April   2002 

 

Everglades Village News

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Bringing the Everglades into the classroom
Thanks to a joint education venture, students can now journey through the Everglades ecosystem -- without ever leaving their classroom. In April 2002, middle schools throughout the South Florida Water Management District's 16-county jurisdiction received copies of a new resource guide designed to increase awareness and understanding of the Everglades. See: http://www.sfwmd.gov/histo/3_counties.html
Developed in conjunction with the Newspapers In Education program, Everglades - An American Treasure will bring to life the interconnected Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades watershed and the unprecedented state/federal efforts now under way to restore and revitalize this extraordinary ecosystem. Read More...
Copyright  © 2002SFWMD All rights reserved.

30-Apr-02

Environmental Protection Indicators for California (EPIC)
The 2002 EPIC report is available for download as either a series of pdf files or as one large file. You will need the free program Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or print these files. This 300-page report describes the process for the identification and selection of environmental indicators that are adopted as part of the EPIC system, and presents the initial set of environmental indicators. Read More..
Copyright  © 2002 OEHHA All rights reserved.

Army Corps Suspending Work on 150 Water Projects
Decision is Unprecedented Response to Criticism
The Army Corps of Engineers is suspending work on about 150 congressionally approved water projects to review the economics used to justify them, an unprecedented response to criticism of Corps analyses inside and outside the Bush administration.  Maj. Gen. Robert H. Griffin, director of the Corps civil works program, announced that the Corps will immediately "pause" work on billions of dollars worth of active public works projects that are not yet under construction. Griffin said any project with a pre-1999 economic analysis will need a new analysis before it can proceed. The Corps will also review newer projects where questions about economics, engineering or the environment "may have resulted in significant changes in project justification or support."  
Copyright  © 2002  Washington Post  All rights reserved.


Washington Post series on Army Corps



Ibis fly along a mangrove lined wilderness waterway 
near the Shark River in Everglades National Park. (Tim Chapman)

^_____Special Report^_____

• Army Corps of Engineers: Documents, graphics and recent coverage.

Post Series - Links 

Part 1: <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36661-2000Sep8.html">An Agency of Unchecked Clout</A>

• Part 2: <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45866-2000Sep10.html">Working to Please Hill Commanders</A>

• Part 3: <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51707-2000Sep11.html">A Race to the Bottom</A>
• Part 4: <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57934-2000Sep12.html">Reluctant Regulators</A>
• Part 5: <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A578-2000Sep13.html">A Chance for Redemption</A>
• <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47092-2000Feb13.html">How Corps Turned Doubt Into a Lock</A>
• <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49146-2000Sep11.html">A Brief History of the Corps</A>
• <A HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38241-2000Sep8.html">The Corps' Controversial Projects</A>

Researcher questions Everglades plan focus
Inside a 1907 clapboard house fitted with solar panels, where a stationary bike powers a
black-and-white television and the coffee is ground by hand, dwells the author of an unfinished
book almost nobody has read.  Yet this book's contents are creating a scientific stir.  Has Chris McVoy -- Lake Worth resident, folk dancer, peace activist, part-time yoga instructor and speaker of six languages -- uncovered fatal flaws in the $8.4 billion plan to restore the Everglades?  Some environmentalists think he has.  He's also caught the ear of certain federal scientists, who say the plan is sound but that McVoy has found ways they can improve it.  The book painstakingly describes the wet, wild, flowing Everglades that existed before the 1880s, when early drainage projects began its slow death.  That picture differs from the scientific thinking behind the restoration plan -- either a little or a lot, depending on whom you ask.  Here's the awkward part: McVoy is a wetlands scientist at the South Florida Water Management District, one of the prime forces behind the $8.4 billion plan.
Copyright  © 2002  Palm Beach Post  All rights reserved.

EDITORIAL:  Keep hands off funds to buy land
This bad idea just won't go away.  Once again, the Legislature is considering a raid on Florida's Preservation 2000 reserve fund, the current version of which was established by voters in 1998.  The $49 billion state budget to be taken up in the special session that began Monday includes a plan to take $100 million from the fund to pay for a variety of worthy matters, such as health care and education.  We realize the state is hard-pressed to pay for lots of needed programs. But this money is morally committed to the state's excellent conservation land-buying program, by voter action. Furthermore, environmental groups were given a commitment that there would be no raid on environmental funds in this budget. There was a $75 million raid last year.  The commitment of money to the land fund makes it possible to borrow for the purchases at a good rate.  
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

Rural committee approves changes to growth management program
Rural landowners in Collier County moved a big step closer Monday night to guidelines that will set the course for what they say will be compatible growth management around the Immokalee area.  The Rural Area Assessment Oversight Committee unanimously approved two sets of revisions to goals, objectives and policies for a program called the Rural Lands Stewardship Area Overlay, which involves the northeastern section of the county surrounding Immokalee.  All 11 of the committee members present at Monday's meeting - three others were absent - agreed to send the proposed growth plan amendments through the approval process. That will include review and scrutinizing by the county's Environmental Advisory Council, the Planning Commission and the Collier County Commission - as well as a series of public hearings.  The state Department of Community Affairs will have the final say.  The plan, or overlay, gives landowners in the 200,000-acre study area the option of asking Collier County commissioners to designate places for protection, called stewardship sending areas, and places where development would be allowed under new rules, called receiving areas.  Committee members concentrated their discussion on what can and can't be done in the sending and receiving areas. The plan includes an elaborate point system, which would reward landowners for setting aside land for protection or keeping it in agricultural production. 
Copyright  © 2002  Naples News  All rights reserved.

Lee, Collier among fastest-growing counties in nation, new census figures show
More than 100 years ago, Thomas Edison made this observation: "There is only one Fort Myers and 90 million people are going to find it out."  During one recent 15-month period, about 36,000 of them did - or at least they found Southwest Florida. Newly released census figures tell Southwest Florida residents what they already knew. Lee County and Collier County are each among the fastest-growing counties in America.  Collier in fact is the fifth-fastest growing county in Florida, and the 63rd fastest growing in the country. The new figures focus on the population growth between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2001. During that time Collier's population grew by 5.7 percent, from 251,377 to 265,769.  It's not like Lee County's growth dragged the region down, however. Lee County saw 21,567 new residents move in during those 15 months, an increase of 4.9 percent. Lee's population went from 440,888 to 462,455.  Lee's percentage of growth was 100th in the nation, but in terms of the sheer number of new residents the county ranked 31st in the nation and sixth in Florida. Collier ranked 58th nationwide and ninth in the state in terms of actual people, not percentages.  Apart from the more obvious factors of weather and geography, locals cite efforts to provide new residents with what they need.  "I really think it's the fact community leadership is working to build the infrastructure that contributes to the quality of life," said Steve Tirey, executive director of the Chamber of Southwest Florida. "That's been the real challenge in this area since the Calusa were digging canals."  Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah said the rapid growth is something county officials deal with daily. Judah, a planner for the county before he was elected in 1988, since 1990 has seen a 38 percent population increase.  During those same years, Collier's population grew by 75 percent, from 152,099 in the 1990 census to the current 265,769.  
Copyright  © 2002  Naples News  All rights reserved.

 

29-Apr-02

Resource Manager Of The Year

Governor Jeb Bush, the Florida Cabinet, DEP and Nature Conservancy officials, and the DiMaggio family.

Jeff DiMaggio, Park Manager for Waccasassa Bay Preserve State Park and Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve, was honored as the Department of Environmental Protection's "2001 Resource Manager of the Year" at the April 23 meeting of Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet. The award, established in 1992, is presented annually to recognize outstanding resource management achievements by a DEP land manager in the protection of state lands. It is based on a review of nominees by a selection committee composed of three major Florida environmental organizations -- Audubon of Florida, the Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy."Under Jeff's management, the rate of scrub rejuvenation in Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve has rapidly increased," said Florida State Parks' Director Wendy Spencer. "Rejuvenation of the scrub will dramatically increase the breeding habitat for the threatened Florida scrub-jay. The population of jays in this region of the state has recently been deemed one of the most critical in the state due to habitat loss." Read More...
Copyright  © 2003  Florida Department of Environmental Protection All rights reserved.

Wetlands saved at uplands' cost 

Development of habitat hurts wildlife
Janet Palmer saw cardinals dart by her condominium lanai and heard nighthawks' calls during spring evenings when she moved to south Fort Myers nine years ago.  That's changed.  Today, the cardinals have been replaced by urban animals such as crows and grackles - the kind of bird commonly seen pecking at discarded french fries in fast-food restaurants' parking lots.  Her situation is copied in neighborhoods across Southwest Florida as rooftops replace pine trees.  As 50 people a day move into Lee County, environmentally crucial uplands are finding themselves scraped clean and sprouting concrete foundations at a record pace.  Florida's laws extensively protect its swamps and wetlands, but that isn't the case with upland habitats such as pine forests that have been mowed over, often right up to wetland boundaries.  Uplands are developed for residential and commercial use near Florida's coasts and for agricultural uses inland.  With wetlands usually off limits for building, the homes and businesses that support new residents are built in dry - often wooded - areas.  Motorists still can drive by tree-thick corners at major intersections and see a wall of green out the car window. 
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

School program is picture purr-fect
Southwest Florida school children are playing a big role in helping biologists learn more about the endangered Florida panther.  The Pennies for Panthers program is gathering money that is used to buy special cameras that will photograph panthers in their natural setting.  Students at LaBelle's Country Oaks Elementary School are the first to raise the $444 needed to buy a camera.  That camera was recently placed in the Florida Panther Refuge located off State Road 29 in Collier County.  The camera is triggered to take a picture by body heat and can snap photographs day and night.  Wildlife biologist Larry Richardson said the photos are an important part of panther research.  The date and time printed on each photograph help researchers learn about the panther's living patterns.  The information provides clues about where they go. The photos help biologists look at the health of individual panthers, and it shows them what areas they frequent the most.  "It tells us about the value of a certain area," Richardson said.  The information is critical to researchers who are working on plans to enhance the panther population.  They believe only 50 to 70 are living in the wild, all in southern Florida.  The panthers are studied by air three times a week.  Collared panthers are tracked to see where they go.  
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

Editorial: 
New science, new ideas require public scrutiny
Three stories dominated the front page of this newspaper on Sunday, April 21.  One was about mitigation banking.  Another was about Everglades restoration.  The third was about the future of farming and residential development in the Immokalee area.  They all had something in common. They all are driven by growth.  They have this in common too: They are all experimental, and we get only one chance to get them right.  "We" is apropos because all of us have to live with the results. That means we have to keep both eyes wide open to what is going on around us.   
Copyright  © 2002  Naples News  All rights reserved.

Collier may hire private planning firms
Critics: Potential conflicts of interest mar proposal
Collier County's overburdened community development department may start hiring outside  companies to help plan, leading some critics to raise the issue of potential conflicts of interest.  Private planning firms are usually employed by developers to navigate projects through the county's regulatory process.  "The county can't hire a private planning firm who has a stable of developers they provide services to," said Nancy Payton, Florida Wildlife Federation representative. "If they have a contract with the county to help write the rules that govern the developers, who do you think they'll be looking out for?"  Commissioner Fred Coyle said private firms would do limited work for the county.  "These consultants wouldn't be getting involved in the approval process for developments or building projects," Coyle said. "They'll be advising us as to creating land development codes to govern growth."  Commissioners voted to allow Community Development Administrator Joe Schmitt to start looking at private firms to help the planning department April 23.  Schmitt said the first thing he'll do is try to work out a foolproof method to avoid conflicts.  
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

Letter to Editor - Miami Herald
Sportsmen crucial to health of Big Cypress
Re the April 15 editorial Preserving Big Cypress: I have comments on three issues: 1) the purpose of the preserve, 2) damage that allegedly occurs from off-road vehicles, and 3) the permanent roads being planned by the National Park Service.  I was executive director of the Florida Wildlife Federation during the 1970s when the Big Cypress was created. The sportsmen were worried they would be shut out if the federal government purchased the area. I worked in Washington to get the bill out of the Senate committee and also helped write the Florida version of Big Cypress, securing $40 million for Florida's share of the purchase.  
Copyright  © 2002  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

OP-ED
JIM KING
Balancing environment and development  
Recent editorials and articles have expressed disapproval of an environmental initiative that I authored, which passed the Legislature this past session.  The legislation, a combination of a measure to provide a dedicated funding source for the restoration of the Everglades and a reform of Florida's environmental permitting process, was a priority of mine.  During my tenure in the Legislature, I have always been a supporter of environmental issues and preserving Florida's natural resources, while also continuing my commitment to the business community and to managed growth.  I have received numerous awards from environmental groups and criticism from others It's a delicate balance. At times, being supportive of both the environment and development has been difficult, but I have continued to strive to balance the needs of an expanding population while protecting the environment. Thus I decided to amend my bill relating to administrative procedures to another measure that I championed, the Everglades funding bill.  
Copyright  © 2002  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

US Farm Bill Blasted in Australia, Accepted in Asia
Farm goods exporter Australia Monday threatened to challenge the U.S. farm bill in the World Trade Organization (WTO), but Asian importers offered mild support for the bill if it produced cheaper food imports. The Australian government and the country's top farm body both castigated the United States for its six-year farm bill, which will increase grower subsidies by US$4.8 billion a year and was approved for legislation by lawmakers Friday. ``We're extremely disappointed. The U.S. has clearly abrogated its leadership on the issue of world trade in agriculture,'' Australian Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said through a spokesman Monday. As Australia fumed, industry sources in Beijing said the U.S. bill could push China further toward assisting farmers who had been hit by WTO entry concessions. Another Beijing analyst told Reuters that while the U.S. farm bill was not good for Chinese farmers, it would strengthen a search by the Chinese government to find ways of supporting farmers by reducing taxes or by other means. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

28-Apr-02

Editorial: Growth management
Collier wrong to farm out its planning responsibilities to growth-friendly firms.
Late last year, when Collier County government officials announced plans to do more land-use planning in house rather than have developers go first, growth-pummeled citizens were optimistic.  There was hope for real growth management, starting with accountable regulators setting the rules instead of reacting to problems such as clogged roads and sewers when growth mushroomed out of control.  That hope is put off, only four months later, by the county's plans to turn over fundamental planning chores to local consulting engineering firms - and to pay them to do so.  It is a breathtaking move, even by standards of Collier County where we are getting harder and harder to amaze regarding government's courtship of development.  The county's planning and zoning office prefaces all of this by saying it is overworked and understaffed. What office isn't?  Among the myriad pitfalls with this contract plan is that it makes the county a business partner with developers and their chief lobbyists. Though county commissioners stress that any plans forthcoming from privateers will be subject to public board review, this deal gives the growth industry an inside track on more of the growth that is overwhelming the county's own staff.  "The fox guarding the henhouse" is a blunt and overworked comparison, yet it fits.   
Copyright  © 2002  Naples News  All rights reserved.

Lee, Collier influx makes 'top 100' list
Jobs, affordability, weather a big draw
Warm temperatures and sunny skies perfect for golf or the beach year round.  A strong economy with new jobs added nearly every day.  Housing that's still largely affordable.  That's what makes Lee County among the fastest-growing counties in the country, according to census figures released today.  Lee County ranked 31st among the top 100 counties, with more than 21,500 people added in the 15-month period from April 1, 2000, to July 1, 2001. That brings the total to 462,455.  Collier was 58th, with 14,392 more people in the same time period, for a total of 265,769.   Maricopa County, Ariz., had the greatest population gain, with 122,649 more residents.  In terms of percentage increases, Douglas County, Colo., near Denver, saw the biggest gain, with a 12.6 percent increase. By comparison, Lee's increase was 4.9 percent and Collier's 5.7 percent.  The status didn't faze those in government circles.  "Growth is going to happen. We don't have a barrier we can put up'' said Janet Watermeier, Lee County's economic development director. "It's a desirable place to live.''  But it comes with a price and it's taking a toll on infrastructure.  
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

Amorous alligators causing anxiety
As they wander, encounters climb
Suddenly, the big reptiles are everywhere, wallowing in golf course ponds, lurking on suburban lawns, snapping in schoolyards.  Ah, springtime in Florida, when an alligator's thoughts turn to love.  And to food like frogs, fish and family pets.  And to wet holes safely away from other hormonally juiced, cannibalistic, bigger gators.  But mainly, to love.  Gators have been smitten with their annual case of the hots, and reports of close encounters of the reptilian kind, which hit a record of nearly 17,000 last year, are again pouring in by the hundreds statewide.   
Copyright  © 2002  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Birders keep constant watch at event
With an Audubon Society book in his back pocket and a pair of binoculars, Joe Barros started out Saturday at 4 a.m. to see as many birds as possible in 24 hours.  As president of South Florida's Tropical Audubon Society, Barros and his wife, Helen, took part in a 24-hour Birdathon to raise money to help maintain the group's headquarters and for environmental lobbying.  Participants donate money for every bird they spot. Donation amounts are up to the individual. About 40 people participated.  Categories included most birds seen by an individual, most birds seen in a backyard, most birds seen from a boat and even most birds seen on television. Prizes include a new pair of binoculars, native plants and gift certificates from merchants.  Making a sound with his mouth called a ''spish,'' Barros walked through Everglades National Park, Matheson Hammock Park and Bill Baggs Cape Florida
State Park, counting as many different kinds of birds as possible.  
Copyright  © 2002  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

Suppliers to study storage of rain water
Utilities can share water under plan
Southwest Florida's water dilemma is simple: It rains too much for part of the year and not enough the rest of the time.  A new effort by water suppliers will study how to collect water in the wet summer months and store it to feed thirsty lawns in the dry season.  The South Florida Water Management District is spearheading the plan. Seven utilities in Lee and Collier counties have signed on.  The district and utilities are pitching in to cover the $250,000 cost of the plan.  Engineers and water managers will study whether it's possible to:

• Plan and build a system to collect rain and treated wastewater in the damp summer months.
• Store it in lakes, ponds or underground wells.
• Eventually build a system to deliver the stored water to customers.

"The end goal is to have some kind of grid system, like electricity," said water district spokesman Kurt Harclerode, referring to a method of transporting electricity, sometimes hundreds of miles away.  Under the plan, water utilities could share if one had excess of water while another had a shortage.  Such a system would help solve the type of problems Collier County faced this month, Harclerode said.   
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

 

Biscayne park fishing may be cut
Rules would aim to protect stocks
EARLY START: A fisherman casts his line in Biscayne National Park, where new limits are being proposed to protect a range of fish species under pressure.

No-fishing zones, so controversial in the Florida Keys, may soon move north to the troubled waters of Biscayne National Park.  The park, which is revising its management plan and fishery regulations, wants to set aside small portions of its 270 square miles for areas where visitors can look but not touch, hook, net or spear.  Park managers, who have hinted at the move for nearly a year, intend to unveil specific proposals sometime this summer and aren't ready to pinpoint locations or reveal the size of potential no-take zones. But sections of shallow coral reefs east of Elliott Key, popular with everyone from snorkelers to spearfishers, rank as likely initial targets.   
Copyright  © 2002  Miami Herald  All rights reserved.

 

27-Apr-02

Flooding concerns may stall rural Collier restoration project
The Army Corps of Engineers might postpone a request to Congress for millions of dollars to build an environmental restoration project in rural Collier County while the agency determines how to handle flooding from the project on neighboring land.  The project, in the talking stages since 1985, would restore natural water flows by tearing out roads and plugging canals in a largely abandoned subdivision called Southern Golden Gate Estates, which stretches for miles between U.S. 41 East and Interstate 75.  Flooding concerns came to the forefront earlier this year when the Corps of Engineers ran the project through a computer model that showed the restoration would worsen flooding problems during heavy rains on home sites in a chunk of Golden Gate Estates north of Interstate 75 - beyond the restoration project's boundary.  Corps of Engineers project manager John Chaput told a project team of engineers, biologists and hydrologists meeting in Naples this week that he will recommend to his bosses that they hold off on going to Congress for construction money for Southern Golden Gate Estates until 2004.  It had been scheduled to happen this summer, and environmental advocates are split on whether to push top brass at the Corps of Engineers to keep the project on a fast track.  A draft schedule distributed this week calls for design work to continue and for construction to begin in 2006.  "We've got to get the plan right, we've got to know what we're doing," Chaput said.  
Copyright  © 2002  Naples News  All rights reserved.

Accord Reached on a Bill Raising Farm Subsidies
Senate and House members agreed today on a farm bill costing more than $100 billion over six years that will raise subsidy payments to the country's biggest grain and cotton farmers, a nearly complete reversal of Congress's attempt six years ago to wean farmers of all subsidies. At the same time, the measure finances some of the most significant conservation and environmental programs in recent years, with $17 billion dedicated over the next decade to preserve farmland, save wetlands and improve water quality and soil conservation on working farms. It is also one of the major pieces of social welfare legislation before Congress this year, increasing food stamps for working families and children and restoring the right of legal immigrants to receive them. Months of election-year jockeying produced a bill that seeks to satisfy every region and segment of the country. Lawmakers from farm states in the Midwest and South won the largest subsidies for cotton, rice, wheat, corn and soybeans. Legislators from the Northeast won a new $1.3 billion national program to replace the defunct dairy compact. The conservation programs will help densely populated states hoping to control urban sprawl. And for cities and rural areas, the increase in the food stamps and nutrition program will begin to redress the losses from the 1996 welfare overhaul that has led to overburdened private soup kitchens and food pantries. "The winners in this bill are the American farmers," said Representative Larry Combest, the Texas Republican who headed the conference committee of House and Senate members. The measure represents an agreement to subsidize farmers' income at a time when grain and cotton prices are at record lows and production is at an all-time high. Lawmakers did not say how much of the $100 billion-plus would go for subsidies, but it is believed to be the vast majority of the money. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

Main Provisions

The main provisions of the agreement reached yesterday by Senate and House negotiators on a six-year farm bill costing more than $100 billion are these:

SUBSIDY PAYMENTS Raise subsidy payments to large cotton and grain farmers, without the significant payment limits passed by the Senate.

CONSERVATION PAYMENTS Dedicate $17 billion over 10 years to preserve farmland, save wetlands and improve water quality and soil conservation on farms.

FOOD STAMPS Increase food stamp benefits for working American families and restore the rights of legal immigrants to receive them.

DAIRY PROGRAM Create a new national $1.3 billion dairy program to replace the lapsed Northeast dairy compact.

FOOD LABELING Require that starting in two years all meat, fish and produce be labeled with its country of origin.

Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

26-Apr-02

Rerouting preservation dollars causes an outcry
Environmentalists are outraged that the state budget plan takes
$100-million from a land preservation fund.
Environmental activists sounded the alarm Thursday over what they called the theft of land conservation dollars that helped cement a budget deal.  The $49-billion budget deal that lawmakers will consider in a special session next week includes a plan to take $100-million from a land conservation program and use it to help pay for other such things as education and health care.  Although budget planners say they hope to use at least some of the money for other environmental projects, activists worry that nothing in the deal guarantees that.  "We're trying to mobilize to stop this thing," said Eric Draper of Audubon of Florida. "We're real surprised by this."  Environmental groups thought they had a commitment not to raid environmental funds again. Lawmakers took $75-million from a land buying fund last year.  The Legislature failed to adopt a budget when its regular session ended March 22. The special session that begins Monday will focus on the budget, an update of education laws, the job duties of the new state chief financial officer and some smaller matters.  
Copyright  © 2002  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

House and Senate in Agreement on a $100 Billion Farm Bill
Senate and House members agreed today on a more than $100 billion farm bill that would raise subsidy payments to the country's biggest grain and cotton farmers, a nearly complete reversal of a Congressional attempt six years ago to wean farmers of all subsidies. At the same time, the measure finances some of the most significant conservation and environmental programs in recent years, with $17 billion dedicated to preserve farmland, save wetlands and improve water quality and soil conservation on working farms. It is also one of the major pieces of social welfare legislation before Congress this year, increasing food stamps for working American families and children and restoring the right of legal immigrants to receive them. Months of election-year jockeying produced a six-year bill that attempts to satisfy every region and segment of the country. Lawmakers from farm states in the Midwest and South won large increases in cotton, rice, wheat, corn and soybean subsidies. Legislators from the Northeast won a new $1.3 billion national program to replace the defunct dairy compact. The conservation programs will help densely populated states hoping to control urban sprawl. And for cities and rural areas, the increase in food stamps and nutrition programs will begin to redress the losses from the 1996 welfare overhaul that has led to over-burdened private soup kitchens and food pantries. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

Congress Is Close to Final Accord on Farm Bill
 Senate and House members said tonight that they were close to a final agreement on a six-year farm bill that would increase subsidy payments to the country's biggest grain and cotton farmers. After nearly a month of trying to reach compromises between the House and Senate versions of the $171 billion bill, which would extend to 2008, the negotiators said they believed they had resolved most of their differences and would complete the legislation on Friday. "We think we have an agreement," said Representative Larry Combest, Republican of Texas, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. While the lawmakers refused to divulge most details of the compromises, senior Congressional aides said the Senate had dropped demands that annual subsidies be limited to $275,000 per farmer. That provision had been a major source of contention. Urban and rural lawmakers supported a cap on large payments as a way to spread federal money to more small family farmers and to discourage huge farms from buying out their smaller neighbors. Instead, the farm bill will increase commodity subsidies by 70 percent without altering requirements that allow 10 percent of American farmers to receive the big part of the subsidies. The senators also lowered their demand for higher spending on conservation programs, agreeing early in the closed sessions to $17.1 billion rather than the $21 billion that was part of their bill. The compromise farm bill will also include an increase in food stamps and expand nutrition programs, said Congressional aides, who added that legal immigrants could receive food stamps as well. Senators convinced the House to accept a new dairy subsidy that would cost more than $1 billion. President Bush traveled to South Dakota on Wednesday and exhorted lawmakers to complete the farm legislation this week. Several close elections this year could be influenced by farm programs and, in turn, determine control of Congress. The new farm bill will replace the law that will expire on Oct. 1. Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said, "Tomorrow we will finish our fine tuning." Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

Soundoff: Today's Featured Letter
Manatees, boats can coexist
Re: Jim Kalvin, "Group sees hold on dock building a call to action," April 11 (Standing Watch, The News-Press WAVES magazine.) In reference to the increasing manatee mortality attributed to watercraft, Mr. Kalvin states, "Surprisingly, this surge in mortality comes almost a year to the day from the implementation of vast slow speed zones, shoreline buffer zones, and tide-sensitive speed zones installed by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission."  This issue was addressed at the Manatee Population Ecology and Management Workshop held April 1-4 and attended by Mr. Kalvin. Leading population biology scientists stated there are many factors such as number of boats, natural conditions and level of law enforcement that affect manatee protection measures. Speed zones are only as good as the level of enforcement (which is presently inadequate) and boater compliance with posted speeds.  Mr. Kalvin also states, "It is a long-held belief of the leading manatee advocate 'non-profit' organization that water access, or lack of it, is the key to protecting the species long-term." As far as the Save the Manatee Club, the intent has never been to stop boating in Florida. We recognize and appreciate responsible boaters. However, our concern is that manatees be adequately protected as our boating population continues to grow. As more and more boats use a given system, the likelihood of a manatee being injured or killed increases.  Surely, many boaters are also concerned about the ever-increasing boat traffic in waterways they now use both in terms of safety for themselves and their families, and for the quality of their boating experience.  
Copyright  © 2002  Fort Meyers News Press  All rights reserved.

24-Apr-02

Justices Weaken Movement Backing Property Rights
The Supreme Court ruled today that a government-imposed moratorium on property development, even one that lasts for years, does not automatically amount to a "taking" of private property for which taxpayers must compensate the landowners. The 6-to-3 decision was a sharp setback for the property rights movement, which has scored many recent successes in the Supreme Court. The ruling came in a case that sought millions of dollars in compensation for a prolonged restriction on development along the shores of Lake Tahoe. The plaintiffs, hundreds of people who had bought undeveloped lots in the expectation of building houses on the scenic lake, argued that a restriction that even temporarily deprives property owners of all "economically viable" use of their land is a taking for which the Constitution requires compensation. Supreme Court decisions over the last 15 years had suggested that this in fact might be the law, a prospect that galvanized a broad coalition of government and planning groups to urge the justices to reject such a categorical rule. The Bush administration entered the case against the property owners. Writing for the court today, Justice John Paul Stevens said, "A rule that required compensation for every delay in the use of property would render routine government processes prohibitively expensive or encourage hasty decision making." He added: "Such an important change in the law should be the product of legislative rule making rather than adjudication." The complex law of "takings" is based on the Fifth Amendment's provision that private property shall not "be taken for public use without just compensation." Today's decision had the effect of limiting some of the court's recent property rights rulings and left property rights advocates scrambling to minimize the scope of their defeat, at least for public consumption. One such group, the Pacific Legal Foundation, called the decision "an unfortunate blip in the forward progress of property rights." On the other side, Community Rights Counsel, a public interest law firm that filed a brief for government groups that included the Council of State Governments, the National League of Cities and the National Governors Association, called the decision "the best news from the Supreme Court on takings law in more than 20 years." Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

Parks Under Siege
Most modern presidents have promised to fix the nation's deteriorating national park system. Nearly all have shortchanged it. Mindful of that record, and sensing an easy political opportunity, President Bush made the parks the centerpiece of his modest environmental agenda in the 2000 campaign. He pledged to provide $1 billion a year to erase a huge $4.9 billion repair backlog, thereby relieving park managers of day-to-day budgetary crises and freeing them to focus on protecting natural resources. But as the busiest season for the parks commences, it is clear that Mr. Bush has made no more headway than his predecessors. Hardly a single unit in the system's 385 historic sites, monuments and wilderness areas is trouble-free. Many of the 25,000 or so historic buildings are falling apart. Roads and bridges are in disrepair. Worn-out sewage treatment plants at Yellowstone dump untreated waste into nearby streams and lakes. There are too few rangers to monitor either nature or the visitors. If presidents have been indifferent, Congress has been irresponsible. In the past quarter-century, Congress has added nearly 100 places to the system. Some are "pork parks," shoehorned into the system to enhance the careers of the politicians who sponsored them. Others are valid historical sites. All, however, require upkeep, and over the years Congress has refused to give the Park Service the money it needs to do the job. President Bush vowed to change all this. He won a modest increase in the operating and capital budgets last year and a bit more this year, but nowhere near enough. According to Americans for National Parks, a coalition of advocacy groups, operating funds, now about $1.5 billion annually, are only two-third of what they should be, while the capital budget is less than half what is needed. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

23-Apr-02

 

 

 

 

Former Vice President Al Gore talks about
the environmental policies of the Bush 
administration during an Earth Day speech 
at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. 
on Monday.

Gore, on Earth Day, Says Bush Policies Help Polluters
Sounding very much like the candidate he was and may become again, Al Gore said today that the environment was a moral issue and the Bush administration was giving "policy payoffs to polluters." "Our environment is under siege," Mr. Gore, the former vice president, said in an Earth Day speech here to 400 students at Vanderbilt University. "The Bush administration has chosen to serve the special interests instead of the public interests and subsidize the obsolete failed approaches of the past instead of the exciting new solutions of the future. Instead of ensuring that our water is clean to drink, they thought that maybe there wasn't enough arsenic in the drinking water." He criticized the Clear Skies initiative that Mr. Bush was promoting today in the Adirondacks, saying that it "actually allows more toxic mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur pollution than if we enforced the laws on the books today." Mr. Bush did not respond to Mr. Gore's remarks. "Hadn't paid attention to him," Mr. Bush said. In his half-hour speech, Mr. Gore revisited the election of 2000, taking issue with comments made by Ari L. Fleischer, the White House spokesman, who said in response to an opinion article by Mr. Gore in The New York Times on Sunday that the environment was a reason that Mr. Bush "defeated Al Gore in the election of 2000." Mr. Gore, sounding more amused than bruised, rose to the bait. "Now, I didn't bring up the election of 2000," he said. "I put that behind me. They want to keep talking about it. So let me just say a word. When they say that the American people endorsed their approach to the environment in 2000, there are two things wrong with that charge. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

President Bush carries an axe as he helps volunteers work on the trail
during a snowfall near the Ausable River in Wilmington, N.Y. on Monday,
marking Earth Day with a pitch for his air pollution-reduction strategy in
New York state's Adirondack Mountains, which are threatened by acid rain.
(AP Photo )

 

Bush, in Adirondacks, Defends Environment Record

President Bush hiked into an Adirondacks snowstorm this morning to promote his Clear Skies initiative and defend his administration's environmental record against a new barrage of criticism from Al Gore. Earth Day arrived in the mountains of upstate New York with temperatures in the 30's and a wet, heavy snow. To mark the day, Mr. Bush told a friendly audience that Clear Skies would help clean the air and reduce acid rain, one of the single biggest environmental concerns in the Adirondacks. "With Clear Skies legislation, America will do more to reduce power plant emissions than ever before in our nation's history," Mr. Bush told an applauding crowd at the Whiteface Mountain Lodge. The president got an argument on that claim from Mr. Gore, his opponent in the bitter 2000 presidential campaign. In his own Earth Day speech, in Nashville, Mr. Gore accused the president of selling out the environment to big oil companies and recalled Mr. Bush's campaign promise to curb the emission of carbon dioxide, the gas principally implicated in global warming. Reversing that campaign pledge, Mr. Bush decided in March 2001 not to impose carbon dioxide controls, saying he feared the limits would endanger economic growth. Today, when asked about Mr. Gore's accusations as he helped restore a snowy, muddy and very cold mountain trail, the president retorted, "Haven't paid attention to them." When a reporter called out that Mr. Gore was saying Mr. Bush had no environmental record, the president shot back, "That's why I haven't paid attention to him." Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

Gore Opposes Bush Environment Policy

In dueling speeches that could be a harbinger of the 2004 election, President Bush and former Democratic rival Al Gore traded Earth Day barbs on who represented the best steward of the planet. In an address to about 200 Vanderbilt University students and environmental activists Monday, Gore blasted the White House for serving ``special interests instead of public interests.'' Gore said oil and energy company representatives ``are pretty much in charge of the energy and environmental policies of this administration'' and are working behind closed doors to scuttle progress made during the Clinton-Gore administration. The speech countered one given earlier in the day by Bush, who briefly hiked the snowy Adirondack Mountains in New York before calling for mandatory limits on power plant emissions that cause the acid rain that plagues the picturesque region. The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments were a start, ``now we should do more,'' Bush said. ``This Earth Day finds us on the right path, gaining in appreciation for the world in our care.'' Gore disagreed, saying the Bush administration wants taxpayers ``to pick up the multibillion dollar tab for all the polluters who want to abandon their toxic waste dumps on America's doorstep.'' Bush and his allies are ``threatening to take us back to the days when America's rivers and lakes were dying, when the skylines were some days not visible because of the smog, and when toxic waste threatened so many communities around America,'' Gore said. Read More...Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

22-Apr-02

Bush and Gore Use Earth Day to Show Commitment to Environment
President Bush and his political rival, former Vice President Al Gore, used Earth Day to declare their commitment to the environment today, but they were many miles apart ideologically as well as geographically. Mr. Bush went to New York State's Adirondack Mountains, where he pushed his plan to combat air pollution with a combination of mandatory limits on industrial pollutants and measures to let companies meet the limits through a system of credits they could earn and trade. Mr. Gore was in his native Tennessee, where he told a group at Vanderbilt University in Nashville that, despite the president's words, Mr. Bush's policies would serve "special interests instead of public interests." To judge the comments of the 2000 election rivals side by side, both are deeply committed to preserving America's land, water and air as a sacred trust for the future. "We have a duty in our country to make sure our land is preserved, our air is clean, our water is pure, our parks are accessible and open and well preserved," Mr. Bush said at Lake Everest as snowflakes gathered on his head. "And that's why I'm here, to trumpet this duty and to thank those who assume their duty." Mr. Bush asserted that his approach would protect the environment without hobbling business and industry. "Some of the biggest sources of air pollution are the power plants," Mr. Bush said. "We send tons of emissions into our air. Therefore, we have set a goal. With clear skies legislation, America will do more to reduce powerplant emissions then ever before in our nation's history. "We will reach our ambitious air quality goals through a market-based approach that rewards innovation, reduces cost, and most importantly guarantees results. Mine is a results-oriented administration. When we say we expect results, we mean it. We will set mandatory limits on air pollution with firm deadlines, while giving companies the flexibility to find the best ways to meet the mandatory limits." Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

EPA Ombudsman Quits Over Transfer

An embattled ombudsman at the Environmental Protection Agency submitted his resignation Monday, complaining the agency was transferring him into a job where he would ``merely answer a telephone'' and have no power. Robert Martin, who for nearly a decade has held the $118,000-a-year job as ombudsman for EPA's hazardous waste office, has been embroiled in lengthy feud with senior EPA officials going back to the Clinton administration. A federal court on Feb. 12 rejected a lawsuit challenging his transfer to the EPA inspector general's office. At the time, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said the transfer would give Martin ``more independence and the impartiality necessary to conduct credible inquiries.'' But Martin called the transfer a maneuver to get him out of the way because he had become an irritant in the congressionally established post of ombudsman for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. His job includes complaints about the handling the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program. He accused Whitman of ``obliterating the independent ombudsman function'' at the EPA. ``I cannot recognize in principle and conscience ... the seizure of my files and planned transfer to the Office of Inspector General where I will ... merely answer a telephone,'' Martin wrote Whitman in his letter of resignation. There was no immediate comment from the EPA on Martin's resignation. In an interview, Martin said that while he was out of town on EPA business last week, the locks of his office were changed and his files and computer taken. He said in his new position within the IGs office he would be ``in an untenable position'' with little independence and barred from even talking to the media or members of Congress about EPA activities. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

President to Use Earth Day to Sell Environmental Plan

Monday is Earth Day, an annual rite of spring for the last 32 years. But this Earth Day will sound less like a love-in for Mother Earth than like an October rally in a presidential election year. George W. Bush, a former oil executive, is not normally identified with Earth Day rituals but like any president feels the need to flash some green credentials. Earth Day will find him in the acid-rain-besotted Adirondacks in upstate New York with Christie Whitman, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. With Whiteface Mountain as his backdrop, Mr. Bush is to help restore a hiking trail and promote his "Clear Skies" initiative, a proposal that the administration says will yield cleaner air than the Clean Air Act signed by his father in 1990. Protesters will be on hand to assert that his proposal would only make things worse and to complain about Mr. Bush's inaction on global warming, a phenomenon some say can be seen when, among other things, fewer of the big lakes in the Adirondacks are freezing over in the winter. At the same time, Al Gore, derided by Mr. Bush's father as Ozone Man, is planning to give a blistering speech in Nashville about what he calls Mr. Bush's environmental failures. His setting is an academic forum in his home state, where he is trying to make amends for past inattention. Whether a rerun of campaign 2000 or a harbinger of campaign 2004, the dueling events will showcase what Democrats believe is one of their most potent political issues, one that stands out as a rare piece of terra firma in a world dominated by the military imperatives of a popular Republican commander in chief. Read More...  Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

19-Apr-02

Senate Blocks Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge

Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts, center, and Paul Wellstone
of Minnesota, foreground, both Democrats, joined environmentalists
yesterday to applaud a Senate vote that blocked oil drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge

Undercutting President Bush's energy policy, the Senate sided with environmentalists today and blocked oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. With eight Republicans breaking ranks with the president, the decisive vote probably ended, at least for this year, the longtime dream of many Alaskans and conservatives in Washington that the protected wilderness could be opened for development, an issue that has pitted Democrats and environmentalists against Republicans and petroleum interests for more than a decade. Coming a month after the Senate rejected a Democratic plan to toughen automotive fuel-efficiency standards, today's vote means that the Senate's final energy measure will include modest tax incentives and conservation provisions but no big change in national energy policy. The vote came on a procedural motion to end debate on the drilling issue, which was presented as an amendment to the comprehensive energy bill. Under Senate rules, Republicans needed 60 votes to win. But they could not even get a majority, and the motion failed 46 to 54. In addition to the 8 Republicans, 45 Democrats and Senator James M. Jeffords of Vermont, an independent, voted against ending the debate. Forty-one Republicans and five Democrats voted to bring the wildlife refuge measure to a vote. Later, with hardly any debate, the Senate voted, 88 to 10, to end oil imports from Iraq until the president certified that resumption would be in the national interest. The measure allowed senators to cast a presumably popular vote and has little practical consequence. Saddam Hussein has stopped oil exports, at least temporarily, to protest United States support of Israel. The House passed an energy bill last year that would permit drilling in the Alaska wilderness area. But Republican leaders acknowledged that today's vote showed that if the House-Senate conference committee on energy legislation adopted a drilling provision, it would be defeated in the Senate. "What was proved today is we need more Republicans in the United States Senate," Senator Frank H. Murkowski of Alaska, the measure's chief sponsor, said after the vote. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

House Votes to Support Plan Limiting Subsidies for Big Farmers

In an unusual reversal, the House voted today to support a Senate plan to lower subsidy payments for the country's biggest farmers, in hope of breaking a deadlock over a final farm bill. In a nonbinding vote of 265 to 158, the House sent a House-Senate conference committee what the measure's sponsors described as a strong message that the current farm program gives too much money to big farmers. "With these million-dollar payments going to megafarms and huge landholders, it gives the wrong impression of the very small support that most farmers get," said Representative Nick Smith, the Michigan Republican who sponsored the measure. But House members on the conference committee ignored that message today, offering a series of compromises that did not include the reduced payment limits. By imposing a limit of $275,000 in federal subsidies, the House and Senate sponsors hope to save up to $1 billion that would be used instead to underwrite conservation programs available to all farmers. The action revived the simmering debate over the direction of farm policy: whether it should continue to underwrite commodities largely grown in the Midwest and South or move toward giving more money to all farmers through conservation programs. The current Depression-era commodity subsidy program is available only for grain and cotton farmers. Most of the subsidies benefit fewer than 10 percent of farmers, the Agriculture Department says. The 10-year, $171 billion farm bill being considered allocates $17.1 billion to conservation programs. "This is a signal of the beginning of the end of these outdated subsidy programs," said Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon. "There is an almost unlimited demand from farmers for money for conservation programs to comply with environmental requirements, to clean water, for easements to prevent suburban sprawl." Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

Bush Favors Dozens of Sites for Exploration

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska was not the only place where the Bush administration was hoping to find more oil. It is also encouraging drilling at more than 50 new sites in the lower 48 states, particularly in the Rocky Mountains. The energy bill passed last year by the House includes a provision directing the administration to make it easier for oil and gas companies to obtain federal leases and permits to drill for oil and gas. That version will have to be reconciled with the Senate's. The Bureau of Land Management is considering dozens of projects across the West. In addition, President Bush set up a task force last May to examine how to streamline the permit and leasing process. In doing so, Mr. Bush said that the "increased production and transmission of energy in a safe and environmentally sound manner is essential to the well-being of the American people." The Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining, headed by James L. Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House, has collected numerous requests and comments from the industry, including applications for expanded off-shore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and new pipeline, nuclear, hydropower and refinery projects. "We believe by that by improving the process of issuing these permits, you are more likely to get more energy development in the long run," one administration official said. Environmentalists are already bracing for what they predict will be a battle every bit as contentious as that over drilling in Alaska. Today, the Sierra Club filed a complaint in Federal District Court in Corpus Christi, Tex., seeking to block a gas drilling operation on Padre Island National Seashore, the first oil or gas well to be drilled in a national park during the Bush administration. Liz Howell, an organizer for the Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club, said applications for drilling permits and leases were pouring into her state. "The state has said it is open for business," Ms. Howell said, noting that the Bureau of Land Management had just put out for comment its draft environmental plan for more than 51,000 coal-bed methane gas wells in Wyoming, the largest natural-gas project ever studied by the bureau. The plans have stirred opposition not only from environmentalists but also from ranchers. The latter are often allied with the drilling industry but in this case they have filed suits contending that the drilling would damage their wells and land. Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

15-Apr-02

Political Battle Looming Over Superfund Plan
Drawing sharp battle lines with the White House, Democratic leaders of the Senate are moving to force a showdown vote on a measure that would provide billions of dollars to clean up toxic waste sites through the federal Superfund program.  The measure would reinstate an industry tax that was a main source of money for the program until 1995, when the tax expired. The White House and Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to reinstate it, even though a trust fund established to pay for the Superfund program has been running out of money.  A spokeswoman for Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota and the Senate majority leader, said he intended to schedule a vote on the measure very soon. Democrats, who hold a slim majority in the Senate, say they hope to force Republican lawmakers to break ranks with the White House and support their plan for financing the program.  Short of that, Democrats see an opportunity to score points politically by forcing Republicans into the position of voting against an environmental program that they argue has broad support among Americans.  The Superfund battle is just the latest example of how the two parties are trying to draw distinctions between each other in an election year on issues like the federal budget, oil drilling in Alaska and the appointment of federal judges.  "These toxic waste sites aren't only in states with Democratic senators," said Senator Robert G. Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey, who sponsored the Superfund measure. "I think Republicans are going to be in a very difficult position. They are going to have to take a stand."  Some Republicans say they welcome the fight, arguing that the solution Democrats are proposing - a tax increase - is politically foolhardy in an election year.  An aide to Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the Republican whip, said the tax increase Mr. Torricelli and his supporters were seeking might damage the economy just when it was beginning to pull out of a slump.  "That's not going to be good for jobs in New Jersey or anywhere else in the country," the aide, Brook A. Simmons, said. "I would be shocked if there aren't some members of Mr. Torricelli's own party who aren't asking the same tough questions."  Even supporters of the measure acknowledge that their tactic has its drawbacks, since some conservative and moderate Democrats may indeed be wary of voting for a tax increase, even to pay for Superfund.
Read More...
Copyright  © 2002  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

 

14-Apr-02

White House Ends Environmental Fellowship
The Bush administration is eliminating a respected fellowship program for graduate research in the environmental sciences, administration officials said this week.  The fellowship provides $10 million a year to students pursuing graduate degrees in environmental science, policy and engineering, as part of an Environmental Protection Agency program called Science to Achieve Results, or STAR.  Since 1995, the program has financed nearly 800 students, awarding $60 million for graduate-level environmental research. It now supports 311 fellows, with each receiving $30,000 to $34,000 for one to three years, said Chris Saint, assistant director at the agency's National Center for Environmental Research, which administers the program.  ''This is the only federal program that is specifically designed to support the top students going into environmental science'' and related fields, said David Blockstein, a senior scientist with the National Council for Science and the Environment, an environmental science advocacy group in Washington.  Read more . . .
Copyright  © 2002  NY Times online  All rights reserved.

 

12-Apr-02

Permits Issued for Everglades Mining

The Army Corps of Engineers issued permits Thursday that will allow mining in 5,409 acres in the Everglades for the next 10 years, more than doubling the amount of limestone quarries in the protected wetlands. The 10 companies who receive the permits will pay about $46 million in fees that will be used by the federal government to purchase and improve another 7,500 acres of wetlands near the Everglades, officials said. ``This is one of the important and complex decisions I've made since assuming command,'' said Col. Greg May, who authorized the permits. Mining industry officials said the extra mines are needed to ensure enough affordable crushed stone for Florida's highways, bridges and roads. Rock from the Everglades quarries generates 40 percent of the aggregate used in cement in the state, May said. But environmentalists said the expanded mining could endanger drinking water and harm efforts to restore the Everglades. ``There's huge uncertainties as to what the impact of these permits are going to be on the Everglades,'' said Brad Sewell, senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council. May said the additional mining is compatible with the restoration plan. Most of the permits are concentrated around existing mines, he said. The permits allow the companies to fill wetland areas in order to move in equipment.  Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

11-Apr-02

Environmentalists Had 48 Hours to Comment to Energy Dept.

Energy Department officials gave 11 environmental groups just 48 hours to submit their policy proposals for consideration in Vice President Dick Cheney's national energy report last year, a batch of documents released today indicate. Energy Department officials say, however, that the groups had other opportunities for comment. The request for recommendations was sent by e-mail in March 2001 after Mr. Cheney's national task force had consulted with dozens of energy executives to help formulate a national energy policy. Leaders of environmental groups have long complained that the White House did not extend to them the same courtesy given to energy corporations that had made large donations to the Republican Party to help elect President Bush and Mr. Cheney in 2000. The groups have said that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham met with 109 representatives of the energy industry and trade associations but no environmental groups from late January to May 17, 2001, when the report was released. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

White House Ties Oil Cutoff by Iraq to Drilling in Alaska

The Bush administration said today that Saddam Hussein's decision to cut off Iraq's oil exports for at least a month, or until Israel pulls out of the West Bank, makes it urgent for the Senate to allow drilling for oil in the Alaska wildlife refuge. In spite of that warning, though, there was no evidence that Iraq's move would end the deadlock in the Senate, where environmental concerns have so far blocked a vote on drilling in Alaska. Even as the White House was declaring that an Iraqi cutoff could further raise gasoline and heating oil prices, oil prices were dropping on the futures market, at least partly because of indications that Saudi Arabia and other major producers would make up any production shortfall. "The president knows that ANWR represents 46 years' worth of imports of oil from Saddam Hussein's Iraq," Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said today, using a somewhat aggressive estimate of the amount of reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "And the president thinks that Saddam Hussein's threat, the promise to cut off oil, is another reason why our nation needs a comprehensive energy plan that is independent of such threats." Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

8-Apr-02

Editorial: Fate of coastal waters is uncertain
A comprehensive report on the condition of the nation's coastal waters and estuaries should be a wakeup call for Florida. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency divided the country into five coastal areas and graded them on a scale of good, fair or poor for ecological health. Overall, the nation's coastal health was rated fair (barely), but the lowest rated area was the gulf coast, which got a grade of poor.  This is no vague doom-and-gloom warning that can be ignored, but a carefully worded study that drew on a variety of scientific information. The EPA plans to use the findings as a benchmark by which we can measure our coastal waters in the future. The outcome will be vital to Florida, especially the Tampa Bay area, where the coast is already showing signs of degradation.  The EPA judged each area on seven signs of health. The gulf coast graded poor for coastal wetlands loss, pollution from runoff, sediment contamination, gulf bottom health and fish tissue contamination. It rated fair for water clarity, and its only good rating came for a healthy level of dissolved oxygen in the water, needed to sustain sea life. The Tampa Bay area, in particular, faces threats from runoff and contamination of certain seafood. But Florida's waters aren't the worst in the Gulf of Mexico. The water off Louisiana is the site of the largest human-caused dead zone in the Western Hemisphere. Nutrients and decomposed organic material from farmland as far away as Montana and Minnesota flow down the Mississippi River and into the gulf, starving it of oxygen. The zone grew to more than 7,000 square miles in 1999.  Florida's greatest threat will come from development pressure, which threatens wetlands and increases pollution. The fate of our coast is literally in the balance, and that is no minor issue, especially where tourism, the fishing industry and even property values are tied to healthy coastal waters. The report was short on solutions, however, probably because the fixes won't be cheap or easy. The EPA has begun the process by providing a detailed analysis of the problem, but it will mean little unless we act soon to stop the destructive activities that threaten our coasts.
Copyright  © 2002  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

7-Apr-02

 

Editorial: Reclaimed water cost more than story said
Your article of March 24 about reclaimed water did not tell the whole story of the cost of reclaimed water.  We live in The Eagles, and your article mentions an estimate of $290 per year for 20 years, in addition to $9 a month, or another $108 a year. In addition to these costs, we will have to pay a private contractor to connect our sprinkler system to the reclaimed water at street side. Also , it is my understanding that every real property owner in the county pays a certain amount in real property taxes to fund the reclaimed water program, regardless of whether reclaimed water is available for use to that property. We voted against reclaimed water because we do not think that a household of one or two people, as opposed to a golf course, will realize any savings by using reclaimed water. In fact, since we try to water our yard as little as possible, we actually think the program will cost us more per year and will encourage over-use of the water made available.  We pay approximately $1,000 a year for water use. I would estimate that 10 percent or less of this amount is for lawn watering. With reclaimed water, our bill will increase by about 40 percent per year. However, if we choose not to connect to the system, we still have to pay the approximately $290 per year for 20 years. Apparently a majority of residents in The Eagles petitioned the county for this service. However, we never received any information from the county stating this and we have never received any information from the county explaining the actual costs to each household.  If there are about 1077 homes in The Eagles, I would like to be assured that more than 538 households voted for this system, and I would like to receive information from the county that properly explains this service and its approximate total cost to each household. Copyright  © 2002  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

Tourists make natural selection

    
The 45-foot catamaran swung around the bend, past osprey nests, alert blue herons and a bald eagle in the distance. The naturalist guiding the tour pointed toward a splash of color off the right side of the boat. "The pink flamingos in the weeds are plastic," Sun Line Cruises guide Scott Hibbs said. "The only part of our tour that's not real." During 75-minute trips, the eco-tour boat cruises from its slip at the Sponge Docks through the Anclote River, Tarpon Bayou and the Gulf of Mexico. The company is in its first full season in Tarpon Springs, after operating a few months last year. During the summer, the company uses this boat, the 60-passenger Island Star, to offer tours of mansions and lighthouses in Salem, Mass. "We had this boat just hanging out in the winter, with nothing to do," said Brian Brailsford, president of the company and captain of the boat. He decided this area would be the perfect place for an eco-tour. "The Anclote River is beautiful, it's natural, there's no high-rises," he said. While not the only eco-tour company in North Pinellas, Sun Line Cruises is part of a growing trend of eco-tourism in Pinellas County and the country as a whole. When people go on vacation, many of them are looking for natural settings like beaches and wooded areas, said Zaneta Hubbard, public relations manager for the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We're in the business of promoting nature-based tourism," she said. "Our beaches are our biggest draw, so there's a nature experience right there." The county also has the Brooker Creek and Weedon Island preserves, the Pinellas Trail and canoe and kayak trips for eco-tourists, she said. In Tarpon Springs, the Island Wind company also takes boat tours from the Sponge Docks, primarily to look for dolphins but also to look at bird sanctuaries. Other boats in Clearwater also take tours looking for dolphins.
Copyright  © 2002  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

 

Watchdogs of nature area aren't wild about park plan
A 40-acre park beside Lake Maggiore would disrupt the peacefulness of  the area, Friends of Boyd Hill contends. A plan to develop a city recreation area on Lake Maggiore's western shore is drawing criticism from people who would rather see the land in its natural state. A 40-acre waterfront park could include a off-leash dog area, a skate park, picnic areas, canoe and boat rentals, an "adventure playland," fishing and perhaps even an equestrian center, according to early proposals.  "What we're trying to do is open up the lake. It's not really something that's accessible to the community," said deputy mayor Mike Dove, who is leading the project for Mayor Rick Baker.  The plan worries a group that acts as watchdog for the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, part of about 500 acres comprising an urban pocket of wilderness called Lake Maggiore Park.  "Ideally we would like to see none of (the new recreation proposals) there, because the lower the impact, the better," said Pam McGuire, president of Friends of Boyd Hill.  "People who like to enjoy the park like to go there because it's peaceful. The more you put out there, the less its going to be like a walk in the woods," McGuire said.  Right now, the group's concern is a road that would cut through the wilderness area to the proposed park site.  The road is needed to haul out dredged and dried muck from a Lake Maggiore cleanup job, city officials say, so that trucks won't have to rumble through an adjacent residential area.
Copyright  © 2002  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

6-Apr-02

Editorial: Kill Measure Restricting Protests Of Developments
Leave it to the Florida Legislature to use the effort to save the Everglades as a means to undercut citizens' ability to challenge developments.  The plan to provide a reliable funding source for the rescue of the much- abused Everglades deserves adoption - but not with insidious amendments that Sen. Jim King attached to the bill in the closing days of the session.  King, a Jacksonville Republican, is scheduled to become the next Senate president, which should worry Florida voters. Throughout the session he fought hard to undercut citizens' legal rights. The House, to its credit, rejected the scheme, but by attaching the plan to the popular Everglades spending plan, King achieved a tricky triumph.  The plan has been weakened since King introduced it, and some environmentalists, including Audubon of Florida's Charles Lee, say the law would do little harm. Lee believes the Everglades funding is so important the legislation should be signed into law. Residents Are Already Underdogs  But the reality is that though the scope of King's plan has been narrowed, it still would undercut residents, who even now have scant chance to halt destructive projects.  King would make it more difficult to challenge a project by requiring that any group contesting a state permit prove that it has 25 members residing  in the county where the development is to take place. The provision is clearly designed to intimidate citizens by requiring personal information be given to opponents. This could also subject individuals to harassment, particularly in rural communities where a few industries may dominate the economy. 
Copyright  © 2002  Tampa Tribune  All rights reserved.

St. Petersburg man chosen to run state wildlife agency
Ken Haddad is the unanimous choice to lead the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.   A respected St. Petersburg marine biologist was named Friday to run Florida's wildlife agency.  Ken Haddad, 50, will head the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which oversees all of the state's marine and land creatures. He was chosen unanimously by the seven-member commission after a nationwide search. Since 1993, Haddad has been director of the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg, which is part of the commission. He replaces Allan Egbert, who has headed the agency for the past eight years.  Haddad has lived in St. Petersburg since 1975. He got his graduate degree at the University of South Florida.  Environmentalists and the commercial fishing industry supported Haddad for the post. He edged out these other finalists: Rudolph Rosen of Arizona, the past director of Safari Club International; Larry Shannon, a past fish and wildlife director in Minnesota; and Curt Kiser, a former Pinellas lawmaker who is now a Tallahassee lobbyist.  Kiser lobbied hard for the job but didn't make the cut because he "had a salary requirement that we weren't comfortable with," said commission Chairman John Rood, a Jacksonville real estate developer.  Kiser wanted $145,000, Rood said. The salary range for the FWCC director is $100,000 to $114,000. Haddad's salary hasn't been set, but it will fall within that range.  Kiser could not be reached for comment Friday.  Haddad likely will start at the end of April. His appointment is subject to confirmation by the Senate next year. After 27 years in St. Petersburg, Haddad and his wife, Sharon, will move to Tallahassee. Haddad last worked in the capital in June 2001. He was brought in during the summer of 2000 as interim director of the agency's Division of Marine Fisheries after a scandal ousted its longtime director, Russ Nelson. Nelson resigned after agency investigators discovered that he and other senior staff members viewed pornography on the Internet in their state offices.  Haddad had the difficult job of running the division after the scandal, then returned to St. Petersburg to his position at the Marine Research Institute.  Laurie Macdonald, who monitors the commission for the Defenders of Wildlife, applauded Haddad's appointment.  "I've always had a great deal of respect for Ken," Macdonald said. "I certainly hope that he will bring a basic scientific foundation to the policy decisions that are ultimately made by the commissioners."  The commission has control over fresh and saltwater fishing, hunting, protecting endangered species, and enforcing conservation laws. The agency has about 1,800 employees and an annual budget of about $160-million.
Copyright  © 2002  St. Petersburg Times  All rights reserved.

 

 

4-Apr-02

Nature Overrun
In the last month this newspaper has chronicled the increasing environmental havoc caused by snowmobiles, dune buggies, swamp buggies, dirt bikes and other forms of off-road vehicles in Yellowstone National Park and in California, Utah and Florida. Unchecked and unregulated, these vehicles present a huge threat to fragile landscapes and environmental values in general. There are now 10 million registered off-road vehicles, although the actual number is probably much higher. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has by and large chosen to let them roam where their drivers please. In Yellowstone, as everyone now knows, the administration, under pressure from snowmobile manufacturers and local dealers, has scuttled a Clinton-era plan to phase out snowmobiles over three years. Just last week the Bureau of Land Management retreated from another carefully negotiated Clinton-era policy when it proposed, partly in response to local pressure, to reopen 50,000 acres of sensitive federal lands in California's southeastern corner to dune buggies. Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

In Unmown Florida, a Call for the Wild

When you have a name like Raymond Jungles, maybe you are fated to rip up lawns to bring the jungle back to South Florida. These are invented jungles, to be sure, with rare palms from Madagascar, African mahogany trees and Asian bamboo. The plants may not be native, but the idea of restoring a sense of wildness to Florida echoes the thinking that has gardeners growing prairies instead of lawns in the Midwest and growing rocks and cactus in Phoenix. Mr. Jungles, a landscape architect based in Key West, is fighting the kind of tyranny that makes a yard in Oregon look like a yard in Texas. "The landscape is so disgusting around here," he said as he drove his BMW along a winding road in Coconut Grove. "Florida McMansions and these plops of plant combinations on an overabundance of lawn." Too many royal palms. Too much impatiens. Ixoras clipped into hedges. "It is not so much that the plants are bad, but how they are used," he said. "So sterile. No layers to it. Doesn't provide any habitat." He prefers a landscape where the wild things are. He pulled up to one of those landscapes, a 1920's Spanish-colonial-style house. It was framed by two magnificent South American oil palms. "See how the tall trees create a space for the house?" he said. Instead of the ubiquitous driveway leading up to the front door, a raised green plaza made of satiny smooth saturnia stone and velvety grass now greets the visitor. "Before, all this stuff was jammed up against the house, with these two clichιd date palms on either side of a circular driveway," he said. Why put a vehicle in front of your door? Why not create a garden room there? "It is all about spaces and transitions," Mr. Jungles said. "I want you to linger." These are universals that apply to any landscape. Meaningful entryways.  Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.
         

 

 

 

 

3-Apr-02

 

Editorial: A More Balanced Farm Bill
Small farmers and residents of rural communities have been watching the deliberations over the $171 billion farm bill with the attention they usually reserve for the coming of spring rains. It has not been a promising spectacle.  The House version, passed last fall, was an outright capitulation to the biggest commodity growers. The Senate passed a fairer bill, containing $21.3 billion in new money for conservation programs that would benefit a much wider universe of farmers. But when the two competing versions reached a conference committee, the Senate negotiators caved in, agreeing to generous subsidies for the big growers at the expense of the environmental programs and smaller farmers. A balanced bill is still within reach if the Democrats, in particular the majority leader, Tom Daschle, can summon even a modest amount of courage when negotiations resume next week. First, the Senate should suggest front-loading conservation spending in the first five years of the bill's 10-year life, much as commodity payments are front-loaded. This would insure generous funding for larger programs of demonstrable value - the wetland reserves program, for example, or the farmland protection program that helps resist suburban sprawl. Second, the Senate must insist on the survival of smaller, experimental programs for which the House has shown little enthusiasm.  Several of these deserve special protection. One is an innovative $100-million-a-year water conservation program sponsored by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada that would pay farmers to provide water otherwise used for irrigation to help threatened fish species. A second water-related program would increase incentives for farmers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to reduce toxic runoff from their fields.  Also at risk are small but enormously successful Farmer's Market Nutrition Programs, which provide coupons to the elderly and low-income families that can be spent only at farmers' markets. This gives poorer consumers access to fresh foods and puts cash in the hands of small fruit and vegetable farmers. It also strengthens the ties between country and city and helps keep inner-city farmers' markets thriving. Compared with the billions allocated for commodity price supports, the $25 million needed for each of these programs is microscopic.  The $10 million rural microenterprise program deserves protection as well. This money would help low- and moderate-income people start small businesses in rural areas. In Nebraska, for instance, 70 percent of new rural businesses fall into the microenterprise category, which includes people who do not have access to commercial loans. If these communities were as vibrant as they used to be when they were surrounded by farms, there would be little need for a program like this. But the effect of modern agriculture has been to depopulate the countryside and gut the small towns. This provision offers a measure of redemption. Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

National and State Politics Help Safeguard a Swamp
In this  fragile swath of the Everglades, the Bush administration delighted Florida environmentalists two weeks ago by backing a National Park Service plan to restrict access for swamp buggies and other off-road vehicles.  In Yellowstone National Park, by contrast, the administration has infuriated environmentalists and many  park rangers by abandoning a Park Service plan to ban snowmobiles.  Here in Big Cypress, Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton promised in January to try to stop oil exploration by buying out drilling rights or acquiring them in a land swap. In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and on some national monument land in the West, however, President Bush continues to push oil exploration as an important part of his energy plan.  What explains the seemingly anomalous attention being paid to this vast swamp? Political analysts in Florida and national environmental groups say the explanation boils down to two words: green votes. Enough green votes, perhaps, to allow Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, to win re-election this year. Enough, possibly, to allow President Bush, whose first term was won in Florida, to win a second term.  The all-but-even Florida presidential vote in 2000 pointed to a precarious balance in this state between Republicans and Democrats, a balance that has in recent years produced some exceptionally tight statewide elections. Polls here have consistently found that environmental issues greatly influence voters, especially swing ones.  "Big Cypress is one of those Florida issues that a politician cannot allow himself to be perceived as being on the wrong side of and still win a statewide election," Dr. Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor of public administration at Florida State University in Tallahassee, said. "Elections here are almost always so close that if you alienate voters who care about the environment, you will probably lose."  A spokesman for the Interior Department said federal decisions regarding Big Cypress were not motivated by politics.  Read More... Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

 

 

2-Apr-02

Baffling black blob floating near Florida
Scientists: Strange 'black water' may be type of algae  

Researchers who have been studying a giant, mysterious area of "black water" in Florida Bay say it seems to be associated with a diatom, a type of algae.  The algae was found in the water, according to Scott Willis at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the black water may be an algal bloom -- an explosion of microscopic marine life. Algal blooms are not rare in Florida waters, but blooms of this size are.  At its peak in February, the black water covered an estimated 700 square miles north of the Florida Keys and west of the tip of the mainland.  Read more.   
Copyright  © 2002  CNN  All rights reserved.

Group Calls Projects a Threat to Rivers:
A conservation group released a report today saying billions of federal dollars appropriated for dams, irrigation projects and river dredging were the largest threats facing the nation's waterways.  The Washington nonprofit group, American Rivers, found that among the most significant threats was the federal government itself, through the work of the Army Corps of Engineers to alter the course and levels of of rivers, the group said.  The corps' river projects are intended to make rivers more navigable for shipping barges, supply drinking water to growing cities and irrigate farm fields.  But Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, as well as some members of Congress, say the plans of the civilian-run federal agency are larded with legislation written by lawmakers who want federal spending in their home districts.  The increasing popularity of such projects means more river bottoms are gouged free of vital grass and more riverbanks are buried under concrete, Ms. Wodder said.  The report included a list of rivers that the group ranked as most endangered, using criteria like attention of the news media, public awareness and public policy analysis, but not necessarily scientific study. The Missouri River was No. 1 for the second year in a row, because of a plan by the corps to improve barge traffic. Copyright  © 2002  NY Times, AP online  All rights reserved.

 

1-Apr-02