Florida environmental and wildlife news for the week ending 9-25-09

FEATURED STORIES

Getting Serious About Global Warming
The Progress Report
Think Progress
Even as pressure builds for the U.S. Senate to take action on global warming, polluters have intensified their campaigns to block clean energy reform.

Group formed to help resolve tri-state water dispute
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
A diverse coalition of groups within Alabama, Florida and Georgia is trying to encourage a discussion of water issues that have divided residents of the three states in the past.

Are you drinking dirty water? Florida among 10 worst states for tap water
By Daniel Vasquez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
A recent New York Times series called "Toxic Waters" has rightly drawn attention to the issue of drinking safe - or unsafe, as the case may be - tap water.

Do gopher tortoises need federal protection from the building industry? Feds to ponder the issue
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
Federal officials are considering whether to add protections for the gopher tortoise that environmentalists say are long overdue but that builders industry experts warn could be catastrophic for Florida's economy.

Activists want bigger 'critical’ area off Florida-Georgia coast for right whales
By Steve Patterson
Florida Times-Union
Related: Training range OK for whales, Navy says
Wildlife activists are asking the federal government to enlarge an area off the Florida-Georgia coast where special efforts are made to protect endangered right whales.


Critically endangered right whales.

THE BIG OIL ROUNDUP

The Big Oil roundup: news and information about Big Oil’s push to rig Florida’s coastline for the week ending 9-25-09

Group pushes for Gulf drilling legislation
By Carl Mario Nudio
Bradenton Herald
Looking to influence the future of oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, an advocacy group has been traveling Florida promoting its ideas.

Offshore drilling supporter tells tourism agency: It's safe
By Valerie Whitney
Daytona Beach News Journal
State Rep. Dean Cannon, a big supporter of offshore drilling, brought his platform Thursday to the people charged with attracting visitors to Florida.


Digitally mapped simulation of what the oil spill happening right now off Australia’s coast would look like if it happened from a drilling platform 80 miles from Florida’s coastline in the Gulf of Mexico. This map was created two weeks ago – it would in fact be much worse now because it's still leaking 400 barrels a day and the rig isn't expected to be plugged UNTIL AT LEAST MID-OCTOBER! Moreover, this ongoing catastrophe emanated from a new oil platform that the fossil fuel lobby has touted as safe. Per the article above, did Rep. Cannon tell tourism officials any of this? He's just another Big Oil shill, baby, shill.

Sarasota County opposes drilling
Staff Report
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Related editorial: Taking a stand against drilling
Pristine beaches should trump oil exploration, Sarasota County leaders said Tuesday in opposing any oil exploration in Florida waters.

Expanded Oil Drilling Within 3 to 10 Miles Of Florida's West Coast? (audio story)
By Robert Lorei
WMNF Community Radio Tampa
There's a renewed effort to try to lift the ban on oil drilling close to Florida's coastline.

Mike Haridopolos: Oil drilling, low taxes on tap for Florida
By Mike Haridopolos
TC Palm
Economic growth. Increased sovereignty. Transparency in government. Citizen participation. Tax relief. Spending restraint.

Chamber survey seeks support for 'energy exploration'
By Mary Ellen Klas
St. Petersburg Times
The Florida Chamber of Commerce is ratcheting up the oil-drilling debate with a new "survey" of its members that asks whether they would support or oppose cap and trade, renewable energy standards for electric companies and "energy exploration in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida as long as any permanent structures necessary for oil and natural gas production are not visible from shore?"

Alex Sink is following legislation 'very closely'
By Tom McLaughlin
Northwest Florida Daily News
Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer and the leading Democratic candidate for governor, said she’s following “very closely” state legislation that would allow oil drilling near the coast.


Click the picture above to urge Senate President Jeff Atwater to oppose state legislative efforts that would allow offshore oil drilling off Florida’s coast.

MORE ONLINE ACTIONS
Tell Salazar: No drilling off Florida's Coast, via Environment Florida.
Tell new Senator LeMieux to Repower America, via Environment Florida.
Tell Your Senator No More Offshore Drilling, via Oceana.
Tell Sen. Atwater Not To Allow Oil Drilling In Special Session, via Audubon of Florida.

MORE GREEN NEWS

World Leaders Bring Hope to the Sunshine State? (includes audio)
By Gina Presson
Public News Service Florida
As leaders of the world's largest economies begin the Group of Twenty (G-20) summit today in Pittsburgh, many in Florida are watching for discussion of climate change.

Feds Again Petitioned for Florida Panther Critical Habitat
Staff Report
Environmental News Service
As a species, the endangered Florida panther needs about 4,860 square miles in southern Florida to be protected as critical habitat to save the animal from extinction and recover the species, according to a new scientific petition submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by three nonprofit organizations.

Florida rural lands rule withstands farm groups' challenge
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Florida farm groups supported the Rural Land Stewardship Act in 2001 because they said it would preserve agriculture while helping the economies of rural communities.

Enviro group joins in criticism of PSC
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
One of the most active environmental groups before the Florida Public Service Commission says recent controversies show the panel is overly influenced by utilities and lobbyists, including former PSC staff and commissioners.

Polluted Lake Okeechobee getting dirtier
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Water managers, environmental agencies and conservation groups have been talking about cleaning up Lake Okeechobee for decades.

Atlanta Floods May Bring Temporary Peace to Water Wars
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
The is a silver lining in the more than 20 inches of rain that has beset the Atlanta area.

Salty St. Johns River could change wetlands in Duval, Clay, St. Johns
By Steve Patterson
Florida Times-Union
Wetlands in Jacksonville and northern St. Johns and Clay counties could be changed by rising salt levels if utilities withdraw water from the St. Johns River far upstream, a state researcher told scientists Wednesday at a symposium on possible withdrawals.

High Mercury Levels Found In North Fla. River Fish
The Associated Press
WKRG News 5 Pensacola-Mobile
Researchers are warning north Florida residents to be careful about consuming mercury-contaminated fish from some area rivers.

Project to map Everglades water levels aims to protect wildlife
By Kimberly Miller
Palm Beach Post
Fat alligators are happy alligators and a sign that water levels in the Everglades are just right.

New, nastier python enters Everglades fray
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
As if one giant python wasn't enough, a cluster of captures in a single square mile of West Miami-Dade has scientists worried about a new species spreading across South Florida.

Florida senator proposes python ban
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
You wouldn't be able to buy a Burmese python as a pet anymore in Florida, under a bill drafted by a state senator who said the state should shut off the source of "dangerous reptiles" that have colonized the Everglades.

Volusia County gives 1st approval to Farmton -- city in the wilderness
By Ludmilla Lelis
Orlando Sentinel
A plan that would conserve more than 40,000 acres of remote timberland while establishing a new city of more than 20,000 homes has passed its first round of approvals.

Some get it right, some get it wrong on local growth decisions
By Jane Healy
Orlando Sentinel
Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet got it right last week when they flatly rejected a project in the middle of Ocala horse country.

Time to end canned hunts on Treasure Coast
Editorial
TC Palm
Owners of JR Outfitters deny that they’re running “canned hunts” out in Indiantown. But charging hunters for the privilege of shooting exotic animals inside an enclosed area pretty much fits the bill.

Manatees are symbolic
Editorial
Tallahassee Democrat
The story of a manatee's death, descriptively told by reporter Amanda Nalley in Saturday's Democrat, is a reminder of the resources in peril in Florida waters.

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 9-11-09

FEATURED STORIES

Huge oil spill off Australia cited by opponents of drilling off Florida
By Craig Pittman
St. Petersburg Times
Related editorial: Don't let this come to Florida's shores
On Aug. 21, oil began bubbling out from an offshore rig about 90 miles from Australia's coast.

More anti-drilling editorials from Florida’s major daily newspapers:
Palm Beach Post: Advice for special session: Don't take up drilling...
Florida Today: Stop the stampede
Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Stop the oil rush
Gainesville Sun: The rush job


Montara (West Atlas) Blowout and Oil Spill, Western Australia, August 2009 (note: Florida Energy Associates has touted Australia's drilling technology in their efforts to open Florida's coast).

Senate President doubts special session for oil drilling
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Related: Associated Industries wants oil drilling on special session agenda
Senate President Jeff Atwater today said a special session of the Legislature in October is highly unlikely and he raised doubts about whether it should include consideration of lifting Florida's ban on offshore oil drilling.

Slow the rush to drill near Florida's beaches
By Eric Draper
Tallahassee Democrat
Gov. Charlie Crist recently set off speculation about adding oil drilling to the agenda for the upcoming special session of the Legislature. It was an unfortunate change of position, but not surprising for this governor who is campaigning for the U.S. Senate and appears to be leaving his own high-minded climate and energy agenda undone.

The mystery push for offshore oil
By David Guest
Tampa Tribune
News that "a secretive group of powerful legislators, business groups and Texas oil companies has been laying the groundwork" to open Florida's shores to oil and gas drilling should make all of us sit up and pay attention.

Not here and not now: the case against drilling
By Eric Ernst
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
A local environmental organization, ManaSota-88, has just released a position paper called "10 Reasons Not to Drill for Oil Offshore of Florida."

Former Florida Gov. Bob Graham tries to chill state GOP's ardor for oil
By Adam C. Smith
St. Petersburg Times
Former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has watched the politics of offshore drilling flip 180 degrees in recent years.


Digitally mapped simulation of what the oil spill happening right now off Australia’s coast would look like if it happened from a drilling platform 80 miles from Florida’s coastline in the Gulf of Mexico.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Endangered Florida panthers feel the squeeze
By Alex Halperin
Christian Science Monitor
Related AP story: Another Fla. panther found dead on interstate
As southwest Florida struggles through the recession, the highly endangered Florida panther, which has lost much of its habitat to strip malls and gated communities, might have been expected to benefit from tough times.

Florida wildlife leaders consider using federal standards for imperiled species
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Related: Lightning-rod list of Florida's vanishing wildlife
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will outline the details today of a third major overhaul in less two decades of the agency's troubled efforts to list species on the brink of extinction.

Rare whales' safety pits U.S. Navy against environmentalists
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald
Florida isn't known for whale watching, but every winter the coastline offers a haven for endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Saving the shark that bit me
By Debbie Salamone
Bradenton Herald
Sharks rarely attack people. The odds of a shark bite are roughly one in every 11.5 million times a person visits a beach, according to the International Shark Attack File.

Miami Beach’s Sea Turtles Threatened by Its People
By Carmen Gentile
New York Times
Under the cloak of nightfall, dozens of freshly hatched sea turtles beat tiny flippers against the wet sands of Miami Beach, inching their way toward the ocean and a life aquatic.

Gopher tortoise could get protection under Endangered Species Act
By Eric Staats
Naples News
Gopher tortoises that crawl around dry scrubby habitat in Southwest Florida could be making a move under the Endangered Species Act.

Builders wary of more gopher tortoise protection
By Steve Patterson
Florida Times-Union
A federal agency is taking a fresh look at whether gopher tortoises need new protections that could have big impacts on development in Florida and Georgia.

State leaders clash over growth plans
By Charlie Whitehead
Naples News
With all the controversial changes in Florida growth management regulations in the past few years, the sharpest disagreement during a recent seminar in Fort Myers was over a change that hasn’t been made.

Trees or homes? Miami Corp. land use hinges on Volusia, Brevard OK
By Ludmilla Lelis
Orlando Sentinel
During the next 50 years, a new city of residential villages and business districts could be carved out of remote timberland in central Volusia and northern Brevard counties where Florida black bears and panthers still roam.

Catching On To Florida's Economic 'Ponzi Scheme'
By Diane Roberts
NPR
For the first time since World War II, Florida is losing population.

Mine expansion plan worries Everglades restorers
By Paul Quinlan
Palm Beach Post
South Florida water managers are raising concerns about a proposal to expand a rock mine that borders future Everglades restoration land.

Costs grow for Everglades reservoir left unfinished by sugar deal
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Tack on another $12 million to the taxpayers' tab for the cost of a massive, unfinished reservoir rendered obsolete by a proposed half-billion-dollar Everglades-restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp.

Florida's waterways must be a priority
By Joe Murphy, Gulf Restoration Network
St. Petersburg Times
Few things unite Floridians like water. We swim in it, fish in it, paddle over it, and rely on it for our very survival.

Filmmaker not content to watch Orange Lake wetlands die
By Jared Leone
St. Petersburg Times
Some make movies for the glitz and glamor of Hollywood. Terry Neal made his movie to save Orange Lake.

A contract with nature
By Tom Bayles
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
It has been nearly 60 years since the start of the great Florida building boom where those involved were more focused on the millions they were making rather than any damage they were doing to ecosystems.

Progress, FP&L argue for nuke cost recovery
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
Witnesses for an environmental group and utilities wanting to build nuclear power plants sparred Tuesday before the Public Service Commission over the predicted costs of construction and how to pay for them.

Progress Energy, FPL nuclear costs face double challenge
By Kevin Spear
Orlando Sentinel
Environmental activists and the state advocate for utility customers plan to challenge Florida's two biggest power companies this week when the companies urge state regulators to let them continue charging for the early costs of nuclear plants not yet under construction.

2 Fla. PSC staffers resign as nuke plant weighed
By Bill Kaczor
The Associated Press
Two top Public Service Commission staffers resigned Tuesday and two others went on administrative leave as alleged ethics lapses again overshadowed a hearing on proposed rate increases - this time to pay for new nuclear power plants.

A toxic, exotic mess in the Everglades
Editorial
St. Petersburg Times
With the environmental focus on global warming and greenhouse gases, it's easy to forget that other pollutants continue to need regulatory attention.


Critically endangered Florida panther.

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"

Support Florida Forever

Please read the urgent message below from Audubon of Florida and take action.



Senate Budget Cuts Florida Forever and Gopher Tortoise Mitigation

Florida Forever is the state's conservation land-buying program, which supports the acquisition of some of Florida's most important natural areas. It appears that the Senate is poised to suspend Florida Forever spending in the current fiscal year. It is not clear that the House will go along.
A statement released Wednesday night by Ways and Means Policy and Steering Committee Chair Senator JD Alexander read, "This was a difficult decision. I believe that Florida Forever is an excellent program; preserving state land is a worthwhile endeavor. However, we are in a budget crisis of unprecedented proportions. President Atwater charged us to question every state expenditure to determine if it was absolutely critical to the teaching, housing, feeding, transporting, protecting, caring or creating jobs for Floridians. Florida Forever is a good program, but it is not a critical program. In light of the reductions being taken in other areas of our state budget, I believe suspending funding for this fiscal year, is the best course of action. Every dollar saved means less cuts to education, healthcare, and other vital budget areas.”

Long-time Florida Forever friends in key leadership roles including Senator Lee Constantine and Senate President Jeff Atwater suggest that suspending Florida Forever spending will allow agencies to reappraise projects to make sure that the state is not paying too much. The Cabinet's last approved project, Promise Ranch, raised legislators' eyebrows when $7 million was committed for a conservation easement on an ecologically unranked project.

Audubon is working to limit the reach of the cuts to Florida Forever and hopes that legislators will back off cuts that would impact important and long-sought projects in the Florida Keys, the Lake Wales Ridge and other special places. “The savings legislators are seeking can be accomplished without sacrificing any of the good projects on the Florida Forever list,” said Eric Draper, Audubon of Florida’s Deputy Director.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Sign the petition to the Senate and Governor Crist, urging them to hold harmless the good projects on the Florida Forever List.

Among the cuts to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is the sweep of $5 million in gopher tortoise mitigation funds to general revenue. These dollars were the result of take permit fees for the entombment of gopher tortoises as previously permitted by the state. Historically these funds were used to acquire gopher tortoise habitat elsewhere to help mitigate the take of tortoises by land conversion. This is a troubling precedent in the world of mitigation, which only works when the regulated and conservation communities have a degree of trust that mitigation fees are not arbitrary and the funds will be used to replace lost natural resources. Read Audubon's letter on this issue to Governor Crist.

RELATED LINKS
Audubon of Florida
Florida Forever Land Acquisition Program
Gopher Tortoise Council

Wildwood Preservation Society is a member of the Support Florida Forever Coalition.



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"