150831-a
Lawmakers aim to ban hydraulic fracturing
NaplesNews.com - by Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
August 31, 2015
For the second year in a row, state House and Senate Democrats have filed legislation aimed at banning hydraulic fracturing in Florida.
Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, filed a measure (SB 166) that would prohibit hydraulic fracturing and well stimulation treatments "for the exploration or production of oil or natural gas" in Florida or the adjacent waters. Rep. Evan Jenne, Dania Beach, filed similar legislation (HB 19) earlier this month.
"We believe this is the right policy," Soto said. "And there is an overwhelming amount of Floridians that agree."
While the measure might have the support of some lawmakers, it is unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-led House and Senate. A similar bill to ban hydraulic fracturing made no progress during the 2015 legislative session.
"I think it's premature to call for a ban on something when there's no Florida based science," said Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, who three times has filed legislation aimed at hydraulic fracturing.
The state House passed Rodrigues' measure earlier this
 year. That proposal (HB 1205) would have increased penalties, created a disclosure registry and required well operators to get permits before they could begin hydraulic fracturing. It also called for a study to analyze the potential risks and for amoratorium on the practice during the study.
The proposal ultimately died in the Senate after the state House adjourned three days earlier than scheduled. Both Rodrigues and Sen. Garrett Richter, a Naples Republican who sponsored regulatory legislation during the 2015 session, intend to file similar legislation in 2016.
Richter said while his proposal will not be much different from what passed earlier this year, there will be some tweaks.
He said his proposal will not have a volume threshold in the definition for high-pressu re well stimulation and wi ll include a moratorium on all high pressure well stimulations until the state Department of Environmental Protection adopt s rules and regulations for the industry.
"The bill that Sens. Soto and (Dwight) Bullard have filed in completely contradictory," said Richter.
Bullard, a Miami Democrat, disagrees. Bullard, who is cosponsoring the legislation, said absent of science showing hydraulic fracturing and well-stimulation is safe, there should be a ban.
"When it comes to the notion of drilling, I'm always very skeptical, whether it's onshore or offshore, because there's too many risks versus rewards," said Bullard, whose district includes part of Collier County. "The risk is too great for the reward."
Oil drilling has face d increased scrutiny in recent years, in part because the Collier-Hogan well, south of Lake Trafford, was fracked in 2013. Collier County officials last year said they were supportive of legislation to improve and strengthen state rules and regulations governing oil drilling.
Mike Sheffield, a spokesman for Collier County, said county staff is aware of local legislators' efforts to propose legislation to give the state DEP greater oversight capabilities. Sheffield said commissioners are scheduled to meet Sept. 10 to discuss legislative priorities, and oil drilling will likely be discussed.
Jennifer Hecker, the natural resources policy director at The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said she's hopeful her organization will be able to make a presentation to the board during that meeting.
The Conservancy spearheaded a push to ban fracking in Bonita Springs, which the City Council unanimously approved in July.
"We're working with local governments in the absence of meaningful legislation to exercise existing home rule," she said.
It's unclear whether that ban would stand if the state passes legislation this year. The 2015 measure included a preemption clause, and Rodrigues said he likely would strengthen the pre-emption language in legislation he proposes next year.
Both Rodrigues and Richter said their proposals still are being drafted, and expect they'll be filed in the coming weeks.
The Conservancy spearheaded a push to ban fracking in Bonita Springs, which the City Council unanimously approved in July.

150831-b
Ocean acidification threatens Florida's economy
Tampa Bay Times – column by Chris McHan
August 31, 201
I'm an angler and surfer. I spend every moment I can spare on the water with my two sons, who fish and surf with me in Florida's beautiful offshore waters. They're developing a strong love for the ocean, which makes me proud and allows me to share a culture with them that ties us closely to the water.
But unfortunately, my sons, fellow anglers and surfers, and I have seen some unsettling changes in the ocean and the life it supports in the past several years — fish migrate earlier, there's less sea grass to protect and house young sea life, oyster crops are declining, and coral reefs are bleaching. There's probably no single reason to blame for these changes, but we do know that ocean acidification could be partly responsible.
Ocean acidification is a change in ocean chemistry that happens when carbon pollution from the atmosphere is absorbed into the ocean. This makes ocean waters acidify, so that oysters, clams and corals have trouble building their shells and skeletons. Also, sharks, cobia and dolphinfish have trouble hearing and smelling in these acidified waters. Scientists expect that these changes could have ripple effects up and down the food chain.
Ocean acidification does not bode well for our oceans' ecosystems, and especially for Florida's fishing and tourist economies that demand access to clean waters and healthy and abundant sea life in all forms.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's "Fisheries Economics of the United States 2012" reported that in 2011 saltwater fishing generated sales of more than $8 billion in Florida. The report also stated that saltwater recreational fishing supported 109,341 Florida jobs in 2012. Other academics and think tanks have estimated that recreational coral reef diving, fishing and wildlife viewing generates roughly $6 billion in local sales and $2.8 billion in local income.
If ocean acidification's growing threat continues to affect Florida's ocean wildlife and saltwater fishing opportunities, businesses and communities that rely on clean waters, healthy ecosystems and abundant fisheries could quickly feel the sting.
Several states are meeting the challenges of ocean acidification head-on. Washington, California, Maine and Maryland — other states with strong ties to the ocean — are monitoring changes in ocean chemistry, coordinating with fishermen and shellfish farmers with innovative projects that address long-term solutions, and working to reduce carbon pollution to limit future ocean acidification.
Fortunately, Florida lawmakers are addressing ocean acidification's current and future impacts to our local communities and state economy. This year, three Florida U.S. House members (Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota; Carlos Curbelo, R-Kendall; and Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville) were original co-sponsors of the bipartisan Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act of 2015 (HR 2553). Since then, seven more Florida representatives (Alcee Hastings, D-Altamonte Springs; Patrick Murphy, D-Miami; Thomas Rooney, R-Okeechobee; Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami; David Jolly, R-Indian Shores; and Kathy Castor, D-Tampa) have signed on in support. The act directs NOAA to study how ocean acidification could affect people in coastal communities through changing job opportunities, identify dangers to the nation's communities that rely on ocean-based economies, and find possible adaptation strategies or solutions to mitigate ocean acidification's threats.
Ocean acidification is a relatively new environmental issue, but for those of us in tune with the ocean's rhythms and flow, it is here and we are already feeling its effects. I do not want my sons fishing and surfing an ocean that is not as vibrant as it is now.
It is essential that we learn as much about ocean acidification now, so we can meet the threat head-on and find solutions to mitigate its effects. Sportsmen, commercial fishermen and everyone who relies on the ocean for work or play deserves to know how ocean acidification will affect Florida.
Related /Archive:
Column: Proposals threaten Florida's famed parks  (4 Months Ago)
Column: Trade, exports help power Florida economy  (6 Months Ago)
Column: Trade agreement will boost U.S. economy  (4 Months Ago)

150831-c
Protecting Everglades National Park ends way of life for Gladesmen
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
August 31, 2015
The aging gladesmen of the River of Grass will eventually have to retire their flying jon boats under new rules for Everglades National Park that instead promise to protect the nation’s largest tropical wilderness for generations to come.
The rules, the first new ones since 1978, have taken more than a dozen years to draft as park managers struggled to balance a sometimes conflicting mission: safeguarding fragile wetlands downstream from sprawling farms and dense urban areas while attracting visitors to a largely inaccessible wilderness that covers 1.5 million acres across three counties.
While the new rules released Friday will restrict uses in some areas — in addition to phasing out airboat operations, a network of no-motor zones will crisscross Florida Bay — the park also plans to open up Joe Bay, a crocodile habitat marked off-limits for 30 years, for catch-and-release fishing.
“It ends up giving everybody a lot, but nobody gets everything,” said park Superintendent Pedro Ramos. “I think this plan does hit that sweet spot.”
More than 100 public meetings were held to weigh the complicated uses of a park that includes trails for daytrippers, as well as a vast remote backcountry visited by anglers and wildlife enthusiasts who relish miles of shallow flats, tangled mangrove forests and a labyrinth of islands on the west coast. At the same time, the park wanted to attract concessions that might draw new visitors. The new rules are set to become final in 30 days.
“One of the topics that is very important to us is this issue of relevance,” Ramos said.
In 2011, staff members also decided to take a step back and factor in climate change, a decision that led to dramatic new designs for elevated lodgings at Flamingo Visitor Center, where the only overnight accommodations were destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005.
Among the hardest-fought changes was the move to phase out airboat operators, a decision that was written into the 1989 congressional act that expanded the park. When the 109,000 acres east of the Shark River Slough were added to the park, Congress wanted the land managed as a wilderness. But the generations of airboat operators who grew up zipping across the marshes consider themselves among the wetlands’ original stewards and argue they have a cultural heritage that should be protected.
“We’ve been around longer than the national park. The gladesmen have a history that goes back 150 years,” said Keith Price, president of the Airboat Association of Florida, whose father managed fuel pumps at Coot Bay for shrimpers while his mother ran the station restaurant. “In other national parks, they’ve turned back to the traditional use, just regulated the way they want it. It’s not like we’re asking for something that’s impossible or that’s never been done.”
But park officials say the law gave them no choice. The airboats had to go.
“We talked with those folks a lot and really tried to strike a balance,” said Fred Herling, supervisory park planner.
Airboaters who can prove they used the area in 1989 will be given non-transferable lifetime permits, while four commercial airboat operations will be brought under park management. The park plans to purchase land where the four businesses now operate along the south side of Tamiami Trail and strike concession deals with the current owners.
“It’s a good thing we’re still being allowed to operate in the national park in an area the family’s been in since 1945. The bad thing is they’re going to tell us how many runs we can have a day,” said Jesse Kennon, owner of Coopertown, a seven-boat fleet. Kennon also worried about how long the park would be willing to extend contracts.
“Rules can change. What they tell you today is not necessarily going to be the same thing 10 years from now,” he said. “Hopefully, my great-great-grandkids will be able to enjoy the Everglades in the same fashion and have a family-owned business.”
Another critical area that concerned managers is shallow Florida Bay. Ailing from decades of old flood-control measures that robbed the bay of historical freshwater flows, the bay has become increasingly salty. Populations of prey fish are down, scars crisscross flats where seagrass can take years to regrow, and guides say the bonefish that once drew anglers from around the world are vanishing.
In an effort to protect the bay, which on average is just three feet deep, park managers will start requiring boaters in the park to obtain a permit and complete an educational course. They also drafted a network of no-motor or pole-and-troll zones. The complicated grid will be available on a GPS app the park is now creating and “minimally marked to protect the wilderness character,” Herling said.
For anglers and guides, the rules could prove challenging, said Duane Baker, commodore of the Florida Keys Fishing Guides Association.
“It will be confusing, and they’re going to have to learn a new way of doing it,” he said, adding that the association has worked with park staff members for two years to understand how tides moved across the flats. “Navigating back there really isn’t for a beginning boater anyway, so I don’t know if this will help a beginning boater or if they’re going to get into more trouble.”
One drawback is the lack of law enforcement, Baker said.
“There’s days out there, you could go four or five and not see a ranger on the water,” he said.
But park officials say they plan to use fees collected from boat permits to hire more enforcement staff. And park advocates say they plan to pressure the park to follow through.
“This has been a perennial issue,” said John Adornato, regional director for the National Parks Association Conservation Association. “It used to be that both national park and [state] rangers were patrolling the waters … but the state has cut its budget, too. So there’s a direct negative effect.”
And while park managers say they took great pains to balance the needs of users with the mission to protect resources, at least one environmental group complained too little was done.
“What we were calling for is a quieter, gentler Everglades National Park,” said Matthew Schwartz, director of the South Florida Wildlands Association. By allowing even commercial airboats, he complained the park “opens up the door to status quo.”
But Adornato praised the plan, saying it elevates South Florida’s beloved wetland wilderness to “its place next to Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon.”

150831-d
Rising Tides explain how the Everglades National Park has more than just great fishing
PR Rocket.net
August 31, 2015
Catch-and-release fishing in the Florida Everglades National Park is a great opportunity to experience the thrill of the big catch, while knowing fishermen are not depleting the population of the area.
The United States National Park Service operates the Everglades National Park, which is a remarkable resource for outdoorsmen and fishermen alike. No matter what anyone’s preference, with over one third of the Everglades National Park covered by water, there is an opportunity for men and women to have an excellent fishing trip.
The very best reasons to go fishing in the Everglades National Park include snapper, sea trout, bass and bluegill! Saltwater fishing in the Florida Bay, the Ten Thousand Islands and throughout the park’s coastline reap enviable hauls, and there isn’t a soul that would be disappointed by their experience.
After all, how many areas in the world include both fresh and saltwater fishing experiences, on lakes, bays and the ocean?  While shore fishing is more limited, there are shallow water areas, shallow and deep channels and the Florida mangroves to experience for a shore-based fisherman.  While fishermen may encounter tropical fish during their Everglades National Park experience, they should be aware that there are United States and Floridian regulations limiting their ability to collect tropical fish, seahorses, starfish, conch and other indigenous non-fish. Fishermen must also obtain the appropriate licensing for either saltwater or freshwater fishing, or for the possession of species caught by these methods.  There are also regulations concerning the type of bait they can use or obtain.  Digging for bait inside the Everglades National Park is strictly prohibited, as is using live or dead fish as bait.  In addition, there are areas within the Everglades National Park which are closed to fishing, either currently or permanently.
Catch-and-release fishing in the Florida Everglades National Park is a great opportunity to experience the thrill of the big catch, while knowing fishermen are not depleting the population of the area.  In fact, the concept of catch and release fishing is very much in practice when fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas around the Everglades National Park.  The best methods recommend the quickest release process, with the least handling of the fish, to return it to its natural habitat with minimum stress and pressure.  When deep fishing, you may encounter the term “venting”.  While venting can still be a useful practice, it is no longer required by law when fishing in the Everglades National Park.
If someone is a boating fisherman, they are going to be thrilled with their fishing expedition in the Everglades National Park.  There are local boating, environmental and safety regulations to take into account, but there is also the phenomenal weather conditions nearly year round, scenery and solitude that can only be beat by a group fishing trip, and generally amazing fish-catching conditions.  Some visitors are concerned about the annual hurricanes that Florida’s coastline endures.  Shouldn’t these massive storms scatter populations and generally make a trip to the region hazardous?  In fact, it is just the opposite.  Over thousands of years, Florida’s environment has become adapted to the deadly storms, and they not only enhance the stability of the local ecosystems, they are one of the best reasons to go fishing in Everglades National Park – just not during a hurricane, please!
Distributed by Top Ten Seo Marketing
Media Contact
Company Name: Rising Tide
Contact Person: Jason             Email: risingtidecharter@gmail.com               Phone: 954-864-0592
Address:SW 88th Terrace, Cooper City, FL              Website: http://www.risingtidecharters.com

150830-
Superintendent for Big Cypress
Big Cypress Nat. Preserve – Press Release
August 30, 2015
Big Cypress National Preserve is getting a new superintendent. Tamara "Tammy" Whittington was appointed to replace Pedro Ramos, who left Big Cypress in January to take the top job at Everglades National Park. A native of Colorado and a 27-year veteran of the NPS and U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Whittington enjoys hiking, biking and kayaking - all perfect pursuits for the  Big Cypress. She's expected to start her new job in October.

150829-a
Court suit demands funds go to conservation land purchases
SWFlorida.Blogspot – by Don Browne
August 29, 2015
The Sierra Club, the Florida Wildlife Federation, St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida represented by Earthjustice filed suit today asking the courts to force the Florida Legislature to return Amendment 1 funds to a conservation land buying fund.
"We are asking for Florida’s courts to uphold the constitution as amended by the voters,” said Sierra Club Florida Conservation Chair Tom Larson. “The legislature needs to be held accountable for ignoring the will of the people."
The funds from documentary stamps on land transactions, which are expected to reach $740 million next year, were diverted by the Legislature to accounts that had nothing to do with land acquisition. Among other things, they were used to pay state executive salaries, agricultural pollution subsidies and insurance premiums.
According to the suit: “The Legislature owes the people of the State of Florida a duty to honor and effectuate the intent of the voters in the use of the funds placed in trust under this constitutional amendment.”
The November 2014 ballot summary stated:
Funds the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to acquire, restore, improve, and manage conservation lands including wetlands and forests; fish and wildlife habitat; land protecting water resources and drinking water sources, including the Everglades, and the water quality of rivers, lakes and streams; beaches and shores; outdoor recreational lands; working farms and ranches; and historic or geologic sites, by dedicating 33 percent of net revenues from the existing excise tax on documents for 20 years.
An extraordinary 75 percent of the electorate voted for Amendment 1 proving that the people of the state understand the need to protect the richness of Florida's wild heritage and unique waters.

150829-b
Florida declares state of emergency ahead of Erika
Associated Press
August 29, 2015
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Tropical Storm Erika began to lose steam Friday as it skirted along the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, but it left behind a trail of destruction that included at least a dozen people killed on the small eastern Caribbean island of Dominica, authorities said.
Heavy winds from the storm toppled trees and power lines in the Dominican Republic. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the system was expected to move north across the island of Hispaniola where, the high mountains would weaken it to a tropical depression on Saturday and possibly cause it to dissipate entirely.
There's a chance it could regain some strength off northern Cuba and people in Florida should still keep an eye on it and brace for heavy rain, said John Cagialosi, a hurricane specialist at the center. "This is a potentially heavy rain event for a large part of the state," he said.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for the entire state, which could begin seeing the effects of the system late Sunday and early Monday and officials urged residents to prepare by filling vehicle gas tanks, stockpiling food and water, and determining whether they live in an evacuation zone.
Erika's heavy rains set off floods and mudslides in Dominica that are now blamed for at least a dozen deaths, the government said. At least two dozen people remained missing and authorities warned the death toll could rise.
"There are additional bodies recovered but it is an ongoing operation," Police Chief Daniel Carbon said, declining to provide specifics. "It will take us a couple of days to recover as many bodies as we can. So the count will increase."
Erika is a particularly wet storm, and was expected to dump up to 8 inches of rain.
across the drought-stricken region.
Given how weak the storm is and how dry Puerto Rico and parts of Florida have been, "it could be a net benefit, this thing," said MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel.
The center of Erika was located about 95 miles (155 kilometers) west-southwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and was moving west at about 21 mph (33 kph), the Hurricane Center said. The storm's maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph (85 kph).
Erika drenched the popular tourist areas of Punta Cana, Samana and Puerto Plata, as well as the capital of Santo Domingo.
The storm previously slid to the south of Puerto Rico, knocking out power to more than 200,000 people and causing more than $5 million in damage to agriculture but causing no major damage or injuries.
Dominica, meanwhile, was struggling in the aftermath. Assistant Police Superintendent Claude Weekes said authorities still haven't been able to access many areas in the mountainous island because of impassable roads and bridges. "The aftermath is loads of damage," he said. "It really has been devastating."
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit urged people throughout the country to help clear streets strewn with mud and toppled trees. Skerrit said they were airlifting injured people to the hospital in Roseau.
An elderly blind man and two children were killed when a mudslide engulfed their home in the southeast of Dominica. Another man was found dead in the capital following a mudslide at his home.
People on the island told of narrowly escaping being engulfed by water as Erika downed trees and power lines while unleashing heavy floods that swept cars down streets and ripped scaffolding off some buildings.
"I was preparing to go to work when all of a sudden I heard this loud noise and saw the place flooded with water," said Shanie James, a 30-year-old mother who works at a bakery. "We had to run for survival."
Mudslides destroyed dozens of homes across Dominica, including that of 46-year-old security guard Peter Julian, who had joined friends after leaving work.
"When I returned, I saw that my house that I have lived in for over 20 years was gone," he said. "I am blessed to be alive. God was not ready for me ... I have lost everything and now have to start all over again."
Meanwhile in the Pacific, Ignacio strengthened into a hurricane. The storm's maximum sustained winds increased Thursday morning to 90 mph (150 kph).
Hurricane Ignacio was centered about 840 miles (1,350 kilometers) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and was moving west-northwest near 10 mph (17 kph).
Also in the Pacific, Jimena strengthened to a hurricane Friday morning with maximum sustained winds near 90 mph (150 kph). Jimena was centered about 1,075 miles (1,730 kilometers) southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

150828-a
Environmental groups go to court over Amendment 1
News4jax.com
August 28 2015
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Arguing that lawmakers "defied" a constitutional mandate, four environmental groups filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to force the state to shift $237 million to help carry out a conservation measure approved by voters in November.
The Florida Wildlife Federation, the St. Johns Riverkeeper, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, the Sierra Club and Florida Wildlife Federation President Manley Fuller filed the lawsuit in Leon County circuit court against Senate President Andy Gardiner, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.
The case stems from voter approval in November of "Amendment 1," which requires spending a portion of a state real-estate tax on land and water conservation efforts. Environmentalists allege that a budget approved by the Legislature in June improperly diverts portions of the conservation money to such expenses as staffing -- an allegation that legislative leaders have disputed.
The lawsuit contends that the Legislature violated the state Constitution and seeks to force Atwater to shift $237 million from a state general-revenue surplus into what is known as the "land acquisition trust fund," which is used to carry out Amendment 1.
"The Legislature owes the people of the state of Florida a duty to honor and effectuate the intent of the voters in the use of the funds placed in trust under this constitutional amendment,'' said the lawsuit, filed by attorneys with the legal group Earthjustice. "Instead, the Legislature violated its duty, violated the Constitution and violated the trust to which the voters dedicated these funds when it wrongfully diverted at least $237 million in trust funds to pay for general state expenses not allowable under the amendment."
Related:           Amendment 1 backers sue lawmakers         Fla. Legislature passes $78.7...         Amendment 1 money not going where...
Where is Florida's environmental...         Senate leader blasts '...

150828-b
Florida senators file anti-fracking legislation Monday
Central Florida Future - by Deanna Ferrante, Senior Staff Writer
August 28, 2015
Environmental and health concerns have begun to motivate many Floridians to speak out against the fracking drilling process.
On Monday, Sen. Darren Soto (D-Orlando) and Sen. Dwight Bullard (D-Miami) filed legislation that aims to ban fracking in Florida. The same day, Soto and other supporters for the anti-fracking legislation held a press conference outside the Orange County Administration building.
Soto spoke to members of the media about the dangers of fracking and the potential consequences the state could face as a result of the practice.
“We in Florida have a tradition of conservation,” Soto said. “We have a tradition of protecting our rivers, our water bodies, our beaches, our springs.”
He also said that, on top of the environmental concerns, the drilling process could harm the state’s economy.
“It’s more than just our water supply. It also has to do with the fact that we have a quality of life that we have come to enjoy,” he said. “If we have oil shooting up through the ground in these areas, it would not only wreck our quality of life, it could wreck millions of jobs in our tourism industry.”
Soto and Bullard have been trying to get their bill on the agenda for months. Last session, a pro-fracking bill made it to the Senate floor, but did not pass.
This year, Soto and Bullard made adjustments to the bill. It now includes acid simulation and other manners of fracking that weren’t in the last copy.
Fracking, which is short for hydraulic fracturing, is a process that involves drilling into the earth and then releasing a high-pressure water mixture at the rock to extract oil and natural gas. The water is mixed with sand and chemicals. It has garnered a lot of controversy throughout its environmental impact nationwide. It is popular in many of the states, including Oklahoma, Wyoming and Pennsylvania.
Florida has only had two fracking cases so far. One of them involved the Texas-based company Dan. A Hughes Co. illegally using the practice just a few miles away from the Everglades in Naples in 2013.
Some opponents of fracking said that it is the novelty of the practice in the state that is so worrying. Florida has a different foundation because of its limestone structure, which makes it prone to sinkholes.
“You know what happens when the water table drops and then you put any seismic activity into a sinkhole-prone area. I mean, this is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Eric Rollings, Orange County Soil and Water Conservation chairman.
That is why Soto has stressed the preventive nature of his new bill.
“If local governments don’t act right now, they'd be preempted eventually by state law,” Soto said.
Sen. Geraldine Thompson, who also attended the press conference, said in addition to concerns about economic effects fracking could have on our tourism industry, there are also many health concerns involving the drilling process.
“Anytime that you have things that seep down into the aquifer, and then it contaminates the drinking water, you’re going to have health issues.” Thompson said. “It expands chemicals now coming into Florida, and I believe that we are going to have even more health problems.”
Rollings said that State Representative Rene “Coach P” Plasencia, who represents District 49 where UCF is located, might also give his support for the bill, but hasn’t yet made an official announcement.
Soto said this a problem that students should be especially concerned about.
“Young people should be concerned because you all are going to be the ones to inherit this state some day,” he said. “I think it’s critical that we leave it in as good, if not better, condition than when we in the legislature became stewards of it.”
Lisa Ray, a UCF alumna and associate supervisor for Orange County Soil and Water Conservation, agreed with Soto. She said that students should think about how water contamination could put their health at risk.
“I feel that the people of Florida should not be test subjects,” Ray said. “The government of the state should be looking out for the public safety of the citizens of Florida first and foremost.”
Rollings said that students should also think about their futures, especially as potential homeowners.
“If you want to buy a house, this could affect your property values” Rollings said. “Especially with students coming right out of college. They need opportunities. They’re settled with so much student debt, that anything that could affect their quality of life … it could be devastating to them.”

150826-a
20-year old Florida study shows reduction in phosphorus levels
AgProfessional - by Kimberly Moore Wilmoth, University of Florida Extension
August 26, 2015
A 20-year plan to dramatically reduce phosphorus levels of agricultural water entering the Florida Everglades is working, thanks to proper implementation of best management practices by growers, training by the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and cooperation with state and federal agencies.
"It is a partnership that has worked," said Samira Daroub, a professor of soil and water science at the UF/IFAS Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade. "It is one of the success stories in the area and also in the country."
This year, the agricultural area has seen a phosphorus reduction of 79 percent, with an average in past years of more than 50 percent. State law requires a 25 percent reduction. Monitoring by the South Florida Water Management District shows an average number of 94 parts per billion of phosphorus in the water - substantially better than the 500 ppb in 1986.
"The story is much bigger than even this astounding result," said Jack Payne, senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources at UF/IFAS. "The marketplace won't always take care of places like the Everglades, and that's why the work of public land-grant university scientists is so important. It's science in the service of society."
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services works with UF/IFAS researchers and personnel from the South Florida Water Management District to develop and adopt best management practices (BMPs) for different types of agricultural operations. The BMPs are designed to benefit water quality and water conservation, while maintaining or enhancing agricultural production.
In 2014, the total phosphorus load reduction was 63 percent, attesting to the success of the partnership between the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) growers, the South Florida Water Management District, and University of Florida personnel, said Daroub, who has worked since 2002 to help farmers with BMPs in reducing phosphorus. She added that they have taken a three-pronged approach:
- Soil testing before fertilizing to see how much fertilizer, if any, is necessary;
- Regulating when and how much water can be pumped off of the farms;
- And cleaning out sediment from the canals before farm water is released into a maze of waterways that lead into the Everglades.
Anyone farming in the EAA must obtain a permit to do so - and they have to attend a BMP training workshop to get and maintain that permit. Daroub and researchers conduct the twice-a-year workshops for nearly 250 farmers, ranchers and their personnel, including U.S. Sugar Corporation, Florida Crystals and Sugar Growers Co-operative - the three largest farming entities in the EAA.
Paul Allen is co-owner of R.C. Hatton Farms, Inc, which grows a variety of vegetables and sugar cane in Pahokee. He said the board of the South Florida Water Management District, environmentalists and the entire audience gave growers a standing ovation this month when the 79 percent reduction was announced and growers were honored for their efforts.
"It's something I'll never forget," said Allen, who was there with his son. "We're all really happy about it and really proud."
The UF/IFAS program also focuses on new and innovative best management research. Daroub and researchers are currently conducting a five-year paired farm study to evaluate the impact of floating aquatic vegetation on sediment properties and phosphorus loads from eight cooperating farms within the EAA.
"Controlling floating aquatic vegetation may help reduce phosphorus loads on certain farms by reducing the generation of highly mobile organic sediments," she said.
The Everglades is a 2 million acre wetland ecosystem that begins in Central Florida and empties into Florida Bay. In 1986, a widespread algal bloom infested one-fifth of Lake Okeechobee, creating a gunk-filled soupy mixture that was a direct result of fertilizers from the EAA. Tested water showed 500 parts per billion of phosphorus near farms in the area; decades of draining fertilizer-laden water into the Everglades was slowing destroying the famed River of Grass.

150826-b
Rising sea could engulf Florida, Tokyo
Radio New Zealand
August 26, 2015
Sea levels are rising around the world and the latest satellite data suggests that one metre or more is unavoidable in the next 100-200 years, NASA scientists have said.
Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than ever, and oceans are warming and expanding much more rapidly than they have in years past.
Rising seas will have "profound impacts" around the world, NASA earth science division director Michael Freilich said.
"More than 150 million people, most of them in Asia, live within one meter of present sea level," he said.
Low-lying US states such as Florida are at risk of disappearing, as are some of the world's major cities such as Singapore and Tokyo.
"It may entirely eliminate some Pacific island nations," he said.
There is no doubt that global coastlines will look very different in years to come, US space agency experts told reporters on a conference call to discuss the latest data on sea level rise.
"Right now we have committed to probably more than three feet (one metre) of sea level rise, just based on the warming we have had so far," said Steve Nerem of the University of Colorado, and leader of NASA's sea level rise team.
"It will very likely get worse in the future.
"The biggest uncertainty is predicting how quickly the polar ice sheets will melt."
The last major predictions were made in 2013 by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Based on a consensus of international researchers, the IPCC said global sea levels would likely rise from one to three feet by the end of the century.
Dr Nerem said the latest satellite data suggests the higher end of that range is more likely.
NASA's predictions are based on a series of altimeters that measure ocean height from space.
NASA and French space agency CNES began launching satellites to measure sea level in 1992.
Rising seas will have "profound impacts" around the world, NASA Earth Science Division director Michael Freilich said.
"More than 150 million people, most of them in Asia, live within one meter of present sea level," he said.
"The instruments are so sensitive that if they were mounted on a commercial jetliner flying at 1,200 metres they could detect the bump caused by a dime lying flat on the ground," Dr Freilich said.
The world's oceans have risen an average of almost 7.6 cm since 1992, with some locations rising more than 23 cm due to natural variation, according to these instruments, known as Topex/Poseidon, and its successors, Jason-1 and Jason-2, NASA said.
Much of the extra water is coming from melting ice and glaciers. Scientists are particularly concerned about the Greenland ice sheet, which shed an average of 303 gigatons of ice a year over the past decade.
Also, the Antarctic ice sheet has lost an average of 118 gigatons a year.
"One of the things we have learned is that the ice sheets are melting faster than we had previously suspected," said Josh Willis, oceanographer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"Sometime in the next 20 years we will probably see faster than average sea level rise, so we have to be prepared."
Eric Rignot, glaciologist at the University of California, Irvine, said that as the planet warms, there is no reason to expect that ice sheets will melt at the same pace as they did in the past.
According to the laws of physics, they will deteriorate faster. And they already are.
"We are not talking about futuristic scenarios," Dr Rignot said.

150825-
The fight to save the Everglades from oil drilling
FIUSM.com - by Yoevelyn Rodriguez
August 25, 2015
Even after Congress passed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in 2000, a framework and guide to restore, protect and preserve the water resources of central and southern Florida, the state still has no law prohibiting oil drilling in the Everglades.
The fight to save, conserve and restore the site has been going on for decades and activists are aware that there are many companies interested in the resources that the wetlands have to offer.
Kanter Real Estate, LLC is one of these companies.
On July 8, 2015, the Miami-based Kanter organization applied for a permit to drill an oil well in the West Broward section of the Everglades, with help from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, an agency charged with protecting the environment.
A long string of legislative work aimed at ensuring the survival of the Everglades has been slowly developing since 1991, when the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection Act was enacted in order to encourage the restoration of the system.
The act aims to restore the Everglades and provide water management districts with clear tools for ecosystem restoration.
Since then, at least seven other pieces of legislation granting more protection to the area have passed, including the CERP.
The Restoration plan will cost $10.9 billion and 35 years to implement, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
In Florida, actions taken toward passing laws that would ban fracking in the Everglades –“a form of well stimulation treatment for the exploration and production of oil or natural gas,” as defined on Bill HB 169 – have been unsuccessful.
Gary Rand, professor in the Department of Earth and Environment and director of the ecotoxicology and risk assessment laboratory at the University’s Biscayne Bay Campus, and Piero Gardinali, professor in the Department of Chemistry, have conducted research in support of Natural Resource Damage Assessments.
“[If the Kanter Company drills in the Everglades], then there is a potential for disturbing the system,” said Rand. “There are many aspects to consider.”
Since the 1950s, the Kanter family has owned, roughly, 20,000 acres in the Water Conservation Area 3, according to the paperwork submitted for the permit.  
The Everglades is home to a number of endangered species like the Florida Panther, the Florida Bonneted Bat and the Florida Leafwing Butterfly. The swampland is also known for contributing to South Florida’s water supply and flood control.  
“People only think about the chemicals that are being put into a system, but there are a number of layers to consider,” said Rand. “Also, aside from drilling, there are aspects related to the management of the operation that could disrupt the environment.”
Rand and Gardinali provided toxicology support during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also known as the BP oil spill.
“Remember, there are species in these systems that have never been in contact with people and suddenly you are bringing physical disruption, noise, etc. which disturb habitats,” said Rand.  
Aside from the BP oil spill, Rand has been responsible for evaluating environmental and mammalian data for toxicity and risk evaluation posed by chemical wastes in the Love Canal disaster, which became national news when the city of Niagara Falls bought land belonging to the Hooker Chemical Company to build new schools and homes.
The site had been used to store chemical waste by the Hooker Company and was unsuitable for human habitation.
Rand has witnessed the magnitude of damage caused to the environment by waste from oil, gas and chemical production.
“You can tell me there is enough oil for the whole world in there, and I still would proceed with extreme caution when it comes to drilling in the Everglades,” he said.

150824-a
Lots of rain could lead to sinkholes on Florida's west coast
Associated Press
August 24, 2015
 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The onslaught of rain that drenched parts of the state over the past month unleashed widespread flooding that left the ground soppy and saturated.
Geologists say that under all the water weight, another problem could be brewing out of sight: sinkholes.
The Tampa Bay Times reports experts are emphasizing the importance of watching for warning signs like dips in the yard or new structure cracks in buildings and sidewalks.
Big rains over an extended period of time weigh down the soil and sand that make up the earth's surface, increasing the likelihood that it will collapse into holes in the bedrock below and form depressions or sinkholes.
In Lake County a sinkhole measuring approximately 65 feet deep opened on Sunday. Some residents are under a boil water notice.

150824-b
Pythons dooming the Everglades? Documentary looks at giant snake invasion
Palm Beach Post – by Barbara Marshall
August 24, 2015
They’re here to stay.
That’s one of the messages of a new documentary by filmmaker and former Miami Herald reporter Oscar Corral called Exotic Invaders:  Pythons in the Everglades.
The film from Explica Media airs Wednesday night at 8 p.m. on PBS’s WPBT, Channel 2.
The station is included on most Palm Beach County cable systems.
Inspired by Florida’s 2013 python hunt, Corral spent more than a year tramping the levees and swamps of the southern Everglades following hunters in search of the giant, secretive snakes that have become the ‘Glades’ apex predators.
His conclusion?  There is no practical solution to getting rid of them.
“Pythons are most likely going to alter the Everglades ecosystem forever,” he said.
Since 2013, scientists have been warning about the almost complete elimination of mammals in the southern Everglades due to the explosion in the python population.  No one knows how many of these southeast Asian natives are roaming Southern Florida’s wilderness.
Ruben Ramirez of Miami, one of the state’s most successful python hunters, is featured in Exotic Invaders: Pythons in the Everglades. (Post photo/Greg Lovett)
Some estimates are as high as tens of thousands.
“It’s a disaster,” said Corral. “Our lesson is how to prevent a similar one with another invasive species.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission last week announced a new Python Challenge hunt scheduled for January 16 – February 14, in hopes of making a dent in the python population. This time, some public lands in Everglades National Park will be open to snake hunters, according to the FWC.
Jason Leon and friends captured the largest python in Florida history in southwest Miami Dade County in 2013. The 18-foot, 8-inch snake weighed nearly 130 pounds. (Photo/Jason Leon)
But the odds are in the snakes’ favor:  In 2013, about 1,500 hunters descended on the Everglades for the hunt, capturing just 68 pythons.
Corral’s documentary will air on other public television stations beginning in November.

150824-c
SWFWMD agenda includes controversial mangrove destruction permit
Florida Water Daily
August 24, 2015
From the Bradenton Times (link):
Pat Neal’s development needs a permit by [SWFWMD] to destroy mangroves in order to build four homes on Perico Island. [SWFWMD] approved a permit for destroying the high quality mangroves on the island, adjacent to the pristine Florida waters of Anna Maria Sound. Though an administrative law judge has recommended that the water management district’s board deny the order, the board will cast a final vote on Tuesday.
More information is available on the Governing Board agenda.

150824-d
UF/IFAS Program highly successful in keeping Phosphorus out of the Everglades
BUF/IFAS News - by Kimberly Moore Wilmoth
August, 24 2015
This year, the agricultural area has seen a phosphorus reduction of 79 percent.
Source Newsroom: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
Newswise — GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A 20-year plan to dramatically reduce phosphorus levels of agricultural water entering the Florida Everglades is working, thanks to proper implementation of best management practices by growers, training by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and cooperation with state and federal agencies.
“It is a partnership that has worked,” said Samira Daroub, a professor of soil and water science at the UF/IFAS Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade. “It is one of the success stories in the area and also in the country.”
This year, the agricultural area has seen a phosphorus reduction of 79 percent, with an average in past years of more than 50 percent. State law requires a 25 percent reduction. Monitoring by the South Florida Water Management District shows an average number of 94 parts per billion of phosphorus in the water - substantially better than the 500 ppb in 1986.
“The story is much bigger than even this astounding result,” said Jack Payne, senior vice president of agriculture and natural resources at UF/IFAS. “The marketplace won’t always take care of places like the Everglades, and that’s why the work of public land-grant university scientists is so important. It’s science in the service of society.”
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services works with UF/IFAS researchers and personnel from the South Florida Water Management District to develop and adopt best management practices (BMPs) for different types of agricultural operations. The BMPs are designed to benefit water quality and water conservation, while maintaining or enhancing agricultural production.
In 2014, the total phosphorus load reduction was 63 percent, attesting to the success of the partnership between the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) growers, the South Florida Water Management District, and University of Florida personnel, said Daroub, who has worked since 2002 to help farmers with BMPs in reducing phosphorus. She added that they have taken a three-pronged approach:
- Soil testing before fertilizing to see how much fertilizer, if any, is necessary;
- Regulating when and how much water can be pumped off of the farms;
- And cleaning out sediment from the canals before farm water is released into a maze of waterways that lead into the Everglades.
Anyone farming in the EAA must obtain a permit to do so – and they have to attend a BMP training workshop to get and maintain that permit. Daroub and researchers conduct the twice-a-year workshops for nearly 250 farmers, ranchers and their personnel, including U.S. Sugar Corporation, Florida Crystals and Sugar Growers Co-operative – the three largest farming entities in the EAA.
Paul Allen is co-owner of R.C. Hatton Farms, Inc, which grows a variety of vegetables and sugar cane in Pahokee. He said the board of the South Florida Water Management District, environmentalists and the entire audience gave growers a standing ovation this month when the 79 percent reduction was announced and growers were honored for their efforts.
”It’s something I’ll never forget,” said Allen, who was there with his son. “We’re all really happy about it and really proud.”
The UF/IFAS program also focuses on new and innovative best management research. Daroub and researchers are currently conducting a five-year paired farm study to evaluate the impact of floating aquatic vegetation on sediment properties and phosphorus loads from eight cooperating farms within the EAA.
“Controlling floating aquatic vegetation may help reduce phosphorus loads on certain farms by reducing the generation of highly mobile organic sediments,” she said.
The Everglades is a 2 million acre wetland ecosystem that begins in Central Florida and empties into Florida Bay. In 1986, a widespread algal bloom infested one-fifth of Lake Okeechobee, creating a gunk-filled soupy mixture that was a direct result of fertilizers from the EAA. Tested water showed 500 parts per billion of phosphorus near farms in the area; decades of draining fertilizer-laden water into the Everglades was slowing destroying the famed River of Grass.

150823









$ 10 million Prize

150823-
Contest pursues solution to algae
$10 MILLION PRIZE
ToledoBlade – by Tom Henry, Staff Writer
August 23, 2015
Problem grows around world
Calling all entrepreneurs: If you have what it takes to stop the world’s growing algae menace, you could win $10 million.
The unusual bounty is being offered by the Everglades Foundation of Palmetto Bay, Fla., near Miami.
Applications will be accepted starting next June, with another six years of review. In addition to the grand prize, the foundation is dividing up another $1.2 million in prize money over six years to runners-up. In all, 18 prizes and a total of $11.2 million will be awarded.
And while initial stories about it suggested the focus was South Florida, the prize director and other foundation officials told The Blade in a conference call last Thursday they are seeking proposals for global solutions, including western Lake Erie.
In fact, the foundation is negotiating with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for a site in that Canadian province where the top choice could be tested for two years. A two-year pilot program will likely be required in Ontario, possibly in the western Lake Erie region, and along Florida’s Kissimmee River before a winner is selected, Sonia Rodriguez, prize director, said.
The prize is the largest known incentive of its kind to tackle a global water-quality issue, surpassing a $1 million offer made in 2014 by Tulane University and the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation for science-based solutions to mysterious pockets of little or no oxygen in water, known as “dead zones.”
Louisiana has dead zones in the Mississippi River, which is fed nutrients by 33 upstream states and two Canadian provinces.
But dead zones also exist in Lake Erie and other bodies of water around the world.
Whether it’s algae or dead zones, common denominators for water problems are phosphorus, nitrogen, and other fertilizers.
Since the modern era of sewage treatment was ushered in by the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, most of the general problem of excessive nutrients has been associated with different forms of agricultural runoff — the combination of commercially made fertilizers containing phosphorus and nitrogen, and the spreading of animal manure. Much of the focus of the latter has been on megafarms classified as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
Climate change and invasive species don’t cause algae, but are believed to be major contributors because of how they exacerbate the problem.
The Everglades Foundation’s $10 million prize was announced in 2014, but is getting more attention now because of Lake Erie’s algal problems over the past two summers and the upcoming launch of a website for the contest.
The goal is to identify the most “cost-effective solution to remove phosphorus from water bodies” across the world, Ms. Rodriguez said.
The winning idea will have applicability throughout the world, foundation officials said.
Western Lake Erie’s most dominant form of algae, microcystis, has been on the rise globally.
At a symposium sponsored by the National Science Foundation and held at Bowling Green State University in April, scientists learned that microcystis is especially bad in China’s Lake Taihu. Hans Paerl, a distinguished marine and environmental sciences professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, told attendees it can bloom there for nine months at a time.
Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, China, Japan, South Korea, and Uganda were identified as some of the algal hotspots outside of North America, though not all are necessarily because of microcystis.
“We’re dealing with the root cause,” G. Melodie Naja, the foundation’s chief scientist, said. “This is basically phosphorus.”
The foundation’s contest website is scheduled to go live Oct. 5. Check www.evergladesfoundation.org in the coming weeks for details, including the Internet address, Ms. Rodriguez said.
She said the Everglades Foundation has already received requests for information from 140 potential applicants, many of them teams of university students and scholars. Inquiries have come from many parts of the world outside of North America, such as the Netherlands, Columbia, and Singapore, officials said.
The foundation has hired former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Sir Harold Kroto, a Florida State University chemist and co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to lead the contest’s advisory council, which is expected to have up to 15 experts reviewing proposals. The foundation in June hired an Austin-based company, Verb, to manage the prize.
“We’re really trying to create a community of people to come around in a science-driven way,” according to Maurice Ferre, a member of the foundation’s board of directors and the founding president and chief executive officer of MAKO, a developer of innovative techniques for robotic orthopedic surgery. “The cost-effectiveness is important.”

150822-
DEP welcomes public input on watershed work plans
FDEP News Release
August 22, 2015
Meetings provide opportunity for stakeholders to contribute local perspective and priorities~
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - On Aug. 26, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will kick off a series of five meetings around the state to take public input on the department’s water quality assessment determinations and restoration priorities. The meetings will be held in Stuart, Fort Myers, Temple Terrace, Daytona Beach and Tallahassee respectively.
A complete list of workshop dates and locations can be found here.
At the public meetings, department staff will explain the results of basin-specific assessments for waters in the Apalachicola-Chipola River, Lower St. Johns River, Middle St. Johns River, Tampa Bay Tributaries, St. Lucie-Loxahatchee River and Charlotte Harbor basins. The department will share information used in developing the preliminary Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) work plans, and will present the process for prioritizing local watersheds for site-specific TMDL development within each basin.
“The department is focused on improving the water quality of Florida’s waters,” said Tom Frick, director of DEP’s Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration. “We are continuing to work with local stakeholders to identify waters that do not achieve standards and develop restoration goals. These meetings provide an opportunity for stakeholders to contribute local perspective and priorities to better inform our watershed work plans."
Each year, the department performs water quality assessments for one-fifth of the state through a rotating watershed basin management approach. Through this approach, the department manages water resources within their natural boundaries or basins. The state’s 52 major hydrologic basins are divided into five groups, allowing the department to assess all 52 basins across the state over the course of a five-year cycle, one group per year. The assessments are used to identify waters that do not meet Florida’s water-quality standards and are in need of restoration. Those waters that are identified as “impaired” are then prioritized for development of a restoration goal known as a TMDL, or total maximum daily load. The TMDL identifies the maximum amount of a specific pollutant that may be present in a given water body for it to remain healthy and functional. Based on the restoration goal, the department, in conjunction with local stakeholders, develops and implements a restoration plan to re-establish the water body's health.

150821-a
Alachua County farm partners with SJRWMD to conserve water
Florida Water Daily
August 21, 2015
From the SJRWMD Press Release (link):
Brown’s Farm in Alachua County recently received $94,000 from the St. Johns River Water Management District and is putting that funding to good use. The grower is installing a more efficient irrigation system that will conserve water and produce quality crop yields.
Roy Brown grows a variety of fruits and vegetables on his farm that are sold seasonally to the public at his roadside farm market in Orange Heights. Producing crops with the new irrigation system will decrease groundwater withdrawals, reduce nutrient runoff and provide springs and waterway protection. Additionally, Brown plans to utilize weather station and evapotranspiration data to more accurately time irrigation to the crops.
Utilization of these new approaches will conserve more than 2 million gallons of water per year and reduce nutrient loading by more than 2,000 pounds of total nitrogen and 700 pounds of total phosphorus per year.
“Farming today requires resource conservation for sustainability,” Brown said. “This project will help increase production and quality of produce and increase irrigation efficiency for water conservation. I appreciate the assistance provided by the St. Johns River Water Management District Board because without their help this project would be cost prohibitive.”
“Mr. Brown’s operation is exactly the kind of innovative project we want to encourage,” said District Executive Director Ann Shortelle. “The project increases production while conserving water.”
The District’s Agricultural Cost-Share Program was created this year to encourage cooperative projects between agricultural producers and the District that conserve water and reduce nutrient loading. The District’s Governing Board approved $3.59 million for projects throughout the District in July.

150821-b
Kudos to farmers for water-quality improvements
Palm Beach Post - Point of View by Joe Collins Sebring, FL, senior vice president at Lykes Bros. Inc.
August 21, 2015
Florida farmers are being recognized for their efforts to help restore the Everglades and improve water quality, verifying that their on-farm cleanup programs are making a big difference. The South Florida Water Management District recently announced a 79 percent reduction in the annual level of phosphorus flowing from Florida sugar cane and vegetable farms south of Lake Okeechobee, one of the nation’s most productive farming regions, known as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).
Even as debates regarding Everglades restoration have continued over the past two decades, farmers in South Florida have been actively working every day to help clean up our ecosystems. This good news about 2015’s phosphorus reductions is just the latest measure of this success.
As a former chairman of the Governing Board of SFWMD, I congratulate the region’s farmers for taking an active role in protecting our environment. As a result, nearly 95 percent of the Everglades today is meeting the 10-parts-per-billion water-quality standard.
A common misconception is that farm fertilizers are the source of phosphorus on sugar cane farms. The rich, organic “muck” soils south of Lake Okeechobee naturally are high in phosphorus. Therefore, the main strategy since the start of the program to reduce phosphorus has been to keep soil sediments on the farms rather than discharging soil with water flowing off of them.
Local sugar cane and vegetable farmers have played a major role in cleaning the water flowing south through a program of innovative best management practices (BMPs). These on-farm practices — paid by the farmers — were researched and developed in conjunction with scientists at the University of Florida and its Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
EAA farmers were the first in Florida to implement extensive BMP programs. In fact, their on-farm water- and soil-management techniques have served as the model for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ BMP program, which now covers farms, ranches, nurseries and other agricultural operations.
Farmers are clearly making a difference in water quality. Everyone with a stake in Everglades restoration should be encouraged by the sustained, 20-year success of the EAA’s on-farm programs. It’s further proof that farmers have a stake in helping the region solve its water problems.

150820-a
Amid Miami Beach pump controversy, Commission candidate dives into "foul" water
Miami New Times - by Jess Swanson
August 20, 2015
As Miami Beach is midway into a $300 million project to install dozens of anti-flooding pumps around the island, the jury is still out on their effectiveness at battling sea level rise and tidal flooding. But some residents say they're sure about one thing: That the pumps are flooding Biscayne Bay with garbage and filthy water.
Mayor Philip Levine and his staff insist that's not that case, arguing less wastewater than before now hits the bay. New commission candidate Isaiah Mosley, who is a scientist by day, decided to get to the bottom of the problem. So earlier this month, the 33-year-old walked over to the pump — snorkel, fins, and underwater camera in tow. He jotted down his scientific observations and then dove in.
“My first thought was ‘This is going to be disgusting’,” Mosley tells New Times. “My second thought was, ‘Well, I’ve been in worse’.”
And he has. Originally from Niceville, Florida, Mosley graduated from Florida State University with a degree in biology and chemistry and then took a job as an environmental scientist with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. For two years he worked on the Lake Okeechobee watershed, and then five years ago, he moved to Miami Beach to work in the ecological branch of an engineering firm.
Frustrated with how the city commission tackled important environmental issues (like sea level rise), Mosley decided to run for a seat this year. "My specialty is in marine and freshwater work," Mosley explains. "I'm a candidate for city commission and I've also been trying to tell people about these pumps, or at the very least give them accurate information."
In the water, Mosley noted that the yellow turbidity curtain — which is meant to contain sediment stirred up from the pump's pressure — had at least a one-foot gap from the sea wall. The debris was mostly leaking out from there. He said the curtain wasn't properly installed.
From the sea floor looking up, Mosley's video reveals a whirl of debris. Mosley is most concerned about what happens when the pumps are turned off and everything sets. If it lands on coral, it could destroy it. Compared to a pre-pump construction survey, he noted an 80 percent reduction in coral in the area.
In the water, Mosley noted that the yellow turbidity curtain — which is meant to contain sediment stirred up from the pump's pressure — had at least a one-foot gap from the sea wall. The debris was mostly leaking out from there. He said the curtain wasn't properly installed.
From the sea floor looking up, Mosley's video reveals a whirl of debris. Mosley is most concerned about what happens when the pumps are turned off and everything sets. If it lands on coral, it could destroy it. Compared to a pre-pump construction survey, he noted an 80 percent reduction in coral in the area.
"My thoughts and most of involved in this are those that those curtains are absolutely useless," Conlin says. "Picture the drapes on your windows blowing in the wind. That's what they look like when they turn those pumps on. The city keeps conveniently shooting and posting photos when the pumps are off."

150820-b
BOCC sides with anti-fracking crowd
Pensacola News Journal – by Thomas St.Myer
August 20, 2015
Escambia County Commissioner Wilson Robertson (District 1) was one of two commissioners to vote against the resolution to support legislation for a statewide fracking ban.
BOCC approves resolution supporting legislation providing a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, acid fracturing, and well stimulation performed for the purposes of exploration or production of oil or natural gas.
Escambia 13th of 67 state counties to approve resolution
A chorus of applause erupted from a vocal contingent of about 20 spectators, wearing “I support a Florida fracking ban” blue stickers Thursday night after a lively debate among the Escambia County commissioners ended in their favor.
A groundswell to ban hydraulic fracking in Florida secured support from the Escambia County commissioners by a narrow 3-2 vote. The approved resolution supports legislation providing a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing, acid fracturing, and well stimulation performed for the purposes of exploration or production of oil or natural gas.
Hydraulic fracturing is an oil-drilling technique in which sand, water and chemicals are injected into the ground to fracture oil-bearing shale rock, allowing oil and gas to be extracted.
Escambia is the 13th of 67 counties in Florida to support legislation for the statewide ban.
All 10 of the public speakers at the BOCC meeting spoke against fracking. Two of the speakers traveled from Tallahassee to persuade the commissions to approve the resolution.
“I understand the desire to move away from dependence of foreign oil, this can be achieved, but it should not be achieved at the expense of our environment,” said Amy Datz of Tallahassee. “Our water here in the Panhandle is precious, our most precious resource. If we don’t have water, we have nothing.”
Earth Ethics Executive Director Mary Gutierrez and 350 Pensacola Director Elaine Sargent paired up to lead the local effort.
“We see fracking as just another one of those fossil fuel industries, part of the industry that needs to end so we can make that transition sooner to clean energy. That’s mostly why it’s dear to my heart,” Sargent said.
Pensacola resident Larry Chamblin said, “Does anyone really believe these chemicals can be injected into the earth without endangering our aquifers and drinking water? I do not.”
The concerns expressed by public failed to persuade two of the commissioners, though.
The same crowd that erupted in applause when the resolution passed, let out a chorus of boos on a few earlier occasions when commissioners Wilson Robertson (District 1) and Doug Underhill (District 2) voiced their opposition to the ban.
“We do not have enough information to make a decision,” Underhill said.
Robertson cited his ignorance on the scientific issues, the fact the Water District Management decided against taking a stand on fracking, and feeling uncomfortable with telling state legislatures how they should vote as reasons he opposed supporting the ban.
“I don’t even know how my Republican governor feels about this. This is really a government issue,” said Robertson, who noted a 3-2 vote tells state legislatures the county is divided over the issue.
Commissioner Grover Robinson IV (District 4) favored the resolution, but he shared some of the concerns of the two dissenters. At one point, he suggested an addendum that they support the ban on fracking unless state legislatures provide proof of how fracking benefits Florida.
That prompted Robertson to say, “It sounded like the quote I heard one of our elected officials say, ‘Half my friends are for it. Half my friends are against it. So I’ll have to go with my friends.”
Commissioners Lumon May (District 3) and Steven Barry (District 5) favored the resolution without the addendum and Robinson dropped the matter.
“I know the injection of chemicals into our natural ground, whether it be soil or water, causes contamination,” May said.
Sargent said the grassroots movement to convince state legislatures to ban fracking will carry on as coalitions of environmental organizations in other counties pursue the same resolution.
The House of Representatives passed a fracking regulation bill last session, prohibiting the department from issuing permits for fracturing until a study of the practice and rule-making are completed, but the Senate tabled the bill after the House shut down its portion of the legislative session.

150820-c
Everglades protection events being held this weekend
Sun Sentinel - by David Fleshler
August 20, 2015
Love the Everglades Movement plans events this weekend in Miami-Dade
Interested in what you can do to help the Everglades? Two days of workshops, talks and performances devoted to the Everglades will take place in Miami-Dade County this week, at events organized by the Love the Everglades Movement.
Speakers at the free events will discuss water pollution, the proposed paved bike path across the Everglades, oil drilling and many other issues.
The Saturday portion, sponsored by the Miccosukee Tribe, will take place at the Miccosukee Resort & Convention Center on Tamiami Trail, with live entertainment and tables hosted by environmental groups. The Sunday portion will break into more in-depth, small-group workshops on how activists can help the Everglades. It will take place at Florida International University's Graham Center on the university's main campus.
"This is a great educational opportunity," said the Rev. Houston Cypress, a symposium organizer and Miccosukee member. "We encourage teachers, students, artists, community leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested to attend. If you care about the Everglades, it is worth the effort to get involved."
For more information, go to www.lovetheeverglades.org

150820-d
Group appeals water permit for cattle operation
WCJB.com
August 20, 2015
MARION COUNTY, Fla. --  The Florida Defenders of the Environment, and the St. Johns Riverkeeper, filed notice of appeal for the water permit that granted Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach's Ft. McCoy cattle operation - Sleepy Creek Lands - 1.5 million gallons of water per day.
Defenders president Steve Robitaille says the permit is a "a recipe for disaster."
According to Robitaille, 158 million pounds of manure, 11 million gallons of urine and  700 thousand pounds of nitrogen is what will be running off into the water supply.
"You take a river that is stressed and you add to this 1.46 million gallon withdrawal," he says, "and then dump all these materials on that property - essentially you have a recipe for catastrophe."
Stronach announced Wednesday a $125,000 donation to North Marion High School instead of the 15 million dollar football complex that was promised back in May. 
In July, the water management district approved 1.5 million gallons for the next twenty years. A permit, Robitaille says, is a death sentence to resources.
According to Robitaille, water clarity and algae blooms are evidence of the impacts.
"These rivers and springs are no longer what they were."
In a statement to TV20, a representative of Sleepy Creek says: 
"The appeal comes as little surprise.  We appreciate the work of the St. John's Water Management District staff, the administrative law judge, and the full board of the Water Management District in the consideration of our case.
We believe that the 5th District Court of Appeal will agree with all of them that the issuance of the permit is consistent with Florida law." 
Robitaille hopes the challenge reminds everyone to think about where their water is coming from.
"It's sort of invisible and because it seems to still be coming out of our tap we think there's an infinite amount of it and we know from our science that's not the case."
He says rivers in North Central Florida are already at alarming levels. 
"Before it got out that tap it was running underneath their feet from aquifers at historic low flow."
Changes he and other environmentalists plan to keep fighting to prevent. 

150819-a
EPA’s new Waters of the U.S. rule threatens to “micromanage” property owners
SaintPetersBlog - by Ryan Ray
August 19, 2015
According to a new report released by the conservative James Madison Institute Wednesday, new federal regulations set to be implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency at month’s end could be a threat to the property rights of Floridians.
The study, entitled “‘Waters of the U.S.': A Case Study in Government Abuse” comes as the EPA prepares to enforce new rules designed to clarify protections set forth in the 1972 Clean Water Act.
The JMI report, authored by attorneys M. Reed Hopper and Mark Miller, called the new rules “a coast-to-coast power play” designed to give the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expanded authority over “with absurdly few exceptions, nearly any wet area” in the country.
“This expansion of federal power may be unrivaled in American federal regulatory history,” the report contends. “The agencies’ new rule exceeds federal jurisdiction and usurps the power of the States, including Florida’s right to manage local land and water resources. It nullifies constitutional limits on federal authority and its implementation puts virtually all waters and much of the land in Florida under the control of the Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA.”
In a release Wednesday, the Tallahassee-based libertarian think tank emphasized findings in the study that the revised rule “is very vague, leaving much to interpretation” such that owners or tracts near navigable waters may find it “difficult… to clearly understand, subjecting them to possible violations without being aware.”
In an online FAQ the EPA seeks to head off many of these criticisms, claiming the new clean water rules do not “create any new permitting requirements for agriculture,” “maintains all previous exemptions and exclusions,” and does not regulate most ditches or groundwater, contrary to some claims made in the new report.
Those claims come as cold comfort to the new report’s authors, who suggest that any water within 4,000 feet of a tributary or other covered water may now be subject to federal authority.
For those opposed the new regulatory regime, the authors suggest a challenge in the courts.
“With the legislative option highly unlikely, the remaining option is to oppose it judicially. Already the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), numerous business and agricultural groups, and 27 states have filed suits against the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers seeking to shut down enforcement of the new rule before it begins,” write Hopper and Miller, who work as legal counsel for the PLF.
“If the implementation does begin as scheduled at the end of this month, Floridians should remain watchful and report negative impacts of the new rule to organizations like The James Madison Institute and PLF,” the report concludes.

150819-b
FDEP Meeting on the Expansion of Reclaimed Water (SB536)
Florida Water Daily
August 19, 2015
Event Navigation
« SFWMD Public Meeting to Discuss Regulatory Matters
SJRWMD Permitting peer review meeting »
August 20, 2015 @ 9:30 am - 11:30 am
The Department will present the same information at the two meetings.  Senate Bill 536, passed in the 2014 Legislative session, requires the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a study on the expansion of use of reclaimed water, stormwater, and excess surface water in the state.  The purpose of the meeting is to provide an overview of the draft study report, and to solicit input from interested parties.
This meeting will also be broadcast via webinar where comments will be accepted. Parties can register to attend the webinar via their personal computers with audio by telephone (regular long distance telephone charges will apply) or by speakers connected to their computer (no telephone charges will apply).
Webinar registration is via https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5508455766377959681. Advanced registration is strongly recommended.

150819-c
North Marion scrambles after Stronach Group fumbles $15M for sports complex
Gainesville.com - by Joe Callahan, Staff writer
August 19, 2015
A planned multi-million dollar stadium and athletic complex at North Marion High School will not be built after all due to what has been dubbed a misunderstanding.
The new stadium and athletic complex was to be a gift from Canadian billionaire businessman Frank Stronach, who owns the Stronach Group. Company representatives said Wednesday, however, that they never approved or authorized the large-scale project.
Stronach Group officials said their intent was to help North Marion High School with renovations. The group this week pledged $125,000 for new lights, a press box and a scoreboard, and indicated they will soon be issuing a check.
Though by far the largest donation to a single school in Marion County history, the donation pales in comparison to the promises made by a Stronach Group employee last fall. That was when Stronach's local representative, John Grady, who has since left the company, told the School Board the company wanted to build the high school a new athletic complex. Grady shared an artistic rendering of the complex, which included remaking the field with artificial turf, a new rubber track, new field houses, a concession stand, a state-of-the-art video scoreboard and grandstands.
Five contractors were asked to start work immediately, without a contract, and have since racked up more than $390,000 in bills that remain unpaid by the Stronach Group.
In preparation for the stadium overhaul, the School District removed all the bathroom fixtures, sound speakers from light poles and other items. The district, at its own expense, has since re-installed toilets and faucets, as well as speakers, and rewired the press box. The Colts football season will go ahead in a few weeks as scheduled.
“It is disappointing,” Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn said Wednesday.
Though disappointed a new stadium is not being built, Tomyn said, he does appreciate the donation of $125,000.
In a Stronach Group press release issued Wednesday, Tomyn was quoted as saying that “community donations make a tremendous impact on our schools” and offering thanks to the Stronach Group.
Jamie Cartwright, executive vice president of the Stronach Group, said the issues, though unpleasant to discuss, had to be addressed.
“All of us have been hurt by this,” Cartwright said Wednesday afternoon from the company's Canadian headquarters.
Cartwright said company officials realized there was a problem when they read a Star-Banner story that appeared in May. The story reported that the School Board had approved a $15 million donation from the Stronach Group for the stadium. Cartwright said that amount was far beyond what Stronach had planned to give the school.
The press release states that Stronach Group officials met with school officials “in order to discuss the unfortunate confusion that has arisen as a result of the false representations made in relation to the proposed project.”
The Stronach Group helped the school identify the biggest needs — a new scoreboard, press box and lighting, which is how they arrived at the $125,000 figure.
“The Stronach Group is hopeful that such a contribution will greatly benefit and improve the value that students, faculty and members of the community gain from the North Marion High School's athletic complex,” the press release stated.
"Frank Stronach is trying to do the right thing for the community," Cartwright added.
It was last fall when Grady, who could not be reached for comment, appeared at a School Board work session to unveil the large-scale project. North Marion High graduate Ed Plaster, of KP Studio Architects, also shared an elaborate artistic rendering of the proposed new North Marion stadium and athletic buildings during the session.
The School Board was excited about the gift and accepted it with conditions: Stronach Group officials must work with the district to make sure all state school building codes were met and appropriate permits were secured ahead of the project.
Since then, there have been many planning meetings among 30 or 40 people. Many contractors were asked to launch the initial phases to get the project off the ground.
One, Hallgren Contractors, ordered $610,000 worth of lights and poles for the project. When it came time to for final payment to have them delivered, Stronach Group officials would not agree to pay for the materials. Art Hallgren said Wednesday he has four days to pay a $126,000 cancellation fee or his credit line will be frozen.
KP Studio Architects, Varrendo Engineering Company and Tillman & Associates Engineering are owed, roughly combined, about $240,000.
Paul Stentiford, of Stentiford Construction, said he is owed $26,000, though he has no contract and will eat the cost. He said the $125,000 donation is impressive and that the largest donation before that was $29,500 to the Fort McCoy School. That donation was also given by the Stronach Group.
“A gift is a gift,” he said.
Meanwhile, Cartwright said the Stronach Group will meet privately with the contractors to discuss their losses.
North Marion High Principal Ben Whitehouse said Wednesday that school maintenance workers have been scrambling to get the stadium ready for the football season. He said the fixtures that had been removed, as well as all the concession stand cooking equipment, have all been reinstalled.
“It is disappointing,” Whitehouse said. “But we do appreciate the $125,000. It will be put to good use. We need better lighting and a scoreboard.”
School District spokesman Kevin Christian said he personally went to North Marion High School to help reconnect the speaker system and other electronics.
Stronach is one of Marion County's largest private land owners and operates a 38,000-acre cattle harvesting operation near Fort McCoy. Once called Adena Springs, the cattle operation has been renamed Sleepy Creek Lands. In July, the St. Johns River Water Management Governing Board voted unanimously approved a permit allowing Sleepy Creek Lands to pump 1.46 million gallons a day from the aquifer to irrigate pastureland for grass-fed cattle. Environmentalists are appealing that decision.

150819-d
Python hunters will be allowed into Everglades National Park
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
August 19, 2015
The Python Challenge — a bounty hunt that drew hunters from across the country and media from around the world — will be held early next year and for the first time will include gound zero for the slithery invader: Everglades National Park.
In announcing rules for the month-long competition, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the hunt — scheduled for Jan. 16 through Feb. 14 — will expand to cover more state land. The bounty hunt also will include the national park where pythons have taken over as the marsh’s top predator and have been blamed for wiping out a growing number of small mammals.
“We all have to be part of the solution and while nobody expects the Challenge to result in a dent in the python population, it’s value in engaging ... the public and creating public awareness is great,” park Superintendent Pedro Ramos said Tuesday.
While boundaries are still being discussed, Ramos said hunting zones will likely include areas around Bear Lake near the Flamingo marina and the L-67 canal near the park’s northern border.
The last Python Challenge held in 2013 drew more than 1,500 hunters from around the world and was confined to state lands. More publicity stunt than snake hunt, the haul totaled just 68 pythons. But state organizers praised the Challenge for accomplishing its primary goal — raising public awareness.
Held on water conservation lands, the hunt covered about 60 percent of python habitat, with most land inaccessible to hunters. More than 95 percent of participants came up empty-handed.
The effectiveness of the hunts remains a matter open to debate. Talking points circulated to participants say state officials “compare this to an invasive plant removal day that is common in our conservation lands ... offering the public the opportunity to help remove invasive wildlife as a wildlife management tool.”
In a 2014 paper, federal researchers found that while hunts provided lots of opportunity for educating the public about invasive species, such measures can have unintended outcomes. For example, removing “surplus individuals” can make it easier for others to survive, wrote National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ecologist Susan Pasko. Surviving populations might also overproduce to compensate for the hunt.
Wildlife biologists, including organizers of the Challenge, agree the hunt does little to reduce the overall python population in South Florida. But organizers say data collected in the 2013 challenge was used to better understand the snake’s behavior. The upcoming hunt will be held in cooler winter months when the snakes are more easily found sunning themselves on access roads and levees crisscrossing the lands.
“The value is not lowering the number of pythons in the wild because we know from experience that this is very difficult to do,” Ramos said. “The value is raising the level of awareness that will help us solve not only the python problem but prevent the next python from happening.”
In recent months, some monster python specimens have popped up, which could help draw more participants. Last month, University of Florida researchers landed an 18-foot, 3-inch female python — just three inches shy of the largest ever recorded in the Everglades — along the tram road at Shark Valley.
In the 2013 Challenge, the biggest catches were made by trained hunters. Hoping to correct the imbalance, state officials say next year’s hunters will be required to complete an online training course before the hunt kicks off at Florida International University’s main campus.
While cash prizes have yet to be announced, awards will be handed out for the biggest snake caught and the highest numbers. Hunters can sign up as individuals or teams of up to five. As more details are confirmed on rules, training, prizes and registration, they will be posted at the state's python website, at www.pythonchallenge.org.
Related:           FWC Announces Details of 2016 Python Challenge with Partners   Florida Sportsman Magazine
South Florida Python Challenge dates announced     Palm Beach Post
2016 Python Challenge Announced by FWC            The Ledger (blog)

150818-
Snail kite numbers slowly coming back
Highlands Today – by Pallavi Agarwal
August 19, 2015
LAKE PLACID — It’s Florida’s iconic bird, and, after many years of grim news about its very existence, things are looking up for the endangered snail kite.
The gray raptor, which munches on apple snails, hence its name, is found only in Florida, specifically, the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee, with smaller populations in the Kissimmee Valley and southern parts of the St. Johns River marshes.
From a population of around 3,000 in the mid-1990s, snail kite numbers dove to almost 700 but are slowly climbing back up; the 2014 estimates put them at 1,700, said Tyler Beck, snail kite conservation coordinator for Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.
While the snail kites used to be called the Everglades snail kites, water bodies such as Lake Istokpoga are playing a big part in helping the bird numbers grow.
Since 2007, Lake Istokpoga this year has seen a three-fold increase in the number of snail kite nests on the lake, Beck said.
“A record number of snail kites that nested this spring and summer in open, restored wetland areas along the west shore and islands is a good indicator that management and restoration efforts for the lake are on the right track,” said Kelle Sullivan, FWC aquatic plant biologist, in a news release.
Audubon Florida Science Coordinator Paul Gray said a University of Florida research team goes out monthly to count snail kite nests. There were 40 nests found on Lake Istokpoga.
These constitute about 10 percent of breeding snail kites, he estimated, although not all the “attempted” nests will lead to hatchlings.
A report due to come out in spring 2016 will tell if the nests were “successful” and yielded at least one fledgling per nest.
❖ ❖ ❖
To shore up its conservation efforts, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission was scheduled to start on Monday aerial spraying of the aquatic plant, primrose willow, along Lake Istokpoga’s west shore.
The 255-acre conservation maintenance project is a cooperative effort between FWC and the South Florida Water Management District.
Beck said the aerial spraying is part of a “larger effort for the overall health of the lake” and is supposed to also help snail kites.
Water primrose, as the primrose willow is also known, is an invasive aquatic plant with yellow flowers. It is commonly found growing in thick stands around the edges of water bodies and along ditch banks. Left untreated, primrose willow can turn a productive, open marsh area, preferred by fish and wildlife, into dense stands that have less benefit to fauna, FWC said.
The FWC will treat the area with Clearcast and Clipper aquatic pesticides, which are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use in lakes and have no restrictions concerning fishing or swimming, and no irrigation restrictions for the low rates at which the treatment is being applied, FWC said.
Air safety issues, however, require areas being treated to be closed for a short time while low-flying aircraft are spraying.
For questions about this treatment, contact Kelle Sullivan, regional biologist with the FWC’s Invasive Plant Management Section, at (863) 578-1120.
While the snail kite has lost most of its habitat and its traditional food — the native apple snail — an ironic Catch-22 in nature may be helping the beleaguered snail kites survive, although one bird’s savior could be adversely affecting another conservation effort.
The birds have been eating an exotic species of apple snails that have appeared in large numbers since 2010. The exotic varieties are hardier and almost as big as baseballs.
While that is a good thing for the snail kites, the apple snails are eating up vegetation in some man-made marshes designed to filter phosphorous out of the Everglades, complicating conservation and cleanup efforts of the Everglades.
Beck said the presence of the exotic apple snails, along with FWC’s lake management efforts, are helping the snail kite numbers rebound.
While the plan is to help the snail kites grow to at least 3,000, many questions remain, such as why they are not faring well in the Everglades, which the snail kites are a symbol of.
The snail kites are not only a symbol of the Everglades, their presence and absence also are an indicator of the health of the Everglades, Gray said.
If they are not doing well, it means there could be things wrong with the Everglades ecosystem itself, he added.

150817-a
Florida Everglades Restoration and Water Quality Management
PRurgent.com
August 17, 2015
Florida farmers are being praised for their continued efforts towards restoring the Florida Everglades and improving its vital water quality, by benchmarking and documenting their in-the-works on-site-farm restorative programs and the measurable results they are producing.
Florida farmers are being praised for their continued efforts towards restoring the Florida Everglades and improving its vital water quality, by benchmarking and documenting their in-the-works on-site-farm restorative programs and the measurable results they are producing. The South Florida Water Management District this week declared a record-breaking whooping 79% reduction in the annual level of phosphorous substances flowing from Florida sugarcane and vegetable farms, that lay just south of Lake Okeechobee, well know as being one of the nation's most profitable farming regions also commonly known as the Everglades Agriculture Area.
One frequent common misconception is that farm fertilizers are the source of phosphates on sugarcane producing farms. However, the rich, organic "muck" soils just south of Lake Okeechobee, already have a high level of phosphorus.
Local sugarcane and local farmers are having a major impact in cleaning water flowing south through a system of innovative Best Management Practices. These on-site-farm practices are almost wholly and 100 percent paid for by the farmers.
For more information please visit Florida Everglades Wildlife Index

150817-b
Managing Attorney – Earth Justice – Tallahassee
Florida Water Daily
August 17, 2015
The Florida Office is a leader on enforcing the Clean Water Act and protecting Florida’s natural resources. We focus on litigation involving water pollution and conservation, public trust waters, wetlands protection, Everglades restoration, wildlife, clean air, and climate change in federal, state and administrative courts. Our current staff totals 7, including 5 attorneys. We strategically focus on Florida’s unique challenges while ensuring that our state continues to drive meaningful progress on environmental issues of regional and national importance. Our current litigation is geared toward defending Florida’s environment and the rights of Floridians to healthy communities, including a longstanding commitment to abate pollution in lakes, rivers, estuaries and wetlands, including the Everglades. Our work is evolving to curtail the impacts of harmful air and toxic pollution to surrounding communities and to respond to new and emerging environmental and public health threats within and beyond state lines.

150817-c
Researchers measure flooding’s impact on wetlands via low-cost approach
Florida Water Daily
August 17, 2015
From the University of Alabama Press Release (link):
Scientists designed a new, on-site method for studying potential impacts rising sea levels can have on vital wetlands, said a University of Alabama researcher who led a study publishing today describing the modifiable apparatuses.
Working at the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on the eastern shore of Baldwin County’s Mobile Bay, researchers installed the adjustable enclosures near the shoreline, using them to simulate low, intermediate and high flooding levels (Dr. Eric Sparks, Mississippi State University).
Primarily using materials available at the local hardware store, the scientists, including UA’s Dr. Julia Cherry, designed, constructed and tested low-cost enclosures, called weirs, to realistically simulate three flooding levels on coastal wetlands. Simulating impacts of sea level rise on-site and at larger scales had previously proven difficult.
“I hope this provides other researchers with a template to ask their questions and to improve upon the method we’ve documented to do bigger and better coastal wetland studies,” said Cherry, an associate professor in UA’s New College and its biological sciences department.
The research, publishing in the scientific journal, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, was co-authored by George Ramseur Jr., of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources; and Drs. Eric Sparks, of Mississippi State University; and Just Cebrian, of Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the University of South Alabama.
Some scientists predict a warming world could result in sea levels rising by as much as a meter over the next 85 years. Increases in frequency, depth and duration of wetland flooding are expected results from rising sea levels.
“Even small increases in sea level can mean significant increases in inundation for these marshes,” Cherry says. “The plant community that lives in these intertidal wetlands are adapted to deal with flooding stresses, but there is a threshold beyond which the increase in flooding becomes increasingly stressful and eventually leads to mortality.”
Coastal wetlands frequently serve as a “last line of defense” against surges associated with hurricanes and other storms, in addition to their roles as fisheries and as natural habitats for other economically and ecologically important species, the UA researcher said.
Plants that live in wetlands remove pollutants from the soil and shallow water, serving as filters that protect the open water from contamination, she said.
Working at the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on the eastern shore of Baldwin County’s Mobile Bay, the researchers installed the adjustable enclosures near the shoreline, using them to simulate low, intermediate and high flooding levels.
The research showed different inundation depths and durations could be successfully manipulated for study, adding realism to the research results.
Modifications to the weirs enabled them to work during both low and high-tides. Constructed with one end open, the weirs consist of one plastic wall panel parallel to shore and two side-walls perpendicular to shore. Adjustable water flow valves and drainage holes enabled the scientists to manipulate water levels and drainage rates.
Wells containing water level recorders were installed inside the enclosures to measure water depths based on changes in pressure. More sophisticated enclosures, referred to by the researchers as “active weirs,” included a water pump mechanism and timer.
A typical approach in researching rising sea level is to use artificially constructed systems, called mesocosms, in which the natural environment is replicated.
There are many advantages to mesocosm studies, including the ability to closely control variables, but recreating a wetland in an artificial setting typically requires disturbing the natural marsh, Cherry said. Also, those smaller-scale studies often unintentionally exclude variables present and impactful in natural settings, she said.
“Combining a mesocosm approach with a weirs approach could be a very powerful combination to try and understand the impacts of sea level rise on coastal wetlands,” Cherry said.
UA’s New College and the department of biological sciences are parts of the College of Arts and Sciences, UA’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, Truman Scholarships, and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.

150817-d









Adam PUTNAM
FL Agri Commissioner,
says what he is
expected to say -

150817-d
State officials say Everglades water policy, BMP regime are working
Saint Peters Blog - by Ryan Ray
August 17, 2015
The South Florida Water Management District was joined by Republican elected officials Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Rep. Matt Caldwell this week in saying tighter restrictions on agriculture in the Everglades Agricultural Area are unnecessary because best management practices, or BMPs, are working.
Levels of harmful phosphorous – a product of agricultural runoff into the ecologically sensitive area – are down 79 percent according to recently released state data.
“For a milestone 20th year, water flowing from farmlands in the Everglades Agricultural Area achieved phosphorus reductions that significantly exceed those required by law,” read a Thursday release from the South Florida WMD.
“Over the program’s 20-year compliance history, the overall average annual reduction from the implementation of BMPs is 56 percent, more than twice the required amount.
“Two decades of successfully meeting and exceeding phosphorus reductions to improve Everglades water quality is a great accomplishment,” said Daniel O’Keefe, chairman of the district’s Governing Board. “South Florida’s agricultural communities are clearly demonstrating a long-term commitment to restoration efforts.”
Putnam, a key member of the state’s four-member Cabinet, said he heartily agrees.
“Farmers and ranchers throughout our state are looking toward science and data in order to protect Florida’s waterways and manage farms more efficiently, and today’s announcement shows that Best Management Practices are working,” said Putnam. “I thank the farmers and ranchers in the EAA for their continued commitment to being good stewards of the land.”
When Speaker Steve Crisafulli took the reins amid passage of Amendment 1, he declared 2015 would be a landmark year for water policy. Many considered it a failure when legislation aimed at tackling his signature issue, but Rep. Matt Caldwell says the news this week is proof the Legislature’s approach is working.
“This historic level of reductions in phosphorus is proof positive that best management practices (BMPs) are working. It also highlights the need for BMPs to be part of any comprehensive water policy reform passed by the Florida Legislature,” said Caldwell via a statement. “Combined with the Second District Court of Appeal’s recent ruling that upheld BMPs, this has been a historic week for restoration efforts in the Florida Everglades. Florida’s farmers are making meaningful gains in water quality utilizing BMPs.”
“Under Speaker Crisafulli’s leadership, we will continue to make water policy reform a priority.”

150816-a
Broward County resists bid for oil-drilling permit
TheRealDeal.com – by Mike Seemuth, Sun Sentinel
August 16, 2015
County commissioners seek more power over drilling via amended state law
The Broward County Commission took action to oppose an application for a state oil-drilling permit on an Everglades site in the county’s southwest corner.
County commissioners unanimously agreed last week to seek an amendment to state law giving counties the legal authority to determine whether drilling for oil is permissible within their borders. State gives cities such authority within their borders.
A unit of Miami-based Kanter Corporation of Florida applied in July to obtain a state permit to drill an exploratory well about in marshland about six miles west of Miramar. It would be the farthest east that exploration for crude oil in the Everglades has extended.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had 30 days to review the drilling permit application by Kanter and may ask for more information before approving or denying it. Kanter would also need a water use permit from the South Florida Water District, a water district spokesman said. The company also may need federal permits if the proposed site of the exploratory oil drilling is a habitat for endangered species.
The depth of the vertical well would be almost 12,000 feet, a Kanter spokeswoman told the Miami Herald, and the company’s intention is to draw crude oil from the Sunniland Trend, a vast U.S. oil formation that extends across the entire South Florida area and to the Gulf of Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
If it is approved, the proposed well will be the farthest one east of a set of small drilling sites that have operated for decades in the Big Cypress Preserve. Just one oil well was dug previously in Broward County, near its border with Collier County. A Texas-based business dug the well in 1985 and then capped and abandoned it the same year.
The City of Miramar, the municipality closest to the proposed drilling site, will hold a town meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Miramar City Hall. The purpose of the meeting is to allow Broward city officials to discuss how they would respond to state action on the drilling application.
The City of Pembroke Pines will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the drilling issue on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the River of Grass Theater, according to city commissioner Jay Schwartz.

150816-b
Fossil fuel development looms at Florida preserve
Summit County Citizens Voice – by Bob Berwyn
August 16, 2015
Conservation advocates are concerned about a proposal to explore for oil and gas in Big Cypress National Preserve.
Risky business in one of the country’s most biodiverse regions
Staff Report
FRISCO — No place is safe from the never-ending quest to feed modern society’s addiction to fossil fuels. One of the latest targets is Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve, where Burnett Oil, of Ft. Worth, Texas, is seeking a permit to do seismic testing across approximately 110 square miles.
The National Park Service is taking comments on the proposal  at this website through Aug. 16, and conservation advocates are rallying supporters to try and block or limit the proposal.
Acknowledging that the enabling legislation for the preserve allows for fossil fuel exploitation, the nonprofit nonetheless says it’s a bad idea in one of the most biodiverse pieces of public land in our nation.
If the project is approved, Burnett plans to lay a grid of source and receiver lines across the center of the preserve. Massive “vibroseis” trucks weighing tens of thousands of pounds each will drive along the source lines, stopping frequently to drop a heavy plate onto the ground to send seismic waves deep into the earth.
The thumper trucks will be preceded by crews driving lighter off-road vehicles to clear vegetation and check for obstacles (or the presence of endangered and threatened wildlife). Low flying helicopters will be dropping off and picking up “geophones” throughout the survey area along the receiver lines.
When the survey is completed, the thumper trucks will have produced approximately 33,000 energy source points that will have been picked up by over 37,000 receiver points in an attempt to obtain a detailed three-dimensional picture of the deep geology of the preserve.
If oil is located in what the company believes to be commercially viable quantities, it will bring in new roads, oil pads, drill rigs, pipes, water wells, diesel generators, drilling chemicals (possibly including fracking fluids) to conduct exploratory oil drilling and, ultimately, production — all  in the middle of the most important habitat in Florida for the endangered Florida panther and hundreds of native Florida plants and animals which share the fragile habitat.
Here’s a video of a vibroseis truck in action.  Watch this machine operating in a desert and try to imagine it driving through the dense vegetation and wetland soils of the Big Cypress National Preserve:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4El6U0XTNS0
According to conservation advocates, the proposal would affect sensitive wetlands, where thin soil is easily rutted, then invaded by non-native plants. The area to be explored provides habitat for many federally protected species, including the Eastern indigo snake, wood stork, and Audubon’s crested caracara (Threatened); Everglades snail kite, Red-cockaded woodpecker, Florida panther (73 collared Florida panthers have been known to use the survey area), and Florida bonneted bat (Endangered); and the gopher tortoise (Candidate species).
“We believe Burnett’s analysis of likely and potential impacts — limited in their application to avoidance — is woefully inadequate to the size and scale of their operations and the vast variety of wildlife utilizing this habitat,” the South Florida Wildlands Alliance wrote in an action alert to members.
The risk of non-native species taking hold in the preserve is a fundamental threat to the ecosystem that shouldn’t be allowed, the organization said.

150816-c
Senate foes Murphy, Grayson spar over effectiveness ratings
Palm Beach Post - by George Bennett, Staff Writer
August 16, 2015
Democratic Reps. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter and Alan Grayson of Orlando — rivals in their party’s 2016 Senate primary — are tangling over their effectiveness as legislators after a website ranked Murphy among the “least effective” members of Congress.
Grayson and Republicans are promoting an InsideGov.com report — called “deeply flawed” by the Murphy camp — that puts Murphy 21st on its “least effective” list because no Murphy-sponsored bill has made it out of a House committee. The Murphy camp says the report fails to account for legislation he’s worked on with other members or tacked on to other bills, or money he’s helped steer towards Everglades restoration and the Indian River Lagoon.

150816-d
Sugar gets America’s least efficient welfare
Times Herald – by James Bovard
August 16, 2015
America would be more prosperous if not a single sugar beet or sugar cane were grown anywhere in the United States because bankrolling sugar production in Florida makes as little sense as growing bananas in Maine. So when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., walked into the Koch conclave earlier this month and defended his home state boondoggle in front of the most powerful enemies of corporate welfare, he became the bravest man in politics.
Rarely has such political daring been offered in a more worthless cause. Federal price supports and import quotas combine to force American consumers to pay more than $3 billion a year in higher prices, according to the Commerce Department.
Federal sugar policy has a long, sordid history. In 1816, Congress imposed high tariffs on sugar imports in part to prop up the value of slaves in Louisiana. In the 1890s, Congress abolished and then re-imposed the sugar tariff, spurring a boom-bust in Cuba that helped drag the U.S. into the Spanish-American War.
Sugar is perhaps America’s least efficient welfare program, costing consumers vastly more than it benefits farmers.
Because the U.S. mainland does not have a natural climate for sugar production, farmers have to compensate by dousing the land with fertilizer. As nearly 500,000 acres of the Everglades have been converted from swampland to sugar fields, phosphorous from the fertilizer has ravaged the region’s ecosystem. Politicians have launched hugely expensive efforts to curb the environmental harm but, as a New York Times 2010 exposé proved, the sugar industry benefited, not the Everglades.
Food manufacturers, environmental groups and free-market activists are leading another assault on the program, and lawmakers are pushing a bill to limit the disruption the sugar program inflicts. That’s a first step, not a solution.

150816-e
The people’s plan for Silver Springs
Ocala.com - by Guest columnist Robert Knight, director of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
August 16, 2015
Staff at the Florida Springs Institute (FSI) have been active in the scientific study of Silver Springs since the 1970s. FSI’s efforts, as well as research conducted by the state of Florida, have demonstrated severe biological impairments at Silver Springs as a result of reduced flows, elevated nitrate nitrogen concentrations and lost connectivity to the St. Johns River. All of these detrimental impacts are a result of human actions, are reversible, and are contrary to Florida laws that protect the biological integrity of “Outstanding Florida Waters” such as Silver Springs.
For more than four decades, the state of Florida has had laws that were intended to protect the flows, water quality and natural functioning at Silver Springs. For most of that 40-year period, state agencies have been finding reasons to delay the removal of the Rodman Dam on the Ocklawaha River. In 2001 — 14 years ago — state water managers started to develop a rule to limit further flow reductions at Silver Springs. Two years ago the Florida Department of Environmental Protection finally initiated a plan to limit increasing nitrate pollution at Silver Springs.
To date, none of these long overdue efforts is complete, while additional permits for groundwater pumping and pollution are still being issued. Even more embarrassing for the state’s environmental agencies is that the draft versions of these restoration efforts, such as DEP’s recently released draft Basin Management Action Plan, even if fully implemented, will fall far short of restoring the health of Silver Springs.
To help fill this interminable gap, FSI prepared a comprehensive restoration plan for the Silver Springs System in 2014. FSI’s Silver Springs Restoration Action Plan describes a feasible approach to restore the historic flow at Silver Springs, reconnect the Silver and St. Johns rivers, and lower nitrate-nitrogen concentrations to protective concentrations.
This “People’s Plan” represents the public’s best interests rather than the special interests that have influenced the state’s insufficient restoration efforts thus far. Comprehensive restoration of Silver Springs will be dependent upon returning the system as closely as possible to its historical physical, chemical and biological conditions. Existing restoration planning efforts by state and local governments have not slowed Silver Springs' continued decline.
FSI’s Silver Springs “People’s Plan” outlines a specific set of actions that will improve the natural condition of the river in the short term (in the next five years), and will ultimately (in the next 20 years) restore it to a near-pristine historical condition. During the first five years of this proposed restoration effort, it is critical that the state Legislature mandate collection of “aquifer protection fees” on all groundwater and nitrogen uses to encourage voluntary efficiency and conservation efforts.
FSI’s recommended water quantity restoration goal for Silver Springs is to increase existing average spring flows to more than 90 percent of their historic average of 520 million gallons per day (MGD). The average flow of the Silver River over a recent decade (2003-2012) was 345 MGD (more than 33 percent below historic flows). This flow recovery goal will require a groundwater pumping reduction of about 132 MGD in the regional area that affects flows at Silver Springs. This goal can be accomplished through the state’s existing permitting procedures if they are properly enforced.
FSI’s and the state’s initial target for nitrate-nitrogen concentration reduction at Silver Springs is a maximum monthly average of less than 0.35 mg/L, which equates to a 79 percent reduction in nitrogen loads to the vulnerable portions of the springshed. A substantial portion of this nutrient reduction can be accomplished in concert with the water quantity restoration described above.
Cutting back on permitted groundwater extractions for agricultural and urban irrigation will have the beneficial side effect of reducing nitrogen fertilizer use. Human wastewater nitrogen loads in the springshed can be reduced by implementing advanced nitrogen removal for all central wastewater plants and by providing centralized collection and wastewater treatment for all high-density septic tank areas.
Removing the Kirkpatrick Dam on the Ocklawaha River is a priority to provide open passage for aquatic wildlife between the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Johns River and Silver Springs. Breaching the dam will increase the diversity and dominance of fish and other aquatic wildlife species within the river ecosystem. These native aquatic vertebrates have been shown to optimize the photosynthetic efficiency of the Silver Springs system, increasing the forage base that supported the formerly diverse and abundant fish and wildlife populations that utilized Silver Springs.
Reduced spring flows, increasing concentrations of nitrate-nitrogen, and a downstream dam impeding the movement of aquatic fauna are resulting in visible long-term changes to the natural flora and fauna of Silver Springs. While the past cannot be changed, the future can be.
This springs’ restoration opportunity should not be lost as a result of weak enforcement of existing laws by politically motivated state and local governmental agencies. Ecological restoration of Silver Springs will require a holistic approach for dealing with all sources of impairment simultaneously, rather than a piecemeal approach of delayed and divided responsibilities. It is time to fully implement the “People’s Plan” for a restored Silver Springs.

150815-a
Five watershed restoration projects still possible
PNJ.com – by Thomas St. Myer
August 15, 2015
Contaminated water in Bayou Chico from decades worth of industrial pollutions, stormwater issues and the sort prompted the city of Pensacola, Escambia County and seven other agencies in October of 2011 to develop a five-year, multi-million dollar water quality restoration plan.
They received validation for their efforts nearly halfway into their plan when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection released a report in the spring of 2014 that cited a reduction in average bacteria counts in the bayou by 71 percent.
Bayou Chico is in significantly better shape than in October 2011, but the decontaminating effort remains a Herculean task. Walk on Barrancas Avenue over Bayou Chico on Friday afternoon and the water is still murky in spots and some debris are noticeable. Further decontaminating the water will cost millions of dollars, and fortunately for the city, county and their partners, Bayou Chico stands to benefit from two proposed projects by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council.
Overall, five projects for Pensacola Bay Watershed Restoration made the cut for consideration on the restoration council’s Funded Priorities List (FPL). The requested funding for the Pensacola Bay Watershed Restoration totals $15,929,550.
“The city’s made a huge impact in improving Bayou Texar, and we’re very excited to see what we can do about Bayou Chico,” said Escambia County Commissioner Grover Robinson IV (District 4). “It certainly needs it. It’s just one of many places on Pensacola Bay that we’re making better. All of these things are going to make Pensacola Bay better.”
The FPL draft calls for approximately $139.6 million in funding for restoration projects such as hydrologic restoration, land conservation and planning for restoration projects for 10 watersheds across the Gulf of Mexico.
The restoration council is using funds from the settlement with Transocean Deepwater Inc., and is reportedly reserving about $43.6 million for future activities, subject to further review.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell commended the restoration council for issuing its initial list of proposed projects. Jewell said the projects would provide long-term economic benefits to local communities in the selected regions.
The restoration council is seeking input from the public about its proposed projects. The draft is available for public and tribal review and comment through Sept. 28, and the council will host a series of public meetings across the Gulf Coast. Among the seven scheduled meetings, the closest to Pensacola is at 6 p.m. Sept. 1 at Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa, 26 N. Royal St., Mobile.
In a press release, the restoration council stated the goal of the Pensacola Bay Watershed Restoration project is to improve water quality and to restore and conserve habitats.
One of the Bayou Chico projects consists of constructing stormwater treatment facilities and connecting septic tanks to a new central sewer infrastructure. The restoration council predicts the Beach Haven — Joint Stormwater & Wastewater Improvement Project — Phase II would restore benthic habitat quality, improve water quality, and increase biological diversity and productivity. The estimated cost is $5,967,000.
Phase I of the Beach Haven project will come from funds awarded to Escambia County in November for a Bayou Chico Watershed Project. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awarded the county $11 million in money received from Deepwater Horizon oil spill criminal fees. The county committed to a cost share of almost $2.2 million and sought about $5 million from NFWF. The nearly $6 million from the restoration council further solidifies the project.
 “You really need to make those things happen at the same time,” Robinson said. “We weren’t sure what was going to happen. We were very surprised we were able to make that happen.”
The second proposed Bayou Chico project — the removal of contaminated sediment — would be the least expensive of the five at an estimated $356,850.
The other three Pensacola Bay Watershed Restoration projects focus on Pensacola and East bays and a portion of the Santa Rosa Sound.
The restoration council proposed to design, monitor and implement a two-mile section of non-contiguous, natural oyster reefs along the Pensacola East Bay living shoreline. The estimated cost is $4,884,750.
A similar proposed project targets the western shoreline of Pensacola Bay. This is the first of a multi-phase project with the intent to create about 2,000 linear feet of an offshore rock and oyster reef breakwater and about 25 acres of protected emergent marsh and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) behind the protective waterbreak.
The restoration council stated the two living shoreline projects would restore lost oyster habitat.
Heather Reed, project manager for the city’s Deadman’s Island Restoration Project, said if the money is spent correctly the Bayou Chico projects will be beneficial, but she voiced concerns about the other projects, particularly those proposed for the shoreline.
“They make it sound like you can plant SAV randomly,” stated Reed, who planted SAV for Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Ecosystem Restoration Section. “You can’t in Northwest Florida. … You need a donor site to remove plugs of SAV, and if not done correctly, you will lose a valuable resource at the donor site and there is a low probability it will survive at the receiver site due to all the sand in the area.
“Live oyster reefs aren’t recommended in this sand area as the dependent source of wave attenuation due to salinity change. They won’t survive long term.”
The final proposed project consists of a five-phase implementation of a reclaimed water system for Pensacola Beach.
Cost for four of the five phases is estimated to be $2,925,000 with Emerald Coast Utilities Authority providing matching funds and supporting the project implementation with other funds. Northwest Florida Water Management District, under the Local Water Supply Development Projects program, would pay for the second phase.
The restoration council stated the water system project would increase customer usage among those with irrigation meters, decrease the discharge of treated wastewater to Santa Rosa Sound and improve water quality and potential expansion of existing sea grass beds in Sound.
Funding for the restoration council is allocated under the RESTORE Act, which directs 80 percent of Clean Water Act civic penalties related to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Reed questioned why a significant portion of the proposed Pensacola Bay Watershed Restoration involves areas unaffected by the oil spill.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “There’s quite a few projects that will impact the terrestrial impact system. They’re making money projects, and a lot of critical habitat will be affected.”
Pensacola Bay Watershed Restoration
•Pensacola East Bay Living Shoreline Project ($4,884,750)
•Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline ($1,795,950)
•Pensacola Beach Reclaimed Water System ($2,925,000)
•Beach Haven – Joint Stormwater and Wastewater Improvement ($5,967,000)
•Bayou Chico Contaminated Sediment Removal ($356,850)
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council meetings
•6 p.m., Aug. 20 – Texas A&M University, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, Texas
•5 p.m. Aug. 26 – FWC Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, 100 Eighth Ave. SE, St. Petersburg
•6 p.m. Aug. 27 – Gulf Coast State College, 5230 W. U.S. Highway 98, Panama City
•6 p.m. Sept. 1 – Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa, 26 N. Royal St., Mobile
•5 p.m. Sept. 10 – Coast Coliseum & Convention Center, 2350 Beach Boulevard, Biloxi, Miss.
•5:30 p.m. Sept. 15 – Homer L. Hitt Alumni Center, 2000 Lakeshore Drive, New Orleans, La.
•5:30 p.m. Sept. 16 – Morgan City Municipal Auditorium, 728 Myrtle St., Morgan City, La.

150815-b
Indian River Lagoon gets spruced up
Florida Today – by Chris Bonanno
August 15, 2015
Thanks to volunteers who teamed up Saturday, part of the Indian River Lagoon is cleaner for the humans who enjoy it and the wildlife that lives there.
The KSC Skin and Barracudas Diving Club, in existence for more than 45 years, held a cleanup at Doc’s Bait House on Merritt Island, near the base of the Hubert Humphrey Bridge.
Four divers went into the water while volunteers waited on docks to help deal with debris the divers found.
“We are finding tires and nets and pieces of metal and discarded crab nets,” said Mike McCleskey of Orlando, who along with wife Wendy is part of the Lockheed Martin Dive Club in Orlando. “We found a car battery, pieces of old cars or something, lumber, bottles, monofilament line.”
“We found speakers and a bunch of skulls of something — some dead animals — and a printer, tires, some road reflector ... so lots of good stuff, lots of fishing line,” added Wendy McCleskey.
Keeping care of the environment is something the club has done for much of its existence.
“We have been doing this for at least 20 years, typically at least a couple times a year,” said Phil Stasik, a former president of the club. “And we try to go in at various places around the Indian River Lagoon, usually in conjunction with Keep Brevard Beautiful, and they often identify trouble spots and so we’ll go where they know there’s more garbage.”
“I think, over the years, we’ve brought up, certainly, hundred of pounds, more than a thousand pounds of debris,” added Stasik.
Love of the lagoon and the environment is what seems to bring them out to such events.
“We’re just trying to clean up the river,” said club president Terry Keeney of Cocoa. “We all live here. We all enjoy it, and we want to make it as clean as possible.”
“I hate to see pollution. It disturbs the ecosystem,” added Mike McCleskey.
The event was part of the Keep Brevard Beautiful/FLORIDA TODAY Summer Series. The goal was to clean 4 tons worth of trash. The trash picked up Saturday pushed the team past its goal.

150814-a
Court upholds Glades area sugar farmers’ runoff permits
Palm Beach Post – by Susan Salisbury
August 14, 2015
The 2nd District Court of Appeal recently upheld the existing best management practices that Glades area sugar cane farmers are using, rejecting arguments from the Florida Audubon Society that they weren’t stringent enough.
Specifically, the appellate court in Lakeland noted that the BMPs, are working and leading to phosphorus reductions that exceed state requirements.
The court said that additional water quality improvements should be focused on the Stormwater Treatment Areas outside the Everglades Agricultural Area, as envisioned in the state’s restoration strategy.
The Aug. 7 ruling applied to permits issued in 2012 by the South Florida Water Management District to U.S. Sugar Corp., the Sugar Farms Co-op and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative. In upholding the permits, the court rejected arguments by the Florida Audubon Society that the permits fail to protect the Everglades.
Instead of implementing more aggressive practices, which were sought in a lawsuit filed by the Florida Audubon Society, growers should stay the course with existing BMPs, the panel ruled.
“This is a cohesive plan to address phosphorous pollution in the Everglades,’’ the court wrote. “…the BMP program has far exceeded its goal of reducing phosphorous levels by 25 percent.’’
The court expressed confidence that the corrective steps already under way as part of the state’s Everglades restoration plan will achieve mandates to decrease the amount of phosphorus in the water to 10 parts per billion. It also noted that in addition to using the highly successful Best Management Practices, growers are paying a special agricultural tax of $25 per acre to help fund the long-term plan for restoring the Everglades.
“Audubon argues that the permits violate the Everglades Forever Act. But because the permits align with the District’s permissible interpretation of the EFA, we must affirm,’’ the ruling states.
The permits allow sugar cane growers to discharge water from their farms into a series of canals leading to Stormwater Treatment Areas  where the water is further treated before being released into the Everglades. The STAs are man-made wetlands built and managed by the water district. The appeals court noted that further enhancements to the Stormwater Treatment Areas, not imposing tougher standards on sugar farmers, is what is needed now to help the state achieve its water quality goals for the Everglades.
The 17-page ruling affirmed the Feb. 10, 2014 findings of an Administrative Law Judge.
To access the ruling, go to: http://www.2dca.org/opinions/Opinion_Pages/Opinion_Pages_2015/August/August%2007,%202015/2D14-2328.pdf

150814-b
SJRWMD receives NOAA grant for coastal marsh restoration
Florida Water Daily
August 14, 2015
From the SJRWMD Press Release (link):
The St. Johns River Water Management District has received a $263,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to continue restoring coastal marshes in Volusia and northern Brevard counties.
The NOAA Coastal Habitat Restoration Grant provides funding for three projects, with the District and its partners contributing $126,681 in matching funds and services. These projects include:
Removing nearly a mile of earthen dike at Indian River Lagoon Preserve State Park, which will result in the restoration of approximately six acres of wetlands
Restoring a subsided marsh in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge by raising the elevation of the marsh bottom and reestablishing wetland vegetation
Stabilizing an eroded shoreline at North Peninsula State Park by introducing oyster shells and planting vegetation
The District has worked over the past several years with the multi-agency Northeast Florida Estuary Restoration Team to implement coordinated restoration from Sebastian Inlet north to the St. Marys River. This is the third year the District and its partners have received the NOAA Coastal Habitat Restoration Grant.
“Coastal wetlands prevent flood damage and are important habitats for fish, wildlife and plants,” said Ann Shortelle, District executive director. “The NOAA grant helps us to preserve and restore wetlands that were altered decades ago, mostly as a way to control the mosquito population.”
Over the last two years, NOAA has awarded the District $250,000 for three marsh restoration projects and an additional $750,000 for restoration at North Peninsula State Park.
“The expertise of District staff, their extensive partnerships in northeast Florida, and their large-scale project approach are integral components in assisting NOAA to meet our fisheries restoration goals,” said Howard Schnabolk, Habitat Restoration Specialist, NOAA Restoration Center.

150814-c
Toxic blue-green algae pose increasing threat to nation’s drinking, recreational water
Florida Water Daily
August 14, 2015
From the Oregon State University Press Release (link):
A report concludes that blooms of toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, are a poorly monitored and underappreciated risk to recreational and drinking water quality in the United States, and may increasingly pose a global health threat.
Several factors are contributing to the concern. Temperatures and carbon dioxide levels have risen, many rivers have been dammed worldwide, and wastewater nutrients or agricultural fertilizers in various situations can cause problems in rivers, lakes and reservoirs.
No testing for cyanobacteria is mandated by state or federal drinking water regulators, according to scientists from Oregon State University, nor is reporting required of disease outbreaks associated with algal blooms. But changes in climate and land use, and even increasing toxicity of the bacteria themselves, may force greater attention to this issue in the future, the researchers said.
An analysis outlining the broad scope of the problem has been published in Current Environmental Health Reports, by scientists from OSU and the University of North Carolina. The work was supported by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Science Foundation.
The researchers also noted that problems with these toxins reach their peak during the heat of summer – as they are doing right now.
In 2015, drought and low snow pack throughout the West has led to large and toxic algal blooms earlier than in previous years. Toxic blooms have occurred for the second consecutive year in the Willamette River near Portland, Ore., and Upper Klamath Lake and most of the Klamath River have health warnings posted.
In a related marine concern, all along the West Coast many shellfish harvests are closed due to an ongoing event of domoic acid shellfish poisoning, producing what is thought to be the largest algal bloom in recorded history.
Cyanobacteria are ubiquitous around the world, and a 2007 national survey by the EPA found microcystin, a recognized liver toxin and potential liver carcinogen, in one out of every three lakes that were tested. Some of the toxic strains of cyanobacteria can also produce neurotoxins, while most can cause gastrointestinal illness and acute skin rashes.
Exposure to cyanobacteria is often fatal to pets or wildlife that drink contaminated water, and there have been rare cases of human fatalities. Last year the drinking water supply was temporarily shut down in Toledo, Ohio, a city of 500,000 people, due to cyanobacterial contamination of water taken from Lake Erie.
“The biggest health concern with cyanobacteria in sources of drinking water is that there’s very little regulatory oversight, and it remains unclear what level of monitoring is being voluntarily conducted by drinking water utilities,” said Tim Otten, a postdoctoral scholar in the OSU Department of Microbiology, and lead author on the study.
“At this point we only have toxicology data for a handful of these toxins, and even for those it remains unclear what are the effects of chronic, low-dose exposures over a lifetime,” Otten said. “We know some of the liver toxins such as microcystin are probable carcinogens, but we’ve really scratched only the surface with regard to understanding what the health effects may be for the bioactive metabolites produced by these organisms.”
Otten referred to the “precautionary principle” of protecting human health before damage is done.
“In my mind, these bacteria should be considered guilty until proven innocent, and in drinking water treated as potential pathogens,” he said. “I think cyanobacteria should be approached with significant caution, and deserve better monitoring and regulation.”
The issue is complex, because not all cyanobacteria are a problem, and in fact they play many positive roles as primary producers in oceans and fresh waters. They are among Earth’s oldest life forms, and more than two billion years ago helped produce much of the oxygen that made much other life on Earth possible, including humans. But various strains of them have likely always been toxic.
Scientists said a concern is that nutrient over-enrichment may select for the more toxic populations of these bacteria, creating a positive feedback loop that makes the problem even worse.
Researchers said in their analysis that modern water treatment does a reasonably good job of making drinking water safe, but the lack of required or widespread monitoring remains a problem. No one should drink untreated surface water that may be contaminated by cyanobacteria, and another serious concern is recreational exposure through swimming or other water sports.
Cyanobacteria-associated illnesses are not required to be reported under the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines, as most pathogens are. This makes accurate assessments of the incidence and severity of adverse health outcomes difficult to determine.
A recent study identified 11 freshwater lake, algal-bloom associated disease outbreaks, and 61 illnesses from 2009-10, based on reports from New York, Ohio, and Washington. The most common symptoms were skin rashes and gastroenteritis. There were no fatalities.
Many large, eutrophic lakes such as Lake Erie are plagued each year by algal blooms so massive that they are visible from outer space. Dogs have died from drinking contaminated water, and sea otter deaths in Monterey Bay have been attributed to them eating shellfish contaminated with microcystin that came from an inland lake.
Until better monitoring standards are in place, the researchers note, an unfortunate indicator of toxic algal bloom events will be illness or death among pets, livestock and wild animals that drink contaminated water.
One cannot tell visually if an algal bloom will be toxic or not, Otten said, and traditional microscopic cell counting and other approaches to assess risk are too slow for making time-sensitive, public health decisions. But the future holds promise. New DNA-based techniques can be used by experts to estimate health risks faster and cheaper than traditional methods.
Cyanobacterial toxins are not destroyed by boiling. However, individuals concerned about the safety of their drinking water may use regularly-changed point-of-use carbon filtration devices that are effective in reducing these health risks.
People should also develop an awareness of what cyanobacteria look like, in a natural setting appearing as green, paint-like surface scums. They should avoid water recreation on a lake or river that has these characteristics, researchers said.

150813-a
Energy extraction in Florida needs to have limits
Tampa Bay Times – Column by Jennifer Hecker, director of natural resource policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
August 13, 2015
Less than two years ago, it was said fracking would never be used in Florida. Oil extraction in the state was on-shore through conventional methods, limited to oil reservoirs of the western Panhandle and a small area of Southwest Florida. My, how times have changed.
Even with oil prices down, new methods for refining and extracting oil are creating a surge in oil and gas activity in our state, including proposals for more than 100,000 acres of new oil exploration and wells on public conservation lands, near homes, or in important environmentally sensitive areas such as the Everglades.
Florida's unique geologic and hydrologic conditions mean fracking-type oil extraction can have significantly different impacts here than elsewhere. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection acknowledged this, saying in public statements that the fracking technique used at a well in Collier had never been used in the state before and shouldn't be without further review, due to concerns about groundwater resources.
Yet without any credible and objective science to assess impacts of these fracking-type techniques in Florida, they are presently allowed and the state lacks explicit legal authority to restrict or stop their use. What's worse is that almost all of these activities are done in complete secrecy, with the driller notifying the state only after they have a conventional drilling permit in hand and then claiming that even the notification is a "trade secret" — preventing local governments and the public's ability to know about it.
This unacceptable status quo is something the Conservancy of Southwest Florida tirelessly tried to work with the Legislature last session to rectify. But oil and gas interests teamed up with large mineral rights owners to push a weak oil regulatory bill. That bill would have only regulated a subset of the oil well stimulation treatments that use the injection of toxic chemicals to fracture rock — completely leaving out techniques which dissolve rock with acids.
This weak bill will likely be refiled this year, aiming also to take away local government's authority to stop inappropriate drilling in their own communities — like Bonita Springs recently did when it passed an ordinance to prohibit the use of fracking-type oil extraction within city limits. The state does not review the light, noise, traffic, or land use incompatibility issues that local governments do. Local governments have the responsibility to protect and balance the private property rights of all in the community, a responsibility that is even more important now with new drilling proposals close to residential areas, schools, or local public water supply sources.
The state legislative session is rapidly approaching and the Conservancy will again advocate for legislation that would create meaningful regulatory reform, including the immediate suspension of all forms of fracking-like extraction techniques; and vigorously opposing any efforts that seek to do anything less. We also will defend the rights of local governments that wish to restrict or prohibit drilling proposals that are incompatible and pose any possible risk to public health and water supplies.
This is not a matter of to drill or not drill, it's about whether drilling should be allowed everywhere by any method. Obviously that should not be the case. Even the slightest chance that we could permanently contaminate public water supplies with hazardous chemicals or severely deplete our freshwater supplies from irresponsible drilling is too great a risk.
Our state needs sustainable energy production that is compatible with maintaining its exceptional natural environment, quality of life, and tourism-based economy. There are huge opportunities for cleaner, safer energy production here in the Sunshine State. Citizens are currently hard at work gathering the necessary signatures for the proposed 2016 Florida Solar Choice amendment, to give Floridians a chance to voice whether they want greater access to solar statewide. With continuing oil and gas proposals surfacing that would permanently shape our landscape, the decisions we make today will decide whether we have a more sustainable energy supply in the future.

150813-b
Environmentalists appeal to protect Silver Springs from aquifer pumping
Orlando Sentinel - by Kevin Spear
August 13, 2015
Silver Springs defenders to ask state court of appeal to stop a ranch from pumping aquifer water.
Fearing the state has sanctioned further harm to one of Florida's first tourism treasures, Silver Springs, two environmental groups are seeking to overturn an aquifer-pumping permit issued to a ranch belonging to a Canadian billionaire.
Controversial water permit for ranch operation wins state approval
A notice of intent to challenge the permit was filed Tuesday with the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach. The move aims to nullify approval last month by the St. Johns River Water Management District for Sleepy Creek Lands ranch near Ocala to pump 1.5 million gallons a day from the Floridan Aquifer to irrigate pasture grass.
An appeal would stage a David vs. Goliath battle, with the grass-roots St. Johns Riverkeeper and Florida Defenders of the Environment facing off against the tax-funded district and global industrialist Frank Stronach.
"Allowing our over-pumped aquifer and polluted waterways to be further degraded for the economic benefit of a private landowner is completely contrary to the public interest," said Lisa Rinaman, who serves as "Riverkeeper" for the Jacksonville-based group.
The Palatka-based district spans 18 counties that include Orlando and Jacksonville. Its spokesman would not comment on the matter.
"We believe that the 5th District Court of Appeal will agree ... the issuance of the permit is consistent with Florida law," said ranch spokeswoman Allison North Jones in an email
The Sleepy Creek permit also had been recommended for approval by a state-hearing judge.
"The powerful in Florida are not interested in protecting water supply on behalf of the people in the state of Florida and the environment of Florida," said Thomas Hawkins, executive director of the Defenders group based in the Gainesville area.
Among the state's largest spring systems but in decline for years, Silver Springs discharges more than 325 million gallons a day. Water from its multiple vents creates Silver River, which drains into the Ocklawaha River, which flows to the St. Johns River.
Stronach had also sought a second permit to pump from the Floridan Aquifer near the springs.
As review of that application unfolded, a district scientist testified in legal proceedings that his agency's calculations had been flawed so as to underestimate the potential harm of additional pumping.
Last year, the district's staff recommended denial of that permit application and Silver Springs defenders are aghast that the same analysis did not play into application for the permit issued last month.
Rinaman said the pumping of aquifer water would not only divert flow from Silver Springs, it would lead to further pollution of the iconic springs and its river.
She said previous legal clashing over the permit revealed that 9,500 cattle planned initially for the ranch would result each year in nearly 158 million pounds of manure, 11 million gallons of urine and application of fertilizer with 700,000 pounds of nitrogen compounds.
Such pollutants have been blamed for triggering harmful algae growth in springs and rivers.

150813-c
Farm pollution down but not enough to quench the Everglades
Miami Herald - by Jenny Staletovich
August 13, 2015
On Thursday, the South Florida Water Management District announced that farmers and ranchers had once again reduced the amount of phosphorus polluting the Everglades and fueling the growth of algae and cattails that can choke native marshes. However, water still lremains too dirty to quench the southern Everglades where a severe draught has caused salinity in Florida Bay to rise.
South Florida’s sugar industry and water managers touted another year of cutting farm pollution Thursday, even while water remains far too dirty to help the parched Everglades.
At its regular West Palm Beach meeting, the South Florida Water Management District board gave a standing ovation to farmers who they said helped cut pollution from farms and ranches encompassing 640,000 acres around Lake Okeechobee. Over the last 20 years, phosphorus draining from fields has been cut by 4,900 metric tons or “136 humpback whales,” district bureau chief Pamela Wade said.
Farmers in the area, dominated by sugar growers, were ordered to clean up operations under Florida’s 1994 Everglades Forever Act. Phosphorus, which comes from fertilizers, animal waste and decaying plants, can feed the spread of algae and cattails and upset the balance of Everglades marshes that need very low levels to survive.
“For two decades these farmers not only met but consistently exceeded requirements,” said board member Melanie Peterson, a Palm Beach County Realtor.Under the act, farmers were ordered to cut phosphorus by at least 25 percent of levels before the 1994 law passed. For the second time in 20 years, last year’s reductions reached 79 percent.
But even while phosphorus is down, levels in water needed in the southern Everglades, where a severe drought has left marshes parched and driven up salinity in Florida Bay, remain too high. Environmentalists say that rather than address actual levels of phosphorus, the sugar industry has played a shell game with numbers.
“That’s a huge improvement from where they were, but that’s not in compliance,” said Earthjustice attorney David Guest, who successfully sued the state to clean up water supplies. “That’s a little like saying we were driving at 140 mph and now we’re driving at 100. That’s great, but more is possible and more is necessary. They aren’t taking responsibility.”

150813-d
Florida wildlife officials: Time to rethink panthers
Associated Press - by ABC 7 Staff
August 13, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Florida wildlife officials say the growth of Florida's panther population in the past two decades should be enough for its designation as endangered to be reconsidered.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a draft position paper released Thursday that federal officials should rethink the criteria they've set for Florida officials about what it will take to get the panther off the federal Endangered Species list. Florida officials say some of those goals are impossible to reach, such as adding populations of panthers outside southwest Florida.
Florida wildlife officials say Florida's panther population has been growing during the past 20 years and stands at around 180 adults.
The Florida panther was listed as endangered in 1967 when the population was as low as 30 animals.

150813-e
Growers top Everglades water cleanup goal
Sun Sentinel - by Andy Reid
August 13, 2015
Farmers say they've made great gains in reducing polluting phosphorus from water flowing toward Everglades.
Environmental groups still say the state should require sugar cane growers to do more to pollution.
Sugar cane growers and other farmers south of Lake Okeechobee this year reduced three times as much polluting phosphorus as required from water flowing toward the Everglades.
State officials and agricultural representatives Thursday hailed the 79 percent reduction as a sign of Everglades restoration success.
"We are getting better at what we are doing. We take Everglades restoration very seriously," said Barbara Miedema, vice president for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.
But environmental groups counter that sugar producers and other farmers need to do much more to stop phosphorus from draining into the Everglades and threatening wildlife habitat.
Audubon of Florida argues that the state's pollution reduction standard was intentionally set too low, making it easier for the sugar industry and other growers to meet the annual requirement.
"It didn't require much heavy lifting to meet," Charles Lee, of Audubon Florida, said about the state's annual phosphorus reduction requirement. "Some farms are doing great. Others, it looks like they are never attended to."
Water-pollution cleanup requirements are a big part of the multibillion-dollar state and federal effort to protect what remains of the Everglades, which provides a home to 20 endangered species and drinking water for South Florida.
Decades of draining the Everglades to make way for farming and development has shrunk Florida's famed River of Grass to half its size.
In addition, the influx of phosphorus — that comes from animal waste, fertilizer and other farming practices — pollutes water that washes into the Everglades, threatening remaining wildlife habitat.
State law calls for the amount of phosphorus washing off the vast farming region south of Lake Okeechobee to be 25 percent less each year than the levels before pollution-reduction efforts began. This year, there was a 79 percent reduction.
During the past 20 years, the nearly 500,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area has averaged a 56 percent reduction.
That's accomplished by growers lessening the use of fertilizer, cleaning out drainage ditches, changing irrigation practices and taking other steps to curb pollution that drains off fields toward the Everglades.
"The results have been outstanding," South Florida Water Management District board Chairman Daniel O'Keefe said. He called this year's 79 percent reduction "excellent performance and good news."
The water that drains off farms is directed toward 57,000 acres of man-made filter marshes designed to absorb tons of phosphorus before the water flows in the Everglades.
Yet environmental groups say too much phosphorus is still ending up in the Everglades, where the state has yet to meet federal water quality standards.
They say that the filter marshes would work better if sugar cane growers and other farmers did more to stop phosphorus from moving south.
Also, environmental advocates question basing the pollution reduction result on an average of phosphorus runoff for the region, instead of requiring each individual farm to meet the 25 percent cutback. They say that masks pollution hot spots that are increasing, not cutting back on, phosphorus runoff.
"There is more that needs to be done," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club. "We still are not getting the water to Everglades National Park that it needs, at the level of quality it needs."
The South Florida Water Management District maintains that the state's phosphorus reduction benchmark is sound and that farmers' phosphorus reduction efforts are delivering success.
Audubon this month lost an appeal of a legal challenge that was aimed at getting the South Florida Water Management District to impose tougher phosphorus cleanup requirements on growers.
"The benchmark doesn't really matter if we continue to exceed the benchmark," Miedema said.
Related:           Sugar industry accused of dodging Everglades clean-up cost requirement   Sun Sentinel
SFWMD Touts Everglades Water Quality Improvement ...  Florida Water Daily
Farmers lauded for record phosphorous reduction; EAA program ...            MyPalmBeachPost
Commissioner Adam Putnam's Statement Regarding Everglades ... Southeast AgNet

150813-f
SFWMD awards contract for Caloosahatchee Reservoir construction
SFWMD Press Release
August 13, 2015
Work will help achieve early water storage benefits for estuary
Fort Myers, FL - The South Florida Water Management District today approved a contract authorizing the start of early construction on the massive Caloosahatchee River (C-43) West Basin Storage Reservoir project. The work is a precursor for achieving water storage benefits before the entire reservoir is complete.
"While just the first step in construction of the reservoir, this work is crucial to making tangible improvements in the health of the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary," said SFWMD Governing Board Chairman Daniel O'Keefe. "This is yet another example of the recent progress that is being made on restoration projects throughout our region."
The $10.8 million contract awarded to Blue Goose Construction, LLC, begins the first phase of work on the reservoir. The contract includes:
●  Demolishing existing agricultural features such as buried pipes, culverts, irrigation pump stations and above-ground facilities across the 10,000-acre reservoir site
●  Construction of 7 compacted, above-ground earthfill mounds reaching 56 feet high at select locations to help compact the ground to support future structures
●  Moving approximately 1.8 million cubic yards of fill for the mounds, enough to fill 1 acre of land to a height of 1,100 feet, or 120 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower
●  Preparation of the foundation for construction of the 16-mile dam that will surround the reservoir
The work is the first step for the SFWMD to undertake expediting construction of the facility as part of Governor Rick Scott's commitment to South Florida ecosystem restoration. The project as a whole is a joint effort between the District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).
Today's action follows a June vote by the SFWMD Governing Board that authorized entering into an agreement designed to help the District receive federal cost credit for expediting construction.
C-43 Project Overview
The C-43 reservoir project was authorized by Congress in the Water Resources and Reform Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014.
It will one day hold approximately 170,000 acre-feet of water to be used during dry periods to help maintain a desirable minimum flow of fresh water to the Caloosahatchee Estuary. During the rainy season, the reservoir will capture and store excess stormwater and regulatory releases from Lake Okeechobee, helping to prevent excessive freshwater flows to the estuary.
Since 2012, the SFWMD has put the reservoir property to use with emergency water storage of summertime rainfall and high runoff. Temporary pumps and levee improvements have helped capture approximately 4.2 billion gallons of water that would have otherwise flowed to the river.
Words of Support for Early Construction on the C-43 Reservoir
"As the Lee County Board of County Commissioner liaison, I am honored to be a part of this process and improving water quality in the Caloosahatchee and the surrounding waterways. I look forward to continuing working with the SFWMD and state and federal officials to continue our efforts to preserve Florida's natural resources."
Cecil Pendergrass
Commissioner, Lee County Board of County Commissioners
"We are very pleased that the District awarded the first contract for early construction of the C-43 Reservoir Project. This will be the first step towards getting the critical water storage that we need within the Caloosahatchee basin."

150812-a
Amendment 1 sponsors reorganize, launch anew as Florida Conservation Voters
SaintPetersBlog.com - by Ryan Ray
Aug 12, 2015
Land Legacy, has rebranded itself as a new political committee called Florida Conservation Voters.
Key to the nonprofit group’s new formal arrangement is its designation as a 501(c)(4), like most major issue advocacy groups like the National Rifle Association or Audubon Society.
That means the group will be able to donate to candidates for state, federal and local office, which executive director Aliki Moncrief says is exactly what they will do.
“Florida has a long history of bipartisan support for the environment, and we know that Florida voters — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents —  value conservation, as evidenced by the 75% voter mandate on Amendment 1,” said Moncrief in a statement Wednesday, referring to November elections in which language enshrining permanent sources of funding for conservation was approved.
“Our mission will be to make sure that legislative priorities on the environment match up to those of Florida voters,” Moncrief said.
As a “social welfare” organization, FCV will be able to spend up to half of its funds on political activity. The rest is required by Internal Revenue Services guidelines to go to “promoting in some way the common good and general welfare of the people of the community.”
The group has not yet registered as a committee as of Wednesday afternoon, according to records with the Florida Department of State.
Related:           Florida conservation group changes name and mission          Daytona Beach News-Journal
New conservation political arm started by Amendment 1's sponsors            Miami Herald (blog)

150812-b
Mosaic expands Four Corners mine in Manatee County
Bradenton Times - by John Rehill
August 12, 2015
BRADENTON — At Tuesday's BOCC meeting, members approved a zoning change-order, sanctioning additional acreage for Mosaic's master mining plan by adopting Resolution R-15-059. With the zoning change from Agriculture (A) to Extraction (EX) on an additional 272 acres, along with the passing of the resolution, the mining company is permitted to further mitigate remaining wetlands. 
The parcel, previously known as G&D Farms, is located at the northwest corner of State Road 62 and County Road 39 in the township of Duett. The recently purchased property will be an extension of Mosaic's Four Corners Master Mining Plan.
One of the many who opposed the extension is Donald Rice, a retired geologist of 28 years for the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey). Rice presented a map that identified many small land depressions throughout the mining property. The depressions, he said, have characteristics of small sinkholes.
Mosaic's engineer, who says his education includes a minor degree in Geology, disputes the depressions as being sink holes. Instead, he identified them as "dried up wetlands."
Mary Hrenda, also a career Geologist and citizen speaking against the mining permit, said, "Temporary use ? 2031, 2032, a child could be born today and be going to high school before they are done, that's not temporary use." 
Asking about the condition of surrounding wells and if they are being inspected, Hrenda said, "The bordering labor camp must be on a public well, (as well as) the Country Store (across the street from the mine) on S.R. 62." A public well is a well that has more than 25 people drinking from it.
Later in rebuttal, no one from Mosaic addressed Hrenda comments.
Barbara Angelucci said, "There are no benefits to citizens with phosphate mining. With billions of dollars in reclamation to be done and the water supply for almost one million people at risk, there are no realistic insurances/bonds that could cover the cost when something goes wrong."
Angelucci added, "Citizens all over Bone Valley are suffering from the effects of phosphate mining and the responsible parties are you and Mosaic, despite the fact that you claim to be ‘stewards of the environment.' " 
Andy Mele, a graduate of Environmental Sciences, said, "13 thousand acres of strip mining and only 350 acres of reclamation." Mele said he sees central "heartland" Florida as beautiful and irreplaceable. "It can never be brought back to what it was before mining," Mele said. "Land can't be used for any other purpose once it is mined."
Speakers spoke of the dwindling water table, the fugitive dust and the effects that has on nearby organic farms; and the possibility of those farmers losing their organic certification.
Commissioner Robin DiSabatino asked many questions during the meeting, but got few answers. Commissioner Carol Whitmore seemed annoyed by any questioning.
Mosaic got their zoning change and Resolution by a 5 -- 1 vote on both items. DiSabatino was the dissenting vote on both.

150812-c
Secure safe drinking water for South Florida
KeysNet.com - Brewster Bevis, chairman
August 12, 2015 
Local news reports are once again being filled with drought warnings and talk of future water woes. But what is not being talked about are measures that could have helped the situation and were poised to be executed by the South Florida Water Management District.
To explain, a program known as dispersed water storage, or dispersed water management/water farming, has been vetted by the district and moved into contracting phase to allow shallow water storage of rain water to be held on various parcels of land. These shallow-water storage projects hold water during times of high rainfall, allowing valuable stormwater to be captured and stored in a more natural way, as opposed to letting it flood our rivers or run off in areas that cannot afford excess water.
These programs, while making it through the district's review process and contracting phase and also receiving funding by the Legislature, ultimately did not make it into the state's final budget. The reason ? I believe that answer is simple. Misinformation about a new program and a stigma over public and private land-use partnerships.
Dispersed water storage has been used since 2005 and is a science-based approach to storing water that engages public-private partnerships that identifies the best parcel of land with the most water storage possible -- and in most cases we will find that on non-state owned land.
The proponents and supporters of Amendment 1 called on lawmakers and the governor to invest in water conservation and preservation of land.
Whether any funds from that amendment are ultimately directed to these types of projects across the state, the message should be clear from Floridians. They want the state to focus on environmental projects that reap long-term benefits.
And what better project to add to that list to support than water-storage projects that are science-based, already vetted and approved by the district and are shovel ready?
We encourage the Legislature, the governor and the Water Management District to advocate for these projects and provide tangible water storage solutions for South Florida before we end up in a water crisis yet again.

150812-d
Severe coastal flooding in Florida is getting worse, new study finds
MiamiNewTimes.com - by Tim Elfrink
August 12, 2015
Anyone who’s ever lived on South Beach knows the moment. Thunder booms, rain pounds down in solid sheets of water, and then it happens: The streets suddenly turn into rivers, sending cars and pedestrians bobbing in the massive buildup of precipitation.
Floods are part of the contract that comes with living in low-lying, tropical-weather-prone South Florida. But that contract is coming due much more often — and at a higher cost.
That’s the finding published in a new paper by a team of scientists led by Dr. Thomas Wahl, a post-doctoral researcher in marine science at the University of South Florida. The group studied a century’s worth of data and discovered that flood severity on the East Coast is growing steadily worse.
“We found this tendency is most pronounced around the Gulf Coast and Florida’s coastline,” Wahl tells New Times.
Wahl, a native of Germany, came to Florida on a fellowship to study flood risks. He became interested in studying two factors behind big floods: storm surges — the wall of water pushed up by large storm systems — and massive amounts of precipitation. How often did the two combine into colossal “compound” floods?
He and his co-authors began collecting historic hurricane track, rainfall, and tide readings. They eventually reached two conclusions — published earlier this month in Nature Climate Change — both of which should worry anyone in Miami-Dade County.
The findings clearly show that there’s a link between heavy rain and storm-surge flooding and that the number of compound floods in urban U.S. coastal cities is on the rise.
What’s behind the increase? Climate change and sea-level rise are likely culprits, but that answer is beyond the scope of Wahl’s work.
“We can’t really tell yet if it’s climate change or part of a natural cycle,” he says. “But we know that sea-level rise will continue and certainly have an effect on flooding.”
Wahl says he hopes urban planners in places like Miami Beach — where a $300 million project is underway to install 60 anti-flood pumps — can use his work to more effectively plan.
“This is just a starting point,” he says. “The results show this is a complex topic that needs more detailed research for improved flood maps.”

150812-e
Tegu lizards moving up state invasive species list
KeysNews.com - by Brian Bowden, Free Press Staff
August 12, 2015
SOUTH FLORIDA — The Burmese python may soon have a challenger for the top spot on the state’s invasive species list.
Tegu lizards, which are known for their large stature and predatory habits, have been multiplying in population in South Florida ever since the first one was spotted in 2008 near a Homestead trailer park in the southern part of Miami-Dade County.
Some have since established a foothold off the 18-Mile Stretch and are believed to have made forays into the Florida Keys.
“Their threat potential is serious,” University of Florida biologist Frank Mazzotti told the Free Press. “It’s hard to accurately measure their numbers, but the extent of their population is definitely growing rapidly.”
Mazzotti, along with a team of researchers, has been trapping tegus since 2010. More recently, he was contracted as part of a South Florida Water Management District and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission trap-kill-study program.
The program, in place for the last three years, serves two purposes, Mazzotti said. It helps eradicate the tegus while allowing their behavior to be studied.
Tegus, which belong to the Teiidae family, average around 3 feet in length and are native to Central and South Americas. How the first one ended up in South Florida, though, is not entirely clear, although many researchers believe it was either an escaped or freed pet. 
Mazzotti said the non-natives have been found all the way north to the Florida panhandle, mainly because of their adaptation to colder climates. Pythons, on the other hand, have not strayed too far from South Florida’s steamy environs.
“We do not know their exact boundaries,” Mazzotti said of the tegus. “So it’s difficult to measure their full impact.”
Tegus, as well, are still readily available for purchase in many pet stores.
An area along a jarring dirt road in the Southern Everglades, not far from the Dade Juvenile Residential Center located off the 18-Mile Stretch, seems to be the prime real estate for the majority of the tegu population, according to researchers.
This, in turn, means much of the wildlife native to South Florida has the potential to fall victim to the omnivorous tegus.
“They eat everything, including small animals,” Mazzotti said. “I’d hate to be a Key Largo woodrat or a Lower Keys marsh rabbit.”
Tegus have also been caught feasting on alligator eggs on multiple occasions, he said. Another potential victim, considering around 30 to 40 percent of the invasive species diet is made up of small animals, is the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow.
“The frequency of small animals they prey on is just astonishing,” Mazzotti said.
A U.S. Geological Survey study published earlier this year focused on the relationship between tegus and altered habitats in the Everglades area. It found that the lizards prefer the outer reaches of the Everglades, near drained wetlands and roads, over the dense center. Florida, researchers said, is home to more invasive species than other states, in part, because of its wetlands and forests.
Why should South Florida even worry about the rapid growth of non-natives such as tegus and pythons?
“Both are very serious threats [to the Everglades ecosystem]. And we’re spending billions of dollars to restore the Everglades,” Mazzotti said. “Are we just going to let invasive species take it over?”

150811-a
Broward County: local zoning trumps oil drilling rights
MiamiHerald - by Jenny Staletovich
Auguat 11, 2015
Broward County commissioners who oppose plans to drill for oil in western marshes believe they have found a way to thwart efforts by a Miami family to tap into Everglades crude: local zoning restrictions.
In a meeting Tuesday, county staff members told commissioners the land is zoned for conservation, which prohibits drilling.
“As long as the decision made is not arbitrary and capricious, it should withstand a legal challenge,” said deputy county attorney Maite Azcoitia.
The county’s authority to govern its land, staff said, trumps a deal struck by state water managers decades ago that allowed the state to use the land for water storage while letting the Kanter family hang on to rights to extract oil, gas and minerals. To drill, the family would have to win permission from the county to change the land use and obtain a lengthy list of permits.
 “We have nine hurdles that they have to come through,” Commissioner Barbara Sharief said. “It’s much to do about nothing because it’s not going anywhere.”
Miami-based Kanter Real Estate did not respond to repeated requests for comment Tuesday.
But just in case, county commissioners agreed to ask state legislators to tighten the law governing drilling by including a provision that lets counties oppose drilling in the absence of zoning restrictions.
The Kanter family, which began buying marsh land in the 1950s, has said it wants to tap into the vast Sunniland Trend, a Florida oil field that has been drilled for decades in the Big Cypress National Preserve, but never so far east. While there has been some renewed interest in South Florida drilling — a Texas company has asked to expand sonic surveys in Big Cypress — falling oil prices have mostly cooled efforts.
The Kanter land is located in one of three conservation areas managed by the district, where more than 68,000 acres are still privately owned. In the 1950s, state water managers obtained easements to store water. The state agreed to pay all taxes, and owners retained the right to extract oil, gas and minerals. But up until now, only one well has been drilled in far western Broward County, which was capped within a year.
Critics have speculated that the family might be angling for leverage in a legal fight to force the state to buy the land.
Broward County’s objections join a growing chorus opposing the plans. A half-dozen Broward cities have joined environmental groups and passed resolutions against the request. At least two town hall-style meetings have been scheduled in Miramar and Pembroke Pines.
Last week, in its initial response, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection laid out a long list of items missing from the application, including data on whether oil is even likely to exist so far east.
State officials also said the application failed to address questions over what would happen after the initial drilling, how pollution from drilling would be handled, the location of water wells to pump up to 23 million gallons of water a year needed to drill, whether freshwater supplies would be affected and whether wildlife would be threatened.
The family has said the application, which also includes a request to mine for limestone, would be part of a larger effort to provide much-needed water storage.
But in their response, the South Florida Water Management District water said it has no details on those plans. The district also raised questions over how drilling would interfere with Everglades work and efforts to restore the natural sheet flow of water that once fed healthy marshes.
The district also worries that drilling could worsen water quality the state has been struggling for decades to improve by spreading phosphorus trapped in marshes and sending plumes of sediment that can kill aquatic life.
“Drilling in this region will put in jeopardy the drinking water supply for millions of South Floridians,” said Celeste De Palma, an Everglades policy associate for Audubon Florida. “Drilling is not compatible.”

150811-b
Broward County takes step to oppose Everglades drilling
Sun Sentinel - by Brooke Baitinger
August 11, 2015
Cities, county vow to fight Everglades drilling proposal.
Broward County vowed to fight Kanter Real Estate's application for a drilling permit in the Everglades.
In a County Commission meeting Tuesday, commissioners unanimously voted to pursue an amendment to state law clarifying that counties have the power to decide whether drilling can occur in unincorporated areas, just as state law says cities do within their borders.
Opposition to the proposed drilling has grown since the company applied for an exploratory drilling permit in early July.
Edna LaRoche, executive assistant to Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam, said a "league of cities" stands with Miramar to oppose Kanter's application, including Sunrise, Pembroke Pines, Hallandale Beach, Plantation, Tamarac, Weston and Wilton Manors.
Miramar, the closest city to the proposed drilling site, will hold a town hall meeting Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 6:30 p.m. in the Miramar City Hall.
The meeting will allow Broward County cities to discuss methods to organize efforts and respond to actions taken by the state, LaRoche said.
According to Jay Schwartz, a Pembroke Pines commissioner, the city will also hold a town hall meeting on Aug. 20 at the River of Grass Theater at 7 p.m.
Of the 18 people who spoke Tuesday, only one supported exploratory drilling in the Everglades.
Commissioner Dale Holness said he wholeheartedly supports the effort to amend the statute.
"This is a critical thing that we must do," he said. "We have to protect [the environment] not only for us today, but for our children and grandchildren. I hope our steps to get the legislation in place that gives us more empowerment will be done as speedily as possible."
Related:           Broward mayors stiffen resolve against Everglades drilling  Sun Sentinel
County takes step to oppose Everglades drilling        Sun Sentinel

150811-c
Rubio's sweet but wasted bravery
USA Today – by James Bovard
August 11, 2015
Fighting to kill jobs won't win election.
America would be more prosperous if not a single sugar beet or sugar cane were grown anywhere in the United States because bankrolling sugar production in Florida makes as little sense as growing bananas in Maine. So when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., walked into the Koch conclave earlier this month and defended his home state boondoggle in front of the most powerful enemies of corporate welfare, he became the bravest man in politics.
Rarely has such political daring been offered in a more worthless cause. Federal price supports and import quotas combine to force American consumers to pay more than $3 billion a year in higher prices, according to the Commerce Department.
Federal sugar policy has a long, sordid history. In 1816, Congress imposed high tariffs on sugar imports in part to prop up the value of slaves in Louisiana. In the 1890s, Congress abolished and then re-imposed the sugar tariff, spurring a boom-bust in Cuba that helped drag the U.S. into the Spanish-American War.
Sugar is perhaps America’s least efficient welfare program, costing consumers vastly more than it benefits farmers. Despite subsidies, the number of sugar growers has fallen by about half in the past three decades. The General Accounting Office estimated in 1995 that 1% of sugar growers captured almost half of all the benefits from the program.
As a result of the high prices, candy and other food manufacturers are shifting production to foreign nations (especially Canada). A study by Agralytica, an economic consulting firm, estimated the sugar program has cost over 120,000 jobs since 1997.
Because the U.S. mainland does not have a natural climate for sugar production, farmers have to compensate by dousing the land with fertilizer. As nearly 500,000 acres of the Everglades have been converted from swampland to sugar fields, phosphorous from the fertilizer has ravaged the region’s ecosystem. Politicians have launched hugely expensive efforts to curb the environmental harm but, as a New York Times 2010 exposé proved, the sugar industry benefited, not the Everglades.
The sugar program offers perennial confirmation of H.L. Mencken’s adage that every election is an “advance auction of stolen goods.” Congress shafts consumers because the sugar industry has directed millions to politicians, including almost $50 million in campaign contributions and lobbying between 2008 and 2013 alone. The economic arguments offered in defense of the program are merely camouflage for political plunder.
Food manufacturers, environmental groups and free-market activists are leading another assault on the program, and lawmakers are pushing a bill to limit the disruption the sugar program inflicts. That’s a first step, not a solution.

150810-a
Broward Commission to discuss Everglades drilling Tuesday
Broward Palm Beach New Times - by Robin Merrill
August 10, 2015
It was just this April that President Barack Obama gave a speech amid the sawgrass of the South Florida Everglades. But that memory is nearly forgotten as news of a proposed oil well in Broward County has shocked locals. Kanter Real Estate LLC has started the process to apply for permits to explore for oil in Broward County wetlands. That permit is up for discussion at the upcoming Broward County Commission Meeting on Tuesday.
Though it may seem that Broward County consists of resort cities and suburban sprawl, it's actually about 2/3 Everglades wetlands. In fact, the county was originally about to be named Everglades County in 1915 but was changed by the State of Florida Speaker of the House of Representatives to honor the former state governor, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward.
As Matthew Schwartz of the South Florida Wildlands Association explains in this video, drilling into the fragile limestone aquifer has the potential of drastically altering the water supply for all of Southern Florida. The Biscayne Aquifer is the underground limestone “sponge” that purifies and delivers the sheet of water that flows from the north over the River of Grass, the Everglades. This hot topic is up for discussion and debate at three public gatherings this sizzling month of August.
Three important Dates in August for action and information:
1) When: Tuesday, August 11, starting at 10 a.m.
What: Broward County Commission Meeting, agenda item #91, brought up for discussion by Commissioner Beam Furr (permit request for oil drilling from Kanter Real Estate LLC).
Where: Broward Government Center, 115 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Free parking in the government garage with validated ticket.
2) When: Thursday, August 20, 7 to 9 p.m.
What: Town Hall Meeting on Drilling for Oil in the Everglades
Where: Pembroke Pines Theater of the Performing Arts, 17195 Sheridan St., Pembroke Pines. For more info, visit the Facebook event page.
3) When: Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23 
What: Second-annual “Love the Everglades” Summer Symposium: “The Right of the Water”
Free admission, with speakers, entertainment, art, prayer room, networking, and evening outdoor activities. Online registration and list of speakers and activities.
Where: Day One: Miccosukee Resort & Convention Center, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with evening activities. 500 SW 177th Ave. (corner Krome Avenue and Tamiami Trail), Miami.
Day Two: August 23, Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Breakout groups at FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Facebook event page.

150810-b
Drought’s hold on Palm Beach County weakens, but barely
Palm Beach Post – by Kimberly Miller
August 10, 2015
It’s been a dry summer for Palm Beach County, but the drought’s hold has weakened somewhat.
According to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor, 42 percent of the county is in severe drought, compared to 58 percent the week before.
About 30 percent of the county is in moderate drought, while 23 percent is abnormally dry.
Just 4 percent of Palm Beach County has no drought or near drought conditions.
The wettest portion of the county is in the northwest corner, while the driest areas are along the coast and stretching to the southwest.
South Florida Water Management District measurements show Palm Beach County has received 23 inches of rain this year, but that’s still a deficit of 11.3 inches.
Broward County is down about 14 inches, while Miami-Dade County has a deficit of 11.4 inches.

150810-c
Many Broward residents remain under boil water advisory
CBSlocal.com
August 10, 2015
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Many residents in Broward County remain until a boil water order Monday after a water sample tested positive for E. coli.
An untreated water sample taken from one of the wells that feeds into the George T. Lohmeyer Wastewater Treatment Plant tested positive for E. coli.
The city said tests on finished, treated water samples keep indicating the drinking water is safe, but a boil water advisory was issued as a precaution.
The Lohmeyer Facility serves several cities. The advisory applies to people in Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, Oakland Park and Port Everglades – as well as parts of Tamarac and unincorporated Broward County.
Related:           E-coli reading in test well leads to boil water order for Fort Lauderdale      Sun Sentinel
Precautionary Boil Water Advisory for Parts of Hialeah       NBC 6 South Florida

150810-d
EPA confirms Colorado mine spill contains heavy metals
The Guardian (original)
August 10, 2015
Federal officials said the spill contains heavy metals including lead and arsenic. Last night, the river was quickly abandoned as millions of litres of wastewater seeping from a local mine slowly trickled downstream, eventually colouring the entire river an eerie electric orange.
The rate of discharge Saturday was down from about 740 gallons per minute Friday.
The EPA installed containment ponds to catch the sludge at the disaster site. Those are the heavy metals, he said.
The mine has been inactive since 1923.
Shortly after the accident, which occurred in the morning at 10:30am, the EPA later released a statement late Wednesday (around 10:40pm) about how they will address the mine waste spill and what to do about it. You can find the EPA’s regulations about reporting oil spills and other such hazardous spills here.
As of Friday, people have been told to keep away from the water for an indefinite period of time, reports The Guardian.
No health hazard has been detected.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that the spill also contained cadmium, aluminum, copper and calcium. Many in the audience shouted at an EPA official as he tried to speak, asking for information about the heavy metals in the river and why they haven’t released those details.
New Mexico’s environment secretary said the EPA initially downplayed the danger the contamination posed to public safety and wildlife.
“The river looks pretty nasty”, Lowrance said.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, spoke directly with EPA administrators.
Share with Us – We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism. Agricultural users in the area have also been asked not to water crops. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can.
EPA Region 6 is working closely with the NMED to evaluate possible impacts in New Mexico. Officials are monitoring the flow as it heads toward New Mexico and Utah.
The EPA planned to release additional information Saturday afternoon.
“Coloradans deserve to know the EPA’s plan for cleaning up the mess they’ve made and their plan for the long term restoration of the river habitat impacted”, Gardner said.
The sludge is creeping toward communities in northern New Mexico, where tests also were being done. Authorities expect the contamination to finally settle in Lake Powell, a reservoir on the Colorado River. There is no timetable to open the drinking water intakes along the river for cities that use the Animas as a water source.
Officials in Durango said tap water was safe for drinking as they managed to stop water flowing from the Animas River, instead managing to draw water from the Florida River – which was unaffected. Aerial photos showed the slow-moving yellow water snaking by scenic mountain roads surrounded by pine trees. “Hopefully, we will get the results soon so we can understand the impact on agriculture, stock water, swimming, boating and human contact”.
EPA officials on Saturday revealed data from intitial water sampling indicating pH levels reached 3.74 above Silverton in Cement Creek and 4.8 below Silverton in the Animas.
Related:           Durango copes with 'orange nastiness' of toxic sludge river pollution           The Guardian
Wastewater from Colorado mine reaches New Mexico         Xbox360Asylum.ca
US anti-pollution workers turn river orange in toxic spill       The Guardian Nigeria
Orange waste from Colorado mine creeps toward New Mexico       Jewocity.com (press release)

150810-e
Stinking mats of seaweed piling up on Caribbean beaches
Associated Press - by David McFadden
August 10, 2015
KINGSTON, Jamaica -
The picture-perfect beaches and turquoise waters that people expect on their visits to the Caribbean are increasingly being fouled by mats of decaying seaweed that attract biting sand fleas and smell like rotten eggs.
Clumps of the brownish seaweed known as sargassum have long washed up on Caribbean coastlines, but researchers say the algae blooms have exploded in extent and frequency in recent years. The 2015 seaweed invasion appears to be a bumper crop, with a number of shorelines so severely hit that some tourists have canceled summer trips and lawmakers on Tobago have termed it a "natural disaster."
From the Dominican Republic in the north, to Barbados in the east, and Mexico's Caribbean resorts to the west, officials are authorizing emergency money to fund cleanup efforts and clear stinking mounds of seaweed that in some cases have piled up nearly 10 feet high on beaches, choked scenic coves and cut off moored boats.
With the start of the region's high tourism season a few months away, some officials are calling for an emergency meeting of the 15-nation Caribbean Community, worried that the worsening seaweed influx could become a chronic dilemma for the globe's most tourism-dependent region.
"This has been the worst year we've seen so far. We really need to have a regional effort on this because this unsightly seaweed could end up affecting the image of the Caribbean," said Christopher James, chairman of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association.
There are various ideas about what is causing the seaweed boom that scientists say started in 2011, including warming ocean temperatures and changes in the ocean currents due to climate change. Some researchers believe it is primarily due to increased land-based nutrients and pollutants washing into the water, including nitrogen-heavy fertilizers and sewage waste that fuel the blooms.
Brian Lapointe, a sargassum expert at Florida Atlantic University, says that while the sargassum washing up in normal amounts has long been good for the Caribbean, severe influxes like those seen lately are "harmful algal blooms" because they can cause fish kills, beach fouling, tourism losses and even coastal dead zones.
"Considering that these events have been happening since 2011, this could be the 'new normal.' Time will tell," Lapointe said by email.
The mats of drifting sargassum covered with berry-like sacs have become so numerous in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean they are even drifting as far away as to West Africa, where they've been piling up fast in Sierre Leone and Ghana.
Sargassum, which gets its name from the Portuguese word for grape, is a floating brownish algae that generally blooms in the Sargasso Sea, a 2 million-square-mile (3 million-square-kilometer) body of warm water in the North Atlantic that is a major habitat and nursery for numerous marine species. Like coral reefs, the algae mats are critical habitats and mahi-mahi, tuna, billfish, eels, shrimp, crabs and sea turtles all use the algae to spawn, feed or hide from predators.
But some scientists believe the sargassum besieging a growing number of beaches may actually be due to blooms in the Atlantic's equatorial region, perhaps because of a high flow of nutrients from South America's Amazon and Orinoco Rivers mixing with warmer ocean temperatures.
"We think this is an ongoing equatorial regional event and our research has found no direct connection with the Sargasso Sea," said Jim Franks, senior research scientist at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
Whatever the reason, the massive sargassum flow is becoming a major challenge for tourism-dependent countries. In large doses, the algae harms coastal environments, even causing the deaths of endangered sea turtle hatchlings after they wriggle out of the sand where their eggs were buried. Cleanup efforts by work crews may also worsen beach erosion.
"We have heard reports of recently hatched sea turtles getting caught in the seaweed. If removal of seaweed involves large machinery that will also obviously cause impacts to the beaches and the ecosystems there," said Faith Bulger, program officer at the Washington-based Sargasso Sea Commission.
Mexican authorities recently said they will spend about $9.1 million and hire 4,600 temporary workers to clean up seaweed mounds accumulating along that country's Caribbean coast. Part of the money will be used to test whether the sargassum can be collected at sea before it reaches shore.
Some tourists in hard-hit areas are trying to prevent their summer vacations from being ruined by the stinking algae.
"The smell of seaweed is terrible, but I'm enjoying the sun," German tourist Oliver Pahlke said during a visit to Cancun, Mexico.
Sitting at a picnic table on the south coast of Barbados, Canadian vacationer Anne Alma said reports of the rotting seaweed mounds she'd heard from friends did not dissuade her from visiting the Eastern Caribbean island.
"I just wonder where the seaweed is going to go," the Toronto resident said one recent morning, watching more of mats drift to shore even after crews had already trucked away big piles to use as mulch and fertilizers.

150809-a
Beneath the Surface
AlachuaToday.com - by Suzette Cook
August 9, 2015
ALACHUA – Lloyd Bailey, owner of Lloyd Bailey’s Scuba and Watersports in Gainesville, remembers the conversation he and his diving buddy John Kibler Jr. had very well.
The discussion took place more than 20 years ago.
They had both just finished diving in what was then called the Alachua Sink off U.S. Highway 441 in Alachua on a piece of property located at latitude 29° 48' 4" N and longitude 82° 30' 30" W just east of Sonny’s BBQ Restaurant.
It was Bailey’s idea to introduce the cave system to Kibler who was also a scuba instructor and, coincidentally, worked directly across the street from the sink at Asgrow Florida Corporation.
“I started diving it in the early 80s,” Bailey said about what is now called Mill Creek Sink.
“We would access it from the Sonny’s BBQ side.”
Back then, the scuba equipment was much heavier and bulkier, Bailey said.
“The logistics of getting in and out of there were so challenging, that I never took photography equipment in the water there,” Bailey added. “We had to take a heavy duty rope and wrap it around a tree and walk backwards with this heavy rope. The gear we were wearing back then was well over 100 pounds on our backs.”
According to his obituary, Kibler Jr. who passed away in 2009, worked for Asgrow for 33 years with his last position being a South Florida district manager for the subsidiary of the Upjohn Company. Asgrow was a distributor of agricultural materials, including chemicals, seeds and specialty products.
 Bailey and Kibler both identified the cave system as an extremely advanced dive area and a dangerous one as well.
That’s how the idea came about.
Bailey relayed Kibler’s comments.
“He said ‘My company owns this property. We can’t do anything with this property. We could probably donate it as a win-win situation.’ ”
That is how the National Speleological Society came to own the property that is locked in a lawsuit with the city of Alachua over a rezoning ordinance that the NSS-Cave Diving Section (CDS) says will cause harm to the ecosystem that lives around and inside of the cave system. CDS is responsible for managing the property on behalf of the NSS.
“I’ve done upstream and downstream,” Bailey said about his experience diving in the cave system.
“Alachua Sink [renamed Mill Creek Sink] is one of the most advanced cave dives in the state.
“It is a magnificent cave dive, he said, “white walls, beautiful walls.”
Bailey said he has been following the case between the city of Alachua and Alachua County that was combined with the NSS-CDS lawsuit requesting that the approved rezoning be quashed.
“Everybody’s wanting to blame everybody else,” Bailey said, “If we live here, we’ve got to blame ourselves. Unless somebody wants to buy all the land and say ‘I’m gonna preserve it.’ ”
“Sonny’s is closer than the WalMart,” he added. “The water source is coming from Hornsby Springs, northwest but everything has been developed.
“There’s a line of sinkholes on the south side of 441 with houses built all around,” Bailey added. “The NSS-CDS didn’t pay a penny for it, and they have a responsibility to protect it,” he said about Mill Creek Sink.
 Hydrogeology
Geologist Stephen Boyes is the President of Geo Solutions, Inc., an environmental and hydrologic consulting company.  In his Gainesville office, maps abound.
“Limestone is a sedimentary rock that’s laid down, and with time it becomes hard,” Boyes explained.
Boyes is an expert in hydrology, the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability.
“If you break that rock, you begin to form preferential groundwater flow through the breaks. Rainwater is slightly acidic, because it is a weak form of carbonic acid. It begins to dissolve away the edges of the limestone in those breaks. And that’s what forms caverns as well as groundwater flow along joints.”
“Some areas of Florida are 'holier' than others.”
Boyes has served as an expert witness in many land use cases and spent 15 years reviewing site plans for the city of Gainesville.
“Once you have approved the area for that level of development, it’s going to take place,” he said about his experience with rezoning ordinances. “If an applicant comes in with a site plan that fits exactly what the zoning is, Boyes said, “the site plan is a bad place to try to do the environmental stuff.”
While the NSS-CDS continues to research their land and cave system by mapping it and conducting flora and fauna counts, Boyes said the more information that can be gathered about the ecosystem, the better the ability will be for everyone to understand what’s at stake if development is carried out.
“The more you know about a place, the more protective you may need to be about it,” he said.
Boyes said one of his concerns about the size of the 154.5-acre parcel and type of rezoning that occurred in Alachua involving the property owned by WalMart, is the impact development of that intensity will have on runoff and storm water.
“Storm water generally meets primary and secondary drinking water standards,” he said. “In this particular environment, it is capable of transporting bacteria and viruses. Parking lot runoff it going to contain both.
“One of the complaints about parking lots is diapers on the ground,” he said. “People spit, get sick, and that can travel.
“Short travel time between the storm water discharges from a large development in Alachua to the discharge point in the Santa Fe River is less than 30 days,” he explained. “We’re talking about the ability to transport bacteria that is still alive and healthy, as well as viruses, that entire length.
“A large rainfall event is very common here. It can run across the street and right down Mill Sink. Any form of development is not a natural situation. Discharges of things that transport down gradient offer an impact to the groundwater in that particular situation.”
Boyes said he thinks the attention that Rezoning Ordinance 15 03 is receiving is because of the data that is now available through the Mill Creek/Lee Sink Dye Trace Study of 2005 and the mapping of the Cross-County Fracture Zone.
“A big key to this, is knowing that there is a Cross-County Fracture Zone that’s different than other portions of the county. It’s a long, linear fracture zone and this is where this site and portions of the Santa Fe River and the springs as well as Orange Lake and down in that direction there’s an interrelationship.
“It’s more fractured, it’s more cavernous, it’s more directly routed,” Boyes said.
“Here’s Alachua,” Boyes said as he stretched out a map. “It’s more cavernous, one of the largest water conduits in the county. The 1977 fracture zone was mapped and couple that with the 2005 dye trace study which found out how permeable it is.”
“People want to develop in such sensitive areas without taking precaution of the users of the water down gradient. Cave divers have a concern because they know what’s in it. Anybody who hasn’t been in that cave has no idea about how big and how significant it is.”
Divers’ viewpoint
The collective data of diving conditions in the Mill Creek Sink are logged in at www.caveatlas.com. Dr. Andrew Pitkin logged this information from his March 21, 2013 visit.
“5-10 feet viz[visibility] in the cavern, improving to a hazy 40' at the upstream-downstream junction. About the same all the way upstream. Lots of leaves and other surface debris in the line in the new section, so the system clearly has reversed at least that far.”
On Sept. 3, 2011, Pitkin logged this comment, “About 15' in the basin and cavern to about 50 feet depth, then very clear (80) all the way downstream. A little milkiness in the Subway tunnel, but still very good.”
In order to dive in the Mill Creek Sink, divers must meet strict criteria. According to NSS-CDS Vice Chair Sylvester “TJ” Muller, even local law enforcement must be notified before a dive is made.
The NSS-CDS, which manages the property describes Mill Creek Sink as: “The surface stream system is dissected by more than 10 swallow holes which divert water underground, draining a basin of over 70 square miles.  Sink visibility can vary dramatically from the cave visibility as tannins tend to wash into the sink during rainy periods, reducing visibility considerably.  Extremely delicate flow formations pervade the system.  Fine scalloped sheets of limestone are easily damaged and divers must be highly proficient not only in buoyancy control, but also positional awareness to ensure NO contact with any of these spectacular formations.   Mill Creek Sink is an advanced cave dive both upstream and downstream, with significant siphon flow in the downstream section with depths in both directions exceeding 200 feet and shallow sections within the cave that provide potential decompression ceilings.  Due to the nature and extreme complexity of the underwater cave system, access is permitted to only the highest qualified cave divers and absolutely no training is allowed.”
Each diver must have the following qualifications and training to enter the complex system:
4. When Diver Propulsion Vehicles (DPV's) are permitted per site specific rules, the diver must possess a DPV specialty card or show proof of prior experience and have logged at least 5 swim dives at that site before a DPV may be used in that system.
 The guided only dives can only be made by research and science divers and some of the world’s top divers have come to the site to explore it.
“The sink is a really interesting dive,” said top female diver, photographer, author and trainer Jill Heinerth, who said she last went through Mill Creek Sink’s underground tunnels two years ago.
“The first time I dived it, there were no stairs,” Heinerth said. “It was a tough, steep climb down to the water with tanks and took teamwork to get in the water. It was fun and rewarding, but the visibility was not stellar. In the murkiness, I could barely make out the full extents of the tunnels and every fin kick through the system was carefully measured to avoid completely silting the passages.
“There are few days where a cave diver could truly report that the conditions in the sink are genuinely pretty, but one is still struck by the magnitude of the passages and the importance of such a unique window into the aquifer. ‘Apache Sink’ as we refer to it in our community, sits at a nexus – an important doorway that geologically connects everything from Camp Kulaqua in High Springs to Paynes Prairie in Gainesville. Sitting on the linament that connects an entire region speaks to its importance in protecting a vast swath of our regional water resources. It may not seem popular to protect such a meager hole in the ground tucked behind a Sonny's BBQ Restaurant, but we have to look at such places as the "beginning of a pipe" that can serve to protect an entire region's water resources.”
Expert diver and Owner of Karst Environmental Services Peter L. Butt said he won’t let his dive teams tackle Mill Creek Sink because of the danger and liability, but he himself has dived there.
“When you’re swimming upstream, you’re kicking against the current,” Butt said. “And when you’re downstream you’ve got to worry about working back in that current.
“I bow to the guys who are doing the research with some of the maps that they are surveying because they are re-breathers really hanging it out there to do this kind of work. It’s beyond what I would allow in the scope of my company to do. The depths, the times and duration.”
Butt has collected data at Mill Creek Sink and his company executed the Mill Creek and Lee Sink dye trace study 10 years ago on July 26, 2005.
The study is being used as key evidence of the connectivity and karst nature of the properties near the parcel rezoned by the unanimous vote of the city of Alachua Commission on April 27, 2015.
Imperiled species
As the NSS-CDS promises to push forward with the lawsuit against the city of Alachua trying to quash the rezoning decision, the Suwannee St. Johns Group Sierra Club (SSJ) pledged funds to help the cause, noting that the dye trace study’s proof of connectivity and the imperiled species living in the ecosystem as main reasons for concern.
The last dive logged for Mill Creek Sink on its cave atlas web page took place on January 11, 2014. Brandon Cook noted visibility at 30 feet basin, 60 to 80 feet upstream.
His remarks reads, “Finally, first dive in the system, guided by Rick C. Vis was pretty good the entire dive, really opened up past T upstream. Saw lots of really large crayfish and massive clay banks. Great dive, cool cave.”
In a report released by Thomas R. Sawicki, Ph.D., assistant professor of biological sciences at Florida A & M University, three imperiled species are identified as living in the Mill Creek Sink. The Florida Cave Amphipod, Hobbs' Cave Amphipod and Pallid Cave Crayfish are rated on scales of rarity.
In the global ranking, they are rated as G2 meaning “Imperiled globally because of rarity (6 to 20 occurrences or less than 3,000 individuals) or because of vulnerability to extinction due to some natural or man-made factor and G3 meaning “Either very rare and local throughout its range (21-100 occurrences or less than 10,000 individuals) or found locally in a restricted range or vulnerable to extinction from other factors.
In the state ranking, they are all ranked as S1 “Critically imperiled in Florida because of extreme rarity (5 or fewer occurrences or less than 1,000 individuals) or because of extreme vulnerability to extinction due to some natural or man-made factor,” and S2, “Imperiled in Florida because of rarity (6 to 20 occurrences or less than 3,000 individuals) or because of vulnerability to extinction due to some natural or man-made factor.”
Heinerth offers a solution to the conflict over rezoning and protection of natural resources.
“If we can see forward to creating a Mill Creek Regional Water Reserve,” Heinerth said, “We'll be not just protecting water, but also creating a recreational reserve of significance to the future of our population.”

150809-b
National parks are sadly neglected
Daytona Beach News Journal - by Joseph H. Carter Sr.
August 9, 2015
Florida's nine national parks are suffering, needing about $190 million in crucial maintenance left unfunded and neglected at the end of the last fiscal year, the National Park Service reports.
Everglades National Park ended the past fiscal year with $58.8 million in unmet needs, while Dry Tortugas National Park's unfunded maintenance totaled $56.8 million, according to the park service's calculations in its stewardship report.
Unfunded needs for the other Florida parks were Canaveral National Seashore ($22.1 million); Big Cypress National Preserve ($20 million); Gulf Islands National Seashore ($18 million); Biscayne National Park ($6.7 million); Castillo de San Marcos National Monument ($5.7 million), Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve ($3.9 million), and De Soto National Memorial ($151,000).
Liberal pundit Jack Hightower politicized the challenge facing our national parks by asserting that the nation's “Janes and Joes” would “be excited by a presidential contender making an issue of our parks' dilapidated facilities, shortened hours, closed-off sections, locked visitor centers, canceled programs, ranger shortages” and such.
The issue is bigger than White House action, though.
Anti-tax voters and the rise of tea party lawmakers vowing to slash government spending loom bigger. Instead of item-by-item evisceration of waste and corruption, preferred actions in recent years were across-the-board budget cuts, not surgical slices. The National Park Service report only points out the resulting maintenance neglect and staff shortage problems facing our national parks. Federal lands under the U.S. Forest Service, fish and wildlife refuges and the Bureau of Land Management faced similar budget shortfalls.
Powerful forces are loudly demanding that wildlife prairies be opened for livestock grazing, that park forests be cut for lumber, and that mineral-rich public land be opened to mining and petroleum production. The plea for money to fix neglected parks is lost in the tumult.
While repairing Florida's nine parks would cost less than half the $412 million price tag of one F-22 fighter jet, the defense lobby is tough competition in the federal money grab. As a result, the National Park Service's systemwide maintenance shortfall grew during the past four years to $11.5 billion, even though 292 million visitors used the parks last year.
Repairing park facilities is only part of the problem. Public properties demand skilled law enforcement, abuse protection agents, park guides and trained firefighters. Staffing has been cut in each category. For instance, the national parks have lost 400 park rangers during the past five years.
Celebrated as “national jewels,” America's neglected national parks symbolize the unintended victims of “sequestered budget cuts” deliberately designed and delivered when Republicans gained control of the U.S. House after the 2010 midterm elections. Such broad-axe slashing of budgets was symbolized when TV cameras captured a right-wing Texas lawmaker demeaning a park ranger enforcing a facility shutdown that the Republican congressman himself had voted to close.
Another long-smoldering issue is the federal government's ownership of a quarter of the nation's land, about 635 million acres. In February 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney told editors in Nevada, “I don't know why the federal government owns so much of this land.” Controlled by Congress under Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution, the land is for multiple purposes, including military, conservation and recreation The National Park Service's share of public land for use as parks is a mere 84 million acres divided among 400 areas.
National park budgets, including delayed maintenance and staff losses, are casualties of the partisan political feud engulfing the country. Since 2011, when Republicans took control of the House, the park service's appropriated funding has been cut 12 percent, or about $364 million.
Parks that draw tourists to Florida haven't been spared.
Everglades National Park's unmet needs include $36.7 million for roads, $1.3 million for trails and $7.8 million in repairs to its 147 buildings. The National Park Service estimates the cost to replace all of its facilities would be $912.9 million. Regular maintenance protects that investment.
The 47,000-acre Dry Tortugas National Park, with a replacement price tag of a whopping $2.8 billion (not detailed in the report), has $5.9 million in unmet building repairs and $50.6 million listed under “all other” repairs. Dry Tortugas, located 68 miles west of Key West, houses Fort Jefferson — an unfinished fortress featuring 16 million 168-year-old bricks — on one of its seven islands.
Canaveral National Seashore's paved roads need $20.5 million in work and its 72 structures have $1.3 million in unmet needs. The park service figures the replacement cost at $144 million.
The Big Cypress National Preserve lists these needs: roads ($8.4 million) and trails ($8.2 million). The preserve's 194 structures have $900,000 in unmet needs. The park's replacement price tag is $416 million.
Our national parks are a national treasure. With $11.5 billion in deferred maintenance, how much longer will Congress wait before it properly funds our National Park Service, which serves nearly 300 million visitors annually ? If we don't, we will do a disservice to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

150809-c
Will public lands expand ? Right now, it's unlikely
Gainesville.com - by Cindy Swirko, Staff writer
August 9, 2015
Local funds have dried up; state funds are tied up.
Brickman Way is a trail warrior. The Gainesville resident earned his title by hiking more than 500 miles on Florida Forest Service land — through upland sandhills, bottomland hammocks, swamps and scrub.
He walks through woods most every weekend, from San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park in northwest Alachua County to the Longleaf Flatwoods in the southeast part of the county.
“I've always had an interest in the outdoors and natural systems, and hiking is one of the ways of being out and observing these things,” Way said. “When I'm planning a hike, I think about what kind of ecosystem I want to see today.”
Thanks to various land conservation programs from local, state and federal governments along with private organizations, Way and others who venture out have plenty of varied ecosystems to see in Alachua County.
But local money is more dry than the Santa Fe River in drought and the Florida Legislature, in a controversial move, appropriated just a fraction of the money to be raised through the voter-approved Amendment 1 to land purchases for which it was intended.
So any sizeable expansion of public conservation land is in jeopardy despite widespread public support for it.
Most of the local public conservation land has been bought by the Florida Park Service, Alachua County, the city of Gainesville and the Suwannee and St. Johns river water management districts. The forest service recently opened its only Alachua County state forest, near Newnans Lake.
The land serves a lot of public purposes — it helps prevent pollution by filtering water before it gets to the aquifer, it provides flood control, it's home for varied plants and animals, including several that are imperiled.
But it's not just about water and animals. Local and national studies have indicated that conservation land increases tax revenue by boosting the value of neighboring property. An Alachua County study pegged the potential increased value at more than $108 million, far more than the conservation land cost.
The land and parks draw visitors who eat at local restaurants and sip beer at local craft brewers (the two biggest, Swamp Head and First Magnitude, actually draw on the region's nature for their names). The motto for Visit Gainesville, Alachua County's tourism bureau, is “Where Nature and Culture Meet.”
And for Way and many others like him, these conservation lands provide a place to exercise, learn, watch wildlife and relieve stress.
“It's an exercise that I really like,” Way said. “Mentally, I just really enjoy walking for a few hours.”
Alachua County citizens twice voted to tax themselves for land purchases and joined millions of Florida residents in November in voting for Amendment 1, which requires that 33 percent of revenue from the documentary stamp tax levied when property is sold be set aside for conservation purchases.
However, some in Alachua County and across the state are beginning to question whether more land needs to be preserved and whether too much land is already in public ownership for conservation.
They argue that such purchases take land off the tax rolls. It also means less land for future development and the income that it can produce. And while the cost of buying is a one-time expense, the cost of managing the land is recurring.
But it's not just about water and animals. Local and national studies have indicated that conservation land increases tax revenue by boosting the value of neighboring property. An Alachua County study pegged the potential increased value at more than $108 million, far more than the conservation land cost.
The land and parks draw visitors who eat at local restaurants and sip beer at local craft brewers (the two biggest, Swamp Head and First Magnitude, actually draw on the region's nature for their names). The motto for Visit Gainesville, Alachua County's tourism bureau, is “Where Nature and Culture Meet.”
And for Way and many others like him, these conservation lands provide a place to exercise, learn, watch wildlife and relieve stress.
“It's an exercise that I really like,” Way said. “Mentally, I just really enjoy walking for a few hours.”
Alachua County citizens twice voted to tax themselves for land purchases and joined millions of Florida residents in November in voting for Amendment 1, which requires that 33 percent of revenue from the documentary stamp tax levied when property is sold be set aside for conservation purchases.
However, some in Alachua County and across the state are beginning to question whether more land needs to be preserved and whether too much land is already in public ownership for conservation.
They argue that such purchases take land off the tax rolls. It also means less land for future development and the income that it can produce. And while the cost of buying is a one-time expense, the cost of managing the land is recurring.
“The question is, how much land is enough? There's not a right answer. At some point, you have to say, why is land conservation more important than children? Collectively the community needs to decide a list of priorities,” Gainesville Realtor Thomas McIntosh said. “A lot of our land is going to be naturally protected anyway because it's wetlands, so why buy those lands if it's going to stay undeveloped? It seems that with all of the needs we put on our tax dollars right now, we have some big issues that we need to deal with.”
As the economy revives and dormant development picks up, the debate over the future of land conservation in Alachua County and Florida will surely grow.
It's already begun. Florida voters in November passed Amendment 1 with a shade under 75 percent of the vote; Alachua County came in at 72.1 percent of the vote. The amendment dedicates a portion of the documentary stamp tax on real estate transactions for land acquisition for 20 years.
It is expected to raise $740 million. Florida legislators in the recent special session budgeted just $17.4 million for the Florida Forever land buying program. Other dollars raised through Amendment 1 will be spent on expenses that were previously paid elsewhere in the budget, such as salaries for state agencies that deal with the environment
Several environmental groups have filed suit, claiming the Legislature failed to comply with Amendment 1.
Some legislators who supported diverting Amendment 1 money to other causes said that Florida already has enough land in preservation.
State Sen. Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, said during this spring's regular legislative session that the state already owns enough land, a belief he repeated in the recent special session. Hays is a member of the Senate Environmental and Conservation Committee and the Appropriations Committee.
“I would suspect that the majority of the Legislature feels that we have enough land already, with the exception of some specific properties that are necessary for springs protection or wildlife corridors or beach projects,” Hays said. “The fact remains that over 10 million acres of land in this state, almost 33 percent of the state land, is already set aside for conservation purposes. We have neglected the management of many of those acres of land."
Pegeen Hanrahan, a former Gainesville city commissioner and mayor who was the campaign manager for Water and Land Legacy, the group that promoted Amendment 1, pointed to the overwhelming voter support as evidence that the public has a view different from Hays.
“I think Sen. Hays is coming from a perspective that is not a broadly held perspective,” Hanrahan said. “I actually do have a certain amount of faith. Next year, with the fullness of time — we are getting a tremendous amount of feedback from citizens and members (of the Legislature) that folks are paying attention to this.”
Alachua County, for its population size, has long been seen as a leader in land preservation, and some of its most beloved places are in public hands. After all, would Gainesville be Gainesville without Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park or Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park?
Starting with state money and the acquisition of Paynes Prairie in 1971, 110,110 acres in the county are now in conservation after purchase by a government agency or a private group such as Alachua Conservation Trust, according to data from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory.
More is protected through conservation easements in which the land can remain in private hands but the uses of the land are limited.
Alachua County covers roughly 559,360 acres, so about 20 percent is in conservation. That places Alachua in the middle of the 67 counties for the percentage of preserved acreage.
Counties with part of the Everglades lead the list. Collier and Miami-Dade counties, for instance, each have 68 percent of their land in conservation.
Counties with national forests, including Marion, Baker and Columbia, also have sizeable percentages of their land in conservation.
But Alachua County is in the top 10 in acreage bought with local money or managed by local agencies, including the 19,295 acres in the Alachua County Forever program.
In 2000, Alachua County voters by a 60 percent margin opted to increase the property tax to raise $29 million in the Alachua County Forever program.
In 2008, a 51.1 percent majority of voters approved the Wild Spaces Public Places referendum, a tax increase for parks and for conservation land purchases.
Between the two programs, the county has spent $37 million. But through grants and leveraging, another $68 million for the purchases has come from other sources such as the state and federal governments, said Alachua County Forever Program Manager Ramesh Buch.
Alachua County Forever land is as close to urban Gainesville as the 125-acre Sweetwater Preserve between the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail and Williston Road, and the Beville Creek Nature Preserve/Cofrin Nature Park on Northwest Eighth Avenue near Newberry Road.
The purchases stretch across the county.
The sprawling Barr Hammock north of Micanopy totals 5,719 acres. The 1,230-acre Mill Creek tract is north of Alachua near the Santa Fe River, while 800 acres are at Watermelon Pond near Newberry.
Other tracts are predominantly in the eastern part of the county, some adjoining or added to state-owned conservation land along lakes and the Santa Fe River.
Buch said the buying is about to end unless Amendment 1 money is channeled to the county or a new local tax is passed. About $112,000 remains from Alachua County Forever and Wild Spaces, though lots of land that was nominated for purchase remains unbought and is still on the list.
If the county does get some of the money, Buch said more wildland would be targeted, particularly filling in gaps or adding to existing conservation land in in the east, south and north parts of the county.
But a new focus, particularly in the western part of the county, would be working landscapes. Buch envisions getting conservation easements for farmland that could keep it in private ownership and keep it being worked, but keep it from being sold off for development into a subdivision. Or the county could buy it, put an easement on it and then sell it.
“I think there are still environmental properties we need to acquire. We have an acquisition list. We haven't bought it all,” Buch said. “I think working landscapes are critical. They keep the jobs in your local landscape, keep the food in your local landscape.”
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, in Gainesville recently for the opening of the new state forest near Newnans Lake, said Florida has a rich legacy of protecting conservation land.
Putnam said more can be done and also spoke of the need to preserve not just wildland but working landscapes as well.
“There is certainly an opportunity to connect wildlife corridors or establish buffers around military bases. There are conservation benefits and economic benefits that come from the strategy that we have pursued, in addition to the quality of life issues,” Putnam told The Sun. “I think it's important that the state do more with conservation easements than it has in the past, especially on working lands. But there will still be opportunities to do outright purchase for the key environmental objectives.”
State Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, whose district includes Alachua County, said he is committed to the continued purchase of appropriate land with a focus on springs, and in ensuring that money to maintain the land is available.
Bradley mentioned both Glen Springs off Northwest 23rd Avenue and Blue Springs in Gilchrist County near High Springs in particular.
As far as Amendment 1 in general, Bradley said he believes the Legislature will arrive at a formula and system for purchasing more land within a few years. He said the Legislature was so consumed by health care issues that Amendment 1 took a backseat.
The fact that scant attention was paid to it this year may have been good for North Florida, Bradley said. He believes that if a lot of money had been appropriated and borrowed the money against Amendment 1 revenue, a disproportionate amount would have gone to South Florida for projects such as the Everglades and the Indian River lagoon.
“Amendment 1 is a 20-year commitment, so we are just beginning this journey. I think that to fully judge the impact of Amendment 1 and how it is implemented, we are going to need a few years of sessions and then we can look at the total package,” Bradley said. “My job is to protect the natural resources that the people I represent care about and live with and in many ways define the character of our region — the springs and rivers. I'm laser-focused on that. These efforts are very personal to me and I know they are very personal to my constituents. So it's very important to me that we do this right.”

150808-a
Court upholds permits for sugar growers
CBSlocal.com
August 8, 2015
MIAMI (CBSMiami) —  An appeals court upheld decisions meant to allow sugar-cane growers to get permits, rejecting arguments the permits would not properly protect the Everglades.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal issued a 17-page ruling on Friday that backed the South Florida Water Management District’s decisions in 2012 to issue permits that regulate the discharge of phosphorus in water that flows into the Everglades.
In 2014, an administrative law judge also rejected Florida Audubon’s arguments and said the permits should be issued to U.S. Sugar Corp., Sugar Farms Co-Op and Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.
The environmental group contended that the permits violated a law known as the Everglades Forever Act because they did not require additional water-quality measures and because the growers’ discharges contributed to ongoing water-quality problems in an Everglades protection area, according to Friday’s ruling. But the appeals court gave a detailed analysis of the history of Everglades protection efforts and laws in upholding the district’s permitting decisions.

150807-a
Among drought, Think Tanks warn of U.S. "Eco Deficit"
WaterOnline.com - by Sara Jerome
August 7, 2015
The U.S. deficit gets voters riled up all over the country. Can the so-called “ecological deficit” do the same ?
The nation reached a milestone last month: It hit an ecological deficit, according to a new paper by think tanks Global Footprint Network and Earth Economics. Water scarcity, drought, and rapid use of water resources are chief parts of the problem.
According to these groups, July 14 marked “the date the United States has busted its annual ecological budget, utilizing more resources and services than U.S. ecosystems can regenerate within the full year.”
In other words, “everything from [July 14] until December 31 is deficit environmental spending,” Fortune reported, citing the research paper. The U.S. ranks as the third wealthiest country in the world for natural resources, behind Brazil and China. But the States “are using resources nearly twice as fast as they can be naturally sustained.”
Water was a major part of the groups’ calculation.
Water scarcity threatens our ecological assets. Climate change is contributing to drought, particularly in California. Some states with the greatest natural capital wealth, including Texas and Michigan, are vulnerable to drought and water shortages, which then reduce the productivity of crop and grazing lands. An analysis of baseline water stress shows states in the western half of the United States are likely to face the greatest competition for water.
In California, for instance, the drought is exacerbating the problem. The state is “using resources eight times faster than they can be renewed and in the midst of a severe drought. According to the report, it would take eight Californias to support the state’s large population, voracious appetite for water, and carbon footprint. But Texas and Florida also have high ecological deficits,” Fortune reported.
How is an ecological deficit calculated? The research report states:
Just as a bank statement tracks income against expenditures, Global Footprint Network measures a population’s demand for and ecosystems’ supply of resources and services. On the supply side, a city, state, or nation’s biocapacity represents its biologically productive land and sea area, including forest lands, grazing lands, cropland, fishing grounds, and built-up land. On the demand side, the Ecological Footprint measures a population’s demand for plant-based food and fiber products, livestock and fish products, timber and other forest products, space for urban infrastructure, and forest to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. Both measures are expressed in global acres—globally comparable, standardized acres with world average productivity.
The groups believe that raising awareness through papers like this one is a key part of the solution, according to David Batker, executive director of Earth Economics.
“People need nature. Economies need nature. Securing prosperity in the 21st century requires using informed measures, like the Ecological Footprint, to improve policy, shift investment and fix our ecological budget,” he said.  “This report reveals problems and provides solutions.”
For more drought stories, visit Water Online’s Water Scarcity Solutions Center.

150807-b
Big Oil promises jobs and money to promote drilling
Sun Sentinel - by William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
August 7, 2015
Florida would be showered with thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of tax revenue over the next two decades if the federal government would quit standing in the way of energy exploration, the oil industry claims.
The lure of jobs and money is part of a pitch to Congress to open much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to rigs, just five years after the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
A former economist for the U.S. Energy Department and even some drilling boosters say the industry's projections of jobs and revenue are greatly inflated. But the lobbying effort is making headway.
The Senate energy committee on July 30 approved a sweeping bill that would shrink the no-drill buffer zone along Florida's West Coast from 125 miles to 50 miles. Energy companies, meanwhile, are pressing to tap oil deposits in western Broward County and Collier County at the edges of the Everglades.
The relentless pressure to drill is mounting despite relatively low oil prices and a surge in domestic production. Looking long term, the industry sees a chance to gain access to deposits known to exist under the Gulf and across the southern peninsula.
"We can continue to put downward pressure on the cost of important energy resources into the future," said David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council, an industry promoter in Tallahassee.
Florida would gain 183,000 jobs by 2035, and the state economy would get a $440-billion boost from 2016 to 2035 if the federal government adopted "pro-development policies," according to a report commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, a powerful lobby in Washington. "Pro-development policies" would include dropping restrictions on drilling in the eastern Gulf.
The report, conducted by Wood Mackenzie, a research consultant, also projected $53 billion in Florida tax revenue from 2016 to 2035.
"I honestly think some of these industry reports are inflated by an order of magnitude 10 times greater than what's actually there," said Frank Alcock, a former Energy Department economist and now associate professor of political science at New College of Florida.
"This is not something that's going to be a boon to job creation, especially for Floridians," Alcock said. "Really, it's just extending drilling operations eastward to get access to some lucrative wells."
Business boosters foresee some benefit, even if it's more limited than the industry promises.
"Our proponents generally over-estimate what the number of jobs is going to be," said Barney Bishop, former CEO of Associated Industries of Florida and now a consultant in Tallahassee. "We generally take the rosiest view of how many jobs are going to be created. I don't think there's going to be thousands of jobs available for this. It could be hundreds of jobs.
"But listen, with the kind of economy we're having, even though Florida is on track and doing well, any jobs we can bring to the marketplace are extremely important. And these are very well-paid jobs."
Marine scientists and environmental groups remain alarmed that drilling closer to shore could cause lasting damage to sea life and its habitat, especially if it leads to a major spill.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., warned Senate leaders that if a bill squeezing Florida's buffer zone comes to the floor, he would "use all available procedural options to block it."
He and others fear that an oil slick in the Gulf would get caught in the Loop Current, a powerful stream that could carry the toxic mess south to marine sanctuaries in the Keys, drag it though the Florida Straits and push it north along the Gulf Stream to pollute the coral reefs and beaches of South Florida.
A streamer from the Deepwater Horizon slick in 2010 did head south on the Loop Current but was shut off by an eddy. The main mass of the slick remained north of the Loop Current and was shoved by surface winds against the northern Gulf Coast, sparing South Florida.
While the industry looks to move into the eastern Gulf, several energy companies are seeking state and federal permits to step up exploration of lands below the Everglades, where low-volume oil production has quietly taken place since the 1940s.
That includes a site five miles west of Miramar, where Kanter Real Estate of Miami wants to drill a well more than two miles deep.
Farther west, Burnett Oil Co. of Fort Worth has obtained a state permit and is awaiting approval from the National Park Service to test for oil and natural gas deposits below the Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County. The company plans to use "thumper trucks" to emit sound waves deep below the surface as part of seismic testing to look for deposits of black gold.
"We will have Florida-based biologists and archaeologists on foot alongside our survey trucks to ensure the least amount of temporary disturbance to the native flora," said Charles E. Nagel, III, president of Burnett. He said he was "excited about the opportunity to help Florida develop its natural resources."
The oil rush prompted some residents and environmental groups to call for state laws to regulate testing and drilling operations and to force companies to disclose the chemicals and methods they use.
The Legislature is expected to consider proposed regulations in its next session, but local activists fear they will be mere window-dressing to reassure the public.
"It would give the appearance of regulating these activities without providing meaningful safeguards and oversight going forward," said Jennifer Hecker of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. "Our worst fear is that this will give people false assurances that they are getting regulatory protections when they are not."

150807-c
Obama steps up climate protections with Clean Power Plan
Indian Country Media Network - Staff
August 7, 2015
President Barack Obama is stepping up efforts to combat climate change as he nears the end of his second and last term, with tribes among the beneficiaries of new policies and grants.
With the Clean Power Plan, announced on August 3, Obama targeted power plants and their emissions with a first-time-ever limit on carbon pollution.
The measures, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a statement, will reduce power plants’ sulfur dioxide emissions by 90 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 and nitrogen oxides by 72 percent.
“We’re proud to finalize our historic Clean Power Plan. It will give our kids and grandkids the cleaner, safer future they deserve. The United States is leading by example today, showing the world that climate action is an incredible economic opportunity to build a stronger foundation for growth,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in a statement. “The valuable feedback we received means the final Clean Power Plan is more ambitious yet more achievable, so states can customize plans to achieve their goals in ways that make sense for their communities, businesses and utilities.”
To arrive at this final version of the plan, environmental officials sifted through more than 4.3 million public comments, the EPA said, as well as meeting with stakeholders to incorporate partnerships and to build upon existing strategies.
The Clean Power Plan builds on previous initiatives announced by Obama that collectively aim to mitigate the effects of climate change on communities. The approach is twofold and involves making communities more resilient as well as preventing further deterioration.
In June several federal agencies got together on a joint initiative, to create partnerships across the country. The Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on June 24 announced the creation of the Resilient Lands and Waters partnerships: the California Headwaters, California’s North-Central Coast and Russian River Watershed, and Crown of the Continent. In April, on Earth Day, Obama had announced another set, the Resilient Landscape partnerships, during a tour of the Everglades.
"From the Redwoods to the Rockies to the Great Lakes and the Everglades, climate change threatens many of our treasured landscapes, which impacts our natural and cultural heritage, public health and economic activity," said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in announcing those partnerships. “The key to making these areas more resilient is collaboration through sound science and partnerships that take a landscape-level approach to preparing for and adapting to climate change.”
But the issues go beyond scenery to water itself, one of the essential ingredients of life. Clean water is another component of the Obama Administration’s attempt at environmental preservation, and that was addressed in the President’s Clean Water Rule, issued in early July, when local business and the National Aquarium at the Inner Harbor in Maryland, alongside the EPA, discussed what made the new rules an economic boon.
“It’s important that we protect the quality of water in our lakes and rivers by ensuring that the streams and wetlands that feed them are protected,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin in a statement on July 8. “We need sufficient clean water for drinking water, recreation and to help our economy flourish with manufacturing, farming, tourism, and other economic sectors.”
Related:           Climate doomsayers may be crazy but they're in charge: Susan ...     LA Daily News

150807-e
Zoning issue may halt Everglades oil drilling plan
Sun Sentinel - by David Fleshler
August 7, 2015
Broward commission not likely to agree to zoning change for oil drilling in Everglades.
A controversial proposal to drill for oil in the Everglades west of Miramar has run into trouble.
An attorney for Broward County says the land carries a strict conservation zoning classification that would exclude oil drilling, according to documents released this week as part of the proposal's environmental review.
Absolutely not. This commission has been very clear about its position on drilling in or near the Everglades,- Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief
The Kanter family of Miami, which owns 20,000 acres in the Everglades, would have to ask the Broward County Commission for a zoning amendment, a dubious proposition, considering the growing opposition to the proposal.
Commissioner Barbara Sharief, who represents the district closest to the site, said Friday the commission "absolutely" would not consider such a change. "This commission has been very clear about its position on drilling in or near the Everglades. We're against it, and I don't see that changing."
County Mayor Tim Ryan said he would need to see a detailed study of the risks. But based on the site's proximity to residential areas and the possible impact to the region's water supply, said, "I would be very, very concerned, and I am initially very reluctant to allow such a rezoning."
A spokeswoman for the family declined comment.
The zoning issue was raised in an email from senior assistant county attorney Michael Owens, released this week by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, along with comments from other government agencies on the Kanters' application for an oil drilling permit.
He said the land is zoned Conservation - 1, Conservation District-Water Supply Areas.
"Permissible uses are limited to utilities, transportation and communications facilities, specifically excluding hazardous liquid pipelines and electrical power plants," he wrote, adding it "does not include exploratory oil well drilling."
The land was accumulated by family patriarch Joseph Kanter, a Miami banker and real estate developer who helped found Lauderhill and several other communities. He acquired the Everglades land with plans to found a community there, too, but the plans never materialized.
The family has applied for a permit to drill a single exploratory well more than two miles deep. The land, located about five miles west of Miramar, sits along a series of oil deposits called the Sunniland Trend, which runs from east of Fort Myers to Miami and sustains a series of modest oil wells, the first of which were established during World War II.
Since the announcement of the family's plans last month, opposition has arisen among the cities along the Everglades. Miramar and Sunrise adopted resolutions in opposition to the plan, and Pembroke Pines commissioners directed their attorney to draft one. A town hall meeting on the proposal will be held 7 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Pembroke Pines Theater of the Performing Arts, sponsored by Pembroke Pines and the South Florida Wildlands Association.
State regulators are giving the application an extremely detailed review, and are asking for technical details on the proposed drilling process, what evidence there is for the existence of oil at the site and for further explanation of environmental safeguards that would be put into place.
But it's not just about water and animals. Local and national studies have indicated that conservation land increases tax revenue by boosting the value of neighboring property. An Alachua County study pegged the potential increased value at more than $108 million, far more than the conservation land cost.
The land and parks draw visitors who eat at local restaurants and sip beer at local craft brewers (the two biggest, Swamp Head and First Magnitude, actually draw on the region's nature for their names). The motto for Visit Gainesville, Alachua County's tourism bureau, is “Where Nature and Culture Meet.”
And for Way and many others like him, these conservation lands provide a place to exercise, learn, watch wildlife and relieve stress.
“It's an exercise that I really like,” Way said. “Mentally, I just really enjoy walking for a few hours.”
Alachua County citizens twice voted to tax themselves for land purchases and joined millions of Florida residents in November in voting for Amendment 1, which requires that 33 percent of revenue from the documentary stamp tax levied when property is sold be set aside for conservation purchases.
However, some in Alachua County and across the state are beginning to question whether more land needs to be preserved and whether too much land is already in public ownership for conservation.
They argue that such purchases take land off the tax rolls. It also means less land for future development and the income that it can produce. And while the cost of buying is a one-time expense, the cost of managing the land is recurring.

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After flooding, health officials warning residents with wells
BayNews9.com - by Trevor Pettiford, Reporter
August 06, 2015
TAMPA -- All the recent rain and heavy flooding has state health officials warning residents who have wells.
Officials at the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County are alerting residents who have wells to double check them for any bacteria.
They say if any of the recent rains caused flood waters to pour into wells, that could cause a problem with contamination.
"If you're seeing that your water is a different color now, it tastes a little different, has a different smell to it, these are the keys that let you know that you need to do something with your well," said Steve Huard with the health department in Hillsborough County. "That you need to get it tested and that you may need to go through and disinfect it." 
Rosetta Peacock has a well connected to her home.
She says she uses the water only for washing dishes and clothes and for cooking.
"Our landlord told us to make sure that we're turning it on, letting it run. If there was any discoloration, to let her know," Peacock said. 
Contaminated water can cause gastrointestinal problems and can even be fatal in people with compromised immune systems.

150806-b
Cabinet again approves Scott’s environmental, law picks
Palm Beach Post – by Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
August 6, 2015
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s top environmental official was directed Wednesday to rethink a proposal to make state parks more financially self-sustaining, as he and the state’s top law-enforcement officer received Cabinet approval for the second time this year.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Jon Steverson and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen received unanimous support from the Cabinet to remain in their $150,000-a-year jobs.
Both were initially recommended by Gov. Rick Scott in December and appointed a month later. But Steverson and Swearingen had to go through a new Cabinet-level agency head application process as they were among 16 Scott appointees who failed to land Senate confirmation during the 2015 legislative session.
Steverson and Swearingen must receive Senate confirmation in the 2016 session to retain their jobs. Unlike most state-agency heads, who answer to the governor, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Law Enforcement positions fall under Scott and the Cabinet.
The reappointment of Swearingen, who got endorsements Wednesday from the Florida Police Chiefs Association and the Florida Sheriffs Association, went much smoother than it did for Steverson.
Steverson drew praise from Cabinet members for his approach to maintaining Florida’s land- and water-management policies against mandates from the federal government. However, he was also directed to bring the public into a proposal that would open state park land to hunting, cattle grazing and timber production as a way to generate additional revenue. Also, Steverson wants to contract with private firms to oversee controlled burns.
Steverson told Cabinet members that the proposal isn’t to commercialize or privatize parks. But he said the state might not be able to continue maintaining all of its publicly owned land without the ability to generate additional revenue.
“This is a long-term conversation,” Steverson said. “I want to have the conversation about the land management and closing the gap on sustainability so we don’t have to have a separate conversation later on about which parks might we have to figure out we can do without.”
But Cabinet members said he needs to rethink the proposal, which has drawn negative reaction from environmentalists.
“They’re not going to be self-sustaining,” Putnam said. “What it would take to manage the parks to be self-sustaining would be unacceptable to the reasons why we got them.”
Steverson said after the meeting he intends to continue looking at ways to increase revenue, including outsourcing some services.
“I still want to have that conversation,” Steverson said. “I want to say, ‘Hey, what can we do to make our parks the most beneficial to the citizens of the state, to the visitors of the state, and to the environment which we’re serving?’ “
A trio of environmentalists told Scott and the Cabinet that state parks already generate about 75 percent of their operating revenue but are an invaluable economic engine in drawing tourists to Florida.
Jean Huffman, of Florida Parks in Peril, said Floridians showed their support through a 2014 constitutional amendment known as Amendment 1 which designated a greater share of a real-estate taxes used in the state budget to preserving and maintaining environmentally sensitive land and water.
“The people of Florida love their state parks,” Huffman said. “Why are they being strangled like this?”
Huffman and Jono Miller, a Sarasota resident opposed to the commercialization of Myakka River State Park, also asked the Cabinet to postpone the Steverson approval until September, when they and other park supporters had understood Steverson’s confirmation would go before the Cabinet.
Steverson’s appointment was added to the Cabinet’s agenda last week after Attorney General Pam Bondi backed off plans to offer an alternative candidate for the job.
Bondi said Wednesday she was satisfied with Steverson after they were able to sit down and discuss the position.
After the Cabinet meeting, Scott said Steverson should hold public meetings on his proposals.
“I think what the secretary ought to be doing is sitting down with everybody who uses the state parks and make sure we’re doing the right thing for the state parks,” Scott said.
Meanwhile in being reappointed as FDLE commissioner, Swearingen said he intends to seek approval from lawmakers in 2016 for additional money to raise the base salaries of sworn officers and crime lab technicians.
Swearingen said the pay increases are intended to make the state agency more competitive with local law enforcement throughout Florida and the Southeast United States.

150806-c
Cooperative project to improve Silver Springs water quality and flow moving forward
SJRWMD.com – News
Aug. 6, 2015
PALATKA, Fla. -- Work continues to move ahead on upgrades to the Silver Springs Shores wastewater treatment plant and to increase the distribution and reuse of reclaimed water, a partnership project among Marion County, the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to improve water quality and flow in Silver Springs.
The cooperative project will help Marion County reduce the amount of nutrients that flow into Silver Springs and is among those listed in DEP's recently released draft Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) for Silver Springs. The BMAP documents projects aimed at reducing the introduction of nitrates to the Upper Floridan aquifer, the source of Silver Springs' flow.
"This project is a prime example of the collaboration that is so vital to the successful restoration of Silver Springs," said Tom Frick, director of DEP's Division of Environmental Assessment and Restoration. "We are proud to be a partner with the county and water management district in improving our springs."
"Reducing nutrient loading, groundwater usage and minimizing impacts to the springs are vital to protecting Silver Springs' health and unique ecosystem," said District Executive Director Ann Shortelle. "This partnership demonstrates our shared commitment to long-term springs protection that is science based, cost-effective and collaborative."
When completed in March 2016, the project will upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant located in Silver Springs Shores to reclaimed water quality effluent standards. It will also relocate the wastewater discharge from the facility, which is located near Silver Springs, and redirect it for beneficial reuse at area golf courses. Marion County has finished the plant upgrades and has completed 55 percent of the reclaimed water pipe installation.
The combined plant upgrade and relocation of the discharge to area golf courses will eliminate a nutrient source near the head of the spring and result in an estimated reduction of more than 40,000 pounds of nitrogen entering the aquifer per year.
The project also will reduce groundwater withdrawals for the area golf courses and may improve the flow of Silver Springs.
"Our community is blessed with world-class springs, and protecting them and our other natural resources is a key priority for Marion County," said Stan McClain, chairman of the Marion County Board of County Commissioners. "We are glad to be actively working with our state and District partners on this initiative in Silver Springs that will positively impact our water bodies."
Funding for the $8.2 million project comes from local government funds, the District, DEP and a 2013 legislative appropriation for St. Johns River restoration and protection.
Silver Springs is a first-magnitude spring that forms the headwaters of the Silver River, in Marion County. Silver Springs is a group of large vents and smaller springs in the bed or in coves at the edges of the Silver River. There are 30 springs in the Silver Springs group.
For information about this and other springs protection cost-share projects, visit the District's website at floridaswater.com/springs/projects.html.

150805-a
Ecological Myths of Southwest Florida
Florida Weekly - by Win Everham, professor of marine and ecological sciences at FGCU
August 5, 2015
 “This is a very big place and I do not know how it works, nor how I fit in. I am a member of a fragile species, still new to the earth ...We are only tentatively set in place, error prone, at risk of fumbling, in real danger at the moment of leaving behind only a thin layer of our fossils …”
In that passage from his book “The Fragile Species,” Lewis Thomas was writing as a medical doctor, but he could have been an ecologist.
Mr. Thomas understood how much we still don’t know and that question of how we fit in is the essence of the science of ecology. Ecology is a young science — only 100 years old. Ecologists are concerned with where species are found and why, and the structure and function of ecosystems. These are complex questions. Ecology is not rocket science; it is much more complicated than that.
If you think we will run out of water or land, that the exotic species we move over the planet are all bad, that saving endangered species is critical, or that we can solve our problems with better engineering and better science, the science of ecology tells us you may be wrong.
Myth 1: We will run out of water
In Southwest Florida, the ecology is all about water: where it is, how long it stays there, how clean it is, how humans have changed all that. But water is a renewable resource. We have the same amount as we did 4 billion years ago. The hydrologic cycle of evaporation, precipitation, runoff and underground flow cycles water continuously over the planet and has an inbuilt purification step. Each time water evaporates, or is pulled up by the sun through the stomata of leaves, the impurities are left behind. We should always have water.
Ecologists created a concept called carrying capacity, which identifies the maximum number of a species that can be supported indefinitely in a given environment, based on the average need per individual. Following this concept, it turns out, our water resources in Southwest Florida can support about 98 million people, or 80 times more than we have today.
However, carrying capacity relates a single resource to a single species. To reach that target, we would need to capture every bit of rainfall, have the whole region covered with impervious surfaces leading to cisterns, no plants except what we want to grow, no ponds for fish where some water would evaporate, and no runoff to the estuaries.
Before we arrived on this landscape every bit of water was used by the plants and animals that were already here. Each new person alters the magnitude and timing of what historically were the flows of water across this landscape, and that has a cost.
What we will run out of is cheap water. The issue will be who absorbs the cost and how much can we spare for the plants and animals who share this landscape.
Myth 2: We will run out of land
Unlike water, land is a finite resource, but like water it can be reused. We can continue to build up, condemn some of those coastal mansions and build apartment buildings, at least until sea level rise floods those sites. Like water, we will run out of cheap land. Perhaps we already have. In 1967, in “The Population Bomb,” Paul Erlich spun out the scenario that if the human population continued at its then rate for 900 years, we would then have 60 million billion people on the planet (6 followed by 16 zeros). He claimed we could house those people with a 2,000-story building with the top floors dedicated to hydroponics and heat dissipation. Each person would have about 3 to 4 square yards. He guessed that before we reached that density, disease or hunger would stop our growth. I think before we got to that many people, we would run out of people who would want to live here.
Majorie Stoneman Douglas once stated “the Everglades are a test. If we pass it we get to keep the planet.” Respectfully, I would say she was wrong. Either way, we keep the planet; we just might not want it anymore. If we fail to guide the growth on our landscape, we will run out of people who want to live here. Then who do we share the land with?
Myth 3: Exotic species have no value
We tend to think all exotic species are bad. That is not necessarily true. It’s interesting to note that all citrus — including Key lime — and most of what we eat, are exotic plants. So are most of the animals we eat. Exotic-infested ecosystems continue to serve an ecological function, capturing solar energy and sequestering nutrients. Further, exotic species increase the diversity of the systems they invade, at least initially. The issue is balance.
We need to focus on the species that dominate their communities and ultimately cause a loss of diversity. This happens in about one in 10 species that become naturalized, and only about one in 10 of the species that are introduced into the ecosystem become naturalized. There are about 2,000 plants native to South Florida and more than 20,000 species that are grown here for agricultural or horticultural reasons. Without the checks and balances found in their native lands, these invasives can explode across the landscape and damage native biodiversity.
Humans are exotics to this landscape as well. By most measures we would also have to be considered invasive. But I have hope for our species. Through natural selection or the act of the Creator (or both), we have minds that allow us to both reshape our environment and consider our actions. If we view this power with its associated responsibility and have the will to do so, we can plan for the future and control our impacts.
Myth 4: Endangered species have critical ecological roles
So, what if we lose our last panther ? The answer: It’s unlikely to cause a devastating ecological cascade.
So why should we protect endangered species ? Perhaps the justification should not be ecological; it should be moral or ethical. The Book of Genesis in the King James version of the Bible, Chapter 1, verse 26 reads “And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” This version of the Bible was translated within a cultural context of the feudal system, where “dominion” was derived from the domain of the lord, who had responsibility for maintaining the health of the people and the productivity of the land. I believe if the Bible was translated in our current cultural context, that word would be “stewardship.” If this is a moral issue to protect God’s creation, then we don’t need to try to put a dollar value on protecting biodiversity.
Still, it may also be an ecological issue. Experimental data is accumulating to show the resilience of ecosystems is directly related to their diversity. Aldo Leopold wrote “To save every cog and wheel is the first principle for intelligent tinkering.” We need, both morally and ecologically, in our ignorance, to save “every cog and wheel,” as we continue to “tinker.”
Myth 5: The solution is better engineering
Another word for “tinkering” is engineering. In her book “Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.,” Cynthia Barnett stated that virtually every large-scale engineering effort to manage water has had unanticipated consequences. When she visited the FGCU campus she said she was wrong — every engineering fix has !
In 2001, I helped lead a trip to the Peruvian Amazon. While there, we heard a presentation of how people farmed the flood plain, moving down into the rich flood lands after the water recedes, building temporary housing, raising a crop, then moving back to the highlands before the next floods. It occurred to me that if we had similar water flow across our landscape, we would build dikes and dams to hold back or control the high water, but then we would disrupt the natural flood cycle that provided the nutrient-rich bottom lands to farm. We similarly tried to control the Everglades watershed, and we find ourselves a few decades later trying to replicate the natural flow of water over the land.
Certainly part of the solution to our environmental challenges will be better engineering, but we also need to understand natural systems and natural cycles to work with them rather than against them.
Myth 6: The solution is better science
As a teacher and a scientist, I believe it is my calling to try to understand the world and communicate that understanding, and in doing so, help make the world a better place. But scientists are not objective arbitrators of the truth. We are human. We have egos. We are invested in our ideas and we don’t like to be wrong.
Yet we are probably wrong more often than we are right.
The public often mistakes the results of science for science, memorizing what we discovered a generation ago and missing the point that at the edge of our understanding it is always messy and error-prone.
I think the process of science is like a courtroom. The sides on any scientific debate pile up their arguments and their evidence — data — and the larger scientific community ultimately determines who is right. The peer review process is rigorous. It takes time, but it works.
Today, we have a deeper understanding of the universe and greater access to technology than ever before. We are important. We shape the landscapes within which we live. We often determine which species are found where. We are the preeminent ecological force on the planet. Yet, as I consider my cell phone with Internet access and my email, which makes it easier for me to carry my work wherever I go, I wonder if my life is better?
Myth 7: It is not like it used to be
For much of its first century, ecology was dominated by a paradigm proposed by Fredrick Clements, that ecosystems move toward a climate-driven, self-sustaining “climax.” Ecosystems could be disturbed, but would return to their stable climax through predictable pathways of ecological succession. Everything that I know about ecological systems tells me Clements was wrong, in the longer-term. The illusion of stability is driven by our limited temporal experience with the land. Ecosystems have internal forces of mutation, competition that drives natural selection and evolutionary change of their component species, the players change as new species are introduced (at a much faster rate recently due to the actions of our species). They also have external abiotic environment changes: CO2 content varies, the planet warms and cools, sea levels change, every once in a while an asteroid hits us. Stability is ephemeral; the only constant in ecological systems is change.
An important caveat: The fact that CO2 and sea levels have changed in the past should not leave us complacent to the human-driven changes that are occurring right now. CO2 levels are increasing in the atmosphere. We are burning irreplaceable fossil fuels and releasing CO2. The seas are rising. Our climate is changing. Historically similar changes have resulted in extinctions. These are all facts. Some are still debating the degree to which the changes we see are human-driven. This debate is only important in the context of our response. Change is coming. We need to talk about how to respond to that change, not pretend that it isn’t happening.
Myth 8: I have the right to do my own thing
American culture was founded in part on the desire to protect individual rights. Our European ancestors came to these shores seeking freedom. Our African ancestors were dragged here, but ultimately found freedom. Unfortunately, we are often unwilling to grant our neighbors the same rights and freedoms we demand for ourselves. I think there needs to be an alternative acronym to recognize this. We all know NIMBY — not in my backyard, but we also practice NINBY — not in my neighbor’s back yard.
Ecologically this is nonsense – no human is an island. We are all interconnected by flows of matter and energy. My options are limited by the actions of those upstream from me, and my decisions influence those downstream from me. This is true whether we think in terms of watersheds, airsheds, food chains, other energy flows, or economic systems.
Myth 9: Democracy doesn’t work
This myth is self-fulfilling if we choose to believe it. What we require is an educated community committed to something larger than individual selfish needs. Democracy is hard work!
There is debate in our state right now about the role of higher education.
Some wish to shape our colleges as places of “training” for employment. The root of “liberal arts” is liber (also the root for “liberty”) and this type of education is intended to meet the needs of a free people. In a world where education is limited to a privileged few, knowledge is power. In a democratic society, that knowledge needs to be universal.
Ecology teaches us that we are all connected. Democracy demands that we accept the reality that we are all in this together. The changes that will occur across our region in the coming decades will either engage us all as educated citizens of our landscape, or they will not.
In “The Journey Home” Edward Abbey wrote “Human bodies and human wit, active here, there, everywhere, united in purpose, independent in action, can still face the machine (our current “technoindustrial juggernaut”) and stop it and take it apart and reassemble it — if we wish — on lines entirely new. There is, after all, a better way to live. The poets and the prophets have been trying to tell us about it for 3,000 years.” Perhaps the science of ecology can help point us in the right direction.

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Floods bring another reminder of just where we live
TBO.com - by Joe Henderson, Tribune Staff
August 5, 2015
It’s a fluke of timing for sure, but the Tampa City Council is scheduled to consider a plan this month that could force homeowners to pay a steep increase in stormwater fees. It’s part of a $250 million plan to deal with the flooding we have around these parts whenever we get a healthy rain.
Or, as we just saw, an unhealthy rain that was falling way too fast to drain. The result: saturated kitchens, carpets, and catfish in your driveway.
Florida loves its reputation as a low-tax state, and the city of Tampa hasn’t raised property taxes since 1988. The stormwater fee for an average-sized home in Tampa is $3 monthly, or $36 a year. That would jump to about $180 if the council approves the rate hike.
That sounds like a lot, unless your car got ruined in the flood, or you have water damage inside your home. That may make you less inclined to take your chances with drainage pipes that in some cases are about 100 years old and retention ponds that are already saturated.
After recent events, I put the odds of passage at about 300 percent — although, as longtime Councilman Charlie Miranda noted, “If you didn’t get flooded, it’s not critical. If you did get flooded, it is critical.”
Well, a lot of people did get flooded over the last few days, and the need is critical. I think we all know that. Doing nothing is not an option, even if it costs more and you were one of the fortunate homeowners who stayed dry during the deluges (dry being a relative term).
Everyone who lives here is affected when something like this happens. Take this stark assessment from Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who cut short a family vacation in North Carolina to fly back over the weekend and help manage the city’s response to flooded streets and homes.
“What happens when you get rain like this is that the saturation undermines the roadways,” he said. “I was out driving around (Tuesday) morning and I’m already seeing potholes and depressions in some of the roads.”
Infrastructure and stormwater runoff aren’t sexy topics, but I think it’s safe to say the subject has our attention now. We’re not done, either. In the coming months, Hizzoner said we should expect saturated soil to trigger cave-ins of sewer and stormwater lines. That’s more money, more inconvenience — and since we’re headed into prime hurricane/tropical storm season, the potential for more flooding.
That’s on top of the flooding we saw in June that left Tampa’s Bayshore Boulevard under water. Are we getting the message? Or would an ark and a conga line of animals marching in pairs do the trick?
“I think what happened on Bayshore was a gentle reminder,” Buckhorn said. “The last couple of days were a baseball bat upside the head.”
It isn’t like this is the first time, either. Dale Mabry Highway in South Tampa floods near Henderson Boulevard basically every time someone leaves on a garden hose too long. It has been that way for as long as I can remember.
The city has done a few drainage upgrades on that part of town but can’t seem to keep ahead of the water. Guess what? The plan to spend $250 million more to improve drainage there and in other parts of town won’t fix the problem either.
“If I was to tell you yes, it will, it wouldn’t be the truth,” Miranda said. “You think for $250 million, OK, we’re gonna fix it. But are we really going to fix it? Not if we get the volume of water that fell here in the last 10 days.”
He believes the measure will pass anyway.
We’ll still have flooded streets and soggy garages in some spots. Water, our greatest local asset, can also be our greatest curse. The city will do the best it can.
Trying to deal with floods before they ruin people’s houses and cars costs money.
Some things are worth paying for.

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Poll shows majority of Floridians consider climate change a serious problem
Miami Herald – by Amy Sherman
August 5, 2015
A poll being released today by Public Policy Polling will show a majority of Florida voters consider climate change a serious problem.
The poll was done in eight battleground states including Florida. The left-leaning group Americans United for Change, which supports President Barack Obama’s policies, commissioned the poll.
It follows the Clean Power Plan recently released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to cut carbon pollution.
From the press release about the poll, a summary of results for Florida shows:
“When asked ‘How much of a problem do you consider climate change to be?’, 62% of voters in Florida consider it a “serious problem”, compared to 36% who don’t. After hearing a brief description of the Clean Power Plan and top arguments from proponents and opponents, 63% of voters in Florida say they support the plan while 35% oppose it. 66% of voters in Florida say they would either be more likely to support an elected official or it would make no difference if they supported the Clean Power Plan, compared to only 26% who would be more likely to oppose.”
Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s administration has been criticized by environmentalists for not addressing climate change. Earlier this year, the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting broke a story that cited former DEP officials who said they had been told verbally to phrases such as “climate change.”
But that hasn’t stopped Scott from bragging about his own environmental record. At a summit with presidential candidates in June, Scott said: “If you care about the environment, we've got record funding."
Scott's team points to investments the state has made to restore the Everglades and springs during Scott’s tenure -- and he has championed both. However the budget for the state Department of Environmental Protection and for Florida Forever were not a record under Scott -- two major pots of money that relate to the environment. PolitiFact Florida rated his claim Pants on Fire.

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St. Lucie County project will clean water from worst St. Lucie River polluter
TCPalm.com – by James Hall
August 5, 2015
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A $2.5 million restoration of Platt’s Creek — the most polluted of about 20 tributaries that dump into the St. Lucie River — is expected to improve water quality, restore wildlife habitat and perhaps be a Great Florida Birding Trail site.

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150805-e
The value of conservation
SouthLakePress.com – from Halifax Media Group.
August 5, 2015
Lake County residents have long shown they understand the value of conserving land, as a way to protect the flora and fauna on it and the water flowing through and beneath it.
Too bad that officials in Tallahassee don’t appear to share that view. In fact, some of them seem outright hostile to land conservation.
The land and water conservation amendment passed in the fall with nearly 75 percent of the vote. Yet this past session, state lawmakers ignored the intent of voters by setting aside just a small percentage of the money dedicated through the measure for buying land.
A recent column by state Sen. Alan Hays in the South Lake Press’s sister paper, the Ocala Star-Banner , attempts to defend the Legislature’s decisions to spend amendment money on insurance, technology and other expenses that have little to do with land protection or management. But his column barely conceals the disdain he has shown for the whole idea of publicly owned lands.
Other members of the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott’s administration have shown a similar attitude with their push for state parks to pay for themselves. Department of Environmental Protection Interim Secretary Jon Steverson has told lawmakers that parks covered 77 percent of their expenses, but he wanted to boost that figure to 100 percent.
After a plan to put privately run golf courses in state parks fizzled, officials have turned to opening up parks for more cattle grazing, logging and other uses that conflict with their intended purpose. The idea was first floated at Myakka River State Park near Sarasota and now appears to spreading statewide.
A state analysis has been conducted of private cattle grazing at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Alachua County, which was a cattle ranch before it was purchased in 1970 as the first state preserve.
Even the analysis suggests that grazing could disrupt endangered species and other wildlife, damage vegetation and habitat and impact water quality. This makes little sense given that millions in public money have been spent to remove pollution from water flowing to the prairie.
Hunting, grazing and timber harvesting can be done in way that actually benefits the environment. But it’s hard to trust Scott administration officials have the best interests of the environment in mind, given their track record. They have slashed enforcement of environmental laws, used springs money to subsidize polluters and now are weakening protections for endangered species such as the Florida panther.
When 27 former managers of state parks write a letter to the editor criticizing the grazing and logging idea, as they do in Star-Banner today, the public needs to pay attention.
Protecting natural Florida for future generations requires a public investment. Voters in Marion County and throughout the state understand that. Now we just need to make sure that Tallahassee gets the message.

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Wilt disease spreading, killing native Florida trees
News-Press – by Chad Gillis
August 5, 2015
A microscopic beetle is beginning to devastate native Southwest Florida trees, and the bug could eventually turn its sights on the avocado industry.
The redbay ambrosia beetle is not quite 2 millimeters in length, but the tiny insect can take down 40-foot bay trees in a matter of weeks.
The Asian beetle and laurel wilt disease were first documented in 2004 in Duval County in northeast Florida. Some experts think the beetle was brought to America on a shipment of tainted wood.
They basically drill holes into bay and avocado trees and feed on an invasive fungus, which, in turn, spreads a disease known as laurel wilt. Some chemicals can kill the bugs on farm fields, but there is no known large-scale method of removing the region’s latest crippling invasive.
Laurel wilt was found in Lee and Collier counties last year and is established in all but a handful of counties in the panhandle region.
“We’ve had a suspicion for about a year, that it was happening, they were dying, but apparently it can happen a lot sooner than that,” said Franklin Adams, a Golden Gate resident who has also seen the impacts of the disease in Big Cypress National Preserve. “They get into the white sap wood that’s under the bark. I haven’t seen one, but you see this sawdust and then you know they’re there. It disrupts the tree’s ability to function.”
Bay trees provide habitat for wildlife and produce a berry that’s eaten by a variety of birds and animals. Species found in Florida are similar to the bay leaf used to flavor soups and sauces.
The trees also have cultural and medicinal uses among indigenous cultures like the Seminole and Miccosukee.
The beetles spread at a rate of 20 to 30 miles a year, according to the University of Florida research, which also says the disease can be transmitted by hauling infected firewood into uninfected areas.
Stephen Brown, with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Service in Lee County, said property owners who suspect they have laurel wilt should take samples of any potentially infected trees and have those inspected by a horticulturalist.
“With this type of situation you want real confirmation instead of guess work,” Brown explained.
Brown said visual indications of laurel wilt can includes dried up leaves, discoloration of internal wood and the presence of sawdust in the lower trunk.
“It looks kind of like sawdust or cigarette ashes, but that doesn’t last long,” Brown said.
University of Florida research shows that the beetles do more damage to larger avocado trees than smaller ones. Adams sees similar conditions on his land.
“We have a lot of little ones (bay trees),” Adams said. “The small ones, 4- or 5-feet tall, they seem just fine.”
Dead leaves and dark, vertical stripes under the bark layer are indications of infestation.
The condition is becoming more common in natural areas and preserves but is expected to impact the avocado industry because avocado trees are related to bay trees.
Female beetles are more common than males and can fly, which males cannot.
Chemical compounds like Danitol or Malathion can be used to kill airborne redwood ambrosia beetles, although the state recommends the chemicals not be used until laurel wilt is confirmed in particular farming operation.
Pruning trees can speed up infestation because the pathogen can be transmitted by hand saws, and because pruned areas of trees are more vulnerable to redbay ambrosia beetles.
Florida’s avocado crop is worth about $30 million a year and is the second largest in the nation.
The beetles haven’t crippled the avocado industry, but UF research suggest the bug may focus more on avocado trees after the bay trees have been decimated.
Avocado growers in this area say they haven’t seen evidence of the disease in their groves. Farmers like Gary Schneider, owner of Pine Island Tropicals on Pine Island, said he’s keeping his fingers crossed that the beetle stays off his land.
Agriculture inspectors “come out and look around every now and then and look around, but mine have checked out fine every time,” Schneider said. “I’ve heard that there is some (infestations on farms) on east coast, but I haven’t talked to any farmers there.”
Laurel wilt disease
Cause: Redbay ambrosia beetle (Xyleborus glabratus), which feeds on laurel wilt pathogen (Raffaelea lauricola), an invasive fungus. The beetles spread the pathogen.
Treatments: Remove infected trees to slow spread of disease. Pathogen does not survive the process of chipping diseased wood.
Range: Found throughout Florida except for a handful of counties in the panhandle. Also documented in Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Impacts: Can cause native bay trees to die in a matter of weeks and is expected to increasingly impact the avocado industry.
Sources: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

150804-a
9 Investigates cattle operation groundwater permit
WFTV.com
August 4, 2015
MARION COUNTY, Fla. —  Despite hours of public comment from residents opposed to the plan, the St. John’s River Water Management District decided to move forward with a permit allowing cattle operation in Marion County to draw more than 1 million gallons of groundwater a day.
The permit in question will allow a cattle operation at the Sleepy Creek, owned by Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach, to draw 1.46 million gallons of water from the Floridan Aquifer. 
Residents, who gave testimony before the SJRWMD board said the permit would cause harm to Silver Springs.
One of the primary duties of Florida’s water management districts is to ensure that any water use permits they grant are 'consistent with the public interest.
In the case of the permit St. Johns just issued on behalf of Sleepy Creek Lands, "It is anything but,” Sen. Darren Soto (R - Orange County) wrote in a letter to SJRWMD.
Soto is calling on St. John’s to revisit the permit.  The water management district said it has no intention of reviewing or reversing the decision.
“We’re going to take a step back and look at this over the committee process,” said Soto.  “The permit has been issued but now we have to look at what is best overall for Silver Springs.”
Soto said he is troubled by the connection between the new 30,000-acre cattle ranch and another business owned by Stronach.  Stronach owns a slaughterhouse in Ocala, which was recently granted $1.2 million in tax breaks.
For its part, St. John’s said it is monitoring water levels and spring-flow.  The water management district has implemented conservation practices, but said the area still has enough water for business and residential.
“We have concerns about water supply and have had for many years,” said St. Johns River Water Management District spokesperson Hank Largin.  “We are reaching that sustainable limit on the amount of water that we can pump out of the ground and not harm natural resources.”
In November, 9 Investigates exposed problems with water models used by the SJRWMD.  According to documents obtained by Eyewitness News, models used by the district for calculating water withdrawals failed to account for lakes that draw water from the aquifer. 
When the district corrected the errors, it discovered that water withdrawals were almost twice what it had calculated.  The district said it has fixed its errors.
Sleepy Creek has a second permit pending with the SJRWMD board. District staff have recommended declining that permit.

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Florida fracking debate bubbles up again
WJCT.org - by Jim Ash
August 4, 2015
Representative Evan Jenne is picking up the anti-fracking banner again, but this time with a breeze at his back. The Dania Beach Democrat is re-filing his fracking ban bill at a time when the industry is buffeted by local and national trends.
The controversial oil and gas drilling technique involves pumping fluids and chemicals at high pressure deep underground to break up rock formations. Jenne and others say it threatens underground water supplies, and that’s bad for tourism.
“You know, I don’t expect there to be Disney’s Wonderful World of Fracking any time soon.”
He doesn’t have high hopes Republican leaders will take up the bill next year. But he’s encouraged by recent events.
Bonita Springs, in oil-rich Southwest Florida, outlawed fracking in city limits in July. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced sweeping anti-carbon regulations.
“You know, I think it does give it momentum because in a sense, it has allowed more of a discussion on environmental issues and that we’ll always be appreciative of.”
Florida Petroleum Council executive director Dave Mica says the industry’s image is under siege. But he says fracking bans threaten America’s energy independence, and Florida jobs.
“In the 70s, we actually became one of the largest oil-producing states in the country.”
The Jay Fields in Northwest Florida alone produced 140,817 barrels of oil in May.

150804-c
Poop is getting into Michigan rivers: Blame the septic tanks
MedicalDaily.com - by Dana Dovey
August 4, 2015
Turns out dropping raw waste directly into the soil isn't such a good idea.  If you live in Michigan, you may want to invest in a home water filtration set, just to be safe. A recent study  has uncovered that 64 rivers in the Great Lake State have been contaminated with human fecal bacteria. The source of the contamination was identified as a critical error in septic tank design and, unfortunately, experts think the problem is more widespread.
For the study, which is the largest of its kind to this date, researchers from Michigan State University used source-tracking markers to sample water from 64 rivers that drain 84 percent of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The markers allowed the scientists to identify the presence of Escherichia coli ( E.coli ) and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron ( B-theta ), two bacteria associated with human feces. The markers also  tracked down the source of contamination. Results revealed that all of the rivers tested positive for these fecal bacteria, but the concentration of the pathogens increased as the number of nearby septic tanks went up.
Critical Error
For years, scientists believed that soil could act as a natural filter for human feces, Phys.org reported. Based on this theory, many septic tanks have been built based on the discharge-to-soil method, which in simplest terms is a hole in the ground beneath the toilet (such as an outhouse). The latest findings, however, disprove this idea.
"All along, we have presumed that on-site wastewater disposal systems, such as septic tanks, were working," said Joan Rose, Homer Nowlin Chair in water research, to Phys.org. "But in this study, sample after sample, bacterial concentrations were highest where there were higher numbers of septic systems in the watershed area."
Unfortunately, the team believes it’s likely that this problem isn’t restricted to Michigan. The team predicts to see similar readings in Florida, South Carolina, and other resort areas near lakes across America.
Time To Redesign
Feces contamination, particularly E.coli contamination in drinking water, can lead to serious complications. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, drinking contaminated water can lead to side effects such as severe or/and bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps. In those who are very young or very old, the infection can cause a condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. This condition occurs when the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail.   
One of the most serious E.coli outbreaks traced to drinking water occurred near Albany, N.Y. in 1999. There were a total of 781 suspected and reported cases of E.coli infection, 65 individuals were hospitalized, 11 children developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, and two individuals died. Rose hopes that her research will help further our understanding of how our manipulation of the environment can affect our health.

150804-d
Tax rate reversal nothing but naked politics
Sun Sentinel – Opinion by Guy Boero, Boca Raton, FL
August 4, 2015
If we needed further proof that Gov. Rick Scott is the ultimate anti-environmentalist in the most environmentally sensitive state in the country, then last week's stunning reversal of the South Florida Water Management District budget stand should convince any remaining sceptics. The pressure brought to bear on the board to reverse its vote came straight from Tallahassee.
Just maintaining the current 2015 tax rate would have guaranteed an addition $21 million for Everglades restoration as property values have increased in our area. But additional funding to ensure safe drinking water for millions of residents of south Florida is unconscionable for a Scott administration that would rather see our tax dollars go to powerful corporate donors in the form of tax cuts.
Whether it's resuming the senseless killing of black bears for sport, running a bait and switch on Amendment 1, or continuing to defund the agencies responsible for supplying South Florida with safe drinking water, Scott has been consistent in pandering to his base of corporatists and anti-government extremists by undermining most efforts to save our fragile environment.
Sadly, the citizens of Florida must endure three more years of a Scott administration that reportedly refuses to allow its employees to use the phrases "climate change" or "global warming" in a state that is ground zero for the effects of this looming disaster. I suppose we can look on the bright side. In another 20-30 years thanks to Scott's efforts, we'll have plenty of water. Unfortunately we'll be sinking in it instead of drinking it.

150803-a
A new fight over Amendment 1
Herald-Tribune - by Lloyd Dunkelberger
August 3, 2015
Another constitutional fight involving the Florida Legislature will be revving up this week.
The issue is whether House and Senate members followed the requirements of a newly approved state constitutional amendment that mandated the state spend some $740 million on environmental programs, with a heavy emphasis on the purchase of endangered land.
Visitors at Wekiwa Springs State Park in Apopka enjoy a canoe ride in October 2014, a few days before Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment for the state to conserve more environmentally sensitive lands.
David Guest, a lawyer for Earthjustice, the environmental advocacy group that filed the lawsuit, said he expects the Legislature to file a motion asking a trial judge to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed in late June on behalf of several environmental groups, including the Florida Wildlife Federation, St. Johns Riverkeeper and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida.
Guest said the state’s motion is a standard legal move in what is likely another protracted battle over whether the Legislature is implementing or ignoring a citizen-backed constitutional initiative approved by 75 percent of the Florida voters last year. In the last month, lawmakers settled a three-year battle over 2010 citizen-backed amendments that were aimed at removing partisan decisions from the redistricting of congressional and state legislative seats.
“That is not only a challenge to the constitution, it is a challenge to our system of representative democracy,” Guest said. “The Legislature was in open defiance of the constitutional mandate on redistricting and they are in open defiance on this part of the constitution too. That’s what courts are for.”
Lawmakers say they met the requirements of Amendment 1, which directed that one-third of the annual collection of real estate transaction taxes, known as the “doc stamps,” be directed to the state Land Acquisition Trust Fund to “acquire, restore, improve and manage conservation lands.”
The amount totaled $740 million and Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who oversees environmental spending in the Senate, said the new budget actually allocated $741.8 million toward that goal.
But the real crux of the fight is that environmental groups expected more money to be pumped into land purchases, including reviving the moribund Florida Forever program, which once had a $300 million budget under former Gov. Jeb Bush. The Legislature ended up providing $15 million for Florida Forever, with leaders like Hays, who has been openly skeptical of the need to acquire vast new tracts of land, arguing that there is more to conservation than land buying.
“Addressing Florida’s environmental needs is a marathon, not a sprint,” Hays wrote in an opinion piece after lawmakers approved the budget in a June special session. “Our budget not only meets, but by every measure exceeds the requirements of Amendment 1, which, unlike the current rhetoric, recognizes that being good stewards of Florida’s natural beauty means more than simply buying land.”
The lawsuit contends that in spending the $740 million under Amendment 1, lawmakers “misappropriated” some $300 million, while giving little weight to the primary purpose of the Land Acquisition Trust Fund, which was originally created in the early 1960s.
“It is a trust that dates back 50 years and has an unmistakable purpose: land acquisition,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit math works like this: the environmentalists agree with some $432 million in Amendment 1 spending, including $190 million to pay off bond debt from prior land purchases, $15 million for Forever Florida, $38.5 million for springs protection and $20 million for land buying related to the Kissimmee River.
The lawsuit identifies a total of $88.7 million in land acquisition funding, less than 12 percent, of the $740 million total. But if the bond debt, which represents the cost of land purchases, is added, it rises to about 38 percent of the total.
The environmentalists also support some $100 million in restoration funding, including $59 million for the Everglades, $33 million in land management funding and $20 million for facilities improvements at state parks.
But that leaves more than $300 million in dispute.
It’s not spelled out in the original complaint, but Guest said he will argue that lawmakers spent much of that “misappropriated” Amendment 1 money on basic operational costs for various environment-related agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“They simply took buildings full of workers sitting in front of computers and claimed they were land acquisition,” Guest said. “Through that artifice, through that specious argument, they managed to take a 75 percent mandate of Florida voters to acquire land and turned it into a mandate to change the accounting system and buy less land.”
Environmentalists say the reason they developed Amendment 1 was to lift the priority of Florida Forever and other land-buying initiatives to allow Florida, which is now the nation’s third most populous state, to protect disappearing natural features, including the Myakka River in Southwest Florida.
“We had to fight every year for Florida Forever money,” said Becky Ayech, a member of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, a coalition of groups, individuals and businesses in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and a half-dozen other counties in the region. “This amendment was a way to clearly etch into the minds of our legislators that land acquisition is what the voters wanted.”
Ayech, who runs a “sustainable” farm in Old Miakka in Sarasota County, said one of the results of lawmakers short-changing the land-buying programs is that the state could lose out on acquiring a conservation easement on place like the Triangle Ranch, a 1,067-acre tract in Manatee County that has more than three miles of frontage on the Myakka River.
“If there was ever a parcel that needed to be purchased that would be one,” Ayech said. “It would definitely be an asset.”
The Triangle Ranch is part of a group of three ranches that conservationists say need to be preserved, including the nearby 720-acre Shep’s Island Ranch and the 5,774-acre Orange Hammock Ranch near the city of North Port.
Ayech said obtaining easements or purchasing those properties would help protect the Myakka River.
Instead, she said, while the future of those properties remains in doubt, the state is preparing for a lengthy legal battle to minimize land purchases under Amendment 1. And like the three-year redistricting litigation, Ayech noted the long-term lawsuits are costly for taxpayers.
“It’s a kick in the teeth what they’re doing to us,” she said.

150803-b
Drilling for oil in the Everglades a bad deal
TBO.com - Editorial
August 3, 2015
Just because there might be untapped oil reserves in the Everglades doesn’t mean the state should continue to allow private companies to set up drilling operations in such a fragile ecosystem.
Yet the possibility exists that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will issue a permit to a company wanting to look for oil in the southwestern part of Broward County.
The DEP should refuse to issue the permit. If the Everglades aren’t off-limits, then what is?
Yes, some small-scale drilling operations have occurred in the Everglades since the 1940s and continue today. But as the state and the public become more aware of the importance of protecting the Everglades, the idea of issuing more permits to explore for oil there seems obscene.
Especially with the BP oil spill fresh in the minds of every Gulf Coast resident. Drilling may be safer today than in years past, but it only takes one accident to cause irreparable harm. And the activities related to oil production — from the roads needed to accommodate the heavy machinery to the waste products — are incompatible with a wildlife area that is home to endangered plants and animals.
The recent permit request is from a Miami company that owns 20,000 acres in southwestern Broward County.
According to the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, the company wants permission to drill 2 miles down on a 5-acre tract about 5 miles west of the town of Miramar.
The company, Kanter Real Estate LLC, promises “to complete the project safely while protecting Florida’s environment.” But there’s no sense in risking even a remote chance of spoiling even a small part of the Everglades, which is undergoing billions of dollars of restoration to reverse the damage caused by misguided government flood-control projects.
The Everglades is an extraordinarily important ecosystem. It is the only wetland of its kind in the world and is considered a national environmental treasure.
“It’s ludicrous to consider doing this to the Everglades and the water supply,” Matthew Schwarz, executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association, told the newspaper. He says the work being proposed by the latest permit request risks contaminating the aquifer that provides fresh water to South Florida.
Private companies are interested in knowing what might be available in what is known as the Sunniland Trend oil deposits under the Everglades. The oil being pumped from the Everglades has been a low-grade crude used mostly in roads and lubricants.
Questions about how much oil might be underneath the Everglades have piqued the interest of companies since the first discovery in 1943. But even in the most generous scenario, it wouldn’t begin to equal the vast reserves thought to exist in other states and off the coasts in other parts of the country.
Those reserves represent enough to affect the domestic oil production in meaningful ways.
Why open the Everglades to more drilling for a payoff that might benefit the companies but has little impact on the nation’s dependency on foreign oil?
We’re not against exploring for domestic oil reserves in this country where it makes sense. But it makes no sense to expand the exist in the Everglades, a sacred environmental resource that should be treated that way.
Related:           Editorial: Drilling threatens 'Glades   Gainesville Sun

150803-c
Fracking lawsuit
CBC.ca – by Francine Pelletier
August 3 (2), 2015
The fight against fracking: Jessica Ernst lives in rural Alberta -- she alleges that her well water was contaminated due to fracking. For the past eight years, she has been the "David" fighting a landmark legal battle against three "Goliaths": Encana, a major player in the gas drilling industry, the Alberta Energy Regulator and the government of Alberta. Jessica Ernst and her lawyer talk to Francine Pelletier as they prepare for their hearing in January in the Supreme Court of Canada.
After three decades as a consultant to the oil industry, Jessica Ernst decided to sue her biggest client, Encana, which is also Canada's largest producer of natural gas.  She is also suing the Alberta Energy Regulator and the Alberta government.
It concerns fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - where large volumes of water, sand and chemicals are used to blast open the earth and extract resources…in this case, natural gas.  Ms. Ernst alleges fracking has contaminated the aquifer that supplies water to her community and home in Rosebud, about a hundred kilometres east of Calgary. Encana denies her allegation.
The anti-fracking movement has been growing over the years, due to concerns about its environmental impact.  Industry officials have countered with ad campaigns and assurances that fracking is safe.  At the same time, they have quietly reached out-of- court settlements with citizens who have sued.
Jessica Ernst won't settle.  She says she's in it for the long haul, until a judge renders a final decision.  It's been eight years so far and the next stop is the Supreme Court of Canada, in January.
Guest host Francine Pelletier spoke with Ms. Ernst in our Calgary studio, and with her lawyer, Murray Klippenstein, in Toronto.

150803-d
Increased compound flooding risks for major US cities
DecodedScience.com - by Clara Piccirillo, PhD
August 3, 2015
Are we likely to have more floods in the future? According to new research, floods resulting from multiple events are now more likely than ever before.
Researchers from University of South Florida studied the incidence of compound floods (floods caused by the contemporary occurrence of storm surge and heavy precipitation) in the US.
They reported that compound floods are more likely to happen now than they had been in the past, with increased impact for the society and the environment.
US Coastal Areas
In the United States, coastal counties are the most densely populated; indeed, nearly 40 % of the population lives in these areas. Moreover, many of these people live in big urban centers, as in coastal areas there are 17 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants.
For these areas/cities, flooding can cause serious problems, affecting both the economy and the environment.
Floods: Compound Events
Floods generally occur through two different mechanisms, heavy rainfall and storm surge. In the latter, the water level rises due to anomalous atmospheric conditions – i.e. strong winds or very low pressure.
If these two mechanisms take place at the same time (a compound event), the probability of having floods is much higher; moreover, it is more likely that the floods will cause much more damage.
Compound Flooding Occurrences
In recent years, compound flooding was observed in several countries all over the world, including Thailand (2011), Australia (2011), UK (winter 2013/2014) and the US (hurricane Isaac, 2012).
Scientists performed some studies to understand the probability of compound flooding; in the majority of cases, however, the research was carried out at a local level, on a small scale.
New Storm Study
Researchers from University of South Florida (US) recently performed a more systematic study to assess the probability of compound flooding in the US. They worked in cooperation with the Universities of Maine (US) and Siegen (Germany). They published their results in Nature Climate Change on the 28th of July 2015.
In their study, they considered both surge data recorded by tide gauges in 30 selected US coastal areas all over the country, and the precipitation which occurred within 25 km of these areas. They had two approaches:
Case I: they considered the highest storm surge(s) and the corresponding precipitation within ± 1 day of the surge.
Case II: they considered the heaviest precipitation and the corresponding storm surge(s) within ± 1 day of the precipitation.
They studied a period spanning several years, from 1990 onwards.
Different Storm Mechanisms
The combination of storm surge and precipitation can exacerbate the floods through different mechanisms; those included in the study were:
In estuary areas, heavy precipitation taking place at the same time as a storm surge can lead to higher water levels and, hence, cause (more severe) flooding.
A storm surge which already caused flooding occurring at the same time as moderate precipitation; although the precipitation normally may not be dangerous, combined with the storm surge it can make things worse.
Moderate storm surge which can block water drainage; any precipitation occurring at the same time or after this is likely to cause more serious flooding.
Flood Study Had Interesting Results
Decoded Science spoke to Dr. Thomas Wahl, one of the scientists of the study, who explains and comments on the results.
“What we saw was that in the majority of cases, a high storm surge was occurring at the same time as precipitation. In some areas, however, the compound event was more probable than in others.
It is also interesting to note that the probability of compound events got much higher in recent decades; the probability for case I events, for instance, becomes almost double considering two different 30-year periods.”
Understanding Compound Events Better
The reasons for the occurrence of the compound events, and for them to become more common, are not clear.
According to Dr. Wahl, it is important to understand better why this happens.
“This study we performed is important as nobody ever looked at the compound event in a systematic way; now we know that often – almost always – storm surge takes place at the same time as precipitation and that this tendency increased substantially in recent years.
This was the first step; now we have to do more to understand why this happens. To do this, we need to perform studies with more complex and complete modeling, which include parameters such as rainfall, river discharges, ocean-atmospheric pressure coupling, etc. We also need to assess at a local level the impact these compound floods have on society.”
Compound Flooding: Their Consequences and Management
The study by Dr. Wahl and his coworkers showed that compound floods are more frequent than originally thought, and that they are becoming more common. This research is essential to assess the dangers associated with the flooding and help the whole community to manage / minimize the risks when flooding happens.

150802-a
At Kochfest, Rubio defends sugar subsidies on national security grounds
Washington Examiner - by Timothy P. Carney
August 2, 2015
DANA POINT, Calif. — Battling crony capitalism and corporate welfare has been a central theme of this weekend's gathering.* In that vein, Mike Allen of Politico asked Marco Rubio at Sunday's lunch, commented on Rubio's votes against a federal backstop for terrorism risk insurance and the Export-Import Bank, and then noted that Rubio made one exception to his opposition to crony capitalism. Rubio instantly knew what Allen was talking about: the federal sugar program.
Rubio has consistently voted for and defended the federal sugar program, which drives U.S. sugar prices higher by keeping out foreign sugar and provides federal loans to guarantee those high prices.
Rubio said, "I'm ready to get rid of the loan program for sugar, as long as the countries that export sugar into the U.S. get rid of theirs as well, and here's why: Otherwise, Brazil will wipe out our agriculture and it's not just sugar."
He explained:
"I'm prepared to say, absolutely, we should change the law so that as soon as countries get rid of theirs, we get rid of ours, and then there will be a free market for being able to sell food. Otherwise these other countries will capture the market share, our agricultural capacity will be developed into real estate, you know, housing and so forth, and then we lose the capacity to produce our own food, at which point we're at the mercy of a foreign country for food security."
And if you think energy security is problematic, food security would certainly undermine our ability moving forward as a nation.
This answer seems faulty in many ways:
First, it perfectly echoes the wrong-headed defenses of the Export-Import Bank. Ex-Im supporter Tony Fratto made that very point on Twitter:
GREAT IDEA!!!! .@marcorubio should apply the same standard to #ExIm Bank. https://t.co/qosOwVVWSQ— Tony Fratto (@TonyFratto) August 2, 2015
Economically, Rubio has no ground on which to stand: Just because other countries are hurting themselves through protectionist government distortions doesn't mean we should. Other countries' distortions don't make our distortions less destructive.
That's probably why Rubio tries to stand on national security grounds. But even there, it's tough to see his argument. First, there's an economic flaw in it: He presumes that if Brazil and the U.S. and everyone else dropped sugar subsidies, that a U.S. sugar industry would continue to exist. I'm not sure that's true. I suspect that absent U.S. sugar subsidies, regardless of what the rest of the world did, it would be uneconomical to farm sugar in the Everglades.
His support of the sugar program undermines Rubio's free-enterprise, anti-corporate-welfare position especially because the primary beneficiaries of the program are the Fanjuls, who were early fundraisers and donors for Rubio in his 2010 Senate race.
This issue may plague him in the GOP primaries, and especially among the GOP donors in the Kochs' network, who are increasingly keyed in on battling corporate welfare.

150802-b
Hundreds of dead fish found floating in South Florida waters
Local10.com – by Peter Burke
August 2, 2015
Residents complain of stench in Aventura, Coral Gables neighborhoods
Residents in the Highland Lakes neighborhood of Aventura said they're fed up with the smell of dead fish that they've endured since Friday.
"The smell is extremely strong and it's hard to even step out your door," Dr. Martin Karp told Local 10 News.
Rabbi Moishe Kievman said his children step outside holding their noses.
"If the wind's right, it's in the house," resident Larry Gordon said.
Elaine Hopper is dealing with the same thing, only this time in the water off Red Road and Southwest 35th Street in Coral Gables.
"This is a lot of kill, and it stinks like the dickens," she told Local 10.
Residents don't seem to know why all the fish are dying, but there are several theories swimming around.
"We had severe lightning around here," Hopper said. "It must have struck the water."
Gordon suggested it might be a chemical in the water.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said that people may be alarmed by the occurrence, but that the fish kills are a result of natural events, primarily lack of oxygen in the water.
Other reasons for fish kills include algae blooms, human interaction with the environment and cold weather.
"If something like this is happening not only here but down in the Gables, then we have a bigger issue," Karp said.
Whatever it is, residents just want it cleaned up.

150801-a
Land and water conservation fund
Theet.com – by Scott Shalaway
August 1, 2015
Quiz time — have you ever heard of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) ?  
Do you know what it does ?  If not, read on.
For 50 years LWCF has provided billions in capital investments for recreation and conservation. It is arguably America’s most important conservation program. If you’ve ever enjoyed a visit to a national or state park, a wildlife refuge, a historic site, or a recreation area at the federal, state, or local level, LWCF dollars probably helped make those areas possible. In fact, LWCF has helped finance everything from local playgrounds, soccer fields, and baseball diamonds to projects at California’s Big Sur and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
In 1965 Congress passed the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to provide the money to buy land and maintain infrastructure at a diverse array of recreational locations. It expires on September 30. Fifty years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately conservation leaders from across the country and like-minded Congressional leaders have been looking ahead to ensure the LWCF’s reauthorization. But it’s not yet a done deal.
A coalition of congressmen/women and senators has been working on the LWCF reauthorization for more than a year, and just last week Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced a bipartisan agreement to permanently authorize the LWCF.
The deal reaffirms to the American people that a portion of revenue derived from offshore oil and gas development is dedicated to protect America’s irreplaceable natural, historic, and recreational outdoor resources. The agreement is part of a recently proposed energy bill. Over the next few weeks, letters of support for LWCF to your congressional representatives will be important. Contact information for members of Congress can be found at www.contactingthecongress.org.
The best part about LWCF is its funding mechanism. It uses no taxpayer dollars. Instead, it relies on a portion of revenues from offshore oil and gas royalty payments. These resources belong to the American people. Oil and gas companies pay a royalty fee to the federal government when they extract these resources. It only seems right that the oil and gas industry should pay their fair share to support conservation, historic preservation, and outdoor recreation.
Since the LWCF supports national parks, it’s worth mentioning that the National Park System celebrates its 100th anniversary next year. More than 292 million people visited 408 national park locations last year. These parks protect and conserve scenic natural areas such as the Grand Canyon, the Great Smokey Mountain, the Florida Everglades, Maine’s Acadia National Park, and Colorado’s Rocky Mountains National Park. The Park Service also manages places that celebrate history and local heritage such as West Virginia’s Harpers Ferry National Historic Park and Pennsylvania’s Fort Necessity National Battlefield.
Though I’m sure there are people who have never taken advantage of the U. S. National Park System, the greatest in the world, let me explain what a value it is.
The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass Series covers entrance fees to national parks and national wildlife refuges and standard amenity fees such as use of picnic areas and trails at national forests and grasslands and at lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation. A pass covers fees for a driver and all passengers in a personal vehicle. Children age 15 and under are admitted free.
An annual pass, available to anyone, costs $80.
An annual pass for active military members and their dependents is free.
An annual pass for U.S. citizens with permanent disabilities is free.
And if you are a U.S. citizen and age 62 or older, a lifetime pass is $10.
Passes may be purchased in person at federal recreation sites or online at http://store.usgs.gov/pass.
If these deals sound too good to be true, beware. There are those in Congress who would like to privatize and profit from these invaluable public lands. Be prepared to fight for affordable access to federal lands when the privateers make their case.

150801-b
Ted Everett appointed to Northwest Florida Water Management District
Washington County News
August 1, 2015
TALLAHASSEE – Governor Rick Scott announced the appointment of Ted Everett to the Northwest Florida Water Management District on Friday.
Everett, 54, of Chipley, is the executive director of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce and the owner and operator of Hard Labor Creek Hunting Plantation and Hard Labor Creek Off Road Park. He currently serves as the secretary of Opportunity Florida and a member of the Florida Economic Development Council and Florida Association of Chamber Professionals. Everett received a four year degree in political science from Augusta College and a two year degree in forestry with a minor in wildlife management from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. He fills a vacant seat and is appointed for a term beginning July 31, 2015, and ending March 1, 2017.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

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