MIAMI — The legacy of William Hoeveler may be 15 years spent policing a complex lawsuit mired in biology and hydrology that is intended to restore the Everglades to its bygone days as a free-flowing, slow-growth marsh.
Best known as the judge who sent Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to prison in 1992, the 80-year-old jurist returned to the headlines in the spring by saying a new Everglades law heralded by Gov. Jeb Bush was "clearly defective" even before it was signed. The law would extend some of the deadlines for Everglades restoration.
Stiffened by a stroke and back trouble but still ramrod straight in person and in deed, the judge insists the federal and state governments are bound by their commitments to him in a 1992 consent decree — no matter what state lawmakers concoct.
Read more
26-June-03
Letter to the Editor:
Cleanup timetable 'flexibility'
may end up choking Everglades
By Mark D. Perry, Executive
Director of the Florida Oceanographic Society
© Palm Beach Post
Here are a few points that the
public needs to know about the new law (SB 626) signed by the governor
that rewrites the Everglades Forever Act. On March 12, the South Florida
Water Management District governing board overwhelmingly endorsed the
draft conceptual plan for achieving long-term water-quality goals in the
Everglades Protection Area tributary basins. The board made two
modifications to this plan: It "acknowledged the need for flexibility
in achieving the water-quality goals in the Everglades and changed the
plan objective to obtain, to the maximum extent practicable, a predicted
long-term geometric mean phosphorus concentration in discharges to the
Everglades Protection Area" and defined a more realistic pace toward
achieving the phosphorus criterion. The board directed staff to implement
a
second 10-year phase (2017-2026) of continuous improvement in phosphorous
reduction as necessary to achieve the plan objective. The "long-term
plan" referred to above (more than 500 pages) is embodied in the new
law. The "glitch bill" may have removed the phrase "to the
maximum extent practicable," but the "second 10-year phase"
still will allow the phosphorous pollution to continue until 2026, 23
years past the 2003 original deadline.
Read
more
EPA May Ease Its Drinking Water Rules
By Neil Johnson
© Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Every day, 640 million
gallons of sewage in Florida is injected deep underground, where it's
supposed to stay far away from drinking water supplies. But what goes down
is coming up, migrating into portions of the aquifer that cities and
counties tap for their water supplies, a violation of current federal
regulations governing drinking water. Officials from the federal
Environmental Protection Agency were in Tampa on Wednesday to get public
opinion about a controversial proposal to relax those rules and allow
what's called deep-well injection of sewage to continue, even if the
treated effluent is mixing with drinking water. Changes are opposed by
environmental groups, but utilities - mainly in South Florida - want the
regulations altered. The change would apply only to Florida. Although the
vast majority of the injected sewage is in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm
Beach counties, St. Petersburg uses that method to dispose of an average
of 20 million gallons a day - about 3 percent of the state's total and
almost exclusively during the rainy season when demand for its reclaimed
water hits bottom. Either of two changes the EPA is considering could cost
the city's sewer customers dearly. Read
more
Sugar's bitter aftertaste
Editorial
© Orlando Sentinel
Our position: The mistake made
by the governor and legislators is creating trouble for the Everglades.
For weeks, the sugar industry and the Bush administration pooh-poohed
threats by congressional appropriators that an odious bill delaying
Everglades restoration for a decade could imperil federal funding. Drawing
once again from their bottomless pit of arrogance, the sugar barons
dismissed the warnings as so much ill-informed chatter. Gov. Jeb Bush
followed suit, signing the bill into law despite repeated federal
objections. Well, the consequences of their "we-know-best"
attitude now are becoming manifest. A powerful House subcommittee last
week attached strict stipulations to Everglades funding, requiring the
state to honor prior commitments to improve the quality of water flowing
into the fabled River of Grass or risk federal participation in the
restoration effort. Read
more
Letter to the Editor: Laws help
Everglades
By Michael
Collins, SFWMD Governing Board Member
© Key West Citizen
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
The Citizen is awfully quick to falsely accuse state legislators of
"shirking responsibility" regarding funding for Everglades
cleanup, when, in
reality, the newspaper is shirking its own responsibility to get the facts
straight before publishing inaccurate and uninformed tirades. When stories
and editorials are based primarily on quotes from Audubon professional
lobbyists and master media manipulator Mary Barley, the newspaper's
readers are sure to be shortchanged when it comes to a balanced
perspective of the issue. As these and other environmental extremist
groups are well aware, the amended Everglades Forever Act did not shift
the funding burden away from sugar growers and onto the public. It is not
some kind of veiled -- or overt -- attempt to let the sugar industry off
the hook. In reality, it continues the shared responsibility concept of
the original law which recognizes that we all, in one way or another,
contribute to the problem and, therefore, must contribute to the solution.
It is important to note, however, that the new law does increase and
extend the funding obligations of area farmers. Read
more
Florida Panther Lawsuits Filed
News Release
© National Wildlife
Federation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National
Wildlife Federation, the nation's leading conservation education and
advocacy organization, and two Florida conservation groups today filed two
separate legal actions in Federal District Court here seeking action to
protect the rapidly diminishing habitat of the severely endangered Florida
panther. In one action, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the
Florida Wildlife Federation (FWF) and the Florida Panther Society (FPS)
are asking the court to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to stop construction of the
Florida Rock Industries'
Ft. Myers Mine #2 until the mine's effect on the Florida panther is more
thoroughly investigated. In a second action, NWF and the Florida Panther
Society are challenging the
Corps' use of the Clean Water Act's permitting process which has resulted
in the loss of substantial tracts of habitat deemed essential to the
panther's survival. In the Ft. Myers Mine case, government wildlife
biologists have identified the land the Corps has approved for development
as important panther habitat. "Both the law and sound science argue
persuasively against the Corps decision to authorize this substantial
sacrifice of habitat panther need just to have a chance to survive,"
said John Kostyack, NWF senior counsel.
Read
more
Alliance still willing to negotiate
Martin County Commissioners rejected a settlement Tuesday.
By Jim Turner
© Stuart News
MARTIN COUNTY - Time is running
out on efforts to settle an environmental group's challenge to the
county's Comprehensive Plan, because a judge is expected to rule on the
case soon, the group said Wednesday. The Martin County Conservation
Alliance has challenged changes to the public facilities section of the
Comprehensive Growth Management Plan that make it easier to build public
facilities such as schools and fire stations by waiving strict development
regulations. The County Commission on Tuesday rejected a settlement
proposal and voted to continue negotiations for another two weeks.
Alliance members said Wednesday they are still open to a settlement.
However, they don't expect to reach a deal before an administrative law
judge releases his ruling on the case.
Read
more
Sulfurous stink no cause for alarm in
PSL
The smell comes from water being treated with a new product at the city's
water treatment plant
By Robin Campbell
© Stuart News
PORT ST. LUCIE - Residents who
may have detected a hint of rotten eggs in the air the past few days can
quit sniffing around the home and yard looking for leftover Easter goods.
The smell is Florida's natural water being treated by one of the city's
neighborhood water treatment plants. The city's utility department on
Wednesday began testing a new product at
its Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant on Ogden Lane that is designed
to dissipate the natural rotten egg-like smell of water taken from
Florida's aquifer. During the 30-day trial some residents within a couple
of blocks of the plant could detect the natural odors while utility crews
perfect the new process. "It's like a pinch of this and a dash of
that. We've got to get the formula right," said Donna Rhoden, public
information manager for the city's utility
department. "The smell is a transitional period while we're
fine-tuning the process." Read
more
Carol Browner Elected National Audubon
Society Chair
© National
Audubon Society
New York, NY, June 26, 2003 -
Carol M. Browner, the longest serving administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency, has been elected chair of the National Audubon Society
Board of Directors. Browner will be the first woman to chair Audubon, and
is one of few women to hold such a position at a major conservation
organization. "It is truly a privilege to help lead such a
distinguished organization," Browner said at the announcement of her
election. "Audubon has been at the forefront of environmental issues
since the turn of the century when two determined women founded the first
Audubon Chapter. Today, it is again leading the way, educating a whole new
generation of Americans about the need to protect bird and wildlife
habitat and to fight for clean water and clean air." Browner will
replace Donal C. O'Brien when he retires this fall after having served 12
years as Audubon Chair. Browner joined the Audubon Board in 2001 and
currently oversees its Public Policy Committee. Browner served as EPA
Administrator from 1993 to 2001. Throughout her tenure at the EPA, Browner
was guided by the philosophy that safeguarding the environment meant
protecting where people live and how they live. She partnered with
business leaders, community advocates, and all levels of government to
promote common sense, cost-effective solutions to the nation's most
pressing environmental and public health problems. Read
more
25-June-03
Spin cycle can't rinse out
pollution
By Sally Swartz,
Editorial Writer
© Palm Beach Post
I seldom find much to applaud
about the way the Bush brothers handle environmental issues. But President
Bush, Gov. Bush -- and sometimes officials at their environmental
agencies, which are supposed to be impartial -- are experts at
"spin." They are masters at altering facts, changing rules and
standards and complicating simple information so that
truth is either elusive or invisible. Last week, the White House altered a
section of the Environmental Protection Agency's report on the state of
the environment to reflect the views of the energy industry on global
warming. The EPA's own views, based on scientific
studies, warned that pollution from automobiles and factories is affecting
the environment and public health. The Bush administration rewrite decided
global warming is a "theory." In Florida this week, watch for
more spin on the need to pump wastewater underground. The EPA is holding
hearings on whether to change rules that allow treated sewage to be pumped
deep below the Earth's surface, despite evidence that the polluted
wastewater is moving, contaminating drinking-water supplies and surfacing
on the ocean floor, feeding algae that
smothers reefs. The federal agency is cooperating with Florida's
Department of Environmental Protection to try to weaken standards only in
South Florida, which has more deep-injection wells than any other part of
the United States. If the EPA doesn't change its rule, said Scott
Randolph, attorney with the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, it
would have
to enforce the law and shut down the disposal wells that are
leaking. Read
more
Buoy system could save manatees
By Bob Keefe
© Palm Beach Post
SAN DIEGO -- Using technology
designed for fish-finders and submarine tracking equipment, researchers
here are developing a floating warning system that would alert Florida
boaters to slow down whenever a manatee is near. The system would be
connected to flashing buoys in areas where manatees are common, creating
something like a school-crossing zone to protect the slow-moving mammals.
"It would be just like when the kids get out of school and the
flashing lights go off warning people to slow down," said Jules
Jaffe, a research oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who
is helping lead the project. Also participating is the Hubbs-SeaWorld
Research Institute. Last year, more than 300 manatees died in Florida
waters, according to state figures. About 30 percent of those deaths were
attributed to boats. The sonar system is one of six manatee avoidance
projects being funded by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission's Florida Marine Research Institute. The Florida Legislature
two years ago agreed to spend $200,000 on such research through the
institute in an effort to reduce the number of manatees killed or injured
by boats.
Read
more
Water managers won't close library
By Robert King
© Palm Beach Post
A second state library has
escaped the chopping block -- this time, the 54-year-old reference center
at the South Florida Water Management District. Water managers said
Tuesday they will keep the collection of more than 50,000 documents intact
at the district's headquarters in suburban West Palm Beach, rather then
sending most of it to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. The
district had considered dismantling the library to save money and space.
But workers in the 1,800-employee agency wanted the documents to stay,
Executive Director Henry Dean said. "There are a lot of staff members
who really do use the library and
expressed a keen interest in having it remain," Dean said. So did
scientists and scholars outside. As a compromise, he said, the district
will install rolling shelves that reduce the number of aisles needed
between the stacks. That will let the district chop 6,000 square feet from
the library, which now occupies 12,600 square feet. Read
more
Wishing for reservoir fishing
Basin proposal excludes recreational use
By Byron Stout
© News-Press
John Denby of Punta Gorda teaches his
grandchildren, Trevor Schuler, 14,
back left, and Adrianna Denby, 13, front left, both from Punta Gorda, and
Amber Radli, 10, of West Palm Beach, how to fish at Webb Lake in Charlotte
County. Webb Lake, in the Babcock/Webb Wildlife Management Area, is an
example of a manmade lake helping the environment and being used for
water-related
recreational purposes. The reservoir to be built in Hendry County
doesn’t call for any
water-related activities.
TODD STUBING/news-press.com
Fishermen and fishery
managers beam as if in the glow of a Christmas tree when they hear a
31-square-mile reservoir — potentially the seventh-largest lake in the
state — soon will be built in Southwest Florida. “We’re not creating
large lakes in the state of Florida anymore. It could be very exciting,”
said Ed Moyer, director of freshwater fisheries for the state’s Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission. Unfortunately, the news might be
exciting for birdwatchers and hikers but not for angling advocates.
Project engineers don’t see fishing in the reservoir’s future. Any
recreational uses, and they are all non-water related, are secondary to
the reservoir’s main functions. The C-43 Basin Reservoir is billed as a
Caloosahatchee River restoration project. Its main purpose will be to
catch massive water releases from Lake Okeechobee that have been
destroying the river’s ecosystem. Those waters then will be used for
agricultural and urban uses, and for environmentally appropriate releases
back into the river. Even though the plans don’t include fishing,
anglers and other recreation enthusiasts can give their opinions at public
hearings scheduled today and Thursday in Fort Myers and Clewiston by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management
District. Read
more
Related Links:
Everglades Restoration Page
http://www.news-press.com/news/local_state/030406gladesmain.html
Fishing page:
http://cityguide.news-press.com/fe/Fishing/Search.asp
Outdoors page:
http://cityguide.news-press.com/fe/Recreation/Search.asp
Envrinonment page:
http://www.news-press.com/news/environment/index.html
Fla. Judge Fights To Preserve Everglades
By Catherine Wilson, Associated
Press Writer
© Guardian
Unlimited- United Kingdom
MIAMI (AP) - The legacy of
William Hoeveler may be 15 years spent policing a complex lawsuit mired in
biology and hydrology that is intended to restore the Everglades to its
bygone days as a free-flowing, slow-growth marsh. Best known as the judge
who sent Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to prison in 1992, the
80-year-old jurist returned to the headlines in the spring by saying a new
Everglades law heralded by Gov. Jeb Bush was
``clearly defective'' even before it was signed. The law would extend some
of the deadlines for Everglades restoration. Stiffened by a stroke and
back trouble but still ramrod straight in person and in deed, the judge
insists the federal and state governments are bound by their commitments
to him in a 1992 consent decree - no matter what state lawmakers concoct.
The agreement with the state dictates a 2006 deadline for cleaning up the
quality of water flowing into Everglades National Park from the broader
Everglades ecosystem above it. But sugar growers say Hoeveler's 15 years
of policing the Everglades is long enough. Claiming the judge has turned
into a bully with a political bent, they asked two courts to throw him off
the case for bias. They don't want him in charge of any more Everglades
hearings. Read
more
Judge
Hoeveler News Page
Senators Keen to Reform Endangered
Species Act
By J.R. Pegg
© Environmental News Service
Section 7 is designed to protect endangered
species - like the pygmy owl -
from the negative impacts of federal agency actions. (Photo by Robin
Silver courtesy Center
for Biological Diversity )
WASHINGTON, DC, June 25, 2003 (ENS)
- Some Republican senators believe the requirement that federal agencies
consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine
Fisheries Service to ensure their actions do not jeopardize endangered
species has become too costly and time consuming. The process is burdening
federal agencies without producing measurable conservation benefits and
should be reformed, the senators said today at a subcommittee hearing.
This process needs "major surgery," said Alaska Senator Lisa
Murkowski, a Republican. "The potential for abuse remains inherent in
the statute as written." Under Section 7 of the Endangered Species
Act (ESA), all federal agencies must consult with either the Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) or the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) if
they believe any proposed action may affect the continued existence of any
endangered or threatened species. Murkowski and other critics of Section 7
say that it is a mass of red tape and is needlessly delaying federal
projects and permits, bogging down agencies with paperwork, and costing
private citizens and companies considerable money. "The services are
expending colossal resources on a process that produces a lot of paperwork
without a lot of positive impacts on recovery," said Senator Michael
Crapo, an Idaho Republican and chair of the Senate Subcommittee on
Fisheries, Wildlife and Water. Read
more
Ringleaders must stop risking 'Glades
funding
Editorial
© Keynoter
Waiting for the other shoe to
drop on Everglades funding? The wait ended last week when a key
congressional committee revoked $32 million promised to help Florida
acquire land needed for Everglades restoration. Worse than the loss of $32
million is the ominous warning that came with the rebuke. The budget
gatekeepers said future federal dollars pledged - about $4 billion of the
estimated $8.4 billion restoration cost - are also in jeopardy because it
looks as if Florida is stalling on its promised timetable to clean up the
River of Grass. The U.S. House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which
controls the flow of dollars critical to this massive 30-year restoration
effort, delivered the message after earlier warnings from GOP leaders in
Congress fell on deaf ears. Read
more
24-June-03
Sugar's role in cleanup rapped
By Libby Wells, Staff Writer
© Palm Beach Post
STUART -- There was a lot of
talk about sugar Monday night at a public workshop on Everglades
restoration. But none of it was sweet. Florida's
sugar industry has left a bitter taste in the mouths of Treasure Coast
residents, judging by the comments at a forum organized by the Marine
Resources Council that was held at the Blake Library. The
recent signing of a bill into law allowing for a delay in the Everglades
cleanup, which was supported by sugar growers, and the industry's
criticism of the now-stalled Indian River Lagoon restoration plan have
left many people fed up with Big Sugar. "We've
got to go into the national arena and stop the subsidy for sugar,"
said Stuart resident Charles Pierce. "There
are politicians around the U.S. who don't like the sugar subsidy,"
added Bill Thornton of Palm City. Read
more
23-June-03
Federal
judge scrutinized over Everglades remarks
Sugar industry: Comments show bias
By Jay Weaver and Curtis Morgan
© Miami
Herald
In the spring, a federal judge accused state legislators of messing with
the
court-ordered
Everglades cleanup, saying their bill was ''clearly
defective'' and that the governor was being ``misled by persons who do not
have the best interests of the Everglades at heart.''
Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler is about to learn whether his
unusually provocative comments will cost him the job of enforcing the
cleanup agreement that he orchestrated a decade ago.
The sugar industry is seeking to have the prominent Miami judge pulled off
the case, claiming his ''bully pulpit'' comments in court and to reporters
betray a bias against sugar interests.
Several
legal experts say Hoeveler may have entered the realm of impropriety
when he spoke with reporters about the Everglades case, but they stress
it's
rare for a federal judge to be removed over an issue of fairness -- unless
he says something flagrantly prejudicial.
Such removals are uncommon, because federal judges rarely talk publicly
about their cases. Possible punishment ranges from a public reprimand to
removal from a case.
Read more
Judge
Hoeveler News Page
One
more chance
Editorial
© Orlando
Sentinel
Our
position: Gov. Bush can save the Wekiva basin by declaring it a
"critical concern." The future of the
Wekiva River basin, completion of a beltway around Orlando and the
containment of urban sprawl north of Apopka rest in the hands of Gov. Jeb
Bush. He alone has the ability to determine
Central Florida's destiny, to provide the environmental protections and
mobility options that Rep. Fred Brummer of Apopka almost single-handedly
scuttled during this year's legislative session.
To do so, however, Mr. Bush must take decisive action -- and soon. Further
study of 17 recommendations issued by a gubernatorial task force that
thoroughly examined how best to protect the Wekiva won't do the trick.
That's what land speculators and a handful of money-grubbing local
officials want. Led by Apopka Mayor John Land, those folks couldn't care
less if development robs the Wekiva of its water resources. They just want
the additional property tax revenues to bloat municipal coffers. Read
more
More library woes
Water Management District wants to dismantle
its library, too
Editorial
© Stuart News
This has been a tough year for
libraries. First Gov. Jeb Bush pushes plans to eliminate the state library
and archives in Tallahassee by giving them to Nova Southeastern University
in Broward County, and now the board of the South Florida Water Management
District wants to close down its libraries. Both moves are touted as
cost-saving initiatives. The economic
argument is shortsighted. Any savings realized from closing down the
libraries would be more than offset by the need for government staffers
and researchers to spend more time hunting down sources and bits of
information. Only someone who doesn't read much, and has no need to
research a specific issue, would make such a proposal. Read
more
22-June-03
Everglades' Straitjacket
Editorial
© The Ledger
Members of Congress
warned Florida legislators and Gov. Jeb Bush that if the state tampered
with its agreement to clean up the Everglades, the federal-state
partnership to fund the $8 billion project would be jeopardized. They
weren't kidding. The first batch of federal money to get the cleanup
started -- about $1 billion thus far -- was sent to the state to spend in
whatever way officials thought would move the plan forward. But last week,
Congress attached so many strings to future payments that they look like a
marionette's nightmare.
Read
more
Report card
Editorial
© Orlando
Sentinel
Our position: Legislators don't
have a very high average for this year's sessions. Lawmakers
and the governor properly hold public schools accountable by assigning
annual letter grades to measure performance. So it's only fair that they
be similarly assessed. How are they
doing? Is the state headed in the right direction? In what legislative
areas can they claim success? Unlike
most public schools, though, Gov. Jeb Bush and lawmakers have few
achievements to savor. After a bitter, 60-day session that produced hardly
a single piece of noteworthy legislation, lawmakers since have returned
twice to Tallahassee at the governor's behest to finish up their business.
And last week, they failed again to rein in soaring medical-malpractice
insurance costs. Read
more
21-June-03
An Everglades alarm
Editorial
© Palm Beach Post
Worried that a
new state law means Florida won't keep its promise to clean up the
Everglades, a U.S. House panel has cut some Everglades restoration money
and tied strings on the rest to try to make the state keep its
commitments. Gov. Bush has said he'll convince federal lawmakers the new
law doesn't hurt the Everglades. Now is the time to start. But repeal
might be his only tool. Members of Florida's congressional delegation had
warned the Legislature not to pass the law, which the sugar industry
wrote, and Gov. Bush not to sign
it. The law amends the 1994 Everglades Forever Act and threatens to
violate a 1992 consent decree, muddying standards for clean water,
extending the cleanup deadline and shifting cleanup costs from sugar
industry polluters to state taxpayers. Florida and the federal government
are splitting the $8.4 billion restoration costs 50-50, but the new state
law has so unnerved federal partners not even Gov. Bush's personal visit
to Washington could reassure
Congress. The U.S. House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee revoked $32
million Congress had promised the state to buy land for restoration. The
subcommittee also insists Florida must follow the old law, not the
Everglades from cities and farms by the original
2006 deadline, not the state extension to 2016. Read
more
Feds hit state in wallet for
Everglades Forever Act
By Joel Eskovitz
© Naples News
WASHINGTON - Federal
legislators followed through this week on their threat to the state of
Florida over Everglades funding, slashing $32 million for land acquisition
and attaching strings to another $68 million for the restoration effort.
Members of the House appropriations subcommittee for the Interior had
warned Gov. Jeb Bush in a meeting last month against signing a
controversial amendment to the Everglades Forever Act that could
potentially delay the state's meeting of water-quality standards. The
possibility of delay led the subcommittee to shift $32 million expected to
be used to purchase land for the restoration. That money will now be
earmarked for a cleanup effort in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife
Refuge. The $68 million that the panel approved - which is $44 million
less than the president sought - also forces the state to jump through a
few more hoops. To get the construction money in this year's budget along
with up to $100 million previously approved, the state must report to four
federal agencies that it is meeting water-quality standards as established
in a consent
decree in the original Everglades Forever Act. Read
more
Farmers win no new local
regulation
Bush signs a bill seen
by agricultural interests as crucial to their
survival, and by counties and cities as an intrusion
By Julie Hauserman
© St. Petersburg Times
TALLAHASSEE - Despite
opposition from local governments across the state, Gov. Jeb Bush on
Friday signed a bill into law barring cities and counties from passing new
regulations on agriculture. The sweeping measure has been pushed for years
by lobbyists for Florida's
citrus, timber, vegetable and cattle industries. They say local
regulations are threatening their businesses. "Realistically, the
governor has thrown a life preserver to the agricultural
industry in Florida," said Phil Leary of the Florida Farm Bureau. But
opponents, including the Florida Association of Counties and the
Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission, say the measure strips
local governments of authority. The law has already had an effect. Last
month, the Citrus County Commission tabled an ordinance it drafted to
regulate intensive farming. Residents demanded the new regulations after a
large dairy operation was built off County Road 491. Read
more
Everglades Restoration Utilizes
Web-based Solution
Newsletter- Posted on
June 21, 2003
© Accela, Inc
The South Florida
Water Management District (SFWMD) recently announced it will restore,
protect, and preserve more than 18,000-square miles of land with the
assistance of Accela's Web-based solution, Accela AutomationTM.
Specifically, the solution will be utilized to track land acquisition
associated with the restoration of the Florida Everglades. The SFWMD will
acquire $41 billion of land in support of the restoration of the Florida
Everglades over the next 40 years, with the goal of returning the land to
a strong and vibrant natural environment. The solution will provide a
streamlined process, as well as public access to land acquisition
data. Charged with managing the water supply of 16 central and southern
Florida
counties, the Agency is leading the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Plan (CERP). The Plan is designed to the restore the unique ecosystem of
the Everglades to its original state. Read
more
20-June-03
Premise for river-pollution
checks criticized
By Libby Wells
© Palm Beach Post
STUART -- A system for
deciding which of Florida's water bodies are the most polluted came under
criticism Thursday during a sparsely attended public hearing held by the
state Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP presented a list of
St. Lucie and Loxahatchee river basins that are high in contaminants or
have problems such as low oxygen levels that imperil marine life. The
draft list included 31 sites such as the C-23 and C-24 canals, Ten Mile
Creek and various points along the north and south forks of the St. Lucie
River. The DEP will approve a final list this fall, then establish
strategies for cleaning the worst water bodies as part of a plan to comply
with the federal Clean Water Act. But the premise of the program -- to
establish the highest levels of pollutants a water body will tolerate
before it's no longer safe for animals or people -- doesn't make sense to
some.
"That doesn't jibe with what we're trying to accomplish for cleaning
up our waters," said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida
Oceanographic Society. "Why figure out a maximum amount of pollution
to go into water and still have its designated uses? Why should we be
allowing any pollution in a water body?" Read
more
Related Links:
Florida Department
of Environmental Protection
http://www.dep.state.fl.us
The Watershed
Management Program is responsible for fostering better
stewardship of Florida's ground and surface water resources. Working with
private sector, the
bureau coordinates the collection, data management, and
interpretation of
monitoring information to assess the health of our water
resources; develops
watershed-based aquatic resource goals and pollutant
loading limits for
individual water bodies; and develops and implements
management action
plans to preserve or restore water bodies. These
activities are
undertaken using the rotating basin approach that assures
that the watershed
plans for each of the state's watersheds are evaluated
and updated every
five years.
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/watersheds/index.htm
Florida Water
Quality Assessment -- 305(b) Report
The 305(b) report is
a biennial assessment of the water quality of Florida's
waters. It provides
a summary of water quality by water body type, i.e.
good, fair, poor and
is displayed on maps organized by Hydrological Units.
The report also
identifies sources and causes of pollution for each water
body type and
summarizes pollution prevention programs, management programs,
restoration and
rehabilitation activities, monitoring activities, and
provides an
evaluation of ground water quality.
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/305b/index.htm
Corps of Engineers Pressures
Homeowners to Sell by Threatening to Condemn Their Land
By National Center for
Public Policy Research
© Cybercast News Service
An
8.5-square-mile area along the eastern edge of the Everglades National
mostly of Cuban descent - who live on small, family
owned farms. The community contains about 320 homes. Residents grow fruit,
vegetables and flowers and raise pigs, goats, chickens and horses. A
proposed Army Corps of Engineers' levee and seepage canal would require
the taking of about 100 homes and would bisect the community. In 1989,
Congress passed the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act.
It requires that the Corps, which controls the flow of fresh water in the
Everglades area, "improve water deliveries into" the park. If
these changes adversely affect the area, the Act requires the Corps to
"construct a flood protection system for that portion of presently
developed land within such area." The Corps' original 1992 plan
sought construction of a levee on the western edge of the area. This plan
would have protected all residents of the area and not condemned any
homes. In 2002, the Corps, along with the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI),
decided on an alternative plan that would put the canal and levee right
through the middle of the community, forcing residents out of all homes in
the canal's path and north and west of the canal. The Corps pressured
affected homeowners to sign "offers to sell" by asserting that
the Corps had
the authority to condemn their land if they did not voluntarily sell. Some
homeowners, thinking they had no other choice, sold their land to the
Corps. Seven homeowners, with the support of a local organization, the 8.5
Square Mile Legal Defense Foundation, filed a lawsuit against the Corps.
Read
more
Related
Links:
Fortin Paper - Pariah, Florida
http://www.sfaa.net/eap/fortin/fortin.html
Standoff ensnares Everglades
.... Fortin and other holdouts want to see Everglades restoration
happen, but
without touching a single home.
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/standoff_ensnares_everglades.htm
All I Did Was Buy A House
.... In the Everglades, according to Fortin, "Over half the tree
islands in
the central Everglades are dead, killed by unnaturally high water."
http://www.mountaincoalition.org/articles/all_I_did.htm
Property Rights Violated......Rural America Under Siege
.... Madeleine Fortin on her land in Florida. I live in a small
community in
Southeast Florida, on the eastern edge of Everglades National Park
called
the 8.5 ...
http://www.cse.org/informed/issues_template.php?issue_id=1101
The Madeleine Fortin Story
http://www.scamsandscandals.com/MadeleineFortin.htm
Pariah, Florida: Feds Use Water as Weapon
Letter to Paragon Foundation
March 4, 2002
by Madeleine Fortin
http://www.aldenchronicles.com/archives/archives_paragon_fortin.html
A Plea For Help
Madeleine Fortin, president, East Everglades Legal Defense Foundation
http://www.paragonpowerhouse.org/a_plea_for_help.htm
Expert says regular Lake
Okeechobee water releases needed
Too much fresh water from
the lake can have detrimental effects on coastal
estuaries as far away as Estero Bay
By Chad Gillis
© Naples News
Freshwater
releases from Lake Okeechobee into Lee County estuaries are going to be
annual events in the region, at least until restoration projects can
better deal with excess rainwater. That was one of the messages Trudi
Williams, a member of the South Florida
Water Management District's governing board, delivered to a regional
watershed monitoring group on Thursday. Williams spoke to members of the
Southwest Florida Watershed Council about a variety of topics, from lake
management to water reservations for natural systems to the possible
future implementation of a stormwater utility for this region. "The
top of the lake is only 21 feet, but the dam has been known to spring a
leak," Williams said of a dike system that helps contain water within
Florida's largest lake. "You can't have (18 feet) of water pushing
against the walls around the lake. Were the walls to break, those (nearby)
areas would be in major trouble." The 18-foot level Williams referred
to is the height water managers say the River
and other systems. Releases have been controversial on this coast for
years. Too much fresh water from the lake can have detrimental effects on
coastal estuaries as far away as Estero Bay. Read
more
House plan slaps Florida over
Glades pact
The House panel also took back
funds granted to Florida to buy land for the
cleanup project
By Cory Reiss,
Washington Bureau
© Gainesville Sun
WASHINGTON - A House
subcommittee on Wednesday decided to withhold federal money if Florida
doesn't comply with a 1992 agreement to reduce pollution flowing into the
Everglades.
The decision by the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee answers those who
thought Congress wouldn't jeopardize federal funding for the $8 billion
Everglades restoration as many had warned. The subcommittee required
Florida to comply with a water quality deal, as spelled out in a consent
decree that ended federal and state litigation. Four federal agencies -
the departments of Interior and Justice, the Environmental Protection
Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers - would have to agree twice a year
that Florida is keeping its word or money from a $113 million account
would stop flowing. Rep. C.W. 'Bill" Young, the Florida
Republican who chairs the full House Appropriations Committee, supported
the measure. Read
more
Developer's proposal would take
advantage of rural growth plan
By Eric Staats
© Naples News
Click on the map to full full-sized image.
Graphic © Naples News 2003
Collier County's new
plan for rural growth around Immokalee didn't have to wait long for
somebody to use it. Barron Collier Cos. submitted a proposal this week
under which they
would give up most of their development rights across 5,300 acres in the
county's eastern reaches in return for credits to develop other areas. The
credits could become the building blocks for a whole new town north of Oil
Well Road and west of Camp Keais Road to support the proposed Ave Maria
University, a Catholic university backed by Domino's Pizza founder Tom
Monaghan. The Barron Collier proposal, dated Wednesday, is the first
proposal submitted under new growth rules adopted by county commissioners
Monday night. Plans for the university and town have yet to be submitted.
Organizers want to open the university in fall 2006. The university's
timetable puts a County Commission vote on the plans in
March 2004. The development credit proposal also requires approval by
county commissioners. Read
more
Alligator presence need not be
tragic
The dangerous reptiles are a
fact of Florida life. Coexisting peacefully with them depends on several
important rules.
By Adrienne Lu
© St. Petersburg Times
Photo © Scott Keeler, St. Petersburg Times
ST. PETERSBURG - One
day last summer, Christopher Dixon took his 10-year-old son for an
unforgettable fishing trip at Lake Maggiore. The boy was standing near the
shore when all of a sudden, Dixon said, an alligator "came out of the
water charging at my son." Dixon threw a brick and whatever else he
could find at the alligator, which retreated before it could do any harm.
"He told me he'll never go freshwater fishing again," Dixon, 33,
said Thursday, fishing with a buddy at Lake Maggiore. It's a fact of
Florida living. If you're near freshwater, be it a retention pond, stream,
lake or even backyard pool, a leathery alligator could be lurking. "I
don't care what kind of body of water you have in the state of Florida,
you have the potential for alligators," said Louis J. Guillette Jr.,
a professor of zoology at the University of Florida. A 12-year-old boy was
killed by an alligator in Lake County on Wednesday knew there were
alligators in the river where he and his friends had been swimming. But
experts say people should be cautious anywhere there's water. With the
mating season wrapping up, male alligators are still in their aggressive
stage, guarding territory from other males and wandering as far as they
need to in search of females. The summer rain showers don't help matters,
adding to the number of streams and ponds the reptiles can use to get from
one place to the next, Guillette said. Read
more
21 waterways make cleanup list
By Suzanne Wentley,
Staff Writer
© Stuart News
STUART - The St. Lucie
Estuary, the C-24 Canal and the Manatee Pocket are just three of 21 local
waterways that made a preliminary list of polluted streams, rivers and
lakes, state scientists announced Thursday. Most of the waterways in the
St. Lucie and Loxahatchee river basins are polluted - with nutrients,
mercury or bacteria - enough to be cleaned up by
a new state program, said Eric Livingston, a scientist with the state
Department of Environmental Protection. Although local environmentalists
weren't able to pick out any problem waterways that didn't make the list,
many expressed disappointment with the
lengthy process. Cleanup is set to begin in 2005 on some area waterways
and 2010 for others. "We know what the problem is, but it's still
five years down the road, six years down the road, to fix it," said
Henry Caimotto, owner of the Snook Nook and a member of the Martin County
Anglers. "I've lost confidence in the system." Although the
draft list offered Thursday won't be final until October, Livingston said
data collection that has been under way for the past few years will help
establish limits on further pollution, known as Total Maximum Daily Loads,
or TMDL. Read
more
19-June-03
Congress pressures state on
Everglades restoration
By William E. Gibson,
Washington Bureau
© Orlando Sentinel
WASHINGTON -- Key
members of Congress put pressure on Florida officials Wednesday by
threatening to hold up funding for Everglades restoration unless the state
meets federal water-quality standards. The move by appropriators, who hold
the purse strings for the massive restoration project, was the first
substantive backlash to a controversial bill passed by the state
Legislature that pushed back the deadline for cleaning up pollution in the
Everglades. The U.S. House Interior Subcommittee added language to an
appropriations
bill that would require federal agencies to certify the state is meeting
water-quality standards before money can be released for a "water
modification project." The project, designed to restore a flow of
fresh water to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay, is an essential
step before construction begins on an $8 billion replumbing of the
Everglades over three decades. Read
more
State loses oversight of
Everglades project
By Mike Salinero
© Tamba
Tribune
TALLAHASSEE -
Congressional budget writers agreed Wednesday to send $68 million to
Florida for Everglades restoration, but the money comes with plenty of
strings attached, reflecting concerns that a new state law will postpone
the swamp's cleanup. The appropriation brings to about $1 billion that the
federal government has spent on restoring the Everglades to its
pre-development splendor. The money of
restoring the natural flow of water across the marsh. Until now, Congress
has not seen fit to restrict how the money is used. That changed Wednesday
when the House Appropriations Committee placed the state's
restoration efforts under federal oversight. Now, before the money can be
released, Florida must establish that it is meeting its obligations under
a federal court consent decree to clean up water entering the Everglades.
The order calls for strict phosphate limits in the Everglades to be met by
December 2006. The state Environmental Regulatory Commission is expected
to set the limit at 10 parts per billion this year. The state's yearly
progress report must be approved by the Department of Engineers
and the U.S. attorney general. ``I would characterize this as the state
being put on a very short leash,'' said Charles Lee of Audubon of Florida.
Read
more
Miccosukee Tribe wants 'Glades
judge to stay
By Neil Santaniello,
Staff Writer
© Sun-Sentinel
Florida's sugar
industry hasn't mustered sufficient proof U.S. District Judge William
Hoeveler is too biased to continue his oversight of the Everglades
cleanup, the Miccosukee Tribe said in a legal motion filed Wednesday.
Instead of being disqualified from the case, Hoeveler should be commended
for the restraint he has shown in the case, the tribe said in a response
to U.S. Sugar's attempt to have chief District Judge William Zloch force
Hoeveler out of his decadelong duty policing the state-run cleanup. Tribe
attorney Dexter Lehtinen also argues in the response that U.S. Sugar lacks
standing to seek the judge's ouster -- the intent of a motion it filed
June 4 in Miami. That's because the Clewiston sugar grower is not one of
the original parties to the 1992 federal-state settlement Hoeveler
approved that spells out how the state will halt agricultural pollution
pouring from fields into the northern Everglades, the tribe contends. The
tribe's motion is the second filed in defense of Hoeveler in the wake of
two sugar industry court maneuvers to have the judge recused. Audubon of
Florida said in a response it filed last week that U.S. Sugar's removal
motion fails "on several counts," including falling short of
proving the judge is prejudiced against the industry.
Read
more
Everglades money cut
By Robert P. King,
Staff Writer
© Palm Beach Post
Florida lawmakers'
postponement of deadlines for cleaning the Everglades will cost the state
at least $32 million in federal money -- and possibly billions more,
congressional budget leaders said Wednesday. The U.S. House's Interior
Appropriations subcommittee decided to revoke $32 million Congress had
promised to give Florida to buy land for the restoration. The panel cited
"the potential for delay" created by the new state law, and said
the money should go instead to federal projects meant to help the Arthur
R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in south-central Palm
Beach County. The subcommittee also warned that future federal spending on
an $8.4 billion Everglades restoration project will depend on Florida
meeting its promises to finish the cleanup first. Congress promised three
years ago to pay for half of the restoration. As a start, the panel said
it will halt spending on a separate water project in Everglades National
Park unless four federal agencies tell Congress every six months that the
state is cleaning the runoff that flows into the park and the refuge.
Stopping that project would halt crucial parts of the $8.4 billion
restoration. Read
more
Panel imposes Glades oversight
Under U.S. Rep.
Young's plan, federal restoration money will be tied to certification by
four agencies that Florida's doing its part.
By
Craig
Pittman and Bill Adair
© St.
Petersburg Times
WASHINGTON -
Although the Florida Legislature delayed the deadline for cleaning up the
Everglades, U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young is using the power of the purse to
hold the state to its original commitment. Before any more federal money
is spent restoring the River of Grass, the leaders of four federal
agencies must certify that the state is really cleaning up the pollution,
a subcommittee Young oversees decided Wednesday. Young, R-Largo, chairman
of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said he had the panel
attach those strings to the $68-million appropriation because some
lawmakers were concerned the state might break its promise to clean up the
Everglades. "The members of the subcommittee were a little put out by
the Legislature doing what we consider breaking the agreement," Young
said. "We are very much concerned about the quality of water."
Similar strings will be attached to a $120-million Everglades
appropriation slated for a vote in July, Young said. Under Young's plan,
the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the
Interior, Army Corps of Engineers and Justice Department will be required
to review the state's progress on cleaning up the Everglades. Read
more
Glades money comes with a catch
Panel: State must
follow earlier law
By Curtis Morgan
© The
Miami Herald
A powerful
congressional committee on Wednesday set aside $68 million for Everglades
restoration but with a significant catch: The state will have to stick to
an earlier pollution cleanup law, not a controversial revision, to cash
the whole check. The move comes after repeated warnings from leaders in
Congress about a new Florida law backed by the sugar industry, which
critics contend could weaken a plan to sharply reduce tainted runoff from
farms and suburbs. ''What we're doing is putting a string on the money.
That's the only
responsible thing to do,'' U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, an Ohio Republican,
said. ``We just want to make sure that they'll live by the original
agreement because obviously they've changed their mind.'' The action,
taken by a House subcommittee working on an appropriations bill
for the U.S. Interior Department, is a long way from becoming law but at
the very least it intensifies the political sparring between Florida and
Congress over the nettlesome issue of ensuring the massive $8 billion
Everglades restoration effort isn't undermined by dirty water flowing into
the system. Read
more
State touts filtering system
Stormwater areas
used to reduce phosphorous ratio
By Pamela Smith Hayford
© News-Press
Stormwater Treatment Area 3/4 is under construction in the Everglades
Agricultural
Area and will be the largest constructed wetland in
the
world, with nearly 16,500 acres. - AMANDA INSCORE/news-press.com
The state is showing off its
latest "green" technology for filtering damaging amounts of
phosphorus from water destined for the Everglades - this in the wake of
controversy over Everglades cleanup deadlines. The South Florida Water
Management District's plan to use this technology may also reduce harmful
flushes to the Caloosahatchee River. PSTA, pronounced pasta, may sound
more like it should be under meatballs and sauce instead of water, but
scientists swear by the periphyton-based Stormwater Treatment Areas.
Periphyton is a spongy mat of algae and other microorganisms that absorb
phosphorus.
The district's small man-made marshes with periphyton have proven
effective and lowered phosphorus levels to 10 parts per billion, the limit
proposed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Five-acre
field tests have been slightly less effective for the district,
lowering phosphorus to 10 to 15 ppb. These experiments have been ongoing
for a few years, but now the state has the money to create a much larger
PSTA, which the district said costs
$31,000 an acre, in one of six stormwater treatment areas at the head of
the Everglades thanks to the same legislation that environmentalists said
delays cleanup. The legislation includes $650 million over the next 13
years for advanced water treatment tools like PSTA.
Read
more
Fitch Affirms Port of Palm Beach Dist,
FL Improvement Revenues 'A-'
By Corey S. Modeste, Fitch
Ratings
© Business Wire
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June
19, 2003--Fitch Ratings affirms the 'A-' rating on approximately $50.6
million Port of Palm Beach District, FL (the Port or the District) revenue
improvement bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. Fitch initially assigned
the rating to the Port's series 1999 bonds. The bonds are secured by a
pledge of gross port operating revenues. The series 1999 bonds have a
final maturity in 2024 and were underwritten by a syndicate led Raymond
James & Associates. Other banks in the syndicate include Mesirow
Financial, Inc. and LM Capital Securities, Inc. The 'A-' rating
reflects the District's consistent operating performance, overall positive
cargo and cruise passenger trends and moderate debt load. Total 2002
District operating revenue was $12 million, with $6.2 million in operating
expenses. Operating margins at the District have averaged 50% each year
since 1998, and 2002 debt service coverage on the District's total
outstanding bonds was 1.3 times (x). Debt service is level at $4.3
million. Though debt service coverage has declined in recent years as
series 1999 debt service came on line, debt coverage remains above the
District's 1.25x rate covenant. Read
more
Colony of 11 Endangered Bats
Found in Fort Myers Area
Associated Press
© Tampa Tribune
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP)
- The largest recorded colony of endangered Wagner's mastiff bats has set
up home in a suburb of this southwest Florida city, a bat conservation
group said Friday. Eleven of the bats were found in a special bat house
designed by the Organization for Bat Conservation, the Bloomfield Hills,
Mich.-based group said. The previous largest recorded colony of the
Wagner's mastiff, also known as the Florida mastiff, was eight, recorded
in 1983. The bat has a wingspan of up to 21 inches, the largest of
Florida's 19 species of bats, and is listed as endangered by the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Commission. Read
more
Related Links:
Eumops
glaucinus (Wagner's Mastiff Bat)
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/eumops/e._glaucinus$narrative.html
http://www.floridabats.org/Wagners.HTM
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/WCS/BATS/050970.HTM
Caloosahatchee Reservoir to
take 20,000 acres
By Tracy Whirls
© Newszap
Corps of
Engineers will acquire the projected 170,000 acres of land needed for the
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project
