Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 7-10-09

FEATURED STORIES

Local governments sue over Florida's new growth-management law
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
A group of local governments, including several from South Florida, sued Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature on Wednesday, accusing the state of violating its constitution in passing a growth-management law that opponents bash as a developer-relief act.

More than half of Florida cities qualify for growth exemptions
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
More than half the cities in Florida now qualify under a new state law as "dense urban" land areas which can be exempted from state review for adequate roads to accompany development, according to a list published today by the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

Progress Energy's proposed Levy County nuke plant hits another roadblock
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
Related: Progress Energy's plan to hike rates criticized at public hearing
Progress Energy's plans for its new Levy County nuclear plant hit another potential roadblock Wednesday when an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled that the Green Party of Florida and two other groups can challenge the plant's federal permit.

Progress Energy's proposed nuclear plant could face environmental challenges
By Fred Hiers
Ocala Star-Banner
Progress Energy's road to building its proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County is becoming anything but smooth.

A year later, U.S. Sugar deal euphoria fades
By Charlie Whitehead
Naples News
It’s been over a year since Gov. Charlie Crist made a splash with his announcement the state would pay U.S. Sugar $1.75 billion for 180,000 acres south of Lake Okeechobee.

Delays, price hikes make a muck of $800 million Everglades project
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Deep in the cane fields south of Lake Okeechobee, a massive construction site sits abandoned along U.S. 27, its dreams for the Everglades unfulfilled.

Global warming forecast shows potential problems for Florida
By Tony Doris
Palm Beach Post
More drought, more flooding.


Juvenile endangered wood stork foraging in Fred George Basin, Leon County, June 2009.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Fla. Supreme Court: Amendment wording approved
By Brent Kallestad
Associated Press
The Florida Supreme Court says a revised financial impact statement on how much a proposed growth management amendment could cost taxpayers now complies with state law.

Facing enviro criticism, Crist says he's helping economy
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Gov. Charlie Crist today defended his record against environmental criticism by saying he's looking out for the state's economy.

Florida Wrestles with Its Python Problem
By Tim Padgett
Time Magazine
Floridians are generally not flummoxed by the variety of reptile species that invade their state.

Nelson urges federal ban on Burmese python following death of 2-year-old
By Eun Kyung Kim
Tallahassee Democrat
Holding up the skin of a 16-foot Burmese python, Sen. Bill Nelson told a Senate panel Wednesday that the snakes pose a serious threat to Florida's environment and residents.

Local nests a good sign for struggling turtle
By Kate Spinner
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Hatchlings from one of the world's rarest sea turtles -- the Kemp's ridley -- emerged from their nest last Sunday on Casey Key, a positive sign for a species that was near extinction three decades ago.

Water managers bow to legislature, abolish in-the-sunshine board votes on permits
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Powers to permit a developer to pave over wetlands or tap the region's water supply will pass from the South Florida Water Management District's governing board to its top administrator, the board voted today.

Water managers ponder relaxing sprinkler limits for 5 years, despite calls for conservation
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
It may seem strange, but in its effort to promote water conservation, the South Florida Water Management District could move water restrictions from two to three days a week.

DEP's Sole defends water bill signed by governor
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole is defending Senate Bill 2080 following harsh criticism of Gov. Charlie Crist for signing the measure.

'Green' yards get a break: Florida offers protection
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
When state Sen. Carey Baker proposed a law encouraging Florida homeowners to get rid of thirsty grass, he had Dorothy Bombera in mind.

'Brownfield' need cleaning?
By Rebecca Basu
Florida Today
Cocoa is one of several Florida cities recently awarded $400,000 in federal stimulus money to help clean up "brownfields," properties that may be contaminated by hazardous chemicals or pollutants.

Local efforts boost recycling as state eyes 75-percent goal
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
With the state now working toward a goal of 75 percent recycling, some innovations may hold promise in Florida's future of waste management.

Florida needs to increase clean energy jobs
By Melissa Hincha-Ownby
Mother Nature Network
MoveOn.org hosted a Clean Energy Jobs Day in Florida to help promote awareness about green jobs in the Sunshine State.

FWC requests comments on draft of imperiled species listing changes
Staff Report
TC Palm
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is seeking public input on the first draft of rules to revise Florida’s imperiled species listing process.

Federal stimulus money for Florida's reefs a sound investment
Editorial
Miami Herald
Federal stimulus money is paying for more than roads and bridges during this economic downturn. Ecological projects are part of the mix -- and that bodes well for Florida.


Endangered Kemp ridley turtle.

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 5-8-09

FEATURED STORIES

Groups bemoan loss of Florida Forever money
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Related: Money for Everglades, petro tanks but not Fla. Forever
Florida Forever Coalition statement: No New Funding for Florida Forever in 2009-2010
Environmental groups this afternoon issued statements expressing regret that the state's land-buying program next year will receive no state money or bonding authority.


Editorial cartoon by Andy Marlette, Pensacola News Journal

Crist urged to veto new growth management law
Bu Mitch E. Perry
WMNF Community Radio
Today Hillsborough County Commissioners voted to send a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, asking that he veto a new Growth Management Bill that critics say would no longer require developers to add road capacity in nearly half the state's municipalities, as well as several entire counties.


Editorial cartoon by Jim Morin, Miami Herald

Obama's budget shows support for Everglades and beach restorations
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Dealing with other buyers could help state get all of U.S. Sugar's land
The Everglades came out a big winner for the third time this year when President Barack Obama submitted his proposed budget to Congress on Thursday.

U.S. Curbs Use of Species Act in Protecting Polar Bear
By Andrew C. Revkin
New York Times
The Obama administration said Friday that it would retain a wildlife rule issued in the last days of the Bush administration that says the government cannot invoke the Endangered Species Act to restrict emissions of greenhouse gases threatening the polar bear and its habitat.


The government says the Endangered Species Act cannot be invoked to fight emissions blamed for loss of polar bear habitat.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Everglades land deal faces six-month delay
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
The economy's recent nosedive could push Gov. Charlie Crist's monumental land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. back at least six months.

Clean Energy Bill Backed by Crist Dies
By Brendan Farrington
The Associated Pres
One of Gov. Charlie Crist's top priorities died Friday as lawmakers failed to take up a clean energy bill before going home.

Lobbyists gush over progress on drilling
By Joe Follick
Ocala Star-Banner
Once political taboo in Florida, prospects for offshore oil drilling have roared back with a secretive group forcing the issue into the center of political and public debate for months to come.

Progress Energy seeks rate hike despite nuclear plant delay
By Asjylyn Loder
St. Petersburg Times
Progress Energy announced Friday a 20-month delay in building its $17 billion nuclear plant, but its customers will continue to pay for it.

Sen. Alexander defends septic tanks budget language
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Sen. JD Alexander is defending proposed budget language that would prevent the Florida Department of Health from implementing "any nitrogen reduction strategies" for a year until a septic tanks study is completed.

Environmentalists sue again over Fla. water rules
The Associated Press
Miami Herald
Environmentalists again have sued the federal government for allegedly letting Florida flout federal clean water requirements.

Pinellas County allocates Brooker Creek Preserve land for water treatment plants, pipelines
By David DeCamp
St. Petersburg Times
Over the objections of some environmentalists and residents, Pinellas County commissioners on Tuesday designated part of Brooker Creek Preserve for water treatment plants, storage tanks and pipelines.

House to probe drywall fallout
By Gary Taylor
Bradenton Herald
The U.S. House on Thursday voted to study the effects of tainted drywall on housing, and an area construction consultant nodded to the action as a needed first step.

Audubon Calls on Law Enforcers to Pursue Penalties in Rookery Bay Bird Shooting Case
Blog entry
Audubon of Florida
Audubon called on state and federal law enforcement agencies and the Navy to continue to pursue charges and disciplinary action against one woman and six men suspected of participating in an incident in February in which 21 protected wading birds were shot out of the sky as they flew to roost for the night in a secluded rookery.


Florida black bear

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"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 5-1-09

FEATURED STORIES

Future of Florida Forever depends on sugar's support
By Jim Ash
Pensacola News Journal
The fate of Florida Forever now rests in a few powerful hands.


Click the picture above to visit the Florida Forever Coalition.

Environmental bills die as House, Senate adjourn
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
No renewable energy bill. No money for Florida Forever land-buying or Everglades restoration. No California auto emissions bill. No springs bill.

Clean energy bill backed by Fla. Gov. Crist dies
By Brendan Farrington
The Associated Press
One of Gov. Charlie Crist's top priorities died as lawmakers failed to take up a clean energy bill before going home Friday with plans only to return to vote on a budget next week.

Progress Energy seeks rate hike despite nuclear plant delay
By Asjylyn Loder
St. Petersburg Times
Click here to visit NoNuke.org.
Progress Energy announced Friday a 20-month delay in building its $17 billion nuclear plant, but its customers will continue to pay for it.

Record of 39 calves born to right whales
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
North Atlantic right whales had a banner year for breeding and several lucky escapes from perilous entanglements.

Gov't revokes rule limiting species protections
By H. Josef Hebert
The Associated Press
The Obama administration's move means scientists, not bureaucrats, once again must determine threats to endangered species.


Endangered species, such as the rare Florida panther, are expected to receive more protection following the reversal of a Bush-era regulation.

MORE GREEN NEWS

$96 million more approved for Everglades restoration
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Everglades restoration got $96 million of economic-recovery money on Tuesday, mostly to pay for construction of a storage reservoir in Palm Beach County and improved water flow through Picayune Strand in Collier County.

River of cash: Stimulus aid for Glades
By Curtis Morgan and Lesley Clark
Miami Herald
Consider the sluggish effort to save the Glades officially stimulated.

High costs delaying nuclear power
By Mark Williams
The Associated Press
A ghost from the nuclear industry's early years has reappeared.

Florida House votes to weaken growth regulations
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related Howard Troxler column: Is Florida without growth management what you want?
After Republican lawmakers openly chastised the governor's growth management chief Wednesday, the House passed a bill that weakens the state's growth regulations in return for encouraging tighter development in urban areas.

Offshore drilling passes first hurdle in House
By Jim Ash
Florida Today
Related editorial: Big Oil's ambush
A bitterly divided House gave preliminary approval today to a controversial plan by Republican leaders to allow oil and gas drilling as close as three miles from Florida's beaches.

Powerful gulf oil drilling lobby faces strong resistance in Florida
By Lucy Morgan and Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Dangling the promise of millions for the state's dwindling budget, a group of mostly unidentified oil and gas companies is bankrolling a last-minute fight to bring offshore drilling to Florida's coastline.

Community Affairs chief opposes Fla. growth bills
The Associated Press
Miami Herald
Florida's top planning official has declared his opposition to a pair of growth management bills awaiting floor votes in the Legislature.

Zoning action arouses anger
By Laura Figueroa
Miami Herald
Local activists are upset by the Sunrise City Commission's creation of a new zoning designation to smooth the way for developing a tract bordering the Everglades.

End of leaking tanks cleanup could threaten water
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Florida's cleanup program for protecting groundwater from leaking underground tanks at gas stations will effectively end under a budget agreement between House and Senate leaders, Sen. Carey Baker said today.

FPL canals criticized as health risk
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Environmentalists and national park managers plan to fight FPL's push for rock mining approval at a county hearing, saying Turkey Point plans will put supplies of fresh water at risk.

Threatened Sea Turtles Receive Long Overdue Protections
Staff Report
Foster Folly News
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an emergency closure of the bottom longline sector of the Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery today in an effort to protect sea turtles from injury and death.

Local black bears are on the move
By Joe Seelig
Highlands Today
According to Pat Behnke, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman, young Florida black bears are on the move leaving their mother's home range and venturing out on their own.

Falcon to be removed from endangered list
By Mark DeCotis
Florida Today
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is finalizing a management plan for the peregrine falcon that would allow the bird of prey to be removed from the state's endangered species list.

Ecologists band together for the birds
By Yvette C. Hammett
Tampa Tribune
Determined ecologists intent on saving America's migratory songbirds from landing on the endangered species list are studying how they use part of Tampa Bay's restored shoreline as a temporary stopover on their long migratory journey each year.

'Just build, baby' should be Legislature's new slogan
By Ron Littlepage
Florida Times-Union
Florida sure has done a bang up job of managing growth.

Unrestricted growth no solution to state's stagnant economy
Editorial
Miami Herald
The Florida Legislature is at it again, tinkering with the state's growth-management laws at the behest of builders.

Head off Florida land rush
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
The growth-at-any-cost Florida House wants to return to the bad old days when a developer could plop down a new town just about anywhere in the state.

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 4-10-09

FEATURED STORIES

U.S. Sugar Corp. tells Florida negotiators: Take land deal or leave it
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Lingering cost concerns about the state's scaled-down $533 million Everglades land deal prompted a take-it-or-leave-it message Thursday from U.S. Sugar Corp.

Florida's worsening drought sparks water fights
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Everglades marshes and Big Cypress swamps are drying up. Estuaries at the mouths of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers are turning too salty.

U.S. reps ask administration for more Florida panther protection
By Craig Pittman
St. Pete Times
Although the Florida panther has been on the endangered species list for 40 years, the government has never officially designated what its "critical habitat" would be.

Rally urges support for Florida Forever
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
With budget cuts threatening to end the nation's largest land conservation program, environmental groups on Monday released poll results they said showed support for the state's Florida Forever land-buying program.

A Solar-Powered Solution to Florida Sprawl
By Michael Grunwald
Time Magazine
An NFL lineman turned visionary developer today is unveiling startlingly ambitious plans for a solar-powered city of tomorrow in southwest Florida's outback, featuring the world's largest photovoltaic solar plant, a truly smart power grid, recharging stations for electric vehicles and a variety of other green innovations.

The hidden costs of nuclear power
By PlentyMag.com
Mother Nature News
As one of Florida’s largest utilities prepared to unveil details about its nuclear plans in March 2008, its executives showed a noticeable wariness about one detail in particular: the price.

Young want a green future
By Lyndsey Scofield
Tampa Tribune
The next generation is ready. Will our leaders lead us?


Editorial Cartoon by Jim Morin, Miami Herald


MORE GREEN NEWS

Manatee deaths on the rise
By PlentyMag.com
Mother Nature Network
More than 100 newborn manatees were found dead in 2008, up from 59 in 2007, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Budget cuts end program to track endangered Florida panther
By Associated Press
TC Palm
Budget woes are forcing state wildlife officials to cut a program that tracks endangered Florida panthers with GPS-equipped collars.

Protect Florida panther habitat from development
By Andrew McElwaine
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Florida panther is one of the most endangered animals on Earth, with only 80 to 100 remaining.

Fish and Wildlife to review 13 Florida endangered species
Staff Report
Orlando Sentinel
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will conduct status reviews of 13 plants on Florida's endangered species list.

Proposal would protect Florida springs
By Jim Saunders and Dinah Voyles Pulver
Daytona Beach News-Journal
State Sen. Lee Constantine describes springs as "one of the last and most-unique treasures" of Florida.

Proposed cuts to petroleum cleanup raise civic concerns
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
Engineers and environmentalists warned Monday about proposed budget cuts to a $151.7 million program that pays for some 5,000 active cleanup projects where plumes of gasoline and other petroleum products threaten drinking-water supplies.

Ethanol producers, once riding high in Fla. and elsewhere, now struggle
By David Adams
St. Pete Times
A year ago, the ethanol industry was riding high on spiraling gas prices that made corn-based biofuel a highly attractive home-grown supplement to costly gasoline.

McKeel: Lift Moratorium On Offshore Oil Drilling
By Bill Rufty
Lakeland Ledger
Legislation by Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, requesting Congress withdraw a moratorium barring drilling for oil and gas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is one step away from being voted on by the Florida House.

Look for a change in Florida's growth law
By Howard Troxler
St. Pete Times
It's always risky to predict what the Legislature will do.

Relaxing growth rules could open floodgates to more sprawl
By Anthony Westbury
TC Palm
So, how did Florida get into such a bottomless financial pit?

Florida Forever: Keep it going
Editorial
Florida Times-Union
It would be a shame if the state's landmark Florida Forever environmental land-buying program does not last beyond this year.

Florida Forever
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
Alachua County residents have twice voted with their pocketbooks in favor of land preservation; once several years ago in creating Alachua County Forever, and again last year to provide a new funding source for it.

Developers, politicians reach deal on bear habitat, but nature loses
Editorial
St. Pete Times
Who looks out for Florida's wildlife in Aripeka?

No drilling in the Gulf
Editorial
Gainesville Sun
It isn't hard to be a voice of reason against a chorus chanting, "Drill, baby, drill." But credit goes to Ken Salazar, the new Interior Secretary, who is undertaking a serious review of U.S. energy policy.


Critically endangered Florida panther

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"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 3-13-09

FEATURED STORIES

Florida moves to ban catching freshwater turtles
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Read the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission press release here.
The state of Florida moved to ban the commercial catch of freshwater turtles Friday, after reports that vast numbers were being exported to China and other East Asian countries.

Some fear Navy sonar may harm Fla.'s right whales
By Ron Word
Associated Press
In the blue-green surf, 11 endangered North Atlantic right whales surface, jump and shoot mist high into the air through their blow holes.

Water managers to U.S. Sugar: Disclose payments to lobbyists, execs
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post South Florida water managers want U.S. Sugar Corp. to disclose any "success fees" attached to its pending sale of 180,000 acres of farmland to the state.

Lawmakers may bar pre-charging for nuclear plants
By Fred Hiers
Gainesville Sun
Progress Energy customers might not have to worry about helping to pay for the utility's proposed nuclear power plant for the next couple of years.

House, Senate panels OK tax breaks for oil and gas drilling
By Paul Flemming
Tallahassee Democrat
A proposal to get oil and natural gas production going again in the Panhandle and Southwest Florida sailed through House and Senate committees Tuesday.


Florida softshell turtle

MORE GREEN NEWS

Proposal aims at boosting use of electric-powered cars
By Josh Hafenbrack
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Legislature is taking a step toward giving a Sunshine State boost to the next generation of automobiles: electric-powered cars.

State solar proposal gaining support
By Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Support is building from diverse corners for a new electricity pricing system in Florida that would allow anyone with roof space or open land to profit from solar energy.

Progress Energy's rate cut on hold till at least April
By Fred Hiers
Ocala Star-Banner
Progress Energy customers will have to wait until at least April before seeing a reduction in their bills.

Amid nuclear worker shortage, FPL says it's following rules
By John Dorschner
Miami Herald
Five times since 2000, operators of U.S. nuclear power plants have been found slumped over their controls asleep, according to federal documents.

Alarm rising over drought's threat to coastal drinking water supplies
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Lake Okeechobee, inundated last fall by Tropical Storm Fay's sopping march across the state, is saving a parched South Florida from tightening its emergency water restrictions amid the third-driest drought since 1932, water managers said today.

Displaced Gopher Tortoises Have Environmentalists Fuming
Central Florida 13 News
Gopher tortoises have environmentalists concerned the reptiles will be buried alive.

Marching Ahead for Better Seagrass Protection
Audubon of Florida
Over half a million acres of seagrass habitat are found in Florida, creating some of the largest underwater meadows in the world.

Sea of trouble: state leaders must do more to protect our oceans and waterways
Editorial
Florida Today
The bounty and beauty of the sea is what makes us who we are along the Space Coast.

Poll finds Florida voters split on proposed U.S. Sugar land deal
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Floridians are divided -- at best -- on Gov. Charlie Crist's bid to buy U.S. Sugar's farms for $1.34 billion, according to a new poll commissioned by a group fighting the deal.

Survey: Floridians would support laws to reduce emissions
By Stephen D. Price
Tallahassee Democrat
Floridians are concerned about the state's carbon footprint and many would support laws to reduce emissions and require auto manufacturers to sell cars and light trucks that emit fewer harmful greenhouse gases, according to a recent survey.


Critically endangered right whale and calf

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 3-6-09

FEATURED STORIES

Environment Provides Florida Huge Economic Benefits
Press Release
The Nature Conservancy
View the report here.
The tremendous financial benefits Florida receives from its beautiful natural habitats and protected conservation lands are documented and compiled in a new report released today by The Nature Conservancy.

Florida lawmakers seek to streamline environmental, growth regulations
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Two lobbying heavyweights will square off over the Florida's controversial Big Sugar land buy, but another battle in the legislative session opening Tuesday could have broader impacts.

Wading birds vanishing in Everglades National Park
By Whitney Sessa
Miami Herald
It seems even Mother Nature is going through a recession.



MORE GREEN NEWS

State completes $3.4M purchase of Natural Bridge Battlefield
By Gerald Ensley
Tallahassee Democrat
The long effort to preserve the most important Civil War site in the Big Bend climaxed Thursday with the state purchase of 55 acres of the Natural Bridge Battlefield in southern Leon County.

Egmont Key, 18 Other State Parks Get Reprieve
By Mike Salinero
Tampa Tribune
Egmont Key and 18 other parks the state threatened to close in a cost-cutting move will remain open, a member of Gov. Charlie Crist's policy team said Thursday.

Climate forum: Water, wind and fire bombard Earth
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Related: Car cramped, but gets 100 mpg
Stronger but maybe fewer hurricanes. Larger storm surges from ever-rising seas. More fires from intense lightning bolts.

Groups give state C grade on oceans protection
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Environmental News
Florida's efforts to reverse the decline of coastal and ocean resources earned only a C grade today from a coalition of environmental groups who want the state to show more national leadership on ocean issues.

State May Tax Bottlers For Springs' Water
By Mary Ellen Klas and Geoff Fox
Tampa Tribune
In a rural North Florida town where the water tower bears the motto "Tiny but Proud," residents have a big secret: They give the cold, clear spring water that bubbles up from the aquifer below their soil to the nation's largest bottled-water company - for free.

On the prowl: Burmese pythons expand their reach in South Florida
By David Fleshler and Erika Pesantes
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Armed with hooks, tongs and a snake bag, biologists at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge spent Thursday learning how to catch Burmese pythons.

Take Falcon Off the Endangered List?
FWC Press Release
WCTV CBS Tallahassee
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) requests public comment on Florida’s draft peregrine falcon management plan.

Inglis reacts to proposed nuclear plant
By Chris Van Ormer
Chiefland Citizen
The debate about Progress Energy’s new nuclear energy plant still is lively, as proved at a Feb. 26 public testimony session in Inglis.

UCF students protest coal
By Amanda Welch
Central Florida Future
UCF student environmentalists joined thousands of young people in Washington D.C. Monday for the largest act of civil disobedience on climate change in U.S. history.

Obama veers from Bush's environmental course
By Traci Watson
USA Today
Even before George W. Bush can settle into his new house in Dallas, his legacy on the environment is being dismantled by his replacement in the White House.

Florida's coral reefs: A plan to protect them
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A few miles from the southeast Florida coast, at a depth of crushing pressure and frigid temperatures, lies an eerie world of snowy coral, undiscovered forms of life and rock towers thrusting through ink-dark water.

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

"it's all connected"

Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 2-13-09

FEATURED STORIES

Miami-Dade's stance on urban development boundary: Yes and no
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
Miami-Dade County, defending a decision to allow developers to breach the Urban Development Boundary, was up against damning evidence from compelling experts. Those experts just happened to be on the county payroll.


Click the banner above to visit Hold The Line’s website and help protect Miami-Dade’s UDB.

Volunteers work to make sure turtles survive
By Sarah Rose Stewart
Florida Times-Union
Related: Click here to visit the Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch website.
Hours before many residents along the beaches of Amelia Island rise on summer mornings, the sea turtles nesting there are hard at work on their lives' ambition: reproduction.

Congressional panel told drilling in gulf off Florida too big of a risk
By Wes Allison
St. Pete Times
Related: Click here to visit Environment Florida’s page on offshore oil drilling.
D.T. Minich, executive director of the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday that drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is not worth the risk to the environment and the area's economy.

Gainesville proposes solution for Paynes Prairie pollution
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Environmental News
Related: Click here to visit the Friends of Paynes Prairie website.
Dirty stormwater runoff laden with nutrients and trash for decades has been spilling onto Paynes Prairie State Preserve near Gainesville before flowing underground into the Floridan Aquifer -- the source of the region's drinking water.

Endangered wood stork at Paynes Prairie

MORE GREEN NEWS

New endangered species: the flatwoods salamander
By Teresa Stepzinski
Florida Times-Union
A shy, diminutive salamander native to South Georgia, North Florida and coastal South Carolina has been listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.


Endangered Flatwoods Salamander

Environmental group files petition against new nuke plant
By Fred Hiers
Ocala Star-Banner
Related: Click here to read the NIRS petition to the nuclear regulatory agency.
The Ecology Party of Florida has joined the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS) in an attempt to stop the construction of two proposed nuclear reactors in Levy County.

Dirty energy loan guarantees stripped from compromise stimulus bill
By Sue Sturgis
Facing South
Clean energy advocates scored a victory yesterday when a provision to provide $50 billion worth of taxpayer loan guarantees for new nuclear and high-tech coal plants was stripped out of the final version of the economic stimulus bill negotiated by the House and Senate.

Can developers keep green promises?
By Ludmilla Lelis
Orlando Sentinel
For decades, one of Florida's last huge undeveloped tracts -- 59,000 acres of swamps and pine mostly in southeast Volusia County -- was considered a "sleeping giant," used for timber farming and hunting.

State Senate bill would give voters say on U.S. Sugar deal
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Anger in Tallahassee over Gov. Charlie Crist's $1.34 billion bid to restore the Everglades could help a proposed law that threatens to block financing for the deal.

Powerful chairman criticizes EPA waterways plan
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Environmental News
The chairman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday criticized a federal plan to set new water quality standards for nutrients in Florida within a year.

Defenders of black bears in Chassahowitzka unhappy as developer moves closer to land swap
By Barbara Behrendt
St. Pete Times
Related: Pasco land swap would be bad for black bears
The planned SunWest Harbourtowne development in Pasco's far northwest corner got a boost Thursday with the approval of a controversial land swap that conservation groups say could lead to the extinction of the black bears in the Chassahowitzka wilderness.

Progress Energy to lower bills 11 percent
By Asjylyn Loder
St. Pete Times
Progress Energy Florida customers reeling from a recent 24 percent increase in their electric bills will get some welcome relief in April, but it may be short-lived.

Everglades: Florida’s Natural Heritage May Not Be Inherited
By Amadu Wiltshire
The University of Tampa Minaret
Over 50 percent of the Everglades have reached the point of no return due to man’s uncaring activities in the region.

Chamber’s plan to block Florida Hometown Democracy discriminates against military, local elections offices
By Kelly Cornelius
Creative Loafing
Here we go again. Is there no end to the dirty tricks the growth machine in Florida is willing to go to in order to stop Florida Hometown Democracy?

Northeast Florida may become a 'caution area'
By Steve Patterson
Florida Times-Union
Aquifer levels will drop seriously in Northeast Florida within 20 years if a growing population doesn’t waste less water, new estimates by water managers warn.

For years, tens of millions of gallons of drinking water have been dumped in Orlando area
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Before you feel guilty about a drippy faucet or a long shower, think about what happens to water inside a patch of southeast Orange County suburbia.

Wildwood Preservation Society is a non-profit 501(c)(4) project of the Advocacy Consortium for the Common Good. Click here to learn more.

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