31-August-03
Some fear change in tack in 'Glades restoration
By TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
© Key West Citizen
Environmental groups worry that a massive project to restore
the ailing Everglades ecosystem may instead focus on supplying water to
Florida's booming population. Several groups asked the federal government this month for
regulations that would ensure the 30-year Comprehensive Everglades Restoration
Project does not get off track. "It is not the congressional intent for the federal government
to pay for the flood control and water supply needs of the state," said
David Bogardus, South Florida program officer for the World Wildlife Fund. The state is under pressure to supply water to its expanding
population and could attempt to influence the Everglades restoration program
over the years. In cases of conflict, the environment should receive
priority over water needs, he said. The CERP is one of the largest restoration projects ever
undertaken. Read more
Editorial: Everglades spin machine
© Palm Beach Post
The South Florida Water Management District and the sugar
industry were jubilant last week over a study that they claimed was good news
for the Everglades. Here's the good news: Cattails, invasive plants fed
by polluted runoff from farms and cities, are taking over 2 acres a day, not
the 6 1/2 acres they were devouring daily in the early 1990s. But a decrease in the rate of damage just means that the
Everglades is dying a little slower, not that it's headed for recovery. The study
underscores the sad mistake Florida made this year in delaying the cleanup
deadline for the Everglades by 10 years, to 2016. It also reveals that the
water district is most interested in spinning news to make itself look good.
Read more
Nature's theme park
By JEFF KLINKENBERG
©
St. Petersburg Times
With an
escort of bream, an alligator floats by a dock off the Tamiami Trail near
the
Miccosukee Indian Village. Photo courtsey of Scott Keeler.
For many folks, the Everglades is something like
a heaping bowl of broccoli. They know they are supposed to like broccoli, that
broccoli is good for them, but they would rather eat a bowl of ice cream
instead. They like their nature to come with majestic mountains and icy streams.
A humid swamp and the possibility of an encounter with a water moccasin gives
them the heebie-jeebies. I am what my old friend Marjory Stoneman Douglas used
to call "an Everglades boy." To me, the Everglades is not steamed broccoli but
an ice- cream sundae with whipped cream on top. I am fond of mountains, but I
love swamps even more. I grew up in Miami, only minutes from what Mrs. Douglas
called "the river of grass" in her landmark 1947 book about the place. In the
Glades I have fished for bass, grabbed frogs, caught snakes, paddled canoes and
ridden airboats. I even got lost a time or two.
Read more
30-August-03
Half Circle L Ranch now a target of state conservation efforts
By LARRY HANNAN
© Naples Daily News
The Half Circle L Ranch, which straddles Collier and Hendry counties, is among a handful of state projects of environmental significance recently added to the Florida Forever list. The 11,220-acre project is located within primary habitat for
the Florida panther and the Florida black bear and complements continuing regional conservation efforts. Florida Forever is a program started in 1999 to conserve environmentally sensitive land, protect water, and preserve important cultural and historical resources. Florida Wildlife Federation field representative Nancy Payton
said adding the ranch to Florida Forever was important. "We are in favor of this and we have urged the state to do
it," Payton said. "It helps complete a panther corridor from Big
Cypress into Hendry County."
Read more
Editorial: End dodges on Lake O
© Palm Beach Post
More than 50 billion gallons of fresh but dirty water from
Lake Okeechobee pounding into the St. Lucie River over the next month is a
"tragedy" that couldn't be avoided, South Florida Water Management District
Executive Director Henry Dean told Martin County commissioners this week.
Mr. Dean said he doesn't have "any good choices" for places to dump excess
water from Lake Okeechobee until water storage reservoirs are built.
His solution? Pray for less rain. Storage reservoirs and prayers, however, won't solve the
problem, and Mr. Dean's hand-wringing apology is no defense of the district's bad decisions. It's a dodge. Since January, when public outcry stopped a plan to send more
water into Lake Okeechobee from the north during what already was a very wet
winter, the district has refused to release excess water. Read
more
29-August-03
Commentary:Water bosses ought to use common sense
By Mark Pino
© Orlando
Sentinel
I was a self-professed genius growing up. Pity my hard-working
father, cursed with such a know-it-all. But when I screwed up -- which
was frequently -- it was his turn. It all boiled down to common
sense. And my lack of it. In my dad's opinion, all the smarts in the world were useless
if you couldn't apply them to real-world situations. Thirty years later,
I agree. That's why I can't believe we're almost up to our ears in
storm water. Common sense says we shouldn't be. In the midst of a wet summer, you'd think officials with the
South Florida Water Management District would toss all the technical,
scientific techno- babble and face reality. The time to open the floodgates wide
wasn't this week. In fact, it may be too late to save much of Osceola from
disaster if a tropical storm -- or something worse -- dumps a bunch of water
on us. Read more
Panel OKs 4 Zones For Manatees
By YVETTE C. HAMMETT
© Tampa Tribune
ST. PETERSBURG - A local committee set up to review a state
proposal for more manatee protection in Tampa Bay has agreed on only four
areas in which to add slow- or idle-speed zones. But it did agree to endorse
more boater education on manatee protection and to designate shallow seagrass beds throughout the Bay as
voluntary manatee ``caution'' areas. Most of a proposal from the state's Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission staff, however, was rejected by a majority of the
group, which met over six weeks. The proposal originally called for adding
some type of manatee zone along the entire shoreline on the Bay that is not
already protected by a local ordinance.
Read more
28-August-03
Letter to the editor:Trickle-up theory
By
Nick Hale
© Naples Daily News
When Gov. Jeb Bush appointed WCI "supremo" Al Hoffman as his
chief re-election campaign fund-raiser, we knew he was taking on an
obligation. Hoffman got the money from his fellow developers;
Jeb got re-elected; now it's payback time. The Florida Council of 100, headed by Hoffman, has a scheme to
take charge of the public's water supply, so the developers will have first
priority on it for their golf courses and PUDs. Look for the Collier County Water Symposium, run by Collier
Building Industry Association's David Ellis (through a puppet), to be the local
drummer for this water grab. Citizens, not elected officials,
demanded Jeb do something about the crooks, in and out of office, and he
responded with the special prosecutor, who indicted the worst of the
bunch. Read more
27-August-03
Water flows trapping turtles
By KEVIN LOLLAR
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
A new victim of freshwater flows down the Caloosahatchee River
has surfaced — or sunk: freshwater turtles. Husband and wife veterinarians Beth and Larry Murphy of Alva
said strong currents from releases are washing turtles down the river
and against the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam, where many drown. Using long-handled nets, the couple saved about 50 turtles
Monday and 20 Tuesday. “It’s what you can’t see that bothers me: How many are under
water drowning?” Larry Murphy said. “I don’t want to think about it.
I’m sure there are just hundreds of them. “I’m not a PETA-type person, but it’s really kind of absurd
that they’re releasing all that water at one time.”
Read more
Commentary:
Everglades has a friend in Shaw
By Sally Swartz, Editorial Writer
© Palm Beach Post
With President Bush in the White House and Gov. Bush in
Tallahassee, these aren't happy days for the environment in general or for the
Everglades in particular. But a Republican congressman who consistently
champions Florida's "River of Grass" is a bright spot in an otherwise
gloomy landscape. I don't agree with U.S. Rep. E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale,
on every issue, but he rates a high five for his commitment to the
Everglades. Unhappy with the Legislature's new law delaying the Everglades
cleanup for 10 years -- until 2016 -- Rep. Shaw said he now looks to U.S.
District Judge William Hoeveler, who has called the law "clearly
defective," to take action. And Rep. Shaw has a specific action in mind.
Read more
Water managers defend Lake O releases
By Jennifer Sorentrue, Staff Writer
© Palm Beach Post
STUART -- South Florida's top water
mangers on Tuesday defended the decision to release fresh water from Lake
Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River amid criticism from Martin County
commissioners who say water quality in the fragile estuary is the worst it has
been in four years. Henry Dean, executive director of the South Florida Water
Management District, said there is simply no place to store water flowing into
the lake from Central Florida. Weather forecasters are predicting an above-
average rainy season, giving water managers no choice but to dump water from the
lake into the St. Lucie estuary, Dean said.
Read more
Manager says he's working to eliminate lake discharges
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart News
STUART -- A top water manager fielded criticism Tuesday from
elected officials and St. Lucie River advocates upset by economic and
environmental damage caused by continuous freshwater discharges. As the largest release from Lake Okeechobee since 1999
continued to flow into the estuary, Henry Dean, executive director of the South
Florida Water Management District, appeared at Tuesday's County Commission
meeting. River activists and commissioners told him that the local waterway is a
mucky black color, and businesses are suffering. "We've already seen negative economic impacts," said Leon
Abood, chairman of the Rivers Coalition.
Read more
Federal Conservation Official Arrested on Kickback Charges
© Tampa Tribune
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A federal soil conservation official has
been arrested for allegedly accepting a kickback from a pond-digging
contractor and lying to investigators when questioned about it, the U.S.
Attorney's Office said Wednesday. Guy Wayne Boykin, 52, of Lake Helen, was indicted by a federal
grand jury last week on charges of accepting an illegal gratuity and making
false statements. He was arrested Tuesday, pleaded innocent at a federal court
hearing and released on $20,000 bond. Boykin, working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service in Volusia County, administered a farm
improvement program called the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
Read more
26-August-03
Cattails spur Everglades debate
By Robert P. King
© Palm Beach Post
Noxious cattails nourished by polluted runoff are invading more than 2 acres a
day in the central Everglades, water managers have concluded in a study that is
certain to increase controversy over the state's $1 billion cleanup program.
That's slower than the 6 1/2 acres a day the central Everglades lost to cattails
in the early 1990s. But it still means that since 1995, the towering,
rush-like stalks have expanded their empire in that part of the marsh by nearly
6,300 acres an area slightly smaller than Royal Palm Beach. Leaders of the South
Florida Water Management District call the slowdown a sign that their cleanup,
and similar efforts by the sugar industry, are already showing results. "We're
excited at what we see," Deputy Executive Director Chip Merriam said Monday. But
environmentalists say the results merely mean that the Everglades is dying at a
gentler pace. Read more
25-August-03
Editorial: Drinking water ... governor should be wary
of
privatization proposals
© Naples News
Uh-oh. Here it comes again. The notion of
privatizing Florida's public drinking water supply will not go away. This time
the dangerous notion is advanced to Gov. Jeb Bush by an elite statewide business
group called The Council of 100, led by Al Hoffmann of WCI, one of the state's
largest development companies. The last time the dangerous notion advanced to
Bush it was by Azurix, an Enron subsidiary that once proposed helping bankroll
Everglades restoration in return for its water. A top Bush aide, David Struhs of
the Department of Environmental Protection, used to work with Kenneth Lay before
Lay ran Enron, and Struhs championed the idea as well as underground storage of
treated effluent to pump up the Everglades.
Read more
24-August-03
Editorial:
Proposal plots to drain Florida's water wealth
© Palm Beach Post
North Florida has water -- and
Central and South Florida developers want it to fuel more growth and
development. After a year of secret meetings, an influential business
group has sent Gov. Bush a proposal to create a statewide water commission
with the power to drain water from rural counties and pipe it to
fast-growing metropolitan areas. It's a bad idea that already has drawn
thumbs-down reactions from rural counties not eager to drain rivers and
wetlands to support southern sprawl. Creating such a commission would
require legislative action as well as public money. The proposal came via
the Council of 100, a group of business leaders from all over Florida that
advises the governor on issues ranging from education to civil service.
Gov. Bush approves both the council membership and the issues it studies.
Read more
23-August-03
The Sway of Cattails and Politics
©
LA Times
By John-Thor Dahlburg
From the helicopter flying at 500 feet,
the intruder is soon visible: a fringe of cattails, undulating lazily in
the hot breeze of a Florida summer's midday. For Gary Goforth, an
environmental engineer on the chopper, the lush, densely packed plants
stretching in a bright green smudge alongside the L-7 Borrow Canal are an
unwelcome sight. They are a noxious force, as well as a warning that this
expanse of Florida's vast, watery wilderness is ill. Cattails, Goforth says over
the crackling intercom, suck up oxygen, block sunlight and hinder the growth of
fish, crayfish and wading birds. In parts of the already badly shrunken
Everglades, says the Texas-born official of the South Florida Water Management
District, the alien vegetation has been altering the "fundamental building
blocks" of nature. Read
more
Editorial:Slough
still can be protected
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
Lee County’s cherished Six Mile Cypress Slough
Preserve can still be protected from overdevelopment on its eastern edge, but
it’s going to take pressure, vision and money. At issue is proposed development
north of an eastern arm of the slough, a swamp that snakes northeast to
southwest through about 10 miles of central Lee County (“Six Mile” refers to its
distance from downtown Fort Myers). Water drains into and slowly filters through
the slough on its way to Estero Bay. That, and its abundance of wildlife, are
why students started a successful referendum campaign almost 30 years ago, in
which county voters agreed to tax themselves to buy and save the slough. Between
the county and the state, $7 million was spent to acquire this important
regional flow way. Read
more
22-August-03
Water inflow to lake more than outflow
© Okeechobee News
By Pete Gawda
For the first time since 1999, Lake Okeechobee is experiencing a Zone C,
steady release. This means that 18,795 gallon per second will be flowing
into the St. Lucie Canal, and about 34,000 gallons per second will be
flowing into the Caloosahatchee River. Karen Estock of the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers (COE) said this rate of flow would continue for at least a
week. She said that her agency would be monitoring conditions daily.
Currently, the amount of water that comes into the lake from all sources
is greater than the outflow. Ms. Estock said it would take a least a week
for the inflow and outflow to balance out. Then, hopefully, COE would be
able to reduce the flow to the estuaries.
Read more
Editorial:
Merging State Agencies Would Diminish Growth Management
© Tampa Tribune
Here is a problem for you.
You live in a state that adds 300,000 new residents a year and faces an
assortment of growth problems that range from clogged roads to water
shortages. Managing growth is essential to preserving your state's
resources, quality of life and economic welfare. So what is the best
strategy to achieve responsible growth? Have a separate department devoted
to growth-related issues? Or merge the state's growth management into a
department with a myriad of other responsibilities, including overseeing
elections and historic preservation? If you believe cramming critical
growth management functions into another massive bureaucracy will somehow
improve efficiency or demonstrate the state's resolve to guide growth,
then you will favor Gov. Jeb Bush's proposal to combine the Department of
Community Affairs, the state's growth agency, with the secretary of
state's office. Read
more
Commentary
'Glades camp plan just double talk
© Sun-Sentinel
By Steve Waters
After looking over the lease agreement drafted by the South
Florida Water Management District for the owners of camps on district-owned
public land in the Everglades, you have to wonder: Are the district people
who came up with the lease language that clueless or that cunning? At first glance, the lease appears to be a nice compromise
that allows the relative handful of camps in the Everglades to stay there, at
least for the next 17 years. But once the camp owners who attended
Wednesday night's meeting on the issue at the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum in
Dania Beach started asking questions, it became obvious by the answers
that the lease is ripe for exploitation by the landlord.
Read more
Farmers can apply for ’Glades project funds
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
By PAMELA SMITH
State officials told Hendry County farmers and ranchers that
up to $450,000 will be available in 2004 to help them meet pollution limits designed to keep the Everglades healthy. A 150,000-acre area called the C-139 Basin in central and
eastern Hendry was found out of compliance last week for discharging too much phosphorus, an element found in nature and used in
fertilizers. The Everglades is extremely sensitive to phosphorus and cannot tolerate much. April 2002 to March 2003 was the first year C-139 farmers had
to meet a limit on phosphorus under the Everglades Forever Act. The region exceeded it by 7 tons with 77.3 tons. Steven Sentes, senior regulatory professional for the South
Florida Water Management District, told farmers and ranchers that the district now is accepting applications for a piece of the
$450,000. Read more
Lake release threatens river
By PAMELA SMITH
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
Heavy rainfall pushed Lake Okeechobee over 16
feet Thursday, triggering the largest water release to the Caloosahatchee River
this year. At 18 feet, the lake’s dike, which prevents flooding in towns south
of the lake, is in danger of breaching. More than 33,600 gallons of lake water a
second started flowing steadily down the Caloosahatchee on Thursday — enough to
fill an Olympic-size pool in 25 seconds. The St. Lucie Canal on the east side of
the lake is getting 18,700 gallons a second. The lake was at 16.08 feet above
sea level Thursday morning, crossing the line between what’s called Zone D into
Zone C, the start of flood control management. “It doesn’t bode well for our
estuaries,” said Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah, who worries about what the
release will do in Lee County. The release isn’t likely to stop until the rain
does. Read more
Wetlands mitigation bank backers unveil new plan
By ERIC STAATS
© Naples News
Seeking to satisfy opponents, backers of a
proposal to set up a wetlands mitigation bank in Northern Golden Gate Estates
unveiled a new plan Thursday. It remains to be seen whether the new plan for a
Regional Offsite Mitigation Area, or ROMA, will win favor with property rights
advocates worried that the mitigation bank will run people off their land and
flood their homes. "I don't know if it's going to be possible," said Cindy Kemp,
president of the Property Rights Action Committee (PRAC). The Collier Soil and
Water Conservation District, a state agency run by a locally elected board, is
proposing the ROMA as an easier way for lot owners in Northern Golden Gate
Estates to meet existing state mitigation requirements when they build homes in
wetlands. Read more
21-August-03
Dilute to save?
By
Malcolm Smith
©
The
Guardian UK
Taking freshwater out of the Everglades damaged Florida Bay's
ecology. So why not put it back? Malcolm Smith finds the argument is not
so simple. Pouring more water into the sea sounds harmless enough. But in
Florida Bay, pinioned between the sunshine state's southern tip and the island
string of the Florida Keys, a plan to do just that is proving highly
controversial. Hammered out over years by an alliance of federal and state
water supply and conservation agencies, native American tribes and farmers,
the plan - costing $8bn (£5bn) over the next 30 years - will return
freshwater to the Everglades, the vast wetlands dominating the south of the state.
Read more
Barrier placed across Rim Canal
© Okeechobee News
Due to the continuing rise in
the level of Lake Okeechobee, floating mats of vegetation known as
tussocks have formed in Fisheating Bay and have been entering the Rim
Canal. Because these tussocks are causing problems for navigation, the
Moore Haven lock and spillway and other water control structures, a
barrier cable will be placed across the Rim Canal at C-5A on Aug. 22 in
order to prevent tussocks from blocking the Rim Canal and entering the
lock and spillway. Buoys have been placed on each side of the barrier to
warn boaters of the navigation hazard, and will remain in place until
conditions improve. Boaters are advised to avoid the barrier by following
Moore Haven Canal or McTush Cut to Lake Okeechobee.
Read more
Building moratorium blocked
BY TRAVIS JAMES TRITTEN
© Key West Citizen
A proposed building moratorium to protect Florida
Keys' hammocks was defeated Wednesday after three months of county commission
consideration. The 3-2 vote was due to lingering concerns that the 30-month
building halt would open the county to lawsuits, and fell in line with
commissioners' positions in recent months. Commissioners David Rice and George
Neugent unsuccessfully pressed fellow commissioners to pass the building halt,
while Commissioners Charles "Sonny" McCoy, Dixie Spehar and Murray
Nelson opposed it. The moratorium would have temporarily protected the islands'
most pristine forests from development. Now some residents fear the rejection
could trigger a flood of applications to develop those areas. The commission
made some progress during the Key Largo meeting by identifying hammock and
upland areas to be protected and outlining some options to pay for the
properties. Read more
Conservationists Prowl the Swamps to Save Crocs
By
Peter Standring
© National Geographic
Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida, holds an American crocodile in Everglades National Park. Mazzotti
recently led the first comprehensive survey of American crocodiles living in
South Florida. An increase in the number of the reptiles may be linked to a
federal, state, local, and private partnership to protect and restore coastal
habitats in the Florida Everglades.
A conservation success story is crawling through the
swamplands of South Florida, northernmost home of the American crocodile,
Crocodylus acutus. The crocodile, whose range extends to Peru, is listed as
endangered by U.S. and international wildlife agencies. Thirty years ago,
because of hunting and habitat loss, the crocodile population in South Florida
had dwindled to less than 400. Now, though, the number is up to 1,000?enough to
prompt the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider down-listing the
crocodile's status to "threatened," according to Britta Muiznieks, a U.S. Fish
and Wildlife recovery biologist who specializes in endangered South Florida
wildlife. To help preserve the species, Frank Mazzotti and his colleague Mike
Cherkiss, wildlife ecologists at the University of Florida in Gainesville, are
conducting the longest-running research project and census ever devoted to the
American crocodile.
Read more
Orphaned panther kittens released in Collier County
By Andrea Stetson
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
Three orphaned panther kittens raised at a
conservation center in northern Florida returned to freedom in Collier County on
Wednesday evening. The 14-month-old brother and sister pair were released in the
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge near the spot where their mother, known
as panther No. 78, was killed by a male cat in October 2002. A young female
panther was released on private property near the Big Cypress National Preserve
close to where her mother was killed by a male panther in January. Kittens
usually stay with their mothers until they are 12 to 15 months old, so when
their mothers died, the youngsters needed human help. The brother and sister
were 6 months old when they were orphaned. The single female was 7 months old.
“At that age they would have starved to death, no doubt," said Larry Richardson,
a wildlife biologist for the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.
Read more
Everglades Restoration: Agriculture Affected by
South Florida Program?
©
Agriculture Research Magazine
Hydrologist Reza Savabi (right) and hydrologic technician Nicholas
Cockshutt monitor soil moisture fluctuations near the Everglades National Park.
This investigation is part of improving water management on agricultural areas.
Photo by Ken Konomi.
In 1947, writer and conservationist Marjory
Stoneman Douglas called attention to the dangers facing Florida's Everglades in
a book called "The Everglades: River of Grass." At that time, many considered
this unique natural ecosystem to be a vast swamp of limited value. Now, more
than half a century later, the Everglades National Park and adjacent lands are
undergoing a Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). But how will the
plan affect the more than 23,000 people directly involved in South Florida
agriculture? "Farmers in the area have taken a key role in promoting the need
for scientific investigation into the possible impact of the CERP on the
sustainability of agriculture in South Florida," says M. Reza Savabi, a
hydrologist with the ARS Subtropical Horticulture Research Station in Miami,
Florida. Read
more
19-August-03
DCA-State Department merger needs Keys input
© Key West Citizen
Have you heard? The state of Florida is
considering merging some of its growth management functions, currently carried
out by the Department of Community Affairs, into the Department of State. This
is an important decision and one that would profoundly affect us here in the
Keys. The Keys have been an Area of Critical State Concern since the 1970s,
meaning that the Department of Community Affairs must approve every land-use
decision made by our local governments. Before taking such a step, state
officials wisely decided to hold a series of public meetings, to gather input
and help the public learn more about possible changes in the offing. A DCA/DOS
press release says the meetings are intended "to gather comments in the areas of
historic preservation, cultural arts, libraries, business, elections, economic
development and more." Those are all topics of great importance and interest to
us here in the Keys. Read
more
15-August-03
Letter to the Editor: River should
be healthy, but fresh water's poisoned it!
By Edward D. Losch, Palm City
© Stuart News
Salinity in the North Fork of
the St. Lucie River has been in the two parts per thousand or lower for
the months of June and July thanks to the "temporary" pulse
releases from Lake Okeechobee. These low levels do not stress the marine
life food chain in the river, they kill it! According
to my rain gauge, the rainfall this year to date is 30 inches compared
with 32.25 last year and 40.35 inches in 2001. June to July total is 14
inches vs. 19.85 and 22.25. With below-normal rainfall, the North Fork
should be brackish to salty this time of the year - just right for marine
life and the predators that feed on it. Instead, we have a river poisoned
by the polluted fresh water from Big O. Read
more
14-August-03
Letter to the Editor: Senators' strings
would tie Everglades plan up in knots
By David B. Struhs, Secretary of
the Department of Environmental Protection
© Palm Beach Post
The Post's editorial
"Short Everglades leash" (July 26) is based on a false premise.
Despite The Post's reports, Congress is not withholding money from Florida
for restoration of the Everglades. Florida never was going to receive a
check from the federal government for the project. If Florida's senators
attach strings to federal financing, it only will further restrict the
participation of the federal government in the historic effort to return a
more natural flow of water to the famed "river of grass."
Since 2000, Florida has committed more than $2 billion,
including $791 million invested and $1.6 billion in bonds and cash,
through the end of the decade. The federal government has contributed 14
percent of that amount, specifically to finance the Comprehensive
Everglades Restoration Plan. Read
more
Changes vowed as releases continued
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart News
Heavy rains mean the
low-level "pulse-style" releases from Lake Okeechobee into the
St. Lucie Estuary will continue for at least the next 20 to 30 days, state
water managers said on Wednesday. But the
governing board of the South Florida Water Management District also agreed
to begin taking a broader view of Lake Okeechobee issues, analyzing the
state's entire system of lakes and rivers before making future release
decisions. That new emphasis pleased St. Lucie River advocates. Tommy
Strowd, director of water operations with the district, told the board the
lakes around Orlando have overflowed into the Kissimmee River, adding to a
bloated Lake Okeechobee, which on Wednesday rose to 15.74 feet above sea
level. Read
more
State rejects Palm Beach County growth
projections
By Joel Engelhardt
© Palm Beach Post
The state rejected Palm Beach
County's low-ball approach to projecting population growth, dealing the
controversial method a potentially lethal blow. However,
the state offered the county another way around its quandary of how to
plan for a quarter of a million people who seemingly just won't fit.
The state's decision pleased builders and the Palm
Beach County League of Cities, which argued the county's model would have
left the county unprepared for future growth. The state echoed many of the
builders' central concerns in its July 28 report. But
for the first time, a state Department of Community Affairs official said
the county doesn't have to rely on population projections when it
determines how much development can occur. Read
more
Families in East Bonita could be forced
from their homes
Eminent domain allows government to force home- and property owners to
sell because the sale is considered to be in the public interest
By Chad Gillis
© Naples Daily News
Governing board members
overseeing the state's top water authority agreed Wednesday to use eminent
domain if necessary to remove more than a dozen families living in rural
eastern Bonita Springs. The South Florida Water
Management District's board voted unanimously to file condemnation papers
for the homes, though board members said they hope they don't have to use
that legal power. The homes are east of Interstate 75 in what the district
calls Southern CREW, or Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, and what
the residents who live in the community call East Bonita. After
winning a court case in Fort Myers and later an appeal, district officials
are a few steps away from legally sealing the fate of East Bonita
residents. Wednesday was the first time the governing board approved the
use of condemnation. Read
more
FPL looks to build fifth plant in S.
Dade
Site near sensitive wetlands expected to generate debate
By Gregg Fields
© The
Miami Herald
Florida Power & Light is
exploring a new natural gas-powered electric plant at its Turkey Point
site in South Miami-Dade, which the company says is necessary to
illuminate a growing South Florida. With its
proximity to two national parks, the effort is likely to generate
controversy with some environmental and community groups, although
officials of nearby Homestead eagerly embraced the idea. The
proposed Turkey Point expansion would generate 1,100 megawatts of power,
roughly enough to serve 230,000 homes and businesses. FPL is also
exploring whether it would be more cost-effective to buy the power from
elsewhere and is requesting proposals from potential suppliers. For that
reason, it could abandon the idea altogether. Read
more
Letter to the Editor: Water managers
could opt to protect estuaries, lake
By Paul Parks, Lake Okeechobee
Project Director of the Florida Wildlife Federation, Crawfordville
© Stuart News
Reference your reporter
Suzanne Wentley's "Crisis below the surface — Releases dangerously
dilute estuary's precious salinity," published in the Aug. 3 News:
With water too deep, the unthinkable could happen to
the Lake Okeechobee dike. A breech would be catastrophic for those who
live in its shadow. When depth threatens the dike, water managers have no
choice but to dump water to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee
estuaries. Read
more
Lake O releases could imperil St. Lucie
River
By Libby Wells
© Palm Beach Post
The St. Lucie River is 3
inches from déjà vu. In the winter of 1998, El
Nino rains raised Lake Okeechobee to almost 18 feet, forcing water
managers to make heavy discharges to the delicate estuary. The high volume
of fresh water was devastating to the brackish St. Lucie. Fish broke out
in lesions and died. Gobs of organic muck settled on the river bed,
killing plants and robbing crabs, oysters and other bottom-dwellers of
oxygen. Less than six years later, Lake
Okeechobee is one hard rain away from a similar scenario. Weather
forecasters predicted at least 3 inches would fall Wednesday evening south
of the lake. But if fickle Mother Nature changes her mind and heads north
over the Kissimmee River basin, big Lake O could rise to 16 feet and the
winter of 1998 could be the summer's worst rerun. Read
more
13-August-03
Farm lease renewal worries activists
By Linda Kleindienst
© Sun-Sentinel
TALLAHASSEE· Without
discussion, debate or public testimony, Gov. Jeb Bush and his cabinet on
Tuesday gave a Belle Glade farmer a 15-year extension on his lease to grow
crops on almost 6,000 acres of state land in the Everglades Agriculture
Area -- even though environmentalists protested the move. David
Struhs, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, said the
state had no recourse but to approve extending the lease for vegetable
grower A. Duda and Sons until 2018 because it was specifically provided
for in the 1994 Everglades Forever Act. But
Audubon of Florida had hoped the state could at least require tougher
cleanup measures in the new lease, since that area releases some of the
highest phosphorus pollution concentrations in the region. Too much
phosphorus, which is discharged from the fertilizer used by agricultural
interests, can threaten native vegetation and choke the Everglades'
delicate ecosystem. Read
more
Florida leads country in migration for
third straight decade
By Robin Benedick and John Maines
© Sun-Sentinel
Clinton James, of
Brothers Moving and Storage, packs up an apartment in Fort Lauderdale for
residents who are moving to Atlanta. Georgia is the No. 1 destination for
people moving out of Florida.
(Sun-Sentinel/Mike Stocker)
The moving vans are still heading to
Florida in droves, and, for the third decade in a row, the Sunshine State
is the nation's No. 1 destination. Especially
for New Yorkers and foreign immigrants. Almost
1.9 million people from around the country moved to Florida between 1995
and 2000, about 300,000 fewer than the previous decade, according to newly
released census data. That trend of slower domestic growth appears likely
to continue as less-crowded states lure more potential residents. But
Florida's population will continue swelling, demographers say, because a
quarter of the state's newcomers come from other countries. Read
more
Conservancy fights slough plan
Land uses, wetlands concern area group
By Alison Kepner
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
The Conservancy of Southwest
Florida is challenging the city of Fort Myers’ comprehensive plan
amendment that allows developers to build up to three homes per acre in
the environmentally sensitive Six Mile Cypress Slough basin. The
Conservancy filed a petition with the State Department of Community
Affairs on Friday asking for an administrative hearing. In the eight-page
petition, it argues the amendment doesn’t properly consider land uses or
protect wetlands. Before the city annexed the
land, the county allowed one house per acre. The city’s plan lacks
environmental analysis and is inconsistent with the state’s
comprehensive plan, said Conservancy Environmental Policy Director Gary
Davis. Read
more
Florida soft on enforcing pollution laws
State disputes conclusions
By Curtis Morgan
© The
Miami Herald
In the past decade, Florida's
environmental enforcer has gone soft, according to one group's analysis of
enforcement records released Tuesday. While the
number of cases has remained fairly steady, the report by the Florida
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility argues that state
regulators have increasingly shied away from the toughest punishments
involving lawsuits to pursue resolutions more friendly, and less
expensive, to big businesses and industry. ''They
go after small-time operators but let the big corporations off the hook,''
said Jerry Phillips, Florida director of the environmental group, who
examined all enforcement records from the Department of Environmental
Protection back to 1991. Read
more
Bush's OK of farm lease angers
environmentalists
By Libby Wells
© Palm Beach Post
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet
on Tuesday hurriedly approved a 15-year lease extension for a farm that
environmentalists say is releasing so much pollution it could hamper the
restoration of the Everglades. The lease allows
A. Duda & Sons to farm 5,765 publicly owned acres within the
500,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area until 2018. The company uses the
tract southeast of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County to grow
vegetables, which require more phosphorus than other crops, including
sugar cane. Phosphorus is harmful to wildlife
and native plants. Environmentalists say runoff
from the Duda farm contains 200 parts per billion of the pollutant, 20
times more than the 10 parts per billion that scientists say the fragile
Everglades can absorb. Read
more
12-August-03
Phosphorus over-polluted Hendry water
County failed limit in agricultural area
By Pamela Hayford-Smith
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
A 170,000-acre agricultural
region of Hendry County failed to meet pollution limits over the past
year, letting 77.3 tons of phosphorus run off the land in stormwater that
eventually flowed into the Everglades, according to a South Florida Water
Management District report. That’s seven tons
more than the historic yearly average the so-called C-139 Basin was
required to meet this year. “It’s pretty
significant,” said April Gromnicki, Everglades policy director for
Audubon of Florida. The 2003 water year — May
1, 2002, to April 30, 2003 — was the first year the region’s
agricultural lands were required to meet the limit, set by an Everglades
Forever Act amendment in 2002. Read
more
170,000 acres of Hendry County farmland
fail to meet Everglades cleanup requirement
By Neil Santaniello
© Sun-Sentinel
A 170,000-acre swath of cow
and crop-covered land has failed to meet its first year Everglades cleanup
requirement, water managers said Monday. The
area in Hendry County -- west of Clewiston and known locally as Devil's
Garden -- released 77.3 tons of phosphorus for the year ending April 30,
the South Florida Water Management District said. That's about 7 tons, or
10 percent, above the mandated limit. The land
southwest of Lake Okeechobee is dominated by cattle-grazing pasture but
includes sugar cane, citrus and vegetable fields. Among the growers there
are southern Palm Beach County's Thomas Produce and Pero Family Farms, a
University of Florida agricultural extension agent said. Altogether,
farmers and ranchers hold 24 Everglades cleanup permits issued by water
managers, which require them to reduce polluted runoff from their fields.
Cleanup results were better next door at the 500,000-acre Everglades
Agricultural Area, which stretches through Clewiston, South Bay and Canal
Point and points south. Read
more
Do better for Everglades
Editorial
© Palm Beach Post
It's been a rough year for
Everglades restoration. Gov. Bush and the Cabinet can make it a little
rougher or a little easier. The Florida
Department of Environmental Protection has recommended that the governor
and Cabinet -- Attorney General Charlie Crist, Agriculture Commissioner
Charles Bronson and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher -- extend for 15
years A. Duda & Sons' lease to farm nearly 6,000 acres of public land
south of Belle Glade. With the vote set for today in Tallahassee, Audubon
of Florida wants the state to take a second look, and the group makes a
strong case. Read
more
Bush Nominates Utah Governor to Lead
E.P.A.
By Katharine Q. Seelye
© New York Times
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 - President
Bush today nominated Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, the three-term Republican
governor of Utah, as the new administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency, tapping a veteran of the West's volatile land use debates. A
person close to the administration said the selection of a Westerner - in
tune philosophically with Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney -
suggested the White House had "given up a little bit on the
Eastern-industrial-urban-environmental base." Read
more
Big Cypress restrictions necessary
Off-road vehicles causing too much damage to land
Editorial
© Ft. Myers
News-Press
It’s sad when freedom
contracts, especially when it does so for people in an area they helped
set aside for their recreation. But that’s the
situation with the operators of swamp buggies and other off-road vehicles
in the Big Cypress National Preserve east of Naples. The
time has come to accept that new restrictions on swamp buggies in the Big
Cypress are reasonable and inevitable, and to press ahead with their
enforcement. We have waited long enough to start protecting this great
natural resource. Read
more
Florida Straits a rainbow coalition
Study shows its marine life among the most diverse in Atlantic Ocean
By Michael Vasquez
© The
Miami Herald
South Florida's diversity, it
seems, doesn't stop at the shoreline -- or even with people. A
scientific study to be released today says marine life in the Florida
Straits -- which separate Miami from Cuba and the Bahamas -- is an
eclectic mix all its own, a mix so rich and varied it qualifies as the
most diverse in the whole Atlantic Ocean. The
study, conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Applied
Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, also credits the
Straits with having the Atlantic's highest number of species found nowhere
else in the world, more than two dozen. Read
more
Plan to restore Lake Okeechobee Ridge
Park shoreline
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart News
PORT MAYACA — Martin County
planners have begun work to restore one of the last pieces of Lake
Okeechobee's original shoreline from sugar cane fields back to its native
habitat. Gina Paduano, Martin County's
environmental lands administrator, said a consultant will soon be on board
to start restoring the historic water levels at Lake Okeechobee Ridge
Park, a 245-acre county preserve stretching five miles north of Port
Mayaca along the east side of U.S. 441. Then,
contractors will replace the sugar cane fields -— which are found about
200 feet in from the highway — with plants found in the narrow park,
such as cypress and hackberry trees. Read
more
Letter to the Editor: Grass-roots push
needed to clean up Everglades
By Harry Wells
© Stuart
News
Stop blaming the wrong people for
the Everglades cleanup fiasco. It's not SFWMD (South Florida's Weapon of
Mass Destruction) or the DEP (Don't Expect Protection) or the Army Corps
of Engineers (armies are supposed to break things). They are just a
collection of feckless bureaucrats looking forward to double-dipping early
retirement. It's as simple as Government 101. Elected officials make the
rules and hire the fools. The especially sympathetic hires are placed as
liaisons, acting as does the sweet lady at the complaint window. Don't
trust them! Elected officials just love it when we engage the fools
instead of them. Read
more
11-August-03
The Urgent Need To
Reform Federal Flood Insurance
Editorial
© Tampa Tribune
The nation's flood
insurance policies waste tax dollars and encourage irresponsible
development. They desperately needed reform. The
insurance's liberal rules allow property owners in flood-prone areas to
repeatedly make claims. Consider this: Owners of a Houston house received
$806,591 over 18 years. The house was valued at only $114,480. Or
consider the findings of the Tribune's Jo-Ann Johnston and Kirsten B.
Mitchell of the Media General News Service. They report that repeatedly
flooded properties account for about 1 percent of the 4.4 million policies
in effect under the National Flood Insurance Program. Yet those repeat
offender consume almost 40 percent of the claims paid out. Payments on
claims from such flood-prone properties have averaged $250 million a year
for the past decade. Read
more
Restoration of meandering Kissimmee
River falls years behind schedule
By Neil Santaniello
© Sun-Sentinel
This flourishing flood
plain marsh is one direct result of the Kissimmee River restoration
project.
(Sun-Sentinel/Scott Fisher)
Along U.S. 98 near Basinger,
you can see evidence the river is coming: On a
1.5-mile stretch about 20 miles north of Lake Okeechobee, for example,
where dust-raising trucks and crews are building a squat bridge for it to
slip below. And in the moss-draped oak shade of
a trailer park named Hidden Acres Estates just up the road, where workers
are lifting mobile homes onto concrete blocks. Two
years after South Florida water managers and the Army Corps of Engineers
filled 7.5 miles of canal to put some meander back into the historically
circuitous Kissimmee River, work to extend that restoration is meandering
itself, a key scientist says. "I'm honestly
getting more and more discouraged as the days go by," Lou Toth, a
chief scientist for the South Florida Water Management District said about
the $600 million project. "We should be further along than we are
right now." Read
more
Guess who's leading in the Great
Migration Contest?
By Robert Trigaux
© St. Petersburg Times
Forget the outdated Sunshine
State name. Florida should be called the Migration Magnet State. Census
numbers unveiled last week show how Florida, between 1995 and 2000,
by a wide margin enjoyed the largest net population gain - 607,000 people
- from "domestic migration," or people moving from other
states. Florida's net increase was almost twice
the gain of No. 2 Georgia (341,000), No. 3 North Carolina (338,000) or No.
4 Arizona (316,000), and more than 21/2 times that of No. 5 Nevada
(234,000). Read
more
How the 'Radicals' Can Save the
Democrats
By Sam Tanenhaus
© New York Times
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - A battle for the
soul of the Democratic Party has broken out, pitting a predominantly
liberal field of presidential hopefuls against moderate party leaders and
political strategists. While Howard Dean and John Kerry have been stirring
up crowds plainly eager to have at President Bush, Democratic officials
have been trying to tamp the fervor down, warning that
"extremists" will take the party back to the dark ages of 1972
and 1984. Read
more
10-August-03
Water manager dives into job
The new Martin-St. Lucie Water Management leader has an open-door policy
in her busy job dealing with river advocates, local governments and the
public.
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart News
Her first week on the job,
Karen Smith didn't have any time to enjoy the view from her office window
overlooking the St. Lucie River. Her phone was
ringing off the hook. "I'm ready to jump
into the thick of things, but I think I'm already there," laughed
Smith, the new director of the South Florida Water Management District's
Martin-St. Lucie Service Center. Not that Smith
isn't prepared for the post -- the Treasure Coast's most accessible and
influential connection to the water managers who control the health of
local waterways as well as flood protection and water supply. Read
more
Stop the next melaleuca
Editorial
© Palm Beach Post
Florida spends more than $29
million a year to remove out-of-control exotic trees and vines that are
choking out native plants and ruining wilderness areas. So a businessman's
wish to plant 8,000 acres of invasive giant reed, a bamboolike grass, near
Lake Okeechobee should alarm state regulators enough to stop him. The
entrepreneur wants the fast-growing grass to fuel a power plant that
supplies electricity to Jacksonville. He touts it as clean-burning,
renewable energy. But giant reed has been an ecological disaster in
California, where the woody-stemmed, 20-foot grass sucks up water, spreads
fires, wipes out native habitat and costs millions of dollars to kill.
Doesn't Jacksonville have another way to get power? Read
more
North has it, South wants it
Florida water flows bountifully far from its thirstiest corners. Business
leaders would see it rerouted, for cash.
By Craig Pittman and Julie
Hauserman
© St. Petersburg Times
Some of Florida's most
influential business leaders have spent the past year meeting behind
closed doors to divvy up the state's water supply. Developers,
agriculture executives and sugar growers - all with their own interests to
protect - have been meeting at the behest of the governor's chief
fundraiser to craft new water policies for Florida. Read
more
09-August-03
Plan Would Put Growth
To A Vote
By Mike
Salinero
© Tampa Tribune
TALLAHASSEE - The
Sierra Club will mobilize its 30,000 Florida members to support a proposed
constitutional amendment that would require voter approval of changes to
local growth plans. Sierra is the largest of a
host of state environmental groups that have lined up behind the
amendment. The ballot initiative is the brainchild of Sierra Club lawyer
Lesley Blackner of West Palm Beach and Ross Burnaman, a Tallahassee
attorney and former state employee. The state
requires local governments to have comprehensive plans to guide growth and
limit sprawl. But the plans are amended at the whim of developers and
their allies on city and county commissions, said Bill Jones, a member of
Sierra's urban sprawl committee. Read
more
What A Difference Some Rain Makes
By Neil Johnson
© Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Like a bucket
filled to the brim, the ground, rivers and lakes have no room for more
rain, especially the deluge that would come with a tropical storm or
hurricane. Even with July producing only about
half the normal rainfall at Tampa International Airport, it's been a rainy
summer so far. That's especially true in areas
north of Tampa Bay, such as the Withlacoochee River in Citrus County,
where flooding threatens a small subdivision and the county commission
declared a state of emergency. The length of the
river, which flows north from the Green Swamp in northern Polk to the Gulf
in Levy County, is near or above flood stage with possibly as much as 5
inches more rain expected through today. Conditions
are not as sodden for rivers in Hillsborough. Read
more
Lee seeks ways to stem Okeechobee
freshwater releases
By Chad Gillis
© Naples News
More than 2.5 million gallons
of water were flowing down the Caloosahatchee River very minute when Lee
County commissioners decided last week to take another stab at stifling
freshwater releases from Lake Okeechobee. Although
about half of that flow came from run-off within the basin, commissioners
want water management agencies to lower the flows coming from the east.
It's been more than three years since the county tried
to halt excessive water flows through a court order. They lost that
battle, and the judge ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
South Florida Water Management District were operating within the laws and
regulations. Read
more
Griffin family ends fued with settlement
Ben Hill Griffin III to give control of Alico Inc. to sisters
By Laura Ruane
© Ft. Myers News Press
The settlement of a family
feud this week in central Florida will pull Ben Hill Griffin III away from
control of Alico Inc., the agribusiness and landowner closely affiliated
with Florida Gulf Coast University. However,
people involved with Alico in Southwest Florida don’t believe much will
change here when Griffin’s sisters formally acquire controlling interest
in the company. According to reports published
this week in The Ledger of Lakeland, the children and heirs of citrus
baron Ben Hill Griffin Jr. reached a settlement Wednesday resolving legal
issues connected with his estate. Read
more
Letter to the editor: Start
land-preservation push with Pond Cypress Preserve
By JoAnn Miner
© Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach County
commissioners deserve applause. According to the article
"Commissioners move to protect land purchases" (July 23), some
of them are beginning to share residents' worries that natural lands will
not be preserved for future generations. During
the past year, there has been a lot of talk about how Palm Beach County
will change by 2025. While there are many unknowns, it is certain that
there will be many more homes, apartments, stores, businesses, cars,
trucks, traffic problems and sprawl. What will be in short supply will be
natural areas. This county has a program to buy and preserve
environmentally sensitive lands for all to enjoy "in
perpetuity." We only need the wisdom and the laws to ensure that
these priceless jewels cannot be traded for short-term fixes. Read
more
Lieberman 'troubled' by Everglades'
handling
By Larry Lipman, Washington Bureau
© Palm Beach Post
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joe
Lieberman, presidential hopeful and a ranking member of the Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee, has called on three federal agencies to
respond to criticisms that they are failing to protect the western
Everglades' endangered species, resources and wetlands. "I
am extremely troubled by the assertions that the corps of engineers and
other federal regulatory agencies have failed to fulfill their statutory
mandates, thereby endangering a valuable national resource," the
Connecticut Democrat said Friday. Read
more
Lieberman laments 'potentially costly'
development practices in Southwest Florida
By Eric Staats
© Naples News
The big question in Southwest
Florida for months has been the fate of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
document that would put a closer eye to applications for wetlands
destruction in Collier and Lee counties. Now
someone is asking the same question and more — and he's a U.S. senator
from Connecticut. Democrat Joseph Lieberman,
ranking member of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, sent long
letters Thursday, asking top officials at the Army Corps, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency to explain
their agencies' track records on permitting wetlands loss on the western
side of the Everglades. Read
more
Federal magistrate upholds limits on
off-road vehicles in Big Cypress
By David Fleshler
© Sun-Sentinel
A federal magistrate has
upheld restrictions on swamp buggies, airboats and other off-road vehicles
at Big Cypress National Preserve, angering hunters who say they need the
vehicles to penetrate remote wilderness in pursuit of deer and hogs.
U.S. Magistrate Douglas Frazier found that the vehicles
-- often mounted on tractor tires -- had carved thousands of miles of
trails into the preserve, harming habitat for panthers and other
endangered species. He rejected hunters' claims that the National Park
Service failed to consider sufficient alternatives or that it had shut the
public out of the decision-making process. Read
more
As expected, lobster season starts
slowly
Commercial divers are being targeted for illegal activity
By Kevin Wadlow
© Florida Keys Keynoter
Lobster season arrived
Wednesday on a sea of high hopes and new laws. "It’s
been a little slow," said veteran commercial fisherman Gary Nichols
after the first two days of trap pulls. "Actually, it’s been a lot
slow. "I’ve heard guys on the radio, from
Marathon to Key Largo, crying the blues," said Nichols. "Who
knows, by this time next week, we could be slammin’ them. After the last
few years, we’re due for something good." With
the recent hot weather and the August full moon not arriving until this
week, lobster may be sluggish. The modest start was predictable, Nichols
said. "After the traps get more time to
soak, I’m pretty confident things will pick up next week," he said.
"That will be the tell-tale sign for the season." Read
more
08-August-03
Deal with growth
issues now, rather than depending on buildout
Editorial
© Key West Citizen
Buildout. For years
Key West leaders have underplayed growth problems in Key West: We're
practically at buildout, we don't need to worry so much about growth
issues. And still they build. Next
up is a 101-room hotel at the Key West Bight where Jabour's campground
currently stands. The courts gave those building rights to developers
based on development plans made before city law prohibited certain types
of building. This "vested" concept means Key West still has
transient rental and dwelling units out there to build, even if Rate Of
Growth Ordinance building rights are virtually gone. Read
more
Increase the protection afforded to the
endangered Florida panter
CORPS NOTICE
The Jacksonville District,
Regulatory Division, has posted a public notice to our internet home page http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/permit/index.html.
There are several options below, so be sure to read the whole page before
clicking an option. Note: To forward comments directly to the
Project Manager, please make sure you choose option 2: Public Notice
: Implementation of a Panther Key & Proposed Additional Regional
Condition to Nationwide Permits 12, 14, 39 & 40 Expiration Date:
September 7, 2003
Construction permits sought
Developer gears up for Ave Marie University project
By Joan D. Laguardia
© Ft. Myers News Press
About $300 million in
buildings, roads and water systems for Ave Maria University and its
companion town will be the first major project under Collier County’s
new development regulations for land east of Interstate 75. Barron
Collier Companies of Naples applied Thursday for a permit for about 1
million square feet of buildings in the first phase of the new Roman
Catholic university and the town. “It was an
important milestone for us,” said the Rev. Joseph Fessio, Ave Maria’s
chancellor. The project on 960 acres south of
Immokalee includes a large church that will link the campus and town. It
will be in the town core, which will function like a town square. The
application also covers a commercial town center.
Read
more
Experts improve plan for Everglades muck
removal
By Suzanne Wentley
© Sun Sentinel
After 2 1/2 years of studying
muck at the bottom of the St. Lucie River, scientists say they have found
a better way to dig out the seagrass-smothering gunk in the $1 billion
Everglades restoration effort. Kevin Henderson,
executive director of the St. Lucie River Initiative, has proposed an
alternative to current muck removal plans. Henderson's idea would cost
$21.5 million less and remove 2.4 million more cubic yards of the slimy
mud, he said. "If there's one thing to do
in a hurry to clean up the river, it's to get the muck out," he said.
Read
more
Letter to the Editor: Sugar firms trying
to deflect attention from a PR disaster
By Alan Farago, Everglades Chair,
Sierra Club Florida Chapter, Coral Gables
© Palm Beach Post
I never have met Robert
Coker, the U.S. Sugar vice-president who wrote in The Post that
environmentalists want to sabotage Everglades restoration in Congress
("Environmentalists' enemy is sugar, not lawmakers," July 29).
But the idea that environmentalists can dictate policy to Republican
leadership is hilarious. Sugar needs a bogeyman
to deflect attention from a public relations disaster of its own making.
In just the past year, sugar wrote state legislation that has thrown
Congress into an uproar, embarrassed Gov. Bush and earned the enmity of
every newspaper editorial board in the state; impugned the reputation of
one of the most respected federal judges in Florida; and fought its own
workers in court for complaining of poor pay practices. Read
more
Florida to press issues at trade
conference
By Susan Salisbury
© Palm
Beach Post
When negotiators from 146
nations convene at the World Trade Organization's Fifth Ministerial
Conference in Cancun, Mexico, next month, Florida will be there in full
force. Florida's citrus, sugar and vegetable
industries, as well as Florida FTAA Inc. -- the group aiming to make Miami
the headquarters for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas pact --
will be jockeying for the time and ears of the WTO delegates. The
purpose of the ministerial meeting, the first held in two years as part of
the WTO's Doha Development Agenda, is to open markets to help promote
growth and development, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said
July 30 in a speech in Montreal. Read
more
Everglades future
© Ft.
Myers News Press
Reporter Betsy Clayton and
photographer Clint Krause describe issues
surrounding Everglades restoration in award-winning project by The News-
Press. Includes Photo gallery, Interactive maps, Sounds of the
‘Glades, Interviews with Clayton, Krause http://www.news-press.com/special_sections/everglades/body.htm
(Requires Macromedia Flash Player 6)
Sunshine State Waterfowl Areas
Throughout the Florida peninsula, there are a number of tracts of public
land set aside for waterfowling hunting. Why not consider these places for
your next duck hunt?
By Sally Aptel
© Florida
Game and Fish Magazine
Florida is covered with vast
areas of excellent waterfowl habitat, and during winter migration huge
numbers of ducks flock to the state. What this means to hunters is that
there are ample opportunities to hunt waterfowl all over the Sunshine
State, and an excellent chance for bagging a duck or two for their
efforts. Generally speaking, waterfowl hunting
is permitted on any body of water that has public access - unless it's
closed for some specific reason such as being in a park or in an area
where shooting guns is prohibited. It's always best to check with local
law enforcement agencies before setting out to hunt an area you are unsure
about. Read
more
Groups challenge 'Glades phosphorus
cleanup plan
By Neil Santaniello
© Sun-Sentinel
The fight for clean water in
the Everglades took a significant turn Thursday with the filing of at
least four legal challenges to the state's proposed phosphorus cleanup
rule. The attacks came from all directions:
environmental groups, the Everglades-dwelling Miccosukee tribe and the
sugar industry. All expressed deep
dissatisfaction with a complex -- critics say muddled -- Everglades
water quality standard crafted one month ago by Florida's Environmental
Regulation Commission. Environmentalists argue that the July 8 rule is
vaguely written, goes beyond state legislative mandates and is open to an
array of interpretations. That adds up to no real protection for the
Everglades, they contend. "Clearly, the ERC
was given one small task, to draw up a rule that would be protective of
the flora and fauna of the Everglades, and they just couldn't do it,"
said Dave Reiner, president of Friends of the Everglades, which filed one
of the challenges. Read
more
Washington Consensus-1 How free is free
trade?
By A K N Ahmed
© The Daily Star
The so-called Washington
Consensus has four key elements. They are: Free trade, free market,
democracy, and development. These ideas are sponsored by G7 countries and
detailed programmes are administered mainly by the IMF and the World Bank.
In this series of four brief write-ups, to be published on four
consecutive Fridays, starting today, these four main elements are
discussed for the readers. One key element of
Washington Consensus is free trade. This is being preached to other
countries by successive American Presidents, including President George W
Bush himself, take for example, President Bush's recent Coast Guard
Academy commencement address. In it he charged that the refusal of
European Union to certify import of new strains of genetically modified
crops had a moratorium on such crops, thus discouraging African nations
from adopting and benefiting from them. Earlier in March 2003 US trade
representative Robert B Zollick was less delicate when he suggested in a
speech that Mr. Bush's opponents of corporate-led globalisation might have
intellectual connection with terrorists. Read
more
07-August-03
MICCOSUKEE
TRIBE WANTS ANTI-EVERGLADES RULE DECLARED INVALID
Says ERC Rule Will Allow Everglades Pollution and Destruction to
Continue
Press Release
Today, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians,
whose members have lived in the Florida Everglades for generations and
struggle to protect it, filed a Petition with the state's Division of
Administrative Hearings asking that the phosphorus Rule adopted by the
Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP's) Environmental
Regulation Commission (ERC) on July 8th be declared invalid. The
Tribe says the ERC Rule will allow the Everglades to continue to be
destroyed by phosphorous pollution and is asking for an evidentiary
hearing to prove it. Read
more
Army Corps official's retirement delays
Environmental Impact Statement
By Chad Gillis
© Naples News
The adoption of a federal
document designed to protect wetland systems from falling prey to urban
sprawl and preserve the quality of Southwest Florida waters has again been
delayed. Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers toured the region last month, promising to sign and release an
adopted version of what's called the Environmental Impact Statement. The
plan, they said at the time, was to have Col. James May sign the final
version in late July and release the adopted document to the public in
early August. Read
more
Ex-senators: Tax spares too many
By Michael Sandler
© St. Petersburg Times
ST. PETERSBURG - Why do
people pay taxes on a movie ticket but not on an exotic dance? That's a
question John McKay wants answered. The former
Senate president from Bradenton, teamed with former state Sen. Jack
Latvala of Palm Harbor, kicked off an effort Wednesday for a
constitutional amendment to force lawmakers to publicly justify hundreds
of sales tax exemptions. "Simply said, the
sales tax is not in synch with our economy," McKay told the Suncoast
Tiger Bay Club. The two former Republican legislators failed to persuade
their colleagues to support an ambitious plan to eliminate about
$1-billion in tax exemptions. Now they want an amendment on the ballot
next year that would require a periodic review of every sales tax
exemption. They want them looked at one by one. They want every legislator
to stand up and say he supports or opposes them, from exemptions for
charter fishing trips to lap dances. Read
more
The Profits of Wildlife Viewing
Editorial
© Tampa Tribune
Most people don't associate
wildlife with the economy. Indeed, some interests decry the delays and
costs that wildlife protections represent. But
there is another side to the equation. Florida's wildlife contributes
significantly to its economy. According to a study conducted for the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, in 2001 more than 3.2
million wildlife watchers spent as much as $1.6 billion on food, lodging
and equipment in Florida. The amount spent on wildlife watching in Florida
in 2001 was five times larger than the tolls collected by the Florida
Turnpike System and twice as much as the value of the state's annual
orange crop harvest, which was $786 million in 2001. Read
more
State threatens St. Lucie County
By Teresa Lane
© Palm Beach Post
FORT PIERCE -- State
environmental regulators have threatened St. Lucie County officials with
fines up to $10,000 daily for failing to adequately monitor groundwater
quality near the county landfill, citing years of tests that showed
above-normal levels of elements such as sodium and iron in one section of
the landfill. Because there are no public or
private drinking wells near the landfill's northeast section, regulators
say there is no immediate health threat from the plume, but they want to
know how far it's traveling. The state wants the county to check beyond
the landfill for contamination. Read
more
Groups ask judge to block new Everglades
phosphorus rule
Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. The
Miccosukee Tribe and environmental groups asked a judge Thursday to block
a state rule that aims to limit destructive phosphorous in the Everglades,
saying the guidelines instead make way for more pollution. The
Miccosukees, whose members have lived in the Everglades for generations,
and the environmental groups asked an administrative law judge to
invalidate the rule, which was set by the state Environmental Regulation
Commission last month. The rule, considered a
key part of the cleanup of the massive ecosystem, spells out how much
phosphorous is acceptable in the water flowing into the Everglades
watershed from surrounding farms and suburbs. The chemical is commonly
found in fertilizers. Read
more
06-August-03
Experts: Negotiate sugar-trade issues at
WTO
By Susan Salisbury
© Palm Beach Post
Regional and bilateral trade
agreements threaten the American sugar industry's existence, and trade
issues involving the industry must be handled at the World Trade
Organization level, elected officials and industry experts told attendees
at the 20th International Sweetener Symposium. Florida
sugar industry officials are among 350 participants gathered in Blaine,
Wash., for a three-day conference sponsored by the American Sugar Alliance
that ends today. Carolyn Cheney, Washington
D.C.-based representative of the Belle Glade-based Sugar Cane Growers
Cooperative of Florida, said Tuesday in a phone interview that the
industry is worried about what could happen if the Bush administration
completes the free-trade agreements currently being negotiated with a
variety of countries around the world.
Read
more
Reed project tangled in controversy
By Robert P. King
© Palm
Beach Post
The tough, towering grass
that tormented Jesus' darkest hours, helped Benny Goodman make music and
devoured large parts of California is set for a big foothold in Florida.
A Gulf Breeze entrepreneur says he intends to start
planting 8,000 acres of the bamboo-like grass, known as giant reed,
somewhere northwest of Lake Okeechobee by the end of the year. Swiftly
reaching heights exceeding 20 feet, the grass would become fuel for a
power plant supplying electricity to Jacksonville. That
is, unless the state heeds some ecologists' calls to prevent it. Read
more
South Florida Water Management District
names Smith chief of regional center
By Suzanne Wentley
© Stuart News
STUART — Top water
management officials on Tuesday named Karen Smith, an
environmental scientist and planner who lives on the St. Lucie River, as
permanent director of the Martin/St. Lucie Service Center. Smith,
45, has served as interim director of the local office of the South
Florida Water Management District since April, when Paul Millar left the
post. Millar resigned after being arrested in
Brevard County on a prostitution-related charge. That charge was dropped
on July 23 for lack of sufficient evidence, the Brevard State Attorney's
Office said Tuesday. Smith said Tuesday she has
"some big shoes to fill," but top officials at the agency said
it helps that Smith has lived in the area for a year and has a variety of
experience with local water management issues. Read
more
IG Investigates Whether EPA Misled
Public on Water Quality
Agency Audits Suggest Reports Overstated Utilities' Record
By Guy Gugliotta
© Washington Post
The Environmental Protection
Agency's inspector general is investigating whether the agency is
deliberately misleading the public by overstating the purity of the
nation's drinking water, according to EPA officials and agency documents.
The inquiry was launched June 18, five days before
then-EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman released the "Draft
Report on the Environment," which stated that "94 percent of the
population served by community water systems were served by systems that
met all health-based standards." Internal
agency documents, however, show that EPA audits for at least five years
have suggested that the percentage of the population with safe drinking
water is much lower -- 79 to 84 percent in 2002 -- putting an additional
30 million Americans at potential risk.
