31-December-03
Miami judge to hear case over expansion
of mining in Everglades
© Herald-Tribune/
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- U.S.
District Judge William Hoeveler, who was removed from a lawsuit on the
giant Florida Everglades restoration project, has been assigned a lawsuit
brought by environmental groups against the Army Corps of Engineers over
limestone mining in the Everglades. U.S.
District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ordered the case transferred
Tuesday from Washington to the Southern District of Florida based on a
motion by
mining industry officials. The case will now be heard by Hoeveler. Hoeveler
was removed from the Everglades restoration case in September following
complaints from sugar growers that he favored environmental groups.
The limestone lawsuit was brought in August 2002 to
overturn a decision that would allow continued limestone mining in 5,409
acres on the edge
of the Everglades for the next 10 years. Read
more
Black bear hit by car, killed on State
Road 29
© Naples
Daily News
A black bear was killed after
being struck by a vehicle Sunday on State Road 29, according to the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Wildlife
biologist Joe Bozzo said the agency got a call at 8 p.m. Sunday about the
bear and found it Monday morning about a mile north of U.S. 41 East.
Neither the Florida Highway Patrol nor the Collier
County Sheriff's
Office reported any human injuries or deaths in connection with the
collision. The bear was a young female, probably
younger than 2 years, and weighed about 140 pounds, Bozzo said. Read
more
29-December-03
Letter to the Editor- Loophole aids
builders
Written By Stan Smilan
© Sun-Sentinel
The significance of the
recent transfer of development rights in Palm Beach County's Agricultural
Reserve has been missing from local newspapers' coverage. What
developer Charles Johnson did was use a state wetlands mitigation scheme
to claim that he was storing stormwater runoff elsewhere in the county.
While this may help water management in the northwest part of the county,
it compounds the flow of water in the portion of the Ag Reserve where all
the construction is going to be concentrated -- that is, between Clint
Moore Road to the south, Hypoluxo Road to the north, and between the
turnpike and U.S. 441. This area is already under pressure from lateral
water intrusion from the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge. The
briefing I got from the Florida Water Management District in 2000 (when I
ran as an Independent for the Florida House) was that there was water
intrusion from west to east, both underground and across the surface.
That appears to be why previous county commissions
established the Ag Reserve -- to provide a buffer area with two- and
five-acre zoning between the built-up areas and the Everglades. They were
worried about flooding. Read
more
Endangered Species Act notching its 30th
anniversary
By JOAN LOWY
© Naples Daily News
Thirty years ago this month, the Nixon administration and a nearly
unanimous Congress celebrated the signing of the Endangered Species Act,
the nation's premier law for the protection of biological diversity.
That may have been the last time harmony reigned over
anything related to the species protection law. In
Southwest Florida, the law has been central to controversies over
manatees, panthers, bald eagles and piping plovers. Endangered
species protection often is a case-by-case endeavor that is triggered when
a listed species is found on the site of a proposed subdivision, golf
course or shopping center. "The missing
link is the identification of critical habitat overall and the protection
of that habitat," said Gary Davis, environmental policy director for
the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Read
more
28-December-03
Palm Beach County forced to finish
manatee plan
By Alexandra Navarro Clifton
© Palm
Beach Post
Fourteen years ago, Florida's
governor directed 13 counties to create and adopt manatee-protection plans
in an effort to save the endangered sea cow from extinction. But
then-Gov. Bob Martinez never set deadlines or penalties for ignoring his
order. Palm Beach County is the only one of
those 13 that didn't pursue a complete plan. County commissioners approved
boating speed zones and manatee education programs, but a contentious
siting plan that would govern where new marinas could be built was a
political hydra no one was willing to take on. Commissioners will be
forced to revisit the uncomfortable issue next year. The 2002 state
legislature passed the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, which requires all
13 counties to have a manatee protection plan drafted by
2004 -- and a final plan by 2006. Read
more
Related links:
Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management Manatee Protection
http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/erm/divisions/enhancement/habitat/manatees/manatees.htm
or
http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/erm/divisions/stewardship/index.htm
(click on "Manatee Protection")
Letter to the Editor- Sugar exec
unconvincing in his defense of growers
Written by Mike Conner
© Stuart
News
Reference U.S. Sugar Corp.'s
Vice President Robert E. Coker's [Dec. 9] letter in response to the
reprint of Karl Wickstrom's column from Florida Sportsman magazine,
"Fix the Drainage Machine": Though Mr.
Coker accuses Mr. Wickstrom of writing irresponsible propaganda
in laying partial blame on Florida sugar growers for the damaging
freshwater discharges that repeatedly plague both the St. Lucie and
Caloosahatchee rivers, he doesn't acknowledge the obvious: Sugar farms are
located where all of this water should be. No amount of spin or
technical water-management jargon can cloud that fact. Read
more
Land sought for new local gopher
tortoise preserve
By CHAD GILLIS
© Naples Daily News
State officials are having a
difficult time finding substitute homes for gopher tortoises, a threatened
species that often inhabits some of the most prime development lands in
Southwest Florida. While tortoises are protected
by government regulatory agencies, numbers throughout this region appear
to still be dwindling as more dry upland areas are lost to development in
Lee and Collier counties. Builders must
compensate for gopher tortoise losses through mitigation. Developers can
choose to set aside preserve land within their project, relocate tortoises
or purchase mitigation credits through the state. That
plan is running into snags in Southwest Florida, though, because of the
cost of buying upland areas where the tortoises can be relocated. Read
more
Time runs out for Everglades
By Alan Farago
© Orlando Sentinel
This has been a terrible year
for the environment. In Florida, the fundamental balance has vanished that
we hoped would protect the Everglades from the water demands of
agriculture and Florida's exploding population. A
2003 review shows why those who care about the environment must direct new
energy and leadership to Florida and to the nation. In Washington, key
environmental laws are buckling under pressure from special interests.
We conclude the fall 2004 elections are more important than any we have
experienced in our lifetimes. In 2003,
Everglades restoration was dealt a crushing blow by an amendment to state
law that gives the state and powerful campaign contributors a license to
pollute the Everglades until at least 2016. An army of sugar lobbyists
promoted the bill, nearly greater in numbers than members of the Florida
Senate, in order to avoid having to do its work in a
presidential election year. State newspapers were unanimous in opposing
the bill, powerful members of Congress from both parties warned that it
could destroy funding for Everglades restoration, and even a federal judge
expressed alarm. Read
more
The Everglades: Heroes and Villains
by Alan Farago,
© The
Pelican
The Sierra Club could not
have created a more effective way to raise the consciousness of Floridians
to the blighted state of environmental affairs in Florida, than the
occasion Governor Jeb Bush delivered himself when he delivered a new
Everglades bill that the entire state -- with the exception of that elite
crowd in the Legislature -- found horrible. Well,
the lesson learned is to never look a gift horse in the mouth. We usually
have to work a lot harder to get people excited and ready to contribute to
Sierra Club. Governor Bush committed to a course of action that gives the
sugar industry what it wanted and paid for with massive campaign
contributions. Sugar gets relief from the burdens of the Everglades
Forever Act, the 1994 decree that paved the way for the complex and
fragile federal/state partnership to restore the River of Grass. Every
proclamation from the governor and his troops that the controversy
over the Everglades Bill was a “dustup du jour” and a “bump in the
road” generated another indignant editorial from editorial boards with
no patience for legal thievery of the public trust. Every mild
blandishment revealed a governor affable and determined, through the
tutelage of
$1000- per-hour paid media advisors, to dole out disciplined doses of
misinformation on the Everglades bill. A kind of political Prozac. Read
more
24-December-03
Corps notes wetlands destruction
BY TRACY RODGERS
© Key
West Citizen
MARATHON -- The city of Marathon,
along with developer Donald Mackenzie of Expressway Companies Inc., was
cited recently by the Army Corps of Engineers for destruction of wetlands
on Grassy Key. Eric Summa, chief of enforcement
for the regional branch of the Corps, said Monday that the citations
resulted from "numerous plantings of exotic vegetation." He said
the plantings resulted in large piles of material, as well as a large
mulch pile on the site, located at about Mile Marker 57. Grassy
Key Beach is the last significant wildlife habitat in the Marathon area
because of its turtle nesting spots and the refuge it offers for wading
and migratory birds, according to a report by the Florida Keys
Environmental Trust Fund. Summa said that
although the Corps is still in the initial stages of the investigation, it
had been determined that "the Mackenzies were likely the entity that
performed the activity." Read
more
23-December-03
Letter to the editor: U.S.
Sugar's Coker hasn't got much of a defense ...
Written by Edward Losch
© Stuart
News
Is Mr. Coker, senior vice
president of U.S. Sugar, as obtuse as he appears to be, or is his letter
of Dec. 9 merely a case of the best defense is a good offense? No one is
accusing Big Sugar of being the sole source of polluted water in Central
Florida. Big Sugar is the impediment to a solution since they occupy the
half-million acres needed to filter and
contain the southerly flow before reaching the Florida Bay. Sugar
lands were considered a part of the Everglades retention and filter system
until the advent of the Castro regime caused the sugar barons to take up
residence south of Okeechobee. Read
more
Moving water
Editorial
© Las Vegas Review
Journal
As if Southern Nevada and the urban
West don't have enough water worries with the ongoing drought, a case
before the U.S. Supreme Court could complicate the issue even further.
In a matter that should be decided by the
middle of next year, the justices will rule in a Florida case whether
water diversions into the Everglades require permits under federal
anti-pollution laws. Water diversions
are common transfer mechanisms throughout the West. If the court offers a
broad decision in favor of environmentalists, the process of moving water
for urban use will become more difficult and expensive. "This
case will, without a doubt, have impact around the country on anybody who
manages water," Scott Glazier of the South Florida Water Management
District told the Los Angeles Times. Read
more
22-December-03
Nova plans 'academic village' in Davie
The university's 35-acre project is meant to draw big money and big
brains to a big-time campus.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE
© Miami
Herald
Nova Southeastern University
is pressing ahead with an ambitious $500 million plan to add an academic
village with a research park, clinics, housing and businesses to its
300-acre campus in Davie. The project, a joint
venture between NSU and private developers, is a
step toward creating a more traditional university campus that brings
students, professors, researchers and the public together in one
community, university officials say. ''It will
create a wonderful atmosphere for interchange of ideas,'' NSU President
Ray Ferrero Jr. said. ``It's a win-win for the town and the university --
and for Broward County.'' The project also will
serve as a powerful new economic engine for the area, Ferrero said.
Plans call for 500 homes, a hotel, a conference center,
and about 200,000 square feet of retail space, with Barnes & Noble and
BankAtlantic among those already committed, said David Dawson, NSU's
executive director of university relations. Read
more
Water Pumping Case May Stem Flows in
West
Managers fear that a Supreme Court
ruling in a Florida suit could require federal pollution permits for
transfers in other states.
By Bettina Boxall
© LA
Times
A pumping operation on the
edge of Florida's Everglades is sending waves of apprehension across the
Continental Divide, all the way to the West Coast. Water
managers in California and a number of other western states worry that a
U.S. Supreme Court case involving the pumping project could greatly
complicate, if not limit, the region's massive water diversions by making
them subject to federal pollution regulations. "Basically
all our water is transferred," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general
counsel of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which
imports massive quantities of water from Northern California and
the Colorado River basin. "Perhaps just moving that water and putting
it into reservoirs" would require a federal water pollution permit,
he said. Environmentalists and some eastern
states, on the other hand, are concerned that, if the high court embraces
western arguments, contaminants in water could be pumped with impunity
from one basin to another. Read
more
19-December-03
Bill would kill water transfer proposal
Rep. David Russell aims to prevent water being moved from the state's
north to its south.
By DAN DeWITT
© St. Petersburg Times
BROOKSVILLE - For State Rep.
David Russell, preparing a bill that ties water use to development has
become an annual ritual. The general idea has
always been the same, that local governments should make sure water is
available to any development they approve. He first introduced it in 2001
and, the following year, a version passed that gently prodded cities and
counties to identify sources of water. A tougher
bill stalled in the 2003 session. The Brooksville Republican will
introduce it again this spring, he said, with an important addition.
His new bill will attempt to stop the controversial
plan to ship water from rural areas of the northern part of the state to
densely populated South Florida. "People
around the state . . . are very concerned with the proposals made by the
Committee of 100," Russell said, referring to the business group that
introduced the plan earlier this year. Read
more
18-December-03
Rescuing Wetlands
Editorial
© New
York Times
President Bush has shown
himself to be more deft on clean-water issues than he has on
snowmobiles. To the surprise and delight of conservationists, his
administration announced on Tuesday that it would abandon a draft
proposal that would have narrowed the jurisdiction of the Clean Water
Act and greatly reduced federal protections for streams and wetlands.
The proposal would have opened millions of acres to commercial
development and the
pollution that goes with it. The announcement
was made by the Environmental Protection
Agency. But the decision to reverse course is directly traceable to Mr.
Bush's calculation that the proposal was politically unsustainable.
Ostensibly designed to bring federal regulatory policy into line with a
2001 Supreme Court decision on isolated wetlands, the plan was favored
by Mr. Bush's supporters in the oil, gas and home-building industries.
But it drew stinging criticism in Congress and from nearly 40 state
governments. It also seemed increasingly at odds with a series of lower
court decisions favoring broad protections for streams and
wetlands. Read
more
Sugar industry sees dissolution in trade
deal
By Susan Salisbury
© Palm
Beach Post
For the Bush administration,
it's a win in the trade arena after a couple of disappointing blows.
For some in the Florida sugar industry, it's seen as
the beginning of the end. The United States and
four Central American nations reached agreement Wednesday on a free-trade
pact that will cut the barriers to trade and investment among the five
nations. "We need investment, we need
markets, and this will get things moving in the right direction,"
said Mario Arana, trade minister of Nicaragua, which joined the agreement
along with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. While
the U.S. trade representative's office touted the benefits of the Central
American Free Trade Agreement to U.S. agricultural sectors such as beef,
pork and poultry, Florida sugar industry officials expressed alarm and
shock Wednesday at provisions of the treaty. Read
more
Sugar grower's bid to join improvement
district rejected
By Nirvi Shah
© Palm Beach Post
The county's legislative
delegation refused Wednesday to support a Northern County Improvement
District proposal to add 15,000 acres, most of it sugar cane fields, to
its jurisdiction. Legislators voted 6-5 against
taking a bill to adjust Northern's boundaries to Tallahassee this spring.
Lawmakers said the bill would have disenfranchised residents of some of
the area's largest gated communities. "I am
not prepared to do your battles with the opposition presented to us
today," said state Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Royal Palm Beach. The
sugar land and about 3,000 acres owned by Palm Beach Aggregates are now is
part of the Indian Trail Improvement District. Indian Trail officials said
they hadn't had enough time to discuss the issue or let their constituents
weigh in with their opinions. Read
more
Activists getting judge information to
support Lake Toho injunction
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart
News
Attorneys for both sides in
the legal fight over a restoration project for Lake Tohopekaliga in
Osceola County were busy Thursday trying to meet a judge’s demand for
more information before he decides whether to allow the project to
continue. Local river activist Kevin Stinnette
is asking U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks for an injunction, or a
temporary stop, to the $4 million environmental restoration project that
will send excess water into Lake
Okeechobee. That water, which water managers
said will be enough for at least one low-
level "pulse"-style release to the St. Lucie Estuary, will start
flowing into Lake Okeechobee in the next few days, said Susan Sylvester, a
civil engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers. Read
more
Sorensen's attempt to lower pollution
standards stinks
Editorial
© Key
West Citizen
Last week, Rep. Ken Sorensen
proposed easing the standards for removing pollution from sewage effluent.
These are tough measures that all large wastewater plants in the Keys are
required to meet by 2010. Specifically, Sorensen
would like the nitrogen standard changed from 3 parts per million to 5
parts per million (raw sewage contains approximately 250
parts per million). Sorensen has called this
difference an "almost infinitesimal amount."
And he's right -- it is a tiny amount. That is one of the key features of
coral reef environments -- they require clean, clear, nutrient-free
waters. The long history in the Keys of development with woefully
inadequate sewage treatment has caused severe degradation to our nearshore
waters -- so severe that a state administrative law judge found, in 1995,
that Monroe County
had already exceeded its carrying capacity for nearshore water quality.
Read
more
17-December-03
Florida Sugar Growers
Letter
written by Alfonso Fanjul and
Jose Fanjul, West Palm Beach, Fla
© New York Times
Your criticism of sugar
farmers ("America's Sugar Daddies," Editorial,
"Harvesting Poverty" series, Nov. 29) was a recitation of the
conventional attacks on the industry and on us. Sugar farmers are not
guaranteed success. Our business is extremely low margin. Success
depends on innovation, scale, weather, hard work and fair trade with
other countries. Many sugar farmers have
thrown in the towel, growing other crops or selling out to developers.
Both of us were puzzled by your prominent focus on
the fact that we are Cuban-Americans. In fact, we are proud of our
heritage. Read
more
U.S. Won't Narrow Wetlands Protection
By Felicity Barringer
© New
York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 -
Making an abrupt change in its approach to the Clean Water Act, the
Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it would jettison
plans to remove federal protection from millions of acres of wetlands.
The agency's administrator, Michael O. Leavitt, made
the announcement late in the afternoon in a hastily called news
conference. The change effectively repudiated an internal draft
regulation that proposed withdrawing federal protections from many
isolated wetlands and intermittent streams, including many small
waterways in the arid West. Read
more
Palm Beach County approves hundreds of
homes in protected Ag Reserve
By Anthony Man
© Sun-Sentinel
Despite opposition from environmentalists, Palm Beach County
commissioners voted Tuesday to allow development of 612 acres of
million-dollar homes in South County's Agricultural Reserve. In return,
the developer is buying and donating for preservation 547
acres of environmentally sensitive land in northern Palm Beach County.
"It's a win, win, win for everybody," County Commissioner Mary
McCarty said. Commissioners voted 7-0 for the plan that allows developer
Charles Johnson to build one house per acre on the Ag Reserve parcel.
Rules governing the Ag Reserve would have allowed the same number of
houses, but require setting aside 60 percent of the property as open
space. That would have meant 376 acres preserved as farmland. Read
more
Block this power grab
Editorial
© Palm Beach Post
Anyone who may have wondered why lobbyist Hugo Unruh campaigned for a seat
on the low-profile Northern Palm Beach County Improvement District board
need wonder no more. As Northern's president, Mr. Unruh is in position to
usher in a new era of Palm Beach County development: the conversion of
sugar cane fields to bedroom communities. He took the first step last
month when Northern approached the county's legislative delegation for
permission to annex 15,340 acres of mostly cane fields owned by the Fanjul
family of Palm Beach. Today, legislators should reject the idea, a
decision that would force Northern to reconsider. Read
more
Sorensen- Delay work plan review until
real solutions are found
Editorial
© Key
West Citizen
For the last several
months, a series of mixed signals have been sent out to Keys' residents by
various state agencies, which are in complete conflict with what our
objectives have been over the years. One such
example of mixed signals is the statement by Department of
Environmental Protection, Division of State Lands Director Eva Armstrong.
Ms. Armstrong stated that the DEP plans to purchase $93 million worth of
sensitive Keys lands -- no strings attached -- and that the funding is not
contingent upon local governments funding area wastewater projects,
despite comments to the contrary from Secretary Colleen Castille from the
Department of Community Affairs. Read
more
Caloosahatchee to get extra water
release
Move will help Lake Okeechobee’s level
By Pamela Smith Hayford
© Ft.
Myers News-Press
Water managers got permission
to release more water down the Caloosahatchee River than current policy
allows, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced. Without
this move, the current policy would shut off the flow completely, posing
the opposite problem the river has had all summer from heavy flows, Lee
County Commissioner Ray Judah said. With no
flow, the estuary, basically a nursery for marine animals, would get too
salty. “It’s very good for us because at
this point in the schedule they had closed the gates,” Judah said.
“You can go to the other extreme.” The
release isn’t being made for the river’s sake, but for Lake
Okeechobee’s welfare. Read
more
Residents discuss possible four-lane
widening of State Road 29
By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ
© Naples Daily News
The expansion of a major road
would promote economic growth and development in Immokalee. Hoping to
drive that message home to Collier and Hendry county governments, a band
of about 30 residents attended a Tuesday night meeting to discuss the
possible expansion of State Road 29 to four lanes. The
two-lane road runs north and south from LaBelle in Hendry through
Immokalee in Collier. During harvest season, the road is
heavily traveled by trucks carrying produce, some residents said. "Road
29 is critical for the growth issue of LaBelle and Immokalee," said
Raymond Holland, Collier area president for Florida Community Bank.
"People are going to go where there's a road." Among
those supporting an initiative to expand 29 is LaBelle Mayor Sherri
Craichy, who attended the meeting. Read
more
The Everglades, River of Grass: made new
again
© Okeechobee
News
This is not a new book, but
it is a new edition, the 55th Anniversary of the book by Marjory Stoneman
Douglas, published by Florida Classics Library, Port Salerno, Florida. As
a new edition of the 1947 Florida classic, the front cover is a faithful
replica of the original. The
Afterword bears a 1974 copyright and the fold-out map in the back is also
new and unusual in a soft back edition. There is
no substitute for the River of Grass. Five years in the writing,
Everglades: River of Grass was first published in 1947 in celebration of
the dedication of the Everglades National Park by President Harry
Truman. Read
more
Defense of Keys habitat last year
failed, state says
The Florida Cabinet finds that Monroe County did not adequately protect
the Keys' fragile habitat last year, which could result in stiff
penalties.
By CARA BUCKLEY
© Miami
Herald
KEY WEST - Monroe County failed
over the past year to sufficiently protect the Keys' fragile and
threatened hammocks, the Florida Cabinet said Tuesday, and must come up
with a better land-use plan next month or risk stiff reductions in
building permits. Because of its extreme
environmental sensitivity, Monroe has been labeled an ''Area of Critical
Concern,'' a designation that requires the state to strictly monitor how
functions such as wastewater treatment, habitat protection, hurricane
preparedness and development are carried out. Each
year, the state Department of Community Affairs assesses the county's
progress in protecting the Keys' stressed stretch of islands. The county
faces a 20 percent reduction in annually allocated building permits if it
is not found in compliance with the DCA's growth-management plan. Read
more
County gets one-month reprieve
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
© Key
West Citizen
State regulators recommended a
failing grade for Monroe County environmental conservation in 2003, during
a review by Gov. Jeb Bush and his Cabinet Tuesday. But
the cabinet Administration Commission allowed the county another month to
cobble together a plan to protect tropical hardwood hammocks threatened by
growth. Development, along with sewage pollution
and affordable housing, is considered a top concern for the Florida Keys,
an Area of Critical State Concern that is subject to yearly progress
reports by the Department of Community Affairs. Thirty-two
property owners could lose the right to build homes next year
if the county does not convince the governor and Cabinet that it is making
progress on Jan. 27, according to Tim McGarry, director of county Growth
Management. It would be the second time the
state has made a 20 percent reduction to the Keys yearly allotment of
building credits. Read
more
Breeding of birds slows after a frenzy
Latest numbers fall short of last year's nesting count, levels unseen
since the 1940s, but birds continue their breeding rebound, survey says.
BY CURTIS MORGAN
© Miami
Herald
The birds of the Everglades
didn't do it like they did last year, with the number of nests down by
more than half. But that's largely what
scientists who conduct an annual survey of
wading birds expected for 2003. After all, the previous year had produced
the biggest boom in bird breeding in more than a half century in the
Everglades. ''This is nothing out of the
ordinary for the Everglades,'' Dale Gawlik, an assistant professor of
biology at Florida Atlantic University, said Tuesday. ``The fact that we
have bad years coming on the heels of good years, that's perfectly
normal.'' And despite the dramatic drop in nests
in 2003, the South Florida Wading Bird Report found it really wasn't all
that bad for the great egret, white ibis and nine other wading species
that scientists monitor as feathered measuring sticks of the overall
health of the Everglades. Read
more
Martin County to postpone lawsuit to
halt Lake Okeechobee releases
Postponing legal action to stop releases from Lake Okeechobee will allow
more focus on getting Congress to approve the Everglades restoration plan.
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart
News
STUART — Even as water
managers announced plans for "pulse"-style releases to flow from
Lake Okeechobee for the next six months, Martin County commissioners voted
Tuesday to postpone all legal action aimed at stopping the discharges.
During a visit by two top South Florida Water
Management District officials, commissioners decided to drop the proposed
lawsuit to focus their efforts on getting Congress to approve the local
$1.2 billion Everglades restoration plan. "We
need to be clear, that the greatest public good can come from the
passage of the (Indian River Lagoon restoration) plan this year,"
said Commissioner Sarah Heard. Lee Weberman, the
only commissioner to vote against the postponement, favored continued
research and settlement negotiations for the lawsuit. The
proposed legal action, against both state and federal water managers,
contends discharges into the St. Lucie River violate the Endangered
Species and Clean Water acts. Read
more
16-December-03
Private reservoirs help lake
© Okeechobee
News
The South Florida Water Management
District Governing Board gave its concurrence today to an emergency order
signed by Executive Director Henry Dean authorizing the agency to store
Lake Tohopekaligia (Toho) drawdown discharge water on private lands. This
unprecedented action will significantly reduce potential impacts on Lake
Okeechobee and the coastal estuaries, as well as reduce the possibility
that the drawdown project would be discontinued due to such impacts. The
drawdown of Lake Toho, postponed twice since 2001, is crucial for
improving fish and wildlife habitat through the physical removal of
organic muck and nuisance vegetation. The drawdown will also provide
important economic recreational
benefits such as boat access and enhanced sport fishing populations. To
avoid any additional environmental impacts to Lake Toho, the District
received approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct the
drawdown between Nov. 10 and mid-February - before the wet season begins.
Read
more
15-December-03
Everglades Cleanup Offers Path for
Nation, Scientists Say
Florida's reduction of mercury levels makes a case for forceful federal
action, they say. Today, the EPA will announce emissions proposals.
By Elizabeth Shogren
© LA Times
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. — Two
decades ago, residents of two Florida Panhandle towns were so concerned
about a hazardous waste site near the Chipola River that state officials
agreed to monitor the fish there for five years. They
did not detect any hazardous waste contamination in the fish, but they did
find mysteriously high levels of mercury. Intrigued,
they kept looking. Even higher levels of mercury
turned up farther south, in the pristine reaches of the Everglades, the
subtropical wilderness that sprawls across
more than 2 million acres of central and south Florida. Eventually,
scientists traced the source of the mercury not to toxic discharges into
the groundwater but to emissions in the air — a problem since documented
in all but six states. Read
More
The Nation's Top Scientists Speak Out on
Mercury Pollution; New Research Suggests Delays May Be Harmful
By Kathy Fallon Lambert
© U.S. Newswire
Dec. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today,
the Bush Administration is expected to release its new regulations
regarding mercury pollution from electric utilities. The details of this
rule were leaked to the media revealing less stringent standards than
expected, delayed implementation and potential mercury trading among power
plants. In response to this announcement, some
of the Nation's top scientists have come together for the first time, to
release new and existing research pointing out the connections between
emissions of mercury and mercury in fish and other aquatic life. "Taken
together, this science presents compelling information on the nature,
extent and severity of the ecological consequences of mercury pollution
associated with air emissions," says Dr. Charles Driscoll, professor
of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Syracuse University and board
member of the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation. "With a hazardous
pollutant, such as mercury, we hope that science will play a central role
in informing public policy," he adds.
Fishy policy on mercury
© Palm
Beach Post
A month ago, the
Environmental Protection Agency celebrated a study showing that mercury
contamination in the Everglades has declined dramatically over the past 10
years, largely because of strict federal and state controls on medical and
municipal waste incinerator emissions. Mercury contamination in fish has
dropped 60 percent and contamination in Everglades birds has fallen by 70
percent since 1989, the EPA and the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection announced proudly. This
month, when the EPA was expected to issue new rules that would force power
plants to reduce their mercury pollution, the agency instead revealed
plans to weaken controls. The payoff to the coal-fired power plants that
are the nation's largest remaining source of airborne mercury was Michael
Leavitt's first action as EPA administrator, signaling that the White
House still intends to control the agency. Read
more
End America's denial of farm labor
reality
Editorial
© Palm Beach Post
It is politically fashionable to
describe America's migrant farmworkers as an invisible population. But
Floridians know better. We find them everywhere
-- strolling along our streets, shopping in our supermarkets, attending
our churches, taking their children to schools.
We look at them daily as they ride in sagging vans or old, bright-colored
school buses lumbering to the fields. Migrants
really aren't living invisible lives. Floridians just prefer that
they would. We want their labor, but we don't want to hear their stories.
We turn away to avoid knowing too much. For all the changes the state has
gone through during the past half-century, the denial about migrant
workers has remained remarkably constant -- as have the abuses they endure
to meet our needs. Read
more
Florida a focus of debate over mercury
By Elizabeth Shogren
© Seattle Times
EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla.
— Two decades ago, residents of two Florida Panhandle towns were so
concerned about a hazardous-waste site near the Chipola River that state
officials agreed to monitor the fish there for five years. They
did not detect any hazardous-waste contamination in the fish, but they did
find mysteriously high levels of mercury. Intrigued,
they kept digging. Even higher levels of mercury
turned up farther south, in the pristine reaches of the Everglades, the
subtropical wilderness that sprawls across
more than 2 million acres of central and southern Florida. Eventually,
scientists traced the source of the mercury not to toxic discharges into
the groundwater, but to emissions into the air — a problem since
documented in all but six states. Read
more
Protect Keys habitat before it's too
late
OUR OPINION: FLORIDA CABINET SHOULD STEP IN TO SAVE MONROE'S RESOURCES
© Miami
Herald
Like her predecessors, Department of Community Affairs Secretary Colleen
Castille has worked tirelessly with Monroe County officials to get the
county in compliance with its own comprehensive-development plan.
Tomorrow, the DCA chief will deliver the annual report on what progress,
if any, has been made to the Florida Cabinet. Since
Monroe has been an Area of Critical State Concern for almost 30 years, the
Cabinet has final say over its plan. It is home to many endangered species
and has a delicate ecosystem. The issue, as always, is how much
development should be allowed on the island chain that must pipe in its
water supply and is dependent on a single road, U.S. 1, for
transportation. Ms. Castille should advise the Cabinet to take charge of
the plan because it has become clear that the county simply isn't going to
do it. Read
more
A vision to preserve part of Wiggins
Pass backwaters
Some residents support the establishment of an environmental designation
By ERIC STAATS
© Naples Daily News
Doug Fee never misses a
chance to look out the window when he visits the Tower Pointe condominium
that rises high above the mangroves and backwaters of Wiggins Pass.
"The view is beautiful. It's breathtaking; it's
undeveloped," said Fee, president of the North Bay Civic Association.
It also could be changing. The
estuary that meanders across the northwest corner of Collier County is
facing a future of more condos, more people and more boats, but some
residents are proposing a plan to preserve parts of one of the last
pristine pieces of the county's coast. The plan
would designate the area as a Natural Resource Protection Area, or NRPA
— pronounced NUR-puh — but the NRPA boundaries and whether it would
really have any effect remains to be seen. Read
more
14-December-03
Panther expert's work questioned in peer
review
By CHAD GILLIS
© Naples Daily News
University of Kentucky
scientist Dave Maehr was once thought to be the premier expert on Florida
panthers, one of the world's rarest and most endangered mammals. For
years Maehr's research went unquestioned, even though he represented
development interests at the same time he was billing himself as an
unbiased scientist overseeing the future of South
Florida's waning big cat population. His models
were used to pave the way for the permitting of the Daniels Parkway
extension, a roadway that other wildlife scientists say never should have
been built because it dissects panther habitat. Used
as part of a consulting package for Florida Rock Industries, Maehr's
science was enough to convince the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that a 3,000-acre mine
constructed on panther habitat near Corkscrew Road would not jeopardize
the future of the 80 to 100 adult panthers that remain in South Florida. Read
more
13-December-03
Latest draft of local 'Glades
restoration plan released
Local activists will review the changes, which were made to try to get it
approved more quickly and funded by Congress.
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart
News
After months of tinkering,
water managers on Friday released the new draft plan for local Everglades
restoration that they hope will be approved rapidly and funded by
Congress. Designed to improve the health of the
Indian River Lagoon and its tributaries, the project was revised after the
plan reached top officials with the Army Corps of Engineers in December
2002. The plan can be viewed on the Internet ( http://www.evergladesplan.org).
[Direct link: http://www.evergladesplan.org/pm/studies/irl_south_pir.cfm]
[Also see: http://www.sfwmd.gov/org/wrp/wrp_ce/2_wrp_ce_lagoon/irl.html]
State and federal water management scientists decided
to expand the plan to answer questions that arose during corps review in
Washington. The draft plan now meets new
requirements set by Congress, which approves and funds such water projects
through the Water Resources and Development Act, legislation normally
introduced every two years. Read
more
Excess manure might go to Miami-Dade
By Sam Tranum
© Sun-Sentinel
Wellington · Leno Rage
tossed shovels full of wood shavings and horse manure into a wheelbarrow
about 7:30 Friday morning. Titleist, the horse
whose stall Rage was mucking out, stood nearby, wearing a blanket,
fidgeting. It was a cool morning at the show grounds
run by Stadium Jumping Inc. When the wheelbarrow
was full, Rage, 27, rolled it out of the barn and around the corner and
dumped it on a big concrete pad. Easy enough, he
does it every morning, eight wheelbarrows full each day. The
problem is where the big, putrid pile of waste will go from there. The
Wellington area produces about 80 tons of this horse waste -- a mix of
manure and wood shavings and straw -- every day during the November to
April winter equestrian season, said John Folks, who deals with manure
issues for the state Department of Agriculture. Read
more
Project needs support from community
Editorial
© Stuart
News
The Indian River Lagoon Restoration Project, expected to be the first
component of Everglades restoration out of the gate, has recently
sputtered to a stall. Last week a
frustrated state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Port St. Lucie, flew to Washington
to confront the agencies and members of Congress directly involved in
Everglades restoration. She wanted to find out for herself what it's going
to take to get the IRL Plan before Congress for
authorization. "I wanted to let
the folks up there see a face from our community, and to
let them know that this project is very important to the residents of the
Treasure Coast. They need to know that it has to begin immediately,"
Harrell said. Read
more
12-December-03
Keep Trafford project alive
Editorial
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
With federal support faltering, more
state and local money will be needed to begin the cleanup of Lake
Trafford, a recreational treasure that has fallen victim to years of
pollution and bureaucratic delays. The drive to
save this Collier County lake may be an indication of
how we will have to look in the years ahead to state and local sources,
more than to financially overextended Washington, if we want to keep these
kinds of projects from languishing. The Big
Cypress Basin Board, a subdivision of the South Florida Water Management
District, is providing some leadership. It voted to move ahead on the
project without federal support, and to come up with any needed additional
money to make that possible. Read
more
Male panther undergoes successful
surgery
By PAMELA SMITH HAYFORD
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
Surgery was successful on the
Florida panther injured by a vehicle Tuesday night on U.S. 41 in Collier
County. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission biologist Darrell
Land said the panther has a fair to good chance of recovering and
returning to the wild. Before that can happen,
the 110-pound male cat must get used to the metal supports sticking out of
the broken leg veterinarians set Thursday. FP122,
as he’s called by FWC, also has a chest tube and a repaired dislocated
ankle. The cat will stay at the University of
Florida veterinary hospital in Gainesville, where he had the surgery
Thursday, until he becomes comfortable with the metal contraption,
probably sometime next week. Read
more
Water managers OK land swap
By Robert P. King and Josh Mitchell
© Palm
Beach Post
Water managers Thursday approved a
complex land deal that would let a developer build 612 pricey, one-acre
estates in Palm Beach County's Agricultural Reserve, despite objections
from environmentalists who called the deal possibly illegal. In
return for the right to get around the Ag Reserve's open-space rules,
developer Charles Johnson will give the South Florida Water Management
District 547 acres he owns in the middle of a swath called Pal-Mar, where
the district is working with Palm Beach and Martin counties to preserve
7,000 acres of marsh and forest. That
will protect Pal-Mar, where Johnson had planned to build a luxury
golf course, district and county leaders said. And the agencies don't have
to pay a dime. Read
more
Babcock, state break off talks
DeBoer ready for Charlotte to consider Ranch's future
By Allyson Gonzalez
© Sun-Herald
Negotiations for the state
acquisition of the 91,361-acre Babcock Ranch reached a major impasse, and
probably the end of the trail. "After much
work, the Babcock Florida Co. and the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection have been unable to reach an accord on
conservation easement acquisition," Babcock attorney Drayton Farr
said in a prepared statement Thursday. Farr also
described the Babcock family and state officials as spending a significant
amount of "time, money and effort" -- more than a year -- trying
to negotiate an agreement where the DEP would preserve the ranch through
the state's Florida Forever land acquisition program. Based
on 2002 tax assessments, state officials estimated the value of
the ranch at more than $52 million. DEP
spokeswoman Kathalyn Gaither could neither confirm or deny the breakdown
in the negotiations. Read
more
No restoration of trust
Editorial
© Palm
Beach Post
Indefensible management of
Lake Okeechobee and a $1.5 million no-bid contract to kick off Everglades
restoration erode more of whatever credibility the South Florida Water
Management District and its board has left. The
district looked embarrassingly incompetent again last week when its
spokesmen could not provide a coherent explanation for the continued
refusal to lower Lake Okeechobee, the controversial drawdown of another
lake near Orlando and the long-term destructive dumping of excess water
into the St. Lucie River. While a plan to store water on farmland may
help, the question is why the district didn't try such a plan before and
what the district has promised farmers in exchange for water storage.
This week, the district quietly began privatizing the
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan with a contract that was in the
works months before the board, just three weeks ago, even approved the
concept of using public-private partnerships. Read
more
11-December-03
Water managers to buy land
About 167 out of the 3,000 acres would be for local Everglades restoration
plans.
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart
News
Top water managers meeting today are expected to approve a plan to buy
more than 3,000 acres that will offer water-quality benefits for the St.
Lucie and Loxahatchee rivers. Also,
policy makers with the South Florida Water Management District will
propose a public-private partnership to the district's governing board
that could speed construction of the St. Lucie Canal reservoir. Part
of the land purchase — 167 acres in St. Lucie County between the
C-23 and C-24 canals — will be used for construction of a reservoir and
a stormwater treatment area as part of the local $1 billion Everglades
restoration efforts. "We've been
successful in negotiating the acquisition" for the reservoir, said
Ruth Clements, the district's land acquisition director. "But we have
quite a bit left." Read
more
Judah, Pass: Construction would ease
flood worries
By JEREMY COX
© Naples Daily News
Two local elected officials are urging
federal regulators to approve the construction of several large gated
communities near the Lee-Collier line despite protests from
environmentalists who say the region is home to ecologically important
wetlands. In separate letters to the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah and Bonita Springs
Mayor Paul Pass said the projects would help reduce south Lee's flooding
problems and restore natural water flows. "This
is an opportunity that must not be squandered," Judah wrote last
month in a memo to Col. Robert Carpenter, head of the Army Corps'
Jacksonville office. The developers' plans to
deal with the massive amounts of flowing water represent "a prime
example of a public/private partnership designed to solve a regional
problem with little public expense," Judah said. Read
more
Purchase of 3,000 acres for greenway on
water district's agenda
By Libby Wells
© Palm
Beach Post
State water managers today
will consider buying 3,096 acres of Martin County pastureland that would
help restore the natural watershed to the Loxahatchee River and create an
uninterrupted greenway from Jonathan Dickinson State Park to the Dupuis
Reserve near Lake Okeechobee. The South Florida
Water Management District's governing board will decide on an agreement in
which the district would pay $7 million toward the $43.3 million purchase
price, or $14,000 an acre, with the balance to be paid at three closings
over the next three years. First, though, the
district would put up a refundable $2 million, which
would give it 90 days to work out financing details and make a final
decision. "It's one of the major
acquisitions to be able to complete restoration of the Loxahatchee,"
said Ruth Clements, director of the water district's land acquisition
department. "This is something the district has been strongly in
support of." Read
more
Farmers pitch in, offer land for water
storage
By Neil Santaniello
© Sun-Sentinel
Often cast as polluters of
Lake Okeechobee, farmers are offering to use their ponds and empty fields
to store storm water to help avert ecological damage to the overfilled
lake and coastal estuaries. In an unprecedented
plan led by South Florida water managers, billions
of gallons of water -- from Lake Tohopekaliga and Lake Okeechobee -- would
be diverted to private farm land chiefly in Glades and Hendry counties.
Some water already has been moved to Seminole Indian
reservation and into remote wetlands in southwestern Palm Beach County.
The water transfers, outlined in an emergency order
signed Monday by South
Florida Water Management District Executive Director Henry Dean, should
offset discharges that began Nov. 10 from 30-square-mile lake nicknamed
Toho near Kissimmee. Read
more
10-December-03
Court upholds state, county growth
management in Keys
By CATHERINE WILSON
© Wichita Eagle
MIAMI - An appeals court
sided with growth-control advocates Wednesday when it threw out a ruling
that could have opened the door to large-scale development of thousands of
Florida Keys house lots carved up since the 1920s. The
3rd District Court of Appeal endorsed measures adopted in the last two
decades to add environmental and infrastructure issues to the mix when
considering residential construction in the sensitive island chain.
The decision means the difference between building 200
houses a year and potentially letting 15,000 go up, said attorney Richard
Grosso, who argued the appeal for environmental groups. Grosso
of Nova Southeastern University's Environmental and Land Use Law Center
said the ruling also means that thousands of lots in the Keys will have to
be developed according to modern rules. "This
is judicial affirmation of the fact that we can regulate growth," he
said. Read
more
Water managers expected to oppose FPL
transmission line route
By CHAD GILLIS
© Naples Daily News
A state agency charged with
managing water resources and flood control is the latest government entity
to oppose a multicounty transmission line route suggested by one of the
region's largest land-owning families. The South
Florida Water Management District's governing board meets today in West
Palm Beach and is expected to approve a resolution
that says Gov. Jeb Bush and Cabinet should not consider an alternate route
for a Florida Power and Light line that's being proposed by the Collier
family. FPL already has selected a preferred
route that would connect the Orange River station in Lee County to the
Golden Gate area. That route skirts Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the
Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, or CREW, by diverting the line to
the Immokalee area. Seeing that the FPL route
could possibly affect some of its land, Collier Enterprises Inc. proposed
a route that would dissect environmentally sensitive areas east of Bonita
Springs. Read
more
Future routes of 951 extension resemble
pre-study options
By CHARLIE WHITEHEAD
© Naples Daily News
One year into a comprehensive
routing study that could take five years, consultants and county engineers
are now looking at a set of routes for the future Collier Boulevard-951
extension that look much like what the county had before the study
started. At a public workshop Tuesday in Estero,
consultants presented their latest conclusions. Consultants and engineers
for Lee and Collier counties axed the easternmost routes for the road,
which would be between Immokalee Road in Collier and Alico Road in Lee. A
Preliminary Design and Environment study, a major undertaking required for
federal project funding, has convinced them the eastern routes are too
damaging to the marshy wetlands and wide areas of Florida panther habitat
that still exist in southeastern Lee County. Matt
Bixler, environmental specialist with The Conservancy of Southwest
Florida, said he likes to see those routes removed from the study. Read
more
Administration Will Not Exempt Sugar
From CAFTA Talks
© Congress
Daily
A high-ranking U.S. trade official said
today that the Bush administration would not take sugar off the table in
the final round of the Central American Free Trade Agreement talks taking
place in Washington this week. Allen Johnson, the chief agriculture
negotiator,
told reporters at a news conference that other agricultural groups have
written the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that the United States
should not take any product off the table because that would encourage
Central American negotiators to ask for removal of other
agricultural products that U.S. companies might be able to export to
Central America. Johnson said U.S. negotiators are "well aware of the
sensitivities" of the sugar industry and would try to address them,
"but not in a way that impinges on our offensive interests."
Tourism: 'Classic Florida' no more; it's
now the 'Last Paradise'
By BILLY BRUCE
© Naples Daily News
Welcome to Paradise Coast,
Florida's last paradise. Collier County tourism
officials unveiled their 2004 marketing plan Tuesday and announced that
the county's old tourist promotions moniker-- "Classic
Florida"--had seen its day. A new logo for
the Greater Naples-Marco Island-Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau
features those names above the county's new destination brand
name--Paradise Coast--and a new slogan, "Florida's Last
Paradise." The Collier County Commission
and the county Tourist Development Council got its first peek at the new
logo and slogan Tuesday at a joint workshop for discussions of the
proposed tourist tax spending policy. The
Visitors Bureau's presentation of the new identity may not have been
better timed. Local hoteliers who are opposed to a proposed 1 percent
increase in the tourist bed tax on overnight stays and short-term rentals
were well represented at the workshop. Read
more
Governors' Bay Strategy Counting on
Federal Funds
Financing Model Based On Effort in Everglades
By Nelson Hernandez
© Washington Post
The governors of Virginia and
Maryland announced a plan yesterday to make restoration of the Chesapeake
Bay an issue of "national importance," calling on Washington to
undertake the same kind of role it played in the massive effort to save
the Florida Everglades. At George Mason
University yesterday for the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council's annual
meeting, Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, the council's chairman, ordered the
formation of a commission to devise strategies for funding the estimated
$11.5 billion price tag to reduce pollution in the
64,000-square-mile watershed over the next 10 years. The money is expected
to come from state and local governments as well as private sources, but
the largest chunk, officials said, would have to be provided by the
federal government. Warner (D) said that he,
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and other leaders in the bay
region would take the campaign to their congressional delegations and
President Bush. Read
more
09-December-03
Letter to the Editor- Wickstrom's sugar
column irresponsible propaganda
Written by Robert E. Coker
© Stuart News
Reference Karl Wickstrom's Nov. 23 column, "The drainage
machine": The essence of "propaganda" is that it uses
emotionally charged rhetoric in support of a doctrine, without regard
for facts. Karl Wickstrom relies solely on propaganda to distort the
truth about environmental issues. He blames the sugar industry, which
has existed for 80 years, for problems affecting coastal communities
that are still under construction. He must know that 10 million people
now live in the South Florida watershed, requiring increased drainage
for their homes, shopping centers, golf courses, cities and amusement
parks. Wickstrom's propaganda blames sugar, but farmers are not to blame
for the above-average rainfall throughout the ecosystem. Read
more
Lake Istokpoga added to watershed
project
By Pete Gawda
© Okeechobee News
Lake Istokpoga was recently
been added to the Lake Okeechobee Watershed Project. Discussion of the
study of that lake was one of the topics at the Monday project development
team meeting of all the teams involved in the Lake Okeechobee project. The
meeting was held at the Dixon Hendry Campus of Indian River Community
College. Anwar Khan of HDR, Inc. stated that
good progress has been made on the Lake Istokpoga project and that the
draft report is almost complete. In the future, he stated, both
watersheds, Lake Istokpoga and Lake Okeechobee would be considered as one
system. Tom James of South Florida Water
Management District discussed phosphorous loading in the upper chain of
lakes. He said information was gathered from various sources about
phosphorous loading. The study revealed that most phosphorous loads came
from tourist use, improved pastures and row
crops. Read
more
Collier County may rewrite growth plan
After state orders Collier to do better job of protecting its environment,
the county now struggles over whether it should be allowed to overrule
state or federal regulations in its rewriting of land development codes
By ERIC STAATS
© Naples Daily News
Collier County might rewrite its
growth plan to settle the issue of how the county should protect rare and
threatened wildlife species in the path of development. Questions
have arisen as the county has tried to write land development rules to put
into action a 2002 revision of the growth plan. That
revision was the result of a 1999 state order that required the
county to do a better job of protecting its environment. "We
seem to be almost going back to square one in terms of wildlife not
getting the protection it deserves in Collier County," said
Nancy Payton, field representative for the Florida Wildlife Federation.
At issue is whether the county can require developers
to be more strict about wildlife protection than state and federal
wildlife agencies in the growth-permitting loop. Read
more
Trouble ahead, unless ...
Editorial
© Naples Daily News
Your readers may be interested to
know Collier County is now at risk of losing many of its threatened bald
eagles and other at-risk species. There are several development projects
in the Wiggins Pass area (Coconilla, Signature's Cocohatchee Bay
five-tower project and
Audubon Country Club) which, if permitted, may threaten the continued
existence of bald eagles at the pass. The
problem is that state and federal permit agencies don't always
view individual nests, animals or plants with as protective an eye as the
species as a whole -- thus they may "write off" individuals as
expendable. Collier County's problem is that current local laws
ambiguously defer to the opinions of these state and federal agencies on
protection policies. The consequence is that Collier County, in the case
of eagles, may be forced to sacrifice its individual birds and nests! Read
more
Central American trade negotiations
worry sugar industry
By Laura Layden
© Naples Daily News
As U.S. and Central American
leaders sat down Monday to continue negotiations for a new free trade
pact, a local sugar grower felt anxious and afraid. Key
players fear the U.S. sugar industry may be sacrificed in the agreement,
which would tie the U.S. economy with smaller ones in five Central
American countries. "You've got to remember
the U.S. trade representative's job is to negotiate a trade deal and I
just hope they don't trade away the
American sugar farmers just to get a trade deal," said Robert Coker,
a vice president with U.S. Sugar Corp. in Clewiston. Not
everyone is sympathetic. There are groups working to make sure sugar is
left on the table in this week's negotiations -- including Florida
environmentalists, who are concerned about the industry's impact on the
Everglades. Read
more
Sea turtle deaths hit record high in
region
Red tide is thought to be the main culprit in the 128 sea turtle deaths.
By MICHAEL WERNER
© Herald-Tribune
Here in Southwest Florida, the
coastal waters have become an undulating morgue of sea turtles. One
hundred twenty-eight sea turtles have died or washed ashore in the waters
from Manatee to Charlotte counties this year, already making it the
highest year on record and more than doubling the 10-year average. Mote
Marine Laboratory recorded 77 sea turtle strandings in Sarasota County
waters alone through November, making it the "highest year we've had
for the 10 years we've been (monitoring sea turtle strandings)," said
Deborah Fauquier, deputy manager for Mote's stranding investigations
program. The rise in strandings on the Gulf
coast has not been an isolated phenomenon. Strandings have increased
dramatically statewide, causing concern among some turtle experts about
the animals' future. Read
more
Safety valve on water
Editorial
© Palm
Beach Post
Sometimes, the best thing to do
is nothing, a hard concept for state legislators who may want to tinker
recklessly with water policies. The Florida
Council of 100's report urging new policies probably will spawn new
attempts to remove Florida's water supply from public ownership. The
council, a group of corporate leaders who advise Gov. Bush, recommends
changes that could lead to privatizing the water supply and moving water
from the springs and rivers of North Florida to serve rapid growth in
Central and South Florida. Senate Natural
Resources Committee Chairman Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, has held hearings
around the state on the council's suggestions, and he found that 99
percent of people who attended oppose the proposals. House members are
calling for their own hearings. Opponents of the council's plans are
watching for legislation similar to Baxter Troutman's bill that failed
this year. Read
more
08-December-03
EPA's mercury plan sells out U.S. public
OUR OPINION: FLORIDA PROGRAM PROVES TOUGH POLLUTION CONTROLS WORK
© Miami Herald
If the Environmental
Protection Agency really needs proof that its proposed weakening of
mercury-pollution controls is an unmitigated sellout of Americans' health
to benefit the coal-burning industry, it need look no further than its
activities in Florida. Last month, the
EPA along with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection proudly
announced the salutary results of a long-term study of mercury-emissions
controls in South Florida: A 60-percent reduction of the level of mercury
in fish and a 70-percent reduction of mercury in birds in the Everglades
since 1989. Risky policy shift Mercury
is a neurotoxin that can damage the brains and nervous systems of young
children and fetuses, and the cardiovascular and immune systems of adults.
Emissions accumulate in lakes, rivers and oceans, gradually spreading
contamination up the food chain. Humans are most often exposed via seafood
consumption. In animals, it hinders reproduction and motor skills. Read
more
The IRL Plan
State Rep. Gayle Harrell says total community effort is needed
Editorial
© Stuart News
The Indian River Lagoon
Restoration Project, expected to be the first component of Everglades
restoration out of the gate, had recently sputtered to a stall. Last
week a frustrated state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Port St. Lucie, flew to
Washington to confront the agencies and members of Congress directly
involved in Everglades restoration. She wanted to find out for herself
what it's going to take to get the IRL Plan before Congress for
authorization. "I wanted to let the folks
up there see a face from our community, and to
let them know that this project is very important to the residents of the
Treasure Coast. They need to know that it has to begin immediately,"
Harrell said. Read
more
07-December-03
Conservationists Put Earth on Their Wish
List
By PETER KAMINSKY
© New York Times
As the year's end approaches, it
is fitting to ask some conservation organizations for a New Year's wish
that they hope will improve the outdoors experience for America's
sportsmen and sportswomen. From the many groups that could have been
included, here are three representing a cross section of states and
terrains. "There are no other Everglades in
the world," the naturalist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas wrote in 1947 of
the unique wetlands between Lake Okeechobee and Florida Bay.
Unfortunately, in 2003, "Nine acres of the
Everglades die every day," Mary Barley, chairwoman of the Everglades
Foundation, said. Environmentalists trace much
of this destruction to the sugar industry. More than 700,000 acres of cane
fields, winter vegetables and a few sod farms occupy the upper quarter of
the original Everglades. Read
more
06-December-03
Key Largo sewer plant goes to high
bidder
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
© Keys News
Officials across the
county shook their heads in wonder this week as the Key Largo wastewater
board chose a company to build a treatment plant for the Key Largo Trailer
Village. The board voted 3-2 against the
unanimous advice of consultants and hired a
company that engineers fear cannot treat sewage to standards required by
the state, and that is selling a more expensive system compared to its
competitor. The Randazza Corporation of
Riverview, Fla., did offer a $75,000 bank account deposit for the board to
use at its discretion -- an unusual move -- that board members say could
be used if the project falls short. "Our
recommendation is to have it [the board's decision] changed," said
Robert Sheets, manager of the wastewater board and president of the
Tallahassee consulting firm Government Service Group. Read
more
Water managers consider no-bid contract
By Robert P. King
© Palm
Beach Post
Water managers are set to OK a
$1.5 million no-bid contract that could lead to an unprecedented alliance
with an NFL team owner and Florida's largest citrus grower to build a
reservoir aimed at helping the St. Lucie River. The
result could be a 10- to 20-year partnership involving the South Florida
Water Management District and Martin County landowners including
Consolidated Citrus Limited Partnership, a company controlled by Texas
businessmen who are strong supporters of President Bush. The
initial $1.5 million contract would kick off a year of study on whether
private interests could build, own and operate a reservoir and filter
marshes cheaper than the district. If so, water managers would consider a
long-term deal in January 2005, district Executive Director Henry Dean
said
Friday. Read
more
05-December-03
Former EPA Chief Browner Calls Bush Environmental Record 'Poison Pill' for Health, Jobs at Florida Launch of Issue Campaign
Releases Report by Environment2004; Documents Bush Record's Florida Impact
By Sean Crowley
© U.S. Newswire
ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ --
President Clinton's former Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator, Carol Browner, today called the Bush administration's
environmental policies "a poison pill for Floridians' health and their
jobs." Browner, the former chief of Florida's Department of
Environmental Regulation, spoke at a 2:30 p.m. news conference to
release a study by a new Democratic issue advocacy group,
Environment2004, that documents the "unprecedented" anti- environmental
record of the Bush administration and its political allies. The report,
Destroying an American Treasure: The Bush Record in Florida is available
at http://www.environment2004.org. "The Bush Administration is simply
the most anti-environmental administration ever," said Ms. Browner, who
served as EPA Administrator from 1993-2001. "It has allowed big energy
companies and other campaign donors to undermine environmental programs,
and everyday Floridians are paying the price for these backroom, dirty
deals."
Read more
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Bush Record in
FloridaGroup to go on attack against Bush on environme
