News - January
2003
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31-January-03
The cold reality
If you like to catch peacock bass, then you need to pray for
warm weather. The string of cold fronts that hammered South Florida the past
couple of weeks have not taken a toll on the region's peacock population,
but there could be a problem if water temperatures don't warm up. Peacock bass, which were stocked in local canals by the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in the mid-1980s, die when water
temperatures fall below 60 degrees. That susceptibility to the cold is why the South American
import was allowed to be stocked, because it meant that peacocks would not
be able to migrate north to Lake Okeechobee, a world-class largemouth bass
fishery. Paul Shafland, the head of the FWC's Non-native Fish
Laboratory in Boca Raton, stocked peacocks in Miami-Dade and Broward county canals
to control populations of exotic species such as spotted tilapia, which
makes up 70 percent of the peacock's diet.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Polluters Spend $3.9 Billion on New Controls and Cleanup
The Environmental Protection Agency forced
polluters to spend $3.9 billion on new controls and cleanups last year, a figure
that was 11 percent less than in 2001 but still the second-highest amount in its
history, agency officials and Congressional overseers said today. The $4.4 billion spent on new controls and cleanups in 2001 was the highest
ever. The agency conducted 17,668 inspections in the 2002 fiscal year, which ended
on Sept. 30, a 1 percent rise from the previous fiscal year, though it was below
the 20,417 inspections in the last year of the Clinton presidency, agency
figures show. The data, giving a mixed picture of agency enforcement last year, were made
available to The Associated Press by Democratic members of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee. The numbers were confirmed by agency officials, who plan to
release them next week.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Editorial: Empty Promises
Everyone expects a certain amount of hokum in a State of the Union address.
But for artful misdirection it's hard to top the three paragraphs in which
President Bush promised to protect the environment while promoting energy
independence. Set aside for the moment the meagerness of his menu, as well as
the plain fact that he has spent the last two years rolling back laws and
regulations that have long guarded the nation's air, water and public lands. The
real tipoff to his intentions lies in the three proposals themselves. Whatever
their long-term promise, none would do much good in the short term and some
would actually do harm. Mr. Bush asserted, for example, that his Clear Skies Initiative, which is
designed to update parts of the Clean Air Act, would achieve a 70 percent cut in
power plant pollution by 2018. What he did not say was that most of these cuts
will come in the program's later years.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
30-January-03
Lake Worth Lagoon plan for restoration evaluated
About 200 people gathered Wednesday to
recap their progress -- and discuss future goals -- in a multigovernment partnership to improve water quality and wildlife habitat in
the Lake Worth Lagoon. That initiative has been fueled thus far by $9.5 million in
grants from the state Legislature. The money, handed out as matching funds to local governments,
has generated $34 million in projects to clean storm water pouring into the lagoon and improve the habitat for wildlife.
"We felt it was time to come back and say, `This is what
we accomplished,'" said Richard Walesky, Palm Beach County's environmental director, a speaker at the daylong symposium at Palm Beach
Atlantic University. He reminded his audience, which included scientists, county
and state environmental officials and government leaders, that their target was
not environmental restoration in the purest sense of the term.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Davis to submit bill that would pave way for local toll roads
State Rep. Mike Davis,
R-Naples
An authority that would have the power to create new toll
roads in Collier and Lee counties may come about by as early as July. State Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples, has drawn up a bill and plans
to submit it next week for consideration at the upcoming legislative spring session that would create a new Southwest Florida
Transportation Authority. Many elected officials lauded the proposal at a meeting on
Wednesday of the Southwest Florida Transportation Initiative. Known as SWFTI, the lobbying organization that includes a wide range of business
leaders and governmental officials urged Davis to file the bill. "It is something that SWFTI has been working on for a
while," he said before the formal luncheon at The Colony Golf & Country
Club. "They approached me about it." Davis, who was on the Collier County Planning Commission for
eight years, said this option could be a great help to Collier County.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Property owners concerned over proposed tier system
What was designed to be a discussion of platted land maps
quickly turned into a debate on what will happen to those in the system waiting
for their opportunity to build a home. The meeting on the county’s proposed Smart Growth program, a
new method for development, was held at the Key Largo Library Tuesday, Jan. 21
and attended by a handful of men, most of whom appeared to be builders. The maps, shaded green, tan and brown, showed how the three tiers
laid out on the Upper Keys. Tier 1, shaded green, is sensitive land that is to be preserved. Tier 2 land, shaded tan, is partially developed with subdivisions
that are about 50 percent built out. Tier 3 includes infill areas where development would be
encouraged, should the County Commission approve the plan. But a lawsuit, called the Ambrose case and now under appeal by
the county, may turn Smart Growth on its ear. Attorney Jim Mattson won a lower court
verdict.
Copyright © 2003
Upper
Keys Reporter All rights reserved.
EDITORIAL:
Local officials shouldn’t pay feds to do their jobs
Local governments should not pay
the salaries of federal officers charged with regulating those
governments. That is what Lee County commissioners are considering in an
effort to reduce road permitting delays at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They voted 3-2 Tuesday for the move, although they
said that, at this point, they are trying to preserve the option. The frustration at delays due to inadequate personnel is
understandable. They have helped drive the cost of improvements
to Alico Road up by $1 million, according to county estimates.
But if the regulated agency pays the regulator’s salary, that regulator’s
independence could be compromised. That would undermine the checks and
balances one would hope for as the payback on our expensive multiple
layers of government.
Copyright © 2003
News-Press
All rights reserved.
Water priorities anger Glades
Fixing the Lake Worth Lagoon is Palm Beach
County's No. 1 priority as it seeks money from state lawmakers this year. Priority No. 2: Removing the cancer-causing chemicals in the
water people drink from Lake Okeechobee. The priorities, presented by Palm Beach County commissioners
Wednesday to state lawmakers, have prompted outrage -- but not surprise -- from Glades-area residents. For years, they have waited for a
new water-treatment plant. Last year, a request to pay for some of the $30 million water
treatment project was cut from the state budget. The Lake Worth Lagoon, however,
received $2.5 million, backed by the heavy political muscle of
two top lawmakers: Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, and Sen. Jeff Atwater, a North Palm Beach Republican who then was a House member.
The Glades' dangerous drinking water can't take second billing
any longer, said the Rev. John Mericantante of St. Mary Catholic Church in
Pahokee.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
29-January-03
U.S. to Seek Waiver on Weed Killer Harmful to Ozone Layer
The Bush administration is considering seeking scores of exemptions for
industries that want to keep using an ozone-depleting pesticide that is to be
banned by 2005 under an international treaty. Environmental campaigners say the result, should all the exemptions be
granted, would be years of further delay in undoing damage to the ozone layer
from decades of emissions of the pesticide, methyl bromide, and other similar
compounds. Experts said that the exemptions from the ban would undermine the Montreal
Protocol, a 15-year-old pact protecting the ozone layer and widely perceived as
the most effective environmental treaty ever negotiated. The White House is hurriedly reviewing options because it faces a Friday
deadline for forwarding proposed exemptions to an international environmental
body that administers the treaty.
Copyright © 2003
NY Times
online All rights reserved.
RURAL CLEANSING: Disabled vet's home safe for now,
Jeb Bush nixes plans to seize property
Plans by the state of Florida to seize the home of a disabled
veteran through eminent domain have been put on hold, the Naples Daily News reported today.
Following a hearing in Tallahassee yesterday, Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush and three Cabinet members voted unanimously to turn down a request by the state to begin legal proceedings against Jesse
Hardy, 67, and three other property owners whose land government planners say is needed for Everglades restoration.
Instead, the staff of the Department of Environmental
Protection was directed to continue talks with the owners on purchasing the
3,982 acres that are in dispute. The decision came as something of a surprise. Bush has
repeatedly complained that the state too often pays inflated prices for environmentally sensitive land, but on Tuesday he did an
about-face, saying the state "needs to go the extra mile" before
taking a homeowner's property.
Copyright © 2003
WorldNet
daily All rights reserved.
Cabinet defers action on S. Golden Gate Estates land
The state won't go to court yet to force the
remaining property owners in Southern Golden Gate Estates to sell their holdings.
By a unanimous vote, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and three other
Florida Cabinet members called Tuesday on Department of Environmental Protection staff and four property owners to continue talks on
purchasing 3,982 acres deemed critical for Everglades
restoration. The Miccosukee Indian tribe is one of the owners.
Bush, who has repeatedly said the state too often pays
inflated prices for environmentally sensitive land, took an about-face Tuesday and said the state needs to go the extra mile before
taking a homeowner's property. "In the eminent domain world, (forget) everything I've
said about the state purchasing land," Bush said. "This is a
different animal. We need to bend over backward to find ways to accommodate people
who have made life decisions. It's their property."
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
County to pay for federal reviewer of road permits
The Lee County Commission on Tuesday voted to pay the salary
for a federal employee who would review county road permit
applications. In the 3-2 vote, Commissioners Andy Coy and Doug St. Cerny
opposed the idea and said permit delays at the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers are the result of bad management. The two commissioners were unconvinced by nine people — all
in favor of the idea — who spoke at the meeting, including Meg Judge, chairwoman of the Estero Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re in an area of such high growth we have to come up
with innovative ideas,” she told commissioners. Avoiding delays on road projects could save the county
millions of dollars, Judge said. Commissioners were asked to let staff work with U.S. Rep.
Porter Goss’ office to extend the federal Water Resources Development
Act with a provision that lets local governments pay for a permit- review staff
member.
Copyright © 2003
Naples
News All rights reserved.
Lee considers funding federal position to handle permit review
work
It's shameful that Lee County might have to pay for a federal
employee, but it might be the best way to deal with a bad
situation, Commissioner John Albion said Tuesday. Commissioners continue to struggle mightily with the issue of
whether the county should pay for a new permit application review position for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Commissioners
invoke the specter of recent public works projects that took years to
get permitted, saying a $135,000 contribution to have a dedicated reviewer riding herd over Lee County projects could save years of
delays and millions of dollars. On the other hand, the county continues to battle with the
Corps over manatee regulations and other permitting issues, and commissioners are hesitant to arm the agency some of them see as
the enemy. "If it's out there and it can potentially help us save
money and save time, then we have to look at it," Albion said.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
28-January-03
PENNSYLVANIA: CHALLENGE ON POLLUTION RULES
The state challenged the Bush administration over its new clean air regulations,
taking issue with the rules that nine Northeastern states oppose. The acting
secretary of environmental protection, Kathleen A. McGinty, said Pennsylvania
filed its petition because it had its own priorities and interests about the
Environmental Protection Agency plan, to take effect on March 3. The plan would
make it easier for factories and refineries to modernize without buying
expensive pollution controls.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Water storage system to be built in south Broward
Think of them as bathtubs, 2 miles long and 1.5 miles wide,
the equivalent of more than 10 Pro Player stadiums, including parking. The tubs, the first to be built in southern Broward County,
are part of the 36-year, $7.8 billion Everglades restoration that calls for
the creation of water storage systems, treatment of polluted water
and rerouting of canals to prevent seepage of fresh water out to sea. One will go in Weston, between U.S. 27 and the new Isles of
Weston developments, north of the C-11 Canal, which flows along Griffin
Road. It will cover 1,490 acres. The other will go in Miramar, between U.S. 27 and the Sunset
Lakes development; north of the C-9 Canal, which flows along the
Broward and Miami-Dade line. It will cover 1,650 acres. The earthen levee that holds the water in Miramar will be 4
feet high and store water only up to 2 feet deep.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Second wave of manatee counts released: Lee up, Collier down
The minimum number of West Indian manatees plying Florida
waters jumped by about 250 this week when the Florida Marine Research Institute released the second wave of sea cow survey numbers for
2003. Lee County numbers increased from the 299 that were counted
earlier this month to 420. Meanwhile, Collier numbers dropped from 183 in the first count to 147. Numbers from the first count were
released Jan. 16. Overall, the first count showed 2,861 manatees throughout the
state. The figures released Monday showed researchers on the second
count had spotted 3,113 of the mammals. The Florida Marine Research Institute is a branch of the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and conducts annual manatee surveys when weather permits.
The overall state numbers were just shy of the record 2001
count, which tallied 3,276 sea cows.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Glades plots path for next 20 years
Attendance, fishing impact are among top issues
TOURIST ATTRACTION: Everglades National
Park visitors have long buzzed the marshes
south of Tamiami Trail in airboats. The park
is
considering whether to open some of the
East Everglades for different experiences.
For the first time in more than two decades, Everglades
National Park is thinking about changing what people can -- and can't -- do in
South Florida's largest chunk of wilderness. Anglers fishing isolated backwaters in Florida Bay and the
10,000 Islands may have to navigate through new zones intended to protect
manatees and se grass. Tourists who have long buzzed the marshes south of Tamiami
Trail airboats may be silenced. Visitors may be turned away from Shark
Valley or other popular trails if too many show up. Or -- it's
critical to note -- none of those changes may happen. ''I have made no decision to close anything or restrict
anything,'' park Superintendent Maureen Finnerty said. "It's going to be a very
open process. I hope we hear from locals and members of the diverse
community of users. This is their park. I'd like to have their
input."
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
NOAA adds about 90,000 acres to Rookery Bay research reserve
An environmental gem on the Southwest Florida coast is shining
a bit brighter with approval of a boundary expansion for Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The Ten Thousand Islands, an untouched maze of barrier islands
that dot the coast south of Marco Island, is included in a decision earlier this month by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to add some 90,000 acres of state-owned islands, coastal wetlands, pine forests and submerged lands to the
reserve. In all, the added land runs from the northern tip of Keewaydin
Island, skirts around Marco Island and takes in Cape Romano and
the Ten Thousand Islands to the edge of Everglades National Park. The addition brings the size of the federal reserve, created in 1978,
to 110,000 acres. "I'd say it's a significant step," reserve manager
Gary Lytton said Monday.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
27-January-03
Settlement Means New Protections for Manatees
Florida manatees live in shallow coastal
waters,
where they feed on seagrasses
and aquatic vegetation.
(Four photos courtesy Florida
Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced
new measures aimed at protecting the endangered Florida manatee. The steps,
which include new speed zones for powerboats and better enforcement of existing
rules, refuges and national parks, are part of a settlement between the federal
government and environmental groups who sued over what they called ineffective
management of the dwindling species. Under the latest agreement, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) will propose three new manatee protection areas and
establish specific time lines for putting up signs to alert boaters that they
are entering manatee protection areas. The agreement, which was filed in federal
district court in Washington DC, is the most recent development stemming from a
January 2001 legal settlement between the agency, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, a coalition of more than a dozen environmental groups.
Copyright © 2003 Environmental
News Service - ENS All rights reserved.
Males fight to survive development, restricted habitat
Female panthers aren’t the only ones having trouble
surviving in Collier County. Young males are finding it increasingly difficult to find
territory. They need about 200 miles of land on which to feed and find a
mate. If a young male encroaches on a larger male’s land, the
bigger cat will kill him. Survival is tough and even hard work doesn’t guarantee success.
That’s what a 2-year-old male cat known as #99 discovered. A
year ago, the youngster struck out on his own looking for a home. He roamed from the Panther Preserve to Florida Gulf Coast University
to Southwest Florida International Airport. He crossed major roads and smaller streets, trying to avoid
both traffic and other male panthers. He apparently worked hard to survive, but now the 2-year-old
male is dead. He was recently hit by a car on Immokalee Road.
Copyright © 2003
News-Press
All rights reserved.
State to decide this week whether to pursue Estates land
purchase to dislodge resident
Jesse Hardy has lived at the end of a dirt road in Southern
Golden Gate Estates, without a telephone and without electricity, for the
past 27 years. Not even Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet could convince
him to leave now, he said. Bush and the Cabinet are set to decide Tuesday in Tallahassee
whether to grant state land buyers the authority to pursue eminent domain
against Hardy, a 67-year-old disabled veteran who lives on 160 acres with
his adopted 7-year-old son, Tommy. "I plan on fighting this to the very end," Hardy
said. His homestead is part of a 55,000-acre buyout in rural Collier
County south of Interstate 75.
Copyright © 2003
Naples News
All rights reserved.
Lawsuit Warns of Methylmercury in Fish
California's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five
grocery store chains, aiming to require the stores to post warnings about the dangers of
methylmercury in fish. In a complaint filed in San Francisco Superior Court, the
attorney general's office alleges the grocers have violated Proposition
65, a ballot initiative enacted by California voters in 1986. The law
requires businesses to provide "clear and reasonable" warnings before
exposing people to known carcinogens and reproductive toxins. "Generally, fish are an important source of
protein," said Attorney General Bill Lockyer in filing the suit last
earlier this month. "But consumers deserve to know when they are being exposed to chemicals that
can cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm.
Copyright © 2003 Environmental
News Service - ENS All rights reserved.
Related Article,
January 27, 2003
US
Plans to Thwart Global Mercury Treaty Talks, Document Shows
Letter to the editor: End delay on Everglades water project
The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians has lived in the Everglades
for centuries. Our culture and way of life depend on its health. The obsession
of the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of the
Interior with the unnecessary removal of the residents of the 8.5 Square Mile
Area has stalled a vital restoration project. The Modified Water Deliveries Project was authorized by
Congress in 1989 to restore more natural flows to the Everglades. This $140
million project was supposed to benefit 900,000 acres of Everglades
wetlands, including more than 200,000 acres of tribal land. The Corps said that
it would be completed by 1997. Today the project is nowhere near completion, and the Corps is
implementing interim plans that restrict the flow through the Everglades, which will flood tribal
lands. The Fish and Wildlife Service predicts the latest Corps plan
will degrade 88,300 acres of snail-kite critical habitat and kill endangered
snail kites there.
Copyright © 2003
Miami Herald
All rights reserved.
Managing the departments: Grades for Bush's
Cabinet secretaries
From National
Journal
Many Cabinet secretaries are politically
well-connected and influential in the Oval Office. But what about their ability
to run the huge departments they are responsible for managing? National
Journal assessed the management skills of President Bush's appointees in its Jan. 25
special issue.
Colin Powell, State Department Grade: A
When Colin Powell assumed the helm of the State
Department, most observers agreed it was acutely underfunded, understaffed, and
demoralized after years of often-acrimonious bickering with former Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C, and his staff. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003
National
Journal All rights reserved.
Related Link,
Government Executive
26-January-03
Editorial: Abusing the Environment
The Senate late last week finally approved a $390 billion appropriations bill
underwriting dozens of federal agencies for the fiscal year that began last Oct.
1. This is something it should have done months ago, in a more orderly fashion.
A sprawling omnibus bill enacted under duress always invites a host of
last-minute, usually mischievous, amendments. This is especially true on
environmental issues. President Bill Clinton vetoed a budget bill in 1995, and
precipitated a government shutdown, in part because of environmentally
destructive riders. This year's budget scramble also produced disheartening environmental
outcomes — with one conspicuous exception. It was the near victory of an
amendment offered by Senator John Edwards of North Carolina to block the Bush
administration's recent rollback of important regulations governing emissions
from power generators and other industrial plants.
Copyright © 2003
NY Times
online All rights reserved.
Developer seeks OK to work around bald eagle nesting
guidelines
A developer in northern Collier County is finding
that the trouble with bald eagles is that they just won't stay put. After
the 1999-2000 nesting season, Audubon Joint Venture, the developer of Audubon
Country Club, carved Warwick Way and eight home sites out of a natural area at
the country club. Then the eagles threw the developer for a loop. Instead
of returning to their old nest, the eagles built a new nest — this time closer
to the cleared Warwick Way lots. That put the lots within 750 feet of the
nest, an area called a primary protection zone, where federal bald eagle
guidelines for enforcing the Endangered Species Act call for no construction
year-round. So Audubon developers are seeking permission from the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service for a break from the guidelines to go ahead with
construction on the eight lots during the non-nesting season. The nesting season
runs from October to May.
Copyright © 2003
Naples
News All rights reserved.
Crowding fatal to panthers
Males kill females in territory
Another panther kitten was orphaned when its mother was killed by a
male panther in Collier County, showing a new pattern of males killing
females with young.
From 1981 to 2001 records show four female panthers
were killed by males. While it’s common for males to kill males, it had been
unusual for them to kill a female.
But in just four months from September 2002 to January 2003
three females were killed by males. “It’s proving
what we said all along. We have an increased possibility of males
encountering females. There’s no place else for them to go,” said
Larry Richardson, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service who works at the Florida Panther Refuge located off State Road 29
in Collier County. Richardson said diminishing land means more males are forced
to live closer to females and compete for food.
Copyright © 2003
News-Press
All rights reserved.
Environmental concerns may impact route of future FPL line
Florida Power and Light is in the planning stages of a
transmission line that could dissect environmental sensitive lands in eastern
Lee and Collier Counties. FPL wants to construct a line of up to 36 miles in length that
would stretch from a substation near the Orange River in Lee County to Golden Gate Parkway west of the interstate in Collier County. FPL
officials said the new line is needed to serve existing and
future customers. The line is expected to be operational by December of 2005. The exact route of the line has yet to be decided. FPL
assembled a group of about 20 local citizens to make recommendations on where the line should be built. Some of the group members are concerned
that the line could have an adverse impact on preserve areas such
as the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, or CREW, a
60,000-acre watershed that's located west of Corkscrew Swamp.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Advocates recall lake discharge struggles
In 1998, river activists began crafting water
cleansing plans. Today, water decisions are made to avoid what
happened then.
When it comes to the protection of the St. Lucie River,
today's battles against the continuing discharges from Lake Okeechobee are being
waged as personal missions by environmental activists with emotional
memories of a five-year-old nightmare. "I remember when I caught those lesioned fish. I brought
my boat back to the marina, and I washed my boat completely inside and out with
fresh water," said Leon Abood, chairman of the Rivers Coalition.
"It chokes me up a bit now. "I said, 'That boat isn't going back in the water until I
can get that water clean.' It was a promise I made for myself," he said.
Abood, like others active on environmental issues, can't
forget the spring of 1998 when the Treasure Coast was awash in an ecological and
economic crisis.
Copyright © 2003 TCPalm All
rights reserved.
Island of Dissent Blocks Revival Bid
Senate Moves to End 14-Year Impasse on the Everglades Restoration
Effort
Julio Concepcion has re-created his own little slice
of Cuba here in the most contentious patch of Florida, a rustic neighborhood at
the edge of the Everglades known as the 8.5 Square Mile Area.
Concepcion has a tropical orchard with mangos, mammees, plantains and papayas the size of footballs. He has an apiary with about 1.5 million
bees. And just as he did before fleeing from Fidel Castro in 1962, he has a beef
with his government. Federal officials want to buy 77 homes at the western tip of
Miami's sprawl in order to reflood the eastern end of the Everglades. The Senate
approved language in its budget bill Thursday authorizing the
buyouts; Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and President Bush's aides recently endorsed the measure. But Concepcion and some of his neighbors are
refusing to sell, and it is not clear whether the buyout plan will survive
negotiations with the House of Representatives.
Copyright © 2003 Washington
Post All rights reserved.
Republicans elect state leader
Chairwoman expects GOP to become majority
party
Republicans chose their "best
cheerleader" Saturday to lead a two-year GOP stampede aimed at re-electing
President Bush, taking Sen. Bob Graham's seat in Washington and making the GOP
Florida's majority party. Republican National Committeewoman Carole Jean
Jordan of Vero Beach easily defeated Jim Stelling of Seminole County for the
party leadership. Stelling, who had been vice chairman before running for the
top spot, was succeeded by J. Allison DeFoor II of Wakulla County. "We can talk forever about what we'd like to
do," Jordan told the 204 Republican Executive Committee members in a closed
caucus. "But the greatest wealth I've taken from this race is going into
your individual counties and realizing the multitude of difference there is from
North Florida to South Florida, and east and west."
Copyright © 2003
Tallahassee
Democrat / Associated Press All rights reserved.
Editorial: Speed up
restoration
Graham amendment would get Everglades project moving at
last
Congressional conservatives have some valid questions about
Everglades restoration — lots of people do — but if the
various compromises stitched together for this project aren’t honored,
it never will be started, much less completed. Floridians tired of delays in this work need to let
congressional leaders know that they must not continue to re-fight every battle and disregard every compromise that has been hashed out in this
far-from-perfect process. U.S. Sen. James
Inhofe, R-Okla., is the new chairman of the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and as such can be a
major obstacle to the $8 billion federal-state plan to restore some of
the natural flow of water in the Everglades, and with it some of the lost vigor of that unique
ecosystem.
Copyright © 2003
News-Press
All rights reserved.
Quietly but distinctly, environmental policies rolled back
Halfway into his four-year term, President Bush
has significantly altered the nation's environmental policies, often
without attracting much notice. A handful of his most controversial policies have made
headlines, notably his abandonment of an international treaty on global warming,
approval of a federal dump for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and
his proposal to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. But Bush's administration has slipped a number of major policy
changes under the public's and the media's radar by quietly issuing executive
orders that don't require congressional approval, rewriting highly technical environmental regulations and muzzling dissent within the
administration. Three dozen experts in the environmental-protection and
business communities were asked to assess the administration's environmental record at
midterm.
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
25-January-03
FLORIDA: INTERIOR DEPT. TO SET UP MANATEE
ZONES
The Interior Department agreed to establish new protected zones for manatees in
three regions where collisions with boats have killed increasing numbers of the
sea cows. The Fish and Wildlife Service negotiated an accord with a coalition of
environmental groups that had sued over prolonged delays in establishing areas
where boats would be banned or required to slow down. The new areas, to be set
up by July, will include parts of the St. John's and Caloosahatchee Rivers.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Senate passes Everglades bill that may be key to implementing
plan
Environmentalists were optimistic Friday that
an amendment passed by the Senate would clear the way for the heart of the
Everglades restoration project to be carried out. The amendment, co-sponsored by Florida
Sens. Bob Graham,
D-Miami Lakes, Bill Nelson, D-Tallahassee, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio,
clarifies language to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a
levee and canal system around most of an 8˝-square-mile area in
southwest Dade County. The project, known as Alternative 6D, is seen as the last
sticking point in the execution of the Modified Waters Delivery Project, which
is aimed at restoring water flow to Everglades National Park. "The 6D project was serving as a cork on Everglades
restoration," said Brad Sewell, a senior attorney at the National Resources Defense
Council. "This amendment really allows us to pull out the
cork and let the water flow."
Copyright © 2003
Naples
News All rights reserved.
Senate backs 'Glades home buyouts
Environmentalists and Everglades National Park have won a key
round in a Senate struggle involving a plan to uproot homeowners so more water
can flow to the park's east side. The Senate on Thursday night approved an amendment to an
omnibus appropriations bill that could clear the way for the Army Corps of
Engineers to buy 77 homes in a neighborhood west of Kendall
known as the 8 1/2 Square Mile Area. The Senate adopted the buyout language -- opposed by the
community -- as part of a vast $390 billion spending bill for fiscal year 2003.
The House already has passed its version without the Everglades
language. Members from each chamber will meet in conference to produce a
final compromise that both the House and Senate must approve before it can
go to President Bush to be signed into law.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
24-January-03
Commentary: Putting the spin on the Toilet Coast
I don't need a physician to know I'm losing my patience.
Between the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida
Water Management District, I'm not quite sure who is making more of an effort to
transform the Treasure Coast into the Toilet Coast. What's even more
discouraging is that the population along this coast appears to be buying into
it. Ever since the sugar growers learned how effective a political
spin doctor can be against a slam dunk amendment, the people who manage the
water have jumped on the bandwagon. You see, spin is in -- because it's not
really a lie or a sin. The new spin on deluging the St. Lucie River and the rest of
the coast with fresh water is to label the discharges "pulse
releases." The only thing resembling a pulse is the frequency of the
release. With an expected 140 days of discharges ahead before the rainy season,
that leaves about 20 days we won't feel that pulse throb.
Copyright © 2003 TCPalm All
rights reserved.
Invasive Algae Smothering Florida Coral
Reefs
Caulerpa brachypus is a nonnative
macroalgae
that has invaded Florida's coral reefs.
(All photos courtesy Harbor
Branch
Oceanographic Institution, Inc.)
An invasive, coral smothering
seaweed has spread like a green tide across the reefs along the south Florida
coast. Recent reports from divers and fishers show that the seaweed has become
so thick on reefs in Florida's Palm Beach County, about an hour north of Miami,
that it is forcing lobsters and fish away. The species, a type of
macroalgae, has also now
been spotted as far north as Ft. Pierce, Florida, about 60 miles away. "It can smother just about everything down
there," said Dr. Brian Lapointe, a marine ecologist at the Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institution.
Lapointe said the threat posed by the seaweed,
called Caulerpa brachypus, is even more alarming than that of other
troublesome species he has studied in the area because it is an invasive
normally found in the Pacific, but, until a year ago, nowhere in Florida. The
species may have been released from a saltwater aquarium or from a ship's
ballast water.
Copyright © 2003 Environmental
News Service - ENS All rights reserved.
Babcock ranch for sale in entirety
Conservation agencies eager to make purchase
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commissioners said
Thursday they want to join other agencies to buy all 92,000 acres of
Babcock Ranch. There’s one catch. The Babcock
family wants to wrap up the deal in months instead of years, said Wade
Hopping, who spoke before the commission Thursday in Fort Myers on behalf
of the family. “We’re open to that but we’re not waiting 10 years,”
Hopping said. “The property is under some development pressure.” Although
the Babcock family is willing to sell the entire property to the
government for conservation, the family also has a proposal that it
unveiled in May 2001 to develop 20,000 acres for housing, sell 44,000
acres to the state for conservation and keep 28,000 acres for themselves.
In December 2001, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection put
the ranch on its priority list of lands to buy.
Copyright © 2003 News-Press
All rights reserved.
Manatee status won’t be changed
State wildlife commissioners took their staff’s
recommendation Thursday and agreed not to reclassify the West Indian manatee
from endangered to threatened. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in Fort
Myers for three days of meetings, decided to wait until November to
take up the issue again. Kenneth Haddad, executive director of Florida Fish and Wildlife, recommended the move last week.
“We don’t want this to further polarize the issue,” he
said. Waterfront property owners, environmentalists, local
governments and boaters have been at odds over manatee protections since the Save
the Manatee Club and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service settled
a lawsuit two years ago. Since then, boat dock construction has
been restricted in parts of Lee County and Cape Coral and more slow
speed zones have been threatened. The downlisting
of the sea cow in Florida would have had no real effect on the mammal’s
protected status.
Copyright © 2003 News-Press
All rights reserved.
Wildlife commission delays decision on reclassifying
manatees
The state's top wildlife protection agency delayed downlisting
the West Indian manatee Thursday in order to give researchers and the public more time to gather data and review the proposed change.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission met in
Fort Myers this week with the key issue being manatee protection and
the listing status of the controversial marine mammal. More than 100 residents, boaters and members of interest
groups filled the Lee County Commission chambers Thursday. The sea cow is currently classified by the state and federal
governments as endangered, although the Fish and Wildlife Commission's staff is recommending the state status be change to
threatened. Any change on the state level would not affect the federal status or protections.
The seven-member commission voted unanimously to postpone the
decision until November.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
23-January-03
Letter to the Editor: ‘Green groups’ rolling in it
Did you ever wonder how those environmental groups get all that money to
bring lawsuits against the government? Plaintiffs such as Save the Manatee
Club, Pegasus Foundation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club,
Florida Audubon, Humane Society of the United States and Defenders of
Wildlife are financially blessed with income and support far above and
beyond simple memberships and donations. Some of these “green
groups” receive millions of dollars in government grants (taxpayer funds).
Their lawsuits against the government often result in additional
government money when these suits are settled. Many foundations such
as the Ted Turner Foundation donate large sums both individually and
collectively. The Pegasus Foundation itself belongs to a national
consortium of foundations that donates $340 million each year to green
groups.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.
Editorial: An Everglades deadline
Unfortunately, Florida Department of
Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs didn't attend the Everglades
Coalition's 18th annual conference this month in Delray Beach. Mr. Struhs was
very busy, an aide said, "writing phosphorus criteria" for the
Everglades. More than 400 people at the conference, though, had some words about
Everglades restoration -- including "phosphorus criteria" -- that Mr.
Struhs needed to hear. Conference-goers kept the message simple, with
T-shirts that read "Keep the Everglades a Perfect 10." That refers to
the 10-parts-per-billion phosphorus limit, which scientists say the state must
set and enforce to restore water quality and protect native vegetation and
wildlife. "No loopholes," read a wall banner, meaning that the tough
water-quality standard should apply throughout the Everglades, not give breaks
to sugar farms or drainage basins for suburban runoff.
Copyright © 2003
Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Just ducky 'round here
Welcome to a duck hunter's dream: Stormwater
Treatment Area-5, a state-managed Everglades wetland where the hunting is free
and plentiful
TOP FLIGHT: Ringed-neck ducks fly over
Stormwater
Treatment Area-5, a wetland
that boasts the highest hunter success rate
of all
the state-managed waterfowl areas.
DAVID WALTERS / Herald Staff
Cold, rosy-orange dawn
slowly illuminates a cattail-studded marsh on a sleepy Sunday in the heart of
Everglades agriculture country. But as the big pink ball clears the east side of
the levee, the crack of small-arms fire shocks the quiet. At first there is only
a burst or two, but then the gun blasts become as constant as a cavalry skirmish.
What's going on here are the initial preparations for upcoming Super Bowl feasts
around South Florida, hunters securing their main courses from the skies: duck
á l'orange, barbecued duck breasts wrapped in bacon, roast duck, duck soup. Why
go to Publix when you can secure a cheap and tasty party tray for yourself in
this scenic, 5,120-acre marsh?
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
Whooping Crane Patriarch Dies at 39
Canus, a one-winged whooping crane that
played a crucial role in establishing a captive breeding population of his endangered species, died last weekend of natural causes, just a
few weeks short of his 39th birthday. Scientists believe that the average lifespan of a whooping
crane lasts from 25 to 30 ears, although captive birds can live much longer.
Canus was part of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) captive breeding
program at the Wildlife Research Center in Patuxent. "Canus the individual may be gone, but his legacy will
persist in the every growing populations of wild whooping cranes in North
America," said USGS Patuxent Center director Judd Howell. "He was a great
symbol for restoration of wildlife populations, and he will be missed."
Copyright © 2003 Environmental
News Service - ENS All rights reserved.
22-January-03
States To Get More Say in Refuge Management
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has
issued a new policy calling for more cooperation with state fish and wildlife
agencies in managing the 540 national wildlife refuges around the United States.
The new policy was developed in cooperation with a team of state fish and
wildlife agencies. It requires the USFWS to involve states early in the process,
when initiating national policy development to address either a legislative
requirement or a broad scale refuge management issue. "We are
committed to involving our state counterparts early in all aspects of refuge
management, not just as reviewers, but as participants," said USFWS
Director Steve Williams. "I expect the Service to involve our state
counterparts early in all aspects of refuge management, not just as reviewers,
but as participants," Williams told the agency's regional directors in a
Director's order. "I am committed to seeing the Service strengthen its ties
with the agencies."
Copyright © 2003 Environmental
News Service - ENS All rights reserved.
Related Article,
January 21, 2003
News
Release: Service To Work More Closely With States on Refuge Policy
Related Links,
National Wildlife Refuges
Director's Orders
Environment funding slated on some fronts
Environmental spending takes a big hit in
Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed budget but environmentalists said Tuesday said they are
happy overall, especially given the tough budget climate. "When it
comes to Florida Forever and the Everglades restoration, we're really pleased
with this budget," said Eric Draper with Audubon of Florida. Each program
is fully funded with $300 million. Money is also included to protect
springs and manatees. Draper said he couldn't find "any ugly
reductions." Overall, the budget proposes a 20 percent, or $426
million, cut in the budget for the Department of Environmental Protection,
leaving $1.6 billion. Half the cuts come from a $200 million reduction in
grants to local governments for stormwater and sewer plant projects. Instead the
governor proposes beefing up the state's low-interest loan program for local
governments. Twenty-two positions are cut and dozens of trust funds are
moved into the general budget.
Copyright © 2003
Daytona News-Journalonline
All rights reserved.
21-January-03
Bush Proposal May Cut Tax on S.U.V.'s for Business
The Bush administration's economic plan would increase
by 50 percent or more the deductions that small-business owners can take right
away on the biggest sport utility vehicles and pickups. The plan would mean small businesses could immediately deduct the entire
price of S.U.V.'s like the Hummer H2, the Lincoln Navigator and the Toyota
Land Cruiser, even if the vehicles were loaded with every available option. Or a
business owner, taking full advantage, could buy a BMW X5 sport utility vehicle
for a few hundred dollars more than a Pontiac Bonneville sedan, after the
immediate tax deductions were factored in. Tax experts and environmentalists say the plan would provide incentives for
businesses to choose the biggest gas-guzzling trucks because it takes several
years to depreciate the cost of passenger cars and smaller sport utility
vehicles. The ramifications of the Bush plan on S.U.V. buyers were reported
today in The Detroit News.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
News Release: Service To Work More Closely With States on Refuge Policy
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed
to working more cooperatively with State fish and wildlife agencies in managing
the 540 National Wildlife Refuges around the United States, under a policy
issued by Service Director Steve Williams. "We are committed to
involving our State counterparts early in all aspects of refuge management, not
just as reviewers, but as participants,"Williams said. The new policy was
developed in cooperation with a team of State fish and wildlife agencies. It
requires the Service to involve States early in the process, when initiating
national policy development to address either a legislative requirement or a
broad-scale refuge management concern, need, or issue. Specifically, the
Service will work cooperatively with interested State fish and wildlife agencies
to help develop comprehensive conservation plans (CCPs). Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003 Fish
and Wild Service All rights reserved.
Related Article,
January 22, 2003
States
To Get More Say in Refuge Management
Related Links,
National Wildlife Refuges
Director's Orders
Editorial: Reprieve for a river
Government rarely responds as quickly to
complaints as the agencies that manage Lake Okeechobee did last week. When the
public learned that the South Florida Water Management District and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers planned to dump extra water from a project north of Lake
Okeechobee into the lake and the St. Lucie River, they were outraged. With extra
rain brought by cyclical El Nino rains during the normally dry winter season,
the lake already is suffering from high water, and the river faces nonstop
releases of fresh water from the lake through June. The problem was a bad
decision. The agencies approved a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission project to lower Lake Tohopekaliga, one in a chain south of Orlando,
to remove muck and help marsh grasses regenerate. The plan may have merit, but
not in a wet year, when too much water is uprooting grassy fish habitat in Lake
Okeechobee and overwhelming the St. Lucie.
Copyright © 2003
Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
GOP senator not buying Everglades plan
Oklahoma’s Inhofe bucking party’s line
Florida’s vast and ailing Everglades is shaping
up as one of the first environmental litmus tests for Republicans who now
control both chambers of Congress. The Bush administration and Sunshine
State Republicans are pressuring a key GOP senator to drop his opposition to a
critical water project that is the linchpin to the 30-year, $8 billion
environmental restoration of Florida’s famous River of Grass. But so
far, it doesn’t appear that Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., new chairman of the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is budging. “Sen. Inhofe
doesn't agree with it on substantive grounds and he doesn't agree with it on
procedural grounds,” said spokesman Gary Hoitsma.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.
Editorial: Corkscrew, power
lines don’t mix
Electric company should steer clear of natural resource
Florida Power & Light’s proposed new high-power transmission line in
Lee and Collier counties may be an economic necessity, but it could damage
world-class natural resources if its route is not carefully planned.
At special risk is the pristine Corkscrew Swamp in southeast Lee County
and northern Collier, and the endangered wood storks that nest there each
year. They and their habitat, especially the renowned Audubon preserve,
are important to the whole world of bird and nature lovers.
Transmission lines through any part of the swamp could threaten birds and
natural systems in this area, arguably the last significant naturally
functioning wetland system in South Florida — maybe in the whole state.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.
Manatee status change delayed
State wildlife commission wants input at meetings
Align A move to change the status of the West
Indian Manatee from endangered to threatened in Florida may be shelved for the
time being. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s
staff has recommended to its seven commissioners that they postpone any action
on downlisting the manatee. The commission will be in Fort Myers beginning
Wednesday for three days of public hearings. They are set to hear the
manatee issue on Thursday. “Deciding the issue now would further
polarize the public at a time when various factions are arguing and
litigating to increase or decrease manatee protection efforts,” said
Kenneth Haddad, executive director of Florida Fish & Wildlife, in a news
release. And the tensions between environmentalists and boaters in
the manatee protection issue are mounting.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.
Editorial: Hamilton Harbor
Naples should welcome request to delay process
Public hearings and the quest for permits yet
again for Hamilton Harbor, originally known as Sabal Bay, are poised to be
placed on hold. The developer says it wants to hear more from the Naples-based
Conservancy of Southwest Florida on environmentally friendly changes to plans
for a marina opposite southern Port Royal on Naples Bay. Naples City
Council ought to agree, with pleasure. This is a good sign for those who,
on one hand, relish an end to nearly 15 years of fighting and, on the other,
want to make sure undue damage is not done to nature in the bargain. There is
nothing wrong with seeking options to the destruction of even a single acre of
mangroves, which Collier Enterprises says would take place under today's harbor
plan, even though the affected area seems minuscule compared to the original 15
acres and the 1999 version's 2.3 acres.
Copyright © 2003
Naples
News All rights reserved.
Related Article,
January 20, 2003
Collier
Enterprises seeks more time to negotiate with Hamilton Harbor opponents
20-January-03
Everglades: Partnership still crucial
There are, as Marjory Stoneman Douglas wrote, no other
Everglades in the world. And that is why we must work together to save
them. Our goal is an ambitious one. We are committed to restoring
natural flows to restoring natural flows to the Everglades, improving water
quality, delivering water for both natural system and human needs, in
the right amounts and at the right time. Together, we will get the "water
right" and, in the process, restore a unique ecosystem. That is the reason we are here this morning. We are working
together to accomplish an engineering feat the like of which the world has never
seen. Our ambitious undertaking is to replumb an ecosystem
that once covered 18,000 square miles so that its natural flows once again
provide: Habitat for wading birds and alligators; better recreation
opportunities for our children and their children; and an improved water supply
for the residents of South Florida.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Collier Enterprises seeks more time to negotiate with
Hamilton Harbor opponents
In an unexpected late-hour twist, a Collier
Enterprises official said Saturday that the company will ask the Naples City
Council for more time to try to reach a deal with opponents of a proposed marina
on Naples Bay. The City Council has set a special meeting for Tuesday at
City Hall to take up the hot-button question of whether to rezone a spot on the
eastern shore of Naples Bay, next to Bayview Park, for Hamilton Harbor. The plans represent a scaled back version of earlier marina plans. Approval of
the new marina would be a big step toward settling a $25 million lawsuit and $19
million property rights claim the company filed against the city after a
previous City Council revoked earlier approvals for the marina in 2000. The
plans also need state and federal environmental permits.
Copyright © 2003
Naples
News All rights reserved.
Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Facing Harsh Fiscal
Reality
Maryland Governor Robert
Ehrlich (Photo courtesy
Office of the Governor)
Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich says time is
running out to save the Chesapeake Bay, but his state needs the federal
government to fund its restoration and protection. "Time is of the
essence and this has got to get done in the next five years," Ehrlich said.
"The magnitude of the problem far outstrips the state's ability to pay for
it." The bay watershed encompasses some 64,000 square miles. It
includes parts of six states - New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia and West Virginia and all of the District of Columbia. The health
of the Chesapeake Bay, which is endangered by agricultural runoff, industrial
pollution and untreated municipal wastewater, is an issue few Maryland
politicians can afford to ignore. The nation's largest estuary, Chesapeake Bay
is one of America's most famous bodies of water, and Ehrlich, a Republican,
repeatedly pledged his support for cleanup efforts during his election campaign.
Copyright © 2003 Environmental
News Service - ENS All rights reserved.
Related Links,
For more information on the Chesapeake Bay, see: http://www.cbf.org
For more information on Maryland's state budget, see:
http://www.dbm.state.md.us/html/fy2004budgethighlights.html
For a copy of the University of Maryland School of Law's report,
"Keeping Pace: An Evaluation of Maryland's Most Important
Environmental Problems
and What We Can Do to Solve Them," see: http://www.law.umaryland.edu/environment/
Farm Bureau seeks standards for Everglades restoration
The Florida Farm Bureau Federation announced
Monday that it is urging members of the Environmental Regulatory Commission to
base new phosphorus standards for water flowing to the Everglades on scientific
information. The federation said in a release that it is also asking the
ERC to consider economic impacts and to assess the relative risks and benefits
to the public as it considers the standard. "This common-sense
approach is nothing more than what state and federal laws require," said
Carl B. Loop Jr., Florida Farm Bureau president, in the release. "On behalf
of the more than 150,000 Florida Farm Bureau member-families, I am urging the
ERC to base the standard on the real-life research that shows 16 parts per
billion is an appropriate standard that would fully protect the Everglades."
The ERC is considering setting the standard for every part of the system at 10
ppb.
Copyright © 2003
Tampa
Bay Business Journal All rights reserved.
Related Link,
Florida Farm Bureau Federation
19-January-03
Albuquerque Case Pits Thirst Against Fish
Rick Scibelli for The New York Times
The silvery minnow, once plentiful in
the Rio Grande, is on the endangered list.
A three-inch-long endangered fish is standing
between this city and its plans for a well-watered future. The fish, the silvery minnow, native to the Rio Grande, has been the subject
of years of court battles. But now a federal appeals court is about to decide
whether, to save the fish, Albuquerque must give up drinking water it has set
aside behind a federal dam for the years ahead. The case poses the most direct confrontation yet between the Endangered
Species Act, which ranks the protection of threatened animals and plants above
human needs, and the water rights held by cities like Albuquerque in Western
states where water is becoming increasingly scarce. Among the states that have joined with the city of Albuquerque and the State
of New Mexico in asking the court to reserve the water for people are Colorado,
Idaho, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Wyoming.
Copyright © 2003
NY Times
online All rights reserved.
Editorial: Power in numbers
River advocates lifted voices to halt plans that would damage St.
Lucie
Two voices grew into a
powerful chorus last week, and the sound it produced just might have saved the
St. Lucie River ecosystem further damage. It was a chorus that stopped the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
and especially the South Florida Water Management District from dumping millions
of gallons of Lake Tohopekaliga water into Lake Okeechobee and thus into the St.
Lucie Estuary. The plan had been to lower the Tohopekaliga 3 feet below
the traditionally low summer levels, to allow bulldozers to remove invasive
plants and muck choking the habitat. In fact, the dumping actually started in
November. Congratulations first to the two voices Martin County
Commissioner Sarah Heard and St. Lucie County Commissioner Frannie Hutchinson.
Copyright © 2003 Stuart
News - TC Palm All rights reserved.
Take a walk on the muddy side
Big Cypress an ecological gem
When you think of the Big Cypress Swamp -- that
729,000-acre wilderness northwest of Everglades National Park -- you probably
imagine stinky, sticky mud, maddening clouds of mosquitoes and herds of
poisonous snakes and fierce alligators. What you need is a reality check.
The only way you're going to find out what the swamp is really like is to
wade out into it, mud and all. I did it a couple of weeks ago, along with
six members of the Broward chapter of the Sierra Club, and I will now dispel a
few of the more outrageous myths mucking up this national preserve: The mud does
not stink. Nor do the
decaying marsh grasses mixed with algae known as periphyton (it smells more like
pine-scented room deodorant).
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
College land swap is a bad bargain
Before
Florida Gulf Coast University opened in 1997, its ''founding mission statement''
promised an emphasis on environmental education. Located near Fort Myers, the
new public university said it would be ''ideally suited'' to study the impact of
a soaring population on ''a unique and sensitive'' ecosystem. Today, its
students and faculty are getting a blunt first-hand lesson outside the
classroom. FGCU's administration has cut a dubious land-swapping deal with
a big developer that, if approved by Lee County, will result in the campus being
surrounded by four new golf courses and 1,400 homes. The university has
agreed to give 215 prime acres to the Ginn Co., which is developing the project.
In exchange, the company has pledged 315 acres to the university as a site for a
new engineering school and, oddly, a new home for the university president.
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
Ave Maria University: A different perspective
Driving through some sections of this farm
community in Collier County 120 miles southwest of West Palm Beach is like
traveling through a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in a developing country.
Crumbling apartments are as gray as the thunderheads threatening overhead.
Sagging mobile homes look as if they'll collapse from the slightest breeze.
Nearly windowless warehouselike flophouses where a migrant worker can rent a bed
for a few bucks a night squat on a busy street. A hooker trolls for tricks on
New Year's Eve — riding a bicycle. More than three-quarters of the
people living in this town of nearly 20,000 did not graduate high school. Nearly
one-third earned less than $15,000 in 1999, and a similar number live below
poverty level.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Editorial: Collier development
codes
Current examples bring priorities into question
We could obsess with consistency and insist that
rules are rules. Or we could dissect those rules and find loopholes that
would make everything legal. Or we could employ common sense and look at
three development case studies making headlines these days, and ask: Where are
our priorities? Where are our values? And, what were we thinking when we got
ourselves into this mess? In other words, a bracing slap of reality beats
more paralysis by analysis. Let's start with the eagles. A condo developer
north of Vanderbilt Beach proposes hastening the retreat of a nest of federally
protected eagles within the development danger zone, by building a fake tree
nearby. Not just any fake tree. A fake tree with limbs at just the right
angles that, research shows, are appealing to eagles.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
A growing number of people are moving west — to Naples
Ana Garro highlights a client's hair at Ana's
Secret Salon on 14th Avenue South in Naples.
Garro moved her salon business from Miami
to Naples last year, part of a migration trend
that is adding growing numbers to Lee and
Collier counties. Dan Wagner/Staff
From the window of the American Airlines jet that
first brought Alejandro Antonio Ruiz from Puerto Rico to Miami, the metropolis
looked like an island outpost. The deep hues of the Atlantic Ocean
dominated the view from his window seat 30,000 feet above Miami-Dade County.
Nearly six miles closer to the earth, Ruiz remembers losing the view of the
ocean and seeing nothing but concrete and pavement stretching in every
direction. "It wasn't my kind of place," Ruiz said. "When
you see images of Miami you see sand and palm trees and sun. ... I think maybe
they should show the sun setting behind a traffic jam." Ruiz got his
first view of the sprawling megalopolis of Miami-Fort Lauderdale in 1999. Within
six months he took a drive across Alligator Alley to visit Naples on a weekend
whim. "I pulled over on the side of the road just to make sure I had
my exits right," he said.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
18-January-03
Letter: E.P.A. and the Wetlands
To the Editor:
The Bush administration has not opened "a door" that may cause the
loss of substantial acres of wetlands (editorial, Jan. 11). It was the Supreme
Court that determined in 2001 that the Clean Water Act's regulatory program does
not apply to a relatively small portion of wetlands that might be proposed for
development. We are talking about thousands of acres affected each year — not
20 million. Recently we reaffirmed our commitment to regulatory protection of acres
unaffected by the court and began a series of activities to fulfill President
Bush's commitment to assuring no net loss of wetlands. Those actions include a
multiagency action plan, financing to strengthen states' capacity to protect
wetlands and a new incentive program to protect more than two million acres of
wetlands on private lands. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
U.S. May Open Oil Reserve in Alaska to Development
The New York Times
The Bush administration today proposed opening up
part of the nation's largest remaining block of unprotected public land to oil
and gas development. The proposal affects nearly nine million acres of the Alaska North Slope in
the government's National Petroleum Reserve. Home to distinctive wildlife and tundra, the land is near the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, which the administration still hopes to win the necessary
Congressional approval to open up to oil drilling. Today's draft proposal was released by the Bureau of Land Management, which
offered four alternatives — including doing nothing — for the area, which
was set aside in the 1920's for possible energy development. Environmental organizations said they had long expected most of this land to
be leased, but noted that the proposal would constitute the largest single
on-shore offering to industry in the history of the American Arctic.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Despite no more water from north, lake too full
As St. Lucie River
advocates celebrated the victory of stopping the drawdown of a Central Florida
lake into Lake Okeechobee in the middle of a wet winter, on Friday reality
struck. Even without the extra water from the Lake Tohopekaliga habitat
restoration project, water managers still plan to continue the heaviest
"pulse"-style releases from Lake Okeechobee for at least another
10-day cycle, starting on Tuesday. It's only the first of a predicted 140
days of discharges that could lead to murky water and damaged oyster beds and
sea grasses in the estuary. On Friday, Lake Okeechobee stood at 16.30 feet
above sea level. For the first time since the middle of November, the lake
wasn't rising. That alone, federal scientists said, is a small victory. Water managers have released the nutrient-rich freshwater from Lake Okeechobee
into the brackish St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers for a total of 90 days
since July.
Copyright
© 2003 Stuart
News - TC Palm All rights reserved.
Corkscrew visitors dwindling
International, out-of-state traffic down since attacks
A CLOSER LOOK: Marlene Bumgarner of
San Francisco
looks through a scope set
up on the boardwalk of the Audubon of
Florida
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. One
of the guides fixed the scope on a yellow-
crowned
night heron.
GARTH FRANCIS/news-press.com
Diminished airline travel has hit globally
acclaimed Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary harder than much of Southwest Florida, and
swamp managers anticipate a 10-year low in attendance. Florida-based
tourists and repeat tourists have buoyed Lee County’s annual 1.9 million
visitors and many attractions in Lee and Collier counties. But Audubon-sponsored
Corkscrew has struggled to compensate for post-9-11 drops because two-thirds of
its attendance comes from first-timers who primarily are out-of-staters and
foreigners. The 11,000-acre swamp lies east of Bonita Springs and in
Collier and Lee counties, which have seen at least a 20 percent drop in
European visitors in the past 18 months. Corkscrew Swamp is known
the world over. It has the largest stand of old-growth cypress in the
world.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.Collier to hire full-time employee to oversee conservation
program
The Collier County Commission has given county
staff the green light to hire a full-time employee to oversee Conservation
Collier. The person will be in charge of the county's first greenspace
acquisition program, which will save wildlife habitat, protect water resources
and provide public open space in Collier County. On Tuesday, the
commission agreed to use $117,000 of the county's general fund reserves to pay
for the employee's salary and health benefits and the program's operating
expenses this year. Joe Schmitt, administrator of the county's community
development and environmental services division, said he hopes to fill the spot
by March. The commission will use up to $75 million in bonds to buy land
for preservation and public access. The bonds would be paid back with an
annual property tax of up to a quarter-mill. That amounts to $25 per $100,000 of
taxable property value.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
17-January-03
Lennar closer to starting project near Biscayne Bay
A state administrative law judge Jan. 10 cleared the way for
Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) to develop 516 western Miami-Dade County acres targeted for Everglades restoration.
But there are no clear winners in the ongoing battle among
four national environmental groups, the South Florida Water Management District
and Lennar. Stakes run high, since the turf tussle's outcome will likely
set a precedent, say lawyers for Lennar, Florida Audubon, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Everglades Trust and Everglades
Foundation. The legal battle started after the water district board voted
7-2 in April to permit Lennar to build 3,300 homes – Homes by the Bay South
– discarding Everglades restoration plans to buy 400 acres in
the middle of the proposed development site. Environmentalists urged the district and later the
administrative law judge to buy Lennar's tract for Everglades restoration.
Copyright © 2003 Bizjournals
All rights reserved.
New Jersey Officials Present Map Showing Battlefields in New Fight on Sprawl
State officials, beginning the anti-sprawl campaign that
Gov. James E. McGreevey announced this week, today presented a map of the state
that sketches out preliminary plans for controlling development. The glossy map divides New Jersey into bright green, red and yellow patches,
designating areas for growth, preservation and stages in between. What
developers may do in each will be subject to regulations that environmental and
planning officials are writing. The map is a draft and far from complete, but within a year it is supposed to
be detailed enough to show individual building lots. "It is the kind of initiative we've been waiting for in New Jersey for
almost two decades," said Barbara Lawrence, director of New Jersey Future,
a statewide planning organization. But Ms. Lawrence, like environmental advocates who applauded the plan, said
that until the precise boundaries and regulatory requirements were determined it
would be hard to tell whether and where development would be forbidden.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Who Gets the Water?
A faulty everglades plan pits alligators and
pelicans against developers.
Flying over the everglades, passengers might
expect to see a flock of great egrets or a twisted mangrove forest. Instead,
they look down on an area the mining industry calls the "Lake Belt," a
blasted landscape of pits, railroad tracks, and dynamited rock. "It’s destruction beyond belief," says Barbara Lange, everglades
co-chair for the Sierra Club’s Florida Chapter. "There are huge,
rectangular holes that don’t look like lakes at all." The limestone
mined here supplies concrete for roads and sidewalks to support south
Florida’s booming population. More mines scheduled over the next several
decades will eat up an additional 15,000 acres of wetlands. Read
more . . .
Copyright © 2003 Sierra
Magazine All rights reserved.
Opinions: Workshop draws ideas to improve preservation
Apparently voters like Conservation 2020, but a few changes in the
land acquisition program might be needed if a public workshop Thursday
evening was any indication. About 20 people gathered in the Cypress
Lake Middle School cafeteria to air their thoughts about the program in
the first of five public meetings. Passed in 1996 and up for renewal
in 2004, Conservation 2020 has bought more than 10,000 acres of
environmentally sensitive land in Lee County. Suggestions ranged
from raising more money more quickly to changing the rules to let the
county partner with state and federal agencies to acquire more land.
Bob Page, 66, of South Fort Myers suggested taking out bonds instead of
the current pay-as-you-go method. “I think this is a great way,”
Page said of the current program, “but it’s not buying enough." The
Conservation 2020 tax of 50 cents on every $1,000 in property value raises
about $14 million a year.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.
Area planners give lukewarm approval to dock resolution
Some cracks appeared Thursday in the united front
Southwest Florida governments have been presenting against federal rules to
protect the manatee. The Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council
adopted a resolution against a five-year moratorium on new dock construction,
but the resolution approved wasn't the one initially offered and the vote was
not unanimous. The public comment period on the proposed incidental take
rules for the Marine Mammal Protection Act ends Jan. 27. Those rules threaten a
virtual dock building moratorium because they would find the entire region an
"area of insufficient protection" in which activities that might
impact the species, which federal officials say includes the construction of new
docks, would not be allowed. Many Southwest Florida cities and counties
have jumped into the battle, including Cape Coral, the region's largest city,
which has filed suit against the federal government.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Manatee group loses court fight over endangered species law
Critics of manatees and sea turtle regulations
can file administrative challenges, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday,
rejecting an argument by environmental groups that such challenges could not be
made. But the losers aren't too upset. That's because the unanimous
decision means Save the Manatee Club, the Florida Wildlife Federation and others
in the environmental community will also be able to challenge rules made by the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We thought we'd
be defending them ... and now I think it's more likely that we're going to be
challenging them," said David Guest, a lawyer for Earthjustice Legal
Defense Fund who represented Save the Manatee Club and the Florida Wildlife
Federation. The two groups and some of their officers went to court in
1998 arguing that regulations adopted by the fish and wildlife board weren't
subject to administrative challenges.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Hearing on county's rural growth plan ends, but both sides
'hopeful' to continue negotiations
An administrative hearing on a challenge to
Collier County's new plan for rural growth ended Thursday, but the
back-and-forth might be just starting. A state official defending the plan
and a leader of the opposition said after Thursday's wrap-up that they are
"hopeful" that their behind-the-scenes talks could lead to the start
of serious settlement negotiations. Collier County and two environmental
groups rejected an offer from opponents before the hearing started in December
to begin negotiations, saying the two sides were too far apart. Mike
McDaniel, an administrator in the community planning division of the state
Department of Community Affairs, said Thursday that there has been
"significant movement" by opponents since that earlier offer. He would
not elaborate.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
16-January-03
News Release: LAKE TOHOPEKALIGA DRAWDOWN POSTPONED
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management
District make joint decision
Due to near-record rainfall during December in
the Kissimmee Basin, officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC), U.S Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management
District today agreed to postpone the drawdown of Lake Tohopekaliga. The purpose
of the drawdown is to enhance fish and wildlife habitat in the lake by exposing
a portion of the lake bottom and removing accumulated organic sediments. "The Lake Tohopekaliga habitat enhancement project will be reinitiated
during more normal water conditions," said Ed Moyer, director of the FWC's
Division of Freshwater Fisheries. Read
more . . .
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