Gulf Oil Spill - Take Action

GULF OIL SPILL – TAKE ACTION NOW

Incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon and Senate President Mike Haridopolos have been the biggest proponents of offshore drilling in the legislature. The tragedy of the massive oil spill in the Gulf should be a wake-up call to both, that doing so would be a disaster for Florida’s environment and economy. Sign the open letter via Progress Florida to Rep. Cannon and Sen. Haridopolos demanding to know: will they still push for offshore drilling next legislative session?

LATEST ACTIONS
Help rescue Florida’s coastal birds, via Audubon of Florida.
Oil Spill Alert: Take Action for Manatees and Other Wildlife, via Save the Manatee Club.
Help protect marine wildlife from BP drilling disaster, via Gulf Restoration Network.
Stop offshore drilling, via Environment America.
Oil Spill Threatens Critical Nesting Habitat, via National Wildlife Foundation.
Enough is enough!, via Sierra Club.
Tell White House to Reverse Offshore Drilling Plans!, via Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Tell President Obama to Reinstate the Ban on Dangerous Offshore Drilling, via Defenders of Wildlife.
Gulf Spill Disaster - Stop Offshore Oil Drilling, via Center for Biological Diversity.
Help prevent another drilling disaster, via Defenders of Wildlife.
Tell officials: fight for Florida’s beaches, via Emerald Coastkeeper.
Save both coasts from offshore drilling, via Oceana.
Gulf oil spill – we told you so, via True Majority.
Obama must call a time out on Arctic drilling, via Earthjustice.
Protect the arctic from oil drilling, via The Wilderness Society.

ACTIONS OPPOSING OBAMA’S DRILLING PLAN
President Obama, Drilling Is Not the Answer, via Friends of the Earth.
Tell President Obama You Oppose Offshore Oil Drilling, via Endangered Species Coalition.
Don’t Sacrifice the Oceans in the Name of Climate Change, via Oceana.Demand that President Obama protect our oceans from oil drilling, via Center for Biological Diversity.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES OF NOTE
Hands Across The Sand website; their Twitter page is here.
Protect Florida’s Beaches, recently launched coalition website.
Protect Florida’s Beaches on Facebook.
Think, Baby, Think blog via Protect Florida’s Beaches.
Don’t Drill Florida website.
Don’t Drill Florida Facebook page.
Save Our Shores Florida website; their Twitter page is here.
Floridians Against Big Oil social network.
Save Our Shores Florida Facebook page.
Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition website.
Environment Florida offshore drilling page.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy offshore drilling page.
Skytruth blog, an excellent source of info.
Not the Answer blog, courtesy Surfrider Foundation.
Eye-opening map of oil and gas leases and infrastructure in Gulf of Mexico, via MMS.
EnergyFLA.com, online hub of drilling proponents; their Twitter page is here.

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 period ending 4-2-10

FEATURED STORIES

Ruling puts U.S. Sugar-Everglades land buy in peril

By Curtis Morgan

Miami Herald

The Miami federal judge overseeing Everglades cleanup issued a ruling Wednesday that could prove the final nail in the coffin of Gov. Charlie Crist's controversial Big Sugar land buy -- or serve as a judicial kick in the butt to finally seal the much-delayed, twice-downsized deal.

Florida for sale? Is the state going to start selling off its land?

By Bruce Ritchie

Florida Tribune

With Florida facing a budget crisis, some legislators say it's time for the state to put some land up for sale that is no longer needed for conservation.

Water bill raises red flag for environmentalists

By Kate Bradshaw

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

Environmentalists say a bill that the Florida House of Representatives is slated to take up next week may adversely impact Florida’s water resources.

Cities and counties told there could be no parks money again this year

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Representatives of Florida cities and counties were warned Tuesday that there may not be state grant money again this year for their park and open space purchases.

Group wants voters to have a say in growth

By Dale White

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The president of Florida Hometown Democracy, a group pushing a proposed state constitutional amendment that would empower voters to ratify or veto changes in their communities' growth management plans, rallied her local fan base Saturday.

Florida’s government proves itself incapable of managing growth without citizen oversight

By Mariella Smith

Creative Loafing

Even after ruining our economy with a drunken spree of speculative over-building, Florida’s political leaders cannot stop digging us further into the hole, irresponsibly dishing out way too many development approvals to their developer-cronies.

No More Fish? Let Them Eat Cake

By Alan Farago

Counterpunch

A noteworthy report in The New York Times, "In Florida, the Seafood Becomes Less Local", makes the case obvious to anyone with half a brain: the vision of the oceans to be the world's future breadbasket is rapidly fading in the rear view mirror.

Snapper season reduced but catch increased

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Anglers from Gulf states including Florida will be allowed to catch more red snapper this year but must do so during shortened season under a new federal proposal.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary ghost orchid does it again, just early

By Kevin Lollar

Ft. Myers News-Press

Scanning the high branches of an ancient bald cypress with borrowed binoculars Monday in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Robert Firth acquired his target.

'An awful lot of development'

Editorial

Tampa Tribune

Every legislative session, pro-growth lawmakers try to weaken growth rules. This year the pretext is to restore lost construction jobs, as if a worthy motive validates the false assumption that state and local governments have somehow stopped developers.

Sneak attack

Editorial

Florida Today

The development industry’s powerful hold on Florida lawmakers is legendary with last year the ultimate proof.

Watch sneaky lawmakers

Editorial

Tampa Tribune

The Florida Legislature showed last week why it can't be trusted.

Endangered ghost orchid.

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 4-2-10:

Map of areas to be opened for offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling under newly unveiled Obama administration proposal.

Obama moves to open Florida coast to drilling

By Alex Leary and Craig Pittman

St. Petersburg Times

Related: Newt Gingrich in St. Petersburg, supports drilling now

Related editorial: Obama gives away too much in oil drilling offer

President Barack Obama moved decisively Wednesday to eliminate a hard-fought federal ban on oil drilling off Florida's west coast, drawing mixed political reaction and outrage from environmentalists.

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time

By John M. Broder

New York Times

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

Florida environmentalists blast Obama oil plan

By Lesley Clark

Miami Herald

Excerpt: Progress Florida, which has opposed past efforts to lift bans on offshore oil drilling, reacted quickly to the news. "Offshore drilling, especially drilling as close as 4 miles from Florida's Atlantic beaches, tastes bad no matter which president from whatever party is serving it," said Mark Ferrulo, director of Progress Florida. "The President's support doesn't change the facts, expanded drilling won't lower gas prices and it represents a dirty and dangerous activity that risks catastrophic damage to our beloved beaches."

Could oil-spill disaster happen in Florida? Aussie rig debacle offers lessons

By Kevin Spear

Orlando Sentinel

As the nation's top regulator of offshore drilling, Elmer "Bud" Danenberger was nearing retirement last year when he began to get word of a major rig accident halfway around the world.

Obama's drilling plan stuns Fla. environmentalists, encourages GOP (includes reader poll)

By Michael C. Bender

Palm Beach Post

Oil and gas rigs could drill 105 miles closer to Florida beaches under a plan President Obama said today would strengthen national security and boost the depressed economy.

Obama clears way for oil drilling off eastern Gulf coast (includes reader poll)

By Eric Staats

Naples News

The oil and gas industry should first tap the millions of acres opened in 2006, Progress Florida director Mark Ferrulo said Wednesday. "Every time we give them an inch they take a mile," he said. "Our buffer continues to keep shrinking. We think we just need to draw a line in the Gulf and not let them cross it." Ferrulo said the Obama plan is particularly problematic for the state's Atlantic coast, where drilling would be even closer from shore between Fernandina Beach and Melbourne.

Environmentalists blast Obama's offshore drilling plan as a threat to coastal communities

By Sue Sturgis

Facing South

President Obama wants to open vast expanses of ocean along the Atlantic coastline, eastern Gulf of Mexico and north coast of Alaska to offshore oil and gas drilling -- but concerns are being raised about how the plan would impact coastal ecosystems as well as local economies.

No-take fishing zone is 30 miles from proposed drilling buffer

By Kevin Wadlow

Florida Keys Keynoter

A chart showing areas of possible oil exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico looks like a knife blade aimed at the Gulf Stream current -- cutting close to one of the nation's largest marine preserves. “This could come very close to the Dry Tortugas," said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida. "In terms of distance to the Keys, this is nothing."

Nelson's stand dismays critics of oil drilling

By Jeremy Wallace

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Excerpt: Ferrulo said he is hopeful Nelson will drive a harder bargain when the legislation makes it into the Senate for debate.

Florida's political opposition to offshore drilling erodes

By Alex Leary

St. Petersburg Times

"If they were sitting around the White House knowing that Florida would rise up in an apoplectic uproar, chance is this proposal would have looked a lot different," Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida, which tracks the oil debate, said Thursday.

Risk Is Clear in Drilling; Payoff Isn’t

By John M. Broder and Clifford Krauss

New York Times

Related: Obama's Offshore Drilling Pitch Sways Few Fence-Sitters on Climate Bill

Related: No Production From Obama's Offshore Drilling Proposal Until at Least 2014, MMS Says

In proposing a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development, President Obama set out to fashion a carefully balanced plan that would attract bipartisan support for climate and energy legislation while increasing production of domestic oil.

Offshore drilling: Did Rahm Emanuel sell out too soon?

By Joe Conason

Salon

With President Obama's announcement that he will reopen offshore drilling, in the absence of any reciprocal commitment from Republicans to support carbon caps and alternative energy development, there is now an unmistakable pattern of White House strategy.

The Risks, Benefits of Off-Shore Drilling for Florida (includes audio)

By Scott Finn

WUSF Public Radio Tampa

In the wake of President Obama’s announcement to expand offshore oil and gas drilling, people in Florida are struggling to weigh its potential risks and benefits to the state.

Florida Democrats opinions mixed in on President Obama’s proposal to open eastern Gulf for oil and gas exploration

By Mitch Perry

Creative Loafing

Environmental activists are angry, while Florida Democrats more mixed in discussing President Obama’s announcement today to allow for drilling along the eastern Gulf of Mexico as part of his plan to open up a total of 167 million along the Atlantic coastline and the north coast of Alaska

Sea grass protection tangled up in offshore oil drilling

By Dan DeWitt

St. Petersburg Times

Last year, we wrote about the mapping of an under-appreciated natural treasure: a 380,000-acre sea grass bed — the second-largest in the nation — off the coast of Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.

Hands Across the Sand protests at Newt Gingrich’s Town Hall

By Heidi Lux

Creative Loafing Tampa

Hands Across the Sand — a Florida anti-offshore drilling movement — staged a protest in front of Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions town hall meeting at the Vinoy in Downtown St. Petersburg.

Powerful restaurant and hotel group says don't take up drilling

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association is opposing offshore oil and gas drilling and is asking the Legislature not to take up the issue before the session ends on April 30.

Fool's gold

By Patrick Ferry

Northwest Florida Daily News

Now that oil lobbyists have showered sufficient money upon Florida’s legislators to render many of them analytically brain-dead, they are taking their case to “the people,” assuring Floridians that opening coastal waters to oil drilling will improve domestic security and lower gas prices.

Wrong way on energy

Editorial

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

President Barack Obama's proposal to expand offshore oil and gas drilling shows a disappointing lack of foresight and creativity toward meeting our nation's future energy needs.

Drilling plan: Good politics, bad policy

Editorial

Miami Herald

President Obama's expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling in Florida may be good politics, but it's bad policy.

Black gold, Florida snake oil

Editorial

Daytona Beach News-Journal

So, as Florida's drilling supporters drool over royalty millions, they will do well to remember that beach-related tourism accounts for roughly $50 billion a year, or 10 percent of the state's entire economy.

Shelve state drilling plan: Push might be off for this year, back on for next year

Editorial

Palm Beach Post

Five weeks remain in the legislative session, and until the handkerchief drops on April 30, Tallahassee remains capable of mischief.

Oil spills kill.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Write Your State Senator: Big Oil's Promises Are "Empty"

Big Oil and their hired hands in Tallahassee have sworn that drilling Florida’s coast would be “invisible” – that there would be no unsightly rigs just a few miles off our coast. We know different – and a recent eye opening story in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has proven Big Oil’s promises completely “empty.” Click the picture above – keeping the pressure on by letting our State Senators know people like you are paying attention is how we’ll beat Big Oil.

ACTIONS OPPOSING OBAMA’S DRILLING PLAN
President Obama, Drilling Is Not the Answer, via Friends of the Earth.
Tell President Obama You Oppose Offshore Oil Drilling, via Endangered Species Coalition.
Don’t Sacrifice the Oceans in the Name of Climate Change, via Oceana.
MORE ONLINE ACTIONS
Pass a Resolution To Protect Florida's Beaches Now, via Audubon of Florida.
Urge President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force to recommend against offshore drilling within any previously protected coastal waters, via Defenders of Wildlife.
Tell Obama: Offshore Drilling is NOT the Answer to Energy Crisis, via Oceana.
Help Drill for Solutions Not for Oil, via Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Let us decide! Petition to Governor Charlie Crist, Senate President Jeff Atwater, and House Speaker Larry Cretul, via Civic Concern.
Contact Your Officials About New Drilling Off Florida's Coasts, via Civic Concern.
Ask your state legislators to keep the rigs out, via Save the Manatee Club.
Write a letter to the editor, via Audubon of Florida.
Write your state legislators, via Audubon of Florida.
Urge Senate President Jeff Atwater to oppose offshore oil drilling, via Progress Florida.
Tell Sen. Atwater Not To Allow Oil Drilling In Special Session, via Audubon of Florida.
Sign the petition against oil drilling, via Protect Florida’s Beaches.
Tell Salazar: No drilling off Florida's Coast, via Environment Florida.
Tell new Senator LeMieux to Repower America, via Environment Florida.
Related action: Don't go drill crazy in the Everglades, via Center for Biological Diversity.
Related action: Keep oil drilling out of climate change legislation, via Oceana.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES OF NOTE
Hands Across The Sand website; their Twitter page is here.
Protect Florida’s Beaches, recently launched coalition website.
Protect Florida’s Beaches on Facebook.
Think, Baby, Think blog via Protect Florida’s Beaches.
Don’t Drill Florida website.
Don’t Drill Florida Facebook page.
Save Our Shores Florida website; their Twitter page is here.
Floridians Against Big Oil social network.
Save Our Shores Florida Facebook page.
Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition website.
Environment Florida offshore drilling page.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy offshore drilling page.
Skytruth blog, an excellent source of info.
Not the Answer blog, courtesy Surfrider Foundation.
Eye-opening map of oil and gas leases and infrastructure in Gulf of Mexico, via MMS.
EnergyFLA.com, online hub of drilling proponents; their Twitter page is here.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Amendment 4 empowers citizens to vote on their community’s future

By Andrew Dickman

Naples News

Florida’s 1985 Growth Management Act was a promise to all Floridians that they would have a fair say in decisions about the future of their communities.

Carl Hiaasen backs Hometown Democracy

By Abel Harding

Florida Times-Union

Carl Hiaasen, the legendary Miami Herald columnist, has endorsed the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, more commonly known as Amendment 4.

Pasco County Commission Approves Huge Coastal Development

By Kate Bradshaw

WMNF Community Radio

Today the Pasco County Commission voted unanimously to approve a large development in the county’s northwest corner.

Survey shows most Floridians support 'Hometown Democracy' amendment, oil drilling

By Jeff Burlew

Tallahassee Democrat

Most Floridians support the “Hometown Democracy” constitutional amendment but not in high enough numbers to pass the controversial measure this fall, according to the fourth annual Sunshine State survey, released today.

New poll shows Hometown Democracy has majority support, but not enough to pass

By Mitch Perry

Creative Loafing

One of the most interesting state wide races this year will Amendment Four, the Hometown Democracy Amendment.

Florida Association of Counties opposition to Amendment 4 is no surprise to Florida Hometown

Staff Report

The Bradenton Times

It’s no surprise that the Florida Association of Counties voted yesterday to oppose Florida Hometown Democracy/Amendment 4, a citizen’s reform which will appear on the November ballot.

Did TBARTA break the law in voting to oppose Hometown Democracy?

By Mariella Smith

Creative Loafing Tampa

It’s not surprising that TBARTA (Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority) passed a resolution opposing Amendment 4, also known as Florida Hometown Democracy.

Feds thinking of new protections for newts of North Florida, South Georgia

By Steve Patterson

Florida Times-Union

The striped newt is adaptable enough to breathe through gills in small ponds, then shed its gills, breathe straight air and head for the forest when the ponds dry up.

Group Wants to Stop Swims With Crystal River Manatees

By Barbara Behrendt

St. Petersburg Times

Citing record manatee deaths this year, an environmental watchdog group wants to close the popular Kings Spring in Crystal River to swimmers and divers.

Boating restrictions may be tightened in Broward to protect manatees

By David Fleshler

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hated by many boaters and defended by environmentalists, slow-speed zones on Broward County's waterways may soon see their first changes in 17 years.

Florida sugar growers sue to stop regulation under Clean Water Act

By Paul Quinlan

Palm Beach Post

Two of the nation's largest sugar growers, Florida Crystals Corp. and U.S. Sugar Corp., are fighting a new push from the federal government to regulate them under the Clean Water Act.

Judge orders restart of Everglades reservoir project and questions governor's massive land-buy plan

By Paul Quinlan

Palm Beach Post

The federal judge overseeing Everglades cleanup issued a ruling Wednesday that could be the death knell for Gov. Charlie Crist's controversial Everglades restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp.

Water worries for area

By Nathan Crabbe

Gainesville Sun

Gainesville residents are being confronted with a choice: Ease off the tap or prepare to get your drinking water from the Atlantic Ocean or Ocklawaha River.

Florida Legislature must keep Department of Community Affairs in its current form

Editorial

TC Palm

The state of Florida’s most important agency in the effort to properly manage growth is under scrutiny. Again.

Florida's lagging

Editorial

Tallahassee Democrat

The South as a region, and Florida in particular, are trailing behind most of the nation in setting basic standards and goals for renewable energy.

Threatened striped newt.

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 2-26-10

FEATURED STORIES

Environmental fight brewing over rock mining push on former Everglades land

By Andy Reid

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Palm Beach Aggregates plans to expand its rock mining to 2,300 acres — allowing 25 more years of digging — in an area environmentalists contend threatens Everglades restoration.

Crist restocks water board with backers of his Everglades restoration plan

By Michael C. Bender and Paul Quinlan

Palm Beach Post

Environmentalists who favor Gov. Charlie Crist's monumental Everglades restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. saw the odds of success improve Wednesday, when Crist named two allies and re-appointed a third to the board of the South Florida Water Management District, in advance of another crucial vote on the half-billion-dollar purchase.

Florida Springs Day Takes Over Capitol Courtyard!

Audubon of Florida

Springs advocates from across Florida converged on the Capitol courtyard last Tuesday to call on the Florida Legislature to pass meaningful springs protection legislation this year.

Take A Hike, Florida

By Alexis Diao

WFSU Public Radio Tallahassee

Some local environmentalists spent their Saturday morning picking up trash in the Fred George Basin, a sources for Tallahassee's drinking wells. The basin's clean-up is one of ten events throughout the state collectively called "Take a Hike, Florida."

Activists request Florida Forever funding statewide and at Sacred Lands

By Sean Kinane

WMNF Community Radio Tampa

In his budget request for the current year, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has included funding for the purchase of environmentally sensitive lands through a program called Florida Forever.

"Think Before You Throw" Anti-Litter Campaign

By Heather Biance

WCTV CBS News Tallahassee

Americans produce 160-million tons of garbage each year,which is enough to fill 11-million garbage trucks.

Manatees rescued from chilly Fla. waters

The Associated Press

Miami Herald

Wildlife officials are working to rescue distressed manatees across the state.

Corkscrew sanctuary officially designated as a Wetland of International Importance

By Eric Staats

Naples News

Fans of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary have always viewed its towering cypress forest and long vistas of wet prairie to be world-class.

A clearing in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

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 2-26-10:

Palin slimes Florida with oil-drilling push

By Tony Plakas

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The unctuous Sarah Palin recently surfaced in Florida on a national tour like an unwanted oil spill, spewing her slippery nonsense to thousands of race fans at the Daytona International Speedway.

Experts: 2010 may not be make, break for drilling

By Melissa Nelson

The Associated Press

The Florida House last year voted to allow exploration for oil and natural gas in state waters, but the Senate didn't bring it up for a vote. This year the issue may not come up for a vote at all - but it will still weigh heavy in the upcoming session's background.

Offshore oil drilling not in Florida session

By Lindsay Ubinas

10 Connects News Tampa Bay

Florida legislators agree that offshore oil drilling is an important issue but they still might not tackle it during their upcoming session.

Century Commission report tackles oil drilling

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

A state panel's draft report issued today takes on the major questions and concerns about allowing oil drilling off Florida's coastline.

Hands Across the Sand Spreads Message "Love Tourists, Not Drilling"

By Heidi Lux

Tampa Bay Informer

Hands Across the Sand, a statewide, peaceful protest against offshore drilling, was held throughout Florida's beaches on February 13th.

Local politicians weigh in on drilling

Staff Report

Bradenton Herald

State Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton: “Offshore drilling? I oppose it. Although there are ebbs and flows from a public perspective, there are better ways to address it than to put at risk our coastline.”

Love tourists, not drilling banner flying high over St. Petersburg Beach during Hands Across the Sand event, February 13, 2010.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Write Your State Senator: Big Oil's Promises Are "Empty"Big Oil and their hired hands in Tallahassee have sworn that drilling Florida’s coast would be “invisible” – that there would be no unsightly rigs just a few miles off our coast. We know different – and a recent eye opening story in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has proven Big Oil’s promises completely “empty.” Click the picture above – keeping the pressure on by letting our State Senators know people like you are paying attention is how we’ll beat Big Oil.

MORE ONLINE ACTIONS
Pass a Resolution To Protect Florida's Beaches Now, via Audubon of Florida.
Urge President Obama’s Ocean Policy Task Force to recommend against offshore drilling within any previously protected coastal waters, via Defenders of Wildlife.
Tell Obama: Offshore Drilling is NOT the Answer to Energy Crisis, via Oceana.
Help Drill for Solutions Not for Oil, via Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Let us decide! Petition to Governor Charlie Crist, Senate President Jeff Atwater, and House Speaker Larry Cretul, via Civic Concern.
Contact Your Officials About New Drilling Off Florida's Coasts, via Civic Concern.
Ask your state legislators to keep the rigs out, via Save the Manatee Club.
Write a letter to the editor, via Audubon of Florida.
Write your state legislators, via Audubon of Florida.
Urge Senate President Jeff Atwater to oppose offshore oil drilling, via Progress Florida.
Tell Sen. Atwater Not To Allow Oil Drilling In Special Session, via Audubon of Florida.
Sign the petition against oil drilling, via Protect Florida’s Beaches.
Tell Salazar: No drilling off Florida's Coast, via Environment Florida.
Tell new Senator LeMieux to Repower America, via Environment Florida.
Related action: Don't go drill crazy in the Everglades, via Center for Biological Diversity.
Related action: Keep oil drilling out of climate change legislation, via Oceana.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES OF NOTE
Hands Across The Sand website; their Twitter page is here.
Protect Florida’s Beaches, recently launched coalition website.
Protect Florida’s Beaches on Facebook.
Think, Baby, Think blog via Protect Florida’s Beaches.
Don’t Drill Florida website.
Don’t Drill Florida Facebook page.
Save Our Shores Florida website; their Twitter page is here.
Save Our Shores Florida Facebook page.
Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition website.
Environment Florida offshore drilling page.
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy offshore drilling page.
Skytruth blog, an excellent source of info.
Not the Answer blog, courtesy Surfrider Foundation.
Eye-opening map of oil and gas leases and infrastructure in Gulf of Mexico, via MMS.
EnergyFLA.com, online hub of drilling proponents; their Twitter page is here.

Cumulative oil slick "footprint" resulting from the 10-week Montara oil platform blowout and spill that occurred in the Timor Sea off Western Australia in 2009; superimposed on the Gulf coast of Florida for scale. More info here.

MORE GREEN NEWS

Rep. Murzin slams Pelham again, backs off

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Rep. Dave Murzin on Wednesday told a Florida Chamber of Commerce audience that he still wants Florida Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham to leave state government.

Volunteers find more murky water near airport site

By Pat Kelly

Panama City News Herald

Patrice Couch guided her small skiff north up Crooked Creek on Monday with a sure hand, looking for submerged logs.

Boaters warned off whale encounters

By Dinah Voyles Pulver

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Groups of rare North Atlantic right whales have entertained beachgoers and hotel guests along the Volusia County coast since Sunday but proved a too-tempting target for a few boaters who soon found themselves chatting with law enforcement officers.

Run-Ins With Endangered Right Whales Becoming Too Common

Reported by Jason Wheeler

Central Florida News 13

Sightings of North Atlantic right whales are rising off Central Florida’s coast, but so are run-ins between the whales and humans.

Fishermen enlist members of Congress to oppose red snapper ban

By Ludmilla Lelis

Orlando Sentinel

Still reeling from a federal ban on fishing for red snapper, Central Florida captains and fishermen joined more than 2,000 people at the United We Fish rally today in Washington, D.C., protesting afederal law that they say is destroying jobs and the fishing industry along Florida’s east coast.

Environmental group hopes to extend deadline for Everglades restoration project

By Jim Mayfield

TC Palm

The Rivers Coalition voted unanimously Thursday to urge the South Florida Water Management Board of Governors to extend the closing deadline for the $500 million land purchase from U.S. Sugar Corp. for the district’s River of Grass Everglades restoration project.

St. Johns district looks to strengthen water reuse programs

By Fred Hiers

Ocala Star-Banner

The St. Johns River Water Management District board is looking to squeeze the most out of water conservation and will meet next month to develop rules that could require its 16-county members to strengthen water reuse programs.

Farmton's changing the rules

By Lesley Blackner

Orlando Sentinel

Related editorial: How to beat Amendment 4

Are Volusia and Brevard county commissioners Stepford wives or Stockholm-syndrome victims?

St. Pete Times alum to lead Hometown Democracy

By Adam C. Smith

Buzz Blog

Julie Hauserman, former reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, Tallahassee Democrat and Stuart News, has been named campaign manager for Florida Hometown Democracy, Constitutional Amendment 4 on the November ballot.

Amendment 4 campaign manager named

By Tom Palmer

Lakeland Ledger

Julie Hauserman has been hired to head the campaign to get voter approval for Amendment 4, the Florida Hometown Democracy measure, the St. Pete Times Political Buzz reports.

Huge number of manatees gather in Lee County

By Kevin Lollar

Ft. Myers News-Press

Almost 900 manatees have turned the Orange River into a cold-water marine-mammal traffic jam.

Scrub Lupine Project Sees Early Progress

By Tom Palmer

Lakeland Ledger

A little more than a year ago, a daring experiment began.

Birds Flock to Restored Wetlands Along Kissimmee River

By Tom Palmer

Lakeland Ledger

The marsh ahead of the boat was a sea of white.

Fishermen taking snapper ban fight to Washington

By Jordan Kahn

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Because of new laws, small businesses are reeling, the federal government is being sued and a legislative fight is entering round two. And this isn't about health care or Wall Street bailouts.

Most Florida Democrats get a thumbs-up from enviros

By Mark Matthews

Orlando Sentinel

Seven Florida Democrats in Congress earned a perfect score from environmentalists in an annual scorecard released this morning that rated lawmakers for 2009 votes that included the American Clean Energy and Security Act and as well as the controversial $787 billion stimulus bill.

Orlando is home for two rules meetings

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

Rules meetings and workshops -- they sound boring.

County pays to preserve Merritt Island waterfront

By Rick Neale

Florida Today

Encroached by towering condominiums, Ms. Apples Crab Shack, Doc's Bait House and future fisheries at Blue Crab Cove are now considerably closer to perpetual preservation.

Local kids take a hike

By Tyler Jett

Independent Alligator

Eric Thompson looked down, his white Nike shoes barely safe from the mud.

Bald Eagles Return To Pembroke Pines

By Joan Murray

CBS 4 News Miami

For the first time in almost 40 years, bald eagles are making their home in a county famous for snowbirds.

Fish and fishermen: sustainable species?

By Kate Spinner

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Charter captains, bait shops and commercial fishing fleets from Key West to Puget Sound are losing jobs and money as sweeping restrictions on dozens of fish take effect nationwide, based on data that regulators know is inaccurate.

Python-hunting season set for next month

By Susan Cocking

Miami Herald

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Monday announced a special hunting season targeting Burmese pythons on state lands in South Florida March 8 through April 17.

Nelson wades into fisheries debate

By Bruce Ritchie

FloridaEnvironments.com

In advance of a protest in Washington by recreational and commercial fishermen, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson said today he will file legislation to address red snapper fishing restrictions.

Rare storks visiting our lake are treat

By Sherry Boas

Orlando Sentinel

On a recent morning, two wood storks were trolling for food in the recently submerged shoreline.

Florida must take advantage of biopower

By Charles H. Bronson

Tallahassee Democrat

As Florida's agriculture and consumer services commissioner, one of my proudest achievements is Florida's status as a leader in the biofuel industry.

Fox pens are inhumane and a threat to public health

Editorial

Pensacola News Journal

Imagine the outcry from animal activists if the state decided to regulate dog fighting instead of banning the barbaric practice like it rightly has done for decades.

Before the development, nail down the details

Editorial

St. Petersburg Times

Nailing down the details on planned protections for black bear habitat shouldn't be superseded by private sector interests pitching a high-end resort and residential community in Aripeka.

It’s time for Florida to work on water quality

Editorial

Bradenton Herald

Since the state of Florida dawdled for more than a decade over a federal mandate to set limits on farm and urban runoff and water pollution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stepped in with proposed regulations last month.

Clean springs

Editorial

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Once a mermaid, Barbara Wynn became a militant.

It's still a threat

Editorial

Miami Herald

More than two-thirds of the nation's land mass had snow on the ground when the day dawned, and then it snowed ever so slightly in Florida to make it 49 states out of 50.The weather is unsettling this winter.

Manatee Springs State Park.

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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