News - February 2003
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28-February-03
U.S. Seeking Cleaner Model of Coal Plant
The Energy Department yesterday announced plans
to build an experimental power plant within 10 years that runs on coal but emits
no carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping greenhouse gas that makes coal plants major
contributors to global warming. The project, called FutureGen, is considered a
first step toward creating a generation of coal-fueled power plants that emit no
greenhouse gases and cost no more than 10 percent extra to run, department
officials said. The technology is essential, said Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham, if the vast coal reserves in the United States and in
many developing countries are to be used without adding to the atmosphere's
burden of greenhouse gases. Coal-fueled plants now produce about 40 percent
of the roughly 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide humans release into the
atmosphere each year, and coal is still considered a vital underpinning of
economic development, here and overseas.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
27-February-03
New eastern route proposed for Collier Boulevard extension
"When you talk about full build-out of the area, it becomes one of the
routes that begins to look attractive," Wayne Daltry, Lee County's Smart
Growth director said. "It's not whether 951 is needed, it's whether it's
needed in the next two decades."
Wayne
Daltry
When Lee County officials were ready to start studying
potential routes for the extension of Collier Boulevard, they included
Collier County in the mix because the road already runs through that
county. Maybe they should have included Hendry County as well. In the wake of the first of several public workshops on the
proposed road, Lee commissioners have asked their engineers to look into pushing the route farther east than was originally
considered.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Court filing seeks dismissal of Collier growth plan challenge
A lawsuit challenging Collier County's plan for growth on the
outskirts of Golden Gate Estates is groundless and should be dismissed, attorneys for the county and state argued in court
papers filed this week. The state and Collier County filed the papers urging Collier
Circuit Judge Hugh Hayes to dismiss the suit, citing errors in the
complaint filed for landowners in North Belle Meade. The lawyers' request for dismissal points out that the
landowners have claimed they can't use their land for mining when the new
plan doesn't rule it out. As well, lawyers for both government
entities say the landowners haven't exhausted administrative avenues to answer their complaint, nor have they been turned down by the
county after applying for a permit to use their land. "Right now we're just saying they haven't even stated a
case," said Marti Chumbler, who was hired as outside counsel for Collier
County government.
Copyright © 2003
Naples News
All rights reserved.
State Animal Squeezed
They were supposed to be the
comeback kits - 30 Florida panthers born last year that offered bright
and shining hope for the recovery of the most endangered mammal in
America. But more panthers will not
translate to survival of the species if the cypress forests and
freshwater marshes they call home continue to be felled and filled at a
breathtaking pace, according to a National Wildlife Federation report
released Wednesday. The report, which
ranks Florida's state animal as the most imperiled of all, places the
blame squarely on the shoulders of federal agencies mandated to protect
it: "What is happening to the
Florida panther is death by a thousand cuts, with the government being
complicit in the bleeding.'' The
report cites the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's approval of small- and
medium-scale development permits that will lead to the destruction of
more than 6,000 acres of habitat the agency has designated critical to
panther recovery.
Copyright © 2003 Tampa
Tribune All rights reserved.
26-February-03
Experts Fault Bush's Proposal to Examine
Climate Change
A panel of experts has strongly criticized the
Bush administration's proposed research plan on the risks of global warming,
saying that it "lacks most of the elements of a strategic plan" and
that its goals cannot be achieved without far more money than the White House
has sought for climate research. The 17 experts, in a report issued yesterday,
said that without substantial changes, the administration's plan would be
unlikely to accomplish the aim laid out by President Bush in several speeches:
to help decision makers and the public determine how serious the problem is so
that they can make clear choices about how to deal with it. The president has said that more research is
needed before the administration can even consider mandatory restrictions on
heat-trapping greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Timber Company Accused of Fraud in Deal to
Save Redwoods
A deal struck four years ago to save about
10,000 acres of giant redwoods in Humboldt County in Northern California was
supposed to end the bitter feuding over logging there. In
exchange for $480 million from the federal and
state governments, the Pacific Lumber Company agreed to turn the world's largest
privately owned grove of ancient redwoods into a public reserve. The company
also consented to a series of regulations on logging operations on its remaining
211,000 acres, including some additional preservation. But from the very beginning, some environmental
groups were unhappy with the so-called Headwaters deal and fought for more
restrictions on Pacific Lumber, largely to no avail. Now they appear to have
gained a powerful new ally in the recently elected district attorney in Humboldt
County, Paul Gallegos, who took office last month.
Copyright © 2003
NY Times online
All rights reserved.
Letter to the Editor: Extra water will come from sources other than Everglades
The Post recently ran an article titled "County accused
of making water grab" (Feb. 8), which I think did not fairly and
objectively address Palm Beach County's request for a 20-year water use permit from the
South Florida Water Management District. While the article implied that the county intends to take additional water from the Everglades,
nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the Palm Beach County Water
Utilities Department has worked closely with district staff
and has proposed something that few other utilities in Florida have been willing
to do: utilizing alternative water sources to meet 100 percent of the
additional water needs, thereby offsetting the impact to the regional system. The Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department should be
complimented on its willingness to do the right thing to help preserve the environment, not criticized for it, as the Feb. 15 editorial
"Avoid a 'water rush' " did.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Related Article,
March 18, 2003
Letter
to the Editor: State working hard to get best value on land deals
Audubon: Areas in Polk County Significant in the Protection of
Birds
Polk County is an important place for birds, according to
Audubon of Florida. Five local areas have been proposed for listing in Audubon's
Important Bird Areas program. The areas are the Avon Park Air Force Range, the Green Swamp,
the Lake Wales Ridge, the Kissimmee River Basin, and Lake Hancock and the Upper Peace River Basin.
The program's goal is to identify areas that provide
"essential habitat for populations of one or more species of native
birds." Statewide, there are 100 sites of various sizes that have been
put on the list. Important Bird Areas, or IBAs in the parlance of organizers,
are listed based on nominations of sites and documentation of their significance
by backers. The nominations are being reviewed by a panel of experts,
including some of Florida's top ornithologists. Originally, the plan was to publish the results by late 2002,
but budget constraints have delayed publication, said Mark Kraus, Audubon of Florida's deputy
director.
Copyright © 2003 The
Ledger All rights reserved.
Related Link,
For more details on the local sites or to find information on sites
elsewhere in Florida,
the draft IBA report is available online at: http://www.audubon.org/bird/iba/florida
Editorial: Overpay for land now, or pay even more
later
In the rush to buy land for Everglades restoration projects,
it's a seller's market. Taxpayers have every right to cringe at obscene
prices landowners are charging and South Florida Water Management
District buyers are paying. A two-part series in The Post this week cited such
cases as the Broward land speculator who made 13 times her money and the Loxahatchee rock mine owner who made eight times what a
state-hired appraiser says the rocky turf would bring on the open market.
There are other examples, including a $711,000 bill for a financially
troubled landowner's dying, 154-acre citrus grove in St. Lucie County. Government always is at a disadvantage in buying land. The
process by law is conducted in the open, and speculators who pay attention to
government plans can buy up land and jack up prices. South Florida's rising
real- estate market sometimes leaves land buyers little choice but to
pay top dollar.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
$307 million to be held for Everglades
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet agreed to
shift $307 million from a reserve into a state land-buying account Tuesday,
a move designed to prevent state lawmakers from using the cash to help
balance the budget. Bush wants to eventually use the money to help with Everglades
restoration. "We believe this is a high priority and there will be a
temptation to sweep this up and spend it on all sorts of wonderful
things," Bush said. "But I think the Everglades is an important enough
priority." Last year the Legislature wanted to use $100 million from a
bond reserve account to help balance the state budget. Bush vetoed the move,
saying it would "weaken a conservation program that been a model for a
nation." Environmentalists also were highly critical of legislators
since the money in the reserve account came from bonds issued for Florida Forever/Prevention 2000 bonds, the state's main land-buying
program.
Copyright © 2003 Orlando
Sentinel All rights reserved.
25-February-03
State to announce plan to shift library collection
Historians, academics and others oppose Bush's
cost-cutting plan to disperse the collection.
Gov. Jeb Bush's administration will try to
defuse a simmering controversy today by announcing a plan to shift part of the
huge state library collection from the state archives in the
capital to Broward County's Nova Southeastern University. But the Florida Library Association immediately declared its
opposition to the idea and said it was worried that the collection would
"wither away" if it were dispersed to other areas. Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan has called a news conference this
morning to discuss the library's future, and Nova is expected to have
representatives on hand. The plan to be announced today is a first step. The
Legislature, which will open its annual session a week from today, must decide
the library's fate, subject to Bush's approval or veto.
Copyright © 2003
St.
Petersburg Times All rights reserved.
Related Article,
January 9, 2003
PRESS
RELEASE: SECRETARY DETZNER ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW STATE LIBRARIAN
AND
DIRECTOR OF DIVISION OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES
Related Links,
Florida Department of State
Division of Library and
Information Services
FLA -- Florida Library Association
NOVA Southeastern
Library, Research and Information Technology Center
24-February-03
100 years later, refuge system still struggling
As America prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the
founding of the largest and most diverse system of wildlife refuges in the
world, many of the sanctuaries are being threatened by an onslaught of exotic
species, increasing competition for scarce water and pollution from urban
sprawl. At the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge on the northern
tip of the Florida Everglades, for example, wildlife managers are struggling to
keep from being overwhelmed by water-hungry Australian trees and
choking European vines that are overtaking native plants and displacing
wildlife. From the six Klamath Basin wildlife refuges near the
Oregon-California border to the bottomland forests of the White River National
Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, competition from farmers for water is threatening
to drain refuges of their life's blood. Fast-growing cities, particularly in the
arid West, are also adding to water
pressures.
Copyright © 2003 Scripps
Howard News Service All rights reserved.
Related Links,
On the Net: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National Wildlife Refuge Association
Growing up on
the Allapattah Ranch
Series: The Everglades Land Deals • Some would reject Everglades
buyout • Growing up on the Allapattah Ranch • In rush to buy, is any
price too high? • How four deals unfolded • Lawyer champions property
values The old wooden house still stands, looking much as it did when I
was a little girl growing up on the Allapattah Ranch in the late 1940s and
the 1950s. Today, it triggers memories of green pastures, golden sun and
the animals who were my playmates. If I stayed out of sight in those days,
I also was out of the minds of grown-ups who were keeping an eye on me.
With the ranch as my 22,000-acre playground, I could do that easily. Our
house, one of several the ranch provided for its workers, was on Martin
Grade, a two-rut dirt trail 12 miles from the nearest hard road in western
Martin County. We had no electricity when we moved in. Daddy would crank a
generator at the barn for electricity when it was needed.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
In Series: The Everglades Land Deals:
February 23, 2003
How four deals unfolded
February 23, 2003
In
rush to buy, is any price too high?
February 23, 2003
Lawyer
champions property values
February 24, 2003
Some
would reject Everglades buyout
Some would reject Everglades buyout
Five years ago, amid the
nurseries and horse farms west of Delray Beach, Muslims from Bangladesh found a
9-acre haven where they could practice their faith. But
the state has other plans for the land: burying it beneath 12 feet of water. It's just one of many ways the $8.4 billion
Everglades restoration is sweeping up people's dreams along with their land. Look at the 195,000 acres the restoration has
devoured and you'll find sites that were supposed to become churches, mosques
and cemeteries. South Florida water managers are buying cattle ranches and
citrus groves that families have owned for decades. They're buying tracts where
developers had envisioned pricey gated subdivisions -- now, never to be built. For some landowners, losing their treasured property
is "sentimental," said Mohammed Hossain, president of the Islamic
Foundation of Florida. "When you have a worship place, it's your intention
to worship God."
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
In Series: The Everglades Land Deals:
February 23, 2003
How
four deals unfolded
February 23, 2003
In
rush to buy, is any price too high?
February 23, 2003
Lawyer
champions property values
February 24, 2003
Growing
up on the Allapattah Ranch
Lakes Park gets runoff
$2.5 million from project to restore Everglades trickles in to
clean water
WATER WATCHERS: Loren
Weiland, left, and Debbie Scheel,
both of Fort Myers, watch a
nesting tilapia at Lakes Park,
which will receive money from
the Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Project to clean
water that runs into Hendry Creek
and Estero Bay. AMANDA INSCORE
Not all that glitters green in the $8 billion Everglades
restoration plan is actually in the legendary River of Grass. Take Lakes Regional Park, for example. Lee County’s urban
oasis will get up to $2.5 million of Everglades money. At least six other projects lie outside the historic
Everglades flow way but within the $8 billion Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan. The plan aims to repair the wrongs done by a 55-year-old
engineering feat aimed at draining southern Florida and controlling flooding. Those in charge of restoration say the outlying projects are
just as necessary as the ones taking place amid expanses of sawgrass, tree
islands and elegant wading birds. “You have to look at the entire
ecosystem of South Florida and its interdependency,” said Dennis Duke,
who heads up the restoration effort for the federal partner, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
Copyright © 2003
News-Press
All rights reserved.
23-February-03
Activist is 'reasonable' voice
Jennifer Seney will wade into the most unlikely
places to gain support for protecting Pasco's environment and wildlife.
What is it about a pony-tailed, deliberately
plain, T-shirt-wearing, middle-aged environmentalist that makes wealthy developers gratefully open their checkbooks?
From her swamp-hemmed home in Quail Hollow, Pasco activist
Jennifer Seney hasn't just signed a truce with the forces of development. She also has made a case for slowing the bulldozers -- and has
done so with accolades from developers who have a billion-dollar stake in the thousands of new homes rising from pasture, scrub and swamp.
"My greatest success has been being a successful pain in
the a--," the 51-year-old said as the morning sun, piercing the oaks and
cypress outside her living room, glints off her gray streaked hair.
Copyright © 2003 St.
Petersburg Times All rights reserved.
State biologists investigating rash of black bear killings
Wildlife biologists are investigating a rash of illegal black
bear killings that may be a result of the rising number of conflicts between the
protected species and humans, officials said. The state has had six new bear killings since last fall,
including four in central Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission said. With more than 100 illegal bear killings in the past 24
years, the average has been about four a year. Biologists found the carcass of a black bear last month near a
rural Marion County road. It apparently had been shot with a high-powered rifle
and moved to make it appear that it was killed in a road accident,
wildlife officials said. Such cases could be due to more reported cases of human
interaction with "nuisance" bears, wildlife officials said. "I think it's logical considering the number of
human-bear conflicts we have -- there's going to be more opportunity for this to
happen," Fish and Wildlife bear coordinator Thomas Eason said.
Copyright © 2003 St.
Petersburg Times All rights reserved.
Related Links,
Wildlife
Viewing - Species Spotlight - Florida Black Bear
Map
of Viewing Sites for the Florida Black Bear
Florida
Black Bear -- Kids' Planet -- Defenders of Wildlife
.... SIZE: The average weight of a Florida black bear is 350 pounds for
males and 150 pounds for females.
However, they can range in weight from 150 to 600 pounds. ... Description:
Includes information about the
habitat, diet, life span, and size of this bear.
Florida Black Bear Festival at
Umatilla
CNN -
Florida black bear denied federal protection - December 8, 1998
Everglades land: In rush to buy, is any price
too high?
Seven years ago, Annette Dubner paid $489,000 for
a forested lot at the Everglades' marshy fringes. Last
summer, the Boca Raton speculator resold the Broward County wetland for $6.3
million. Who paid? You, the taxpayer, in the
name of saving the Everglades. You're also
paying $139 million for 900 acres of Loxahatchee rock mine, eight times what one
state-hired appraiser said the land could fetch on the open market. And
you paid $711,000 for a financially troubled citrus grower's dying grove in St.
Lucie County -- more than double what one of his lenders thought the property
was worth. It's all part of a loud chorus of ka-ching, courtesy of the $8.4 billion effort to restore the Everglades and
expand South Florida's water supply. The
restoration is inspiring an orgy of land-buying by water managers, who are
racing desperately against developers to snatch the last available acres
unclaimed by suburbia.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
In Series: The Everglades Land Deals:
February 23, 2003
How
four deals unfolded
February 23, 2003
Lawyer
champions property values
February 24, 2003
Growing
up on the Allapattah Ranch
February 24, 2003
Some
would reject Everglades buyout
How four deals unfolded
Special situations have allowed some landowners
to make huge profits. Here's a look at how four of those deals unfolded. 1. 154 acres of aging St. Lucie citrus
grove:
Appraised value: $307,720 to $547,000. Water managers paid:
$711,100. Summerlin Grove was full of old trees and dim
prospects. Grove owner D.L. Scotto & Co. filed for bankruptcy protection to
fend off creditors, and one of those creditors, Farm Credit of South Florida,
appraised the land for $307,720 last year. The land "is not considered to
be a viable citrus grove," wrote Farm Credit appraiser Carson McCurdy. Still, the South Florida Water Management District
paid $711,100 for the 154 acres, based on its own appraisal of $547,000. It
plans to use it as part of a reservoir to help the St. Lucie River and the
Indian River Lagoon. Deputy Land Acquisition Director Ruth Clements defends the
price: It is far cheaper than trying to condemn the tract, she said.
Copyright © 2003
Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
In Series: The Everglades Land Deals:
February 23, 2003
In
rush to buy, is any price too high?
February 23, 2003
Lawyer
champions property values
February 24, 2003
Growing
up on the Allapattah Ranch
February 24, 2003
Some
would reject Everglades buyout
Lawyer champions property values
With his silver coif and smooth baritone, Toby
Prince Brigham could be mistaken for an evangelist. In
a sense, he is -- a preacher of the gospel of property rights, based on sacred
text of the Constitution. And if you're a land-grabbing bureaucrat, he may be
your worst enemy. The Miami lawyer has spent
more than 40 years fighting condemnation cases, representing some of Florida's
biggest and most politically connected landowners. He's won tens of millions of
dollars in legal fees and a reputation as the state's top eminent domain
attorney. But he says his work is nothing less than a crusade. "It's
a cause of freedom," said Brigham, 68. "All of our civil rights
empower the individual, and they keep government from becoming
totalitarian." He'll remind anyone who
will listen that Americans' property rights were bought with blood on the
battlefield.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Related Articles,
In Series: The Everglades Land Deals:
February 23, 2003
How
four deals unfolded
February 23, 2003
In
rush to buy, is any price too high?
February 24, 2003
Growing
up on the Allapattah Ranch
February 24, 2003
Some
would reject Everglades buyout
Editorial: An Everglades moment
Details, deadlines and money have been persistent problems for
David Struhs, Florida's top environmental regulator. While the secretary of the Department of Environmental
Protection continues to promise that the state will set strict pollution limits
for the Everglades, he still hasn't provided details of how the
department will measure damaging phosphorus that runs off farms and suburban
areas into the fragile ecosystem. He used a news conference last week to
reiterate his support for a low pollution standard, but he again did not
elaborate. Instead, he says everything will be revealed this week to the
state Environmental Regulation Commission. The commission can change or reject his plan before sending it
back to him. If the commission proposes standards that are less protective, Mr. Struhs should stop the process and rely on the 10 parts per
billion "default standard" for phosphorus in the 1994 Everglades Forever
Act.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
22-February-03
Opinion: A Pollutant by Any Other Name
The pressure on President Bush to abandon his
irresponsibly passive approach to global warming was ratcheted up this week. On
Thursday the attorneys general of seven Northeastern states announced their
intention to sue the administration — in the person of Christie Whitman,
administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency — for its failure to
regulate power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas,
as required by the Clean Air Act. These same states frequently pressured Mrs.
Whitman's Democratic predecessor, Carol Browner, to invoke various provisions of
the act to reduce long-regulated pollutants like sulfur dioxide, which causes
acid rain. The difference this time is that they are trying to get the federal
government to pay attention to carbon dioxide, the one compound that remains
completely unregulated despite mounting scientific evidence that it is likely to
be the most dangerous pollutant of all.
Copyright © 2003
NY Times online
All rights reserved
21-February-03
Miami's Lennar wins Everglades test case
Regional water management officials have unanimously given
Miami home builder Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) the nod to build 3,300 homes in
west Miami-Dade County on land targeted for Everglades restoration. The 9-0 vote on Feb. 13 climaxed a year of wrangling among the
South Florida Water Management District's staff, Lennar and four
national environmental groups. It is the first time the West Palm Beach- headquartered district factored the 10-year, $8.4 billion,
federal-state Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP) into its
decision. But Lennar appears to have trumped Everglades restoration in
the balancing act. Environmental groups opposed the project because of Lennar's
516-acre development footprint. CERP wanted to buy 400 acres in the middle
of the Lennar project as a storm water treatment area that would help
feed cleaner water into nearby Biscayne Bay as well as rehydrate the Everglades.
Copyright © 2003 Bizjournals
All rights reserved.
Florida proposes standard to measure water quality in
Everglades
Florida Department of
Environmental Protection
Secretary David B. Struths, stands near a
map of the Florida Everglades showing the
area that will be protected by water quality
standards for phosphorus, during a meeting
in Hollywood Thursday. J. Pat Carter/AP
Florida has proposed a new standard to measure
water quality across the Everglades, but only "time will tell" when that goal
will be met, the state's top environmental official said
Thursday. The state hopes to eventually limit to 10 parts per billion
the level of phosphorous contained in water discharged into all parts of the
Everglades, Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs said. That
amount is roughly the same as the level in drinking water. Struhs said microorganisms essential to native plant algaes
and grasses in the Everglades are damaged once they are exposed to phosphorous above that level. About 90 percent of the Everglades' 2.4
million acres already meet the standard, Struhs said. Phosphorous is commonly used in fertilizers, which flow into
the Everglades watershed from surrounding farms and suburbs. The Environmental Regulation Commission is set to review the
proposal next Thursday.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Related Link,
Map
of the Everglades Protection Area showing phosphorus impacted areas*
* pdf file (must have Acrobat Reader to open)
Indian River Lagoon's denizens are suddenly ailing
Dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon are contracting fungal
diseases. Juvenile green sea turtles are sprouting deadly tumors, and manatees
and fish are getting lesions. Are these sicknesses in North America's most diverse estuary
nature's course? Or are they the result of changes in water quality resulting
from development, agriculture and freshwater discharges? Scientists, environmental groups, bureaucrats and lay people
will talk about the reasons for the lagoon's decline and solutions to the
problems when they convene from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the
Holiday Inn Oceanfront, 2605 N. A1A, in Indialantic, east of Melbourne. The seminar, themed "The Indian River Lagoon: An Estuary in
Transition," is sponsored by the Florida chapter of The Nature Conservancy and
the Marine Resources Council. Jupiter Island resident Nat Reed is among the
speakers. Read
More...
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Strict limit on pollution proposed for Everglades
Florida's top environmental regulator announced a
strict pollution limit for the Everglades on Thursday. But he couldn't say when the state will finish cleaning that pollution, or who will pay
the $450 million needed to complete the project. "It's anybody's guess as to how long it will take," said David
Struhs, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection. State law says all water entering the Everglades must be clean
by the end of 2006, but Struhs would promise only that all the necessary construction will be finished by then.
Even that promise depends on accelerating separate Everglades
projects now scheduled for completion in 2007 or 2008. As for the money, Struhs said, "everything is on the table" --
including the continuation of a special property tax that was scheduled to
expire this year.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
State to set Everglades pollution limit
Without releasing a lot of details, state officials made clear
Thursday that they will propose a strict pollution limit for the entire
Everglades that appears to lean toward what environmentalists are seeking. But "only time will tell" when that pollution limit can be met
after the cleanup program is in place by the end of 2006, said Florida
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs. "It's anybody's guess how long that technology will take to
meet our goals," Struhs said Thursday. The DEP is proposing to cut to 10 parts per billion the levels
of phosphorus, a fertilizer, entering the Everglades in drainage from farm
fields south of Lake Okeechobee. Struhs said the rule would apply the tough
standard to the entire marsh. The Everglades Coalition has lobbied hard for a limit of 10,
the level found in pristine waters of the Everglades. Audubon of Florida said it
was encouraged but needed to see more of the details that are
being worked out.
Copyright © 2003
Sun-Sentinel
/ Associated Press All rights reserved.
Glades water quality at issue
Some wary of proposed new state standard
Florida has proposed a new standard to measure
water quality across the Everglades, but only "time will tell" when that goal
will be met, the state's top environmental official said Thursday. The state hopes to eventually limit to 10 parts per billion
the level of phosphorous contained in water discharged into all parts of the
Everglades, Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs said. That
amount is roughly the same as the level in drinking water. Struhs said microorganisms essential to native plant algaes
and grasses in the Everglades are damaged once they are exposed to phosphorous above that level. About 90 percent of the Everglades' 2.4
million acres already meet the standard, Struhs said. Phosphorous is commonly used in fertilizers, which flow into
the Everglades watershed from surrounding farms and suburbs.
Copyright © 2003 Tallahassee
Democrat / Associated Press All rights reserved.
Everglades water standard urged
Florida has proposed a new standard to measure
water quality across the Everglades, but only "time will tell" when that goal
will be met, the state's top environmental official said Thursday. The state eventually hopes to limit to 10 parts per billion
the level of phosphorus contained in water discharged into all parts of the
Everglades, said David Struhs, secretary of
the Department of Environmental
Protection. That amount is roughly the same as the level in drinking water. Struhs said micro-organisms essential to native plant algae
and grasses in the Everglades are damaged once they are exposed to phosphorus above that level. About 90 percent of the Everglades' 2.4
million acres already meet the standard, Struhs said. Phosphorus is commonly used in fertilizers, which flow into
the Everglades watershed from surrounding farms and suburbs. The Environmental Regulation Commission is to review the
proposal Thursday.
Copyright © 2003 Orlando
Sentinel All Rights Reserved.
20-February-03
7 States to Sue E.P.A. Over Standards on Air
Pollution
Seven state attorneys general, all Democrats,
mostly from the Northeast, announced today that they would file a lawsuit
accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of failing to enforce the Clean Air
Act by neglecting to update air pollution standards. The lawsuit, which would be
the third brought by states against the Bush administration over the Clean Air
Act in the last seven weeks, shows the increasingly antagonistic relationship
between the Northeastern states and the federal government over clean air.
Across the country, states are becoming increasingly active on environmental
matters, with many officials criticizing the Bush administration as eager to
roll back regulations and Congress as unable to demonstrate effective oversight.
The attorneys general sent a letter to the E.P.A. administrator, Christie
Whitman, giving her the requisite 60-day notice of their intent to sue.
Copyright © 2003
NY Times
online All rights reserved.
DEP secretary offers new phosphorus pollution cleanup plan
Everglades. Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs
is set to release the proposal today at a nature center in Hollywood, Fla.,
in advance of presenting it next week to the state's Environmental
Regulation Commission. That body, comprising seven political appointees, has been
holding hearings on a 10 parts per billion phosphorus standard in the
Everglades for more than a year. Struhs' proposal sticks to the 10 parts per billion limit.
What's new are details about the rule that would set how phosphorus levels would
be measured and enforced. With the Everglades Forever Act in 1994, the state Legislature
set a December 2003 deadline to set a phosphorus pollution limit and a
December 2006 deadline to meet it. Struhs hailed the rule as a historic step, saying it would
apply throughout the Everglades — "perimeter to perimeter, levee to
levee" — and require "continual improvement and no
backsliding."
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Ranches residents say no to water plans
Southwest Ranches residents showed up in
force Wednesday night to tell drainage officials that they don't want to pay for
canal improvements in another city. The South Broward Drainage District wants to add water control
gates to canals, clear paths on easements so vehicles could drive next to
the canals and redirect the flow of water in an area known as the S-9
and S-10 basins. The changes are part of the massive Everglades
restoration plan. A study conducted for the drainage district said most of the
canals in the area, bordered on the north by Griffin Road and Sheridan Street,
on the east by 186th Avenue and 172nd Avenue, on the south by Pines
Boulevard and on the west by U.S. 27, do not need improvements. However, some parts of the Chapel Trails development in
Pembroke Pines don't provide adequate drainage and need to be fixed, the study
said. The improvements would cost $3.6 million and would be paid for
by homeowner assessments over seven years.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
State backs low pollution limit for Everglades
State environmental regulators say they're sticking with a
tough pollution limit for the Everglades despite objections from sugar growers
who call it a recipe for lawsuits. The state estimates it could cost $450 million to finish
cleansing farm and suburban runoff to meet the limit. That's on top of the $867
million in state and federal money already being spent to build
pollution-filtering marshes in Palm Beach and Hendry counties. The proposal also could prove expensive for western Palm Beach
County cities such as Wellington, which has less than four years to cleanse the manure-laden runoff it pumps into the Everglades.
The fine print is set to come today from David Struhs,
secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection. He plans to
announce the details that environmentalists and growers have been awaiting
for more than a year: Where and how will the state measure the pollution?
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Editorial: Mixed Everglades victory
The victory took nearly a quarter-century, but Congress at
last has approved plans for partial buyout of a 77-home community in
Miami-Dade County east of Everglades National Park that is crucial to
restoring the Everglades. The decision, which came as part of a spending bill Congress
approved last week, allows the Army Corps of Engineers to condemn homes in the
community known as the 8.5-Square-Mile-Area. It means the corps can begin a
project Congress approved in 1989 to send more water to the park. The
project depends on removing the homes or protecting them from floods.
Good teamwork between federal officials and Gov. Bush's office helped
to get the proposal passed. The spending bill itself, however, contains disappointing news
for the Everglades. It allocates just under $20 million for actual
construction projects approved in 1996 and $23.7 million for restoration of
the Kissimmee River.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
COMMENTARY: Proposal contrary to
principles
Florida Gulf Coast University’s support of the Ginn Co.’s
proposed golf course development to the east of the campus will do more
harm than good, both to the environment and to FGCU’s reputation as
the “environmental university.” Ginn plans to ask Lee County commissioners to rezone the land,
currently zoned as a Density Reduction Groundwater Resource area,
to allow three times the existing limit on housing density. If the proposal is approved, Ginn has promised FGCU a net 100 acres plus
$9.5 million to start an engineering school. Supporters of the project promise that the development will
actually improve the environmental quality of the land. Granted, the
parcel’s features now include a rock mine and invasive exotic plants. However, I have yet to see the study proving that asphalt and
turf grass are more environmentally beneficial than melaleuca trees.
Copyright © 2003 News
Press All rights reserved.
State proposes tough new pollution standard for Everglades but
says it won't meet 2006 deadline
State environmental officials Thursday proposed strict
Everglades pollution limits long advocated by environmentalists and many
scientists, with one major caveat: no hard and fast deadline for meeting that
standard. The new proposed guidelines focus on phosphorus, a common
chemical found in fertilizer. While it may do wonders for crops such as sugar,
for the Everglades it is poison. The main impact will be on farmers, who will have to take
steps to clean up the water that runs off their fields. More than a year ago, the Florida Department of Environment
Protection hinted it might propose a phosphorus limit of 10 parts per billion
for water flowing into the Everglades -- about half the amount remaining
in most farm runoff after it goes through a phosphorus removal process.
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
19-February-03
Environmentalists brace for battle
With a $4 billion budget shortfall setting a
gloomy stage for the 60-day legislative session that begins March 4, environmentalists find themselves girding for battle on two
fronts. On top of the usual attempts by industry lobbyists and
business-friendly lawmakers to weaken environmental regulations,
conservationists are fighting to preserve toxic cleanup and land preservation
programs that represent victories won decades ago. "Thirty years of environmental work is in jeopardy," said
Jerry Karnas, a lobbyist for Save the Manatee Club. At issue are some 150 trust funds that Gov. Jeb Bush has
proposed eliminating, many of them huge pots of money earmarked for preservation
and cleanup programs and backed by taxes on such things as
gasoline and real estate transactions.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Public wants more of 'old' Everglades
Park holds hearing on revisions
At once free and constrained. That was how some hunters, fishermen and airboaters who
attended an Everglades National Park planning session Tuesday said they felt
when visiting their own little corner of the river of grass. The session, one of several spanning both of Florida's coasts
and the Keys, was designed to solicit public input as the park goes through a
revision of its general management plan, last altered in 1979. Dozens of
South Florida residents filled a conference room at Florida International
University in Southwest Miami-Dade to take part. The common plea: Give us more of our Everglades back.
''People just want to get out there and enjoy it,'' Miami
resident Bob Fischer said.
Copyright © 2003 Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
18-February-03
NEW HOME FOR WILDLIFE
Wildlife Returning to Kissimmee River
The Kissimmee River returns to its
meandering route
off to the left while
the manmade canal is filled in
BILL BAIR/THE LEDGER (2002) Second of two parts
The white dots seemed thick in the diminishing ponds
in a section of the Kissimmee River's dry season flood plain. Upon closer inspection, most of those dots turn into great
egrets, one of the larger wading birds that frequent Florida's wetlands. One pond has 25 of them, another has 20.
These are good numbers. "It can be intimidating to see that many of them at once,"
said Stefani Melvin, a biologist with the South Florida Water Management
District. Melvin has been in charge of monitoring bird life before and
after the start of the Kissimmee River restoration. The first phase of the project, the largest river-restoration
effort in the world, has been completed. The next phase is scheduled to begin in
fall 2004.
Copyright © 2003 The
Ledger All rights reserved.
Related Article,
February 17, 2003
Part
1: GOING WITH THE FLOW
Related Link,
South Florida Water Management District
Kissimmee
River
17-February-03
GOING WITH THE FLOW
Kissimmee River Restoration Spares Three
Communities, Meets Goals
Light reflects off the water at the Hidden
Acres Estates marina on
a canal that leads
to the Kissimmee River near Lorida. The
river's
restoration will force the marina to
make some changes.
RICK RUNION/THE LEDGER
First of two parts
Bob Mooney said he initially feared the restoration of the Kissimmee River would
destroy a "special community," where residents leave fishing gear in
their boats and don't bother to lock their cars or houses. The original
idea was to buy out everyone in Hidden Acres Estates, River Acres and Kissimmee
River Shores, riverfront communities located south of U.S. 98 in Okeechobee
County, that were to be flooded by the river's rising waters. "The
plans would have destroyed our community, as we know it," said Mooney, a
Hidden Acres resident. But officials of the U.S. Corps of Engineers and South Florida Water Management
District worked with residents of the three subdivisions. These negotiations
have "allowed us to have our community almost intact," Mooney
said.
Copyright © 2003 The
Ledger All rights reserved.
Related Article,
February 18, 2003
Part
2: NEW HOME FOR WILDLIFE
Judge rules on environmental challenge law
A circuit judge Monday upheld a controversial
new law that environmentalists say could block some groups and citizens from fighting proposed developments.
The ruling, by Circuit Judge L. Ralph Smith in Leon County,
was a victory for Senate President Jim King, who got the law passed in the
closing moments of last year's legislative session. King, a Jacksonville Republican whose district includes parts
of Volusia and Flagler counties, tacked the measure onto a popular Everglades restoration bill. The move incensed many environmentalists and
helped spur an election challenge to King in the fall. The law, in part, requires that people be affected by proposed
developments before they can launch challenges through the state's
administrative hearing process. King said the law is needed to prevent
unwarranted legal challenges that can delay developments for months and cost
tens of thousands of dollars.
Copyright © 2003 Daytona
News-Journal Online All rights reserved.
Everglades bill to displace Cubans
Hundreds of Floridians, mostly poor Cuban immigrants, will be
displaced from their homes in the Everglades because of a little-noticed rider
to the 2003 federal spending bills that passed last week. Residents of an 8.5-square-mile area, which abuts the
Everglades National Park in Dade County, Fla., said they feel betrayed by
Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and the president they thought would protect them. "Everyone down in this community voted for President Bush
and his brother, and they're being sold out," said Madeleine Fortin, who
has lived in the area since 1994. As part of the effort to restore the Everglades National Park
by flowing fresh water back in, Congress directed the Army Corps of Engineers in
1989 to build flood controls to protect the area. Much of that is unusable property, but Miss Fortin said her
examination of local land records showed that around 138 parcels have land-use codes showing legal residences, and 152 are defined as having
"major economic activity" on the property — mostly farms, ranches
and nurseries.
Copyright © 2003 Washington
Times All rights reserved.
Everglades Plan to Raze 77 Homes Compromise Measure to Revive Park After 14-Year Delay
Congress has approved a plan to destroy 77
homes at the edge of Everglades National Park, jump-starting efforts to restore flows to the ailing River of Grass after 14 years of delay.
The compromise measure to buy out the most flood-prone portion
of what is known as the 8.5 Square Mile Area, a tight-knit Cuban American neighborhood of mango groves and horse pastures, was supported
by President Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush (R), as well as by regulators and environmentalists. Tucked into last week's $397 billion budget
bill, it would revive the Modified Water Deliveries Project of 1989, a
long-stalled plan to rehydrate the parched eastern side of the park. The revival of "Mod Waters" would also help the much
larger $8.4 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, the most ambitious
environmental project in history.
Copyright © 2003 Washington
Post All rights reserved.
16-February-03
Logging Jobs Benefit Pygmies, but Imperil Their Forest Home
For Pygmies logging the rain forests of central
Africa, the chain saw's whine signals the promise of work — and threatens a
way of life. As the Congo Republic's timber industry picks up
after years of ruinous civil war, international logging companies are cutting
swaths deep into the heart of the huge Congo basin. The boom puts the Pygmies in a wrenching dilemma:
tree by tree, the jobs it gives them are destroying the forest home where they
have lived for millenniums. "It's out of a need to survive that I work
with the timber companies," said Bekou, a Pygmy logger. "Our life is
impossible outside the forests." Loggers say they offer jobs and schooling, and
want to save Pygmy culture. But the Pygmies say each tree felled means less
leafy cover for the striped antelopes they hunt and brings them closer to losing
their heritage.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times, AP online All rights reserved.
15-February-03
U.S. spending bill includes plenty of Florida projects
Most will be going to the Everglades, Kissimee River restoration
The nearly $400 billion spending bill approved
by Congress late Thursday contains more than $100 million for Florida environmental, educational, agricultural and transportation
projects. The largest share provides $90 million for construction
projects in Central and South Florida related to the Comprehensive Everglades
Restoration Plan and $23.7 million for continued work on the Kissimmee
River restoration project. Florida also will receive $15 million in federal money to
assist the state in the purchase of land considered crucial to the Everglades
project. The projects were pushed by Florida Sens. Bob Graham and Bill
Nelson, both Democrats. Citrus growers will get a helping hand from Uncle Sam. The
spending bill included $18 million to compensate Florida growers whose crops
have been ravaged by citrus canker.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Homes near 'Glades to be razed
Congress has signed off on a plan to raze homes blocking water
flow to eastern Everglades National Park, and legislators and environmentalists said Friday it could end an almost decade-long impasse.
By approving a $397 million spending bill late Thursday, the
House and Senate authorized federal engineers to "immediately carry
out" a plan to condemn 77 homes west of Krome Avenue in a community called
the "81/2 Square Mile Area" in Miami-Dade County. The Army Corps of Engineers and South Florida water managers
want to take that private land, inside the most flood-prone portion of the community, to increase water flows to 109,000 acres of
wetlands annexed into Everglades National Park. "By including this language in the omnibus [spending]
bill, the logjam is broken," said U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., who pushed
for the authorization along with U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort
Lauderdale, and other Florida delegation members.
Copyright
© 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Everglades restoration projects move closer to reality
A cluster of Everglades restoration projects in Lee and
Collier counties moved up the approval chain Friday when a local group of
scientists and regulators voted on the next round of recommendations for
Southwest Florida. The Southwest Florida Regional Restoration Coordination Team
met at Florida Gulf Coast University to talk about restoration projects for the Estero Bay watershed, Big Cypress Basin, Caloosahatchee River
and Charlotte Harbor. The team consists of various government agencies and
scientists and makes recommendations on Southwest Florida Everglades projects.
The restoration of the Everglades is expected to take 30 years. Team members voted the purchase and restoration of 3,840 acres
owned by Agripartners Properties as the top priority for the Estero Bay region, and the restoration of the Camp Keais Strand as the chief item
for the Big Cypress Basin.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
14-February-03
Funding available for habitat restoration by grassroots
organizations from FishAmerica/NOAA
Coastal grants: Conservation groups can apply for coastal restoration grants
through a program sponsored by the FishAmerica Foundation and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The FishAmerica Foundation, which is the conservation and research arm of the
American Sportfishing Association, will accept matching grant proposals for
projects to restore coastal habitats and fisheries through March 12. Grant
awards will be announced in June. Grants range from $5,000 to $30,000. The
announcement and full grant package are available at www.fishamerica.org.
Previous grants have funded projects to restore wetlands and other fisheries
habitat; improve fish migration routes; and build reefs and other structures in
marine areas.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
Related Links,
Fish America Foundation -
Investing Today in Sportfishing's Tomorrow
The problem: More than 1 million full-time jobs and $108 billion of the
American economy depend on
sportfishing, yet more than 37% of our waters do not meet government
standards. The answer: FishAmerica.
It provides local hands-on projects to enhance fish populations, water
quality, and applied fisheries research
in North America. During the past 20 years, FishAmerica has helped nearly
700 grassroots organizatons. The
foundation matches every dollar contributed to FishAmerica.
Fish
America/NOAA funding available for Habitat Restoration
Opinion: Weak Response on Global Warming
In a transparent bit of salesmanship that should not be mistaken for a serious
policy, the Bush administration announced Wednesday that it had persuaded
several major industries to make voluntary reductions in the rate at which they
produce carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming. It was
the administration's latest effort to show that voluntary controls will make
unnecessary the mandatory reductions called for by many scientists,
environmentalists and members of Congress — as well as by the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol that Mr. Bush rejected after taking office. There are two main problems with the Bush policy.
First, he is asking almost nothing in the way of real sacrifice. A serious
approach would request net reductions in emissions. Mr. Bush asks only for a
decrease in what he calls "carbon intensity," under which emissions
can grow as long as they increase more slowly than the economy itself. That of
course misses the point.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
13-February-03
Lake area storage reservoirs planned
While construction of $217,000,000 in water storage reservoirs
in the Everglades Agricultural Area is not expected to be completed until September 2009, much of the land to be used to store water
south of the EAA has been acquired by the state. According to Brad Clark, project manager for the EAA Storage
Reservoirs Project Phase I of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, since 1999 the state or federal government has purchased
40,000 acres of land south of Lake Okeechobee to be used to store 240,000 acre
feet of water. Mr. Clark todl those attending a public meeting on
the project, held at Lake Shore Middle School in Belle Glade January 21, those parcels include 31,000 acres between the North New River Canal
and the N. Miami Canal, 9,000 acres east of the North New River Canal and an additional 9,000 acres near stormwater treatment areas
elsewhere.
Copyright © 2003 Glades
County Democrat All rights reserved.
NOAA Press Release:
TORTUGAS ECOLOGICAL RESERVE VIOLATION BRINGS $20,000 PENALTY
Cites Owner and Operator of Shrimp Trawler Attorneys for the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have issued a $20,000 civil penalty in the
case of a vessel cited for illegal shrimp trawling in the Florida Keys
National Marine Sanctuary’s protected Tortugas Ecological Reserve last
December. Christine Ho of Abbeville, La., owner of the Fishing
Vessel Miss Christine V, and vessel captain Cu T. Nguyen of Port Arthur, Texas, face a
combined penalty in the incident. The Coast Guard vessel Nantucket
cited the Miss Christine V on Dec. 16, 2002. The Nantucket escorted the
Miss Christine V to Key West, where its catch of 1,117 lbs. of pink shrimp was
seized and sold by a NOAA agent. The $1,733.38 proceeds from the sale
remain in escrow pending settlement of the case.
Copyright © 2003
Florida Keys All rights
reserved.
Related Links,
NOAA
NOAA Oceans and Coasts
Florida Keys National Marine
Sanctuary
Lennar project trumps Everglades restoration
In West Palm Beach Thursday, officials managing South
Florida's waters unanimously gave Miami homebuilder Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) the
nod to build 3,300 homes in west Miami-Dade County on land
targeted for Everglades restoration. Environmental groups oppose the project because Lennar's
516-acre development footprint remains in the middle of land targeted for
Everglades restoration. They claimed victory and defeat after Thursday's
vote. "It's a victory since for the first time the district
agreed it must consider Everglades restoration policy in its permitting, but a
defeat since 'Glades restoration got the leftovers, and Lennar got what it
wanted," said Erin Deady, Miami-based lawyer for Florida Audubon. In a 9-0 vote, the South Florida Water Management District
(SFWMD) likely ended a year's wrangling with district staff and four national
environmental groups.
Copyright © 2003 Bizjournals
All rights reserved.
Graham upset over oil buyout
Sen. Bob Graham has questioned a plan to buy out private oil
rights in the western Everglades, saying he was "mad as hell" that
the Bush administration budgeted money for the deal without the
opportunity for congressional scrutiny. The administration agreed last year to spend $120 million to
acquire oil rights at Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National
Wildlife Refuge and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The
deal prevented plans by the Collier family for extensive exploratory
drilling and seismic operations in areas inhabited by panthers, manatees
and other endangered species. Graham, who is recovering from heart surgery, said he was
upset that the administration was attempting to slip a $40 million down payment
into a 2003 appropriations bill without the opportunity for Congress to
examine the deal. "He called from his recovery bed and said, `I'm mad as
hell about this,'" his press secretary, Jill Greenberg, said
Wednesday.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
For All to Read: A Mexican Resort's Dirty
Secret
This was paradise. But a sewer runs through it. Mexico's
environmental protection agency sampled the water in Zihuatanejo's beautiful bay
back in September. The results were not pretty: the agency said sewage from the
city's wastewater plant had tainted one of the nation's loveliest harbors. Winter currents are cleansing the bay, and
hundreds of tourists are frolicking on the beach. The report has driven few
people away. But it singled out Zihuatanejo among 16 of Mexico's most popular
beaches that suffer from pollution. It found fecal coliform levels in the
marina, near the plant, at 1,500 parts per 100 milliliters of water, far beyond
health standards. "People and tourists have a right to know
this," said Víctor Lichtinger, Mexico's environmental secretary. But the right to know is a novel concept in
Mexico. The local hoteliers reacted to the report's becoming public this week
like a man with a hangover hearing an alarm clock.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
12-February-03
Growth plan amended to allow huge U.S. Home project
The Heritage Bay golf course development hits a lot of
community hot buttons, and county commissioners started pushing them Tuesday. Commissioners voted 5-0 to amend the county's growth plan to
allow the huge U.S. Home project on 2,562 acres, or four square miles,
at the northeast corner of Collier Boulevard and Immokalee Road, setting the stage for a rezoning vote that could come later this
spring. The project would include up to 3,450 homes and golf courses.
Projections show 7,100 people could live there someday. Land at
the intersection and in three village centers spread through the
project would hold up to 175,000 square feet of retail and restaurant
space and 55,000 square feet of office space. It's not just the
project's size that is getting attention.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Latest salvo fired in war over manatee protections
A manatee sign hangs on a boat dock at
Island Beach Club near Big Carlos Pass
while a fishing boat races through the
background in Estero Bay on Tuesday
afternoon. David Ahntholz
Marine industry groups, joined by Lee County
and other Florida municipalities, have fired back at a proposed agreement
that would increase the number of protection areas for manatees,
saying scientific data does not warrant a decision that could devastate economies along the state's shorelines.
The objection, filed on behalf of four marine industry groups,
is in response to the proposal announced last month by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and 18 environmental groups. The groups agreed
to drop contempt of court charges against Interior Secretary Gale Norton in exchange for the creation of three new areas where
powerboats would be banned or have to abide by new speed limits. "Faced with the threat of being held in contempt by this
court and constant pressure from plaintiffs, federal defendants have agreed
to a stipulated order that is not merely illegal, it is bad,"
reads the objection, filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in
Washington.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Cabinet defers action on Golden Gate Estates condemnations
The standoff between the state and a trio of landowners, including the Miccosukee Indian Tribe, continued
Tuesday after state officials again delayed a decision whether to condemn the parcels for Everglades restoration.
Separate negotiations with Miccosukee leaders and a pair of
reluctant landowners will continue for at least a month as state land buyers attempt to strike three deals by March 13, when the
Cabinet again meets to address the matter. At issue is the state's attempt to purchase the final 4,000
acres of a 55,000-acre buyout in Southern Golden Gate Estates. So far the buyout has cost nearly $90 million.
The governor and Cabinet last month were asked to begin
condemnation proceedings on homesteaded property, a maneuver the Cabinet has
so far avoided in its quest to restore the Everglades. Following testimony Jan. 28, the Cabinet voted to allow more
time.
Copyright © 2003 Naples
News All rights reserved.
Conferees Approve Provisions to Expand
Development in Alaska National Forests
Republicans have tucked provisions into the
spending bill that the House and Senate conferences are negotiating to permit
road building in two Alaska forests, expand timber harvesting in national
forests and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploratory oil
drilling. Democrats say the provisions would weaken
Clinton-era protections for national forests. Republicans
say Democrats and conservation groups are distorting the proposals to generate
opposition to reasonable modifications of overly restrictive policies. Republicans
defeated a Democratic effort on Monday to strip the forest amendments from the
bill. As a result, the changes will most likely be included if the $396 billion
package is approved. Conservation groups said
introducing those policies in the negotiations seriously undermined the 2.2
million comments that the public submitted before the policies were introduced
in 2000.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Editorial: Threats to the Forest
A Senate-House conference has now approved an omnibus appropriations bill
loaded with destructive anti-environmental riders. Since President Bush has no
intention of vetoing the bill — as President Clinton did in 1995 when
presented with a similarly offensive measure — the House should remand it to
the committee for repairs. The worst of the amendments would open up much of Alaska's Tongass and
Chugach forests for logging. One would exempt about 14 million acres in the two
forests from protections granted by a Clinton-era rule, developed over three
years and since upheld by the courts, prohibiting commercial development in
roadless and largely unlogged areas of the national forest system. A second
would resurrect and insulate from future legal challenge a faulty 1997
management plan for the Tongass, effectively rescinding a more protective plan
approved in 1999.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
11-February-03
Graham asks justification of $120 million deal on drilling
rights
Sen. Bob Graham wants the Bush administration to justify
spending $120 million to buy oil and gas rights from a pioneering Florida
family to protect the Everglades and the state's pristine beaches from
drilling. The proposed buyout of the Collier family would nullify its
substantial oil and gas rights in the Florida Panther National Wildlife
Refuge, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress
National Preserve, which is adjacent to Everglades National Park in
southwestern Florida. Graham spokesman Paul Anderson said Tuesday the senator, who
is recovering from heart surgery, has asked the Department of Interior to
explain how the government reached the valuation of the rights since last
spring but has not received any information. The senator said he was "mad as hell" when he
learned that a $40 million down payment had been included in President Bush's proposed 2004
budget, Anderson said.
Copyright © 2003
Herald
Tribune All rights reserved.
Press Release: STATE PARTNERSHIP CREATES 16,000-ACRE CONSERVATION
CORRIDOR
Today's unanimous vote by Governor Bush and the
Florida Cabinet approves the acquisition of environmentally significant land that
creates a 16,000-acre conservation corridor in St. Johns County. The
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) joined with the St. Johns River
Water Management District to purchase 8,465 acres of the Northeast
Florida Blueway, a chain of marshes and tidal lands. "The benefits from this Florida Forever purchase reflect
the program's true purpose," said DEP Secretary David B. Struhs. "Through
this partnership, the state is conserving the last remaining undisturbed marsh,
protecting water quality within the Guana-Tolomato-Matanzas National Estuarine
Research Reserve, and almost tripling the size of one of the most tranquil
state parks on the Atlantic coast." Read More...
Wetlands Protection Fades
The first time the Army Corps of Engineers
counted how much federally protected wetlands would be lost to a colossal new
container port being planned here, it came up with more than 100 acres. The next
time, the agency revised that count to fewer than three acres. That was good news for the Port of Houston, the
sponsor of the $1.2 billion project. But it was bad news for environmentalists,
who found that one of their main arguments against the terminal, its effects on
protected wetlands, had been deeply undercut. The
revision in the wetlands figure may have been drastic, but it was not isolated.
For two years, the engineers, by statute the country's pre-eminent protector of
wetlands, have been recalculating its authority, and what is now emerging, in
places like Seabrook is evidence of a broad retreat.
Copyright © 2003 NY
Times online All rights reserved.
Letter to the editor: Hastings: Now no time for Bush to renege on Everglades promise
The Post's editorial on the future of Everglades restoration
("Secure Everglades money," Thursday) identified a variety of
obstacles standing in the way of the project. None is as important as continued
financing for land acquisition. The acquisition of restorable land always has
been one of the most critical ingredients of the Everglades restoration
project. The president has traveled to Florida and boasted that he
supports Everglades restoration. Yet, when the photo ops and political hits are
over, he is nowhere to be seen. Instead, the president has changed his
tune and is now aligning with those who oppose the restoration project. His
budget cuts financing at a critical moment, jeopardizing the future
of the entire restoration process. The cost of Everglades restoration has increased drastically
as the realities of the market have set in.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Opinion: New plan leaves wetlands high and dry
Just three months after proclaiming this ''the year of clean
water,'' the Bush administration is proposing new regulations that are the
most serious threat to the Clean Water Act since it was passed by Congress 30
years ago. Goodbye, Year of Clean Water. Hello, Years of Living
Dangerously. At issue is whether the government will protect wetlands or abandon many
of them to the not-so-tender mercies of developers. The stakes are
tremendously high. Wetlands are rain forests' less glamorous cousins: the bogs,
marshes, meadows and swamps that filter out pollutants, provide natural
flood control and are home to hundreds of species of plants and animals -- many
of them already in danger of extinction. To step or paddle into a wetland is to travel back in time. In
many parts of the country, wetlands are the last magnificent vestiges of wild
America. There you can still find creatures like the black-crowned night
heron and the silvery salamander.
Copyright © 2003
Miami
Herald All rights reserved.
Local dolphin group receives $50,000 grant
A local dolphin care organization is the recipient of one of
seven new grants to marine conservation organizations. The new grantee, Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo, serves
critically ill and special-needs children from around the world through
dolphin-assisted therapy programs. A $50,000 grant from Ocean Fund will enable the facility to
install interactive, educational aquariums and learning stations in the
central meeting room of its new two-story facility. In the six-and-a-half years since the launch of the Ocean Fund,
the global vacation company has donated $5.95 million on behalf of Royal
Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises to 37 organizations working
to protect the marine environment. The complete list of Ocean Fund grant
recipients is as follows: Island Dolphin Care: $50,000 to install seven
interactive, educational aquariums and learning stations at the new Island
Dolphin Care Center;
Copyright © 2003
Upper
Keys Reporter All rights reserved.
DEP regional director Meeker to step down
After nearly 3 ½ years, the woman who oversees South
Florida's sewage, sludge and sea grass is moving to private industry. Then again, 3 ½ yes is a long tome for Melissa Meeker, was
only 30 when she took over the state Department of Environmental Protection's regional office in West Palm Beach.
Meeker is resigning March 6 to head the Florida operations of
Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp., a global consulting company with offices in Stuart.
"This is the longest I've ever spent in the same
job," Meeker said Monday, three days after breaking the news to her staff.
But she may not be done with government; She hopes the experience in the private
sector could qualify her for a more senior role at DEP or another agency. "I've only worked for government my whole career,"
she said. "I've never experienced private life.
Copyright © 2003 Palm
Beach Post All rights reserved.
Environmental agency losing district director
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Southeast
District office is losing its director of 3 ½ years, Melissa Meeker. Meeker resigned Friday to become Florida operations manager
for Foster Wheeler Environmental in Stuart. Meeker, 33, was in charge of environmental regulation for the
DEP in six counties including palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. She earned $109,009 a year and managed a staff of 135 people.
During her tenure with DEP she won achievement and service awards and Governor's
Office recognition. Her last day is March 6. Note: This article is not in the online
edition.
Copyright © 2003 Sun-Sentinel
All rights reserved.
District Court of Appeals case may end ROGO
A three-judge panel heard oral arguments this week that could
end the county ’s Rate of Growth Ordinance not only in Monroe County but also
in all areas of critical state concern. Ed Guedes with Weiss and Serota served as the lead attorney
giving oral arguments for the county, Islamorada and Marathon. Jim Mattson represents the 90 plaintiffs in what is called the
Ambrose case. Judges David M. Gersten, James R. Jorgenson and Mario P. Goderich
heard the arguments on Wednesday, Feb. 5 in Miami. Last May, Circuit Judge Richard G. Payne ordered the county to
allow 90 people to build homes on vacant lots that were platted prior to
June 30, 1972. But the order affects anyone in the county who owned a vacant lot
that was on the books prior to 1972, the year the state Legislature
approved the Environmental Land and Water Management Act.
Copyright © 2003
Upper
Keys Reporter All rights reserved.
10-February-03
Florida, tribe at odds on land issue
State wants site for Glades work
When is land owned by an Indian tribe part of
its sovereign nation and when is it simply a piece of land the Indian tribe
bought? In South Florida, the question is threatening to stymie Gov.
Jeb Bush's high-profile effort to restore the Everglades and lead to a
face-off with the Miccosukee Indian Tribe in the U.S. Supreme Court. And it could have long-term implications for how much autonomy
the Miccosukee tribe, or any Indian nation, enjoys on land it
purchases outright. Bush and the state Department of Environmental Protection,
unable to get the Miccosukees to sell 800 acres the tribe bought in 1997 on the
edge of the Everglades in Collier County, are expected to urge the
Florida Cabinet to condemn the property at its meeting Tuesday. In a
condemnation, government takes private land for public use after a jury decides
the amount to be paid the seller.
Copyright © 2003 |
