110228-a
A dam good fix for damaging Glades canals
Miami Herald - by Curtis Morgan
February 28, 2011
With $7 million in stimulus money, Everglades National Park is close to finally putting a permanent plug in canals that have damaged an isolated and fragile ecosystem
CAPE SABLE -- The fishing shacks were swept away by hurricanes three-quarters of a century ago. Crocodiles now nest where cows once grazed. But old canals dug by the would-be settlers of the southwestern tip of the Everglades remained behind — scars that grew wider and deeper with every eroding tide.
By month’s end, Everglades National Park will wrap up work on a $7 million project to plug two of the most damaging canals and finally stem the surge of seawater deep inland that has dramatically altered one of the most isolated and breath-taking landscapes in the Everglades.
“It really is such a huge step forward in restoring the cape,’’ park superintendent Dan Kimball said.
The two new dams won’t preserve a coastline vanishing from the dual forces of erosion and rising sea levels. But scientists hope they will slow the fast-expanding impacts to an interior maze of creeks, lakes and marshes that shelter rare crocodiles and roseate spoonbills and boast enough snook, tarpon and other fish to entice scofflaws into an area off-limits to motorboats.
Stephen Davis, a wetlands ecologist for the Everglades Foundation, said the two dams should help stabilize a brackish and freshwater system that was choking on slugs of salt water.
“If you do nothing else, you are probably buying 50 to 100 years of viable ecosystem,’’ said Davis, who surveyed the nearly completed work last week as part of a foundation-sponsored media tour of Florida Bay.
Longer term, the future of Cape Sable – and the rest of the Everglades – will depend on the progress of broader restoration efforts and, even more critical, the pace of sea level rise. If climate projections hold true, no dam will keep the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay from eventually overtaking the Everglades.
“We’re not stopping sea level rise,’’ said DeWitt Smith, a park oceanographer and project manager for the Cape Sable dams. “It’s really to fix the problems man has caused by digging these canals.’’
Cape Sable, at the extreme southwestern tip of mainland Florida, isn’t what most people think of when they think of the Everglades. Accessible only by water, it gets few visitors, mostly anglers but also campers and paddlers hardy enough to make an overnight trip from the Flamingo marina.
It’s fronted by one of the state’s most unspoiled beaches, a thin, 10-mile-long strip of white sand scattered with shells and drift wood that gives way to wide, scrubby coastal prairie dotted with hardwood hammocks. Farther inland, a ridge of dense marl built up by 3,000-plus years of tidal wash form a natural barrier that separated the marine environment from the interior marshes. Though the River of Grass doesn’t flow to the cape, Davis said, it is connected to the greater system through ground water movement that helps keeps the marsh healthy.
The cape system changed profoundly in the 1920s, nearly three decades before the park was created, when a handful of narrow drainage canals were cut as part of a plan to turn the coastal freshwater marsh into pasture and farm lands and to create a fishing village on Cape Sable. The efforts to settle a harsh, difficult-to-access outpost failed and the canals ultimately proved more effective at opening the sensitive wetlands to the ocean.
Erosion and rising seas have only compounded the impact of the canals, turning the two largest canals, East Cape and Middle Cape, into major inlets churning with powerful currents. Harold Wanless, a University of Miami geologist who has done intensive studies of the cape, found that the East Cape, which opens into Florida Bay, has grown more than 10 times its original width to 200 feet. Middle Cape, which opened to the Gulf of Mexico, has expanded to some 300 feet.
Together, the two inlets have produced massive ripple effects that reach far inland.
Both canals opened up Lake Ingraham, one of the largest interior lakes in the Everglades, to the ocean, and as the canals widened, they rapidly turned the lake from brackish to salty. The lake, a popular spot for anglers in pursuit of redfish, and has grown much shallower as it filled with a relentless flow of muddy sediment. The increasingly strong tidal flush also began chewing away at interior stretches of the East Cape and also a third ditch, the Homestead Canal, which emptied directly into Lake Ingraham.
Park managers have been aware of the problems for more than a half century. At one point in the park’s early days, when the damage was not yet so dramatic, park managers got an estimate for plugging the East Cape and Middle canals but passed on the $3,200 price tag. Both of the coastal openings are now too big, and expensive, to consider using dams.
But the park has employed makeshift fixes — first, earthen plugs and, later, sheets of thick steel — for the interior sections of East Cape and for the Homestead canal. They have repeatedly failed, sometimes after only a few years. Park rangers suspect erosion that compromised the steel dams was likely worsened by unscrupulous anglers using shovels to create openings wide enough to slip shallow-drafting flats boats around.
The new dams – built with just over $7 million in economic stimulus funding from the Obama administration – should dramatically reduce both the salt water flow and the no-motor-zone violations.
The structures, built along the natural marl ridge, are far more substantial this time around. Each consists of two walls of thick sheet metal with some 100 feet of sand and rock fill in between them. There also are angled wings from the main wall to prevent flowing water from eating away at the edges of the shoreline and undermining the dam.
The park will preserve access for paddlers with a dock and a portage area as well as mooring posts for motorboats that haul kayaks or canoes out to use in the no-motor zone.
Because of its isolated location, shallow waters and the sensitive environment, the project was a major engineering and logistical challenge, Kimball said. The rock fill, for instance, was trucked from West Miami-Dade to Key West, where it was shipped back north to the Cape in the Gulf of Mexico, off-loaded to a staging barge, then ferried in by specially designed shallow water barges that also carried dredging cranes and other gear.
The work also was on a strict timetable dictated by crocodile nesting season. All work has to stop by late March – a deadline DeWitt believes will be met.
Dams on a few smaller ditches that open into Florida Bay still need repair but the flow through them is a small fraction of the rapids that rushed through the East Cape and Homestead canals.
“They’ve put Band-Aids on it over the years but this is the first real attempt to stop the salt water intrusion,’’ Davis said.
For park superintendent Kimball, one mystery is why a place that ranked among the most threatened in the entire Everglades had remained off the radar screen of government agencies and environmental groups for so long. Nothing in the $12 billion plan to restore the natural flow of the River of Grass addressed the Cape Sable canals, which were cut 30 years before many of the damaging drainage canals that now crisscross the Glades.
It took an economic disaster — which produced billions in stimulus money for “shovel-ready’’ projects — that finally helped address one of the park’s most serious ecological problems.
“We were fortunate to get the funding,’’ Kimball said.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/28/2090789_p2/a-dam-good-fix-for-damaging-glades.html#ixzz1FSZ1TV00

110228-b
New Hurricane Model Will Broaden Who's at Risk
Wall Street Journal – by Eric Holm
February 27, 2011
Are Some Homeowners Hundreds of Miles From the Ocean at Greater Risk ?
A hurricane-modeling company that helps insurers predict the cost of megastorms will launch a new, more sophisticated model on Monday that shows some homeowners living hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean are at greater risk than previously thought.
While the homes closest to the coast are clearly the most likely to suffer serious damage, the model from Risk Management Solutions Inc. increases the estimates for how much harm a hurricane can do in the hours after it blows ashore and begins moving inland.
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The revisions could cause insurers to think twice about the areas where they operate and re-evaluate what they have chosen to insure.
The updated model is expected to double RMS's one-in-100-years estimate for insured hurricane losses in Texas, and increase estimates in the mid-Atlantic by more than 75%. Nationwide, the one-in-100-years loss estimate will increase by 15% to 25%.
Importantly, the figures estimate the entire insurance industry's losses. Some insurers will fall above or below the typical range, depending on their areas of geographic focus. Some, in fact, will see their loss estimates go down.
The one-in-100-years measurement is commonly used in the industry to evaluate an insurer's hurricane risk, putting a ceiling on storm claims that has just a 1% chance of being exceeded each year.
Advances in the tools that measure hurricanes over the past several years combined with ever-improving computing power and more information on actual losses from past events to give RMS 10 times more wind data than the last time its so-called hazard model was updated in 2003.
"We've really got a much more informed view because of all the hurricanes that have been happening in the past several years," said Claire Souch, vice president of natural catastrophe at RMS.
The new model includes a better understanding of what fuels a hurricane in the warm waters of the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, and what causes a hurricane to lose intensity over land.
"Different hurricane degrade over land at very different rates, and that's what we have more insight into now," Ms. Souch said. "There are more factors that go into it than we'd previously been able to capture."
The factors include the size of the hurricane and how much of it is still over the water, how fast it is moving, and whether a storm is strengthening or weakening just before landfall. Terrain also plays a role; a storm will be torn apart by mountains, but will be able to gather fuel from swampy areas like the Everglades in hurricane-prone Florida.
The model also accounts for the spike in the cost of construction materials after a storm and updates assumptions about the damage that even a moderate hurricane can do to commercial buildings in some regions to reflect the strictness of local building codes—and how well those codes are enforced.
Hurricane Ike, a Category 2 storm that struck the coast of Texas in 2008, illustrates why RMS needed to update its model. While homeowners living closest to the shore took the brunt of the damage, Ike didn't lose steam quickly as it marched north toward Oklahoma. It wasn't downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm until it reached Palestine, Texas, almost 200 miles inland.
How quickly insurers increase prices on home insurance if the new model shows in jump in their loss estimate is an open question. State regulators have some control over rates, and competition for customers may cause companies to forgo a rate increase. Most companies combine RMS's analysis with other models, which would further limit the impact of the increase.
"The more qualified opinions you can factor into the equation, the more accurate you are likely to be," Dick Luedke, a spokesman for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., the largest home insurer in the U.S., said in January, commenting on the pending new hurricane-cost model. Whatever the results from RMS, he said, State Farm will weigh them against the other models.
Notably, a typical home-insurance policy covers far more than hurricane risk, so the potential added cost for the typical homeowner would be significantly less than the percentage increase for a one-in-100-years loss in their neighborhood.

110228-c
Regulators Face Deep Cuts as Governors Close Budget Gaps
Greenwire - by AMANDA PETERKA
February 28, 2011
As they battle record deficits, governors nationwide are digging into state environmental regulatory bodies in budget proposals, many in the name of increasing efficiency and creating states that are "open for business."
In some states, environmental groups say budget proposals unfairly target those departments over other state agencies and would set back conservation efforts by years. They also argue that cutting environmental spending will end up costing more jobs than are created by bolstering other state programs.
"Unfortunately there's this perception that if we dismantle rules and we slash the budgets of these regulatory agencies, that somehow that's going to create jobs and enhance our economy," said Jimmy Orth, executive director of St. Johns Riverkeeper in Florida. "I think the opposite can be argued, that protecting the environment is good economic policy."
Industry supporters and budget hawks say environmental agencies have to face the ax like everyone else.
"Everybody's having to tighten the belt, both in the private sector and in the public sector," said Steve Henke, president of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association.
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott (R) has proposed reducing the tax allocations for the state's five water management districts by 25 percent. Also included in his budget plan is a proposal to require those districts to get approval before spending any taxpayer money on projects. The districts are charged with managing water quality, administering flood protection programs, performing technical investigations and developing water management plans.
Scott is trying to close an approximately $3.6 billion budget deficit with his $66 billion spending plan. Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson hailed the budget proposal as "true leadership by making our government live within its means."
But the proposal would diminish the ability of water districts to provide research and funding for conservation and restoration projects, Orth said.
"You're not going to be able to get the opportunity to really learn about the things we really need to learn about the river to make wise decisions," he said.
Further, Orth added, requiring approval for decisions would politicize water districts' activities.
"A lot of these decisions are highly technical decisions that are best left to non-politicians who have technical expertise," Orth said. "And what happens is if you open this up, put this into a political arena where it's at the whim of the political motivations of a legislator or a lobbyist ... that could literally kill important funding for projects."
Adding the extra step of approval would discourage the water management districts from enacting rules because districts would not want to spend limited resources on attempting to pass a rule that does not have an assurance of passage, he added.
Reducing water management budgets would also cut into restoration funding for the Everglades, as a large part of the South Florida Water Management District's more than $390 million annual collection from property taxes goes toward those restoration efforts. The budget proposal also cuts almost two-thirds of the state's annual allocation toward Everglades restoration, which environmentalists say will decrease jobs rather than save them.
N.M. cuts 'a decisive return to fiscal discipline' or 'draconian'?
That type of argument is similar to one used by Sandy Buffett, executive director of New Mexico Conservation Voters. Buffett accused Gov. Susana Martinez (R) of unfairly targeting environmental protections in her first budget proposal and said that the proposal would detract investments and jobs in clean energy technologies.
Martinez has proposed a $5.4 billion general fund budget that represents a $179 million decrease below fiscal 2011 spending levels. The general fund allocation to the state Environment Department would be slashed by $3 million, or 21 percent.
The budget "marks a decisive return to fiscal discipline in New Mexico" and would help make up a $450 million shortfall, Martinez argues.
Henke, of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association, said he is hopeful that the oil and gas industry will be able to improve under a recovering economy and Martinez's policies and help the state narrow the gap between revenues and expenditures. The oil and gas industry contributes about a quarter of the revenue dollars for the state budget, Henke said.
"I don't think there will be any significant ramifications in terms of permitting, enforcement actions, actions with state governments with the oil and gas industry at the budget levels that are being proposed in New Mexico," he said.
However, compared to the approximately 6 percent cuts at other state departments, the cuts to the Environment Department are "draconian double-digit cuts that are totally disproportionate to what other agencies are facing," Buffett said.
She said that the budget proposals would affect water monitoring and increase air pollution that causes asthma.
"This just basically guts the ability enforce and regulate existing laws and monitor permits," Buffett said. "I fear that polluters that were held accountable would have an easier time now."
Governors' proposals are not likely to end up as final budgets as state appropriations committees take over the budget process. But the choices governors make on where to cut and where to spend serve to signal their priorities.
Martinez, for example, has previously targeted the state's environmental protections. She made headlines within the first few days of her first term of governor when she halted all proposed and new regulations in the state, including one that would set limits to greenhouse gas emissions. That policy, along with a rule that requires the oil and gas companies to line waste pits, is especially detrimental to the industry, Henke said.
The state Supreme Court later ruled that Martinez did not have the authority to prevent that rule from being published.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry is proposing similar cuts in Texas, where the state faces a record deficit of at least $15 billion.
In his two-year budget plan, Perry has asked for more money for the Texas Enterprise Fund, the Emerging Technology Fund and small-business tax exemptions. Meanwhile, he proposed giving the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality two-thirds and the Public Utility Commission 10 percent of what those agencies requested.
"We must respond to the state's budget challenges just as Texas families respond to their own financial challenges -- by tightening our belts, discerning between 'needs' and 'wants,' and setting priorities accordingly," Perry said in his budget. "We must increase government efficiency by consolidating services and suspending or eliminating services that are not necessary functions of government."
Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives, called Perry's proposal a good starting point.
"He has created a budget that agrees with the revenue estimate, as a starting point," Hammond said. "At the same time we think that that number will have to be increased in order to maintain a lot of programs, particularly in the area of education, and can be substantially increased without any new taxes."
While the state Legislature is not contemplating cuts as deep as Perry has suggested, there will still be a number of TCEQ programs that will be "hit pretty hard" in the appropriations process, said Cyrus Reed, conservation director with Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club.
Environmentalists say the TCEQ already does a poor job in enforcing regulations and accuse its leaders of taking their cues from industry. Jeffrey Jacoby, a director at the Texas Campaign for the Environment, said throwing money at the agency probably won't fix it but neither will taking it away.
"Taking money away is going to do more harm than good and put the agency in a position where it has even less ability to address the major air, water and soil pollution issues that are affecting lives," Jacoby said.
The Legislature has also proposed staffing cuts in the utility commission.
Those proposed cuts are "a little bit of a concern," Reed said, because of the recent rolling blackouts during the last cold snap in the state.
The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, which evaluates state agencies, has recommended that the utility commission have more direct oversight over the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's grid operator.
"We're calling for them to do more at a time when we're contemplating cutting their budget," Reed said.
Wis. coal plants may be sold
In Wisconsin, a different type of budget proposal is riding under the radar of the massive protests for collective bargaining rights and the flight of the state's Democrats to Illinois. There, Gov. Scott Walker (R) has proposed putting the state's 37 publicly owned power plants up for sale without bids in what he calls a "budget repair" measure, which passed the state Assembly on Friday.
The plants are largely aging coal-fired plants, 15 of which are under U.S. EPA investigation for possible Clean Air Act violations, according to Katie Nekola, an attorney with Clean Wisconsin. Whoever buys them would inherit any issues EPA finds.
"These are being investigated for a reason. They're dirty and they're old," Nekola said.
There are rumors of interested buyers, but no company has publicly stated it would purchase any specific plants. It is also unclear how much revenue the state would actually generate from their sale.
Darin Renner, an analyst at the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau, said the price of each plant will be determined on a case-by-case basis and could not give an estimate of total expected revenue.
"There are no required sales. And if there are sales or lease agreements, there's no minimum or maximum, so it allows the secretary of DOA [Department of Administration] to determine if it's in the best interest of the state to sell any number of the plants," Renner said.
Nekola cautioned against going into the proposal too quickly.
"We need to carefully evaluate these kinds of sweeping changes, and the public and the Legislature need to stop and take the time to consider what these kinds of initiatives mean, what kind of revenue they'll actually generate," she said.
On the other side of the spectrum, environmentalists are praising Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) for their budget proposals. O'Malley has proposed increasing the state allocation for the Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund by 25 percent, or $5 million, compared to last year. Cuomo has proposed keeping the Environmental Protection Fund stable at $134 million.
Cuomo's budget "hopefully marks a turning point for this longstanding source of conservation funding, which was all but gutted in several rounds of severe budget cuts by David Paterson's administration," wrote Natural Resources Defense Council's Richard Schrader in a blog post.
In Oregon, the governor has not yet proposed his budget, but state legislators have introduced a bill to eliminate the state Department of Energy to both cut costs and provide structural change.
The bill is about "improving efficiency in how we plan for and manage energy," said state Rep. Jules Bailey (D), one of two co-sponsors.
Under the bill, a governor's energy office would do long-term planning, much like the CEO of a company, Bailey said. The Oregon Business Development Department would handle incentive programs, while the Public Utility Commission would deal with cost-benefit analysis and energy efficiency.
Environmentalists say they are willing to work with Bailey and co-sponsor Rep. Chris Edwards (D) on the measure. They acknowledge the department needs change, as it has recently run into difficulty with paying back a tax credit to small businesses.
"The problems Representative Bailey speaks to are real, and we have to figure them out," said John Audley, deputy director of the Renewable Northwest Project. "We're open to a proposal to break up the Department of Energy and reallocate it. ... We want to work with all folks to figure out what design is best for Oregon if our goal is reutilizing our energy needs with clean reliable renewable energy."

110228-d
Survey: Floridians want dollars for Everglades
PostOnPolitics - by John Kennedy
February 28, 2011
With environmental spending under fire in Tallahassee and Washington, a survey Monday showed two-thirds of Floridians support Everglades restoration, with a majority also opposed to reducing dollars flowing to the effort.
The Everglades Foundation released the survey, saying it supports the organization’s push for state lawmakers to steer clear of Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to reduce restoration funding from $50 million to $17 million. Scott also wants water managers, including the South Florida Water Management District, to reduce property taxes by 25 percent, which environmentalists say could further drain dollars needed for Everglades work.
“Our message to the governor is that he can partner with the conservation community to create jobs and protect our water supply at the same time,” said Kirk Fordham, the foundation’s chief executive officer. “If we want to grow that supply of fresh water, the only solution out there is Everglades restoration.”
President Obama’s budget blueprint increases spending on restoration. But the Republican-led U.S. House has proposed sharp cuts in environmental programs and funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for much of the Everglades work.
The Everglades survey was conducted by the Tarrance Group, which does polling for Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, other Republican senators, and GOP members of the Florida congressional delegation.
The survey showed that 84 percent of voters rank maintaining Florida’s fresh water drinking supply as “very important.”  Seventy-nine percent agreed that to attract new business and industries to the state, access to a stable water supply is necessary.
The survey of 607 voters was taken Feb. 13-14. It has a 4.1 percent margin-of-error.

110228-e
Time for Gov. Rick Scott to take control of the Everglades restoration project
TCPalm – Letter by Robert_Weckerle
February 28, 2011
I share Karl Wickstrom's frustration with the legal process in attempting to return the Everglades to "Old Florida's River of Grass." ("Baby steps better than nothing when it comes to saving St. Lucie River, Everglades" column Feb. 7)
Years have passed with no significant legal remedy. Restoring the Everglades will not be accomplished by the courts, but by politics.
The South Florida Water Management District owns undisclosed acres of land and leases large portions to sugar interests. Yet this is the same government body that recently purchased 27,000 acres for $197 million from sugar growers to validate ex-Gov. Charlie Crist's greatly reduced Everglades initiative. Why doesn't the South Florida Water Management District trade the land it owns and leases to the sugar conglomerates for the land needed to complete a freshwater connection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades? As we have witnessed, land swaps work, and at very little taxpayer cost.
Here's where Florida Gov. Rick Scott comes in. All the board members of the water management district are Crist appointees. Replace these people with those who understand the above concept. Create a spillway from the south end of Lake Okeechobee, allowing excess water a pathway south replenishing the Everglades. This could eliminate excessive freshwater discharges into our east and west coast estuaries and controlling the lake level.
Gov. Scott should establish his administration's legacy by supporting the River of Grass. The only negative effect would be the reduction of political contributions from the sugar lobby that everyone knows equally supports both major political parties at all levels of government.

110226-
Water managers are threatening to sue the Corps over pollution cleanup project
Miami Herald – by Curtis Morgan
February 26, 2011
A state agency contends that a pollution treatment area built by the Corps of Engineers is flawed and fails to meet federal water quality standards.
State water managers, who have spent more than $1.2 billion in taxpayer money to meet federal demands to clean up pollution flowing into the Everglades, are accusing the federal government of failing to meet the same standards.
The South Florida Water Management District is threatening to sue the Army Corps of Engineers over what the state agency contends are a host of design and construction flaws in a pollution treatment marsh originally constructed by the Corps adjacent to the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in western Palm Beach County.
The problems, water managers say, result in dirty water being sent into the Loxahatchee, the largest remnant of the Northern Everglades.
District General Counsel Sheryl Wood warned in a letter that water managers intend to sue — “the least desirable alternative” — because the Corps had rejected requests to enter into a formal dispute resolution process. “The Corps’ failure to accept its contractual responsibilities has significant consequences to the SWFMD, its taxpayers, and ultimately to the health of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge,” Wood wrote in a Feb. 10 letter to Col. Al Pantano, commander of the Corp’s Jacksonville district.
The 5,350-acre stormwater treatment area, known as STA 1 East, was built by the Corps but is operated by the water district. It is one of six similar, engineered marsh lands, covering some 45,000 acres, which the district uses to scrub damaging phosphorus, a nutrient in fertilizer, that runs off farms and suburbs after every storm. The STAs — paid for by state funding and taxes collected from 16 counties that the district oversees, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe — are designed to meet pollution standards mandated under a court-ordered settlement with the federal government.
But the district contends that STA-1 East has been beset by structural and design problems that compromised its effectiveness. District records show it is the worst performing treatment marsh and has exceeded water quality targets set by the federal government.
Pantano, in a January letter, said the Corps would complete some structural repairs this year but had limited authority to perform other improvements demanded by the district — at least without additional approval from Congress. He also asked for further meetings with the district to clarify matters in dispute.
A Corps spokesman said the agency could not discuss potential litigation. The district did not respond to a call for comment.
Despite progress in the restoration projects over the last year, relations between the two agencies that share responsibility for Everglades restoration have been strained by water quality disputes and lawsuits. Last year, water managers rejected a dramatically expanded, $1.5 billion cleanup plan drawn up by the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency at the order of U.S. District Judge Alan Gold, who had ripped the district for “glacial delay’’ in cleaning up the Glades. Water managers said the agency, struggling with deep budget cuts, didn’t have the money to do additional work.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/26/2087343/water-managers-are-threatening.html#ixzz1FDWpEDBQ

110225-a
FWC Honors Excellence in Conservation, Lifesaving
WCTV.tv
Februry 25, 2011
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) presented a prestigious conservation award on Thursday to Tim Breault, director of the FWC’s Division of Habitat and Species Conservation, and recognized one of its law-enforcement officers for his heroic life-saving rescue.
Each year, the Wildlife Foundation of Florida honors former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Chairwoman Louise Ireland Humphrey of Tallahassee by recognizing an FWC employee whose dedication and service have made a significant contribution to protecting and conserving Florida’s fish and wildlife.
“We applaud one of the most dedicated wildlife conservationists in Florida,” said FWC Executive Director Nick Wiley. “Tim has dedicated most of his career to the FWC.”
Originally from Connecticut, Breault received his B.S. degree in wildlife science from Cornell University. He began his career in Florida in sea turtle research and later worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a technician on Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. In 1975, he began working for the state as a wildlife technician and moved up through the ranks at the FWC until he was appointed director of its Division of Habitat and Species Conservation in 2004.
“Tim has successfully managed one of the FWC’s largest divisions through his consistent dedication to involving stakeholders and communities in the decisions that are made, affecting not only our fish and wildlife, but our residents as well,” said Brett Boston, who presented the award. Boston is executive director of the Wildlife Foundation of Florida. “Tim has worked with diplomacy and tenacity, never settling for anything but the very best for our resources and the public.”
Breault manages a division that includes habitat management of 1.4 million acres of publicly owned conservation lands, for which the FWC is lead manager. He oversees aquatic habitat restoration, imperiled species management, the implementation of the state’s wildlife action plan and exotic animal and invasive species control. His experience spans the state from the Everglades marshes to the Panhandle forests and from coastal areas to sandhills.
“This award honors one of Florida’s greatest conservationists, Louise Ireland Humphrey, and today we honor another great friend to wildlife,” Boston said. “It is a great privilege to present this award to Tim Breault for his dedicated service to Florida.”
Commissioners also recognized Lt. Anthony “Tony” Wright, recipient of the FWC’s “Lifesaving with Valor” award, at the Feb. 24 meeting. He earned the award for rescuing a woman from a burning car in Yulee in November.
The victim’s vehicle had caught fire after striking a power pole. As bystanders attempted to extinguish the flames, Wright used a tire iron to smash out the side and rear windows and then climbed on top of the car’s trunk to pull the victim through the rear window to safety.
“We are extremely proud of Lt. Wright’s heroic actions,” said Col. Jim Brown, director of the FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement. “Our officers are trained to respond to a variety of situations, but this is something that is difficult to anticipate. It truly required quick reflexes, smart decisions and bravery.”

110225-b
Nelson’s Senate vote key to EPA water quality rules
Florida Independent - by Virginia Chamlee
February 25, 2011
An upcoming Senate vote could be crucial to the implementation of the EPA’s Florida water quality rules, and much of the pressure rests on the shoulders of Sen. Bill Nelson.
The Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Resolution included a one-sentence amendment that would stop the EPA from implementing its freshwater numeric nutrient criteria. The rider was sponsored by Congressman Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and was one of a handful of political and legal measures being taken to ensure that the nutrient criteria never get off the ground. #
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the budget bill 237-189 early Saturday. Only 17 Republicans voted against the rider, and 16 Democrats voted for it, three of whom are familiar faces to Florida: Alcee Hastings, Corrine Brown and Ted Deutch. In an email sent to The Florida Times-Union, Brown said that she didn’t feel that the EPA “took into account all the work that Florida’s utilities and businesses have done in reining in pollutants and other contaminants in our waters.” #
The Senate is expected to vote on its own budget bill within the next week, and much of the pressure to do away with Rooney’s amendment rests with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Though he has touted his allegiance to the environment (specifically, the St. Johns River) for years, Nelson endorsed a similar rider last fall that died in committee. And on Sept. 16, 2010, only one month after expressing concern over a mysterious foam in the St. Johns River (likely a result of excessive nutrients), Nelson penned a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging a delay in finalizing the criteria. #
Now, the Sierra Club is pleading with supporters to call the Nelson’s office to ask him to oppose the rider. The environmental organization also encourages supporters to send thank you messages to Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Cliff Stearns, Kathy Castor and Frederica Wilson, who all voted against the rider.

110225-c
Smoke and fire billow from controlled burn in the Everglades
Sun Sentinel – by Linda Trischitta
February 25, 2011
One-day effort aimed at reducing invasive species
Motorists driving along the Sawgrass Expressway who looked west to the Everglades on Friday could see billowing clouds of gray and black smoke that was blowing to the north.
The smell of smoke in west Broward County brought complaints to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
The source of the blaze: 3,000 acres, or 4.5 square miles, in Water Conservation Area 2-B on the north side of Interstate 75 between the Sawgrass Expressway and U.S. 27.
The controlled burn of cattails, sawgrass, and live and dead melaleuca began Friday morning and was completed by sundown.
"The purposes are to eliminate unwanted overgrown vegetation and to create access for the future removal of exotic vegetation," said Gabriella Ferraro of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said dry conditions will likely lead to a "very active brush-fire season in South Florida. We want to remind the public that if they see flames or a house on fire, call 911."

110225-d
Water Panel Members: Don't Cut WMDs
WCTV.tv
February 24, 2011
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE - Already hit by falling property values that have cut revenues dramatically, water management districts are in no position to take further cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Scott, the chairman of a select House panel on water policy said Thursday.
Rep. Trudi Williams, the chairwoman of the House Select Committee on Water Policy, said the water districts are struggling even to maintain basic flood control programs as revenues plummet with the price of land.
Scott’s proposed 25 percent cut in their revenue on top of that would cripple many of the agencies, including the South Florida Water Management District, the agency tasked with Everglades restoration and water supply and storage for teeming South Florida, critics of the plan have said.
But the Legislature’s hands may be tied, a lack of authority that Williams said was made apparent during Gov. Charlie Crist’s deal to have the South Florida district purchase land from U.S. Sugar for Everglades restoration, a plan that many lawmakers didn’t like.
“The Legislature has no point of entry in any of the dealings of the water management districts,” said Williams, R-Fort Myers. “All we can do is make recommendations to the governor and say ‘Governor, reducing their budget by 25 percent is unrealistic given that their revenues have dropped 60 percent.”
Eric Draper, executive director of Florida Audubon, urged lawmakers to do what they could to dissuade Scott from enacting his proposal, which was included in more than 800 pages of documents accompanying his suggested budget, released in early February. Scott’s plan is to trim the districts’ property tax levies for the next two fiscal years in an effort to save taxpayers millions.
“They cannot afford to take a 25 percent cut and carry out their responsibilities,” Draper said. “Just their flood control efforts take up more than 75 percent of their budget.”
Concerns over the water management district cuts were made throughout the panel’s meeting, but panelists also approved a set of preliminary recommendations to address both water quality and water quantity issues while trying to nail down an accurate cost estimate of tougher federal water quality standards.
The pending federal standards drafted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, have been the focus of intense debate. Environmental groups have lauded the federal assistance in trying to strengthen state water pollution standards, while state officials have complained the standards are unworkable and expensive. The business community has also opposed the federal standards.
There’s wide disagreement over how much the proposal would cost an average homeowner, from just a few dollars to several hundred.
Officials in the Scott administration didn’t appear before the committee on Thursday to defend the proposed cuts to the water districts.

110224-a
A new way to save our ecosystems
The Baltimore Sun - by Charles Stek
February 24, 2011
Chesapeake Bay is a model for the America's Great Outdoors concept.
The America's Great Outdoors report, introduced by President Barack Obama last week, is a bold promise to strengthen Americans' connection to their greatest treasure: their waterways, forests, fields and urban parks.
The plan would better target conservation dollars; coordinate federal, state and local programs; and fully fund the nation's primary source for conservation, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, with $900 million from gas and oil drilling royalties. It would use that fund not just for the conservation of grand natural features such as Yellowstone National Park, but for the development of new urban green spaces, the conservation of working ranches, farms and forests; the expansion of public access to the nation's rivers and new watertrails called blueways; and the restoration of major ecological systems.
Fortunately for us, the Chesapeake Bay is noted both as a place where conservation should be focused and as an example of models worth supporting.
The report recommends that conservation dollars be targeted to support major ecosystems. It notes that federal projects are under way to restore and conserve large-scale aquatic ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes, the Gulf Coast, the California Bay-Delta, the Mississippi River Basin and Washington's Puget Sound. We at the Chesapeake Conservancy fully support this idea. The health of the water is directly tied to the health of the land. But beyond this issue of water quality, what would the Chesapeake be without its sweeping salt marshes or its landscapes of working farms and small towns?
You will see this connection if you are fortunate enough to seize a day this spring and get out on one of the region's many rivers. You will be amazed how quickly you find long miles of wooded shoreline. On many of the rivers that feed the Chesapeake, you'll find historic sites and natural wonders all within the space of a few miles.
Unfortunately, many people do not have access to our rivers or the bay. Public landings and waterfront parks are very limited. This need for more access was strongly voiced in many of the more than 50 listening session held by the America's Great Outdoors team. In response, they recommended that we begin a National Recreational Blueway Trails Initiative.
This trail system, which would be built based on local nominations and supported by the land and water conservation fund, would provide a focus for conservation of landscapes and historical sites, and it would expand access to the water. Rivers have long provided their towns with economic benefits. More access would encourage the growing popularity of kayaking and canoeing. More conservation of historic, cultural and natural features would increase opportunities for tourism. The blueways would create corridors of connection that would be as valuable to wildlife as to urban life.
The Chesapeake, the report notes, provides a national example: the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. Already, towns around the Chesapeake are connecting to this, the nation's first national historic water trail. Places as separate as Reedville, Va., and Perryville, Md., see the trail as an economic benefit and a way to reconnect to history. The trail is one big blueway, creating corridors for recreation up all the bay's major rivers.
The challenge will be to create partnerships to bring the America's Great Outdoors promise to fruition. We will need collaboration among communities, nonprofit organizations, businesses and government as we build the next century of American parks and create recreational access, restore our big ecosystems and conserve landscapes.
Already, groups such as the Chesapeake Conservancy are hard at work. The conservancy, under its former name of the Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail, helped bring the new trail to life. Since then, the group has collaborated with individuals, towns, regional organizations, states and federal agencies to expand access and conserve critical landscapes along the bay and rivers.
The administration's America's Great Outdoors plan deserves strong support. When implemented, it will greatly benefit the people of our region, and the people of the nation.

110224-b
Lake Okeechobee Gets Thousands Of New Trees
SW-FloridaOnline
February 24, 2011
Thousand Of Trees To Grace Lake O Region
CLEWISTON, FL. -- Taking advantage of dry conditions, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) will plant 6,000 pond apple, cypress and red maple trees to enhance wading bird habitat and restore ecosystems within Lake Okeechobee and Lake Istokpoga.
"Planting trees when water levels are low is a perfect example of turning the challenge of record dry conditions into a positive opportunity for restoration," said Ken Ammon, P.E., SFWMD Deputy Executive Director – Everglades Restoration and Capital Projects. "The trees will greatly benefit the lakes' ecosystems and attract wading birds, which are an indicator of restoration success, while also enhancing recreational opportunities."
As part of environmental restoration for South Florida, crews are adding to thousands of trees that the District has planted to benefit the environment and wildlife. Such efforts are also a significant investment in the region's economic health, as many of the restored areas serve as havens for recreational opportunities such as airboating, hunting and bird watching.
Following the driest October-through-December period since at least 1932, crews are set to start planting approximately 6-foot-tall pond apple trees along Ritta Island on the south end of Lake Okeechobee to enhance an existing native pond apple forest.
Pond apples can stand immense flooding, spending weeks at a time with their roots under water. They require rich organic soils for optimal growth while providing a resting location for wading birds such as endangered wood storks, endangered Everglades snail kites, egrets and herons. The trees can grow up to 30 feet tall and provide desirable habitat for raccoons, squirrels, birds and the endangered Okeechobee gourd. The deciduous pond apple produces an avocado-sized fruit that is sometimes called an alligator pear or alligator apple because of its rough skin.
Another planting will take place near Big Island in Lake Istokpoga, adding to the 800 trees the District planted during low water levels in 2007. An additional 600 cypress, red maple and pond apple trees will be planted on spoil islands and along the western shoreline of Lake Istokpoga.
Planting will also be done near the S-77 structure on the Caloosahatchee River by Moore Haven. The District will plant cypress trees, adding to previously planted trees in the area. Cypress trees, also capable of growing in standing water, provide desirable habitat for wading birds and the endangered snail kite.
The new tree planting effort is the latest of several similar projects across the District. Staff and volunteers previously planted more than 18,000 bald cypress, pond apple and red maple trees around Lake Okeechobee.

110224-b
Navigational ‘Magic’ of Sea Turtles Explained
Wired Science – by Brandon Keim
February 24, 2011
For centuries, determining longitude was an extremely difficult task for sailors, so difficult that it’s been thought improbable — if not impossible — for animals to do it.
But migratory sea turtles have now proved capable of sensing longitude, using almost imperceptible gradients in Earth’s magnetic field.
“We have known for about six years now that the magnetic map of turtles, at a minimum, allows turtles to … detect latitude magnetically,” said biologist Ken Lohmann of the University of North Carolina, who describes the turtle’s power Feb. 24 in Current Biology. “Up until now, that was where the story ended.”
Lohmann specializes in animal navigation, and work from his laboratory and others have exhaustively demonstrated how sea turtles — along with many birds, fish and crustaceans — use gradients in Earth’s magnetic field to steer.
Those differences, however, are far greater by latitude than by longitude. Travel north or south from Earth’s magnetic poles, and their pull weakens noticeably. Travel straight east or west, and the pull doesn’t change. Instead the pull’s angle changes, and only to an infinitesimally slight degree.
That turtles and other migratory animals could detect such a small change was considered unrealistic, but experiments on animals released in out-of-the-way locations repeatedly described them finding home with unerring accuracy and efficiency, explicable only as a product of both longitudinal and latitudinal awareness.
Several nonmagnetic explanations were proposed, foremost among them a “dual clock” mechanism analogous to human methods of calculating longitude, which sailors perform by comparing precise differences between the time locally and at an arbitrary longitudinal line, such as the Greenwich Meridian. No such mechanism has been found, however, and longitudinal differences in local airborne or waterborne chemicals don’t seem to explain animals’ uncanny long-distance steering.
“A skeptic could reasonably believe that the latitudinal cue is magnetic, but that determining east-west position depends on magic,” wrote James L. Gould, a Princeton University evolutionary biologist, in a 2008 Current Biology commentary on animal navigation.
In the new study, researchers led by Lohmann and graduate student Nathan Putnam, also a UNC biologist, placed hatchling loggerhead sea turtles from Florida inside pools of water surrounded by computer-controlled magnetic coil systems.
By varying the currents, Lohmann and Putnam could precisely reproduce the geomagnetic characteristics of two points at identical latitude, but on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Into each pool they placed the hatchlings, which in the wild would instinctively follow a migratory path from their home beach and into the currents that circle the Sargasso Sea and loop around the Atlantic.
In the first pool, programmed to the geomagnetic field in the western Atlantic near Puerto Rico, the turtles swam northeast, on the same trajectory as loggerheads in the wild at that locale. In the other pool, set to the geomagnetics of the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde islands, the turtles swam northwest.
No other cues could explain their directions. Against reasonable expectation, the turtles clearly sensed differences in geomagnetic angle.
Gould, who was not involved in the study, wrote an accompanying commentary. Whereas his earlier article was titled “Animal Navigation: The Longitude Problem,” this was called “Animal Navigation: Longitude at Last.” The findings are “the final piece of the puzzle,” he wrote.
Lohmann now plans to study whether currents affect the turtles’ longitudinal compass, and whether the turtles detect differences over short distances. He also suspects that other animals may have a similar longitudinal compass.
“The mechanism we’ve found in turtles might also exist in birds,” he said.

110224-d
Two Generations of Florida Environmentalists Join Panel to Discuss the Future of Our Land
PRnewsWire.com
February 24, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- - On February 22, 2011, two veteran environmentalists - Maggy Hurchalla and Nathaniel P. Reed - and renowned author and historian, Dr. Douglas Brinkley, together with students from local schools, convened at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties in West Palm Beach to discuss environmental challenges, visions and hopes for the future, holding a panel discussion titled "Next Generation of Wilderness Warriors," presented in partnership with The Conservation Fund and The Society of the Four Arts.  
The discussion was moderated by Elizabeth Dowdle, Senior Associate of The Conservation Fund. The Panel answered questions from young students emerging as environmental leaders from the Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy at Jupiter Community High School, the Pine Jog Fellows Program and the Forest Hill High School Environmental Science Academy.
As a part of the Foundation's "beyond grantmaking" leadership activities in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, the goal of the event was to connect future young environmental leaders of the community with renowned environmentalists, to share the transfer of knowledge and leadership through intergenerational exchange.
"Now more than ever," says Leslie Lilly, President and CEO of the Community Foundation, "there is urgency to learn from the experiences and lessons of the past, as well as from among our present day "wilderness warriors" if we are to encourage and sustain the commitment to and stewardship of our environment among a new generation of leaders. We need to understand how much has been lost and what remains that is critical to protect and conserve for the enjoyment and benefit of all future generations. Florida has been a bellwether state in advancing principles of environmental conservation because we have witnessed how easily we can lose what makes our state unique among all places in the world, especially with regard to the Everglades."
Panel participants Dr. Douglas Brinkley, Maggy Hurchalla and Nathaniel P. Reed all shared their inspirations and hopes for the young students who are interested in pursuing environmental studies.
"Join local environmental groups. Feel the passions of local conservation leagues, and then join a statewide organization. But, in order to succeed in protecting the environment, you must have - above all - a sound scholastic education," said Nathaniel P. Reed.  Mr. Reed has served seven Florida governors and two U.S. presidents from 1971-1978 as the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He served on the Board of the National Geographic Society for two decades, and is a founder of 1000 Friends of Florida serving as both president and chairman. He is a founding member of the Everglades Foundation where he presently serves as Vice Chairman.
Dr. Douglas Brinkley, a tenured Professor of History at Rice University, authored the best-selling book "The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America," which was published in July 2009. The book became an instant New York Times best-seller, was the recipient of the 2009 National Outdoor Book Award and the 2009 Green Prize for Sustainable Literature. "In 1903, President Roosevelt established Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge - not too far away from here - as the first federal bird reservation," noted Dr. Brinkley.
Maggy Hurchalla was an elected official in Florida from 1974 to 1994, as a member of the Martin County Board of County Commissioners, where she spearheaded comprehensive planning efforts. She has received numerous awards for her environmental work, including awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Everglades Coalition, Audubon of Florida, and both the Florida and National Wildlife Federations.
Leslie Lilly recognized the representatives from IBERIABANK, who, thanks to their sponsorship, have made it possible for local nonprofit organizations to use the Hill-Snowdon Community Room at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties at no cost.  In addition, special thanks went to Mr. Royall Victor III, Community Foundation Board Member and the Chair of the Environmental Committee, for his donation in making this event a success, as well as other members of the committee, including Mr. David Ober, Board Member and Vice-Chair of the Environmental Committee who opened the luncheon. Mrs. Lilly also recognized the presence of the Mayor of Palm Beach, Gail Coniglio.
About the Community Foundation
As one of Florida's largest community foundations, the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and MartinCounties advances quality of life, citizen engagement, and regional vitality through its promotion of philanthropy. We have been in existence for more than 35 years, with permanent endowment now totaling more than $100 million. Last year, the Foundation awarded over $3.4 million in grants and led initiatives to address critical issues of common concern among our region's communities, including hunger, homelessness, affordable housing, and the conservation and protection of water resources. We are the trusted steward of over 250 funds created by area families, philanthropists, corporations and private foundations for charitable investment in our region's communities.

110224-e
Updated UF scientific report explains relationship between turf grass, water quality
UF News
February 24, 2011
Filed under Agriculture, Business, Environment, Research
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Lawn fertilizer misuse is one of many factors degrading water quality in Florida and summertime fertilizer bans may not be a quick-fix solution, according to an updated report released this week by University of Florida scientists.
Numerous published, peer-reviewed studies confirm that turf grass is healthiest and absorbs the most fertilizer nutrients during the active growing months of summer. Research also shows that nutrient leaching and run-off are greatest during other times of the year.
These findings are highlighted in the updated report, “Urban Water Quality and Fertilizer Ordinances: Avoiding Unintended Consequences,” available online at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss496. The report is a literature review of more than 100 scientific papers published nationally in the past 40 years. Together, these papers provide a clearer picture of the relationships between fertilization, leaching, run-off and water quality, researchers said.
Pollution in Florida’s lakes, rivers and coastal areas is a critical concern and many cities and counties have begun to consider regulatory measures to help protect water quality. As the report shows, nutrients can enter groundwater and surface water from a variety of sources including fertilizer, pet waste, septic tank waste, leaf litter, combustion products and atmospheric deposition.
The updated report, issued by UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, was developed to provide additional information to regulatory agencies as well as industry, community and government leaders and environmental organizations as they engage in these important discussions, said Terril Nell, chairman of UF’s environmental horticulture department and a co-author of the updated report.
“Water quality is vital to the future of our state, and it is critically important that we understand the complexity of the nutrient problem we are dealing with,” Nell said. “This information could help us develop solutions that provide us with lasting and measurable results.”
Some other key points cited in the report:
Properly maintained lawns and landscapes provide excellent soil erosion control, enhance entrapment and uptake of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, and improve aquifer recharge.
Healthy turf grass loses almost zero nutrients when it’s fertilized and irrigated according to science-based best management practices, or BMPs.
Maintaining healthy turf grass requires the addition of nutrients during summer months, when grasses have the greatest ability to absorb nutrients due to more active root and shoot growth.
Nutrient run-off and leaching will increase when lawns are overfertilized, and when fertilizer is applied to unhealthy turf.
Science-based BMPs should be combined with education programs, for maximum improvement of nutrient management and its impact on water quality.
Wintertime fertilizer bans are part of a comprehensive approach to water pollution problems in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. They have banned fertilizer applications during cooler months when grass is dormant, but not in the summer or other warm months considered active growing periods.
Plant nutritionist George Hochmuth, a professor in the UF soil and water science department and senior author of the report, said the research helps shed light on the relationship between urban nutrient sources and excessive algae growth, which can occur in water bodies with elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus.
“Controlling nutrients at the source is a sound approach to reducing what gets moved downstream into our water systems,” Hochmuth said. “Unfortunately, there are no data pinpointing a single source as the largest factor.”
For homeowners, the updated report underscores not only the importance of reading and following fertilizer label instructions, but also the importance of following proper irrigation practices, said Chris Martinez, an assistant professor with UF’s agricultural and biological engineering department and a co-author of the new report.
Bryan Unruh, an environmental horticulture professor at UF’s West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay and report co-author, said the updated report is an ideal one-stop information source for any Florida resident who wants to understand the issues surrounding urban nutrient sources and water quality.
“The body of scientific literature that’s out there is robust, and the reader should come away well-informed,” Unruh said.
The first version of the report was published in 2009.

110223-a
Environmentalists complain over Scott pick for agency chief
St. Petersburg Times - by CRAIG PITTMAN
February 23, 2011
Environmental groups say the governor’s choice to head the Department of Environmental Protection has a conflict involving industrial pollutants dumped into state waters.
A pair of environmental groups are complaining to federal officials that the shipyard executive Gov. Rick Scott picked to lead the Department of Environment Protection cannot oversee a program that regulates how much industrial pollution can be dumped into the state’s waters.
The reason: Herschel Vinyard’s previous employer, a Jacksonville shipyard, held just such a pollution permit.
They say putting him in charge of the program to control it and other polluters is against the law.
At issue is something called the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. In Florida, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows the DEP to issue the permits.
But federal law says anyone overseeing the permits cannot have received a “significant portion of his income directly or indirectly from permit holders or applicants for a permit.”
In this case, that means more than 10 percent over the previous two years. Last month Scott tapped Vinyard, director of business operation for BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards, to head up the DEP.
But BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards holds federal permits for its treated wastewater, said Jerry Phillips of the Florida chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER.
“This law exists because Congress did not want our national clean water safety net co-opted by corporate infiltration,” said Phillips, a former DEP enforcement attorney. PEER and the Clean Water Network have filed a petition asking the EPA to take action on the matter.
If EPA agrees that this is a violation, it could withhold federal grants or other financial assistance to the state, or it could revoke Florida’s power to issue water pollution permits.
Another option, said Clean Water Network’s Linda Young: Scott could appoint someone “more appropriate.”
When Scott named Vinyard to the position, he highlighted Vinyard’s work on the shipyard’s permit.
“As an example of Vinyard’s focus on environmental responsibility and effective business practices, he provided counsel to BAE Systems in their recent, successful efforts to remove its treated wastewater outfall from the St. Johns River,” Scott said in a January news release. “That wastewater is now being used for irrigation purposes and eliminates a discharge to one of Florida’s most significant water bodies.”
Vinyard has also served as chairman of the Shipbuilders Council of America, which among other goals tries to get EPA to lighten the regulatory load of its members.
In other words, Scott “has appointed a man whose professional career has been dedicated to ensuring that the very regulations that he would now oversee are significantly weakened,” the petition to the EPA states.
A request to DEP officials for a comment on the petition regarding Vinyard drew no response Tuesday. The DEP has not found any pollution violations or pursued any enforcement actions against his shipbuilding company in the past five years.

110223-b
Funds for new wildlife refuge west of Brevard may dry up
FloridaToday.com
February 23, 2011
Federal plan looks to save Everglades headwaters
Federal officials want to spend $704 million to protect farmland and establish a 150,000-acre refuge west of Brevard County they say would help restore the Everglades’ headwaters and habitat for bald eagles, black bears and 86 other endangered or threatened species.
If successful, it could forge a new model in Florida for working with family farmers to save their way of life — and cut costs on flood control.
The project, which would involve buying or leasing ranch land, would be paid through a variety of federal sources that draw revenue from oil and gas leases, cattle grazing and timber programs, and hunting fees.
Refuge proponents say they also could tap into President Barack Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors” plan, which aims to finance land and water conservation and establish a youth conservation corps.
But the initiative and new refuge could be cut in this year’s budget battles. A final plan for the refuge is expected this fall, and piecing together the land could take several years, with funding potentially falling victim to deficit battles. Critics sense a giveaway to farmers who would get paid for not developing land unlikely to be built on anyway.
Advocates argue there’s no better time to start buying ranch land to fill gaps between Central Florida’s existing large conservation areasand to guard nature’s resources against the next boom.
“The northern Everglades is a special landscape, not only in terms of wildlife and habitat but in our ability to restore the hydrology of the greater Everglades ecosystem,” said Keith Fountain, director of land acquisition for The Nature Conservancy in Florida. “The best time to protect large landscapes for the future is when it’s not so obvious that they’re threatened.”
Others question the timing of a new refuge, given current budgets and multibillion-dollar backlogs on existing federal lands.
“At this day and time, I’m wondering where the dollars are going to come from,” said Jim Handley, executive vice president of the Florida Cattlemen’s Association.
His group represents 4,000 ranchers statewide, many of whom own land within the proposed study area for the new refuge and have yet to decide whether they support the plan.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified 1.78¤million acres northwest of Lake Okeechobee within which it hopes to set aside 150,000 acres to buy, lease or create easements for the new refuge.
The public has until the end of March to comment on the proposal.
Some local airboaters and other outdoorsmen worry about the cost, the need, and the prospect of areas closed to boats, hunting and other recreation. They see it as a giveaway to farmers during lean budget times.
“They’re going to cash these ranchers out at full value and let them continue to farm it,” said Jim Rosasco of Melbourne, a member of the Brevard County Airboaters Association.
Officials say they won’t close areas to hunting, fishing or to boats and other vehicles.
“There are no plans whatsoever to close any areas that currently have any legal airboating access or any boating access at this point,” said Charlie Pelizza, a refuge manager for the region that includes Pelican Island, Archie Carr and Lake Wales national wildlife refuges.
The refuge would be a core area within the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and river basin.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife would negotiate with willing sellers to buy property or conservation easements and leases. They hope to get 50,000 acres for the refuge and another 100,000 acres through the easements, which would remain privately held.
The federal agency estimates it will pay $350 million, or $7,000 an acre, to buy 50,000¤acres. They expect to fork out another $350 million, or $3,500 an acre, for the planned 100,000 acres of conservation easements.
Those estimates are based on what land was going for a few years ago, Pelizza said, so the figures might be high.
The service also foresees $1.2 million in annual costs to operate and maintain the refuge and a staff of at least nine. Officials say most of the money to set up and maintain the new refuge would come from existing funds.
One main source would be grants from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Obama requested $900 million for the fund this year. But that money could get caught up in budget battles as House Republicans try to cut the federal deficit.
They say now is not the time to start new refuges when the National Park Service, for one, has a maintenance backlog of $8 billion.
Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, has yet to take a position on the refuge but agrees the nation already has its hands full maintaining land.
“Spending $700 million in taxpayer money to create a new wildlife refuge at a time when the Department of Interior has tens of billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs on existing federal lands raises some serious questions about priorities,” Posey said Tuesday via e-mail.
Much of the study area falls within his district.
“I think there is a lot more to be learned and a lot more questions that need to be answered,” he said.
Wildlife officials tout the plan as a hedge against future impact to plants and animals from global warming.
They hope to restore habitats to expand ranges for the Florida panther, Florida grasshopper sparrow and Everglades snail kite.
But they also see big benefits in flood control, groundwater recharge, crop pollination and recreational benefits from preserved land.
In some ways, the refuge would save money, they argue. Studies show wetlands, for example, provide “ecological services” worth $300 to $400 an acre — what it would cost to build an equal amount of flood protection with stormwater structures.
Bald eagles would be the main beneficiaries. The region of rivers, swamps, marshes, prairies and woods within the refuge study area has the densest eagle nesting in the nation, said Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon of Florida.
The area was one of the bald eagles’ last strongholds five decades ago when DDT ravaged the bird’s numbers nationwide.
And while housing is slow now, “There’s little question that’s the direction growth was moving in Central Florida,” Lee said.
A new refuge would guard against the next land boom that could make large-scale developments feasible again, Lee said.
Buying out development rights and keeping the land in private ranching hands could help save species such as caracara, sandhill cranes, grasshopper sparrows and others, he said.
“Farmers have been incredibly good stewards,” Lee said. “There’s a very good compatibility between cattle ranching and good wildlife habitat.”
Ranchers are watching closely, with some reservations.
“The idea of being in the refuge, it sounds good,” said Mike Adams, president of Adams Ranch, a fourth generation family farm with about 65,000¤acres in St. Lucie, Osceola and Okeechobee counties. But he remains wary.
“You could have a refuge designation, and you end up with a lot more restrictions, whether you do an easement or not,” Adams said. “What we decide now is going to affect how my kids can operate in the future.”

110223-c
Tarpon wants to produce more reclaimed water
The Suncoast News - by MARK SCHANTZ |
February 23, 2011
TARPON SPRINGS - City Public Services Department officials hope to join with the Southwest Florida Water Management District to enhance the city's reclaimed waste-water system and take it to the next level.
The planned reclaimed water master plan project will determine how to improve and expand the city's system, which now services about 1,000 customers, said Paul Smith, public services manager. The city will apply for a 50-50 matching grant of up to $50,000 from SWFWMD to design the master plan.
The plan would include information detailing how the city can provide more reclaimed water and persuade users to conserve it to reduce the demand on the system.
The city wants to be able to provide the commodity during the dry season, when reclaimed water levels traditionally drop, sometimes dramatically. "It's the next step in expanding the city's reclaimed water system," said Smith.
SWFWMD has already given the city money to construct a second 2-million-gallon reclaimed water storage tank. The Brooksville-based regulatory agency has spent years encouraging utilities in its 16-county area of jurisdiction in west-central Florida to conserve drinking water by, among other methods, reclaiming effluent from waste-water treatment plants for use in landscape irrigation.
The city wants to produce and store enough reclaimed water to serve homes along transmission lines that are already in the ground but aren't used because the supply is limited, Smith said.
The city's reclaimed water system is reaching its current design limit, according to Smith. So city officials want to "consider design options some consider leading edge [and] will stretch existing resources to serve more customers," he said.
An enhanced transmission system could include valves to control distribution of reclaimed water. This would allow the system to be divided into zones so the number of times a week that reclaimed water is used or pressure in the lines could be regulated.
The plan would also consider the feasibility of storing reclaimed water underground or in additional aboveground storage tanks, Smith explained.
The city might decide to curb use by revising its rate structure to make consuming large amounts of reclaimed water more expensive than is now the case, he added.

110223-d
Water district plans to sue Army Corps over Wellington water treatment area
Palm Beach Post - by Christine Stapleton, Staff Writer
February 23, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — The South Florida Water Management district has put the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on notice that it intends the sue the agency over a phosphorus-laden stormwater treatment area west of Wellington.
In a letter dated Feb. 11, the district's general counsel, Sheryl G. Wood, said the lawsuit would focus on the "design, construction and functionality" of a stormwater treatment called STA 1E.
Stormwater treatment areas are man-made wetlands designed to clean-up nutrients primarily from agricultural and urban runoff before the water reaches the Everglades. Of the District's six stormwater treatment areas, STA 1E is the most polluted -- chronically exceeding federal limits on nutrients.
STA 1E is the first stormwater treatment area built as part of the Everglades restoration. The district, which maintains STA 1E, blames the Corps, which built STA 1E, for design and construction flaws. Those flaws prevent STA 1E from cleaning water to meet federal water quality standards, according to the district.
Although nutrient levels in STA 1E have violated federal standards for years, the partnership between the Corps and district, the agencies heading the Everglades cleanup, became increasingly caustic last year in the wake of rulings from a federal judge, who has threatened to impose stiff fines on the district for failing to bring nutrient levels to legal levels.

110223-e
Would you drink tap water that’s been infused with treated sewage water?
The Wetside Gazette - by T. Hamilton
February 23, 2011
Wake up South Florida! History is repeating itself, the Wingate Landfill, the Sistrunk Site and our Coral Reefs that are disappearing are a few of the many contaminated sites and Brownfields in Broward County that are not cleaned up, even today. Who is protecting the citizens of South Florida? Where are our environmentalists? Where are our leaders? Who knows what they are doing, the elected officers and government employees?
Is this the same old greed, lack of knowledge, or just don’t care about the people and/or the environment that they are hired or elected to serve and protect?
To eject treated sewage water into the Biscayne Aquifer will cause the largest point source pollution environment disaster in Florida’s recent history. We will have to spend billions of dollars in the future to clean up this disaster. All of the people, elected officers and government employees, that cause this disaster will have made their money and will be gone with no accountability.
The clean-up cost will be tremendous and we will have wasted billions of dollars.
Citizens of South Florida, look at your history. In the 19-40s the Everglades was drained at the cost of millions of dollars. In 1996, to correct this waste and destruction of the Everglades, Congress created the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force and Working Group to restore the quality of the South Florida Ecosystem and the Everglades. Congress budgeted 7.8 billion dollars to restore the South Florida Eco-system which included the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (SERP).
However, after spending 10.5 billion dollars and 15 years later, the South Florida Eco-system Restoration Project and SERP, failed. Now the pollution of the Biscayne Aquifer is next along with the building of the Sea Water Desalination Plants, to clean up the water, at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars of our taxpayer’s money. Wake up South Florida!
Thaddeus “THAD” Hamilton Conservationist, 40 years of experience in agriculture and the environment.

110221-a
Biodiversity Versus Biotech
Counterpunch.com - by ALEXANDER REID ROSS
February 21, 2011
There are many different campaigns to preserve biodiversity here on Earth, and they all seemed to come together when two spunky Florida Atlantic University alumnus decided to climb a tree and fight for 700 acres of endangered Florida forest. While the activists remain perched in their tree, protecting a hand-made, 12”x8” banner reading “Protect This Forest!”, the Scripps Research Institute undergoes the final stages in the process to gain permission to slash and burn some of the purest Florida pinelands in South Florida.
Called the Briger Forest, this rare pine flatwoods ecosystem straddles the I-95 amidst the gaping sprawl of Miami. In spite of its precarious situation, it is one of the last habitats of endangered hand fern and gopher tortoise left in the USA, and the FAU graduates, who are also members of the radical environmental group, Everglades Earth First!, intend to keep it that way. Since their campaign got off its feet (and into the trees), the Briger Forest has come to represent open space, a side of Florida relatively unscathed by development, versus the selling off of nature, piece by piece, to companies that wish to control our way of life, our land and our species.
The fight against Scripps has a history down in the muggy, mosquito infested land of Southern Florida. Three years ago, Scripps tried to clear out orange grove land to open up a lab in 19,191-acre Mecca Farms, West Palm Beach. With their sights set on a “biotech city” consisting of 11,000 homes, research labs and spin-off shopping franchises, Scripps failed to navigate the political terrain of farmers, locals, and activists, in particular, the scrappy direct action-oriented Everglades Earth First!, and their biotech city idea was shot down in court.
In efforts to ameliorate the debt that the State of Florida incurred to Scripps during the loss, Scripps was allowed to purchase a piece of property alongside the campus of FAU, where they have since erected the contemporary Bauhaus-style, concrete-glass-and-brick monstrosity that is now the largest biotech facility in Florida. Their dream of a Scripps City has now led them onto new grounds — the neighboring Briger Forest, where FAU and the State of Florida promises to fund their wild exploits out of taxpayer dollars. There they will be allowed to pursue animal testing on primates as well as rodents, cats and dogs using government funds and University assistance.
Recently, the National Institute of Health gave Scripps $3.45 million to collaborate with Novartis Pharma AG on a project called, “National Cooperative Drug Discovery Group for the Treatment of Mood Disorders or Nicotine Addiction". In an ironic twist worthy of A Brave New World, Scripps boasts on its website that “this new research may generate new models of depression.” With its reputation for funding the notorious animal testing lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the name Novartis indicates that the network of international animal cruelty is, indeed, sadly spreading.
Extensive research done by rigorous activists has uncovered scientists working in the area, who have sourced their primates through the infamous company, Primate Products, whose brutal methods were uncovered in leaked photos last Summer. Scipps, itself, has been sited by the Food and Drug Administration for cruel practices used on chimpanzees undergoing testing for Hepatitis C and the street drug, Ecstasy. Furthermore, their ongoing collaborative relationship with the notoriously corrupt and paranoid multinational seed company Monsanto, raises questions about a third party — the possible use of private security firms like Blackwater to investigate environmental activists. But the reach of Scripps goes far deeper than biotech alone.
The Scripps family is well connected. H.W. Scripps Company was started by its namesake with $10,000 way back, about a century ago, and has become the ninth largest mass-media conglomerate in the US with ties to a myriad of newspapers as well as television networks and other forms of media. In 2006, news broke that a journalist working for the Scripps Howard Media Service received $60,000 from Monsanto in exchange for pro-biotech articles, revealing the depth of informal relationships between the newspaper conglomerate and animal testing as well as GM products in general.
More revealingly, H.W. Scripps owns the Home and Garden cable TV station, with 85 million subscribers, along with a shop at home network and the Food Network, while being ensconced in the interests of the largest seed and pharmaceutical corporations in the world. From the animal testing labs to Monsanto and Novaris to your television set in one great whirlwind. This is, of course, not to mention the Scripps family's ties to hospitals and “permanent cosmetics” companies. (According to one website, “A 'Wellness Day' will be coming to a Scripps Hospital near you.”)
To round out the portrait of monopolization and graft, H.W. Scripps owns a small conglomerate of at least six newspapers in South East Florida — one of which, the Jupiter Courier, is the weekly rag that serves the same city where all this is taking place: Jupiter, Florida. Suffice it to say, until the treesit came up, coverage of Scripps had been one dimensional to say the least, but the reigns of human nature are starting to slip from the grasp of industry.
Risking SLAPP suits and charges under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, activists maintained a 56-hour vigil outside of the Scripps Research Institute with rotating protests in solidarity with the treesit. The combination of on-the-ground direct action, media work, letter writing, and months of grassroots organizing has paid off with surprisingly good coverage from local television stations and newspapers that are not in line with the Scripps family. Scripps has even dug themselves into a little hole in the eyes of the public by reneging on their promise to employ locals to staff their lab, so the campaign is likely to generate support from more diverse sectors of society than it otherwise would.
Although Scripps employees are up to their necks in Greenwashing, joining international symposiums on biodiversity while animals from all around the world are dieing in their labs, the public is becoming increasingly savvy in avoiding the quagmire of public relations and lies upholding their logic. Recognizing the urgent need to reclaim urbanizing spaces from miserablist biopolitics, Everglades Earth First! and other activists are taking a stand against development by occupying the last bits of wild heritage left through peaceful methods and holding onto it, quite literally, for dear life.
Alexander Reid Ross writes for the Earth First! Journal
For more information on this subject, visit evergladesearthfirst.org, or email floridatreesit@gmail.com

110221-d
Plan for New Wildlife Refuge in Everglades Draws Opponents
St. Petersburg Times - by CRAIG PITTMAN
February 21, 2011
Public hearings are being held on creation of a new wildlife refuge.
A proposal to create a new wildlife refuge in the headwaters of the Everglades has sparked a strong backlash against what opponents are calling "another government land grab."
Related Links:
At four public hearings over the past month, hundreds of people showed up, most of them to rail against plans for a 150,000-acre Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge in Central Florida.
The size of the crowds -- more than 600 at one hearing -- surprised officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Charlie Pelizza, a manager of several wildlife refuges who has been in charge of the hearings.
The level of opposition, and the determination of some opponents to show up repeatedly at hearings in Kissimmee, Okeechobee, Sebring and Vero Beach, also surprised them, he said.
"We just seem to have found a group of individuals who are concerned about the project, and they wanted to make sure their voices were heard," Pelizza said. As a result, the deadline for commenting on the plan has been pushed back from Feb. 28 to March 31.
"It got very heated," said Ruskin lawyer Scott Fitzpatrick, who represents Polk County landowners opposing the refuge plan. "I hope the project will be amended to reflect the concerns that were expressed."
Federal officials want to create the refuge as a way to preserve habitat for such species as the Florida panther and black bear, protect areas that recharge the aquifer and maintain the land's rural character.
Some of the opponents are hunters and anglers concerned they might lose access to property they now use, Pelizza said. Some are airboat and all-terrain-vehicle users with similar concerns based on past experiences with federal parks and refuges.
"We're against any federal sprawl," said Bishop Wright Jr., president of the Florida Airboat Association. "We don't condone the 'lock it up, keep it out' theory."
Some opponents don't think the government should spend millions of dollars on a refuge at a time when the economy is so sour, said Fitzpatrick. And some -- particularly his clients in the River Ranch Property Owners Association -- are concerned that the government is targeting their property for acquisition whether they like it or not, he said.
The groundswell of anger began when the proposal unveiled by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last month included a map covering far more than just 150,000 acres. Instead, it showed a swath of more than 1 million acres of rural land stretching from the outskirts of the town of Kissimmee to the northern shore of Lake Okeechobee as the "study area" within which the refuge would be created.
The study area map upset a lot of the opponents because it showed that the government was interested in so much land, said Carlton Ward Jr., an eighth-generation native and author of Florida Cowboys: Keepers of the Last Frontier, who spoke in favor of the refuge plan at the Kissimmee hearing.
"I believe a lot of the opposition seemed to be based on conspiracy theories instead of what's really going on," Ward said.
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110221-d
Reservoir made from rock pits to start sending water to Loxahatchee River in test run
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
February 21, 2011
Cost concerns, other controversies follow reservoir
An initial dose of water from a Palm Beach County reservoir plagued by controversy soon could start flowing in a test project aimed at replenishing the Loxahatchee River.
The South Florida Water Management District spent $217 million to turn old rock mining pits at Palm Beach Aggregates, west of Royal Palm Beach, into a reservoir intended to restore water flows to the Loxahatchee and to also help boost community supplies.
The 15-billion-gallon reservoir was completed in 2008, but the district has yet to build the $60 million pumps needed to move the water as planned to the river and elsewhere. Leaving the water stagnant adds to water-quality problems hampering the reservoir's ability to feed the river and replenish community water supplies.
Now the district plans to move some of that water by using smaller existing pumps. The water would go to the Grassy Waters Preserve, which helps supply West Palm Beach drinking water, and then some would be directed to the northwest fork of the Loxahatchee River.
In addition to making more use of the reservoir water, the pilot program would provide a test run that shows water managers the logistical hurdles to moving water to the Loxahatchee.
"We would learn what are the operations costs and complexities involved," said David Swift, district lead environmental scientist. "It has its challenges."
The two-week test, expected to begin by early March, would cost taxpayers about $30,000, according to district projections.
Water from the reservoir would be moved through the M Canal to Grassy Waters Preserve, and from there a portion gets pumped to the Loxahatchee.
The pilot program shows signs of progress at the reservoir by at least "delivering something," according to district board member Kevin Powers.
"This isn't an easy thing," Powers said. "It's all coming together."
Creating more water storage remains one of the biggest water supply problems for South Florida.
South Florida typically gets plenty of rainfall to meet its water supply needs, but much of that water gets drained out to sea to guard against flooding the towns and farms that now cover what used to be the Everglades and other wetlands.
The purpose of the reservoir at Palm Beach Aggregates is to hold onto some of that stormwater and use it to replenish freshwater flows to the Loxahatchee. The reservoir also is intended to help backup local community supplies.
Cost concerns and other controversy plagued the reservoir built at Palm Beach Aggregates.

110221-e
Shhh, and Not Because the Fauna Are Sleeping
New York Times - by FELICITY BARRINGER
February 21, 2011
(Editor:  Saving the Everglades – with jet engines roaring and sonic booms exploding ??
It seems that the rest of the world is way ahead of us in respecting nature !)
MUIR WOODS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Calif. — At times, deep within this vaulted chamber of redwoods, it is almost quiet enough to hear a banana slug slither by. For the National Park Service, that stillness is as vital a component of the site as the trees’ green needles, or the sudden darting rays of sunlight.
A decade after the agency resolved to restore natural sounds to this park in a metropolitan area of seven million people, managers at Muir Woods, in Marin Country just north of San Francisco, have made big strides in vanquishing intrusive noise. Now the background sounds are dominated by the burbling rush of Redwood Creek, the soft sibilant breeze that stirs the redwood branches, the croak of a crow.
Humans do contribute, too, but, with the exception of toddlers’ squeals, their voices tend to be pitched lower than usual.
The impact of noise on wildlife ranging from birds to whales to elk has been a growing focus of scientific study. Increasing evidence suggests that animals in natural settings modify their behavior, though sometimes only briefly, in response to human commotion.
In a 2009 article in Park Science, researchers explained that animals react to human intrusions as if they were suddenly being threatened by predators.
“These disturbances evoke antipredator behaviors and interfere with other activities that enhance fitness,” the article said, like foraging for food, mating and tending to the young. When such disturbances grow frequent, the researchers warned, “population consequences may result.”
By 2001 or so, Muir Woods had in fact long been abandoned by otters and pileated woodpeckers, and park managers had grown concerned that sightings of a pair of northern spotted owls, an endangered species, were becoming more and more infrequent.
There were other worries besides noise levels. An asphalt walkway was cramping the growth of the redwoods’ surprisingly shallow roots in some places, causing at least one tree to topple. And park visitors were straying from the path into the groves, compacting earth that was meant to be loose and harming the redwoods further.
But the noise question was the most vexing. The pathway could be altered, and was: in many places a slightly elevated boardwalk has replaced it. Visitors are firmly advised to stay on the paths. But the clatter and rumble of garbage can lids and maintenance vans remained.
Today, no Dumpsters or garbage cans are to be found along the trails. Maintenance vehicles powered by electricity glide by almost silently. Workers in emergency vehicles do not idle their engines while resolving whatever problem brought them to the park.
Once the diesel engines had been stilled, visitors began falling into line, heeding a subtle signal that human noises are superfluous here.
But some of the signals are hardly subtle: signs posted near Cathedral Grove in the heart of the park call for silence. Near the entrance to the food and gift shop close to the park’s entrance, a decibel meter measures the sound of a visitor’s voice.
“I could see myself crunching potato chips,” Chris Mueller, a New York City tourist interviewed in the woods, said, referring to the digital readout on the decibel meter.
“Out here it is very quiet,” Mr. Mueller added appreciatively. “The mumbling of the tourists and the babbling of the stream, it has a very calming sense to it.”
What is more, the nocturnal spotted owls have responded: Muir Woods now has two breeding pairs instead of one.
The decade-long campaign for quiet in national parks has been little heard or noticed. The park system provides considerable autonomy to the individual parks, and officials at some parks have worried about noise and taken stronger steps more than have others.
Karen Treviño, the chief of the natural sounds and night skies division of the National Park Service, a system that includes hundreds of parks, monuments and historical tracts, said the noise issues varied widely.
In the Florida Everglades, the rhythmic thudding of electrical generators has been stilled at a campground, and park officials are negotiating with operators of airboats, whose revved-up fans can sound like miniature jet engines, to see how their impact might be reduced. They have also approached officials at Homestead Air Force Base south of Miami about the timing of the sonic booms that shake the saw grass.
For about a decade now at Zion National Park in Utah, a shuttle bus service has replaced most private cars on the main loop at the heart of the canyon. And Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado has now ensured that some campground areas are generator-free and is weighing the best way to tackle motorcycle noise.
The progress at Muir Woods has been largely overshadowed by highly publicized noise battles between managers at the highest-profile parks and companies that pilot small planes and helicopters full of aerial sightseers.
This month, park managers at the Grand Canyon proposed requiring the operators to shift gradually to quieter aircraft, fly higher above the North Rim and refrain from flying at dawn and dusk. Yet Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, introduced legislation last week that could forestall the park’s plan.
The measure, in the form of an amendment, specifies that noise standards “shall be considered to be achieved in the park if, for at least 75 percent of each day, 50 percent of the park is free of sound produced by commercial air tour operations.”
Bill Hedden, the executive director of the Grant Canyon Trust, an Arizona environmental organization, denounced the McCain proposal. “This is an amendment that essentially gives the entire game away to the air tour operators,” Mr. Hedden said. “It redefines what constitutes natural quiet and lets them do any thing they want.”
Asked about the amendment, Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for the senator, warned that tighter regulation by the Park Service “could dramatically threaten tourism jobs and the tax base in Northern Arizona.”
“Senator McCain’s amendment would simply codify the existing definition of natural quiet that has been in place for the past 17 years,” Ms. Buchanan said.
Muir Woods has airplane noise, too — it is within 30 miles of the Oakland and San Francisco airports — but officials here do not worry much about tourist flights because the tree canopy masks the view from above. The park also contends with the whine of cars and especially motorcycles making their way up Mount Tamalpais on roads just above the park.
Before the park quieted its maintenance fleet and other staff-generated noises, managers at Muir Woods had conducted a yearlong inventory of all sounds, natural and otherwise, in four places in the park, said Mia Monroe, a park ranger. To her surprise, Ms. Monroe said, noise from the parking lot and gift shop “bled a quarter-mile into the forest.”
Administrators moved the parking lot about 100 yards farther from the entrance, eliminated the ice machine and installed the decibel meter.
The new concessionaire agreed to make coffee in a way that minimized the odor and to bake its scones and muffins in nearby Mill Valley rather than on site. “So when you walk in the forest, you smell the wonderful fresh air of the forest” — not blueberry scones, Ms. Monroe said.
Mr. Mueller, the New York tourist, savored the smells on his visit. “The scents are extraordinary,” he said. “There’s an intensity to the aromas one associates with dining. You can almost taste the air here, it’s that rich.”
Managers and rangers are careful nonetheless not to attribute specific improvements in the park’s wildlife directly to policy changes like the new boardwalk or sound management or elimination of some invasive weeds. “It’s very, very hard to say what do the peace and quiet, what does the boardwalk, what do any of these things relate to,” Ms. Monroe said. “We don’t know.”
Still, she noted, otters have returned after a 75-year hiatus, and chipmunks are on the rebound.
And if a tree falls in this forest, it is likely to be heard.

110221-f
Who controls your state ?
RenewAmerica.com
February 21, 2011
Why should the federal government dictate how land is used in Florida, or in Utah, or any other state? In the first place, land should be managed by the owner. In a free society, property — especially land — is an extension of the person who owns it. In order to acquire the property, the owner had to invest his time and effort or receive the property as a gift from another. In any event, property is a part of the owner. Just as a person determines how he will use his time and effort, he should also be able to determine how he will use his property. Should a person use time and effort — or his property — to inflict damage upon another person, the damaged person can rely on government to hold the guilty party accountable. This is government's only legitimate role in property owned by others.
Aside from the ten-miles-square set aside by the Constitution for the Capitol, and land purchased with the approval of state legislatures, the federal government should own no land within any state. The Constitution does authorize the federal government to "...make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other property belonging to the United States...."
The evolution of the equal footing doctrine aside; logic, reason, and common sense should demand that land within a state should belong to the state, or to the individual citizens of the state who have acquired it. Land in territories that are not states is subject to regulation by the federal government. There is zero justification for the federal government to own, or claim to own, or control by decree or regulation, the land within the borders of any state.
But it does.
In Florida, the federal government continues to dictate how land is used. The Fish and Wildlife Service has now identified several counties it feels the need to control. There are folks in Florida who don't feel the need to have the federal government control the use of their land. Stop Federal Sprawl is more than 21,000 local people who have the right idea about the role of the federal government. This news clip explains the government's claim and the people's concern.
The federal government wants to control the use of 150, 000 acres of private property North of Lake Okeechobee, by designating the area as a "Wildlife Refuge." The plan is to appropriate $700 million tax dollars to buy 50,000 acres and to secure conservation easements on the remaining 100,000 acres. The justification is that this area is the headwaters for the Everglades, and has the potential of polluting the Everglades if the land is misused.
Currently, if a private land owner in the area pollutes the Everglades he can — and will — be held responsible and required to restore any damages he has caused. This is current law, and it is enforced every day. There is no need for the federal government to waste $700 million tax dollars and whatever else it takes to secure 100,000 acres of conservation easement.
Free market capitalism demands that private owners be left alone to use their land as they choose. Only in a Socialist, Communist, or Dictatorship form of government can government arbitrarily take control of the use of private property.
In Utah, however, and in other Western states, the Department of Interior has issued Secretarial Order #3310 that takes control of land that should be private, or state property. This bureaucrat's decree ignores years of state and local planning, and completely disregards requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Western states have been fighting to gain control of the land within their borders for years, but the feds have found ways to keep control of the land, even though they are no longer a territory, but a state, supposedly accepted into the union on an equal footing with all other states. The reality, of course, is that the federal government agencies control the use of land which they refuse to turn over to the state, and the states are tired of it
Meeting in Salt Lake City recently, representatives from several Western state legislatures, Congressional delegations, state and local agencies began to develop a strategy to oppose Secretarial Order #3310. The federal bureaucrat issued a decree with no regard for the requirement in FLPMA and NEPA that the federal government must coordinate with state and local governments to protect local custom and culture. Federal agencies routinely ignore these laws unless local officials or organizations hold their feet to the fire. Montana legislator, Derek Skees, has introduced a bill titled, "Transfer management of certain federal public lands" (HB-506), that gives the federal government 90 days to prove that its claim to Montana land meets the Constitutional requirement of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, or the land will be claimed by the state.
The federal government is beginning to feel the heat, as more and more local organizations and state and local officials are getting educated and encouraged to stand and no longer be steam-rolled by an out-of-control bureaucracy. Still, the best way to put a collar around the neck of this run-away federal government is to repeal the 17th Amendment and return real governing power to a state-elected Senate in Washington.

110220-a
An example of practical democracy
NewsSun.com - by CHRISTOPHER TUFFLEY
SEBRIING -- Recently several hundred people gathered at the Sebring Civic Center to listen to a presentation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The topic was the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area.
The proposed area will encompass 150,000 acres. Its supporters say it will help recharge the aquifer and restore the Everglades, while providing needed habitat and migration corridors for endangered wildlife.
In a rapidly growing state with urban sprawl, the supporters say, some wild areas must be protected from development or the day will come when there are no wild areas left.
In Highlands County, the refuge runs from the Kissimmee River in the east to the Lake Wales Ridge; and from the county line and the Avon Park Air Force Range in the north to the county line in the south, cutting through the corner formed by Highlands, Glades and Okeechobee counties.
Roughly a third of Highlands County, west of the ridge, is outside the boundary.
At the meeting, and in conversations since, representatives from the Fish & Wildlife Service said they want to hear from local residents.
Charles Pelizza, refuge manager at Pelican Island and a part of the organizing team, said the first step of the creation process is establishing a working partnership with the community. That means honest and open conversation is essential.
The News-Sun reached out to people who attended the Sebring meeting in order to understand the concerns of those in opposition to the refuge and conservation area, and the reasons those in favor of the refuge support it.
David Houghton, vice president of conservation programs at the National Wildlife Refuge Association, supports the proposal.
In a telephone interview he said a vibrant rural ranching community is essential to maintain the environmental health of Central Florida. He said the proposal contained a blend of ideas and options aimed at helping land rich ranching families keep their properties intact while protecting the environment.
Among the choices, landowners will be able to either sell land outright, or agree to conservation easements, or sign cooperative agreements, lease land or donate it. The key, Houghton said, "is that we will only buy from willing sellers."
He referred to a map of the proposed refuge and conservation area, which includes parts of five counties and covers thousands of acres. "The map will be refined," he said. "The lines will change as the refuge is built around the willing sellers."
Hunters and sportsmen will be "very happy and surprised when they find out this is a different kind of refuge" he added, with areas where hunting and fishing will be allowed.
"I think as things shake out and the proposal is refined, a lot of this (the opposition) will dry up and go away," Houghton said. "We're in the listening phase, it's open-ended. We're trying to make friends not alienate neighbors."
Many potential neighbors are skeptical. The three concerns mentioned the most often are loss of access, the use of eminent domain, and a lack of trust in the federal government.
For example, Phil Griner told the News-Sun, "My concern is getting a federal agency in charge of Florida.
"Who makes the rules? The (agency) director," Griner said. "He doesn't have to follow a set procedure, a process that is more or less controlled. With Fish & Wildlife there is no process. It's all up to the director. What if he changes his mind?
"The federal government should stay out of it. We have enough trouble with the state."
Claude Lemay is an owner at River Ranch, a private camping, riding and hunting reserve in Polk County.
"Oh, this is a good thing for the large landowners," he said. "They come out smelling like roses, getting to keep their property and having the government pay for it at the same time."
But, for the small land owner it is different. "The government says, 'I need that, I want that, and I'm going to have it,'" Lemay said.
"(At River Ranch) we all own little plots, and share the camping and hunting areas. As far as I can tell they (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) will wind up taking it, so we're fighting as hard as we can."
He is also concerned about the restrictions of a refuge.
He used the Big Cypress National Refuge and Conservation Area as an example.
"Sure, you can hunt there for certain animals at certain times of the year, but they don't allow any air boats or swamp buggies, no mechanized vehicles, not even horses if you can believe that. How are you going to get a deer out through the swamp?"

110220-b
Florida needs leaders to manage its growth
Orlando Sentinel - by Charles Pattison, Guest Columnist
February 20, 2011
The Orlando Sentinel reported recently that Orlando's median home price sank to a 13-year low of $94,950 in January. Despite these bargain prices, January sales were the slowest in a year, with 75 percent of closings either foreclosures or short sales.
Some are pointing their fingers at Florida's land-planning agency for the state's economic and job-creation problems. Calling the Florida Department of Community Affairs a "job killer," the governor has proposed eliminating the DCA and 318 of its positions, transferring the remaining 40 employees to a sub-unit of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Of these, 10 would be charged with reviewing all changes to local comprehensive plans in a state that is projected to reach 20 million residents by 2015, surpassing New York as the nation's third-largest state.
While some have bought the "job killer" moniker, others see through it. Over the past four years, DCA has approved local plan amendments that have opened up for new development an area almost the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. This included approval for more than 1 million new dwelling units and enough nonresidential development to fill four new regional shopping malls in each of Florida's 67 counties. On top of this, in 2010 Florida was second in the nation in the number of foreclosure filings, with 485,286 properties.
As this shows, Florida has an overabundance of existing and potential housing, and demand is weak. So to blame the state's land-planning process for the economic crisis is off base when the real issue is that bank financing simply is not available.
While the governor proposes gutting the state's land-planning agency, others recommend gutting Florida's growth-management laws to facilitate more development. Damaging proposals are circulating to remove requirements for developers to show the need for new projects, eliminate financial-feasibility tests for new projects, and wipe out legal rulings on growth management from the past 25 years.
Florida's growth-management process was not developed in a vacuum. It has evolved over several decades in response to serious problems including crowded roads, costly sprawling development, threatened drinking water supplies, and the rampant destruction of natural areas. If unchecked, taxpayers must either accept or pay to resolve these problems. To undermine Florida's land-planning process and eliminate its funding is both foolhardy and shortsighted.

110220-c
On Everglades, state must keep up with D.C.: Don't slow progress now
Palm Beach Post
February 20, 2011
For much of the past decade, Washington didn't live up to its end of the state-federal agreement to save the Everglades. Now that Washington is coming through, Florida could fall behind.
Members of both parties agree that since President Obama took office, the federal government has become the partner that it never was under President Bush, even with his brother in the Governor's Mansion. Mr. Obama has installed Everglades experts in several key positions, and his proposed budget includes $168 million for projects designed to get more water to Florida's "river of grass."
"At the end of the day," Everglades Foundation CEO Kirk Fordham said last week in a statement, "it is clear that this administration understands that Everglades restoration is a priority to sustain the water supply, create jobs and provide myriad economic benefits." Mr. Fordham was chief of staff for many years to former Republican Congressman Mark Foley.
Then there's the Rick Scott administration. Not even the strongest Everglades backer could expect state support at the $200 million level that it was in the 2006-07 budget, the last one before the housing bubble began to burst. But that support decreased all the way to $50 million in last year's budget, and Gov. Scott proposes only $17 million for next year.
In addition, Gov. Scott wants the South Florida Water Management District - the 50 percent partner with the federal government in Everglades work - to cut its tax rate by 25 percent. The water district is the most important public agency in this region, responsible for water supply, flood protection and environmental preservation. Because of lower property values, the agency collects about $160 million less than it did four years ago. Because of buying U.S. Sugar land for Everglades restoration, the district barely is able to carry out its constitutional duties. A 25 percent cut most likely would mean compromising Everglades restoration.
District board members, appointed by the governor, set the tax rate. But Mr. Fordham believes that Gov. Scott could veto district budget items. And in March, four vacancies on the nine-member board come open, and Gov. Scott will fill them.
The governor could demand that his appointees cut the tax rate, to make the governor look good politically. Or the governor could do what is best for Florida and name four people who understand the vast benefits to all Floridians of a healthy Everglades.
- Randy Schultz for The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board

110220-d
Restoration in Progress
Marconews.com – by Duke Vasey
February 20, 2011
The Everglades is an endless plain of Jamaica swamp sawgrass in shallow, slowly moving water that extends to the horizon. It is almost feature less. Here and there is a hummock (a tree island); here and there a mound of earth in the marsh that represents an alligator's den-digging work. There are many native species that call the everglades home, among them crocodiles, panthers, turtles and over 300 bird species of birds, notably, the Everglades kite, short-tailed hawk, bald eagle, osprey, peregrine falcon, wood ibis, roseate spoonbill, mangrove cuckoo and Cape-Sable sparrow. The Everglades is also rich in plant life, such as the lilypad, water shield, sawgrass, bald cypress and palmetto. In the freshwater rivers that run through the saw grass prairies, there are many types of fish such as the largemouth bass and bluegill.
No ground water flows into the Everglades from subterranean springs or seepage slopes as in north Florida. The Floridan aquifer, which is relatively close to the surface in central and north Florida, is a thousand feet below the surface in south Florida. Immediately beneath the Everglades is a sand-and-gravel aquifer that fills only with rain and empties by evapotranspiration (and pumping). All of the Everglades' water is from rain, some falling directly on the Glades, and some flowing overland from hundreds of miles to the north.
The Everglades keys first emerged above sea level between 100,000 and 15,000 years ago. The ocean withdrew off the land of south Florida, first exposing the highest limestone islands, then exposing the slightly lower limestone ridges that connected them and finally draining off altogether, leaving the grooves between the ridges filled with fresh rain water. Flowing rain water has moved through the Everglades ever since, eroding the grooves ever deeper. The marshy waterways are the youngest parts of today's Everglades: they began to develop only some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago or less. Most of the plants and animals that came to colonize the marsh, however, have been around for thousands of years.
After restoration it will be wonderful to experience seasons in the Everglades--not spring, summer, fall or winter just wet and dry. The marsh will be green in the rainy season, brown in the dry. Depths and seasons of inundation will define the habitats and determine the life cycles of all living things in the marsh where the rains begin in May, sometimes late May. They may go on all summer, or they may hold off at times, but storms set in, in earnest, in late July through September. Sometimes a single storm will drop 10 to 12 inches on part of the marsh in an hour and thunder rocks the earth and lightning splits the sky. All the silence becomes rattling, booming noise. All the emptiness is filled with blasts of light. The whole wide horizon is a sound and light show as the windows of Heaven open up. Then, after restoration the Everglades will rise up a foot and the desert turns back into a river.
Completion of the restoration in 2017 isn’t that far off. What I expect is a low-tech, energy-efficient, yet highly effective method for cleaning and holding surface water while providing the benefit of excellent wildlife habitat. The costs, reported in the “Naples Daily News” to return this area to a natural state, are estimated at“...$435 million, including $250 million already spent to buy 19,000 lots from owners around the world....” Wonder if former Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, the 19th Governor (January 3, 1905 to January 5, 1909), is watching?

110219-a
Environmentalists push economic benefits of Everglades restoration
Miami Herald - by Curtis Morgan
February 19, 2011
With the economy in the tank and a “Let’s Get to Work’’ governor in Tallahassee, environmentalists put new stress on the economic benefits of Everglades restoration projects.
Another big Everglades project broke ground on Friday, a $79 million job in Southwest Florida to plug a drainage canal, install a massive pump to pulse freshwater back into thirsty wetlands and salty estuaries and rip out 100 miles of overgrown roadbed, remnants of a long-dead real estate fiasco.
It’s the second phase of work on the Picayune Strand, a landscape of pine forests, cypress stands and soggy prairie that form a critical puzzle piece connecting surrounding parks, preserves and refuges. It’s the latest of a half dozen Everglades construction projects now under way and – at 55,000 acres – it’s also the single largest Glades project on the books.
And there’s another much smaller number that has become increasingly important for environmentalists and state and federal agencies fighting to keep restoration momentum alive: 150 new jobs on the site and a ripple effect that will support hundreds more.
“In this environment, when you have the governor talking about creating private sector jobs and you have the Obama administration talking about creating jobs, there’s no doubt that the economic impacts are important part of the equation,’’ said Kirk Fordham, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation.
Environmentalists hope to sell Gov. Rick Scott — whose “Let’s Get to Work” motto was the cornerstone of his campaign — on the idea that restoration projects represent an economic engine that Florida needs to keep running. That’s always been part of the pitch but now it will get equal billing with environmental benefits.
“We are reaching out to the administration and saying please remember that Florida’s economy depends on a quality environment,’’ said Manley Fuller, president of the Florida Wildlife Federation. “We’ve got a whole lot of jobs related to a quality environment.’’
Activists hope to get a better sense of where Scott and his new environmental and growth management secretaries stand with meetings in coming weeks. So far, the message from the new boss in Tallahassee has been mixed.
The budget Scott released last week called for a 25 percent cut in state funding for the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees restoration efforts, as well as other water districts. It did include $17 million specifically for Everglades restoration but that’s roughly a third of the $50 million set aside annually during the administration of Gov. Charlie Crist and a drop in the bucket compared to the $100 million to $200 million annually set aside by former Gov. Jeb Bush.
“There is no question that with a 66 percent cut in Everglades restoration funding that projects are going to screech to a halt and people are going to get laid off,’’ said Fordham.
But Julie Hill-Gabriel, senior Everglades policy advisor for Audubon of Florida, also sees some positive signs. Faced with plunging tax revenues and a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall, Scott didn’t cut off the Everglades completely. The administration also quickly backed away from plans to close 53 state parks after a backlash from the public and activists.
“To me, it seems like we’re still in an education phase,’’ said Hill-Gabriel.
Glades restoration has been a rare growth segment for a construction industry that has watched regional jobs shrivel away with the collapse of the home and condo markets. After years of delay, a string of projects has started during the last 18 months.
The most visible project is along Tamiami Trail, a road that has bottled up the natural flow of the River of Grass for 80 years. Just a few miles west of Krome Avenue, heavy equipment and crews are carving out the old road bed and driving pilings for the first of what could be a series of one-mile-long bridges.
But there are other jobs as well. In deep South Miami-Dade, the first part of an extensive overhaul of the C-111 canal, which has siphoned water from the park and Florida Bay for decades, has begun. At the southwestern tip of the park near Cape Sable, workers are installing dams to stem the erosion of old canals that threatened freshwater wetlands. In southwestern Palm Beach and Hendry counties, the South Florida Water Management District is expanding two massive artificial marshes used to scrub pollution from stormwater runoff before it flows into the Glades.
The biggest of the bunch is the restoration of Picayune Strand, where developers in the 1960s platted out a sprawling suburb called Golden Gates Estates. What they failed to tell those who bought plots was that the land, located between Alligator Alley and Tamiami Trail east of Naples, was under water for about half the year.
The suburb failed and the state began buying up the land in the 1980s. A first phase of restoration already has raised water levels, producing a surge in native plants. The endangered Florida panther and other wildlife have been seen prowling the area.
The latest phase of restoration on the Picayune Strand alone will put 150 more people to work, said Chip McCutcheon, a vice president of Harry Pepper and Associates, a Jacksonville-based contractor that won the bidding for the work. But that’s only part of the picture, he said.
“The downstream economic impacts, of course, touch on more people than that,’’ he said. “That doesn’t include the additional vendors for everything from chemical toilets to dumpster service to hotel and restaurant jobs.’’
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issues Everglades construction contracts, hasn’t compiled an exact number of Glades-related jobs but under a “multiplier effect” formula, the Corps estimates the first phases of the Picayune work alone will create or preserve some 1,380 jobs.
The Everglades Foundation commissioned an economic analysis in October that argued that every $1 put toward improving the Everglades would produce $4 in benefits from cleaner water, recreational spending and enhanced property values — and that fully funding the $12 billion project would create or protect some 442,000 jobs in everything from commercial and recreational fishing to construction.
Similar studies of road construction projects, for instance, produce similar or even broader economic impacts but for environmentalists, it’s a new tactic to put so much focus on jobs.
“Everybody is looking for cuts,’’ said Hill-Gabriel, “but we don’t want to cut things that are actually helping the economy.’’
The restoration work has been buoyed by a surge in federal support from the Obama administration, which has finally put a dent in what had been a dramatic spending imbalance, with the state pouring six times more money into the project than its federal partner.
President Barack Obama’s budget, released earlier this week, called for $271.5 million in Everglades spending — a bump up from around a quarter billion dollars in the previous two years, which was supplemented with $112 million in stimulus funds. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar attended the Picayune groundbreaking in Collier County to stress the administration’s continued support for the Glades.
But there is no guarantee that the funding will survive a Congress that is urging the president to take a much deeper much whack at federal spending.
Shannon Estenoz, a former water district board member who is now the Obama administration’s director of Everglades restoration initiatives, believes the recent progress on the ground will help secure support. For years, congressional critics had complained that the $12 billion restoration effort had produced mainly paperwork.
Now, she said, there’s a broader case to make for Glades funding.
“What you’re hearing folks talk about is the fact that Everglades restoration is good for the economy,’’ she said. “Now, we’ve got it moving and, by the way, we’re putting all these people to work, too.’’
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/19/2075951/environmentalists-push-economic.html#ixzz1EcufpPlq

110219-b
Everglades refuge plan in Central Florida draws fierce opposition
TampaBay.com – by Craig Pittman, Staff Writer
February 19, 2011
A proposal to create a new wildlife refuge in the headwaters of the Everglades has sparked a strong backlash against what opponents are calling "another government land grab."
At four public hearings over the past month, hundreds of people showed up, most of them to rail against plans for a 150,000-acre Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge in Central Florida.
The size of the crowds — more than 600 at one hearing — surprised officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Charlie Pelizza, a manager of several wildlife refuges who has been in charge of the hearings.
The level of opposition, and the determination of some opponents to show up repeatedly at hearings in Kissimmee, Okeechobee, Sebring and Vero Beach, also surprised them, he said.
"We just seem to have found a group of individuals who are concerned about the project, and they wanted to make sure their voices were heard," Pelizza said. As a result, the deadline for commenting on the plan has been pushed back from Feb. 28 to March 31.
"It got very heated," said Ruskin attorney Scott Fitzpatrick, who represents Polk County landowners opposing the refuge plan. "I hope the project will be amended to reflect the concerns that were expressed."
Federal officials want to create the refuge as a way to preserve habitat for such species as the Florida panther and black bear, protect areas that recharge the aquifer and maintain the land's rural character.
Some of the opponents are hunters and anglers concerned they might lose access to property they now use, Pelizza said. Some are airboat and all-terrain-vehicle users with similar concerns based on past experiences with federal parks and refuges.
"We're against any federal sprawl," said Bishop Wright Jr., president of the Florida Airboat Association. "We don't condone the 'lock it up, keep it out' theory."
Some opponents don't believe the government should spend millions of dollars on a refuge at a time when the economy is so sour, said Fitzpatrick. And some — particularly his clients in the River Ranch Property Owners Association — are concerned that the government is targeting their property for acquisition whether they like it or not, he said.
The groundswell of anger began when the proposal unveiled by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last month included a map covering far more than just 150,000 acres. Instead, it showed a swath of more than 1 million acres of rural land stretching from the outskirts of the town of Kissimmee to the northern shore of Lake Okeechobee as the "study area" within which the refuge would be created.
The study area map upset a lot of the opponents because it showed that the government was interested in so much land, said Carlton Ward Jr., an eighth-generation native and author of Florida Cowboys: Keepers of the Last Frontier, who spoke in favor of the refuge plan at the Kissimmee hearing.
"I believe a lot of the opposition seemed to be based on conspiracy theories instead of what's really going on," Ward said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service called this area "one of the great grassland and savanna landscapes in eastern North America." The River of Grass originated there, the water from the Kissimmee flowing slowly southward into Lake Okeechobee, then spilling over the lip of the lake into the main Everglades — until the Army Corps of Engineers altered the flow in the 1960s.
Instead of buying up all 150,000 acres, the federal government would take a different tack. About 50,000 acres would be purchased outright, and then on about 100,000 acres the Fish and Wildlife Service would buy only the development rights — in effect guaranteeing that the property would never be turned into subdivisions, golf courses, parking lots or big-box stores like a lot of the state's rural land.
To Norman Miller, 82, a part-time resident of Sanibel, saving all that farmland sounded like a great idea. Miller, who still owns a farm in his native Indiana, drove over to the hearing in the Okeechobee High School and got very excited when he saw the 500-seat gym filled.
Miller told the crowd he supported what the agency was doing and urged them to get behind it too. He thought they would applaud him. Instead, "They said, 'Go back to Indiana!' " he said. "I've never experienced that before."
Many of them, Miller said, seemed to "think that everything associated with the federal government is bad."
Craig Pittman can be reached at craig@sptimes.com.
For more information on the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge, go to fws.gov/southeast/planning/.

110219-c
Film crew captures Kissimmee River's restoration to its wild state
Orlando Sentinel - by Roger Moore
February 19, 2011
AVON PARK— The fishing rod bends at a precarious angle as Mitchell Roland, 16, struggles to get the rod tip up and gives the line a tug to make sure his quarry is still on the line.
With a cluster of grappling hooks and shark-grade fishing line, Roland's Florida alligator isn't going anywhere.
As the hourlong struggle progresses, filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus works his way along the shoreline to get a better angle.
Stoltzfus is shooting a documentary, "Kissimmee Basin: The Northern Everglades," and catching a bit of this action is part of the story he wants to tell. That this is happening on the 106,000-acre Avon Park Bombing Range — which is part wildlife-conservation area and part Marine training ground — is just one of many incongruities in the river's history.
"It's just beautiful here," Stoltzfus said of the area an hour south of Kissimmee. "This huge tract of land that's so important to our national security, and yet you get here, and there's alligators, white-tail deer, gators and hogs, woodpeckers, all sorts of birds."
And water.
Stoltzfus, 53 and a Florida State University graduate, is a veteran documentary filmmaker whose water-oriented work ("Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades," "Apalachicola River: An American Treasure") often makes the journey to film festivals and then to PBS.
His new movie is about the state'sand the Army Corps of Engineers' restoration of the Kissimmee River Basin. That project includes returning 43 miles of the river to its original winding path after a 1960s conversion into a 56-mile canal.
"It's a story about great ideas, mistakes, misunderstandings and an effort by man to try to correct the devastation on the river," Stoltzfus said.
Since last spring, he and his crew have been interviewing politicians, ranchers, ecologists, citrus growers and hunters. They have filmed a cattle drive, ridden along on practice-bombing missions over Avon Park and followed Marines training for ground combat there.
Before they're done, they will have tracked the Everglades' "River of Grass" from its Reedy Creek origins near Walt Disney World into Lake Kissimmee and down the river that is now, once again, winding its way toward Lake Okeechobee.
"This is a remarkably undeveloped part of Florida," said Dr. Paul Gray, Lake Okeechobee science coordinator for Audubon of Florida. "People from the coasts come down here and can't believe it's just cows and citrus and open pastures — black skies at night because there's no light for miles."
A century of drainage efforts that Gray said "really make this part of the country livable" culminated in the Kissimmee River Canal project, "an expressway for water" that drained miles of marshes into Lake Okeechobee.
By 1971, the canal was finished. But by 1972, Gray said, "the Army Corps of Engineers was already getting studies that told them they had made a mistake."
"When they dug the canal, all the wildlife left," Stoltzfus said. "That upset people, like the ones we're following around gator hunting. All those marshes that went away when they built the canal were filters, and when you take those away, the river turns into a toilet, flushing whatever's gotten in the water straight into Lake Okeechobee.
"But I make hopeful movies. This is about how we're fixing that mistake."
Locks along the canal have been knocked down and buried. Eddies and bends in the Kissimmee have been restored. The restoration, which began in 1999 and was expected to take 15 years, is nearly finished, and Stoltzfus wants to get his picture done before the restoration is complete.
The real value of Stoltzfus' film, Gray said, is in showing how the restoration helps people. "The story we need to tell is the one he's telling."
Stoltzfus, who received startup money from the South Florida Water Management District, hopes to have his film done by May. Then he'll submit it to film festivals before offering it to PBS. But first, he needs to film a gator capture.
The gator fight on the shores of the Avon Park levee draws assistance from conservation officers, who oversee the harvest of nuisance alligators. They've launched an airboat so that the teenage hunters — with adult supervision — can harpoon the hooked gator, pop him on the head and drag him to shore.
But the sharp edges of the aluminum-hulled airboat don't do the fishing line any good. It drags along an edge and — pop! — the line snaps. Laughs, groans and a little good-natured resignation set in.
Just then, a pickup rolls up from another part of the park. Taylor Chaney, 15 and from Frostproof, shows off her first gator — an 8-footer. And Stolztfus, foiled in filming a capture and kill, switches gears as he often does in this form of filmmaking, so dependent on weather and conditions. He focuses on Taylor.
"What did [Alfred] Hitchcock say?" he said, laughing as he loads gear back into his 4-by-4 to dash off to another part of the range. " 'In feature films, the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director.' "

110219-d
U.S. House budget vote threatens Florida clean-water rule
Jacksonville.com - by Steve Patterson
February 19, 2011
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill early Saturday that would stop the federal government from enforcing new clean-water rules affecting the St. Johns River and other Florida rivers and lakes.
The restriction on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was a minor amendment written into a bill that would cut overall government spending by about $60 billion through the end of September.
Its implications for Florida could be dramatic, however.
Interests on opposing sides have painted EPA's efforts as either a key to reducing potentially toxic algae blooms that often cover the state's waterways or a mad rush to waste billions of dollars cleaning streams to impossibly high standards.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam are currently suing EPA over the rules.
The U.S. Senate has been expected to vote on its own version of a budget bill in the next two weeks. A stopgap spending agreement that's in effect now expires March 4.
Environmental groups will try to convince senators to let EPA enforce its rules.
"Right now, we've got to convince Bill Nelson," said St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon, whose group was one of several that sued EPA to get it to adopt water standards written specifically for Florida.
Nelson, a Florida Democrat, endorsed a nearly identical restriction on EPA last year, although that died in committee.
The one-sentence amendment prohibiting EPA action, offered last week by U.S. Rep. Thomas Rooney, R-Fla., was added to the budget bill just before 10 p.m. Friday. The House passed the full bill, called a continuing resolution, just after 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
The vote to prevent EPA action was heavily partisan, with support by 221 Republicans and 16 Democrats. Voting no were 17 Republicans and 172 Democrats.
Twenty-one of Florida's 25 House members voted to prevent EPA action. Those included Democrat Corrine Brown and Republicans Ander Crenshaw and John Mica, who all represent parts of Northeast Florida.
U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, whose district reaches into Clay County and Jacksonville's Westside, was the onlyFlorida Republican voting against limiting EPA action. Three Democrats also opposed the measure.
Stearns said he hoped state and federal regulators would jointly develop new protections for waterways.
"I am very concerned about preserving the Silver River in my hometown [Ocala] as well as the Ocklawaha and the St. Johns rivers in my district," he said by email.
"Although I don't want to see the EPA develop these burdensome and expensive regulations, I do want the EPA and the State of Florida to work together in developing an economical solution to protecting our waters."
EPA finalized rules in November that would set measurable limits on the amount of nitrogen- and phosphorous-bearing chemical compounds allowed in waterways. They were scheduled to become effective in 2012 as a step to control algae blooms that feed on those chemicals.
The rules would affect the St. Johns south of Black Creek in Clay County, with separate rules still being drafted for the area between the creek and Mayport.
Environmental advocates bemoaned the vote on Florida rivers and a series of other measures to limit environmental enforcement around the country.
"The spending bill that passed early this morning is a shameful statement on the state of corporate-bought-and-paid-for politics in the House of Representatives," said an emailed statement by Martin Hayden, a vice president for public-interest law firm Earthjustice.
Critics of the EPA standards argued they were based on bad science and would force utilities and businesses to spend billions of dollars unnecessarily upgrading their systems for managing wastewater.
EPA officials last year estimated the costs at $130 million statewide and said that was a manageable price to protect water that Florida relies on for fishing, boating and tourism industries.
In emailed comments Saturday afternoon, Brown said she thought about effects on utility customers' bills as well as the environmental benefits and business costs when she voted to curb EPA's efforts.
"I have met many times with all of the stakeholders, and don't believe that EPA took into account all the work that Florida's utilities and businesses have done in reining in pollutants and other contaminants in our waters," she said.
"For years we have been trying to come to an agreement all parties can live with, including my constituents, who will be directly affected by the increased rates this court case will result in. I feel it is best the EPA negotiate with those implementing these criteria."
Armingeon said he was "disappointed but not surprised" by the House vote.
"Sometimes, you vote knowing your not going to win, because it's the right thing," he said. "Corrine has always been a friend of the river. I'm very disappointed in her. ... Now, it goes to the Senate and we're struggling."
Dozens of groups representing farming, utility and business groups around the country recently joined the push to stop Florida water regulations, saying they feared EPA would pursue similar rules in other states unless Congress said no.

110219-e
What restrictions ?  South Florida's year-round watering rules not being enforced
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
February 19, 2011
 What restrictions? South Florida's year-round watering rules not being enforced
Lax enforcement means few citations have been written for violations of South Florida's new year-round watering rules, according to a Sun Sentinel sampling in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Since the new rules began last March , neither Broward County code enforcement nor city of Fort Lauderdale code enforcement officers issued a single citation for violating watering restrictions, as of the first week of February.
In addition, Fort Lauderdale lets homes and businesses water landscaping on more days than Broward County's
Over the same time period, Palm Beach County issued just three notices of violations for water users breaking the new rules. Of those three, only one was forced to pay the $125 fine.
Neither Delray Beach nor Boca Raton issued a watering violation.
Also, the South Florida Water Management District — charged with protecting regional water supplies — stopped keeping track of whether cities and counties each week enforce the new year-round watering rules that the agency imposed.
While the year-round watering rules are intended to promote a permanent conservation push, the district requires cities and counties only to report weekly enforcement totals during droughts.
The new year-round landscape irrigation rules were supposed to create a new "culture of conservation" in thirsty South Florida, but backers say that requires stepped-up enforcement.
"It hurts everybody when there's no enforcement," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club, which advocates tougher watering restrictions. "It punishes the people who obey the law and rewards people who don't."
Code-enforcement officials contend that budget cuts during Florida's economic downturn left fewer people to look for watering rule breakers and code-enforcement priorities changed as droughts faded away.
Now, after months of lax enforcement, concerns about forecasts for a dryer-than-normal spring could trigger tougher watering restrictions for South Florida homes and businesses.
"There's no overtime to speak of," Patrick Saba, Broward County code-enforcement supervisor, said about the possibility of being asked to crack down on watering rules. "We will do the best we can. … Officers will write the violations when they see them."
District officials and local community representatives contend that ticket totals aren't the best gauge of conservation success. They say more water users are voluntarily following irrigation rules and that overall water use has declined.
But code-enforcement officials acknowledge that if drought conditions worsen and the district requires tougher restrictions, enforcing them only gets harder.
"With a tight budget … we are not sure how much of an effort we would be able to put forward," Palm Beach County Code Enforcement Director Kurt Eismann said.
South Florida uses the most water in the state, averaging about 179 gallons per resident per day, according to the water management district.
About half of South Florida's public water supply is used for landscape irrigation.
While South Florida typically gets more than enough rainfall to meet its water-supply needs, guarding against the flooding of neighborhoods and farms that now cover what used to be the Everglades and other wetlands leads to dumping much of that stormwater out to sea.
Lake Okeechobee is South Florida's backup water supply. But during 2010 the Army Corps of Engineers drained more than 400 billion gallons from the lake, with most of the water — more than 300 billion gallons — flushed out to sea because of flood-control concerns.
Also, because of a lack of water storage space, the vast system of drainage canals operated by the South Florida Water Management District dumps about 1.7 billion gallons of stormwater out to sea after a typical summer rainy day.
The South Florida Water Management District last year switched from temporary watering restrictions, imposed during droughts, to year-round watering rules aimed at prolonged conservation.
The district agreed to allow watering as much as three times per week for southeast Florida, but also allowed local governments to be more restrictive.
Miami-Dade and Broward counties require the more-restrictive twice-a-week limits year-round, while Palm Beach County allows up to three-day-per-week watering year-round.
Despite Broward County's two-day-watering rule, Fort Lauderdale allows its residents to water three times per week.
The city contends that its rules actually save more water by establishing fewer allowable hours of watering, and then spreading the watering over three days.
Adding up the total allowable watering time means 33 hours per week under the city rule and 36 hours per week under the county rule.
"The overall goal of the ordinance is water conservation." Fort Lauderdale spokesman Chaz Adams said.
Yet using the total hours allowed for watering as the comparison assumes that homes and businesses actually run sprinklers during the entire watering periods — a wasteful practice the city's own website discourages.
Fort Lauderdale passed its watering rules before the county's twice-a-week standard took effect. But when it comes to watering issues, the county rule takes precedence, according to Broward County Senior Assistant County Attorney Michael Owens.
Fort Lauderdale code and environmental officers focus on "communication and outreach efforts," Adams said.
"Their first objective is to educate and inform citizens, not penalize them," Adams said.
The lack of citations in Boca Raton since year-round watering went into effect largely was due to favorable weather conditions, Assistant City Manager Mike Woika said.
"There hasn't been a drought," Woika said. "There wasn't a significant enforcement need required."
Forecasts for worsening drought conditions could change that.
The water management district focuses on education and outreach to try to win local governments' cooperation to enforce restrictions, said Terrie Bates, its assistant deputy executive director for water resources.
"It's going to take time to keep repeating that message," Bates said about the watering rules. "It's in effect. We expect people to be compliant."

110218-a
Congressional budget battle includes stopping EPA from using money
Jaksonville.com - by Steve Patterson
February 18, 2011
Congressional wrangling to stop new federal clean-water rules for Florida rivers restarted this week in a budget bill to keep the federal government operating.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., filed legislation this week to keep the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from using any federal money to implement the rules it set in November.
The restriction, being encouraged by business groups from California to New York, is one of a stack of proposals that environmental advocates say could collectively hobble many EPA projects to regulate water and air pollution.
"Republicans have created a feeding frenzy for those intent on dismantling laws that for decades have protected our air, water, climate and wildlife," said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.
The measures were offered as "riders," or amendments, to a bill that would fund many government operations when a current stopgap measure expires March 4.
Similar rules to keep the EPA from enforcing its water rules, which limit the amount of algae-feeding nitrogen or phosphorus compounds allowed in Florida lakes and rivers, were drafted at least twice last year for use in earlier continuing resolutions, but weren't adopted. State officials have also sued the EPA, claiming the agency used faulty science to set its standards.
The number and variety of anti-regulatory riders being offered this time reflects a decision by new leadership in the House of Representatives to challenge the EPA's water regulations on many fronts, said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for the legal advocacy group Earthjustice.
"This is very, very bad legislation for clean water," Mulhern said. "I know there's a cost associated with cleaning up water, but whether it's Florida or anywhere in the country ... the benefits of clean water usually far outweigh ... the costs."
Questions about final tally
Uncertainty about the real costs was part of Rooney's reason to hold up the EPA's Florida rules, said Michael Mahaffey, communications director for the conservative lawmaker from Tequesta in Palm Beach County.
"We've asked over and over the EPA to do an independent review [of costs]," Mahaffey said. "We've got one study that says it's going to be very small, we've got another that says it's going to be $2 billion annually."
Groups representing agricultural interests, utilities and other businesses have warned they expect heavy costs to consumers from the nitrogen and phosphorus rules, but an EPA cost analysis disputed that.
The darker predictions are being quoted by agriculture and utility representatives from other states who hope to see Florida's rules killed before the EPA orders anything similar in their areas.
"The size of these costs for Florida alone is reason enough to justify this action," read a letter circulated in Congress this week on behalf of more than 60 businesses or groups ranging from the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council to the Texas Ag Industries Association.
But beyond Florida, the letter continued: "when you consider the fact that 49 other states could be subjected to similar scientifically unsound criteria, it is all the more pressing that the EPA revisits these standards."
The change Rooney proposed would affect EPA rules on freshwater areas but would not affect a related project to develop clean water standards for estuaries and coastal waters, Mahaffey said. The EPA is expected in November to propose those rules, which would affect the St. Johns River between the ocean and Black Creek in Clay County.
St. Johns Riverkeeper Neil Armingeon said his group and others are reaching out to Congress to argue for maintaining EPA's regulations.
"We are spending a tremendous amount of time not cleaning up Florida waterways, but overcoming the opposition to cleaning up Florida waterways," he said.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-18/story/congressional-budget-battle-includes-stopping-epa-using-money#ixzz1EKP7apgg

110218-
Secretary Salazar Helps Break Ground on Major Everglades Restoration Project
eNEWSpf.com – DOI Press Release, Science and Environmental
February 18, 2011
NAPLES, FL -- (ENEWSPF)--February 18, 2011.  Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar joined federal and state officials to break ground on the Picayune Strand habitat restoration project/Faka Union Canal pump station, a major component of the overall Picayune Strand project that will boost Florida’s economy while restoring historic water flows in the southwest Everglades. Secretary Salazar participated in the event as part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative which seeks to empower community-led conservation efforts.
“The work here to restore water flows and wetlands in the Picayune Strand is really a model for conservation efforts across the nation,” Secretary Salazar said. “Along with the other restoration projects like bridging the Tamiami Trail and the Site-1 Impoundment project, this collaborative effort is making dramatic strides in bringing the Everglades back to life while providing jobs and economic benefits to the citizens of South Florida.”
When completed in 2015, the $448 million project will feature three major pump stations, removal of 260 miles of roads and filling in of 42 miles of canals. It will restore and enhance more 55,000 acres of wetlands in the Picayune Strand and adjacent public lands, including Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Fakahatchee State Forest, by reducing over-drainage and restoring ground water levels and more natural overland flow.
The restoration will provide direct benefits to the many plant and animal species inhabiting the area by re-creating the historical natural conditions of the area and connecting broad expanses of other protected areas.
The Picayune Strand is the site of a housing development known as Southern Golden Gates Estates begun in the 1960s and early 1970s. Before the development failed in the mid-1980s, 279 miles of roads and 48 miles of canals had been built that over-drained the area, resulting in the reduction of aquifer recharge, greatly increased freshwater point source discharges to the receiving estuaries to the south, invasion by upland vegetation, loss of ecological connectivity and associated habitat, and increased frequency of forest fires.
After the development failed, the State of Florida began buying up the many parcels with the intent of restoring the area. Acquisition was completed by the State in 2005 at a cost of more than $125 million. The Department of the Interior contributed $38 million to this effort.
Ultimately, the Picayune Strand Restoration Project will restore natural water flows over an 85-square-mile area. The project will improve the area’s hydrology, allow for the return of more balanced plant communities, increase aquifer recharge, and send fresh water in a more natural manner to the coastal estuaries.
The project is critical to the survival of the endangered Florida panther. There are an estimated 100 to 160 adults left in the wild, with the only breeding population living in southwest Florida. The project will restore valuable panther habitat. It will also connect many public parks, refuges and preserves, to allow an uninterrupted wilderness corridor for the panther – essential as the panther requires a large territory.
The Army Corps of Engineers awarded its first contract in November 2009 for the construction of the Merritt Pump Station, plugging 14 miles of canals, and removing 95 miles of roadwork at a cost of $53 million, which included over $40 million in stimulus funding. Construction is well underway.

110217-
EPA’s Regulatory Overreach on Water Quality: First, Hit Florida
Shopfloor.com - by Carter Wood under Regulations
February 17, 2011
Sixty-seven business, agriculture and manufacturing associations this week sent a letter to Capital Hill raising warning flags about EPA’s federal numeric nutrient criteria rule. The EPA’s regulatory overreach in Florida could become template for how the agency will structure and impose similar nutrient requirements nationwide.
The National Association of Manufacturers joined the letter. Excerpt:
In November 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized federal numeric nutrient criteria (NNC) for Florida’s flowing waters and lakes. Even though we represent national organizations and are not based in Florida, we are profoundly concerned with EPA’s actions in Florida. It is apparent that EPA’s development of NNC in Florida establishes a template for how EPA will structure and impose similar nutrient requirements nationwide. In fact, we are already seeing EPA taking steps to impose its Florida model on the six New England states in EPA Region 1 and on the states in the Mississippi River watershed, which encompasses the entire middle of the United States. Thus, the negative attributes of this unprecedented federal mandate for Florida — unsound science, severe economic ramifications, harm to successful state water quality programs, and the absence of appreciable environmental benefits — will likely be a narrative retold in state after state in the coming years.
It’s not just farm and business groups that are alarmed. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and many state and local officials question the cost of and science used to justify the EPA’s expansive, intrusive and expensive NNC rules.
The letter notes one economic analysis’ “most likely scenario” projecting the first phase of the EPA rulemaking would impose statewide costs ranging from $3.1 billion to $8.4 billion in annual costs for the next 30 years. The study (available here) was conducted for the Florida Water Quality Coalition by Cardno Entrix.
The Associated Industries of Florida have also raised strenuous objections.For more on the EPA’s plans for Florida (but you’re next), see this Federal Register summary from the Unified Regulatory Agenda, “Water Quality Standards (Numeric Nutrient Criteria) for Florida’s Lakes and Flowing Waters

110217-a
Dirty GOP: The Republican Plan To Abolish The EPA
Thinkprogress.com
February 17, 2011
For the past 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has played a key role in protecting our nation’s air, lands, and water from polluters. Now, if a growing chorus of Republicans get their way, the EPA’s days could be numbered.
Last month, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich became the first high-profile conservative to champion one of the most extreme environmental positions in recent memory: total elimination of the EPA.
Still, there are few policies too far right for the modern GOP, and dismantling the EPA is no exception. Over the past few weeks, ThinkProgress spoke with various members of Congress to get their thoughts on abolishing the EPA. Many, including freshmen Reps. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and Rich Nugent (R-FL), vigorously joined Gingrich in his anti-EPA mission
Public opinion stands overwhelmingly against undermining the EPA. In a bipartisan survey released yesterday by the American Lung Association, a large majority of Americans not only support the EPA’s efforts to continue its protection efforts, but actually want to see the agency ramp up regulations of pollutants:
Three out of four voters support the EPA setting tougher standards on specific air pollutants, including mercury, smog and carbon dioxide, as well as setting higher fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty trucks. [...]
Key poll results indicate the level of concern expressed by voters regarding their right to breathe healthy air:
- 69 percent think the EPA should update Clean Air Act standards with stricter limits on air pollution;
- 68 percent feel that Congress should not stop the EPA from updating Clean Air Act standards;
- And a bipartisan 69 percent majority believe that EPA scientists, rather than Congress, should set pollution standards.
Unperturbed, House Republicans this week will take their first step in a process that many on the right hope will end with the complete dismantling of the EPA. The House is considering amendments to the 2011 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1), including dozens of proposals to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse pollution, coal ash, water pollutants, and pesticide cleanup. Rep. Mike Pompeo’s (R-KS) amendment to cut $8.5 million from the EPA passed last night, and a vote on slashing 33 percent from the EPA is forthcoming.
Still, if the hard right gets its way, the EPA won’t be done in by a thousand cuts. It will be eliminated in one fell swoop.
Full transcript after the jump:

FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH: I want to replace, not reform EPA, because EPA is made up of self-selected bureaucrats who are anti-American jobs, anti-American business, anti-state government, anti-local control, and I don’t think you can reeducate them.
THINKPROGRESS: You know, a lot of people have been talking about the overregulated climate, especially, for instance with the EPA, Newt Gingrich has said it’s not even serving its purpose anymore, we should go ahead and scrap it, and maybe revert some of those powers back to the states. Is that something you can join him in?
REP. JOE WALSH (R-IL): Absolutely, I got hit over the head a lot during the campaign. “Walsh! He wants to dismantle the EPA!” The EPA, right now, is killing small business in this country. It ought to be scrapped and something better ought to be put in its place.
THINKPROGRESS: Do you think the EPA is even playing a useful role anymore? Do you think that the states can do it better?
REP. RICH NUGENT (R-FL): I don’t think so. I think the states have a better feel for it. I will tell you this, in Florida, you know, we have more data on water quality, because we’re a peninsula, and water and air quality, as it relates to tourism, we’re going to protect. So, we’re doing a great job within the state of doing that, and we certainly don’t need the federal government screwing it up.
THINKPROGRESS: So in a future Gingrich administration, roll back the EPA, you’d hope that potentially the Republican Caucus will be for that?
NUGENT: Even if we can’t totally eliminate them, we can certainly curtail their power through oversight, force them to change it. And we can defund, which is part of that $100 billion, we’re defunding a portion of the EPA.
THINKPROGRESS: Would you join him in that call to see the EPA start to be dismantled?
SAUL ANUZIS (R-MI): Yeah, I think we have ample regulation in almost every single state that deals with the environmental problems, with industry and everything else. So, I think there’s plenty of regulation at the state level, much closer, much more in tune to what’s happening in the various states, and that makes sense, and there’s no reason for the federal government to intrude in that regard.
THINKPROGRESS: Newt Gingrich has been upfront about his call to dismantle the EPA and return that power to the states, Tenth Amendment stuff. Would you agree with him that that’s a power that we need to start reserving more for the states?
REP. TIM HUELSKAMP (R-KS): I’d just roll back their power. A lot of what the EPA does, I don’t think the states should be doing those either.
THINKPROGRESS: Do you think the EPA is even playing a useful role anymore? Would you like to see it rolled back and dismantled eventually and that authority given to the states?
REP. PETE OLSON (R-TX): As I understand, when the EPA came in… No. In terms of their enforcement, they are killing American jobs and exporting our stuff overseas. I would like to see at least, what I understand, this was before my time, but when the EPA was formed basically they put out some guidance and the states were given the power – 10th Amendment, again – to implement them. Our home state of Texas, they are taking that away right now as I speak. They are trying to regulate our oil and gas industries, our refineries, from here in Washington. And that is wrong.
THINKPROGRESS: Do you think that’s something we could get rid of eventually, the EPA?
OLSON: Oh yeah, we’re going to fight like heck for it. It may not happen with a Democrat Senate and a Democrat in the White House, but we’re not going to stop fighting for it.

110217-b
Everglades restoration project breaks ground Friday in Collier
Marco News - by AARON HALE
February 17, 2011
COLLIER COUNTY — The irony of Everglades restoration is that its architects say human intervention is necessary to reverse the damage humans did in the first place.
In Southwest Florida, the next step of that endeavor begins today as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District break ground on a massive $79 million pump station in the Picayune Strand that will redirect water flow to help recreate lost wetlands in rural Collier County.
Col. Al Pantano, the corps district commander overseeing the project, admits there’s irony in creating “a concrete monstrosity” in the middle of the wilderness to “let Mother Nature” take effect.
“You’ll never restore Florida to the way it was,” he said. “We have to work around it.”
Restoration is underway in the Picayune Strand, a stretch of 55,000 acres between Alligator Alley and U.S. 41 East, to reverse the effects of construction of a subdivision that began decades ago but was abandoned before the project was finished.
The canals and roads built in the area have been blamed for disrupting natural water flow and drying up wetlands.
That led to the loss of habitat for species like the endangered Florida panther and the introduction of invasive plants, Pantano said. He said restoration has been underway since 2006 to flatten old roadways and plug the canals to allow for a “sheet flow” water effect.
The Faka Union Canal pump station will be the second and largest of three stations planned for Picayune Strand restoration work. When finished, the station will intercept fresh water heading south from canals in Golden Gate Estates and redistribute the water at a rate of 2,630 cubic feet of water per second.
Mike Duever, an ecologist with the South Florida Water Management District, said the restoration of the Picayune Strand will not only create more hospitable habitat for native species, it will also reduce wildfire hazard and improve water supply in Collier County.
In 2009, the corps set aside $53 million for the contractor Harry Pepper and Associates to build the first pump on the Merritt Canal. That work is underway.
The same contractor was awarded the Faka Union project with federal funds. Money for the third and final pump for the Picayune Strand restoration has not been awarded.
Even in a budget-cutting environment, the corps deputy district engineer for Everglades restoration, Stu Appelbaum, said he’s not concerned the project won’t get finished.
“It wouldn’t make sense to stop halfway,” Appelbaum said.
Duever said he’s not worried either. The 69-year old said he’s been working toward Everglades restoration for more than 30 years. Political will toward the project has seen its ups and downs, he said.
However, he said, people like him are committed to working until its completed.
“It won’t stop because people like me won’t quit,” he said.

110216-a
All need to work together to save Everglades NWR
News Sun
February 16, 2011
I had the opportunity to attend and speak at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services public meeting about the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on Feb. 4 in Sebring. A dynamic group of people attended, and it was clear that people want to see the land, water and lifestyle preserved. However, there was sincere concern and fear of the unknown.
My wife and I live next door to the "Ding" Darling NWR, and I am the vice president of the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society, a citizen-based volunteer group that supports the refuge. We partner with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide service for visitors, who greatly impact our local economy.
Refuges provide wonderful opportunities for recreation. Annually, almost 800,000 people visit "Ding" Darling NWR for boating, fishing, birding and wildlife viewing, interpretive programs, environmental education opportunities and other recreational uses. The refuge helps drive our local economy; every federal dollar spent to manage "Ding" Darling generates more than $30 in local recreational expenditures. Not a bad return on investment, and I anticipate the proposed Everglades Headwaters NWR will also generate much in local economic activity.
The Sanibel economy will also benefit from the proposed Everglades Headwaters NWR and Conservation Area. The wildlife and recreational opportunities at "Ding" Darling are dependent on clean, fresh water coming down the Caloosahatchee River. We have experienced devastating effects of polluted water from upstream. Preserving these upstream landscapes will protect and improve water quality north of Lake Okeechobee. This will improve our water quality and water flow and positively impact the sport-fishing industry, a major economic driver on the island.
The proposal will eventually authorize an acquisition boundary, within which willing sellers would have an option to preserve their land for future generations, through either an outright sale of their land or by the placement of a conservation easement over their land, thereby taking away the ability to develop the land. By selling only development rights the landowner would receive cash and continue to live on and work the land.
To those of us living downriver, this is the kind of cost sharing we can support. Since all of the land proposed to be included in the refuge and conservation area will come from current private land, no access that is currently enjoyed on public lands will change. In fact by purchasing private land, access will be increased for fishing and hunting.
The proposed Everglades Headwaters NWR is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to protect this wonderful land, water and lifestyle. Please let us all work together to make it a reality.
John McCabe , Vice President  - "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society

110216-b
Lake Okeechobee Rebound
FLWoutdoors.com - by David A. Brown
February 16, 2011
Big O poised for major comeback after era of extremes.
 Lake Okeechobee has experienced both ends of the see-saw. But with a renewed sense of balance born of prudent water management and the silver lining of dark ecological clouds, Florida’s largest inland water body is on track to return to its finest form since the heydays of the 1980s.
Proof to this premise occurred Feb. 3-6, when Brandon McMillan thoroughly trounced the record for heaviest total weight in a Walmart FLW Tour event with his monstrous four-day catch of 106 pounds, 10 ounces. Second- and third-place pros Randall Tharp and Chad Prough also broke the 100-pound mark with 102-2 and 100-15, respectively. McMillan, Tharp, Prough and fourth-place pro Terry Scroggins (99-9) now hold the top four spots in FLW Tour history.
Some may downplay such catches as the fortuitous alignment of weather, moon and spawning schedule. But even in the perfect storm of bass fishing, you simply can’t catch fish that aren’t there. In all likelihood, Lake Okeechobee just served up an appetizer that not only indicates a lake clearly rebounding from a tumultuous era, but one that also foretells a forthcoming feast of fishing opportunity.
National Guard pro Scott Martin, whose family has operated a marina on the lake since 1980, has guided on the Big O for several years. He’s caught 500 bass between 9 and 10 pounds there, but today’s Okeechobee has him jacked about boosting his stats.
“Lake Okeechobee right now is the best bass lake in the country,” Martin said. “It’s off the charts.”
Don Fox, a biological administrator for Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has been involved in Okeechobee’s management for some 28 years. Throughout his tenure, he’s seen the lake at its best, its worst and now, its most promising.
“I can remember a time back in the mid-80s when if you didn’t catch a 6- to 9-pounder, it was a bad day,” Fox said. “We’re not back to where it was in the 80s, but it won’t be long. The lake is on the verge of being as good as it’s been in the last 30 years. If you can’t go out and catch a limit of fish now, you need to stay at the house.”
Extremes counterbalanced
“Big Water” in the native Seminole tongue, Lake Okeechobee covers approximately 730 square miles in South Florida, with an average depth of nine feet. Anchoring the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, also including Lake Tohopekaliga (“Toho”), Cypress, Hatchineha and Kissimmee, the Big O ranks as the second largest lake wholly within the continental U.S. (behind Lake Michigan).
With a system of dikes and levees isolating the lake from its historic marsh, the Army Corps of Engineers, along with the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWIFTMUD) has long managed Okeechobee as a reservoir for the region’s potable water and agricultural irrigation needs. Until the early 2000s, maintaining maximum drainage from the Kissimmee basin was the objective.
Then came the hurricanes.
Florida’s no stranger to tropical mayhem, but Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne pummeled the state’s south end in 2004, with Wilma walloping the Okeechobee area a year later. The sudden influx of voluminous water flow, compounded by brutal lashings devastated a lake already bulging with water. Winds and pounding waves ripped up some 50,000 acres of vegetation, stirred up the thick layer of muck and left the lake a turbid ghost town with way too much water for any new plant growth.
“The high water had actually damaged the lake prior to the hurricanes,” Fox said. “The way man was managing the lake as a water supply reservoir and holding water for multiple years in advance is what damaged the lake. The hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 were really the coup d’état that pushed it to the brink.”
Oddly enough, it took a polar opposite event to resuscitate, and indeed, rejuvenate the Big O. The historic drought of 2007-2008 drained the lake to an all-time low of 8.82 feet above sea level. The lake’s agonizing retreat far from its usual shorelines was difficult to watch, but this time of devastating dryness delivered a miraculous benefit. Suddenly, native plants like eelgrass, peppergrass, bulrush and spikerush began taking root and expanding rapidly across the vastness of an exposed lake bed. Life was returning to Okeechobee and when the water eventually returned, the lake had a whole new set of furnishings.
“When the pendulum swings too far to the left, sometimes it has to swing extremely the other way to get things back into balance again,” Fox explained. “We had a drawing down and an opportunity for the seed banks that had been covered up with mud to grow. A lot of these aquatic plants will not germinate when they’re flooded – they need moist soil, dry ground.”
Martin termed the hurricanes and subsequent drought blessings in disguise. The storms essentially scrubbed the lake bottom and exposed much of the hard sand that had been covered for decades. Then, the extreme dry period exposed a lot of that bottom to direct sunlight, which baked away remaining muck and prepared the soil for vegetation growth.
“You really couldn’t have asked for a better scenario because there’s no way to clean this lake manually – it’s too big,” Martin said. “If you have hard sand bottom and vegetation you’re going to have clear water and that’s the recipe for a great spawn in south Florida. The spawns are getting better and better over the past five years and we’re seeing the fruits of that.”
Veteran FLW Tour pro and Okeechobee resident Koby Krieger adds: “Also, when the water’s low, you have vegetation growing farther out in the lake so when the water comes up, there are a thousand more hiding places for fish.”
It’s all about the groceries
In 2008, the FWC replaced Lake Okeechobee’s 13- to 18-inch slot limit with a minimum 18-inch limit for bass. That certainly has helped the lake’s population, but Fox said it all starts with the grocery store. When high water and hurricanes essentially stripped the lake of its native vegetation, habitat for various forage propagation was non-existent. Lacking such, it’s really a stretch to expect much movement in the bass population.
“You get your plant communities, your habitat right and everything follows suit,” Fox said. “When the lake was so bad, there were people who said ‘Why don’t you stock fish?’ But when you go out on a lake and you don’t see a dragonfly; there’s no bugs, no frogs, it doesn’t matter how many fish you stock if you don’t have the groceries. You might as well dump them in the parking lot. You don’t take an acre of asphalt, put a fence around it and put two cows in it.
“You can never stock enough fish in Okeechobee to make a difference – it’s too large. And if the habitat is not there and the food base is not there, it’s irrelevant anyway.”
Fox said one of the most promising signs of Okeechobee’s improving health has been the return of shad schools. After the hurricanes, the lake looked like chocolate milk. In fact, Fox described it as “a bottle of Yoo-Hoo.” The absence of light penetration prevented not only visible plant growth, but also the microscopic algae and zooplankton needed to feed baitfish.
In years past, juvenile bass would school up and chase shad balls around the lake. The shad’s high caloric value contributed greatly to bass growth, so Fox said he’s encouraged by signs that this forage may be returning to historic abundance.
“This is the first year we’re seeing good evidence of shad reproduction in our sampling,” said Fox. “We’re getting lots of young of the year shad in our sampling. We’re hoping this will be the year we have those big shad pods out there.”
Management matters
In 2008, the Corps implemented new water regulations that called for a lake management range of 12.5-15.5 feet above sea level – a significant change from the longstanding plan of 15.5-17.5. For the first time in the lake’s history, water managers began looking at what the Big O needed, rather than what was needed from the Big O. In weekly teleconferences, managers discuss current conditions and decide on any actions needed to balance out the system.
“It’s what I like to call ‘adaptive management’,” Fox said. “The ecological processes that are going on in the lake now have a voice in how the lake is managed. Sometimes that means holding more water, sometimes it means less. When we see the water coming up too fast, we can adjust that with some subtle releases instead of letting the damage occur.”
Conversely, Fox notes, when the lake holds steady amid changing water levels, managers may opt for no action. For example, he said that spring 2010 saw the water rise abnormally high, but the vegetation responded well. The water was held in the lake and the spawn proceeded just fine.
“One of the keys to maintaining this fishery is that it’s built back slowly and so far, it’s built back sustainably,” Fox said. “Once you get it, you want to take care of it. You don’t want to have to reset that clock.”
So, how good is this lake? Fox said that, although Okeechobee has yet to reach the levels of big bass bonanzas seen during the 80s, the lake appears poised to turn that corner. With a better management plan in place, native habitat expanding daily and most anglers releasing their big fish, the scene is set for an amazing comeback.
How soon? Fox has high hopes for a 2012 that delivers the potential for new tournament records.
“My worst fear was that we were going to get hit by a storm (in 2010) but we didn’t. The vegetation communities are back, the center of the lake is starting to clear up, we’re getting the plankton back and we’re seeing the shad. Unless something drastic happens, I think we’re there.
“If you think this year is good, wait ‘til next year.”
Martin, who recalls prepping many a client’s trophy fish for taxidermy during his youth, said his beloved lake will continue to benefit from its rather remote South Florida location. Moreover, modern conservation ethics will keep more big fish in the ecosystem.
“The wonderful thing about Lake Okeechobee is that we don’t have any big major metropolitan area around the lake,” Martin said. “Even though we do have a lot of people fishing, it doesn’t get as much pressure. There are so many thousands of acres where those fish can get back and spawn unmolested. Plus, everybody is catch and release now. That’s what hurt us back in the 80s – people keeping big fish.
“I think as long as we don’t get a major hurricane, and the lake level stays around 12 1/2 to 14 1/2 feet, the fishing is going to be incredible. The old girl is back!”

110216-c
Opposition to Fla. water rules goes national
The Associated Press
February 16, 2011
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Opposition to federal water pollution rules proposed for Florida has gone national.
Seventy-six companies and organizations representing national and state business and agriculture interests outside Florida on Tuesday sent a letter to members of Congress.
They're worried the Environmental Protection Agency will use the rules as a national template and asked lawmakers to assure that "the rest of the country does not suffer Florida's fate."
The EPA and Florida environmentalists say the rules are needed because pollution from farms and urban areas alike is causing algae blooms that are choking Florida's waters.
Opponents say compliance costs will be excessive. Environmentalists say those claims are exaggerated.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/16/2069222/opposition-to-fla-water-rules.html#ixzz1E8HfmnpP

110216-d
Public health depends on clean water, especially in Florida
TBO.com - by CRIS COSTELLO, Special Correspondent
February 16, 2011
In her Feb. 3 guest column, "Crafting Florida water policy a job for Florida, not feds," state Rep. Trudi Williams advances the agenda of the state's polluters. She does so at the expense of public health.
Our favorite waterways are no longer what they used to be. Partially treated sewage, manure and fertilizer in our water bodies feed toxic algae that threaten the very basis of our way of life.
This pollution is preventable, and it is nothing to mess around with. It is a public health threat.
Rep. Williams should know. In June 2008, authorities shut down the Olga water plant in Lee County because an algae bloom released nerve toxins in the Caloosahatchee River. And 30,000 residents depend on that plant for their drinking water.
She also must be aware that our coastal retiree population is especially vulnerable to the respiratory distress that accompanies every red tide outbreak.
New standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are finally addressing this health threat.
In her column, Williams cites improvements in water quality in Tampa and Sarasota bays in an attempt to claim that Florida doesn't need federal involvement in our water pollution problems. She ignores the fact that those improvements are a direct result of the federal Clean Water Act and the federal National Estuary Program. Williams, R-Fort Myers, has introduced House Bill 239, which would keep local communities from putting the new EPA standards to work. She says Florida's water quality regulations are working. Unfortunately for the state's waterfront communities, that's not true. When state scientists tested water bodies in 2010, they found that more than 1,918 miles of rivers and streams, 378,435 acres of lakes and 569 square miles of estuaries are badly polluted.
In Williams' own backyard, a recent water quality report by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida gave a "D" grade for two local waterways — Estero Bay and Pine Island Sound.
Special interests in the state have always blocked the kind of strong pollution standards needed to protect our health by making indefensible cost claims. Federal standards like the new nutrient pollution limits are the only way public health will ever be the first priority.
Instead of fighting pollution cleanup, Williams should work with us to improve water quality so we can all be able to drink water, swim and fish without getting sick.
Cris Costello is the Sierra Club regional representative based in Sarasota.

110215-a
Dirty Water Actors in Congress
Switchboard – NRDC Blog
February 15, 2011
Though I’ve lived here for the better part of two decades, Washington, D.C. remains a bit of a mystery to me.  People here seem to simultaneously have the memory of an elephant and that of my very easily distracted pooch, Quincy.  (Don’t get me started on the attention spans of the other two characters in the picture.)
People in D.C. circles can remember every little detail of meetings held about various pieces of legislation years ago, yet today lawmakers seem bound and determined to re-make dumb decisions of years’ past.  Case in point – although the Newt Gingrich-led Congress in the mid-90s tried in vain to pass the “Dirty Water Act” gutting the Clean Water Act notwithstanding broad public support for that law and the resources it protects, the House this week will vote on a suite of anti-clean water measures that would make Mr. Gingrich blush. (Okay, in light of recent statements, maybe he can't be shamed, but you get my meaning.)
These attacks are part of a bill to fund (or, rather, slash funding) for the government for the remainder of this fiscal year, and are among the numerous assaults on public health and the environment in the legislation.  My colleagues Scott Slesinger and David Goldston have both described the multi-front attack on the environment contained in the bill.  Many of these anti-environmental earmarks have nothing to do with fiscal discipline or budgeting, but instead are sneak attacks on fundamental protections against polluting our water.  Together they paint a bleak picture of what the world would look like if the new Republican leadership in the House could have its way.
So, let’s turn to the bill and to the murderers' row of amendments that have been filed on it:
Section 1747 of the bill would halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing work to clarify which waters remain protected by the Clean Water Act in the wake of confusing court decisions.  EPA estimates that roughly 117 million Americans get at least some drinking water from systems that rely on headwater and other critical streams for all or part of their supply.  Many of those streams are at risk of being denied Clean Water Act protections today.
● Section 1475(a) would block implementation of protections under the Endangered Species Act for imperiled fish in the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem - -
● Section 1475(b) would block the restoration of California’s San Joaquin River – literally drying up the river - -
● Amendment #216  (submitted by Rep. David McKinley, R-WV) would effectively strip EPA of the authority Congress gave it under the Clean Water Act to prohibit or restrict certain discharges that would have an “unacceptable adverse effect” on our water, fish or wildlife.  EPA has used this authority sparingly – only 13 times since the law was enacted in 1972. - -
● Amendment # 109 (submitted by Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-VA) seeks to shield mountaintop removal coal mining operations from EPA review by stopping EPA and the Corps of Engineers from continuing a process they put in place to scrutinize proposed mines - -
● Amendment #230 (submitted by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA) would sabotage decades of work by state and federal officials and by concerned citizens, which culminated when EPA released a comprehensive cleanup plan for the Chesapeake Bay watershed in December - -
● Amendments #219 and #220 (submitted by Rep. Bill Johnson, R-OH) would keep the Office of Surface Mining within the Department of Interior from revising regulations adopted in the waning days of the Bush administration that opened up streams to destructive and polluting practices  - -
● Amendment # 13 (submitted by Rep. Tom Rooney, R-FL) would keep EPA from implementing a program to clean up Florida waters that are plagued by harmful algae blooms, nasty slime that can produce toxins that can hurt people and animals and that can rob water bodies of the oxygen that fish and other critters need to live.

If adopted, this bill and these amendments would spell disaster for the nation’s water resources.  It is an embarrassment that these ideas will be considered by our representatives this week.  It would be an even greater shame, I think, if responsible Republicans in the House won’t dare to stand up against these dangerous proposals.  One thing that helped do in the Dirty Water Act back in the 90s was that some Republicans bucked their more ideological counterparts and actually did what was best for the country.  Let’s hope that current members' memories can go back that far.

110215-b
Don't curb Everglades restoration
News-Press.com - Editorial
February 15, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott needs to get a strong grip on state spending, but he should not use that as a justification for crippling fundamental state policies, such as Everglades restoration.
As part of his sweeping proposals for changing state government, Scott is demanding that the state's semi-autonomous water management districts cut their property tax rates by 25 percent.
He also wants them to get approval from his office for the spending they do.
The Legislature must resist this unwarranted power grab. The water districts have their own tax rates, allowing them to do the long-range planning and engineering essential to good water management.
The system was set up to protect them from precisely what Scott is trying to do now.
Admittedly, we have legitimate questions about whether there are efficiencies to be found in agencies whose boards are unelected and not directly accountable to taxpayers.
However, the impact on Southwest Florida would be considerable if the South Florida Water Management District has to cut spending beyond what it already must to live within its shrinking tax base.
The additional cuts Scott is demanding could further delay the C43 reservoir planned by the district in Hendry County. It would be used to store and cleanse excess wet-season water released from Lake Okeechobee, which would be released during the dry season to prevent the upper Caloosahatchee River from becoming too saline.
It would help reduce the extremes of high and low water that have devastated the river system in recent years, with severe impact on the water quality that supports fisheries and tourism.
Going overboard on cuts would also contradict Scott's promise to create jobs. A study by Mather Economics of Atlanta claims the estimated $11.5 billion to be spent on Everglades restoration would create between $46.5 billion and $123.9 billion over the next 50 years for South Florida.
"These projects are a good return on taxpayer money," says Rae Ann Wessel of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. "The projects are done by private contractors, so they provide jobs."
Local and state government agencies are already in a huge hole. It makes no sense to dig that hole deeper with extra tax cuts that kill jobs.
Also remember that the federal government has failed to provide its share of Everglades restoration money. Scott should use his bully pulpit to obtain it.
Let lawmakers and the governor hear from you on this.

110215-c
Everglades fares well in Obama budget
Sun Sentinel - by William Gibson
February 15, 2011
President Obama’s budget proposes a slight boost in Everglades restoration spending, a sign that it’s a high priority for the administration even during a time of cutbacks.
The president requested $271.5 million for the Everglades next fiscal year, mostly for construction projects that are expected to create jobs. The proposal includes money for park maintenance and operations.
“This is a big deal for us,” said Don Jodrey, a senior attorney and adviser in the Interior Department. “Given that the overall federal budget numbers are declining, the fact that we put extra money into this project is significant.”
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a frequent visitor to the Everglades, plans to attend a ground-breaking ceremony in Collier County on Friday to open a new phase of restoration at Picayune Strand. A $79 million contract was awarded last year to build a pump station.
Some of the proposed Everglades spending would also help pay for restoration of the Indian River Lagoon along the Treasure Coast, a bridge over Tamiami Trail in Miami-Dade County and water storage and treatment areas along the Broward-Palm Beach county line.
Backers say the ‘Glades may escape the budget ax because restoration construction projects create jobs while protecting the environment.
“The issue on the table is still jobs, jobs, jobs. We are lucky enough to be an ecological restoration project that is in a construction phase,” said Julie Hill-Gabriel of Audubon of Florida. “This is one of the best ways to put funding into the environment and have it go toward job creation at the same time.”
Everglades spending, along with the rest of the president’s budget, faces tough scrutiny in Congress, where the new House Republican majority wants to cut deeply into federal spending.
“The president’s budget proposes we head down the same unsustainable path we have been on for the past two years, resulting in record high unemployment and unprecedented debt and deficit,” said U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, the only South Florida member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Diaz-Balart, a point man in past years for Everglades projects, did not comment on the specifics of the president’s proposal.
He and other Florida Republicans have indicated that the Everglades may still deserve federal spending partly because Congress already has approved a comprehensive restoration plan and agreed to split the cost with Florida and local communities.
At the least, the president’s proposal gives the Everglades some momentum as Congress begins the arduous process of trying to agree on a budget.

110215-d
Immokalee's Lake Trafford Restoration Complete
SW Florida Online
February 15, 2011
IMMOKALEE, FL -- In a significant step to improve water quality in Southwest Florida and protect an economic resource, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and its partners recently marked the completion of the effort to restore Lake Trafford.
Lake Trafford is a shallow, 1,600-acre lake, marking the headwaters of the Corkscrew Swamp and the Imperial and Cocohatchee River watersheds, along with the Camp Keais Strand and Panther Preserve watershed that drains into the Ten Thousand Islands. Lake Trafford is the largest lake south of Lake Okeechobee in South Florida, serving as an important ecotourism resource for recreational boating and fishing.
With an investment of approximately $21.4 million, the District achieved a host of restoration goals, including:
Removing 3 feet of muck from the lake bottom during 2004 - 2007
Removing 2 feet of muck from the near shore areas during 2009 - 2010
Restoring native fisheries
Developing a Watershed Protection Plan to reduce nutrients
Restoration of Lake Trafford will not end with the completion of dredging. Other plans to maintain the health of the lake include:
• Re-establishing native submerged aquatic vegetation, such as Vallisneria, through littoral plantings
• Monitoring the long-term health of the lake using water quality parameters (dissolved oxygen), environmental indicators and the recovery of native fish communities
• Promoting additional studies to develop best management practices to control nutrient runoff and minimize growth of invasive aquatic vegetation
At one time, the lake was sand bottomed. However, nutrient runoff in the watershed resulted in a shift from native aquatic vegetation to dense mats of hydrilla, an invasive exotic plant. The hydrilla has been controlled using herbicides, however, dead plant material accumulated on the bottom of the lake, releasing nutrients, triggering algal blooms and impacting prime habitat for native fish species.
The District began the first phase of dredging Lake Trafford in 2004, with a focus on its center, completing the project two years later. A second muck-removal effort began in November 2006 for the near shore area and, after being placed on hold because of drought conditions in 2007, was completed recently.

110214-a
Eric Buermann: Billions Wasted and He Dares to Whine ?
Sunshine News - by: Nancy Smith
February 14, 2011
It’s a Zero-only Monday -- SFWMD board chairman earned it
For the first time in years, the South Florida Water Management District has a chance to get a grip on reality, and what does it do? Whine like a spoiled brat.
Instead of cheering Gov. Rick Scott's involvement in trying to turn around the District’s failed management strategies – especially knowing they need help to fight strangulating federal regulations – board members last week resorted to attempts of scaring the pants off the 16 counties they serve and every Floridian seeking to save the Everglades.
Some of the most outlandish oh-my-the-sky-is-falling silliness came from the board chairman, Eric Buermann. If the governor curtails the water management districts’ ability to tax property owners by 25 percent – as he has proposed to do – that isn’t a break for taxpayers, says Buermann.
Why not ?
Because, apparently, the $180 million it will cost the District over the next two years could create the need for unthinkable sacrifice. The chairman sat by quietly at last week's board meeting -- offered not one comforting word -- while Vice Chairman Jerry Montgomery frightened the wits out of District employees with talk of layoffs.
Buermann’s hand-wringing despair ended with the biggest absurdity of all: “We are getting down to the point where we might just as well close the agency.”
Close the agency? Wholesale layoffs? This man, the ultimate Zero, is leaving the District just in time.
The governor is not the bad guy in this bureaucratic version of a B-grade spaghetti western. When he rode into town, he didn’t rob the bank and shoot up the town, he gave the townsfolk a tax break.
When you’ve got a budget of $1.1 billion and more than 1,930 employees as the District has, you don’t get to blame the governor.
Courtesy: University of FloridaHide
When you’re responsible for the largest budget of the state’s five water management agencies – with more than $650 million allocated to Everglades restoration – you don’t get to say that Everglades restoration is in danger because of the governor. At least, not this governor.
Buermann has my friends in Martin County all tied up in knots, and I can understand why. They’re fed up to the teeth at having helped Martin pour $43 million into Everglades restoration over the last decade but seeing nothing come of it. In the absence of the promised, completed reservoir, landowners north of Lake Okeechobee are being paid to store water, which is still getting dirtier, which is reaching the lake, which is pumped out into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers and their estuaries.
These Martin folks – certainly fiscal conservatives and most of them supporters of Scott’s policies – want the governor and the Legislature not to cut the District’s property tax ability. That’s because they believe Buermann. They fear they will never see significant restoration for their ailing St. Lucie estuary. They’re even urging a letter-writing campaign to the governor and their legislative delegation.
Said Tom Kenny, a lifelong Martin County resident, former Martin County commissioner and member of the Water Resources Advisory Commission, "Everglades, northern and southern, restoration is critical to the health of our rivers and our economy. If District funding is cut they will have no choice but to withdraw as the local partner to restoration efforts."
Kenny is the smartest man I know on Treasure Coast water issues.  I'm taking a chance here saying I think he's overstating his case.
Here’s why I disagree, why I think Scott has shown up at just the right time with the right idea.
In the first place, there’s enough money and then some in the budget for the District’s core mission – flood protection and water supply.
The District has failed.  Completely and utterly.  
It may not be entirely their fault, but it is what it is.
A decade after the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was signed, we have no substantial restoration from it. Costs are rising. The broad support CERP once enjoyed has fractured. And the state-federal partnership is not working.
That’s why it rings about as hollow as a heartbreak to hear District board members complain that a property tax cut would drive water managers to postpone restoration projects. How absurd.
The District has thrown away hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, especially since 2007.
“They certainly didn’t mean to,” said Barbara Miedema, vice president of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative and member of Scott’s transition team for water. “But they’ve participated in ‘mission creep’ and they haven’t always made the wisest of choices.”
What the governor is looking for is what she calls “a timeout.”
“The District is not getting the things done it needs to,” she said. “We want to use these two years to take a step back, take an inventory of all the projects we’ve started and stopped and all the ways we could be working more effectively and more cost-efficiently.
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘What do we need to be doing ?’” Miedema said.
Gov. Charlie Crist’s deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. did more than anything to rearrange the District’s priorities and, frankly, waste money. Building concrete projects was replaced with buying land as the District’s new priority. In fact, right now the District is sitting on a land inventory of more than 100,000 acres, most of it unused.
Taxpayers had already shelled out almost $300 million of the A-1 reservoir’s $800 million price tag when Crist and the District shut down construction in 2008. Had the shut-down never happened, the reservoir would have been completed in 2010 and right now it would have been storing 62 billion gallons of water -- the equivalent of more than 5 million residential swimming pools – water that instead continues to be flushed east and west to the estuaries.
Miedema puts the District’s problems in a more kindly light than I do. I think the District is the true Florida Taj Mahal. I think it’s a monolithic, gold-plated bureaucracy dripping in strange priorities and questionable practices. Staff and board members alike travel first-class through the list of votes they recommend and cast. They think of spending millions the way most of us would spend hundreds. Some examples:
They bought something called a SAP program – razzle-dazzle, top-of-the-line accounting software – something so expensive it’s generally only used by big private companies to track consumer goods. In fact, only two public agencies in the country use it. Not only did it cost $81 million when the District bought it in 2007, it costs $10 million a year to maintain it.
Governor Rick Scott and entourage exit the Department of Environmental Protection after last Friday's visit.| Photo Gray RohrerHide
Year after fiscal year the District’s goal has been to spend – or tie up – 90 percent of their budget in the first quarter of the year. What business does that? Could you run your family's budget that way ?
Their employee benefits packages are particularly lucrative at the top. I asked the District on Thursday for the value of  Executive Director Carol Wehle’s compensation, but did not receive an answer by the time of publication. Her salary alone is more than $200,000, but beyond that what sends her package into orbit are the benefits – the DROP program participation, the health care and pension and other lifetime-security tag-ons. Upper management employees with Wehle’s valuable goodies package number in the teens.
Meanwhile, out in the field, more waste.  After billions -- literally, billions -- have been spent over the years on exercises like ripping out evil-for-the-Everglades cattails, the District is spending $200,000 to repopulate said cattails in water treatment areas, where they are apparently now good for the environment.
Gabe Margasak, media relations representative for SFWMD, had little to say beyond the pat press statement that appeared in other news reports. "The District  has not yet started its budget development process for fiscal year 12, which begins in October," Margasak wrote. "The agency will be working closely with DEP and the governor’s office in the months ahead to determine the most effective way to meet the governor’s objectives."
Miedema points out that the board needs Scott’s involvement because the District and the federal government – with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Migratory Bird Act, wetlands mitigation rules and other considerations coming from Washington -- often work at cross-purposes. The result is delay, expense, frustration and lack of results. Scott, she believes, can provide the connection to help fix the broken link.
So can our congressional delegation, she says, which increasingly presses colleagues in Washington to kill the EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria for Florida waters.
“The overreaching federal government is one of our biggest problems,” she maintains. “They need to leave us alone, go home, let us police specific limits on the amounts of nutrients allowed in state waters. We understand the need for clean water in a fragile environment like ours, just as well as they do.”
Hopefully, Floridians – and especially the Legislature – will take a broader, deeper look at the District, considering that these people, responsible for so much waste for so many years, these people elected by no one, have no business crying over a rightly tightened budget. The governor is giving them a chance to do a better job for South Florida.
Tags: Army Corps of Engineers, Barbara Miedema, Caloosahatchee River, Carol Wehle, CERP, Charlie Crist, Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, EPA, Eric Buermann, Everglades, Martin County, Migratory Bird Act, News, restoration, Rick Scott, SFWMD, South Florida Water Management District, St. Lucie Estuary, St. Lucie River, Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative, U.S. Sugar Corp.

110214-b
Everglades supporters encouraged by Obama budget proposal
Palm Beach Post - by Ana M. Valdes, Staff Writer
February 14, 2011
President Obama's 2012 budget proposal has left environmentalists across the state encouraged that Everglades restoration projects will get enough money to stay afloat through next year.
Under Obama's $3.73 trillion proposal, released Monday, the president would allocate millions for construction and ecosystem restoration, despite deep cuts to many federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Under the proposal, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could spend more than $162 million of its overall budget of $4.6 billion on South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, which includes projects underway in the Everglades.
Obama's plan also budgets $12 billion for the Department of Interior, roughly the same as in previous years, with increased funding for programs like land and water conservation.
"We are very encouraged that even in this time of budget cutbacks, the federal government is standing strong on its commitment to Everglades restoration," said Julie Hill-Gabriel, senior Everglades Policy Associate at Audubon of Florida.
Hill-Gabriel said some Everglades restoration projects, like the Picayune Strand in Southwest Florida and bridge construction along Tamiami Trail, will provide thousands of jobs while improving water flow and habitats in the River of Grass.
"As the largest ongoing construction project in South Florida, (Everglades restoration) is an investment in the future that will not result in vacant housing units, but will recover the abundance of wildlife that millions of people travel to Florida to see each year."
Federal support also comes in handy at a time when the state budget is only allocating $17 million for Everglades restoration.
Kirk Fordham, of the Everglades Foundation, added that "it is clear that this administration understands that Everglades restoration is a priority to sustain the water supply, create jobs and provide myriad economic benefits."
Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, which monitors water quality issues, is something to watch carefully, Hill-Gabriel said.
"Water quality is a big issue down here right now," she said. "We are concerned that budget cuts would have an impact in implementing improvements down here."
Congressional Republicans want to slash the EPA, and Obama's proposed 11 percent cut for the agency, mainly from reductions in grants that help states upgrade sewage treatment plants and drinking water systems, could satisfy critics.
Some environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, were critical that Obama's proposal did not do enough to penalize oil companies and refineries.
"It's great that President Obama eliminated tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for fossil fuel companies. The reality is that this is a pretty moderate proposal and he could have gone a lot further," said Ben Schreiber, tax analyst at Friends of the Earth.
"We can cut the deficit by ending corporate welfare for big polluters, or we can do it on the backs of the poor and the middle class," added the organization in a prepared statement.
Several hearings to discuss Obama's 2012 budget proposal will be held in the coming days, including a hearing between the House Ways and Means Committee and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tomorrow .

110214-c
Florida !  State Of Opportunity ?
American Chronicle – by Tim Williams
February 14, 2011
Having been a resident of Tampa Bay for over 15 years now, I have come across some very disturbing and startling revaluations concerning this state. Whether purposely or not there continues to be programs and legislative measures coming out of our legislature that still keeps the majority of Floridians from achieving the economic growth and stability that is needed to keep cities and towns from experiencing the budget shortfalls that are currently plaguing all of Florida.
We now have Governor Scott's proposal in his attempt to rectify the states economic woes, one is to be to reform and reorganize the state's pension plans. There again major flaws emerge because the Governor has failed to, like chess, consider all the contingencies and ramifications involved. There are major drawbacks in his proposed changes not only in the pension overhaul but his other budget proposals as well that will affect every Floridian. To begin, with almost every state worker is continually underpaid compared to the actual cost of living. Contrary to what our legislature and the majority of business owners continue to say about our state. That being, living here is much less costly than in most other states. This is their main justification for continually keeping workers so impoverished. When in actuality the State of Florida is one of the highest cost of living states in the country. Not only are the majority of state workers feeling the pinch today, practically every person who is still employed are grossly underpaid as well.
In most sections of Florida as well as in other counties in every state the majority of wages offered by the too few employment opportunities available don't equate to the continually rising cost of living. With the real unemployment figures hovering at 20% and in some cases like Detroit they are much higher there is never going to be enough tax revenue coming in to fund all the expenditures that are now mandated by law. Consequently more budget shortfalls will occur and more layoffs will continue creating a downward domino effect all across communities all over America.
What is needed now instead of focusing on what many consider petty expenditures. Budget cuts, sure are necessary but they have to focus on whether those cuts will impact other industries in a way that will turn out reveling that they do more harm to local economies. In what Governor Scott's is proposing most likely the current unemployment rate will increase as a result. Granted the pension plan should be reformed but it should correspond with real authentic alternatives to make up individual worker salary shortcomings. Worker investment, real living wages, and infrastructure programs are most vital for the future of Florida and the for rest of the country.
One of the first steps toward a brighter future has to begin with our illustrious Governor. He must work closely with the President in securing the federal funding for high sped rail through-out the state. Also, we are very fortunate that this state already has one of the largest Solar farms in the country. With energy prices continually rising for every household it is crucial that this state expands immediately solar farming all across the state to augment the escalating electric bills that are one of the major obstacles toward securing more disposable individual incomes. Not only the expansion of solar farming has to be combined with wind technology. Wind farms are now more cost effective in harnessing and distribution which will yet add another alternative and reduce our fossil fuel consumption for the manufacture of household energy. With both new alternatives in producing lower cost energy every citizen will reap greater rewards. This is a step in regaining economic growth and stability.
Another major concern that has immediate impact on every living thing not only in this state but all across the country and has international implications is the availability of obtaining fresh water. Waste water and storm water runoff continue to leave our reservoirs high and dry. What we have now is 98% of all rain and storm water is flushed right into our ocean.The need is apparent that this waste has to stop if the state and the rest of the country ever expects to supply enough fresh water for all. This water runoff must be diverted into water treatment facilities so that enough fresh water will then be available to supply the demands for the public at lower costs for all involved. It is imperative that the sooner we start diverting this enormous waste the greater the positive economic impact will be.
In achieving these necessary initiatives a unilateral by partisan working relationship must begin now between the Governor and the White House. Differences aside, the infrastructure programs outlined are of vital importance for the economic growth of not only Florida but for the rest of the country. This is what the Governor has to do instead of targeting the some so-called wasteful spending that according to him and most of the Republican members of our legislature are the most dangerous things to hinder economic growth not only here in Florida but in most other states as well.
What happened when this state primarily the republican party in their zeal to criticize the President's economic policies became fixated with the allusion of what money can do in elections. Consequently when now Governor Scott flooded the states with television adds an election was bought while the rest of the residents of Florida were blind sided by the Republican party. All of this while not focusing on the real eminent danger to our current economic crisis.
To continue to critize rather than puting forth the effort to unite behind developing infrastructure programs every where the citizens of not only the State of Florida but all across the country will continue to wallow in economic depravation. We have the resources but the resolve that's the question.

110214-d
Why we need growth management in Florida
The Gainesville Sun – by Charles Pattison
February 14, 2011
The Governor and Legislature are considering sweeping, unprecedented changes to Florida’s growth management programs which would undermine more than 30 years of progress in dealing with growth impacts. For an informed debate, it is important to understand why our present system was created and what it was meant to do.
Prior to the first statewide efforts to manage growth, thousands of acres of wetlands and beach and dune systems were being plowed under for new development. Salt water threatened to intrude into regional water supplies, and parts of the state faced severe water shortages. Roads became more congested and filled with potholes, schools more overcrowded, and natural areas continued to be paved over. Local governments, which approved all the new development, said the state (in other words, taxpayers) needed to pay to solve these problems. Outraged citizens, who only had limited ability to challenge inappropriate development decisions, clamored for state leadership to address the growing crisis.
In response, the Legislature passed major growth management laws in 1972, 1975 and 1985. These acts have evolved considerably over the years, but some of the basic premises remain the same today: make developers pay for infrastructure costs associated with new development so the taxpayers don’t have to subsidize them; protect Florida’s most significant and vulnerable natural areas from inappropriate development; avoid sprawling development to protect natural areas and reduce state and local infrastructure costs; coordinate between local governments so those in one jurisdiction are not impacted by poor planning decisions in another; provide citizens with meaningful participation in the planning process for their community; and have state review of changes to local plans to ensure that they met these goals. Unfortunately, because numerous development approvals had already been granted, taxpayers and their local governments have to deal with existing infrastructure deficits as well as those yet to be created.
Governor Scott’s proposed budget would decimate the state’s land planning process, eliminating the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), cutting 318 positions, and moving the 40 remaining planners to a subunit of the Department of Environmental Protection with no more than 10 employees working on growth management work and 2 on Florida Communities Trust.
Additionally, damaging proposals to gut Florida’s growth management laws now circulate, including removing requirements for developers to show need for new development, eliminating financial feasibility tests for projects, drastically reducing state oversight of local plan amendments, and wiping out legal rulings from the last 25 years.
Over the past four years, DCA approved local plan amendments which have opened up for new development an area almost the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined, allowing more than 1 million new dwelling units, and non-residential development the equivalent of 4 new regional shopping malls in each of Florida’s 67 counties. The impact of this on property values in a state that was second nationally in foreclosures in 2010 is unclear.
Florida’s environment and quality of life are this state’s greatest economic development tools. Corporations do not want to relocate to states with crowded roads, poor schools, and insufficient drinking water. Tourists will not want to visit a Florida despoiled with polluted rivers and overdeveloped beaches. Agriculture will not survive if its lands are taken over by sprawling subdivisions.
We understand the very real need to create new jobs in Florida and support new development in appropriate locations. But Florida’s growth management process was developed to address very real issues facing this state, issues that continue to this day. 1000 Friends and its conservation partners have developed recommendations for meaningful growth management reform, outlined in Planning for Quality Growth and Economic Prosperity for Florida’s Future, at www.1000friendsofflorida.org.
We call on the House and Senate to show true leadership. Protect this state’s economic interests for now and the long term. Bring together developers, conservationists, landowners, business interests, planners and other stakeholders to develop consensus on true, meaningful improvement to the state’s growth management process. We must make informed decisions on how Florida grows and develops.
Charles Pattison is President and CEO of 1000 Friends of Florida, a statewide nonprofit established in 1986 to serve as Florida growth management watchdog.
Visit  www.1000friendsofflorida.org  for more information.

110213-
Scott plan to cut taxes threatens ’Glades cleanup
Palm Beach Post (bradenton.com) - by ANA M. VALDES
February 13, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH -- The South Florida Water Management District may be forced to lay off employees and halt some Everglades restoration efforts if Gov. Rick Scott sticks by his proposal to cut water management districts’ property taxes by 25 percent, board members and staff said Wednesday.
 “I think (the cuts) would have a devastating impact,” district board Chairman Eric Buermann said about Scott’s proposal, which calls for close to $180 million in property tax reductions for the state’s five water management districts over the next two years.
 “In the last two years, with the recession, we have already lost 30 percent of our tax revenue and we had anticipated this coming year to lose another potential 15 to 20 percent,” Buermann said. “If (Scott’s proposal) would be that we are supposed to take additional cuts on top of all that, we are getting down to the point where we might as well just close the agency.”
Scott included the proposal in his $65.9 billion state budget plan released Monday, even though the districts’ budgets are not part of the state budget.
Each district board sets its own budget and tax rates, which require the governor’s approval before they go into effect.
South Florida Water Management District staff and board members discussed the proposal Wednesday at a workshop and decided that over the next few weeks they would look at the costs of each district project and figure out ways to save money.
Vice-chairman Jerry Montgomery said he was worried about the fate of the district’s employees and proposed speeding up the process for creating the 2012 budget.
 “The governor promulgating his budget plan has sent ripples through our employee population here,” Montgomery said, adding that he had heard employees talking in the hallways about the proposed cuts. “We have to rapidly understand what the governor’s expectations are, put a plan against that so that we can answer questions sooner rather than later.”
 “To have a group of employees sitting out there thinking, ‘What the hell does this mean for me,’ I don’t think that’s fair,” Montgomery added.
Carol Wehle, executive director of the district, did not say how many employees could be affected if lay offs are considered, but acknowledged that the next few months may be difficult for the agency.
The district employs 1,933 people in its 16 counties. At $1.07 billion, its 2010-2011 budget was the largest of the state’s five districts.
About $399 million of its revenue came from property taxes based on its tax rate of 62 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.
Wehle said the district may have to prioritize when it comes to allocating dollars, and probably focus on flood control and other key district responsibilities.
 “We are taking this seriously, and we know how difficult it’s going to be,” she said. “There is angst, but we have never been anything but truthful to the staff. This is going to be a tough one.”
Some restoration projects, such as the C-111 Spreader Canal and Phase 1 of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands -- both part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan- are being financed by funds allocated before construction began, and therefore will not be affected by cuts, Wehle said.
Environmentalists statewide, however, are concerned that other restoration projects, including any construction work on land the district purchased from U.S. Sugar in October, will come to a halt.
 “If the goal of the new administration is to put people back to work, you certainly don’t want to jeopardize Everglades restoration budgets which are funding the construction of projects,” said Kirk Fordham, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation.
 “While we have seen ground breakings across the state over the last several years, if you cut too far, you really jeopardize those projects.”
Audubon of Florida Everglades policy associate Jane Graham has similar concerns.
 “It makes us very uneasy, and we hope that (Scott) will be able to understand basically that these projects are extremely important,” Graham said.
A spokesperson for Scott said these cuts would not interfere with Everglades restoration, adding that the governor had recommended $17 million for Everglades Restoration.
Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/02/13/2953070/scott-plan-to-cut-taxes-threatens.html#ixzz1DsslTSPP

110212-a
Caloosahatchee River's ills start with Lake Okeechobee
News-Press.com – by AMY BENNETT WILLIAMS awilliams@news-press.com
February 12, 2011
Read more stories about Caloosahatchee
River at Risk: Take a multimedia look at the issues facing the Caloosahatchee.
Source of SW Fla.'s lifeblood needs help, and money is scarce.
The Caloosahatchee's water is often compared to caffeinated drinks - tea, coffee or Coke.
Yet before the river was connected to Lake Okeechobee, it was gin-clear and sandy-bottomed.
Now, in addition to the tannic tint, puddingy muck blankets the river's bed, just as it does the 730-square-mile lake's.
The muck is from more than a century of nutrients washing into the lake from development and farm fields. Pollutants taint the spoiled egg-scented ooze, including arsenic and an estimated 51,000 tons of phosphorus.
Paul Gray, Audubon's Lake Okeechobee science coordinator, leans down and scoops up a dripping handful of the stuff. As thick drops spatter his feet, he wrinkles his nose.
"Coming soon," Gray says, "to a river near you."
The river in question is the Caloosahatchee, which flows southwest from the lake for 75 miles before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. It's the lifeblood of the region it traverses.
Farmers near the river's source depend on it for irrigation. Downstream, more than 35,000 people rely on it for drinking water. The river also is key to Lee County's $2.6 billion tourism industry as well as commercial and recreational fishing. Yet this crucial waterway is chronically ill - plagued by toxic algae, high levels of fecal bacteria, seagrass kills, disappearing wildlife and more. In 2006, the Caloosahatchee was named the nation's seventh most endangered river.
Cleaning up the lake must be part of any effective plan to heal the river says river champion and scientist Rae Ann Wessel, natural resources policy director with the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
Lake Okeechobee, the second-largest freshwater lake in the continental United States, lies about 60 miles east of Fort Myers. It was formed when the prehistoric ocean receded about 6,000 years ago. The river originally seeped from marshy wetlands in what's now Hendry County.
The two water bodies were grafted together in a massive feat of surgical engineering 130 years ago, when entrepreneurial developer Hamilton Disston dredged a channel between the two, creating the single, profoundly flawed system that exists today, says Wessel.
Phosporus is No. 1
The river's troubles don't all stem from the lake.
Much of its pollution comes from urban areas: from overfertilized suburban lawns, storm drains and sewage piped from treatment plants into its water.
But the lake contributes hugely, scientists say, and any realistic plan to clean the river must take that into account.
Cleaning Lake Okeechobee will require a massive muck-dredging project along with higher water quality standards around the lake, says LaBelle environmental engineer John Capece, a founder of the Caloosahatchee River Citizens Association, a nonprofit river advocacy group.
Though many chemicals pollute the lake, phosphorus is among the most harmful. In and of itself, there's nothing inherently noxious about the element; without it, plants won't grow.
But too much phosphorous has devastated the lake by fertilizing water plants and algae - some dangerously toxic - which grow so thickly they block sunlight to submerged plants, polluting the water as they die and decay, then settling to the bottom to add to the layer of muck.
"You get fish kills, dead zones, all kinds of bad things," Gray says.
This has been going on for so long that what scientists call "legacy phosphorous" has become a tremendous problem, says Gray.
"It's what we've already put out there," he says, "but its levels in the lake keep going up."
Because phosphorus levels have been high for more than six decades, tons of the element have accumulated at the bottom of the lake in soft organic muck. Every time strong winds blow across the lake, the muck is stirred back into the lake water.
Lake Okeechobee's annual phosphorus goal, set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, is 15 metric tons of phosphorus, but the watershed already has an estimated 190,000 metric tons of leftover phosphorus in the system. That will take years to clean up, says Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall.
"Even if you filled the lake with Perrier today," Hall says, "the pollution is so severe it'll stay brown for many, many years to come."
Time and money
Improving the lake isn't just going to take a lot of time; it's going to take lots of money, advocates say.
The in-progress Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program, which aims to raise the quality of water flowing into the lake as well the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries already has a price tag of $350 million and counting, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
How much a comprehensive cleanup might cost is anybody's guess, but Hall says it'd be a good idea to start guessing high - as in "millions and millions and millions - it'll be huge."
The South Florida Water Management District pegs the figure at more than $1.1 billion.
Ecologist Gray's guess is triple that - at least.
"To clean the mud bottom alone, the dredging was estimated at about $3 billion," he says.
However, a multi-agency feasibility study by the water management district, the DEP and the Florida Department of Agriculture concluded "large-scale sediment management is not a feasible option," according to the final report. The plan was scrapped.
Cost aside, some Caloosahatchee advocates question whether the political will to get the job done exists in the state's current climate of budget-cutting.
Earlier this week, Gov. Rick Scott proposed a 25 percent cut to the property taxes that pays for the state's water management districts, something district board Chairman Eric Buermann has called potentially devastating.
"If (Scott's proposal) would be that we are supposed to take additional cuts on top of all that, we are getting down to the point where we might as well just close the agency," Buermann told the Sun-Sentinel on Wednesday. Buermann could not be reached for further comment.
Some Caloosahatchee advocates predict even tougher times ahead for the river.
"People need to realize what the new Legislature and state administration is doing and how it will negatively affect the Caloosahatchee and all other aspects of our environment," says Capece. "I am not sure we are in a position to discuss cleanup; that seems to be history."
That doesn't mean he and other champions of the river are ready to stop slogging onward.
"We know we've got a huge, huge problem," Hall says, "but rather than throw our hands up, we're trying to address it in pieces. It's an ongoing battle, but the dialogue is better than it's ever been. It is an endless negotiation and we've got to keep everybody looking each other in the eye."
And in recent years, the river's advocates have learned a lot.
In the decade he's been working on the lake, Gray has watched the Caloosahatchee's constituency get stronger and more sophisticated.
"You've learned how the system works. You've learned that you have to be involved to make this better - that you have to talk to the legislature and the (water management district) governing board and county commissioners."
Above all, Gray advises those who want to help the Caloosahatchee not to give up.
"It took decades to build the present drainage system," he says. "It's going to take a few more decades to rebuild it."

Lake Okeechobee at a glance
• 730 square miles.
• The second-largest freshwater lake in the continental United States.
• One of the nation’s most prized bass and black crappie fisheries.
• Habitat for many species of animals, including wading and migratory birds.
• A source of drinking water for several lakeside cities and a backup water supply for the lower east coast of Florida.
• A supply of irrigation water to the large Everglades Agricultural Area.
• A critical supplemental water supply for the Everglades.

110212-b
Environmentalists fear water plan impact on Everglades restoration
St. Augustine Record - by MICHAEL PELTIER
February 12, 2011
TALLAHASSEE -- In a move that has startled and concerned environmental groups, Gov. Rick Scott has proposed cutting the budgets of water management districts and wants more authority over how the independent taxing districts spend their money.
Some environmentalists fear the plan, if approved by lawmakers, could significantly reduce spending on Everglades restoration and water clean-up efforts in the St. John's River.
Audubon of Florida Executive Director Eric Draper said the proposal would reduce spending on environmental programs by hundreds of millions of dollars and cost the state high paying jobs.
Included in the roughly $66 billion budget plan Scott released Monday, were provisions that would require the largely autonomous water management districts to get approval before spending money from the taxes paid to them by property owners living within their boundaries.
The South Florida Water Management District, for example, collects about $390 million a year in property taxes from the residents who live in the district. The money is used for flood control, maintenance of the canals and other storm water efforts. A significant portion also goes toward Everglades restoration.
Scott has proposed reducing those taxes by 25 percent for the next two years, a cut that would translate into about $95 million less than the district levied during this current fiscal year. Such a cut would inevitably lead water managers to postpone programs that are more discretionary in nature, such as the district's long term commitment to re-plumbing the River of Grass.
"The cuts wouldn't stop them from doing what they have to do," Draper said. "The thing they would take off the table would be Everglades restoration. That's our concern."
Scott has said, essentially just that -- that his plan was to have government return to doing what it has to do, and dropping many of the other things it does as unaffordable luxuries.
Draper said the water districts, created in 1972, have become a national model for efficient water management efforts because they do not compete with other state priorities for money.
By having their own taxing source, they are also insulated from the political back and forth that happens, especially in tough budget times, and from regional competition.
"They don't compete with schools and health care for their funding," Draper said. "That gives the ability to hire scientists to figure how a state of 18 million people gets its water."
The fact that South Florida pays for its own heavy water management needs without asking rural north Florida residents to pay for it also matters.

110212-c
Florida has much better ways to use tax dollars than biofuel subsidies
News-Press.com - Guest opinion
February 12, 2011
Algenol describes itself as a "science-driven company using biotechnology to produce biofuels and green chemicals from carbon dioxide emissions."
Who could possibly object to something so green and clean? Anyone with a basic understanding of life. It is impossible to make energy from CO2 emissions, without adding a lot of other ingredients. Algae require water, sunlight and (drumroll...) nutrients - like all other living organisms.
A "lifecycle assessment" of algae fuels recently published in Environmental Science and Technology in January 2010 reports that switchgrass, canola and even corn farming have lower environmental impacts than algae in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and water use. Fertilizer requirements are high on the list of problems, because manufacturing fertilizers is so energy intensive. As phosphorus supplies dwindle, many argue it's unwise to squander what remains on biofuels rather than food.
Using excess nutrients from local contaminated waterways might help, but entails other risks: many algae fuel companies are depending on genetically modified strains of algae, or even varieties developed using synthetic biology. Algae play a key role in global cycles and are responsible for much of the oxygen. Given these algae are being designed to be hardy, and to spit out ethanol, (toxic and corrosive), we should ask ourselves: can we ensure there will be no "mistakes" resulting in releases into the environment?
Experimentation with algae fuels has been underway for a long time - and yet no commercial scale production yet exists! How much money, and how many years of ongoing investment are needed? Florida is being asked to help foot the bill for developing biofuel industries (on top of whopping great subsides already coming from the feds - Algenol, for example, is recipient of a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy). Floridians should ask themselves: are there better options for our tax dollars? The long term prospects for biofuels are questionable. Report after report has revealed the lack greenhouse gas savings, and the conflicting demands for food, water, land, fertilizer...all of which are slated to intensify in coming years.
American Biofuels Now, among others, argues biofuels will help provide "energy security," but this is laughable. With a military that, by conservative estimate consumes more than 320,000 barrels of oil each and every day, we will need several planets worth of algae farms to supply even a fraction of that demand, (and end up fighting wars over fertilizer and water access). Perhaps a longer view would favor reducing demand for transportation fuels as a better investment? Public transportation, fuel efficiency, reorganizing our communities to enable work-from-home and offering incentives to ride-share and cut back on commuting distances are a few possibilities with guaranteed - and honest - benefits that can be banked on, for certain, in every home. Pouring money into claims of "making energy from CO2 emissions and sunshine" doesn't inspire confidence.
Rachel Smolker works with Biofuelwatch/Energy Justice Network.

110212-d
Scott reverses budget proposal, won't close Keys' state parks
KeysNet.com - by KEVIN WADLOW
February 12, 2011
Three Florida Keys state parks won't fall victim to state budget cuts, Gov. Rick Scott's office said Friday. "No state parks will be closed as a result of Gov. Scott's budget recommendations," Scott spokeswoman Amy Graham said.
In late January, the Department of Environmental Protection released a list of 53 state parks -- a third of Florida's 160 state parks -- that could be closed to reduce the agency's budget. On the list were three Keys parks:
  Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park in Islamorada.
  Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park in Islamorada.
  Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park on North Key Largo.
The same Keys parks were targeted for possible closing in 2010 but remained open.
Scott's budget proposal released Monday called for cutting $150 million and 120 positions from DEP, but did not go into detail.
On Friday, Scott told DEP staff that he wants to keep all parks open, according to news accounts. "We've got great parks and we need to make sure we preserve them and take care of them," Scott said.
State Sen. Tony Hill (D-Jacksonville) said word about possible statewide park closures resulted in a flood of concerned comment from Floridians. "The people rose up and fought for the parks," Hill told the St. Augustine Record. "Because of that, the governor's office has called off the plans to close the state parks."
The parks selected for possible closing were listed because they rank low in terms of visitors and don't offer overnight camping. Both Lignumvitae and Windley Key are relatively small, and Lignumvitae is available only by boat. Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks holds about 2,300 acres of threatened environment that was once targeted for large condominium projects.
Audubon of Florida noted in a statement that many of the state's smaller parks give vacationers a reason to visit communities that may lie off the main highways.
"Make no mistake, the threat is not over," Audubon posted on its Web site. "Gov. Scott has called for massive unspecified cuts to environmental agencies -- cuts to DEP and other land management agencies will affect public lands. Not only parks [but] state forests, wildlife management areas and water management district lands are all at risk."
Everglades restoration cut?
Scott's $65.9 billion budget proposal also calls for cutting nearly two-thirds of Florida's annual allocation for Everglades restoration.
The budget plan lists an allocation of $17 million for each of the next two years, down from the current $50 million annually.
"If we're going to protect the Everglades and ensure a water supply for nearly 7 million Floridians, Gov. Scott and the Legislature will need to make restoration a priority," said Kirk Fordham, chief executive of the Everglades Foundation.
"Short-changing our investment in Everglades restoration will only drive up the long-term costs and put more people out of work," Fordham said.
"We are pleased the governor included a modest investment for Everglades restoration. However, to prevent private sector layoffs and maintain Everglades project construction currently underway, the Legislature will need to avoid a 66 percent cut in the Everglades restoration budget," Fordham said.
In Tallahassee, House Democratic leader Ron Saunders of Monroe County called the Scott budget plan "unrealistic," and concluded, "I think the Legislature can't even start there."
Under Florida law, the governor submits a budget plan but the Legislature actually writes the budget, so it can dump any of the governor's proposals.

110211-
EPA water quality rules under attack in Florida, and in Congress
The Florida Independent - by Virginia Chamlee
February 11, 2011
After challenging businesses across the country to submit some of their biggest regulatory gripes, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, received responses from companies large and small. Among them: Florida business and business lobby groups that are strongly opposed to new EPA water quality rules.
In a press release, Issa called his project “an opportunity for private industry to put forward detailed and specific examples so that both the American people and policymakers can determine for themselves what actions can be taken to create jobs.”
In total, 220 companies wrote (.pdf) to Issa, explaining regulatory impediments to financial success. Some, like Florida fishing captain Steve Papen, run small operations, while others, like the Agricultural Retailers Association, are heavy-hitters.
In an interview with Roll Call, Papen said he was critical of the state’s strict fishing regulations, which have recently included banning certain species of grouper and snapper from area nets. In his comment to Issa, Papen called the regulations “outdated” and “out of control,” and said that he felt he was being “exploited on every level.”
Also at the top of the list ?  One of the most oft-criticized regulatory agencies in the country: the EPA.
Associated Industries of Florida, the Agricultural Retailers Association and the Florida Farm Bureau all complained about the EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria, which would place strict restrictions on effluent dumped in Florida waterways. In their complaints, Associated Industries and the Florida Farm Bureau said that the criteria were sure to “stymie job growth in Florida.”
All three groups have blasted the criteria in the past, arguing that they are too costly and not based on sound science. In a January letter criticizing the rules, Associated Industries estimated costs of implementing the standards to be upwards of $3 billion. Their source ?  A study funded by several polluting agencies.
Industry representatives aren’t the only ones lashing out at the standards. During a Thursday meeting of the state House Select Committee on Water Policy, several Florida representatives expressed their concerns with the standards.
State Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Palatka, said federal standards were an impediment to cleaner Florida waterways, and directed comments to the environmental groups responsible for the lawsuit that forced the EPA to implement standards.
In comments directed at Sierra Club lobbyist David Cullen, Van Zant said, “If things have gotten worse it is because your lawsuit has blocked us from implementing our standards.”
In an article in the Florida Tribune, state Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, who chairs the committee, was quoted as saying that the standards would be next to impossible to implement. “There are some criteria that you just can’t meet,” she said. “Even in the Everglades that are beautiful and pristine, the criteria that they want is less than what is naturally occurring there.”

110211-b
Fight to preserve wildlife around Lake Okeechobee
WPTV.com – by Carolyn Scofield
February 11, 2011
ST LUCIE CO, Fla. - There's a fight going on to preserve wildlife around Lake Okeechobee.
The water that travels down from central Florida ends up in Lake Okeechobee, then travels to the St. Lucie River and into the Everglades. If that water is polluted, it could affect everything from agriculture to tourism.
The federal government thinks their conservation proposal will help everyone, but a lot of people aren't so sure.
Rich Modes is one of the people concerned. He fears that if he sells or gives the government access to his land, he'll never get back on it.
"They come on and they say things, they're going to make all these pretty promises," says Modes. "They're going to fix things for us and make it better, but in the long run they turn around and close the doors and lock us out in the name of conservation."
That's not the case according to the proposal laid out for more than 500 people. The government would carve a wildlife refuge out of 150,000 acres of ranch land, north of Lake Okeechobee.
The federal government would spend $700 million to buy 50,000 acres, and secure easements on another 100,000 acres that would remain privately owned.
The land would remain as it is now, an area popular for hunting, fishing and boating.
Some believe if the government doesn't step in to conserve the land, someone else will have their eye on it.
As for now, there won't be any funding for the refuge for two or three years, but there will be more meetings coming up.

110211-c
So important, it's worth the risk
NewsSun.com
February 11, 2011
Like it or not, Floridians face difficult choices ahead, many of which will require sacrifice on our parts.
Among the most painful general issues are how we will use the land not yet developed, and how we will protect our water supply for future generations.
Already a specific land use plan involving parts of Highlands, Indian River, Okeechobee, Osceola, and Polk counties -- the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area -- has individuals upset to the point of outspoken rage.
Some of those individuals loathe the idea of limiting development. Others have no faith in the federal government or its agencies; they fear the government's intentions, and expect a land grab is in the offing.
While we are not opposed to development per se, we strongly oppose development for its own sake. Too much concrete has already been poured, and too many buildings stand empty.
And we understand the reluctance to take any government bureaucracy at its word -- electoral changes, local shifts in personnel and occasional incompetence sometimes mean goals and methods are changed in mid-project; and there is the additional truth that many individuals in government tend to be defensive first and honest only under pressure.
However, although we ourselves have been disappointed in the past, we worry excessive cynicism is corroding the very bonds that hold us together as a nation, making it more difficult to find useful solutions to very real problems.
The proposed 150,000-plus-acre refuge and conservation area is meant to help preserve the aquifer, help heal damage to the Everglades and conserve native habitat.
Two major objectives, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is coordinating the effort, are to preserve rural working ranch landscapes and protect wildlife migration corridors.
We have to agree with those intentions and goals. Any Florida native has already seen open country disappear.
We believe the time has come to conserve our resources, so our grandchildren can fish in a creek, not a stocked artificial tank, and hunt freely in the woods, not in a private, fenced-in, preserve.
Having spoken with individuals in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we believe there is an honest effort under way to listen to and act on what people think and want.
We believe the true goal is to create a partnership between officials and civilians today that will ensure the entire state doesn't become a giant parking lot and mall tomorrow.
Now, maybe we are naive to trust what we've been told, but we think President Ronald Reagan was right when he said, "Trust, but verify." We will be watching carefully.
The stakes are tremendous. We can only save what we have by working together.

110210-a
400 billion gallons drained from Lake Okeechobee adds to South Florida water supply strain
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
February 10, 2011
Flood control, lack of storage leads to wasted waterAs South Florida water managers preach conservation for homes and businesses to prepare for droughts, man-made manipulations — not Mother Nature — waste hundreds of billions of gallons of Lake Okeechobee water that could boost back-up supplies.
Safety concerns about the lake's 70-year-old, earthen dike prompt the Army Corps of Engineers to drain water out of the lake that serves as South Florida's backup water supply.
More than 400 billion gallons of water was drained from Lake Okeechobee during 2010, with most of it getting flushed out to sea due to flood control concerns.
Aside from losing water that could help bolster South Florida during the usually dry winter and spring, dumping Lake Okeechobee water can worsen declining lake levels. Low lake levels can trigger tougher irrigation restrictions for agriculture, businesses and homeowners throughout southeast Florida.
Lake Okeechobee remains two feet below normal. While evaporation does take large amounts of water out of the lake, the amount of water discharged in 2010 equates to about 3.5 feet coming off the lake.
The lake discharges during 2010 were enough to fill 679,000 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Lack of reservoirs and other water-storage alternatives mean most of the lake's discharges, more than 330 billion gallons last year, were drained into rivers headed out to sea.
That 330 billion gallons drained out to sea was more than 1.5 times the amount of water that Broward County utilities are allowed to provide to customers each year.
"Getting more storage into South Florida, that is really going to be the only effective fix," said Susan Jackson, spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers, which controls lake releases. "We're a few decades away from that."
Aside from the water drained out of Lake Okeechobee, the vast system of drainage canals operated by the South Florida Water Management District dumps about 1.7 billion gallons of stormwater out to sea after a typical summer rainy day.
That's the price of flood control to protect neighborhoods and farms now sitting on former Everglades land and other wetlands, according to the district. Until Lake Okeechobee's dike gets reinforced and long-planned reservoirs and other water storage facilities are built, the waste will continue.
The South Florida Water Management District last year imposed new year-round watering restrictions to boost conservation of existing supplies. If Lake Okeechobee and local supplies drop to levels that trigger shortages, the district still can impose stricter emergency watering restrictions.
"We lose huge quantities of water [drained] out to sea," said Tommy Strowd, deputy executive director of the South Florida Water Management District. "We are striving to get a better balance. Can't do it without storage."
With a name that means "Big Water," Lake Okeechobee provides one of the biggest examples of South Florida's water supply paradox.
The region typically gets more than enough rainfall to meet its water-supply needs, but avoiding flooding the towns and farmland now spread across once-soggy South Florida leads to dumping much of that water out to sea.
Water that flowed into Lake Okeechobee once naturally overlapped the lake's southern shoreline, sending a sheet of fresh water south to replenish the Everglades.
Decades of draining and dumping allowed agriculture and development to eat up about half of the Everglades and fill in other wetlands that once provided natural water storage areas.
"All these people moved in and changed the [natural] system," Audubon of Florida scientist Paul Gray, who specializes in Lake Okeechobee issues, said about South Florida's water woes. "It's all of us. Every single one of us has an impact."
A 70-year-old dike built to protect lakeside communities from flooding also turned the lake into South Florida's largest place to store water.
During the summer rainy season, if the water gets too high for the lake's earthen dike the Army Corps of Engineers releases water east and west out to sea. That can have damaging effects on delicate coastal estuaries and it also wastes water that could be used during droughts.
During the dry season, lake water that once naturally resupplied the Everglades is drawn to boost supplies for agriculture and South Florida communities.
Safety concerns about the dike have prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to keep the lake about a foot lower than usual year round. A decades-long project is in the works to strengthen the dike, which once again would allow it to hold more water.
The Army Corps now tries to keep the lake level between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet above sea level. On Wednesday the lake measured 12.43 feet.
The Army Corps of Engineers makes the final decision on the water releases, in consultation with the South Florida Water Management District.
During 2010, the Army Corps released 129 billion gallons east into the St. Lucie River, which sends the water into the Atlantic Ocean.
It released 203 billion gallons west to the Caloosahatchee River, which sends the water into the Gulf of Mexico.
About 116 billion gallons drained through canals on the southern end of the lake, with most of that water going to sugar cane growers and other agriculture operations.
Some of the water that drains south of the lake goes to the Everglades water conservation areas as well as stormwater treatment areas that clean pollutants from water headed to the Everglades.
Even with forecasts for a drier-than-normal spring raising drought concerns, the Army Corps during the past two weeks resumed low-level releases to the Caloosahatchee River.
While much larger discharges last year were aimed at lowering the lake, the latest round of discharges to the Caloosahatchee helps balance the mix of salt and freshwater in the estuary to protect sea grasses that provide West Coast fishing grounds.
Agricultural advocates say that the lake water will be needed to back up South Florida supplies during the dry weather expected to come.
U.S. Sugar Corp. spokeswoman Judy Sanchez called those water discharges "short-sighted." "When we continue to let water out of the lake … we are going to end up with a worse drought," Sanchez said.
Congress has been slow to help pay for reservoirs proposed in a 2000 Everglades restoration plan.
In 2008, the South Florida Water Management District stopped construction on a 16,700-acre Everglades restoration reservoir in southwestern Palm Beach County that had already cost taxpayers nearly $280 million. The district opted not to proceed with the massive reservoir in favor of pursuing a land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. that last year resulted in acquiring 26,800 acres, planned for future stormwater treatment and storage.
Water managers are also pursuing more deals with ranchers, growers and other large landowners to temporarily use more private property to store water.
But with repair work lingering on the Lake Okeechobee dike and Everglades restoration reservoirs behind schedule, federal and state officials say they remain decades away from creating the storage space to capture enough of the water that rains down each year.
As a result, South Florida's potential water-supply relief keeps getting drained out to sea to protect farms and neighborhoods, built on former wetlands, from flooding.

110210-b
Chairman could soon be out at the South Florida Water Management District
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
February 10, 2011
A new governor means a changing of the guard could be on the way for the South Florida Water Management District.
The four-year-term of District Chairman Eric Buermann expires in March. As chairman, Buermann leads the nine-member board that oversees an agency charged with guarding against flooding, protecting water supplies and leading Everglades restoration.
The governor appoints the nine-member, volunteer board and those appointments must be ratified by the Florida Senate.
Buermann said Thursday that he hasn’t asked to be re-appointed and that new Gov. Rick Scott hasn’t offered.
Along with Buermann, board member Charles Dauray’s term expires in March. Dauray represents southwest Florida on the board and is seeking to be re-appointed.
In addition to the potential departures of Buermann and Dauray, Scott has two other opportunities to start using his appointments to remake the district board. Scott has yet to fill the vacancies for the Broward County and Palm Beach County representatives.
District board members serve staggered four-year terms.
Until Scott names replacements, Buermann and Dauray can continue to serve on the board.
“I would urge the governor to get his appointments made as soon as possible,” Buermann said Thursday. “The worst case is to have things in limbo.”
Buermann, a Miami lawyer and the former general counsel for the Republican Party of Florida, was appointed to the district board by former Gov. Charlie Crist.
During his time as chairman, Buermann helped lead the district through one of Florida’s worst droughts and the state’s economic decline. Most notably, Buermann championed Crist’s proposal to buy farmland from U.S. Sugar Corp. to use for Everglades restoration.
Buermann back in 2007 became part of his own changing of the guard at the district, as one of the first Crist appointees that eventually replaced all of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s board appointees.
“It’s been an amazing experience and a wonderful experience, as frustrating and difficult as the decisions are,” said Buermann, 60.
The district in October approved a $197 million deal, two years in the making, to buy 26,800 acres from U.S. Sugar that can be used to store and treat stormwater needed to replenish the Everglades. The deal also includes a 10-year option to buy U.S. Sugar’s remaining 153,000 acres.
Scott during the gubernatorial campaign opposed the U.S. Sugar deal. That coupled with the state’s continued budget problems amid a struggling economy raise serious questions about the district’s ability to buy more land from U.S. Sugar.
Also, Scott has proposed cutting $100 million from the district’s budget, which could force the district to delay construction projects and re-prioritize other efforts.
Buermann in recent weeks has warned his fellow board members to avoid letting “Tallahassee politics” influence their decision making. On Thursday he cast vote the lone vote against a Lake Okeechobee protection plan he said didn’t go far enough to reduce water pollution.
Buermann said it might be his last chance to use his “bully pulpit.”
Buermann's past affiliations include the Audubon Society and the Miami River Commission.
After Buermann’s time on the district board comes to a close, he said plans to remain involved in pushing for environmental issues.
“I’m looking forward to being a strong advocate for Florida’s wetlands for the rest of my life,” Buermann said.

110210-c
New research offers clearer picture of cold snap's effect on Everglades
Miami Herald, Physorg.com - by Curtis Morgan
February 10, 2011
Just over a year ago, a killer freeze dropped iguanas from trees, turned pythons into snake-sicles and left Mayan cichlids and other tropical fish bobbing like bloated corks in lakes and canals.
Now, the exotic invaders are back - and in surprisingly healthy numbers, particularly in the case of the most infamous of the bunch, the Burmese python.
Water managers are again routinely pulling snakes off canal levees, only last week bagging a 13.5-foot male along the bank of the L-28 in West Miami-Dade. In Everglades National Park - epicenter of the exotic invasion - the record cold last January appears to have had only a mild chilling effect.
"Right now, the numbers aren't all that different," said park biologist Skip Snow. "We're finding them in the same places we've been finding them."
While scientists can only estimate the toll the Big Chill took on the army of exotic reptiles, fish and plants in the wilds of South Florida, field observations over the last year suggest nature knocked them down but not out. Some already are speeding down the road to recovery.
David Hallac, the park's biological resources chief, said he expected a sharp decline in captured snakes. But last year's total of 322 fell only about 10 percent from 2009.
"That actually shocked me," Hallac said. "We couldn't believe how many snakes were coming in. At a minimum, I was thinking maybe a 50 percent drop."
Wildlife managers and biologists have long considered cold weather the best hope for controlling the spread of exotic species. Most are tropical imports that were either illegally released by owners or accidentally escaped. Some, such as pythons, pose major ecological threats, competing for space and food and preying on native wildlife.
The frigid weather last January was the coldest 12-day stretch since the 1940s, according to the National Weather Service, with temperatures in the Everglades never rising above 50 degrees. It claimed countless victims, native and exotic, across diverse habitats.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Service documented at least 244 manatees killed by cold, leading to a one-year record for total deaths. A plunge in ocean temperatures all but wiped out corals in shallow waters from Biscayne Bay through much of the Florida Keys and left hundreds of sea turtles dead or stunned and sick. The 100-plus carcasses of rare North American crocodiles represented about 10 percent of the coastal population.
The cold snap also produced one of the largest fish kills seen in decades.
Peter Frezza, Everglades research manager for Audubon of Florida in the Keys, took more than a dozen trips across Florida Bay and into the Everglades to study the effects, which he documented in a recent report published in the Tropical Audubon Society's winter newsletter.
In one backcountry basin alone, he did a detailed count and came back with a staggering 39,800 dead snook and tarpon - fish prized by anglers. The final tally from all his trips: about 90,000 dead snook, staggering but only a small fraction of a loss that forced the state to shut down snook fishing for much of the year. Snook fishing remains restricted on the Gulf Coast and in Everglades National Park and Monroe County, where only "catch and release" is allowed until at least this September.
While Frezza, also an avid fisherman, still reports "an incredible lack of snook" in Florida Bay and the southern Glades, he has been encouraged by other rebounds. Pilchards, a key bait fish, have returned en masse and there's been a surge in young cold-hardy redfish, which should reach legal size next year.
In the coastal marshes, he has also seen an explosion of mosquitofish and other tiny prey fish that are the main diet for rare roseate spoonbill and many wading birds. That's a result, he said, of healthy water levels and the cold slamming what had been unhealthily large populations of exotic fish.
The plentiful food is promising for wading birds, Frezza said: "We're hoping for a very successful breeding season."
But if history holds, Mayan cichlids, spotted tilapia and other tropical fish will push deep into the marshes sooner or later, said Kelly Gestring, director of the FWC's Non-Native Fish Research Laboratory in Boca Raton.
Canals and other warmer refuges have sheltered enough of the fish in past freeze to fuel renewed population booms, he said. "It's probably going to be a temporary reduction."
The tree-dwelling green iguana was a rare invader that appears to have been beaten back hard, but no one doubts the species will rebound.
Once about as common as coconuts, green iguana have grown scarce all the way down to the Keys. At previously infested Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne, the largest lizards - six-footers that might give a pit bull pause - have vanished.
But Elizabeth Golden, the park's biologist, said she's seeing small greens pop up. There also are plenty of black spiny tail iguanas in all sizes, another species that seems to have weathered the chill, she said, possibly protected by its underground burrows.
"I have a feeling we'll never get rid of them entirely," she said.
That also could be the case for exotic plants that wildlife managers have struggled for decades to eradicate. LeRoy Rodgers, the South Florida Water Management District's lead scientist for vegetation management, was hoping for a big hand from nature. He didn't get it.
The frigid temperatures damaged some species, he said, but not enough to stem their spread. One, the thicket-forming Brazilian pepper, tolerated the cold better than many natives.
"It's frustrating," he said.
As for pythons, the brutal cold did accomplish at least one significant thing, said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife ecologist. It flattened a rising trend line in Everglades captures for the first time in a decade.
But he dismissed arguments from python breeders and collector that the freeze had largely wiped out the population or shown the giant constrictors were unlikely to continue spreading north from the Glades. The groups are battling federal efforts to stop the importation and interstate sale of pythons.
The debate was fueled in part by a study Mazzotti published last year showing nine of 10 pythons equipped with radio tracers in the park perished in the cold.
He cautioned against applying that ratio to the entire Glades, pointing out his research team also found that 60 percent of the 99 snakes spotted during the study were alive and slithering.
Overall, he said, the "impression" is that more recent captures seem to be smaller and younger, which could point to at least a disruption in breeding.
But big snakes also continue to show up. Last March, two months after the freeze, Mazzotti's team found a 15-foot female - one of the largest found in Everglades National Park - mating with three males. The python bagged on the L-28 last week was the largest male that water managers have found.
Mazzotti, echoed by park biologist Snow, said it will take more study and perhaps several breeding seasons to get a better picture of the full effects.
But one thing is clear, Mazzotti said: "To paraphrase Mark Twain, those people who think all the pythons have died are greatly exaggerating."

110210-d
S. Fla. board: Scott plan to cut water district taxes 25 percent threatens jobs, Everglades cleanup
Palm Beach Post - by Ana M. Valdes, Staff Writer
February 10, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — The South Florida Water Management District may be forced to lay off employees and halt some Everglades restoration efforts if Gov. Rick Scott sticks by his proposal to cut water management districts' property taxes by 25 percent, board members and staff said Wednesday.
"I think (the cuts) would have a devastating impact," district board Chairman Eric Buermann said about Scott's proposal, which calls for close to $180 million in property tax reductions for the state's five water management districts over the next two years.
"In the last two years, with the recession, we have already lost 30 percent of our tax revenue and we had anticipated this coming year to lose another potential 15 to 20 percent," Buermann said. "If (Scott's proposal) would be that we are supposed to take additional cuts on top of all that, we are getting down to the point where we might as well just close the agency."
Scott included the proposal in his $65.9 billion state budget plan released Monday, even though the districts' budgets are not part of the state budget. Each district board sets its own budget and tax rates, which require the governor's approval before they go into effect.
South Florida Water Management District staff and board members discussed the proposal Wednesday at a workshop and decided that over the next few weeks they would look at the costs of each district project and figure out ways to save money.
Vice-chairman Jerry Montgomery said he was worried about the fate of the district's employees and proposed speeding up the process for creating the 2012 budget.
"The governor promulgating his budget plan has sent ripples through our employee population here," Montgomery said, adding that he had heard employees talking in the hallways about the proposed cuts. "We have to rapidly understand what the governor's expectations are, put a plan against that so that we can answer questions sooner rather than later."
"To have a group of employees sitting out there thinking, 'What the hell does this mean for me,' I don't think that's fair," Montgomery added.
Carol Wehle, executive director of the district, did not say how many employees could be affected if lay offs are considered, but acknowledged that the next few months may be difficult for the agency.
The district employs 1,933 people in its 16 counties. At $1.07 billion, its 2010-2011 budget was the largest of the state's five districts. About $399 million of its revenue came from property taxes based on its tax rate of 62 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.
Wehle said the district may have to prioritize when it comes to allocating dollars, and probably focus on flood control and other key district responsibilities.
"We are taking this seriously, and we know how difficult it's going to be," she said. "There is angst, but we have never been anything but truthful to the staff. This is going to be a tough one."
Some restoration projects, such as the C-111 Spreader Canal and Phase 1 of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands - both part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan- are being financed by funds allocated before construction began, and therefore will not be affected by cuts, Wehle said.
Environmentalists statewide, however, are concerned that other restoration projects, including any construction work on land the district purchased from U.S. Sugar in October, will come to a halt.
"If the goal of the new administration is to put people back to work, you certainly don't want to jeopardize Everglades restoration budgets which are funding the construction of projects," said Kirk Fordham, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation. "While we have seen ground breakings across the state over the last several years, if you cut too far, you really jeopardize those projects."
Audubon of Florida Everglades policy associate Jane Graham has similar concerns.
"It makes us very uneasy, and we hope that (Scott) will be able to understand basically that these projects are extremely important," Graham said.
A spokesperson for Scott said these cuts would not interfere with Everglades restoration, adding that the governor had recommended $17 million for Everglades Restoration.

110209-a
Budget plan proposed by Gov. Scott spells doom for Florida's environment
Examiner.com
February 9, 2011
Florida Governor Rick Scott’s continuing efforts to manage the state government like a fraud-friendly private enterprise, not unlike his disgraceful tenure as the head of Columbia/HCA—now HCA (Health Corporation of America) Healthcare—now pose a significant, troubling threat to Florida’s natural resources.
In November of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set specific standards for an individual state for the first time in its history when it set legal limits for urban runoff polluting rivers, lakes, and other waterways throughout Florida. Wastewater from sewage treatment plants and rainfall runoff tainted with poisonous nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous cause enormously harmful outbreaks of sludge-like algae blooms, which choke the state’s beaches, springs, rivers, and lakes. Algae outbreaks also pose a serious threat to public health and the ever-vital local tourism industry, as they contaminate household tap water, make residents ill, close swimming areas, destroy property values, and discourage tourists from enjoying Florida waters. The important measures taken by the EPA ensure that this toxic assault on the state’s precious water resources is kept in check.
Nevertheless, true to form, Gov. Scott and Republican state lawmakers questioned and criticized these new clean water standards, citing assumed, unsubstantiated costliness and damage to the economy. The fact of the matter is that the opposite is true. According to Gwen Keyes Fleming, President Obama’s appointee for Regional Administrator for EPA Region 4 (which includes Florida), the EPA estimates that the cost to ensure clean water for Floridians through these improved standards will amount to only 11 to 20 cents a day per household. And for a business school graduate, lawyer, corporate executive, and millionaire investor, it appears as if Gov. Scott fell asleep one too many times in Principles of Macroeconomics. He and his right-wing cronies throughout the state fail to realize the significant negative externalities that are spilled over to taxpayers by lax environmental regulations, not in the form of prices, but in the form of the grave public health and pollution problems they cause. These issues are massive social costs that prove just as, if not more detrimental to Floridians and the local economy than the relatively trivial monetary cost that should and must be paid for clean standards.
If his misguided personal perspective toward protecting the environment weren’t enough, Gov. Scott recently proposed sweeping budget cuts in a speech unveiling (albeit vaguely) his first major budget plan before mostly Tea Party supporters in Eustis, which call for the closing of over fifty state parks, including Washington Oaks Gardens in Palm Coast, St. Sebastian River Preserve in Fellsmere, Savannas Preserve State Park in Jensen Beach and St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park in Stuart. The closings of these essential environmental preserves would prove catastrophic to the local wildlife and ecosystem.
Gov. Scott’s plan includes zero new funding for Florida Forever, a major land conservation and acquisitions program, and also proposes a 66% cut in funding for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) underway since 2000, from $50 million received each year for the past four years to a projected $17 million for the next two years. He also wants to merge the Florida Department of Environmental Protection with the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Transportation. If this combination seems to make no sense whatsoever, that’s because it doesn’t. Aside from being completely irrational, this merger would drastically undermine the DEP’s current conservation efforts and important environmental safeguards. If all of this isn’t enough, Gov. Scott has also continually expressed skepticism at the financial viability of the U.S.’s first high-speed rail express service, on track (no pun intended) to operate between Orlando and Tampa in 2015, a landmark public transport service that will undoubtedly help cut down on the huge amount of mobile-source air pollution emitted by the thousands of individual automobiles on Florida highways every day.
Why my fellow Floridians voted this crooked, corrupt fraudster into the Governor’s Mansion remains a disturbing mystery to me. Unfortunately, Rick Scott’s irresponsible approach to protecting Florida’s crucial natural resources is only one piece of the deceitful puzzle that is Florida’s dark future with our new governor. If he has his way, public teachers and other state workers can also count on soon being forced to pay a chunk of their paychecks into their pensions for the first time. It looks like Gov. Scott is on a roll.
Continue reading on Examiner.com:

110209-b
Cleaner water for Florida
TBO.com - Hernando Today
February 9, 2011
For years, the people of Florida have watched as many waterways once used for fishing, swimming and other everyday activities developed a coating of green sludge. The majority of Florida's impaired waters are affected by nitrogen and phosphorous pollution —  carried by storm water runoff from urbanized areas, discharges from wastewater treatment plants and fertilizer runoff from farms. What helps plants thrive on land causes harmful algae blooms when it reaches the water. These blooms have made residents sick, caused property values to plummet and turned tourists away from the state's treasured waters. To ensure the future health of Florida's residents and economy, EPA is setting clear, measurable standards to reduce pollution in Florida's treasured water bodies.
Just three months ago, we announced that we would take sensible steps to implement these standards and use a 15-month period before the standards take effect to sit down with state and local leaders and water utilities to make sure we are all prepared to achieve these objectives.
These standards are not without their opponents, including many who claim that improved clean water standards will be too expensive and harm Florida's economy. In fact, the reverse is true. Less than 10 percent of Florida's farmland would need to be treated and the technology needed is already available. Expensive new technology is not required or necessary to keep our waters clean. But, if we fail to put the technology we have to use, the problem will only expand to more of Florida's waters. While EPA is doing its best to address confusion and misinformation, we are more focused on the cooperation needed to protect our waters.
We must find common ground because poor water quality directly impacts not only public health and the environment, but also tourism and jobs. Florida's tourism industry – the state's number one industry — employs nearly one million Floridians and pumps billions into the state's economy each year. In an average year, tourists spend more than $60 billion in the state — generating thousands upon thousands of jobs as well over $3 billion in taxes. Many of these tourists come to Florida to fish, boat and jet ski. But if pollution kills aquatic life and makes the waters unclean and unsafe, fewer tourists will come. Floridians will not just lose one of their most precious natural resources, but also the dollars and jobs generated by a cornerstone of the statewide economy.
On top of the importance of clean water to Florida's jobs and economy, the state will also benefit as cleaner water reduces health threats to Florida families. The green sludge now polluting the waters where children play and families fish can cause rashes, dizziness, upset stomachs and possibly even damage the central nervous system. The numeric nutrient standards will also improve the quality of rivers, lakes, streams and springs that are used to supply drinking water.
These economic and health benefits far outweigh the costs associated with having clean water.
EPA estimates the cost to address additional waters listed as impaired will be $135 to $206 million a year — just 11 to 20 cents a day per household for cleaner water.
That is a small price to pay to improve health and protect the economy, and it is exactly what the people of Florida have been calling for. In developing these safeguards, EPA incorporated the input we received from 13 public hearings across the state and 22,000 public comments. We also ensured that the best available science was the foundation for these standards and that implementation would be flexible and cost-effective.
Science also tells us that these standards are the right move for Florida. EPA carefully analyzed all the available science including extensive water quality data gathered by the state, which took into account Florida's diverse water bodies. Contrary to public statements, EPA's rules did undergo an independent science review. Recognizing that this is not a one-size-fits-all challenge, we have provided flexibility in meeting the standards, allowing local areas to determine how they can best protect their own waters. We are also offering guidance to help cities and towns tailor the standards according to their local needs and implement them effectively and efficiently.
Floridians have been working for years to make clean water a reality in the state. Florida's communities depend on — and want — clean and safe water. Improved clean water standards will help prevent expensive cleanup costs, protect the health of Florida's families and preserve the waters that support the state's economy.
For more information, visit www.epa.gov/region4. Gwen Keyes Fleming may be contacted at 404-562-8357 or keyesfleming.gwendolyn@epa.gov.
Gwen Keyes Fleming, Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 4

110209-c
Governor's budget cuts could change the South Florida Water Management District
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
February 9, 2011
Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed state budget cuts could cost the South Florida Water Management District $100 million, which district officials say would force significant changes at the agency that oversees flood control, water supply and Everglades restoration.
While the state faces a budget shortfall of more than $3.5 billion, Scott proposes cutting taxes in the hopes of stimulating the economy. That would include reducing the amount of property taxes that the state’s five water management district’s can collect by 25 percent over the next two years.
The South Florida Water Management District, which covers a territory stretching from Orlando to the Keys, has already faced a budget squeeze from tax revenues declining during the state’s economic downturn.
On Wednesday, district officials said losing $100 million for the budget year that begins in October could mean having to re-prioritize construction projects and operations.
This comes as the district and federal government remain behind schedule on Everglades restoration projects and as the district continues to work through a backlog of maintenance of the aging drainage system that protects South Florida from flooding.
“We are going to have to take a different approach to how we run this agency,” district Board Member Jerry Montgomery said.
The district’s $1 billion budget includes nearly $400 million from property tax revenue.
Last year, the district approved a $197 million Everglades restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. to acquire 26,800 acres of farmland to be used for water storage and treatment. The deal includes a 10-year option to buy U.S. Sugar’s remaining 153,000 acres.
Scott has opposed the U.S. Sugar land deal, championed by former Gov. Charlie Crist and approved before Scott took office. The new governor’s proposed budget cuts cast further doubt on the district’s ability to buy more U.S. Sugar land.
Scott’s budget plan would have to be approved by the Florida Legislature to take effect. But the governor gets to appoint the district's nine-member board, giving him added influence over the agency's spending decisions.
The district has until September to approve its next budget, but plans to speed up the budgeting process to try to figure out how to absorb the potential $100 million cut.
“That would be difficult,” said Tom Olliff, the district’s assistant executive director. “We need to fundamentally look at some things differently.”

110209-d
Massive fish die-off in South Florida
The Republic - by ELLIOTT JONES, Scripps Howard News Service   
February 9, 2011
SEBASTIAN, Fla. - Masses of dead fish are sloshing around at Sebastian Inlet State Park here, a sight that overwhelmed early-morning strollers and a smell that irritated their throats.
The die-off is attributed to low oxygen levels in the water, but tests did not confirm that marine algae contributed, according to Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the state's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. However, it remains the main suspect.
But "algae blooms (proliferation of microscopic plants) can occur and disappear so you cannot see them directly" during the testing the agency did of water samples taken from the inlet, she said Wednesday.
Oxygen levels in the water were low enough to kill -- 1 to 1.4 per milliliter versus the normal 6 to 8 -- said state research associate Micah Bakenhaster. And a proliferation of algae can absorb oxygen.
At the inlet, tides move water back and forth between the ocean and the broad shallow Indian River Lagoon. Also, there is delay between when fish die and when they float to the surface.
Most of the dead fish were a baitfish, menhaden, that gather in schools to feed on plankton. And they swam into an area of low oxygen somewhere around the inlet, Bakenhaster said. They "were in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
Because the die-off is attributed to low oxygen levels in the water, the state lab won't check for toxins in the fish. "There is not enough evidence to show it is worthwhile," he said.
Fish began surfacing Friday, and so far, "I only saw one game fish of any size," said Park Manager Terry Coulliette.
Now the smell of decaying fish is so strong that "it irritated my throat," said Mary-Frances Womack, who went to the inlet with her brother, Rick Branan, to view the sunrise and surrounding scenery.
Instead, they were "overwhelmed by what we saw," Branan said.
Womack and her brother described the number of fish as being in the millions, emphasizing the "m" in "millions."
Still, Coulliette said the amount of dead fish is smaller than the numbers that died in early 2010 because of sustained cold that turned the lagoon water very chilly. That kill was far more widespread and stunned sea turtles, causing them to float on the surface.
The current die-off is the only one reported to the state.
Park officials were the first of a number of people who called the state Feb. 4 to report the fish problem. The institute dispatched an inspection team from its research field station near Melbourne. Their researchers initially concluded the water was low on oxygen, possibly due to algae. The fish could also have contributed by taking up the remaining oxygen, officials said.
Since Friday, the die-off doesn't appear to have increased, Coulliette said.
There are no plans to remove the fish that have washed up on shore or are floating in the waters.
"Nature is taking its course," the park manager said.
(Elliott Jones writes for ScrippsTreasureCoast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal.)

110209-e
Water district buys key conservation land
Daytona Beach News Journal - by Dinah Voyles Pulver, Environment writer
February 9, 2011
A 14-mile corridor of conservation land through the center of Volusia County will be connected between Flagler County and Osteen under a sale contract for 4,708 acres approved Tuesday by the regional water management agency.
The governing board of the St. Johns River Water Management District voted 5 to 1 to spend $17.8 million to buy the land, south of State Road 44 and east of DeLand, from the Kemcho Investment Group. Board chairman Leonard Wood voted no.
The Kemcho property has been referred to as the "missing link" in the Volusia Conservation Corridor. Flatwoods and timberlands on the property teem with birds and wildlife, including black bears.
About 55,000 acres of the planned 79,000-acre corridor, a Florida Forever project, already have been set aside in conservation, either through outright purchase or the purchase of development rights. The Kemcho property connects those purchases in a ribbon of undeveloped land that now stretches from Osteen-Maytown road in Osteen to the Relay Wildlife Management Area in Flagler County.
Volusia County is a joint partner with the district in its 12-year effort to set aside the conservation corridor. County Chairman Frank Bruno spoke in favor of the purchase at the district's meeting in Palatka.
Governing board member Maryam Ghyabi, an Ormond Beach transportation engineer, said the corridor has been "the defining project for a strong partnership between the District and Volusia County."
The purchase is "a key step" in implementing a vision that began more than a decade ago, Ghyabi said in a statement.
The Kemcho land encompasses headwaters for Deep Creek, a St. Johns River tributary which flows south from the property. The district and the county are looking to Deep Creek to help provide long-term water supplies for county residents, particularly in Southwest Volusia.
The contract approved Tuesday had fallen into a group of state agency contracts that had been temporarily placed on hold shortly after Gov. Rick Scott took office, pending his review. The governor's office notified the district on Jan. 29 that the contract had been approved, district officials said.
It calls for the purchase to be made in two separate parcels. The first purchase would be $3,200 acres for $9.6 million, about $3,000 an acre.
The second would be made at some point in the next two years, and is contingent on whether the district receives Florida Forever money from the state's conservation land buying program. The district would pay $8.2 million for the 1,509 acres in the second parcel, about $5,400 an acre.
Speaking after the meeting, Wood said he had concerns about the values set for the property, especially the second parcel.
The district obtained two separate appraisals from certified appraisers, one for $18.9 million and another for $17.7 million.
Wood, a forestry management consultant and appraiser, said he thought the appraised value might have been too high, not reflecting the true current market value for that type of forest land in Northeast Florida.
However, Wood said he was "glad they were able to do the deal."
"It's a great piece of property," he said.

110208-a
Cold's effect on pythons was less than expected
The Associated Press – Miami Herald
February 8, 2011
MIAMI -- Scientists say last year's prolonged cold snap reduced the number of pythons, which threaten native life, in the Florida Everglades - but not as much as they hoped it would.
A total of 322 pythons were captured in the park last year, but that was just a 10 percent drop from 2009, said David Hallac, Everglades National Park's biological resources chief.
"That actually shocked me," Hallac said. "We couldn't believe how many snakes were coming in. At a minimum, I was thinking maybe a 50 percent drop."
The January 2010 cold snap was the coldest 12-day stretch since the 1940s, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures in the Everglades never rose above 50 degrees during that time.
At least 244 manatees were killed by cold, leading to a one-year record for total deaths, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service.
A plunge in ocean temperatures killed off corals in shallow waters from Biscayne Bay through much of the Florida Keys and left hundreds of sea turtles dead or stunned and sick. The 100-plus carcasses of rare North American crocodiles represented about 10 percent of the coastal population.
Peter Frezza, Everglades research manager for Audubon of Florida in the Keys, counted roughly 90,000 dead snook over the course of about a dozen trips across Florida Bay and into the Everglades. Snook fishing remains restricted on the Gulf Coast, in Monroe County and in Everglades National Park.
Scientists had hoped the cold weather would help control the spread of Burmese pythons and other exotic species that pose ecological threats to South Florida's native plants and wildlife.
Exotic fish such as Mayan cichlids and spotted tilapia experienced die-offs during the cold snap, but canals and other warmer refuges have sheltered enough of the fish in past freezes to maintain the population, said Kelly Gestring, director of the FWC's Non-Native Fish Research Laboratory in Boca Raton.
"It's probably going to be a temporary reduction," Gestring said.
Pythons are continuing to show up in the Everglades, scientists said.
"Right now, the numbers aren't all that different," said Everglades National Park biologist Skip Snow. "We're finding them in the same places we've been finding them."
A 15-foot-long female was found in the park in March, weeks after the freeze. Water managers bagged a 13 1/2-foot-long male Burmese python in a west Miami-Dade County canal last week.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/08/2056165/colds-impact-on-pythons-was-less.html#ixzz1DTrxLEv7

110208-b
Shrimpers at a loss as supply and economy sink
Miami Herald - by SUSAN COCKING           scocking@MiamiHerald.com
February 8, 2011
South Florida shrimpers are facing hard times, with meager supply mixed with a high cost of doing business.
Most years, the mid-winter weeks are high times for the commercial food shrimpers who trawl Biscayne Bay. They train their nets night after night on the plump crustaceans, which ‘‘run’’ out of the estuary through the passes and channels to the Atlantic when the water cools.
Most years, veteran shrimper Jeff Hald of Fort Lauderdale says, a good night’s catch is a couple thousand pounds of mostly pink shrimp in a night of wing-netting, which he does mainly from the Venetian Causeway to Bear Cut in his 17-footer, “Money’s Tight.’’
But this year, three months into shrimp season, his boat’s got the right name. “This is becoming a dire situation,” Hald says, bemoaning the generally meager catch so far.
Prices shrimpers can get from seafood dealers are down by double-figures percentage points. Add in foreign competition, the rising cost of diesel fuel, and an unsubstantiated but nagging feeling that last year’s BP oil spill has something to do with the situation, and shrimpers are feeling anxious.
“I’m $10,000 behind from last year,” said Hald, 43, a single dad raising a 19-year-old son and running an auto and marine shop and lawn-care business by day to pay the bills. “They’re just not here. I don’t know why. Nobody does.”
Added Opa-locka seafood dealer Jorge Fundora: “We’ve seen very little shrimp compared to past years. We usually get a good December and January run, and we didn’t get it.”
ELUSIVE TIMING
Shrimpers can’t predict exactly at what point in the season most of the shellfish will make their move toward the ocean to spawn.
In typical seasons, shrimpers will enjoy a handful of bonanza nights and a few pulses. This year has seen no bonanza and barely a pulse.
So since November, they’ve been launching their boats just before dark and pushing all night long, hoping for action.
The typical boat, 20 to 40 feet long, is equipped with lights that shine down into the water and wing nets deployed on port and starboard sides. The nets are wide at the mouth, but they narrow to socks that scoop up crustaceans as they float along, midway between the bottom and the surface.
The fishermen take a team approach, talking to each other and to recreational anglers on cellphones, rewarding tipsters with free buckets full of their catch.
Hald says the best nights are cool, with muddy water and an outgoing tide that flows all night long on a full moon.
There have been plenty of nights just like that since the season opened. But catches have ranged from erratic to downright poor.
He and others are putting their hopes on the days around Feb. 18, when the next full moon arrives.
NO SATURDAYS
The bounty had better not happen on a Saturday night: About a decade ago, shrimp were deemed a restricted species in Florida, which means a special commercial permit is required to harvest them during a season that runs from Nov. 1 through May 31. To help conserve the resource, no commercial harvest is permitted in Biscayne Bay from 6 a.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Sunday.
Since the rule was passed, the Biscayne Bay shrimp fleet has shrunk by about half.
In his years buying shrimp, Fundora says he has seen ups and downs but nothing too extreme. The shrimp catch has stayed relatively steady over the past several years, but what’s been shrinking is the price: In 2005, according to records kept by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shrimpers statewide commanded an average price of $1.96 a pound for their 430,000-pound shrimp haul. The latest figures, for 2009, show an average price of $1.57 for a harvest of just over 500,000 pounds.
PRICES FALLING
This season, Fundora has been paying fishermen about $1.25 per pound. Competition from cheaper, farm-grown Asian shrimp has depressed prices, although Fundora and other local shrimpers say the wild, domestic crop has a shrimpier, deeper flavor, since it has lived without the preservatives or antibiotics typically used on farms.
We’re almost 10 months removed from the April 20, 2010, BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s just a feeling, but some of the fishermen are wondering out loud whether the gusher into the gulf is a factor in the failure of shrimp to show up miles away in Biscayne Bay.
“There’s a lot of concern over the oil spill, but we don’t have any indication that we’ve had those effects here,” said Ryan Gandy, a crustacean research scientist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. “Most of the effects are in the upper Gulf.”
Nevertheless, the fishermen worry that the oil and dispersants used on the spill may have killed spawning shrimp and their larvae, decreasing the numbers here.
“You can only have so many Exxon Valdezes and BPs,” Hald said.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/08/2057339/shrimpers-at-a-loss-as-supply.html#ixzz1DUBAohWp

MiamiDadeCounty food shrimp production in 2009: 501,923 pounds in 1,092 trips; average price $1.57. Total food shrimp production in Florida: 16,435,944 pounds in 1,271 trips.
MiamiDadeCounty food shrimp production in 2005: 437,696 pounds in 945 trips; average price $1.96. Total food shrimp production in Florida: 18,986,042 pounds in 10,192 trips

110207-a
Everglades restoration is a win-win investment
SunSentinel.com
February 7, 2011
I read with great interest any Everglades story and have for many years. I have enjoyed camping, boating and fishing in the Everglades since the 1970s. I value them for recreational and environmental reasons.
Unfortunately, I have watched overdevelopment and detrimental farming practices lead to the many problems facing the ecosystem in the vast areas of the Everglades.
All the while as a homeowner, I watch my water bill go up, the water go out to the ocean when we can't store it, and rations limiting my personal water usage.
It is frustrating to read year after year all the plans, bills, appropriations, etc., going to improve the situation with the Everglades. There are almost as many articles that speak of the plans that get halted or canceled because of lack of money — not to mention the many lawsuits and resistance to any significant progress.
Lately, I have been reading about the economic impact, i.e. jobs, of investment in the Everglades restoration. This is an encouraging angle to consider since it is really a win-win situation if you help put people to work. This just adds to the many other benefits a restored and healthy Everglades would provide.

110207-b
Everglades restoration project 'short-changed' under Gov. Scott's budget proposal
Naples Daily News - by ERIC STAATS
February 7, 2011
Money for Everglades restoration would drop from $50 million to $17 million under Scott's proposed budget released today.
The Everglades Foundation, a nonprofit Everglades advocacy group, called it a "modest investment" that would have to be increased to keep private sector workers on the job and keep current restoration projects moving forward.
Everglades restoration funding topped out at $200 million in 2002 and 2006 before dropping to $50 million for the past four years.
Everglades advocates appealed to the state Legislature to "preserve Florida's investment" in the state-federal partnership.
"Short-changing our investment in Everglades restoration will only drive up long-term costs and put more people out of work," Everglades Foundation CEO Kirk Fordham said in a written statement.

110207-c
Exotic invasion: Pythons back in the Everglades
Miami Herald - by CURTIS MORGAN           cmorgan@Miamiherald.com
February 9, 2011
Invasive species that threaten South Florida’s environment appear to have weathered last year’s killer cold snap all too well.
Just over a year ago, a killer freeze dropped iguanas from trees, turned pythons into snake-sicles and left Mayan cichlids and other tropical fish bobbing like bloated corks in lakes and canals.
Now, the exotic invaders are back — and in surprisingly healthy numbers, particularly in the case of the most infamous of the bunch, the Burmese python.
Water managers are again routinely pulling snakes off canal levees, only last week bagging a 13.5-foot male along the bank of the L-28 in West Miami-Dade. In Everglades National Park — epicenter of the exotic invasion — the record cold last January appears to have had only a mild chilling effect.
“Right now, the numbers aren’t all that different,” said park biologist Skip Snow. “We’re finding them in the same places we’ve been finding them.”
While scientists can only estimate the toll the Big Chill took on the army of exotic reptiles, fish and plants in the wilds of South Florida, field observations over the last year suggest nature knocked them down but not out. Some already are speeding down the road to recovery.
David Hallac, the park’s biological resources chief, said he expected a sharp decline in captured snakes. But last year’s total of 322 fell only about 10 percent from 2009.
“That actually shocked me,” Hallac said. “We couldn’t believe how many snakes were coming in. At a minimum, I was thinking maybe a 50 percent drop.”
Wildlife managers and biologists have long considered cold weather the best hope for controlling the spread of exotic species. Most are tropical imports that were either illegally released by owners or accidentally escaped. Some, such as pythons, pose major ecological threats, competing for space and food and preying on native wildlife.
The frigid weather last January was the coldest 12-day stretch since the 1940s, according to the National Weather Service, with temperatures in the Everglades never rising above 50 degrees. It claimed countless victims, native and exotic, across diverse habitats.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Service documented at least 244 manatees killed by cold, leading to a one-year record for total deaths. A plunge in ocean temperatures all but wiped out corals in shallow waters from Biscayne Bay through much of the Florida Keys and left hundreds of sea turtles dead or stunned and sick. The 100-plus carcasses of rare North American crocodiles represented about 10 percent of the coastal population.
The cold snap also produced one of the largest fish kills seen in decades.
Peter Frezza, Everglades research manager for Audubon of Florida in the Keys, took more than a dozen trips across Florida Bay and into the Everglades to study the effects, which he documented in a recent report published in the Tropical Audubon Society’s winter newsletter.
In one backcountry basin alone, he did a detailed count and came back with a staggering 39,800 dead snook and tarpon — fish prized by anglers. The final tally from all his trips: about 90,000 dead snook, staggering but only a small fraction of a loss that forced the state to shut down snook fishing for much of the year. Snook fishing remains restricted on the Gulf Coast and in Everglades National Park and Monroe County, where only “catch and release” is allowed until at least this September.
While Frezza, also an avid fisherman, still reports “an incredible lack of snook” in Florida Bay and the southern Glades, he has been encouraged by other rebounds. Pilchards, a key bait fish, have returned en masse and there’s been a surge in young cold-hardy redfish, which should reach legal size next year.
In the coastal marshes, he has also seen an explosion of mosquitofish and other tiny prey fish that are the main diet for rare roseate spoonbill and many wading birds. That’s a result, he said, of healthy water levels and the cold slamming what had been unhealthily large populations of exotic fish.
The plentiful food is promising for wading birds, Frezza said: “We’re hoping for a very successful breeding season.”
But if history holds, Mayan cichlids, spotted tilapia and other tropical fish will push deep into the marshes sooner or later, said Kelly Gestring, director of the FWC’s Non-Native Fish Research Laboratory in Boca Raton.
Canals and other warmer refuges have sheltered enough of the fish in past freeze to fuel renewed population booms, he said. “It’s probably going to be a temporary reduction.”
The tree-dwelling green iguana was a rare invader that appears to have been beaten back hard, but no one doubts the species will rebound.
Once about as common as coconuts, green iguana have grown scarce all the way down to the Keys. At previously infested Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne, the largest lizards — six-footers that might give a pit bull pause — have vanished.
But Elizabeth Golden, the park’s biologist, said she’s seeing small greens pop up. There also are plenty of black spiny tail iguanas in all sizes, another species that seems to have weathered the chill, she said, possibly protected by its underground burrows.
“I have a feeling we’ll never get rid of them entirely,” she said.
That also could be the case for exotic plants that wildlife managers have struggled for decades to eradicate. LeRoy Rodgers, the South Florida Water Management District’s lead scientist for vegetation management, was hoping for a big hand from nature. He didn’t get it.
The frigid temperatures damaged some species, he said, but not enough to stem their spread. One, the thicket-forming Brazilian pepper, tolerated the cold better than many natives.
“It’s frustrating,” he said.
As for pythons, the brutal cold did accomplish at least one significant thing, said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife ecologist. It flattened a rising trend line in Everglades captures for the first time in a decade.
But he dismissed arguments from python breeders and collector that the freeze had largely wiped out the population or shown the giant constrictors were unlikely to continue spreading north from the Glades. The groups are battling federal efforts to stop the importation and interstate sale of pythons.
The debate was fueled in part by a study Mazzotti published last year showing nine of 10 pythons equipped with radio tracers in the park perished in the cold.
He cautioned against applying that ratio to the entire Glades, pointing out his research team also found that 60 percent of the 99 snakes spotted during the study were alive and slithering.
Overall, he said, the “impression” is that more recent captures seem to be smaller and younger, he said, which could point to at least a disruption in breeding.
But big snakes also continue to show up. Last March, two months after the freeze, Mazzotti’s team found a 15-foot female — one of the largest found in Everglades National Park — mating with three males. The python bagged on the L-28 last week was the largest male that water managers have found.
Mazzotti, echoed by park biologist Snow, said it will take more study and perhaps several breeding seasons to get a better picture of the full effects.
But one thing is clear, Mazzotti said: “To paraphrase Mark Twain, those people who think all the pythons have died are greatly exaggerating.''
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/07/2055413_p2/exotic-invasion-pythons-back-on.html#ixzz1DTveejMX
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/07/2055413/exotic-invasion-pythons-back-on.html#ixzz1DTtwarmM
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/07/2055413/exotic-invasion-pythons-back-on.html#ixzz1DTtX8zbK

110207-d
Mexican clean-up urged to help Caribbean tourism
Reuters - by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
February 7, 2011
OSLO (Reuters) - Pollutants ranging from pesticides to illicit drugs have been found in fresh water aquifers beneath a Caribbean resort in Mexico and could damage future tourism unless the region cleans up, a U.N.-backed study said on Sunday.
It said that samples taken from a labyrinth of water-filled caves beneath the "Riviera Maya" south of the city of Cancun showed contamination mainly from sewage, as well as from highways or even golf courses.
The amounts of pollution, including tiny traces of cocaine excreted in sewage, were not considered a health threat today but tighter controls were needed since the region's population was projected to surge tenfold by 2030, it said.
"The region has to pay more attention to sustainable development practices and minimise pollution," said lead author Chris Metcalfe, of Canada's Trent University and the U.N. University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
"If they let things go, they will kill the goose that lays the golden egg -- tourism," he told Reuters of an area with attractions including palm-fringed beaches, scuba-diving and Mayan ruins at Tulum.
The study, in the journal Environmental Pollution, did not estimate the cost of limiting pollution in the area.
Traces of shampoo, toothpaste, perfumes, caffeine and nicotine were also found in the water, as well as pesticides -- apparently from golf courses in a region which has little agriculture -- and pollution from cars and trucks.
CAVES
The polluted water seeps into the system of caves beneath the Riviera Maya that flows into the Caribbean Sea.
The pollution may have contributed, along with over-fishing disease and climate change to a loss of about 50 percent of reefs off the coast since 1990, the study said.
The region was suffering problems similar to those of parts of Florida decades ago that had been successfully contained. Mexico had about 22 million foreign tourists in 2009, making it the 10th most visited country, according to U.N. data.
"It is essential to develop and maintain adequate wastewater treatment infrastructure," the study said. Only 32 percent of the population in the state of Quintana Roo have municipal wastewater treatment systems.
It urged a halt to a practice of pumping sewage into a layer of salty water under the aquifers. And it recommended laying impermeable liners beneath golf courses, as done in Florida, to prevent the run-off of pesticides. Other recommendations were to preserve remaining mangroves to protect the coasts.
For Reuters latest environment blogs, click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/

110207-e
Proposed national wildlife refuge could include part of Indian River County
TCPalm.com - by Janet Begley
February 7, 2011
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The new National Wildlife Refuge proposed for south-central Florida could include a portion of western Indian River County as conservation land.
Land north of Lake Okeechobee and west of Fellsmere could be included in part of the new Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge currently under consideration by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
The refuge would be a public-private partnership called the Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative, and would require the acquisition of up to 50,000 acres in an area known as the Kissimmee River Valley.
An additional 100,000 acres of adjacent land would be protected as conservation areas. While the new refuge would be closer to Orlando, it could include portions of Polk, Osceola, Okeechobee and Highlands counties.
The $700 million proposal is designed as a collaborative approach to conserving wildlife and habitat across the greater Everglades region, according to Cheri Ehrhardt, a natural resource planner for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Titusville. She said that the proposed area for the refuge is fluid, and the final boundaries would be determined by public input.
"We're just in the preliminary stages of the project," Ehrhardt said. "What we did was take a map and a draw a line around an area that we are interested in because it's ecologically important."
Erhardt said a series of public meetings around the state are designed to solicit input about the validity of the proposal. She added that once the public weighs in, a draft document that includes the actual boundaries for the new refuge will be released in June. A final plan would be ready by September, and if approved, the Fish & Wildlife Service could begin the process of buying land and easements.
No matter what the final boundaries, the new refuge will include a variety of habits: wet and dry prairie; scrub; sandhills; flatwoods; rivers; and lakes. Wildlife species known to inhabit the area include Florida panthers, black bears, scrub jays and migratory waterfowl.
The Everglades Headwaters refuge would become the 554th national wildlife refuge in the United States, and the 29th in Florida. Charlie Pelizza, refuge manager for the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Sebastian, said establishing a new refuge in the center of the state would help improve the water quality of the Everglades ecosystem, and provide increased recreational and educational opportunities for the public.
"Most of the other refuges in Florida have a coastal environment," Pelizza said. "The resources at the center of the state really don't have a presence by U.S. Fish & Wildlife and this would provide that."
He urged the public to attend the public meeting Feb. 10 at Vero Beach High School.
"It's important to remind people that during the public scope phase, we're considering everyone's comments," Pelizza said. "We want to hear from folks about the project, and whether anything about it needs to be changed."

110207-f
River Ranch hunt club skeptical of Everglades plan
The Ledger.com - by Tom Palmer
February 7, 2011
The plan to extend ecological protection into the Everglades’ northern drainage basis through the creation of a  new national wildlife refuge has  triggered a wave of paranoia at the River Ranch Property Owners Association, known locally as the River Ranch Hunt Club..
This area east of  Lake Wales adjacent to the Avon Park Air Force Range and public land near Lake Kissimmee is in a failed development that has been taken over by a private club.
Depending on your point of view, it is  the last  bastion of freedom-loving individuals or Polk County’s largest concentration of unenforceable code-enforcement  violations  .
Anyway, the club members who own property there say they’re concerned that government agents will try to seize their property via eminent domain.
 It’s not hard to understand their concern. Some of the areas on the map labeled as the highest priority for conservation protection fall in that area of Polk County.
This is nothing new. There have been desires for years to create something called the Bombing Range Flatwoods project to link the Air Force property with Lake Kissimmee State Park. If targeting the River Ranch property is the course the government tries to take, that could advance the project.
It will be messy, though. The River Ranch folks like  things just the way they are and will not go quietly.

110206-a
Conservancy estuary study is alarming
News-Press.com – Editorial
February 6, 2011
Amid debate over new federal water-quality standards for Florida comes a very disturbing report from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
The Conservancy's Estuaries Report Card shows water quality has declined in seven of 10 area estuaries since 2005, when some of them were already in bad shape.
Now they all are.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new standards for the amount of nutrients, such as agricultural and septic tank pollution, to be allowed in Florida waters. Two experts debate that issue on today's op-ed page.
The flow of pollution into the estuaries was not the only measure of water quality in the Conservancy study, so some grades might be pulled down by other factors. But the water flowing into these vital coastal nurseries appears to be getting worse. That suggests that satisfaction with Florida's water protection programs is not justified, at least not in Southwest Florida.
"This is a set of very disturbing grades," Conservancy president Andrew McElwaine said. "We have a lot of homework to do in the state of Florida, a lot of catching up with the rest of the country in terms of estuaries."
In Lee County, water quality in the Caloosahatchee River dropped from a C-minus to a D-minus, Charlotte Harbor Proper from a B-minus to a C and Pine Island Sound from a B to a D.
The only area estuary to show improved water quality was Estero Bay, from D-minus to D.
That is a dismal showing. The worst declines were in an area one would think was cleanest, the Ten Thousand Islands, in south Collier County, whose grade plummeted from an A-minus in 2005 to a D in 2011.
The Conservancy study evaluated water quality and wildlife habitat in terms of three indicators for each:
- Water quality: The proportion of the water body that doesn't meet water-quality standards, the severity of impairment and how much the flow into or out of a water body has been changed.
- Wildlife habitat: Extent of wetlands remaining, extent of conservation lands and the extent of mangroves remaining.
This is a complex assessment, but the coastal estuaries are worth billions in terms of the recreational and commercial fisheries they support and their importance to boating, clean water and clean beaches.
Florida should look hard again at the quality of state waters before rejecting the EPA standards.
We may need the extra kick.

110206-b
Florida's own water policy is better than EPA's unscientific mandates
News-Press.com – Opinion by Trudi Williams
February 6, 2011
As chair of the House Select Committee on Water Policy, I, along with other members of the committee, have been charged with looking at Florida's water policy, including changes to federal policy that may significantly impact Florida's ability to manage its own resources.
An example of such federal policy is the numeric nutrient criteria mandate the Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized for Florida.
As it stands, EPA singled out Florida as the only state in the nation subject to these federal standards - despite the fact that Florida has been a national leader in aggressively enforcing water quality standards to protect our streams, lakes, rivers and estuaries.
Our state has invested millions of dollars over the past three decades through an EPA-approved Total Maximum Daily Load program that has helped achieve substantial progress in reducing phosphorous levels in Florida waters.
If any state should be hit with intrusive, invasive and indefensible water regulations, it shouldn't be Florida.
In fact, a recent report showed that the water quality in Sarasota Bay continues to improve because of the work being done by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.
Among the improvements were an addition of 3,000 artificial reefs, the restoration of more than 650 acres of saltwater wetlands and a 64 percent reduction in nitrogen pollution since 1988.
Another example of proven water quality is in Tampa Bay. According to the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium, "The adaptive nutrient management strategy developed for the Tampa Bay estuary through this stakeholder-initiated process has led to documented water quality improvements and the protection of full aquatic life support in Tampa Bay."
This is why I recently filed legislation to keep Florida's water rules in the hands of Florida's government. Our current state programs are working. House Bill 239, entitled Numeric Nutrient Water Quality Criteria, will make sure that EPA's flawed nutrient standards do not derail the state's successful water quality programs.
Trudi K. Williams, P.E., is a member of the Florida House of Representatives representing District 75
COMMENT  by Sertorius, February 7, 2011
Both the Sarasota and Tampa Bay National Estuary Programs are EPA funded. Our water quality would be better if we sewered the septic tank areas (Sarasota) and ensured that there was complete tertiary treatment or reuse of our sewer plants (Tampa Bay). Part of our area does have the fertilizer ordinance that Sarasota has, but the Florida Legislature keeps trying to prevent local governments from undertaking equivalent actions and is proposing to repeal the septic tank maintenance programs enacted last year. So our successes are with EPA help, and our failures are supported by the Florida Legislature. Representative Williams needs to understand that after 36 years of failure, maybe something that works elsewhere should be tried here. Further, if EPA develops water quality standards for Florida since Florida has failed to act, it is true that EPA will not apply these Florida standards to other states, but instead is working with other states for their own, it is mendacious to claim that only Florida has these standards. Florida has not been singled out. Florida has instead identified itself as needing help by the reports of all the tourists that come and get presented with these water quality problems. Red tide or blue green algae, anyone ?

110206-c
Large crowd gathers to debate land use issues and saving the Everglades
NewsSun.com - by CHRISTOPHER TUFFLEY
February 6, 2011
SEBRING -- The Sebring Civic Center was filled to overflowing Friday night as sportsmen, ranchers, conservationists, and other interested parties gathered for the first series of meetings regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposed Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative -- which includes the proposed Everglades Headwaters Refuge and Conservation Area National Wildlife Refuge.
According to the service, the greater Everglades landscape covers a 4.5 million-acre region of working ranches and wilderness. It extends from the outskirts of Orlando south through the Kissimmee River valley to Lake Okeechobee and southwest to Florida Panther National Wild Refuge and the Big Cypress Preserve.
The goals of the initiative are to help conserve rural working ranches; protect and restore habitat; protect, improve and restore water quality and wetlands; and connect a network of existing conservation lands and wild life corridors, supporting the Everglades restoration efforts.
The refuge itself will encompass 150,000 acres when complete. Some of the land will be bought outright, but other instruments will be used too. For example, conservation easements, leases, landowner assistance grants and agreements as well as fee titles acquisition and wetland, conservation and mitigation banks.
According to the service, it will accomplish its objectives using a partnership approach in the planning.
Ranchers and land holders will be a part of the discussions, as will federal agencies, Florida state agencies, the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribal governments, and county government.
Non-government organizations are included, like the Nature Conservancy, Florida Farm Bureau, the Cattleman's Association, ranchers, local conservation groups and key community leaders.
The large crowd Friday night included people from a variety of perspectives. Some individuals were all in favor of the proposal, others totally opposed.
Among those opposed were two main groups who showed a marked distrust of the federal government -- those who worried they would not be able to use their airboats, swamp buggies or ATVs as they have in the past; and land owners who worried their property would be bought out from under them.
There was an exchange between a member of the audience and a representative of Fish & Wild Life.
"Can you guarantee we won't have to sell?" the man asked.
"We approach with an offer of an appraisal," the representative said. "If you don't want an appraisal, we won't make an offer."
"But do you guarantee it?"
"That is our policy."
"Is it guaranteed?"
"That's our current policy."
The exchange drew loud cat calls of derision.
On the other hand, many people rose in support of creating a refuge, one individual saying "We should have had this before."
This was the only meeting scheduled for Highlands County. Go to EvergladesHeadwatersProposal@fws.gov for a listing of other meetings.

110205-a
Cleaner water for Florida
Ocala.com - by Gwen Keyes Fleming, Special to the Star-Banner
February 5, 2011
For years, the people of Florida have watched as many waterways once used for fishing, swimming and other everyday activities developed a coating of green sludge. The majority of Florida's impaired waters are affected by nitrogen and phosphorous pollution — carried by stormwater runoff from urbanized areas, discharges from wastewater treatment plants and fertilizer runoff from farms. What helps plants thrive on land causes harmful algae blooms when it reaches the water. These blooms have made residents sick, caused property values to plummet and turned tourists away from the state's treasured waters. To ensure the future health of Florida's residents and economy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is setting clear, measurable standards to reduce pollution in Florida's treasured water bodies.
Just three months ago, we announced that we would take sensible steps to implement these standards and use a 15-month period before the standards take effect to sit down with state and local leaders and water utilities to make sure we are all prepared to achieve these objectives.
These standards are not without their opponents, including many who claim that improved clean-water standards will be too expensive and harm Florida's economy. In fact, the reverse is true. Less than 10 percent of Florida's farmland would need to be treated, and the technology needed is already available. Expensive new technology is not required or necessary to keep our waters clean. But, if we fail to put the technology we have to use, the problem will only expand to more of Florida's waters. While the EPA is doing its best to address confusion and misinformation, we are more focused on the cooperation needed to protect our waters.
We must find common ground because poor water quality directly impacts not only public health and the environment, but also tourism and jobs. Florida's tourism industry — the state's No. 1 industry — employs nearly one million Floridians and pumps billions of dollars into the state's economy each year. In an average year, tourists spend more than $60 billion in the state — generating thousands of jobs, as well as more than $3 billion in taxes. Many of these tourists come to Florida to fish, boat and jet ski. But, if pollution kills aquatic life and makes the waters unclean and unsafe, fewer tourists will come. Floridians will not just lose one of their most precious natural resources, but also the dollars and jobs generated by a cornerstone of the statewide economy.
On top of the importance of clean water to Florida's jobs and economy, the state also will benefit as cleaner water reduces health threats to Florida families. The green sludge now polluting the waters where children play and families fish can cause rashes, dizziness, upset stomachs and possibly even damage the central nervous system. The numeric nutrient standards also will improve the quality of rivers, lakes, streams and springs that are used to supply drinking water.
These economic and health benefits far outweigh the costs associated with having clean water.
The EPA estimates the cost to address additional waters listed as impaired will be $135-$206 million a year — just 11-20 cents a day per household for cleaner water.
That's a small price to pay to improve health and protect the economy, and it's exactly what the people of Florida have been calling for. In developing these safeguards, the EPA incorporated the input we received from 13 public hearings across the state and 22,000 public comments. We also ensured that the best available science was the foundation for these standards and that implementation would be flexible and cost-effective.
Science also tells us that these standards are the right move for Florida. The EPA carefully analyzed all the available science, including extensive water-quality data gathered by the state, which took into account Florida's diverse water bodies. Contrary to public statements, the EPA's rules did undergo an independent science review. Recognizing that this is not a one-size-fits-all challenge, we have provided flexibility in meeting the standards, allowing local areas to determine how they can best protect their own waters. We also are offering guidance to help cities and towns tailor the standards according to their local needs and implement them effectively and efficiently.
Floridians have been working for years to make clean water a reality in the state. Florida's communities depend on — and want — clean and safe water. Improved clean-water standards will help prevent expensive cleanup costs, protect the health of Florida's families and preserve the waters that support the state's economy.
Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming is the regional administrator for the EPA's Southeast Region.

110205-b
Proposed refuge for Central Florida wetlands needs input: Ed Killert
TCPalm.com - byEd.Killer@scripps.com
February 5, 2011
Moreover, it could be the most important land conservation project to preserve one of Central Florida's most critical ecosystems.
Led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a large, diverse group of stakeholders — along with federal and state agencies — propose to create the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area.
Once complete, public and privately-owned parcels would tally up to about 150,000 total acres, said Charlie Pelizza, USFWS Refuge Manager for Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge Complex.
To identify the needed acreage, Pelizza said they are studying a swath of Central Florida that spans 1.7 million acres, or about as much land as Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
The study area spans most of the Kissimmee River watershed — the region of grasslands, woods, waters, marshes, ranchlands, groves and towns found between Blue Cypress Lake in Indian River County to Lake Wales in Polk County.
North to south the study area runs from St. Cloud to Lake Okeechobee's dike.
Everglades advocates applaud the proposed refuge. In short, it conserves land and protects water from being spoiled by commercial or residential development.
But it has its critics, too.
Airboaters, waterfowl hunters and off-road vehicle riders are concerned they will be denied access to marshes and woods they presently enjoy.
In a recent public scoping meeting, Danny Emmons of Fellsmere said he was told these activities will be shut out.
"This is a bad deal," said Emmons, president of the 100-plus member Indian River County Airboat Association.
"The federal government is trying to take away our marshlands," said Chad Smalley of Vero Beach, also an avid airboater. He fears that private lands, like his property at River Ranch, may be acquired through a "fee simple" sale that basically takes the land from its owner at a very reduced price.
Pelizza said sportsmen have misconceptions about the refuge, but he understands their concerns.
"The NWR system fully anticipates hunting," and more he explained. "Boaters will still be allowed onto state sovereign waters. We are not placing any restrictions on recreational activities.
"We are only working with participating land owners. Nothing has been decided regarding fee title acquisitions. This is not one of those federal programs that occurred in the past."
For the sake of outdoorsmen like Emmons and Smalley, I certainly hope Pelizza is right.
Scoping meetings to educate, answer questions and receive public comment will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Okeechobee High School, 2800 U.S. 441 North, Okeechobee and Thursday at Vero Beach High School, main campus cafeteria, 1707 16th St., Vero Beach.
For more information and instructions to submit written comments until Feb. 28, visit www.fws.gov/southeast/greatereverglades or call 321-861-2368.

110204-a
Mosaic files permit for more mining
Bradenton.com - by GRACE GAGLIANO - ggagliano@bradenton.com
MANATEE -- The Mosaic Co. is seeking to extend its mining rights in Manatee County.
The phosphate mining company has filed a permit application with state agencies to add 765 acres to its Wingate Mine off State Road 64 East in Duette.
Mosaic plans to start mining 597 acres of that 765-acre parcel in several years as company officials project the original 3,028-acre mining tract will be mined out in a few years.
 “This is advance planning for when Wingate mines out,” said Russell Schweiss, spokesman for Mosaic Co. “We have additional acreage we can continue to be able to mine to maintain a consistent volume of rock.”
Mosaic has filed its permit application with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Wednesday and next week it plans to file its permit application with Manatee County.
Glenn Compton, chair of the local environmentalist group Manasota-88, says he’s reviewed the permit application and has concerns about how extending mining rights might impact local water quality.
 “My concern with the expansion is they’re using an existing clay setting in the headwaters of the Myakka River,” Compton said. “The permit says there’s no Outstanding Florida Water issue on the Wingate portion and I disagree with that.”
Outstanding Florida Water is a designation DEP assigns to water it deems worthy of special protection to protect water quality.
Compton says he plans to file the concerns Manasota-88 has with the permit application to the DEP within the next week.
Wingate Mine, which was originally permitted in 1975, produces about 1.1 million tons of phosphate rock a year. The original mining tract will generate an estimated $1.5 million in severance tax and an estimated $225,000 net gain in property tax for Manatee County over the life of the project, according to Mosaic.
Schweiss said gaining clearance to permit the additional acreage won’t create new jobs but will maintain work for the 129 employees who work at Wingate Mine.
“We have 129 employees at that mine and without securing new rock sources, the mine would not exist,” Schweiss said.
Mosaic had previously laid off workers last year at a separate mine site but Schweiss said the Wingate mine operations don’t affect those employees.
Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/02/04/2930086/mosaic-files-permit-for-more-mining.html#ixzz1DHiEGsGl

110204-b
Polk Officials May Consider a New Stormwater Fee to Curb Runoff Pollution
The Ledger.com - by Tom Palmer
February 4, 2011
LAKELAND | Polk County officials should seriously consider imposing a stormwater fee soon to meet state and federal water pollution standards, county commissioners were told Friday.
Stormwater runoff from roads, parking lots, yards and rooftops constitutes the most serious pollution source threatening water quality of lakes, rivers and estuaries all over Florida.
That runoff carries not only nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which can turn water green and create conditions for major fish kills, but heavy metals, solvents, pesticides and other chemicals that can cause potential health problems.
Jeff Spence, Polk's director of parks and natural resources, said that under the current pollution rules, Polk County will need to spend an estimated $96 million over the next 20 years to correct pollution coming from major drainage pipes and ditches that are part of the county's stormwater system.
If proposed tougher federal regulations take effect, the cost could be even higher, he said.
Although most of the costs involve retrofitting the stormwater system, other costs expected include increased street sweeping, inspection of the condition of underground drainage pipes and monitoring to see how effective the anti-pollution measures are.
In addition, the effort will involve enactment of an ordinance limiting fertilizer use and an education program involving management of pet waste.
Commissioners agreed Friday to get an updated stormwater study but made no commitment beyond that.
County Manager Jim Freeman said commissioners would need to pass a resolution expressing their intent to enact a fee by the end of the year in order to begin levying the fee in the 2012-13 budget year.
At this point, there has been no discussion of the amount of the fee, but statewide the average fee is $3.47 a month, Spence said.
In Polk County, 12 of the 17 cities already levy some kind of fee ranging from 75 cents to $6 per month.
Spence said in addition to paying for stormwater improvement projects, levying the fee will allow Polk County to qualify for state and federal grants.
Tom Palmer can be reached at 863-802-7535 or tom.palmer@theledger.com
Related Links:
Anti-Regulation Wave in Tallahassee Hits Water Debate
Florida Challenges New Federal Water Standards
Watering Lawns to Be OK Twice a Week For First Time in 3 1/2 Years
Polk Remains Under One-Day-A-Week Watering Restrictions

110204-c
Release of more fresh water good news for the Caloosahatchee: Rae Ann Wessel
NewsPress.com – by Ann Ray Wessel
February 4, 2011
After recent bad news, there was good news from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with the announcement of a seven-day pulse release to the Caloosahatchee starting Jan. 28. The rain event in the Caloosahatchee basin in the past week supplied enough water from the watershed to provide planned flows through the Franklin Lock, so there have been no releases from Lake Okeechobee since December 30, 2010.
By initiating the pulse release schedule, the Corps has committed to releasing water from the lake to provide flow for the health of the estuary. Concerns about the level of Lake Okeechobee prompted the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board to recommend that the Corps cut off needed freshwater flows to the Caloosahatchee. As we enter what is predicted to be a prolonged period of drought, this will be an ongoing battle. Up until the Corp’s announcement, the only water restriction has been a complete cut-off of water for the Caloosahatchee river and estuary. No water shortage orders have been ordered for noncritical uses such as residential lawn watering.
Last year the district issued 20-year permits for 2.18 million acre feet of water, which protects that volume of water solely for permitted users. The environment has no such protection and needs just 1 inch of water per month off the lake during the dry season.
In 2001 the district adopted a rule to set a minimum flow and level (MFL) for the estuary to protect the estuary from high salinities and the upper river from stagnation and algal blooms. In five of the past nine years since the rule was adopted, the river has not received enough water to meet MFL. Public resources like the estuary have no protected water supply and no leverage to assure that public water is used for public resources. There is a solution to dry season releases — a reservation of water — which west coast stakeholders have been working to achieve for the past 10 years.
In the meantime, no permitted users have had to wait to get their permits and allocation protected. One big question is how Governor Scott and Cabinet will view Everglades restoration and address water policy. One of the governor’s first actions was to issue Executive Order 11-01 that requires all new rulemaking be approved by a new Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform. This will affect efforts to get a Reservation of water and an updated MFL to provide minimum flows to the Caloosahatchee and estuary.
Month after month the Caloosahatchee gets unilaterally cut off from water in the dry season — and then, when there is too much water — dumped on in the wet season.
Providing low flows during the dry season is simply a management/policy decision that requires no funding, construction or other authorizations. Supplying water during the dry season would take 1 inch of water per month off the lake compared with several feet of water used by municipalities and agriculture.
The equity (or inequity) of sharing resources between all users is the only thing at stake. In contrast, addressing high flows requires construction of infrastructure to capture, store and treat excess water and that requires congressional authorizations, funding, and significant capital to achieve and years to build. To achieve dry season base flows for the protection of habitat and water quality in the Caloosahatchee all we need is the political will. We cannot afford to wait another decade.
Rae Ann Wessel is natural resource policy director for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation

110203-a
Conservancy of Southwest Florida releases 2011 Estuaries Report Card
WINKnews.com
February 3, 2011
NAPLES– The Conservancy of Southwest Florida today released its 2011 Estuaries Report Card. Of the ten estuaries studied, ranging from Venice in the north to Everglades City in the south, not a single one fully met state water quality standards.
The 2011 Estuaries Report Card is an assessment of the current conditions of ten regional estuaries from Coastal Venice to the Ten Thousand Islands and makes recommendations on the ten steps to help save Southwest Florida’s waters. As part of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida mission to protect our water, land and wildlife, the Conservancy issues the Estuaries Report Card every five years to monitor the condition of our water quality.
Conservancy staff utilized research and scientific data to analyze ten specific watersheds in Southwest Florida including Coastal Venice, Lemon Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Pine Island Sound, Caloosahatchee River, Estero Bay, Wiggins Pass/Cocohatchee, Naples Bay, Rookery Bay and Ten Thousand Islands.
“The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill raised global awareness of the significance of estuaries, where nearly 75 percent of the commercially and recreationally important species of fish and shellfish spend part of their lives,” says Conservancy President Andrew McElwaine. “From tourism, to job creation and recreation, water is vital to the Florida economy, particularly in Southwest Florida. Yet 97 percent of bays and estuaries and 42 percent of streams in Florida are in poor shape, identified as potentially not safe for swimming and/or fishing.”
According to the report, each estuary, including those that are protected by conservation lands, has portions, if not all of its watersheds, which do not meet state water quality standards. Each of the ten watersheds was assigned two grades, one based on wildlife habitat and one on water quality. Of the 20 scores, only two received “A” grades, and nine received “D” grades.
“The report is important to policymakers, who can use the data to make important decisions concerning Southwest Florida waterways, as well as for citizens, who can make a difference in their own backyards,” says Jennifer Hecker, Conservancy Director of Natural Resources. “The findings also reinforce the need to establish quantifiable numeric nutrient standards for our waterways – the first step toward correctly identifying and addressing the nutrient pollution fouling our waters.”
In November 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established final standards that set numeric limits on the amount of nutrient pollution allowed in Florida’s inland waters to reduce water pollution that causes harmful algae blooms – the thick, green muck that fouls clear water – these blooms produce toxins harmful to humans, animals and ecosystems across the state of Florida. The blooms are caused by nitrogen and phosphorus, called “nutrients,” in wastewater, urban stormwater runoff and excess fertilizer that flow into waterways.
“When it comes to water quality, Florida has a lot of homework to do.  These grades should be unacceptable to any citizen. The good news is that the report outlines ten action items for policy makers and citizens to implement that will improve water quality in our estuaries,” says McElwaine. “We must each do our part. Clean and abundant water is our most precious resource.”
The 2011 Estuaries Report Card five-page executive summary and the full 251-page report including the ten steps to save Southwest Florida’s waters can be viewed online at www.conservancy.org.
Financial support for the 2011 Estuaries Report Card was provided by John Ben Snow Foundation, The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, The Banbury Fund and The Agua Fund. The recommendations listed therein are those of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and do not necessarily reflect the view of the report’s funders.
Read more: http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2011-02-03/Conservancy-of-Southwest-Florida-releases-2011-Estuaries-Report-Card#ixzz1DCGhfHCq
Grades just get worse for Southwest Florida's estuaries - The News-Press.com – Feb.3,2011
Water quality at region's estuaries receive poor grades - Naples Daily News - ‎Feb 3, 2011‎
Conservancy of Southwest Florida releases 2011 Estuaries Report Card –
The Florida Independent - ‎Feb 3, 2011‎
Report card shows water quality of Florida's estuaries in decline - The News-Press - ‎Feb 3, 2011‎

110203-b
Crafting Florida water policy a job for Florida, not feds
TBO.com
February 3, 2011
As chair of the Florida House Select Committee on Water Policy, I, along with other members of the committee, have been charged with looking at Florida's water policy, including changes to federal policy that may significantly impact the state's ability to manage its resources. An example of such federal policy is the numeric nutrient criteria mandate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized.
As it stands, EPA singled out Florida as the only state subject to these federal standards — despite the fact that Florida has been a national leader in aggressively enforcing water quality standards to protect our streams, lakes, rivers and estuaries.
Our state has invested millions of dollars over the past three decades through an EPA-approved Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program that has helped achieve substantial progress in reducing phosphorus levels in Florida waters.
If any state should be hit with intrusive, invasive and indefensible water regulations, it shouldn't be Florida.
In fact, a recent report showed that the water quality in Sarasota Bay continues to improve because of the work being done by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program. Among the improvements were an addition of 3,000 artificial reefs, the restoration of more than 650 acres of saltwater wetlands and a 64 percent reduction in nitrogen pollution since 1988.
Another example of proven water quality is in Tampa Bay. According to the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium, "The adaptive nutrient management strategy developed for the Tampa Bay estuary through this stakeholder-initiated process has led to documented water quality improvements and the protection of full aquatic life support in Tampa Bay."
This is why I recently filed legislation to keep Florida's water rules in the hands of Florida's government. Our current state programs are working. House Bill 239, entitled Numeric Nutrient Water Quality Criteria, will make sure that EPA's flawed nutrient standards do not derail the state's successful water quality programs. This legislation directs the state to stay on track with sound science and only promulgate standards tailored to the needs of Florida water bodies, not rubber stamp EPA's scientifically invalid nutrient rules.
The state, local governments, water treatment officials and others have recently sued the EPA for its overreach on Florida's water policy — a policy expected to cost Florida's employers and families billions to implement. That means if the EPA and environmental groups that forced this policy through a lawsuit get their way, much higher utility bills are coming for all Floridians.
I applaud Florida's congressional delegation for standing up for Florida in a bipartisan manner, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on this important legislation.
Water quality in our state is a Florida issue. EPA's mandates are unprecedented, unworkable and unscientific, and we must work together to ensure Florida's destiny stays in our hands and will not be subject to a takeover by the federal government.
State Rep. Trudi K. Williams, P.E., represents District 75 in Lee and Collier counties.

110203-c
Report card shows water quality of Florida's estuaries in decline
NewsPress.com
February 3, 2011
9:31 A.M. — Over the past six years, water quality has declined in most of Southwest Florida’s estuaries, according to a report card released today by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
In its first Estuaries Report Card, released in 2005, the Conservancy graded 10 Southwest Florida estuaries on quality of wildlife and water quality.
The 2011 report card shows that water quality declined in seven of those estuaries (in the 2005 report, water quality data were inconclusive for Coastal Venice).
Showing the biggest decline in water quality was the Ten Thousand Islands, which dropped from an A-minus to a D-minus.
Pine Island Sound’s water quality grade dropped from a B to a D.
Not showing a decline in water quality were the Wiggens Pass/Cocohatchee estuary, which remained a C-minus, and Estero Bay, which improved from a D-minus to a D.

110202-a
Orange County suing EPA over clean water
myfoxorlando.com - by Mike Synan
February 2, 2011
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Orange County will join the Florida Water Environment Utility Council in fighting new standards imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency on water quality. Commissioner Ted Edwards told us those standards are out of control.
“Everyone that’s looked at it says its not one size fits all. It’s draconian. It’s way overboard. It’s too expensive. It’s going to destroy our economy."
The new standards will force the county to meet new and much higher minimum standards for runoff. Basically, they say fertilizers from lawns and septic tank nutrients are destroying Florida's waterways. The EPA's Dawn Harris-Young gave us this statement:
"This action seeks to improve water quality, protect public health, aquatic life and the long term recreational uses of Florida's waters which are a critical part of the States economy."
Is there a health danger from having too many nutrients in the water? Orange County's Health Department has never issued an alert to stay clear of lakes because of nitrogen or phosphates in the water. Those warnings have been a result of either amoeba or bacteria.
Still, the Audubon Society of Central Florida is behind the new standards. They also want more public awareness of just what kind of damage people do to the waterways when they use fertilizers. Commissioner Edwards says it's time for the Feds to step aside.
“This is just Big Brother coming to Florida saying ‘this is how you need to do things’. They should let us make these decisions instead of coming in with a huge sledgehammer saying we’re going to force you to do things that we think work without having the scientific backup to prove it.”
The science is new and has been disputed, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence, like the massive bird kill at Lake Apopka in 1999 blamed on the flooding of muck farms int he area. A homeowner along Lake Minnehaha in Maitland tells me when he moved there 25 years ago, you could see the sandy lake bottom as deep as 5 feet. Today, we could barely see past the lake's surface.
There's also a warning about the cost. The county's Department of Environmental Protection estimates it will cost taxpayers well over $200 million to meet these standards without federal money to pay for it. They estimate each homeowner will have to pay a $200 yearly water connection fee, and will see a 34 percent increase in their waste water bill.

110202-b
Some good news for the Caloosahatchee
CaptivaSanibel.com - Guest commentary by RAE ANN WESSEL, SCCF Natural Resource Policy Director
February 3, 2011
After recent bad news, last Friday there was some good news from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), which announced a seven-day pulse release to the Caloosahatchee starting on Jan. 28.
The rainfall in the Caloosahatchee basin in the past week has meant that some water has been coming through at the Franklin Lock since Jan. 26; there have been no releases from Lake Okeechobee (measured at Moore Haven Lock) since Dec. 30.
By initiating the pulse release schedule, the Corps has committed to releasing some water from the lake to provide flow for the health of the estuary.
Concerns about the level of Lake Okeechobee prompted the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Governing Board, as recently as Jan. 13, to recommend that the Corps cut off needed freshwater flows to the Caloosahatchee.
As we enter what is predicted to be a prolonged period of drought, this will be an ongoing battle. Up until this announcement by the Corps, the only water restriction issued was a complete cut-off of water for the Caloosahatchee river and estuary. No other water shortage orders — let alone cut backs — were ordered for any other users, not even for noncritical uses such as residential lawn watering.
Last year the SFWMD issued 20-year permits for 2.18 million acre feet of water, which protects that volume of water solely for permitted users. The environment has no such protection.
In 2001, the SFWMD adopted a rule to set a minimum flow and level (MFL) for the estuary to protect the estuary from high salinities and the upper river from stagnation and algal blooms. However in five of the past nine years since the rule was adopted, the river has not received enough water to meet the minimum level of flow. Public resources like the estuary have no protected water supply and no leverage to assure that public water is used for public resources.
There is a solution to dry season releases — a reservation of water — which we have been working to achieve for the past 10 years. In the meantime, no permitted users have had to wait to get their permits and allocation protected.
One big question is how Florida’s new governor, Rick Scott, and cabinet will view Everglades restoration and address water policy. One of the first actions of the new Governor was to issue Executive Order Number 11-01 that requires all new rulemaking be approved by a new Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform. This will affect efforts to get a Reservation of water and an updated MFL to provide minimum flows to the Caloosahatchee and estuary.
Month after month the Caloosahatchee gets unilaterally cut off from water in the dry season — and then, when there is too much water — dumped on in the wet season. The real concern here is that providing low flows during the dry season is a management/policy decision that requires no funding, construction or other authorizations.
The equity (or inequity) of sharing resources between all users is the only thing at stake. In contrast, addressing high flows requires construction of infrastructure to capture, store and treat excess water and that requires Congressional authorizations, funding and significant capital to achieve and years to build.

110201-a
Conservancy of South-West Florida to release 2011 Estuaries Report Card
pr-usa.net
February 1, 2011
WHAT:    
Conservancy of Southwest Florida President and CEO Andrew McElwaine and Conservancy Director of Natural Resource Policy, Jennifer Hecker, will host a news conference and webinar to announce the release of the 2011 Estuaries Report Card for Southwest Florida.
In 2005, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida published a comprehensive assessment of the environmental conditions of the region's estuaries and watersheds. Both citizens and decision-makers used the "Estuaries Report Card" to better manage Southwest Florida's water and wildlife resources.
The 2011 report highlights that the condition of our water resources continues to deteriorate and that more effort is necessary to adequately protect our wildlife. The estuaries of Southwest Florida all display impact from human activity even in the relatively remote Ten Thousand Islands estuary. Each estuary, including those that are significantly protected by conservation lands, has portions, if not all of its watershed, that do not meet state water quality standards.
The 2011 Estuaries Report Card grades reflect an increasing spatial area not meeting state water quality standards and more water bodies containing multiple impairments than in 2005. Extensive scientific and technical information was analyzed and used to access and identify specific problems and solutions, including a summary of ten steps to save Southwest Florida's waters.
The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill raised global awareness of the significance of estuaries where nearly 75 percent of the commercially and recreationally important species of fish and shellfish spend part of their lives.
During the news conference/webinar, primary details regarding the study will be reviewed:
The news conference will address failing grades, below state water quality standards, for all the estuaries studied.
The five-page executive summary and 251-page full report will be released.
The Estuary Report Card outlines in detail the scientific data and grades for each watershed and provides specific steps that can be taken to reverse the degradation of water quality to protect the waters for generations to come.
WHEN:
Thursday, Feb. 3 at 10:30 a.m.
WHERE:
Conservancy of Southwest Florida Auditorium, 1450 Merrihue Drive, Naples. Merrihue Drive is off 14th Avenue North at Goodlette-Frank Road.
WEBINAR: Media wishing to participate in the news conference remotely can register at https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/781788886. Advanced registration required. Space is limited.
ABOUT ESTUARIES:
Estuaries are places where freshwater from the land meets the saltwater from the ocean. Estuaries are important to us because many species of fish live there; they act as natural filters of pollutants from rivers and streams; and the wetlands surrounding them act as natural buffers from floods and storm surges. The last Estuaries Report Card was released in 2005 and can be viewed online at www.conservancy.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Barbara Wilson, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, barbaraw@conservancy.org, 239-402-4216
Teri Hansen, APR, Priority Marketing, teri@prioritymarketing.com or
Holly Boldrin, Priority Marketing, holly@prioritymarketing.com, 239-267-2638

110201-b
Dais Achieves Major Milestone for NanoClear Water Treatment and Desalination Technology in China
marketwire.com
SOURCE: Dais Analytic Corporation
February 1, 2011
Demonstrates Ability to Treat Water on a 'Parts-per-Billion' Basis
ODESSA, FL--(Marketwire - February 1, 2011) -  Dais Analytic Corporation (OTCBB: DLYT) announced today it has reached an important milestone in the development and commercialization of NanoClear™, Dais' water cleaning process able to remove most contaminants from water (including sea and wastewater). The NanoClear module being assembled in Beijing, China, has produced 'first water'. This module is an initial component of the multi-million dollar purchase order signed between Dais, Genertec America, Inc., and CAST/OSC Beijing in April of 2010.
The pilot module enables the Chinese customer to potentially offer 'zero discharge waste water treatment' using Dais' Aqualyte™ membrane, and is successfully processing approximately 1,250 gallons of wastewater per day producing drinkable water about 1,000 times cleaner than that produced by other forms of standard water cleaning technologies. After an extended test period, more modules will be added to complete the program in mid-2012.
Tim Tangredi, CEO of Dais Analytic, said, "Achieving 'first water' is an important performance milestone for Dais on two levels -- first it underscores the scalability of the NanoClear process and materials used and tested by a third party (China's Academy of Environmental Sciences) and, second, this achievement further validates the contribution the disruptive Dais nanotechnology brings to an industry seeking better answers."
Tangredi added, "It is important to note the Chinese have published papers stating it will have exploited all of its available water supplies by 2030. We see a tremendous opportunity in China working together to address its growing need for clean water which should continue to find Dais increasing exports while creating new, clean-technology jobs."
Scott Ehrenberg, Chief Technology Officer of Dais Analytic, said, "In addition to this initial deployment of NanoClear technology in China, Dais is anticipating to build a 'very visual' NanoClear pilot in Pasco County, Florida, which we would like to have open for the world water community to see in person and with internet access by the end of 2011."
Key Facts
- China's per capita natural freshwater resources are expected to decline to 1,875 m3 by 2033, down from 2,156 m3 in 2007 (among the lowest per capita for a major country). 1,000m3 per capita is regarded the world water poverty mark. (World Bank)
- 60% of China's 660 cities are short of water. (World Bank)
108 cities, including Beijing and Tianjin, face serious water shortages. Beijing has 230 m3 per capita of fresh water, far below the world water poverty mark. (World Bank)
- South China (the Yangtze River basin and areas to its south) accounted for 80.4% of the nation's naturally available water resources but only 53.3% of the population, whereas Northern China accounted for 19.6% of the water resources but 46.7% of the population in 2000. (World Bank)
- In 2006, nearly half of China's major cities did not meet provincial drinking-water quality standards. (OECD)
About Dais Analytic Corporation
Dais Analytic Corporation (OTCBB: DLYT) is commercializing its nanotechnology materials and processes into evolutionary or disruptive air, energy or water applications. The applications include ConsERV™, commercially available, which pretreats incoming building air for most Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment with the energy found in the exhaust air thus lowering HVAC capital equipment, maintenance costs, and emissions. The Company is in various stages of development of NanoAir, a disruptive water-based, no refrigerant gas refrigeration cycle usable for nearly every air conditioning and refrigeration use (co-funded by the US DoE 'ARPA-E' program); NanoClear™, a simpler method of treating most forms of contaminated water (sea, waste, industrial) to provide 1,000 times cleaner potable water; and NanoCap™, a disruptive energy-storage device. Each application underscores the diversity of Dais's core product -- its family of nano-structure polymers and processes -- by focusing on minimizing consumption of irreplaceable natural resources and stopping the degradation of our environment. To find out more about Dais please visit www.daisanalytic.com, and to learn more about ConsERV please visit www.conserv.com.
For Dais Analytic Corporation Investors:
This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Those statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks associated with the company's business involving the company's products, their development and distribution, economic and competitive factors and the company's key strategic relationships and other risks detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dais Analytic Corporation assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.

110131-a
Design A Logo For the Everglades Foundation And Pocket $15,000
National Parks Traveler – by Kurt Repanshek
January 31, 2011
Who couldn't use an extra $15,000? You could pocket that much, or come away with a new laptop, if you design a winning logo for the Everglades Foundation.
The foundation, which since 1993 has led "efforts to restore and protect the greater Everglades ecosystem," through February 28 is taking entries for a logo to help drive its upcoming Everglades Nation campaign.
Everglades Nation is a campaign created to build grassroots support for Everglades restoration, The campaign will mobilize supporters while it informs a wide range of people about the Everglades restoration events, activities, programs and progress.
Your logo submission should communicate enthusiasm for environmental preservation and for restoring Florida's fragile Everglades ecosystem in particular. It should resonate with audiences of all ages and types: students, outdoor recreation enthusiasts, corporate decision-makers and other stakeholders who share environmental concerns and a passion for restoring the Everglades.
The logo must contain the words Everglades Nation and no other text. It will be used online, in print, on merchandise and on social media, so it must be resizable and work in color as well as black and white. While it needs to look good in small sizes, it will not be shrunk as a Favicon. No photography or similarity to any copyrighted material is allowed.
To learn more about the contest and how to submit your entry, visit this page.

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Diversity is the Rivers Coalition's strength and weakness
TCPalm – by Eve Samples
January 31, 2011
The last Thursday morning of every month, an eclectic group files into Stuart City Hall.
Anglers show up in brimmed hats, carrying cups of Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
Business types wear polo shirts. Retirees roll in wearing whatever they like.
They sit elbow-to-elbow with home-builders and biologists and engineers.
Diversity has always been the biggest strength of the Rivers Coalition, a nonprofit that has advocated for the beleaguered St. Lucie River Estuary since 1998.
The group represents such a wide cross-section that it's impossible to ignore. It has the ear of local politicians, state regulators and at least one member of Congress (U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, whose local rep frequents the meetings).
Its legal fund-raising arm has collected about $800,000 to pay for a 2006 lawsuit demanding that the Army Corps of Engineers stop releasing polluted freshwater from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie River.
Now, though, the Rivers Coalition's diversity is also a source of strife.
At last Thursday's meeting, real estate agent Leon Abood, the group's founding chairman, stood up and gave his version of a State of the Union address.
He explained that some business-oriented members of the group have concerns.
They worry that the Rivers Coalition has been "hijacked" by some of the more "abrasive" members. They think it has become too combative and adversarial.
"I'm the first one to admit I've been part of this," Abood said.
He was one of the voices criticizing a scaled-back Everglades restoration deal that the South Florida Water Management District approved last year (disappointing advocates of the St. Lucie River).
"We have not done a good enough job of letting them know when they are doing something good for the estuary," Abood said.
He vowed to fix that.
If anyone can usher in more diplomacy, it's him. He's like the peace-keeping patriarch of a big, dysfunctional family.
"That's the reason why I'm still chairman," Abood told me Monday. "Nobody wants the job."
In Martin County, where business interests and environmentalists often are at odds, Abood and the rest of the Rivers Coalition have worked hard to present a unified front.
To lose that unity would be to lose its power.
John O'Brien, a coalition member from the Stuart/Martin County Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday he wants to see more cooperation with groups including the South Florida Water Management District.
He doesn't want to drive wedges between the Rivers Coalition and other agencies.
"I don't think it gets anything done," O'Brien said.
Yet there's also a danger in remaining too neutral: You tend to get ignored.
The St. Lucie River can't afford that.
The water quality is good now — but only because dry weather has recently spared the river from Lake O releases. When heavy rain returns and the lake level rises, the flood gates will open again, sending nutrient-laden fresh water our way.
It kills oysters and fish and contributes to toxic algae blooms. And it's been going on for decades.
"It's very frustrating. And one of the frustrating parts about it is we don't see progress," said Mark Perry, a Rivers Coalition member and executive director of Florida Oceanographic Society.
That's why the "combative" members of the Rivers Coalition get fed up.
"When I get angry, and when I yell and so on, it's because I sense what I think is an emergency," said Karl Wickstrom, a Rivers Coalition member and founder of Florida Sportsman Magazine.
"I'm going to soften up a lot and see the good in everything," he said at Thursday's meeting, eliciting a chuckle from the crowd.
The Rivers Coalition may be a dysfunctional family — but it's also a family that's incredibly loyal to the St. Lucie River Estuary.
It's worth keeping the family together for that."The usual suspects have changed, but the balancing act and trying to keep everyone focused is something that's always happened," Abood said.
He's confident the group will remain a powerful voice for the river.
Eve Samples is a columnist for ScrippsTreasureCoast Newspapers. This column reflects her opinion.  For more on MartinCounty topics, follow her blog at TCPalm.com/samples. Contact her at 772-221-4217 or eve.samples@scripps.com.

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Gaetz is wrong to target the DCA and DEP
nwfdailynews.com – Guest Column - by ALAN OSBORNE
January 31, 2011 9:05 AM
State Sen. Don Gaetz of Niceville has publicly said he’d like to see the state Department of Community Affairs and the state Department of Environmental Protection shut down. Really? Let’s discuss these agencies and their functions from another perspective. Allow me to explain how they protect the common citizen.
The DCA has been around since 1969 and is over such boards as the Florida Building Commission, the Florida Communities Trust Governing Board and the Commission for a Sustainable Florida. They manage the Florida Building Code, post-disaster redevelopment planning and areas of critical state concern. These areas include Apalachicola, the Florida Keys and Big Cypress Swamp.
The DCA’s community development block grant program has brought in more than $540 million in federal funds for neighborhood stabilization, and during the 2005 hurricane season it obtained $82 million in federal funding for disaster relief. In the past five years, the CDBG program has created 3,500 permanent Florida jobs.
The agency is the sole enforcement authority over Developments of Regional Impact, or DRIs, such as airports, hospitals, industrial facilities, attractions like Walt Disney World, hotel and motel complexes, residential developments and multi-use developments. These are defined by Florida Statute 380.06 as “any development which, because of its character, magnitude or location, would have a substantial effect upon the health, safety or welfare of citizens of more than one county.”
Since 1973, the agency has approved 1,173 DRIs throughout Florida!
The DEP protects, conserves and manages Florida’s natural resources and enforces the state’s environmental laws. It oversees and manages Florida’s award-winning state parks and trails system. Since 1990, through land-acquisition programs called Preservation 2000 and Florida Forever, more than 2 million acres have been preserved, protecting habitats for 190 native and endangered animals and plants.
The DEP’s regulatory priorities include administering Florida’s air-pollution control programs to best protect human health; protecting and restoring water quality; managing hazardous waste and cleanups; overseeing beach restoration; and reviewing applications for power plants, transmission lines and natural gas pipelines. Together with the South Florida Water Management District, the DEP is implementing a 30-year, $10.9 billion Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan covering 18,000 square miles.
With all these facts, I ask: Is this kind of government “destructive,” as Sen. Gaetz implies?
I say not! I also say that with the DCA having approved more than 1,000 major developments each affecting more than one county, any type of major growth these agencies stopped was growth Florida doesn’t need or want!
Before these agencies existed, we had such things as “swampland developments,” and the big business of sugar cane and agriculture abuse was on track to ruin Florida’s image and lead to the demise of the Everglades.
These agencies are nonpartisan and should not be the target of any party, Republican or Democratic. These agencies provide the peace of mind that citizens who borrow money to move to Florida and invest in the “Florida Dream” need, deserve and pay taxes for.
When county officials look the other way, the DCA and the DEP are the only agencies that stand between a citizen and big development. Without these agencies, profits may soar with no oversight in place. But it will backfire. Future generations will bear the burden of our hasty decision to put no checks and balances on infrastructure.
I beg Sen. Gaetz to figure out how much it would take from every state agency equally to cut Florida’s budget by $3.6 billion. He should lead the charge to implement such cuts across the board, statewide. Match the federal initiative and freeze the pay of all state workers and elected officials, including their staffers, for two years until we catch up.
Simply approach it from a business standpoint. Leave politics out of the decision to balance the state budget.
If there were no cops, speeders would rule and crime would indeed pay. Eliminate the DCA and the DEP, Sen. Gaetz, and my children, my grandchildren and the environment will pay the price. These public agencies are important to all of us!
Alan Osborne is a resident of Santa RosaBeach.

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