February 2011
4 posts
Bruce Ritchie reports on new DCA Secretary's plans... →
New DCA Secretary Billy Buzzett, a former St. Joe Company developer, says: “I think it’s really more important — not me, but what’s the state’s role in community planning in the future, whether it’s DCA or whoever it will be.”
Hernando Commission approves development on former... →
Excerpt:
Former county Commissioner Bobbi Mills spoke out against the project saying, “In the long run, it’s going to cost this county a tremendous amount of money in services that are needed.”
Local resident Richard Ross also urged a no vote. He said if commissioners approved the project, they should hire someone to change the signs calling the county the “Nature...
Gov. Scott announces DCA and DEP merger and cuts →
Excerpt: ”Scott’s “Jobs Budget” would move the Division of Community Planning at the Florida Department of Community Affairs to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. DEP would retain only 10 of the 61 planning positions now at DCA as it focuses less on overseeing growth management decisions by local government, according to the governor’s budget...
EPA Administrator defends enforcement of Clean... →
Gwen Keyes Fleming, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Southeast, explains why cooperation to meet clean water standards in Florida is so important.
“We must find common ground because poor water quality directly affects not only public health and the environment, but also tourism and jobs. Florida’s tourism industry — the state’s No. 1 industry — employs nearly 1...
December 2010
3 posts
“All Hands on Deck” Pick up the Phone for the Gulf...
Congress is now back in session. But, will they act for a healthy Gulf? Next Tuesday, December 7th, folks across the nation are making calls to tell Congress that the Gulf needs a Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council to help prevent future disasters and that Clean Water Act fines paid by BP should go towards restoring the coast. We need all hands on deck for Gulf Coast recovery. Pick up your...
WSJ article on FL phosphate mining
The need for regulation and oversight of drag mining in Florida is clear, and it’s what we need before the Levy County Commission commits the Nature Coast to a blighted future of extractive industry. The purpose of cautious study and permitting regulation is to take the long-term view on the safety of our water supply for future generations.
In case anyone missed the connection, as Mosaic...
White House Announces 7 More Years for FL Drilling...
In a stroke of good news for the Gulf Coast of Florida, the Obama Administration will announce today that it will continue to uphold the drilling ban in new Florida waters for the next seven years. We are not quite sure where they get the seven years calculated, but this reversal of an earlier White House policy (announced just prior to the Deepwater Horizon explosion) is attributed to the BP oil...
November 2010
4 posts
3 tags
Celebrating Our Public Lands Along Florida’s...
by Joe Murphy
In this season of celebration and giving thanks, we should celebrate the natural wonders of our public lands. Florida’s rich natural heritage is woven through the wild places that all of us own together, and that are managed for us in trust by our local, state, and federal governments. These amazing natural places, places that define what it means to be a Floridian, are the...
Paradise Mined: Panoramic views of dead, square... →
Click the above link to read mixed reviews about Mosaic’s plans to transform phosphate mines in Polk County into luxury resorts. Questions remain about lingering radon and potential impacts to neighboring wetlands. This kind of ‘second nature’ concept probably isn’t what Frederick Law Olmstead had in mind…
EPA sets nutrient pollution limits, but there will...
The EPA finally sets numerical nutrient pollution limits, but why the delay? From the St. Pete Times: ”Gwen Keyes Fleming, the EPA’s regional administrator, says the delay is necessary to counteract all the “exaggerated, doomsday claims” that opponents have been spreading around about the new water pollution standards.” http://bit.ly/c3DAdE
See Earthjustice news...
5 Reasons You Can’t Miss the Nov 13 Nature Coast...
The Nature Coast Coalition is holding our annual Fall Conference on November 13 at Crystal River State Buffer Preserve. The Nature Coast is one of the state’s last beautiful, undeveloped regions. The Nature Coast is an amazing and diverse mosaic of wetlands, rivers, seagrass beds, coastal marshes, and uplands that create one of the most ecologically important areas left in the Gulf of Mexico....
October 2010
8 posts
First Gulf Ecosystem Restoration Task Force to...
Gulf Restoration Network will be there, along with many conservation, community, tourism, and public health groups in attendance for this first meeting in Pensacola, FL.
The Gulf Ecosystem Task Force will be headed up by Executive Director, John Hankinson. Hankinson is a former EPA Region IV Administrator and Chairman of Aubudon of Florida. He will report directly to EPA Chief, Lisa Jackson.
...
DCA stops Hernando project, cites #sprawl
http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/dca-rejects-massive-development-planned-for-hernando/1130686
DCA rejects massive development planned for Hernando
By Barbara Behrendt and Dan DeWitt, Times Staff Writers In Print: Thursday, October 28, 2010
BROOKSVILLE — In a rare move, the Florida Department of Community Affairs has put Hernando County on notice Wednesday that it intends to find the...
5 Reasons You Can't Miss the Nov 13 Nature Coast...
The Nature Coast Coalition is holding our annual Fall Conference on November 13 at Crystal River State Buffer Preserve. The Nature Coast is one of the state’s last beautiful, undeveloped regions. The Nature Coast is an amazing and diverse mosaic of wetlands, rivers, seagrass beds, coastal marshes, and uplands that create one of the most ecologically important areas left in the Gulf of...
From Chasidy Fisher Hobbs of Emerald Coastkeepers...
Viewpoint: Learn from oil spills or be doomed to repeat them
By: Chasidy Fisher Hobbs of the Emerald Coastkeepers
http://www.pnj.com/article/20101024/OPINION/10240309/1020/Viewpoint—Learn-from-oil-spills-or-be-doomed-to-repeat-them
BP has another deepwater rig, Atlantis, in even deeper water than the Deepwater Horizon, with a similar record. Just short of six months after the BP oil...
A worthwhile read on the oil spill damage claim...
This article provides a compelling run down on tort law, damage claims, and how the BP oil spill disaster’s damage inflicted upon the Florida tourist economy presents entirely new challenges.
New York Times:
Should BP’s Money Go Where the Oil Didn’t?
By DAVID SEGAL
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/business/24claim.html?pagewanted=4&_r=2&sq=florida&st=cse&scp=5
...
Is the EPA sincere about enforcing the Clean Water... →
The answer: Not so much. By deferring to the state, EPA has let compliance with the CWA drag on for two decades. Some of the problems with the EPA’s proposed numeric nutrient criteria rules includes language in the narrative section that would allow huge loopholes in granting variances.
Excerpt from Craig Pittman of the The St. Pete Times:
‘Glacial’ cleanup pace
The whole...
BP Disaster Six Month Benchmark: Not Much Research...
The Florida Institute of Oceanography received $10 million from BP to fund 27 research projects dealing with the oil spill crisis in the Gulf. While USF and other research institutions have done superb independent research work and have been strong voices in this crisis, we must note that of the 27 research projects (go to link below), very few have to do with toxicity levels in the water.
As...
Gulf Communities Speak Out Six Months into BP...
October 20th marks six months of BP’s oil drilling disaster in the Gulf. The disaster has taken its toll on the coast, and impacts will be felt by real people for decades. Reforms are urgently needed to prevent future disasters, and the Gulf’s people and places need lasting, continued support to recover. “We have to make ourselves heard with one voice: the oil is still here, and...
September 2010
1 post
Fight Against Limestone Mine in FL's Nature Coast...
The Nature Coast of Florida is one of the last frontiers of beautiful, old Florida. Its legacy lies in its forests, wetlands, beautiful streams, and springs. Its geography is similar to that of the Everglades- an incredible slow moving sheet of water that flows over karst limestone layers support productive wetlands and streams that feeds into three state preserves and sea grass estuaries.
...
August 2010
1 post
1 tag
"Life on the Edge" Exhibit on the Nature Coast...
Starting August 27, Eric Zamora’s conservation photography exhibit on the story of Florida’s Nature Coast will be featured at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.
Life on the Edge tells the story of the vast region from St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge near Tallahassee, to northern Pasco County, covering 240 miles of Florida’s Nature Coast. The...
July 2010
6 posts
Citizen’s Councils Followed Valdez Spill. Why Not...
A coalition of over one hundred Gulf Coast faith, community and conservation groups is calling on lawmakers to include a citizen’s oversight council as part of an offshore drilling reform package the House is currently considering. Citizen councils proved an effective reform for energy industry oversight in Alaska following the Exxon Valdez spill, so Gulf Coast communities are demanding a similar...
Florida's Special Session
8 Things I Know About Florida’s Special Session on the Referendum to Ban Offshore Oil Drilling in State Waters
1) The wrong media is hurting the cause. Instead of ‘political jockeying’ news reports on partisan bickering and Florida Senate horserace implications, let’s focus on how the ballot amendment to ban drilling in state waters is itself an important civic...
Follow That Dream: Florida's energy choices
While riding out to Yankeetown last week, I traveled down the part of SR40 named for the 1962 Elvis Presley movie once filmed there, Follow That Dream.
Indeed, many of us came to Florida, the land of sunshine and the land of dreams, with an image in mind of the classic Nature Coast Florida scene that you see below.
I took the above picture on Follow That Dream Highway on a bridge looking...
A Victory for Enforcement of the Clean Water Act...
Gulf Restoration Network Wins Federal Lawsuit vs. Cypress Creek Town Center developers/polluters
Gulf Restoration Network, The Tampa Bay Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, and several individuals have won a major victory in their challenge to a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) section 404 dredge and fill permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of Cypress Creek...
Hands Across the Capitol- Let the People Vote
The Florida legislature meets for a special session next week to take up discussion and vote for a coastal protection/ anti-oil drilling amendment to appear on the November ballot. This amendment will then need to pass by 60% in November. There are rumors that many house members are siding with the oil industry, who does not want Florida citizens to have the chance to vote for protections of...
How Much Oil Is Getting Removed from Florida...
Last week the dark shadow of BP’s oil spill disaster finally landed on eight miles of Pensacola’s sugar sand beaches. Despite Escambia County’s collection of nearly 45,000 pounds of tarballs and oil related crud, there was yet more oil discovered beneath the sands of the beaches.
This subsurface discovery presents just some of the challenges of dealing with oil covered...
June 2010
6 posts
Track Smarttie, an adult female Kemp Ridley, who... →
Since she was tracked in 2006 in Texas, Smarttie has moved from the Texas coast eastward, skirted through the Nature Coast, and moved further south down the southwest coast of Florida. She survived the cold stunning event that killed or injured 4500 sea turtles in Florida alone.
We watch, wait, and hope for all the sea turtles in the Gulf that they can survive the damages to their ecosystem that...
The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition brings...
The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition held a successful conference on Friday, June 18 at the Hotel Duval in Tallahassee. Over 100 people from various scientific, policy, and advocacy organizations met to address Florida’s coastal and ocean plans for ecosystem based management.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Larry Crowder of the Duke University Ocean Ecology and Conservation Lab, warned of fish...
Darden Rice takes reins at Gulf Restoration...
Gulf Restoration Network is thrilled to announce that GRN has hired Darden Rice as our new Florida Staff Person! Many of you know Darden from her years of excellent work in Florida doing conservation and political work, and from her extensive and excellent work organizing and leading conservation campaigns to protect our coastlines and ensure a better energy future. Darden has very strong...
3 tags
Hands Across the Sand – FL Nature Coast 6-26
Join your neighbors to protest off-shore oil drilling on Saturday, June 26 at noon.
Here’s what you do:
STEP 1: Go to the beach at 11 AM for one hour, rain or shine. STEP 2: Join hands for 15 minutes at 12:00 forming lines in the sand against oil drilling in our coastal waters. STEP 3: Leave only your footprints.
Here’s where you go:
Fred Howard Park Tarpon Springs, FL CPT J....
2 tags
Climate Change Report Spells Out Action for...
Preparing for a Sea Change – A Strategy to Cope with the Impacts of Global Warming on the State’s Coastal and Marine Systems was released by the The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition on May 28 and is available for download.
According to this report, Florida could, and should, take specific steps immediately to deal with the anticipated – and the already occurring – effects of global climate...
5 tags
NOAA Provides On-going Status on Oil Spill
The NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to the stewardship of living marine resources through science-based conservation and management, and the promotion of healthy ecosystems. The Southeast Regional Office in St. Petersburg is proving current information on the federal fishery closure and other information regarding the BP Oil Spill. This website is updated daily at approximately 12...