Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 11-7-08

FEATURED STORIES

Audubon of Florida Lauds Passage by Florida Voters of Amendment 4
Press Release
Audubon of Florida
Constitutional Amendment 4 will conserve Florida's water resources and wildlife habitats by providing tax incentives to private landowners who manage their land for conservation.

Battle looms on development push to the edge of the Everglades
By Matthew Haggman
Miami Herald
Related: West Kendall council moves along Parkland project
Fireworks are expected at the first hearing on a controversial proposal to move the Urban Development Boundary to build a town on West Miami-Dade farmland.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Florida Crystals looks to expand violation-plagued power plant
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Florida Crystals, already one of the nation's largest sugar producers, wants to play a bigger part in developing renewable energy by expanding the power plant it has used since 1995 to turn leftover sugar cane into electricity.

Co-op wants slice of land from U.S. Sugar buyout
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
The smallest of Florida's three major sugar companies wants a piece of the 187,000 acres the state is negotiating to purchase in its $1.75 billion buyout of U.S. Sugar Corp.

The Division of Florida
By Alan Farago
Counterpunch
The US presidential campaign has only addressed in generic terms the wreckage caused by Wall Street, the absence of financial regulation and the wages of greed, and not at all how that feeding tube connects locally: too many platted subdivisions in farmland and wetlands and condos barricading Florida's coasts.

FPL asks to raise rates by 7 percent
By Julie Patel
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Florida Power & Light Co. customers could see their monthly electric bills increase by more than 7 percent next year if the state approves the utility's environmental, fuel and energy conservation fees totaling almost $7.3 billion.

Early turtle roundup upbeat
By Michelle Spitzer
Florida Today
Despite Tropical Storm Fay and bouts of strong wind, sea turtle nesting season ended Friday with encouraging results.

Saving a vanishing species
By Georgia Tasker
Miami Herald
Exploring South Florida and the Caribbean with his notebook and camera in the early 20th century, the botanist John Kunkle Small, with the New York Botanical Garden, hiked through vast areas of botanical richness.




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 10-31-08

Lennar push to move Dade's development line criticized
By Matthew Haggman
Miami Herald
Days before a group led by home builder Lennar launches an effort to win government approval for a new suburb on Miami-Dade County's western fringe, two of Miami's most prominent developers said the project should be rejected.

What the Everglades needs
Palm Beach Post
Editorial
The latest update on Everglades restoration contained nothing new, which should make the issue a priority for the state's new congressional delegation.

Oil drilling splits presidential field
By Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Whoever wins the White House, Florida's air and water stand to gain more protection than in the past eight years, if the budget allows it, environmental advocates say.

Coconut Creek suburbanites team with neo-hippies to fight Lowe's
By Amy Guthrie
Broward New Times
Brian Sprinkle dismounts from a blue ten-speed with a warm smile on his face.

Fla. panel delays tougher auto emission standards
By Bill Kaczor
Associated Press
Bowing to the auto industry and other business interests, a state panel Wednesday delayed a vote on adopting California's tough standards for car and light truck emissions.

Amendment 4 would give conserved land a tax break
By Melissa Nelson
Associated Press
Gulf County Commissioner Billy Traylor says he is supporting Amendment 4 on Tuesday's ballot because he prefers the tiny fishing villages and pine tree farms of his rural county to the widespread development of South Florida.

FWC to hold workshop in Tampa on freshwater turtle harvests
North Florida Daily News
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will begin hearing input on the harvest of Florida's freshwater turtles.

Plans For "Mahan Massacre" Withdrawn (includes video)
WCTV News Tallahassee
Following a resounding recommendation against approval by The Florida Department of Community Affairs (DCA) the proposed 'Mahan Massacre' development has been withdrawn prior to a final vote scheduled tomorrow before the Leon County Commission.

Leaders gather to support St. Johns cleanup plan
By Deirdre Conner
Florida Times-Union
Gov. Charlie Crist and other major players in the health of the St. Johns River gathered at its banks Monday to promote a sweeping plan to improve its health.

More water than we can use
By Doug Sword
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
During the height of the building boom, fear of a growing water shortage helped push through plans for a $128 million expansion of the region's key source of drinking water.

Turtle protection plan spurs debate in Florida
By Susan Cocking
Miami Herald
William Shockley and his teenage son are fishing for freshwater turtles the same way their family has done it for four generations in south-central Florida: deploying about a mile of nylon line on four sets of buoys holding 1,000 small hooks baited with bits of bacon in the clear, shallow waters of Lake Grassy.

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 10-24-08

Florida's global-warming goals look like expensive hot air
By Mike Thomas
Orlando Sentinel
Florida has embarked on a noble mission to cool the globe and cut dependence on fossil fuels.

Environmentalists, auto dealers clash over emission standards
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
Environmentalists turned up the heat Tuesday on Florida regulators ahead of next week's crucial vote to adopt California-style auto emission standards.

Environmentalists call for heightened regulation of Florida turtle harvesting
By Jim Ash
Tallahassee Democrat
Environmentalists are warning that China's new hunger for Florida freshwater turtles could doom the species and that new harvest limits that take effect on Thursday don't go nearly far enough.

Governor's climate team predicts Florida will beat emission targets
By Asjylyn Loder
St. Pete Times
An ambitious plan to slash Florida's greenhouse gas emissions will far exceed the targets set by Gov. Charlie Crist while saving the state billions of dollars, according to a report from Crist's climate team.

Florida's wild freshwater turtles are being raided to meet demand in foreign markets
By Matthew J. Aresco
Orlando Sentinel
Did you know that hunters are legally prowling Florida's public lakes, wetlands and rivers, snagging pickup-truck loads of freshwater turtles and selling them to Asian markets?




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"