Department of Environmental Protection to try to negotiate a land swap with the Miccosukee Indian tribe Tuesday instead of seizing their Everglades property through condemnation. Department Secretary David Struhs was told to proceed with condemnation of the 805 acres in Golden Gate Estates South, southeast of Naples, only if good-faith negotiations fail. The department had recommended condemnation of the property, which is needed for the Everglades restoration project. The agency has said the tribe refused offers to buy it for well above its appraised price. But Dione Carroll, the tribe's general counsel, told the Cabinet the land had cultural significance to the Miccosukees and was used for gathering medicinal herbs and palm fronds used for building dwellings. ``Selling culturally sensitive land is anathema to the tribe,'' Carroll said. 
Copyright  © 2003  Sun-Sentinel / Associated Press  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 18, 2003
                Letter-writing helps vet save home: Florida landowner given another reprieve from eminent domain

24-March-03

Editorial: Let public keep control over the public's water
A bad bill making its way through the Florida House would jeopardize Everglades restoration and lead to a a terrible idea -- private ownership of the state's public water supply. Rep. Baxter Troutman, R-Winter Haven, admits that developers wrote the main parts of House Bill 1005. According to published reports, Mr. Troutman, a grandson of citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin Jr. and a cousin of Katherine Harris, asked lobbyists to explain it to a House committee last week. That's bad, but it still isn't as bad as the bill. His legislation would kill part of a 1972 law that allows water to be "reserved" to protect fish and wildlife or for public health and safety. Developers want to substitute language that would allow reserving water for Everglades restoration -- but also for flood control, water supply and other growth-related needs. Developers and utilities and others would have a right to water that has been reserved to protect the environment. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

Commentary: Troutman Defends His Comments in Article
Freshman state Rep. Baxter Troutman was madder than a Chihuahua in a boot factory testing room. Troutman filed a bill that would take away the state control on ground water reserves during some water emergencies. Troutman says it would be a very rare occasion when that would be necessary.  The bill, which is opposed by environmentalists and the state Department of Environmental Protection, passed a committee hearing unanimously.  The St. Petersburg Times reported that Troutman, R-Winter Haven, "repeatedly" deferred to a lobbyist for developers when other committee members asked him questions about the bill. The Ledger ran the Times' story, and Troutman angrily called editors, the publisher and a kindly, but grizzled political reporter. "To say I did not know anything about the bill is a lie," Troutman said. "I asked the person who has a knowledge of the 10-year evolution of this bill to answer highly technical questions for the committee. 
Copyright  © 2003  The Ledger  All rights reserved.

Editorial: A Water Bill Lawmakers Should Quickly Deep-Six
Credit Rep. Baxter Troutman for the most shameless display of toadying to special interest at the expense of the public during this legislative session. The Winter Haven Republican is pushing a measure that would prohibit state agencies from managing water to sustain fish and wildlife.  The scheme was cooked up by development interests who fear that preserving Florida's flora and fauna might slow down the bulldozers by limiting the amount of water that would go to residential and commercial development. Troutman could not even explain his bill. He had to have Jim Garner, a lobbyist for such major developers as St. Joe Corp., describe how it would stop water districts from reserving water for fish and wildlife and the public safety. Water is not being husbanded for fish and wildlife at the expense of development - as a quick glance at the state countryside will confirm.
Copyright  © 2003  Tampa Tribune  All rights reserved.

23-March-03

Splendor in the Glades Artists thrive in year-old park program

 
Frank DuVal, 57, of Frederick, Md., painted 
this 'Brown Pelican' as part of the artists-in-
residence program. 
COURTESY EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK

A swirl of inky water near mangroves, a rod suddenly slicing a happy arc and, at daylong last, the fishless curse of Frank DuVal is broken. A spotted sea trout soon flops in the net. It's the moment when the typical Everglades visitor poses a predictable question: Can I eat that? But DuVal studies the fat fish shimmering silvery in the sun and asks, ``Can I sketch that?'' He may fumble with fishing gear but, pen and drawing pad in hand, DuVal is an artist. Literally and officially. He's an ''artist in residence'' at Everglades National Park. The program, run on pennies and passion, has been a boon to participants and park alike. For DuVal and poet Roger Mitchell, the eighth and ninth artists in the year-old program, the park provides immersion in an exotic world and a rare escape from the real one.
Copyright  © 2003  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Trees in Haiti Fall Victim to Poverty of the People
In a musty shop near the capital's dilapidated cemetery, Josue Termidor takes a rasp, gently sanding a coffin made of avocado tree planks. A decade ago, the coffin would have been carved from heavy mahogany.  "All the good wood is gone," says Mr. Termidor, 32, his fingernails caked with putty used to seal the brittle wood. "It's got harder to make a living, and the lack of wood makes families disappointed and the dead angry."  Once blanketed by lush forests, Haiti is now nearly 90 percent deforested. Competing against a demand that has far exceeded supply, the Caribbean nation loses more than 30 million trees a year to provide wood, fuel and work to a desperate population.  "The peasants cutting down the trees make even less," added Mr. Termidor, flanked by a metallic mauve "tête-boeuf" or first-class coffin. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

For Town, Water Is a Fighting Word
As its name suggests, this mountain hamlet more than 5,000 feet above the desert floor near Palm Springs is endowed with many gifts of nature: centuries-old pines, rare and endangered species, bucolic lakes and stunning vistas.  But it is what lies beneath that has taken center stage recently: a battle is being waged over spring water and whether it is a commodity to sell or a resource to protect.  For Paul Black, a retiree whose Idyllwild Mountain Spring Water Works Inc. has been selling water to bottlers from his property here for nearly seven years, the issue is one of practicality.  "I see a very effective use of the water," said Mr. Black, who Riverside County officials estimate is taking 28,000 gallons of it a day from his parcel of slightly more than an acre. "It's safe, clean drinking water. Would you let it go, or would you do something with it?" 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

Opinion: The Missing Energy Strategy
The Senate struck a blow for the environment and for common sense last week, defeating President Bush's second attempt in less than a year to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. Credit goes to the Democrats, who mainly held firm in a close 52-to-48 vote, and to a small, sturdy group of moderate Republicans, which now includes Norm Coleman, a Minnesota freshman who wisely chose not to renege on his campaign promise to protect the refuge despite an aggressive sales pitch from senior Republicans and the White House.  The pitch included the usual hyperbole from the Alaska delegation, which typically inflates official estimates of economically recoverable oil in the refuge by a factor of four. It also included a new but equally spurious argument minted for the occasion, namely that rising gas prices and the war in Iraq made drilling more urgent than ever. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

22-March-03

Water district's top attorney resigns.
The South Florida Water Management District's top lawyer resigned Friday -- a move he called "kind of that middle-age thing."  "I'm at a point in my life right now where I'm ready for new and different challenges," said general counsel John Fumero, who turned 40 last summer. "I've literally and figuratively grown up at the district."  He announced he will step down May 30 after 3 1/2 years as general counsel and 15 years working for the district. He said he hasn't decided what his next job will be, although he plans to stay active in South Florida environmental and water issues.  Fumero, who lives in Boca Raton, earns $145,933 a year. He's also due to receive a still-to-be-determined sum for a total of 1,706 hours of unused sick leave and vacation.  As general counsel, Fumero is the district's highest-ranking Hispanic employee, and one of a handful of executives who work directly for its governor-appointed board. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

Bird Man of New Jersey

Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
New Jersey Audubon Society's 
paid birdwatcher conducting the 
spring count of migrating birds 
along the Atlantic flyway from 
his "hawk" platform at the very 
tip of the peninsula.

To the untrained eye, it was just a speck coming out of the western sky riding the thermals out over Raritan Bay.  To Dan Hegarty, the dihedral angle of the wings and the flying attitude — smoothly soaring as opposed to kiting as it sought to save energy — told him that it was a red-shouldered hawk migrating north. It was in the first wave of birds passing by the narrow finger of the Sandy Hook peninsula on its way up the Atlantic Flyway.  Mr. Hegarty, 34, is the New Jersey Audubon Society's only paid bird counter stationed here. He spends his days atop a large platform scanning the skies with his practiced eyes and a powerful telescope and binoculars to count the migrating birds, particularly the raptors.  It can be lonely work perched above the windy March desolation of the ocean shoreline. The scrubby barrier dunes dotted with freshwater ponds and low growing shrubs merge into uplands with locust and hackberry. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

Opinion: Invoking War to Ease Rules
Invoking War to Ease Rules
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has begun a campaign it calls, portentously, "Operation End Extremism." The purpose is to expose "the increasing burden U.S. soldiers face on military training bases because of irrational enforcement of environmental laws." The whole thing might be dismissed as another ideological stunt from the committee's reactionary chairman, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, were it not for the fact that the Pentagon is trying to do the same thing. With White House backing, the Defense Department has asked Congress to approve a program it calls the "Readiness and Range Preservation Initiative," which would broadly exempt military bases and some operations from environmental regulation. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

21-March-03

Swiftmud Candidate Process Doubted
Southwest Florida Water Management District officials are poised to pick a new executive director next Tuesday amid questions about the selection process. The questions have been coming from Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs, who has questioned whether the 11-member Governing Board searched widely enough for a new head for the agency. Swiftmud has jurisdiction over a 16-county area that includes most of Polk County and some of the most water-strapped areas in Florida. The two finalists out of 11 applicants are Interim Executive Director Gene Heath and Dave Moore, deputy executive director for resource management and development. One of them will replace "Sonny" Vergara, who resigned in January. "The narrowing down happened very quickly," said Struhs' spokeswoman Deena Wells. "Our interest was in having a thorough search internally and externally." 
Copyright  © 2003  The Ledger  All rights reserved.

An Inexhaustible Energy to Protect the Environment
The danger is growing, and if it is left unchecked, say those who demand the use of force, it will be only a matter of time before someone is attacked.  This is New Jersey, and the danger is from black bears that are increasingly intruding into urban areas. The State Fish and Game Council, if it has its way, will hand out 10,000 licenses so hunters can tromp through the cold in December to shoot the 2,000 to 3,000 animals that have grown from a population of about 100 over the last 30 years.  At the center of this tussle and every other contentious issue that involves the environment and wildlife in New Jersey is the state's combative commissioner of environmental protection, Bradley M. Campbell.  The commissioner, however, has not yet said whether he will accept the Game Council's recommendation and allow the bear shoot to go forward. "The bears," he said one recent morning in his Lambertville row house, "are a small part of a much larger problem I face." 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

Business: Fuel Economy Regulations Could be Revised
The Bush administration is considering changes to fuel economy regulations that would encourage manufacturers to offer more large cars, station wagons and smaller sport utility vehicles that are built more like cars.  The idea behind the changes is that such vehicles are safer than both small cars and sport utility vehicles and pickups, and that if more people drove them, fewer people would die in crashes. Producing more such vehicles and fewer very small or very large vehicles would reduce the increasing disparity among American vehicles, both in weight and how high they ride.  Because they ride so high, sport utility vehicles and pickups pose more dangers to drivers of small cars than large cars do. They are also more dangerous for their own occupants because of their increased rollover risk.  But the idea is opposed by environmentalists and has already drawn a sharply worded protest from the United Automobile Workers union.   
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

Searching for scale
Crocodiles are for pansy Australians, give us nine-foot-long, goat-eating pythons
The big-shouldered bald man with the inscrutable face plops a plastic one-gallon jug on the wooden counter and says, ``Here's the answer to your question. Roadkill. Happened about eight weeks ago, on a Monday. I cleaned it and put the skin in here to cure. It was 9-feet-5-inches long.'' We're standing in a slightly cramped wooden office, store and nature exhibit at the Trail Lakes Campground on U.S. 41, about 70 miles west of Miami and 30 miles east of Naples in the part of the Everglades where city boys are eyed as carefully as cobras. Doing the eyeing here are three men: a local buck with the beard, cap, jeans and boots that make the perfect uniform for someone surrounded by walls adorned with Confederate flags; Jack Shealy, who co-owns the campground with his brother David; and Rick Scholle (pronounced ``sholly''), the animal curator at Trail Lakes who has just placed a plastic jug containing a gutted snake on the wooden counter.   
Copyright  © 2003  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Before war, there was sand
Sand is one of the Earth's great elementals, older than the human race. American and Iraqi troops will fight atop the crushy, powdery, granular, crystalline, silicon-based substance in desert terrain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They will live on, and breathe in, sand. Sand will be mixed in their breakfasts. Sand will absorb all the spilled blood and oil that flows from this war. Sand is "a term popularly applied to loose, unconsolidated accumulations of detrital sediment consisting essentially of rounded grains of quartz," according to Chambers's Technical Dictionary, published in 1961.  Nearly all of Florida is sand, and our original beaches are made of powdered granite, washed down from the Piedmont Plateau by oceanic action in the Jurassic Period, 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs still believed they had a chance at survival. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 20, 2003
                Some oil fields begin to burn

20-March-03

Changes to Everglades cleanup plan criticized
Water managers' changes to an Everglades cleanup plan have drawn rebukes from two federal science consultants, who say the alterations "create grave doubts" that pollution will ever be removed. The consultants, Massachusetts environmental engineer William Walker Jr. and Michigan wetlands expert Robert Kadlec, added to an already loud chorus of objections from environmentalists denouncing the changes by the South Florida Water Management District. District board member Mike Collins called the environmentalists' criticism misinformed and largely the product of an Audubon of Florida lobbying campaign. The accusations "are being made by people who haven't read what's in the plan," said Collins, an Islamorada fishing guide who proposed the changes last week. He said he hadn't seen Walker and Kadlec's letter and couldn't comment on it. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

Bill Would Alter Water Oversight
Developers and sewer utilities are pushing a bill that would radically alter how water is managed in Florida as well as reserve water generated by the Everglades restoration project for new housing and commercial development. Proponents of House Bill 1005 say they are worried that agencies such as the state Department of Environmental Protection and water management districts will reserve water for fish and wildlife, leaving cities and economic development scrambling for what's left. ``What we're talking about is jobs in an economy that's built - whether for good or bad - on growth,'' said Jim Garner, a lobbyist for large developers such as WCI and St. Joe Corp. ``Take away water ... we may be out of business and not be able to build anything.'' The bill would scrap state regulations that allow water management districts to reserve water for fish and wildlife and for public safety. 
Copyright  © 2003  Tampa Tribune  All rights reserved.

Developers win early round on water bill
Developers scored an early victory Wednesday, pushing a measure through a House panel that environmentalists warned could turn the clock back more than 30 years in Florida's struggle to preserve water for conservation. Defending a measure (HB 1005) he acknowledged was largely written by the Association of Florida Community Developers, freshman Republican Baxter Troutman of Winter Haven said the measure was necessary to protect Florida's ability to continue to grow. The bill erases a 1972 provision of the Florida water code that allows regulators to deny permits if they think development threatens wildlife and other natural systems. The provision has been used only once, in 1994, to protect Paynes Prairie Preserve near Gainesville.  But as growth puts continuing pressure on Florida's dwindling drinking water supplies, water managers and environmentalists say the important tool is necessary to protect future preserves and restoration projects. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

Whose water is this bill carrying?
A freshman lawmaker sponsors it. He defers to a lobbyist to explain it.
A freshman lawmaker was so unfamiliar with his own bill Wednesday that he couldn't answer any questions posed by a legislative committee. So he turned to someone he said was the expert: a lobbyist for the state's biggest developers. The lobbyist, Jim Garner of the Association of Florida Community Developers, helped write the bill for Rep. Baxter Troutman, a Winter Park Republican elected last year. It's not unusual for lobbyists to write legislation, but it is unusual for a lawmaker to admit that a lobbyist knew more about a bill he's sponsoring. "I'll have to defer to Jim Garner," Troutman repeatedly told committee members. Garner was happy to oblige.  Troutman's bill (HB 1005) is opposed by environmentalists and the state Department of Environmental Protection. 
Copyright  © 2003  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

Broward organizations lobby state legislators
Mayor Becky Tooley of Coconut Creek leaned across the conference table in a senator's office and started arguing the state's need for video lottery machines. It was the beginning of a lobbying effort that is one of her main reasons for being in the state capital this week.  The senator, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who is Senate president pro tempore and a member of the GOP Senate leadership, had set aside five minutes for Tooley and other Coconut Creek officials.  In little slices of time -- five minutes with this legislator, 10 minutes with that one -- 400 political, business and civic leaders were making the rounds in Tallahassee this week. The annual orgy of lobbying for Broward County's needs is called Broward Days. De la Portilla, R-Miami, wanted to hear about Coconut Creek's experience with video slot machines, which some think is an easy way to raise $1.5 billion for the beleaguered state budget. 
Copyright  © 2003  Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                May 11, 2002
                New rules create unhappy campers

Some oil fields begin to burn

Ruins of 1991 war: Abdullah Alkhubaizi 
of the Kuwait Information Ministry walks 
through a charred oil field March 12.

During the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq spilled 6 million to 8 million barrels of oil into the Persian Gulf and set afire almost 700 Kuwaiti oil wells, there were widespread predictions of a worldwide environmental disaster. "If hell had a national park, it would be those burning oil fires," said William K. Reilly, who was then the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. In some respects, the fears proved overly pessimistic. The huge plumes of black smoke never went high enough in the atmosphere to create the "nuclear winter" some people projected. And though damage to marine environments and species was extensive, oil levels in the sea and populations of some birds and fish returned relatively quickly to pre-war levels. 
Copyright  © 2003  USA Today  All rights reserved.

                Related Links,

                March 21, 2003
                Before war, there was sand

Drilling in Alaska, a Priority for Bush, Fails in the Senate

Senator Barbara Boxer, a leading opponent 
of drilling in the Arctic refuge, celebrated 
the chamber's 52-to-48 vote against it, 
on Wednesday.
Doug Mills/The New York Times

The Senate narrowly voted against drilling for oil in the Alaskan wildlife refuge today, dealing a crippling blow to the central element of the Bush administration's energy plan.  The vote, 52 to 48, came after the hardest-fought lobbying campaign yet in the Congressional session, setting environmental groups, who said oil production would destroy an unspoiled wilderness, against Alaskan business interests, who said the oil was necessary for jobs and energy independence. Until the final moments, neither side was certain of victory, and the decision came down to two Republicans — Senators Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Gordon H. Smith of Oregon — whose opposition to drilling was not final until the floor vote. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

                Related Articles,

                March 19, 2003
                Senate Rejects Oil Drilling in Alaskan Refuge

                March 19, 2003
                How Senators Voted on Drilling in Alaska

                March 25, 2003
                Editorial: Threats and Alaska Oil

19-March-03

Seminole Tribe gives Billie the boot
James E. Billie, suspended chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, was ousted from his position Tuesday morning by a unanimous vote of the remaining four Tribal Council members -- the first time a chairman has been removed in tribe history. Gone is his $300,000-plus annual salary and control of the tribe and its $300 million a year gaming empire. But tribal elections are set for May, and Billie said he will run for chairman. Just under 100 tribal members attended the brief meeting, closed to outsiders. Last Thursday, Billie defended himself against misconduct charges brought by the Tribal Council. Last month, Seminole tribal leaders took steps to permanently remove Billie, the tribe's controversial, charismatic chairman. He had been suspended for the past 22 months. Robert Saunooke, Billie's attorney, said the Seminole tribe has been divided even further. 
Copyright  © 2003  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Federal judge orders continuation of manatee protection
The Interior Department must continue creating new protections for the Florida manatee, including slow speed zones in the Caloosahatchee River, a federal judge has ruled. Last year, 95 manatees were killed by boats in Florida waters, a record in the state, and that is one reason environmental groups, led by Florida's Save the Manatee Club, have pursued federal help. The Interior Department is in the process of designating new slow-speed zones for Florida waterways, including the Caloosahatchee, and manatee sanctuaries. Such steps will continue under an order issued Tuesday in Washington by U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan approving an agreement between the Interior Department and the coalition of environmental groups.  Sullivan also withdrew an order threatening Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other agency officials with contempt of court for failing to honor a 3-year-old agreement with environmentalists to protect Florida manatees. 
Copyright  © 2003  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

Two endangered Miami Blue butterflies may give rise to captive colony

Endangered
The Miami Blue, found only !in the Florida 
Keys, is the size of a quarter.

Offering hope for a species on the edge of extinction, scientists said Tuesday that they have created the very first captive-bred population of Miami Blue butterflies. Biologists at the University of Florida produced a male and a female butterfly last Friday from eggs collected at Bahia Honda State Park in the Lower Keys, the site of the only known population of the endangered butterflies. They hope the two butterflies will form the beginning of a captive colony that could serve as insurance against extinction and a source of recruits for new populations in the wild. "We hope, if everything goes well, to have hundreds of Miami Blues in captivity," said Jaret Daniels, assistant director of the university's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera Research. "It's primarily a reservoir to hopefully re-establish in the Keys within the historic range of the butterfly. 
Copyright  © 2003  Sun-Sentinel  All rights reserved.

                Related Link,

                Listen: University of Florida researcher Jaret Daniels talks about a 
                laboratory hatching of the endangered Miami Blue butterfly.

Collier may revise rules about construction on coastal parcel
Collier County officials are poised to revise a land-use formula that for years has allowed developers to overstuff dwelling units on coastal parcels. A proposed change to the county's growth management plan would prevent a scenario like this: A project site has 80 acres of saltwater wetlands, and 40 acres of solid, construction-worthy property. The developer can use the 120 acres to determine density — or the number of housing units per acre — even though building on the wetlands would be impossible. That means the developer could place all the units allowed for 120 units on 40 acres. Some county commissioners are ready to change that, as early as this summer. "We're in the process of reshaping the land development code to give us better control over growth," Collier Commissioner Fred Coyle said. "You can't use a road on a property to figure density because you can't build there. The same thing is true of land that is submerged." 
Copyright  © 2003  Naples News  All rights reserved.

How Senators Voted on Drilling in Alaska
Following is the roll call by which the Senate voted 52 to 48 today against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. A yes vote was a vote to remove the drilling provision from the budget resolution. A no vote was a vote to keep it in. Voting yes were 43 Democrats, 8 Republicans and an independent. Voting no were 5 Democrats and 43 Republicans.
DEMOCRATS YES
Baucus, Mont.; Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Bingaman, N.M.; Boxer, Calif.; Byrd, W.Va.; Cantwell, Wash.; Carper, Del.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Corzine, N.J.; Daschle, S.D.; Dayton, Minn.; Dodd, Conn.; Dorgan, N.D.; Durbin, Ill.; Edwards, N.C.; Feingold, Wis.; Feinstein, Calif.; Graham, Fla.; Harkin, Iowa; Hollings, S.C.; Johnson, S.D.; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Kohl, Wis.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.;
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

                Related Articles,

                March 19, 2003
                Drilling in Alaska, a Priority for Bush, Fails in the Senate

                March 19, 2003
                Senate Rejects Oil Drilling in Alaskan Refuge

Senate Rejects Oil Drilling in Alaskan Refuge
The Senate rejected the keystone of President Bush's energy plan this afternoon, narrowly defeating a proposal to begin oil drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge.  The vote, 52 to 48 against opening the refuge to drilling, was largely along party lines. The result had been expected, since Republican vote-counters had concluded on Monday that they did not have a majority. But the result was nevertheless a stinging defeat for Mr. Bush.  Mr. Bush came into office vowing to reverse President Bill Clinton's refusal to permit drilling in the refuge. The president has argued that the United States must free itself from dependence on foreign oil. Mr. Bush and his allies in the Senate had hoped that rising oil and gasoline prices and the threat of war with Iraq — now all but certain — would lend momentum to their cause.  Mr. Bush has had wide support from oil companies and Alaska's powerful Congressional delegation. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

                Related Articles,

                March 19, 2003
                Drilling in Alaska, a Priority for Bush, Fails in the Senate

                March 19, 2003
                How Senators Voted on Drilling in Alaska

18-March-03

RURAL CLEANSING: Letter-writing helps vet save home: Florida landowner given another reprieve from eminent domain
Disabled veteran Jesse Hardy and his neighbor George Miller won a second reprieve last week in their ongoing battle to save their homes and  land when Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet again voted unanimously not to approve the use of eminent domain to acquire the properties. Cabinet members on Thursday told Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs to return to the negotiation table with better offers. According to the Naples Daily News, these might include buying the properties outright, paying all moving and legal fees, or allowing the two to remain until the area is actually flooded, which wouldn't take place until 2006, if then. No deadline was set for coming to an agreement. 
Copyright  © 2003  WorldNet Daily All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 25, 2003
                Cabinet orders negotiations for Miccosukee Everglades land

                Related Links,

                Veteran still fighting for his home

                Disabled vet's home safe for now

                Disabled vet fights for home

                Multi-state convoys converge in Florida

                Commentary:

                Get rid of the people!

                Senators steal Florida land

Panther recovery studies under way
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating sites in seven southern states, including the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on the Florida-Georgia border, for potential reintroduction of the endangered Florida panther. The site selection study, part of the comprehensive Florida Panther Recovery Plan, is still in its early stages, and final recommendations aren't expected until June. But based of conversations with project leaders and a review of draft site maps, a number of key locations in the South - including the Okefenokee, parts of the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Georgia and the Ozarks in Arkansas - have emerged as possible locations for long-term panther recovery efforts. "There are a couple of draft maps that the research team are working with," said John Kasbohm, a biologist with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service in Jacksonville and leader of the recovery team. 
Copyright  © 2003 Gainesville Sun All rights reserved.

                Related Links,

                Florida Panther Multi-species Recovery Plan - Implementation

                Comprehensive Conservation Plan

Letter to the editor: State working hard to get best value on land deals
The Post's recent editorial "Overpay for land now, or pay even more later" (Feb. 26) draws attention to the need to move ahead with land purchases for Everglades restoration, although it suggests that the state is overpaying for that land. It is true that the state operates within a "seller's market," not only because our purchasing plans are public but also because they are so specific. We are seeking to acquire those specific parcels necessary to restore the Everglades. It is this lack of flexibility that puts the state in such a position. Nevertheless, we are committed to securing the best deal possible for Florida's taxpayers. In fact, Gov. Bush and the Cabinet this month convened a conservation roundtable to ensure that the state's land acquisition program is making wise and effective investments. More progress has been made in the past four years toward restoring the "River of Grass" than in the entire preceding decade. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                February 26, 2003
                Editorial: Overpay for land now, or pay even more later

17-March-03

Editorial: Gov. Bush must protect Everglades standard
Gov. Bush and his environmental protection chief must move swiftly to affirm their support for low pollution levels in the Everglades. The governor also must exert his influence over South Florida Water Management District Board members -- all people he appointed -- to stop an end run that could put the entire Everglades restoration in jeopardy. The governor and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs so far have steadfastly upheld limiting the amount of phosphorus that will be allowed in water sent to the Everglades to a low 10 parts per billion. Scientific studies support their position. Higher levels of phosphorus --found in manure, fertilizer, urban runoff and muck throw the delicate Everglades ecosystem off balance. Sugar industry representatives have just as consistently pushed for a higher standard of 15 parts per billion. 
Copyright  © 2003  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

This day in Tallahassee 
Everglades Money
The state has spent all of the money from its Save Our Everglades land-purchase trust fund and is looking for ways to keep the program going until the resolution of lawsuits that are tying up the issuance of additional bonds. "We are now out of money," Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs told the Joint Committee on the Everglades. Struhs said that Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet want the Legislature to borrow $300 million being used as collateral for exisitng bonds and use it to continue the acquisition program. He said borrowed money would  be replaced with a surety bond. 
Copyright  © 2003  Wilmington Star All rights reserved.

Letter to the editor: State must give tribes dignity of self-government
It's time for the Florida Legislature to right a wrong inflicted on the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida more than 40 years ago. It happened during a disgraceful period when the federal government attempted to terminate its jurisdiction over Indian tribes. The tribe is seeking approval of a bill that will clarify in state law our right to have exclusive federal jurisdiction on our reservations in the Florida Everglades. Our bill would treat the Miccosukee reservations as other Indian reservations are treated in a vast majority of the states. It will clarify once and for all that federal, not state courts, will try criminal offenses committed on our reservations. The bill will bring Florida into conformance with 44 other states that have acknowledged federal jurisdiction over Indian tribes. It will also remove a vestige of the government's disgraceful - and long since repudiated - termination policy that attempted to eliminate Indian tribes and their reservations. 
Copyright  © 2003  Tallahassee Democrat / Associated Press  All rights reserved.

International: A Province Is Dying of Thirst, and Cries Robbery
Millions of people in southeastern Pakistan are seething with anger and despair — and not over the American threat to attack Iraq, the plight of fellow Muslims in Kashmir or the political role of the mullahs.  The life-and-death matter that has provoked hundreds of irate demonstrations in Sind Province in the last three years is water. More precisely, what farmers and politicians alike here charge is that "water robbery" has been committed by Punjab, the more powerful Pakistani province upstream.  "Punjab isn't giving us the water we are owed and our lives are being destroyed," said Muhammad Usman, a 40-year-old father of 10, who has received enough water this year to plant only one of his 50 acres. To keep his family alive he has opened a tea hut along the roadside, where he earns less than a dollar a day. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

Letter: Conserving Wetlands
To the Editor:
It is laudable when the federal government joins private efforts to restore and protect wetlands ("There's More Than One Way to Protect Wetlands," by Gale Norton and Ann Veneman, Op-Ed, March 12). But private initiatives are likely to continue without federal help.  What is needed from the Interior Department, which Ms. Norton heads, and the Agriculture Department, headed by Ms. Veneman, is strict enforcement of existing regulations, vigorous pursuit of violators and resistance to further loss of wetlands to developers and farmers, actions only the federal government can take.  Unless conservation laws are enforced, supporting private conservation efforts is an empty and suspect gesture. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 12, 2003
                Opinion: There's More Than One Way to Protect Wetlands

Rare Arizona Owl (All 7 Inches of It) Is in Habitat Furor

The pygmy owl, an endangered 
species, has lost some land that 
was designated as critical habitat 
in northwest Tucson.
Chris Richards for The New York Times

At last count, the greater Tucson area was home to about 900,000 people and 18 pygmy owls. Under federal law, that ratio is a mismatch.  To protect the owls, an endangered species, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in November that 1.2 million acres in and around the city be set aside as "critical habitat" for the birds, or about 67,000 acres per owl. The designation, issued under a court order, imposes obstacles to development, so developers in this fast-growing community are fighting back, calling it patently unfair.  "When you come right down to it, this is about land that would be lying fallow for no particular good reason, other than that the environmentalists want to have it that way," said Alan Lurie, the executive director of the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. 
Copyright  © 2003  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

Global Water Conference Opens in Japan 
The world's biggest international water conference began Sunday with international financiers and small-scale project leaders at odds over how to finance water projects for the poor.  Some 10,000 ministers, scientists and international financiers from 165 nations are debating how to halve the number of people without access to water by 2015.  The United Nations has said that the world's water crises can be solved if rich, developed nations devote about $100 billion more than the $80 billion a year currently spent on developing countries.  But in a panel discussion at the forum, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute said an extra $10 billion a year -- spread out among a multitude of small projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia -- would suffice.  "The money is out there. But money for water areas is currently misspent,'' said Gleick, president of the Oakland, Calif.-based think tank. 
Copyright  © 2003  AP  All rights reserved.

                Related Links,

                World Water Forum

                Everglades collection site page on forum

16-March-03

State seeks permit to dump polluted water in Gulf of Mexico
State officials are seeking an emergency federal permit to dump millions of gallons of polluted water from a bankrupt phosphate plant into the Gulf of Mexico.  The state inherited the wastewater problem when Mulberry Phosphate went bankrupt two years ago, giving the Department of Environmental Protection just 48 hours notice before abandoning its plants at Port Manatee and in Mulberry.  At the port, a giant earthen dam is in danger of spilling the acidic water into Tampa Bay. Heavy rain over the last two years has filled the diked pond so high that state regulations fear it could burst in a hurricane and flood U.S. Highway 41, a key evacuation route.  "If we have a failure of the dike system ... pretty much anything it comes in contact with would be killed in that part of Tampa Bay," Allan Bedwell, DEP deputy secretary for regulatory programs, said Friday. 
Copyright  © 2003  Naples News  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 15, 2003
                To spare bay, state may dump in gulf

                Related Links,

                DEP, CARGILL AGREE TO LONG-TERM SOLUTION TO MULBERRY 
                PHOSPHATE’S ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS - News Release, 5/7/02
                Questions & Answers

                Damage Cases and Environmental Releases from
                Mines and Mineral Processing Plants *
                U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1997

                Mulberry Phosphate Museum

                * pdf file (must have Acrobat Reader to open)

Marine rescuers, fisheries service at odds
In attempt to help one sea creature, rescuers may have disrupted the habitat of another mammal, Fish and Wildlife officials fear.  Marine Mammal Conservancy members took a 12-foot pygmy sperm whale to a Key Largo canal, after it beached itself off the coast of Islamorada. For several weeks, rescuers had the canal fenced off so they could nurse the animal.  The fence prevented two manatees from swimming up the canal toward a fresh water spring, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers said.  Fish and Wildlife officers want to prevent this from happening in the future.  Marine Mammal Conservancy members are working with National Marine Fisheries Service officials to come up with a solution.  Fisheries officials want conservancy members to set up a plastic "pop-up" pool to house marine life while they are rehabilitated, National Marine Fisheries stranding coordinator Blair Mase said. 
Copyright  © 2003  Keys News / Key West Citizen  All rights reserved.

15-March-03

To spare bay, state may dump in gulf
Florida wants to dispose of treated phosphate-polluted water to prevent a spill in Tampa Bay.
Hoping to avert an environmental catastrophe, state officials want to take the unprecedented step of removing millions of gallons of polluted water from an aging phosphate plant and dumping it into the Gulf of Mexico.  The treated wastewater would be loaded into large barges, then dribbled into the gulf.  The dumping could begin as close as 50 miles off St. Pete Beach, a top official of Gov. Jeb Bush's administration told state legislators on Friday.  State officials say they would remove most of the pollution from the water and it would not threaten people or marine creatures.  But federal officials want more evidence before they grant Florida's request for a little-used emergency permit for ocean dumping.  A top state environmental official called it a last-ditch solution to a "rapidly deteriorating situation." 
Copyright  © 2003  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

                Related Article,

                March 16, 2003
                State seeks permit to dump polluted water in Gulf of Mexico

                Related Links,

                DEP, CARGILL AGREE TO LONG-TERM SOLUTION TO MULBERRY 
                PHOSPHATE’S ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS - News Release, 5/7/02
                Questions & Answers

                Damage Cases and Environmental Releases from
                Mines and Mineral Processing Plants *
                U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1997

                Mulberry Phosphate Museum

                * pdf file (must have Acrobat Reader to open)

National Park Service may fast-track repairs to Fort Jefferson

National Park Service
The National Park Service, which operates 
Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, is concerned 
about deterioration that 130 years in a marine 
environment has caused to the Civil War-era 
structure. The agency is talking about speeding 
up a repair project, which could take more 
than five years.

The crumbling brick walls of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas might not be crumbling much longer.  The National Park Service, which operates the fort, is aware of the deterioration that 130 years in a harsh marine environment caused to the Civil War-era structure. The agency is now starting discussions about speeding up the repair project, which could take more than five years.  Before any mortar is replaced and before any interior walls are stabilized, the National Park Service must complete an environmental assessment, which includes gathering input about the stabilization project from the public at an informal workshop Thursday. After receiving input, the park service will continue to assess the project and expects to have a repair plan finalized by July. 
Copyright  © 2003  Keys News / Key West Citizen  All rights reserved.

Parts of Estero Bay tributaries are polluted, officials now say
The state has revamped a list of polluted waters in Southwest Florida to include several Estero Bay tributaries that weren't on the original draft, although some groups still want to see Naples Bay added to the batch of impaired waters.  The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has finalized a list of polluted waters in this region with hopes of implementing maximum pollution loads for those water bodies by 2007. The list will soon go to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for review.  Having polluted waters identified could eventually affect development in the region. Permits could be denied for construction projects proposed in areas identified as adding too much pollution to a local waterway.  The Department of Environmental Protection released a draft of the list last summer that didn't include Estero Bay tributaries such as the Imperial River in Bonita Springs. 
Copyright  © 2003  Naples News  All rights reserved.

Growth workshop debates environment versus development
Smart Growth committee co-chairman Brian Griffin said Friday's workshop on recommendations for water and the environment would be where the battle lines were drawn. He was right.  The all-day workshop featured spirited discussion and finger-pointing as a group of about 50 hammered away at a slate of recommendations for how Lee County government should manage its growth.  The recommendations will be reviewed in public meetings by the county's Smart Growth Advisory Committee, which will propose sweeping changes in the comprehensive growth management plan next year. The recommendations range from a ban on smoking on public beaches to a development moratorium in the controversial Density Reduction Groundwater Resource are