"By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water." Aeschylus
Announcements
Broward County Waste and Recycling Services and Parks and Recreation Division are hosting the second annual "America Recycles Day Celebration" on November 12 from 9 a.m.—2 p.m. at Vista View Park in Davie. This eco-themed event will feature "green" vendors, community representatives, a tree and shrub giveaway, an electronics recycling collection event, hybrid car display, pet adoptions, and children's activities.
STATE PARKS TO HOST PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING LAND USE AMENDMENTS
~Public invited to comment on land management changes at Seabranch Preserve and Savannas Preserve state parks~
STUART — The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Florida Park Service will host a public meeting to present amendments to the land management plans for Savannas Preserve State Park and Seabranch Preserve State Park on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011.
The public meeting will consist of a presentation of the land management plan amendments for each park and an opportunity for attendees to make comments and ask questions. All interested persons are invited to attend.
A copy of the land management plan amendments can be found at the DEP Public Notices Calendar.
The public meeting will take place:
Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011
6 p.m.
John F. Armstrong Wing at the Blake Library
2351 Southeast Monterey Road
Stuart, Florida 34996
CONTACT: DEP Press Office, 850.245.2112, DEPNews@dep.state.fl.us
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Get Groovy at the Sawgrass Nature Center's "Born To Be Wild " Gala
The Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital's is hosting its 14th annual benefit.
This year's benefit "Born To Be Wild Gala" will be held on Saturday,
November 5th, 6:00 pm
at the Country Club of Coral Springs, Florida. Come and enjoy some fabulous 60's & 70's inspired appetizers, dinner, drinks & mouthwatering desserts. Let your hair down, pull out you tie dyes, bell bottoms and love beads and you may win a prize at our best costume contest. Or take a chance on winning some great raffle prizes or bid on some wonderful live and silent auction items including a guitar autographed by Barry Gibb from the Bee Gee's, vacation get- a-ways to the Caribbean, Sanibel Island, Bahamas, and the Keys or take a wild swamp buggy, air boat or canoe trip.November 5th, 6:00 pm
The Sawgrass Nature Center & Wildlife Hospital is a community based nonprofit organization. The center provides environmental education programs for children and adults and cares for sick, injured and orphaned baby wild birds, mammals and reptiles in our wildlife hospital.
Tickets are only $75.00 and all funds raised will be used to help fund the wildlife hospital, educational programs and facilities at the Nature Center.
For ticket information please call 752-WILD (9453) or stop by the center located at 3000 Sportsplex Dr. (in Sportsplex Park). Come have a "wild" time and support a good cause.
Make your reservations today; no tickets will be sold at the door.
To learn more about the center check their web site at Sawgrassnaturecenter.org. or stop in for a visit, the Center is open Tues - Fri from 9-5, Sat & Sun. from 10-3.
Contact: Joan Kohl
Phone: (954) 752-9453
Florida has accomplished much for gopher tortoises in the past four years, including exceeding the 10,000-acres-per-year goal of restoring and managing gopher tortoise habitat. An annual average of 36,000 acres of gopher tortoise habitat is being restored and managed in Florida under the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan. Gopher tortoises' protected habitat also grew by more than 6,500 acres under the plan, with 14 of the 21 expansion sites occurring on private lands.
Additionally, more than 4,000 gopher tortoises were humanely relocated from sites slated for development. The plan's redesigned permitting system and identification of sites that will accept relocated tortoises played key roles in this process.
Loss of habitat is the main threat to the gopher tortoise's survival.
Citizens with suggestions on revising the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan can review the plan and submit their ideas online at: http://share.myfwc.com/GT2/Lists/Input on Revisions to the GT Mgmt Plan. Public input will be accepted through Nov. 28.
"The current Gopher Tortoise Management Plan, developed and implemented in partnership with many stakeholders, guided us well in achieving measurable progress in conserving the gopher tortoise in Florida," said Dr. Elsa Haubold, leader of the FWC's Species Conservation Planning section.
Conserving the gopher tortoise is essential not only to the tortoise, which lives for up to 60 years, but to 350 other Florida species such as the indigo snake and burrowing owl, which share and shelter in the tortoise's extensive burrows. Adept at earth-moving, the tortoise digs out burrows averaging 15 feet long and 6.5 feet deep in well-drained, sandy areas such as longleaf pine forests, oak sandhills and coastal dunes. Under state law, the gopher tortoise, its eggs and its burrows are protected.
"We are grateful to private landowners, public agencies at the local, state and federal level, and other stakeholders for their partnership in conserving gopher tortoises and restoring their habitat," Haubold said. "By being adaptive and building on what we have learned and achieved during the first four years of implementation, we can revise the plan so Florida is more efficient and effective at gopher tortoise conservation. We look forward to public input to help us in this revision of the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan."
Another 62 wildlife species soon will join the list of Florida species like the gopher tortoise and bald eagle that are already under FWC management plans. Florida's new threatened species conservation model requires that management plans be created for all state-listed species and updated at specified intervals. As FWC staff begins the scheduled revision of the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan, work is under way to develop plans for the 62 currently listed species that do not yet have approved plans.
The Gopher Tortoise Management Plan and the other anticipated species management plans give the public an open, transparent perspective on Florida's efforts to conserve its diverse wildlife for future generations against the backdrop of a growing state with nearly 19 million people.
For more information on the gopher tortoise, please visit MyFWC.com/GopherTortoise.
Of interest to all
Raising 'Sugar-Cane': Investigative Report A battle being waged in the ethanol industry pits sugar against corn, and it reaches from Florida to the Midwest to Latin America. Florida is at the center of this "energy war," and this investigative report by Les Coleman examines the history, business and political links between sugarcane-based ethanol and ethanol distilled from corn.
The long arm of Florida "big sugar" reaches far outside the state and across international frontiers. Flo-Sun, through subsidiaries such as Florida Crystals and Domino Foods, has milling and refining operations around the world. The rulers of Flo-Sun are brothers Pepe and Alfonso Fanjul, based in Palm Beach, whose father came to the U.S. on the heels of the Cuban Revolution more than a half-century ago.
The Fanjuls, naturally, have their eye on Latin America. So do their close friend and neighbor, David Koch, and his brother, Charles, who head Koch Industries. Their common goal: the importation of sugarcane-based ethanol.
Brian Jennings, executive vice president of the Midwest-corn-dominated American Ethanol Association, says cane ethanol is not domestic and escapes domestic taxes.
"We don't have any sugarcane members, to my knowledge. A lot of sugar ethanol that makes its way into the United States comes through the Caribbean-based initiative, which does escape the tariff, the secondary tariff."
That's a 54-cent-per-gallon tax break for imported sugar ethanol. One recent piece of legislation before the U.S. Senate was an effort to repeal the fuel subsidy for corn-based ethanol exclusively produced in the U.S. - an effort backed by "big sugar" and the Koch brothers.
The Kochs are billionaires and are key backers of the Tea Party movement and its pro-free-market, small-government ideology. But Jennings says that preserving the free market may not be what is behind the Kochs' move into the ethanol business.
"I think it's disturbing that Koch is lobbying to kill the ethanol tax incentive at the same time the company owns shares in ethanol. Koch will continue to fight U.S. ethanol, I'm sure, even though they have ownership interest. I'm not surprised to hear they are involved in Brazilian sugar ethanol production, either."
The Kochs' pot of ethanol gold may not be at the end of some Iowa cornfield rainbow, but in Paranagua, Brazil, where one of their companies, Koch Fertilizer, has built a 57,000-cubic-ton warehouse to provide fuel for the booming Brazilian sugar cane ethanol industry. Koch Fertilizer is produced offshore, in Trinidad and Tobago, and Jennings doesn't much like it.
"I'm a little bit jaded when it comes to a company like Koch. Unfortunately, this type of thing has been happening for years, when it comes to farmers and ranchers trying to get a fair price for their product."
Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants to expand South Florida ports to accommodate sugar ethanol imports. Florida sugar producers gave Rick Scott $100,000 in his successful bid for governor.
Gov. Scott's wildlife appointee has history of environmental infractions Gov. Rick Scott faced a choice. He had to fill a seat on the state's wildlife commission, and 20 people had applied.
Two had previously served on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. A third was president of an influential sportsman's group. Among the rest were a vice president of the Florida Wildlife Federation, the operator of an animal-rescue group and a former Humane Society investigator.
Scott passed over those applicants to pick Charles W. "Chuck" Roberts III, a Panhandle paving contractor whose company has on several occasions run afoul of state environmental regulations.
"He was selected because Governor Scott and his appointments staff felt he was the best qualified for the position," explained Scott's press secretary, Lane Wright.
Roberts, 58, is an avid angler and quail hunter, the owner of a bird-hunting plantation and president of C.W. Roberts Contracting since 1976. The company's website boasts about its many government contracts for building roads and prisons. Its most high-profile project was Panama City's recently completed $325 million airport.
Roberts said when he was interviewed by Scott and the governor's staff, no one asked about his company's history of environmental infractions, including one chemical spill that required an extensive cleanup. He said he did not understand why that should have come up.
"I don't see why that should be involved with fish and wildlife," Roberts said.
The paving company's website features a statement about its core values.
"From the beginning, C.W. Roberts Contracting Inc. has held themselves to a higher standard than their competitors, resulting in a solid and respected reputation that precedes the organization," the website says.
But there are other things in the records of the state Department of Environmental Protection. DEP officials turned over their reports on C.W. Roberts to the Times, but Roberts said they also alerted him to the newspaper's public records request.
The records show that several of Roberts' facilities failed to comply with the state's environmental rules, but in several incidents there's no record of the company facing any penalties.
Read more
FWC launches new technology for Wildlife Alert The Wildlife Alert Reward Program has helped the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) catch thousands of violators through phone calls and online submissions from the public. Now, it is employing an additional method: text messaging.
"The text messaging option makes it more convenient for the public," said Col. Jim Brown, director of the FWC's Division of Law Enforcement. "We also hope it will make Wildlife Alert even more effective in catching poachers and other violators."
When submitting information via text message, the FWC encourages including as much information as possible, such as the specific violation and the location. Once a report is initiated, FWC dispatch has the ability to respond via text message to the reporting party to gather additional details.
The FWC is committed to protecting Florida's fish, wildlife and people. However, FWC officers can't always do it alone.
"While we make every effort to be conscious of any threats to our valuable natural resources and people, we often rely upon support and tips from members of the public," Brown said.
The FWC encourages people to report any known or suspected illegal activity, such as illegal hunting, taking saltwater game fish out of season, taking protected wildlife species, boating under the influence and more.
To report violations by phone, call 888-404-FWCC (3922). For more information, visit MyFWC.com/WildlifeAlert.
Birds
Final reckoning for Eskimo Curlew? Feds request information but plan no search Federal biologists want to know if the Eskimo Curlew should finally be declared extinct. The shorebird once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but its spring migration took it through the Great Plains, where in the 19th century it became an easy target for market hunters. Loss of grassland habitat and the extinction of a grasshopper that it preyed upon also took a toll. In 1967, the species was officially listed as endangered.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in June that it wants to determine if the bird should be reclassified as extinct. The public is encouraged to report any sightings, and scientists are being asked to watch for it in the field. But no expedition to wintering areas in Argentina or breeding grounds in Canada is planned.
The only known photos of the curlew were taken in Texas in 1962. A year later, a hunter shot one in Barbados. Since then, at least 32 possible sightings have been reported from throughout the bird's range. Most involved one or two individuals, but a remarkable 23 birds were reportedly seen on Atkinson Island, Texas, in 1981.
The most recent possible sighting occurred in Nova Scotia on September 24, 2006, by birder Randy Hoffman.
Sandhill cranes are a conservation success. Sandhill cranes are found in a diversity of wetlands; however, they prefer an open landscape of grasslands, agricultural fields and wetlands. Sandhill cranes feed on plant tubers, seeds and grains, invertebrates, and small vertebrates found in uplands and wetlands.
In the spring, sandhills "paint" their feathers with mud as camouflage in brown grasses.
They are territorial breeders, arriving each spring in Wisconsin where a pair establishes a 20- to 200-acre exclusive area for nesting and brood rearing. A pair's courtship includes an elaborate dance involving quick steps, half-spread wings and leaps into the air as well as the unison calling.
Sandhill crane nests are normally constructed over water in wetlands using the surrounding vegetation. A crane typically lays a single two-egg clutch annually but rarely fledges more than one young each year. After about 30 days of incubating the eggs, the young, called "colts," hatch out and are able to leave the nest walking or swimming within 24 hours. Parents first feed and then lead the growing colts to food.
After 60 to 70 days the young begin to fly and soon become strong fliers. In addition to the pairs, non-breeding cranes form small flocks in summer consisting of young birds, adults without territories and failed breeders. Sandhills are long-lived birds often surviving more than 20 years with the oldest wild sandhill crane reported at 35 years old. They go through "teenage years" from 2 to 7 years old when they pair up and may nest, but many do not successfully raise a colt to independence. As they grow older they become more experienced and successful parents.
While the sandhill crane population is currently large and widespread, this was not always the case. As Euro-American presence expanded across North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, unregulated hunting, wetland drainage and habitat loss caused a significant reduction in the sandhill crane population.
Sandhill cranes were commonly harvested for food until the last century. In an account published in 1622, Edward Winslow and William Bradford noted that during the Pilgrim's first year in North America a "fat crane" was a welcome addition to the dinner table. From this and other information, many have suggested that sandhill crane was likely to have been on the original Thanksgiving dinner table, either in place of, or alongside the turkey.
Unfortunately harvest of cranes and other wildlife species grew into unregulated market hunting during the early period of our country and exceeded a sustainable harvest level. At the same time, the productive soils of many shallow marshes were drained and farmed, reducing breeding habitat.
Read more
Invasive species
Little Bugs Cause Big Stink Asian stink bugs that have reached the United States are causing millions of dollars in agricultural damage as well as infesting houses
Something's bugging Doug Inkley —26,056 somethings, to be precise. That's the number of stink bugs the NWF senior scientist collected in his Maryland home in just the first five months of this year.
He's found stink bugs under his mattress, clogging his bathroom drain, even floating in his homemade chili. He once counted 8,000 of the insects in his attic in a single day. "They are a huge nuisance," he says with remarkable restraint.
Inkley's unwanted guests are a disturbing example of an invasive species run rampant. The brown marmorated stink bug, as the offending species is known, was first reported in the United States in the late 1990s. Its name comes from the ability to emit a foul odor that deters predators. Native to Asia, the bugs most likely hitchhiked here via international cargo. Gardeners in Pennsylvania were among the first to notice the new bugs, which were not only feeding on ornamental plants and vegetables but also entering people's homes in autumn to ride out the cold months.
Since those early sightings, the shield-shaped, roughly three-quarter-inch-long insects have established populations in 33 states and the District of Columbia, where they suck juices from more than 300 different kinds of plants, including peppers, soybeans, corn, grapes and raspberries. Peaches, pears and other tree fruit rate high on the stink bug menu. Apple growers in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia lost $37 million to the insects in 2010.
Before brown marmorateds arrived, North America already had some 250 native species of stink bug. Some native stink bugs are serious plant pests, but they are kept in check by predators such as parasitic wasps. The brown marmorated stink bug has few enemies here, which is why its population has exploded.
U.S. scientists are studying quarantined specimens of Asian wasps that may prey only on brown marmorateds in their natural habitat. If studies show that these wasps will prey just on brown maromateds here and not cause other environmental problems, they could be released to help control the invading stink bugs.
With thousands of stink bugs in her own attic, entomologist Tracy Leskey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Appalachian Fruit Research Station in West Virginia is trying to develop tools to manage brown marmorated stink bugs, using pheromones or other attractants to capture the bugs in agricultural settings. Leskey has heard from rooftop gardeners in Manhattan complaining about brown marmorateds eating their tomatoes. She's most worried about organic farmers, who have fewer weapons for combating insect pests than do conventional growers and who have been especially hard hit by the bugs. "We had a number of organic growers that really just waved the white flag of surrender," she says. "That's just depressing." Unfortunately, other farmers are spraying more than ever but still losing the war against this invasive pest.
The new stink bugs are among the latest in a long line of problematical animals and plants that are threatening native ecosystems, agriculture and even human health. To combat those species, NWF lobbyists are pushing for new government policies that would require stricter inspection of everything from imported nursery plants to shipping containers. "Once they get here, it's too late," Inkley says of invasive species. "We must keep potential invasive species from getting here in the first place."
Endangered Species
2011 a banner year for 2 Florida sea turtle species The Florida sea turtle nesting season has come to an end, and there is good news for two of Florida's federally endangered sea turtle species. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and its partners documented a record high annual nest count for green turtles in Florida. Leatherback turtles also had a high number of nests, with the count falling just shy of the previous high mark in 2009.
Loggerheads, the species that nests most commonly in Florida, did not have an increase in numbers this year. The nest count for this federally threatened sea turtle was close to average for the previous five years. However, since 1998, the trend in the number of loggerhead nests is a general decline.
"We're pleased with the green turtle and leatherback nesting totals in 2011," said Dr. Blair Witherington, an FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute scientist. "Nesting by both species has been rising dramatically and can be attributed at least in part to major conservation efforts over the past few decades. However, our loggerhead nesting totals have declined or are at best stable, which suggests that this species has a different, and perhaps more difficult, set of conservation challenges," he said.
Nest counts are performed each year through Florida's Index Nesting Beach Survey, which was created to measure seasonal sea turtle nesting, and to allow for accurate comparisons of beaches and years. The standardized index counts take place on 255 miles of selected beaches along both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
In one of the largest wildlife counts in the nation, hundreds of FWC partners diligently survey Florida's nesting beaches throughout the sea turtle nesting season.
"We are grateful for the large number of partners and volunteers that make this survey possible," Witherington said. "Without them, we couldn't collect nesting data on such a large scale."
The FWC's role in coordinating Florida's sea turtle nest counts is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and sales of the state's sea turtle license plate.
For more information about sea turtle nest counts, visit www.MyFWC.com/Research, click on "Wildlife," then click on "Nesting" under the "Sea Turtle" heading.
Sick or injured sea turtles can be reported by contacting the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922).
Turtle Trouble Ahead as Nest Numbers Rise Florida sea turtles are making a come-back. Two of the top three species of sea turtles in Florida increased their populations this year. As Whitney Ray tells us, even as their numbers surge danger from damage done to the Gulf of Mexico by the BP oil spill may still pose a threat.
Up at Dawn, Bill Wargo and his team known as the Turtle Patrol comb nine miles of Gulf cost beach looking for nests. Once they spot one. They mark it and record its locations. Conservation efforts like this are paying off.
"We've had a total of 1,145 hatchlings successfully emerge from the nest and swim to sea," said Wargo.
Florida Fish and Wildlife found 12-thousand green sea turtle nests in Florida this year. That' s a record. And Leatherback turtles saw their second highest nest numbers. The most common Florida sea turtle, the loggerhead saw its nest numbers drop by 10-thousand, but they still well above the record low set in 2007.
While the news is mostly good, there's a threat looming in the Gulf of Mexico. No one knows what the long term impacts of the BP oil spill will be on Florida's sea Turtles or the entire gulf coast ecosystem.
At the peak of the crisis in the summer of 2010, a massive nest moving operation was underway to relocated eggs from the gulf to the east coast of Florida.
The Florida Wildlife Federation is asking Congress to put 80 percent of the money BP pays in environmental fines to in to gulf coast restoration, so among other things, turtles can find safe places to nest.
"We need long term ecological monitoring of the fish and wildlife populations in the Gulf of Mexico," said Manley Fuller with the Florida Wildlife Federation.
The Legislation is being debated in the US House and Senate. There's also debate over how high BP's fines should be.
Conservationists say the biggest threat to turtles right now isn't oil, it's coastal development. They say turtles have lost dozens of miles of nesting grounds to hotels and beach houses.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now home to the world's largest shark sanctuary. The Nitijela, the Marshallese parliament, unanimously passed legislation this week that ends commercial fishing of sharks in all 1,990,530 square kilometers (768,547 square miles) of the central Pacific country's waters, an ocean area four times the landmass of California.
"We salute the Republic of the Marshall Islands for enacting the strongest legislation to protect sharks that we have seen," said Matt Rand, director of global shark conservation for the Pew Environment Group, which is spearheading efforts to establish shark sanctuaries, where targeted fishing for these species is prohibited. "As leaders recognize the importance of healthy shark populations to our oceans, the momentum for protecting these animals continues to spread across the globe."
Key provisions of the comprehensive Marshall Islands' law include:
•A complete prohibition on the commercial fishing of sharks as well as the sale of any sharks or shark products. Its zero retention stipulation requires that any shark caught accidentally by fishing vessels must be set free.
•Large monetary fines, anywhere between US$25,000 to US$200,000, for anyone who is found to be fishing sharks or in possession of shark fins. In addition, violators would be fined the market value of the product in their possession.
•A ban on the use of wire leaders, a longline fishing gear which is among the most lethal to sharks.
•A monitoring and enforcement provision which requires all fishing vessels to land their catch at one of the country's ports and bans at sea transfers.
This week's action was initiated in March of this year when the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority issued a moratorium on the shark trade. It was furthered in June, when President Jurelang Zedkaia joined other central Pacific leaders in setting the stage for the creation of a Micronesia Regional Shark Sanctuary, the first regional shark conservation agreement of its kind. In July, the Marshall Islands Mayors Association moved to make this vision a reality by passing a resolution that called on the 24 inhabited atolls throughout the Marshalls, each with its own local government, to enact ordinances prohibiting the sale and trade of sharks or shark fins.
"In passing this bill, there is no greater statement we can make about the importance of sharks to our culture, environment and economy," said Senator Tony deBrum, a representative from Kwajalein Atoll who is a bill cosponsor. "I thank President Jurelang Zedkaia for his vision and support for this effort. Ours may be a small island nation, but our waters are now the biggest place where sharks are protected. We hope other Micronesian leaders will join with us to make good on our collective promise of a regional sanctuary."
In addition to deBrum, Senators Michael Kabua (Kwajalein), Jeban Riklon (Kwajalein), David Kabua (Wotho), Jerakoj Bejang (Lib), and Dennis Momotaro (Mejit) cosponsored the enacted legislation, which also bans the sale, trade and possession of sharks, shark fins, or any other part of shark.
"The Marshall Islands have joined Palau, the Maldives, Honduras, the Bahamas and Tokelau in delivering the gold standard of protection for ensuring shark survival," Rand said. "We look forward to helping other countries enlist in this cause."
Everglades and Water Quality Issues
Water challenges [facing the Site 1 impoundment] Dangerous drought conditions this spring resulted in a burn ban, and debris had to be stockpiled until the ban was lifted in July.
Drought conditions were substantially alleviated in the month of August, when eastern Palm Beach County saw 9.84 inches of rain, 1.78 inches above normal, and eastern Broward County received 9.71 inches of rain, 2.28 inches above normal. However, meteorologists are predicting a drier-than-normal dry season. If the remainder of the wet season does not provide significant rainfall, such as a well-placed tropical system, the water shortage is likely to continue through the spring season.
In September, rainfall levels fell below normal again, when eastern Palm Beach County saw 7.06 inches of rain (83 percent of normal) and eastern Broward County received 6.41 inches of rain (80 percent of normal). In addition, rainfall is not evenly distributed throughout the state, so rainfall in south Florida does not necessarily mean that much-needed rain is falling in the Okeechobee basin to the north.
Fortunately, no construction time has been lost to tropical storms, but frequent rains still provide challenges to construction. More rain means more water to remove during dewatering operations and placement of fill in levee foundations can stall if the base becomes saturated. Even the placement of metal sheetpile may be halted temporarily due to safety concerns associated with lightning and the tall barge-mounted crane.
Information about water shortage orders and warnings, current weather and water conditions, and water-saving tips can be found at www.sfwmd.gov/waterwatch.
Florida meets with Federal leaders, reaffirms Florida's commitment to Everglades restoration Florida Governor Rick Scott, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) Executive Director Melissa Meeker today met with U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Deputy Secretary of Civil Works Jo Ellen Darcy and U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno to reaffirm Florida's long-standing commitment to restoring America's Everglades. During a meeting of state and federal principals, Florida's Governor outlined a strategy for improving water quality and sending cleaner water south to the vast ecosystem, while protecting jobs and the state's economy.
"Today, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to ask our federal and state Everglades restoration partners to agree on a strategy that puts the ecosystem first and prevents costly, ongoing litigation from derailing our mutual progress toward restoration," said Governor Scott. "A strong Florida partnership will help usher in the next generation of projects that will improve water quality in South Florida, while still protecting jobs and the state's economy."
Announcing a strengthened Florida partnership that focuses on the heart of the Everglades system, Governor Scott called upon the DEP and the SFWMD to work hand-in-hand to further improve the quality and quantity of water flowing into the Everglades. By focusing on implementing restoration projects on lands already in public ownership, the state is saving taxpayer dollars and minimizing the effects of government's land acquisition efforts on local and state agricultural-based economies.
"Everglades water quality is a top priority for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection," said DEP Secretary Vinyard. "We have a conceptual path forward for one of our long-standing challenges, and I am extremely optimistic that through cooperation and collaboration we will deliver measureable and permanent results."
DEP and the SFWMD will continue to work closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify and implement projects that will treat water to ultra-low levels of phosphorus. To protect South Florida's unique make-up of flora and fauna, DEP in 2006 established a stringent phosphorus water quality standard for the Everglades of 10 parts per billion.
"This strategy has great potential to address critical areas of the River of Grass and build on the progress we've made in meeting the restoration needs of Everglades National Park and the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge," said SFWMD Executive Director Meeker. "A strong partnership with DEP is invaluable as we work together toward achieving our state's water quality goals."
Since 1994, Florida's network of stormwater treatment areas south of Lake Okeechobee — with a combined treatment area of 45,000 acres — have retained approximately 1,470 metric tons of phosphorus that would have otherwise entered the Everglades. Through April 2011, more than 3,800 metric tons of phosphorus have been prevented from entering the Everglades through treatment wetlands and the Best Management Practices program covering the Everglades Agricultural Area. Florida has invested more than $1.8 billion to improve the quality of water flowing into America's Everglades. In addition, Florida has dedicated more than $2.4 billion to the 50-50 state-federal partnership to implement the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
Scott seeks delay on Everglades cleanup deadline An important deadline in Everglades restoration efforts — already pushed back four years — would be postponed another six years under a proposal made Thursday by Gov. Rick Scott.
In a meeting in Washington with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Scott laid out a plan to put off a deadline to reduce the amount of phosphorous flowing in the Everglades to 10 parts per billion. The deadline was originally set for next year, but was put off until 2016. Under the governor's proposal, the state would have until 2022.
That change would require the approval of U.S. District Court Judge Alan Gold, who has already expressed dissatisfaction with Florida's restoration efforts.
In an April ruling, he said the state has "not been true stewards of protecting the Everglades in recent years."
Reducing phosphorous levels requires building 22,000 acres of stormwater treatment areas to filter water flowing southward.
The proposed delay was not met with applause by environmentalists. David Guest of Earthjustice, one of the environmental groups that has sued the state over the Everglades, was blunt in his assessment: "This is terrible," he told the Miami Herald.
But Scott insisted "Florida remains steadfast in its commitment to restoring America's Everglades."
In a statement, the Republican governor also said his plan is "a strategy that puts the ecosystem first and prevents costly, ongoing litigation from derailing our mutual progress toward restoration."
Water supply already low - and dry season has just begun Despite three months of average rainfall, the county enters the dry season still short on water, because of last year's drought.
A cold front that moved through the area on the last day of September ended the daily sea-breeze cycle that drives the routine afternoon rains of summer.
Windy conditions and heavy rains are expected tonight through Tuesday, bringing 3-4 inches of rain throughout the region, with isolated areas receiving as much at 6-10 inches. But it is not known what impact that will have on the region's water supply. What is known is that water levels in Lake Okeechobee are dangerously low.
On Thursday the lake was at 11.09 feet above sea level -- more than 3.5 feet below normal for this time of year. Evapotranspiration, the rate at which water evaporates from the lake, outpaced nearly 6.5 inches of rain that fell in September.
"This year's average wet season rainfall has not been enough to refill the lake above water shortage levels," said Susan Sylvester, the chief of the Water Control Operations Bureau at the South Florida Water Management District. Meteorologists are predicting another drier-than-normal dry season, due to La Nina, a weather system spawned by cooler than normal water temperatures in the Pacific near the equator.
Meanwhile, the district is storing as much water as possible and water restrictions remain in place throughout the region. Late-season rainfall over the lake or north of it remains the best chance for overcoming the long-term water shortage, water managers said.
Federal judge rules for cleaner water in the Everglades A federal judge has ruled that water coming from state-operated Stormwater Treatment Areas, and running south into the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, has been exceeding pollution limits designed to protect the Florida Everglades.
The ruling is the result of a long-running dispute between the state of Florida and the federal government, which argued that the state was allowing for too much pollution at Loxahatchee. In a 1992 consent decree, the state agreed to build Stormwater Treatment Areas to clean and filter pollution before it reaches Loxahatchee and Everglades National Park.
Though the Treatment Areas were specifically intended to reduce the total amount of phosphorus in the area, the ruling says the state must do more and should set even more protective limits on phosphorus, which often leads to algal blooms and fish kills.
"We know that too much phosphorus, which comes from agricultural pollution, upsets the delicate balance in the Everglades," said attorney Alisa Coe, an attorney with environmental law firm Earthjustice, in a press release. "Judge Moreno affirmed what we've been saying – that the state limits must be met and pollution must be reduced."
The Everglades has been inundated not only with pollution from phosphorus, but also with sulfate runoff and methylmercury pollution — which can have a host of dangerous effects on both animal and human life.
Read the Sept. 28 ruling here (.pdf).
One GOP lawmaker's push for a moratorium on commercial water permits While intense community organizing and outreach effectively curbed the ability of private entities to withdraw water from the Wacissa River, a state bill filed last month would move to further protect an already strained Florida aquifer from corporate interests.
The measure, proposed by state Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Daytona Beach, would establish a decade-long moratorium throughout the state on all new permits for commercial water extraction.
"We are constantly being told how we must conserve water, that water management districts' main focus must be conserving water, which means that we cannot water our lawns, we can't do this and we can't do that," Lynn says. "And that is all happening at the same time that the cost of water that we pay to our cities and counties is going up constantly. So if that is all true, and that is all happening and we know it, then there is something contradictory about allowing companies to come in and start extracting our water and selling it for a profit."
Just one day before Jefferson County approved its landmark Aquifer Protection Ordinance, Lynn introduced Senate Bill 216, the Moratorium on Permits/Consumptive Use of Water for Commercial Profit. A first of its kind in the nation, the legislation seeks to address what Lynn describes as mixed messages from the state's water management districts, which issue dire warnings of water shortages for the public while simultaneously approving permits to private entities that allow the extraction of millions of gallons from the Florida aquifer every day.
Lynn says she regularly hears from constituents about water issues; many of the counties she represents have been warned for years that it will be necessary for them to find alternative sources for water.
"In Marion County, when I first started representing that area, they were told that the state was going to be coming in and taking their water, spring water and so forth, and using it for other counties," she says. "Now Marion County is being told they'll have to find alternative sources of water. Putnam County, which as the Rodman Dam there, they're being told they will be short of water and they'll have to get it from somewhere. Volusia County is being told they'll have to find alternative sources, such as the St. Johns [River] or desalination, and are looking at a variety of ways to get water. It's everywhere throughout the state."
Lynn says her bill would stop cities, counties and water management district from being pressured into approving permits.
Tommy Thompson, a founding member of Friends of the Wacissa and a history teacher at Deer Lake Middle School in Tallahassee, says that despite the low probability of Lynn's bill surviving the legislative session, he is confident such measures are incremental steps toward substantive change to the relationship between the state and bottled water.
"Drinking bottled water I hope one day will be looked upon like smoking in a restaurant. I've written Sen. Lynn and put myself at her disposal," Thompson says, "but considering the political climate in Florida right now I can't imagine that bill going forward. What is really important is one step at a time, because when people read in the newspaper about this 10-year moratorium, it puts this in their consciousness. Though I think that the bill will be defeated, the bigger effort will be won later when we get people to quit buying bottled water and use public facilities to make our water palatable for everybody."
"Drinking bottled water I hope one day will be looked upon like smoking in a restaurant," says Thompson.
In addition to seeking a moratorium on consumptive use permits, Lynn has filed legislation designed to implement a surcharge on bottled water purchased in containers smaller than one gallon. She insists S.B. 118 is not designed to hinder the sale of packaged water products, but to provide a source of funding for environmental cleanup in a climate of steep budget cuts and shifting priorities.
"This is not to stop us from buying bottled water; it's simply to say that those bottles are causing all kinds of damage to the foliage, the fauna, the fish and wildlife," Lynn says.
"I'm not an extreme environmentalist," Lynn continues, "but there's been no money to clean up the springs, no money to clean up the St. Johns River, and that is the river we're being told to use for drinking water. The St. Johns is in desperate need of cleanup. This surcharge would be a way of providing dollars for environmental cleanup, and we're not funding it in any other way."
"Here in the U.S. we're so lucky," says Kristin Urquiza, director of the Think Outside the Bottle campaign at Corporate Accountability International. "We have near universal access to clean, safe drinking water through the establishment of our public water systems, but unfortunately we're moving backwards, we're not prioritizing reinvesting in those systems. We have a $23 billion annual funding gap between what our water systems get and what they need. Corporations like Nestlé are actually staking their future business practices on the failure of our public water system."
Urquiza describes a leaked presentation made in Geneva last year by Nestlé Waters North America CEO Kim Jeffery, who described a situation in which public water systems are in decline and expected to fail within the next 50 years. Nestlé is positioning itself to profit from such a scenario.
"Sen. Lynn is leading the way with this particular moratorium," says Urquiza. "We've seen a couple of examples of legislators thinking about passing through legislation ending spending on bottled water, but as far as being out there on the front lines, it has really been individuals fighting tooth and nail."
Wildlife and Habitat
Federal report highlights need to restore gulf ecosystem Five coastal states are determined to clean up the damaged Gulf of Mexico ecosystem after last year's oil spill highlighted how decades of contamination and deterioration had placed a backbone of the U.S. economy at risk of ruin, according to a federal report released Wednesday.
The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force's preliminary report pinpointed challenges, priorities and strategies for the five states — Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama — working with the backing of several federal agencies to restore and preserve the Gulf Coast. The task force was established by President Barack Obama after BP's catastrophic oil spill last year.
"One of the results of all the meetings is a real sense of urgency," EPA chief Lisa Jackson told the Associated Press. "Person after person came in and said 'we're losing the gulf.' None of it is irreversible, but the longer we wait, the harder it will be."
The task force provided AP a copy of its executive summary before the preliminary report's official release. A public comment period will last until late October, and a final report will be presented to Obama in December.
The task force laid out four goals requiring immediate attention: restoring and conserving habitat, restoring water quality, replenishing and protecting coastal and marine resources and enhancing community resilience.
The committee also has asked Congress, which has yet to commit funding to restoration efforts, to dedicate "significant portions" of penalties from the oil spill to the recovery efforts. Members also are asking Congress to create a permanent council to oversee, coordinate and manage the restoration.
The Gulf of Mexico has been in a slow, persistent state of decline for nearly a century, harmed by upstream efforts to make rivers more accessible to ship traffic and prevent Mississippi River flooding. Fertilizers used in Midwest farming also flowed downstream filling the gulf with harmful nutrients that have created a large "dead zone" where there is so little oxygen nearly nothing can survive.
The report says restoring the natural flow of the river, which would allow sediment to flow downstream and strengthen and prevent the erosion of barrier islands and wetlands, is critical. The sediment — nutrient-filled sand and rock that flow from rivers and streams into the ocean — constitute the structural foundation of the gulf's ecosystem.
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Offshore and Ocean
Shark fin ban With support from hundreds of Sea Turtle Restoration Project members, a bill to ban the possession or sale of shark fins in California was signed into law today by Governor Jerry Brown.
The work to pass AB 376 involved cooperative efforts all year and included local, national, and international support. California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Guam have now all passed laws banning shark fins, creating a virtual blockade against the trade of shark fins along the entire U.S. West Coast out into the Pacific Ocean.
Oyster beds thriving in St. Lucie and Loxahatchee estuaries The more than 30 acres of oyster beds planted in Martin and Palm Beach counties with the help of a $4 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant are now thriving and reproducing on their own.
Martin County Water Quality Chief Gary Roderick says several organizations overseeing the estuary, including the South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Wildlife Research Institute, have lauded the success of the newly planted oysters.
"They told us the recruitment was very successful," he said. "They said the reefs have the highest densities since monitoring records have been kept."
The Martin County Oyster Reef restoration project was one of only four projects in Florida to be paid for by the NOAA grant. Only 50 similar projects nationwide received funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was designed to put unemployed Americans back to work. Cleaning up the St. Lucie Estuary is one of the primary goals of the Indian River Lagoon South component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
The local project provided more than 100 temporary jobs to area workers, who planted 10 clusters of oyster patch reefs in the St. Lucie Estuary between the Roosevelt Bridge and Sewall's Point between 2009 and 2010. They were aided by dozens of volunteers, who helped plant another six acres of oyster beds near the Stuart River Walk.
Workers also planted six acres in Palm Beach County's Loxahatchee Estuary, and oyster reproduction on the manmade reefs in both estuaries has surpassed that of natural reefs. Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society based on Hutchinson Island, says his organization has partnered with Martin County to measure the number of oysters per square meter in the newly planted areas.
"It's improved on the manmade reef conditions versus the natural reef conditions," Perry explained. "In the normal (natural) case, there are about 200-250 oysters per square meter. In the St. Lucie Estuary, It looks to be upwards of 300; in the Loxahatchee, they have had about 400 or 500 per square meter."
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U.S. Sanctions on Icelandic whaling fall short Last month, President Obama took important steps to censure Iceland for its illegal whaling activities, but failed to impose tough economic sanctions against the nation, as NRDC has strongly advocated. More than 104,000 BioGems Defenders have written to the President urging him to sanction those Icelandic seafood companies with direct ties to the whaling industry.
While the President failed to impose more hard-hitting sanctions, he directed federal agencies to take diplomatic action to pressure Iceland to end commercial whaling and authorized the State Department to tie American cooperation in Arctic projects to the Icelandic government changing its whaling policy.
The agencies are required to report back to the President in six months or if Iceland resumes whaling before then, so there is a possibility that stronger sanctions could still be issued. We'll continue to keep you updated on Iceland's whaling activities and the Obama Administration's response.
Energy
Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Work on Controversial Keystone XL Pipeline The hotly contested Keystone XL pipeline hasn't been approved for construction, but federal officials don't seem to care; they've allowed the pipeline company to mow down 100 miles of native prairie grasslands in Nebraska to clear the way -- before any public hearings were held on whether Keystone XL should move forward at all.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth filed a lawsuit in federal court in Omaha Wednesday to halt that work. Specifically, we're challenging decisions by the State Department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow work to begin before a decision's been made on the pipeline or the public hearings, which look like little more than a sham at this point.
If approved, TransCanada's 1,700-mile pipeline would carry up to 35 million gallons of oil a day from tar sands in Canada to refineries in Texas. Not only will this project add fuel to the global climate crisis, but the pipeline will cut across Nebraska's legendary Sandhills, hundreds of rivers and streams, and the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water for millions of people. TransCanada's existing pipeline, called Keystone 1, has reportedly leaked 14 times since it started operating in June 2010.
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Florida Energy Summit Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has announced plans for the 2011 Florida Energy Summit, which will be held October 26 through October 28 in Orlando. Commissioner Putnam made the announcement during a visit to the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa, where he explored the research and development of energy technologies to advance the production of biomass, hydrogen, fuel cell and solar energy.
"The Florida Energy Summit will advance the expansion of the production of renewable energy in Florida by bringing together leaders in energy development, agriculture production, government, academic research, technology and finance," said Commissioner Putnam. "By taking a more comprehensive look at prospective energy resources, we will gain a better understanding of Florida's energy potential to not only capture, but also capitalize on the rich resources available."
The Florida Energy Summit, a three-day conference hosted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS) at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, will bring bright minds from across the state and around the nation to discuss the latest advancements in energy conservation and the future of renewable energy in Florida.
Concern Grows Over Plan to Drill for Oil Near Florida Keys The news that the Spanish oil giant, Repsol, intends to begin exploratory drilling in the waters directly north of Cuba, has set off a chorus of criticism in Cuba's neighbor to the north: the United States.
Repsol, which has a presence in more than 35 countries, has announced that an immense, semi-submersible oil rig constructed by the Italian company Saipem, is currently speeding its way from Singapore to the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba, with a goal of beginning exploratory drilling sometime in December.
With analysts believing that Cuba's coastal waters may contain up to 20 billion barrels of oil, Repsol -- which also drilled offshore in Cuba in 2004 -- is set to partner with Norway's Statoil and India's ONGC in the drilling of a pair of wells as per an agreement with the Cuban government.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, with memories throughout the region still fresh with images of the April 2010 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf Of Mexico, there has been an outcry at Repsol's plans.
The Deepwater Horizon incident killed 11 workers and loosed a gusher of oil that leaked an estimated 53,000 barrels a day into the Gulf for three months, fouling beaches in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and killing fish and wildlife.
Following a 17-month investigation, a report last month on the disaster issued by the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement leveled withering criticism at well owner and operator BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and cementing operator Halliburton Co.
"From the Deepwater Horizon incident, we have seen clearly that deepwater offshore drilling is inherently risky," says Dr. Susan D. Shaw, director of the Maine-based Marine Environmental Research Institute. "Even in U.S. waters with the resources, infrastructure and equipment that we have, we watched a massive failure on many counts."
In a rare moment of bipartisanship in the rancorous U.S. political landscape, a Sept. 28 letter to Repsol by 34 members of the U.S. Congress -- including the Cuban-born Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz -- wrote that the "oil drilling scheme endangers the environment, and enriches the Cuban tyranny" and urged the company to "walk away from the project."
The U.S. maintains a trade embargo with Cuba, and Cuban-Americans make up a powerful voting bloc in the state of Florida, which counts for 27 electoral votes in the U.S.'s Electoral College system.
Political considerations aside, however, it is the patch of sea where Repsol proposes to work that has caused the most concern.
The location of the proposed drilling is only 65 miles from the Marquesas Keys, an uninhabited group of islands near Key West, in an area of strong 4-6 mile per hour currents that come from the Gulf of Mexico, shoot through the Florida Straits and then churn northwards up the Atlantic Coast of the continental U.S.
A wide swath of protected areas could be threatened, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary -- which spans some 2,800-square-nautical-miles and includes important repositories of coral reefs, seagrass and 1,600 miles of mangrove shoreline -- and Biscayne National Park, an area that contains the beginning of the third-largest coral reef in the world and mangrove areas along its shore. The million-plus acre Everglades National Park -- a subtropical wilderness that has famously been described as a "river of grass" -- is also nearby.
"It's such an ecologically rich area that any oil in the marine environment could seriously impact the entire ecosystem," asserts Daniel O. Suman, professor of marine affairs and policy at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Repsol's safety record could best be described as mixed.
In February 2008, a spill by the company let free an estimated 100 barrels of crude near the 2.4 million-acre Yasuni National Park in Ecuador. The park, home to populations of jaguars, harpy eagles and other fauna, is also the ancestral home of the Huaorani people, the region's native inhabitants. This was followed by another spill in Ecuador in February 2009. In December 2010, a Repsol petrol platform in Nigeria's Ebro Delta region spilled 180,000 liters of crude into the ocean off that country's coast.
On its website, Repsol -- which did not respond to requests for comment -- states that the drilling equipment to be used "complies with all the technical requirements and all the limitations established by the US administration for drilling operations in Cuba."
Residents of the Florida Keys -- one of the more beguiling corners of the United States with its vistas of blue-green ocean water and endless sky -- remain apprehensive.
"We're very concerned," says Key West mayor Craig Cates. "And because of the embargo (with Cuba) we can't even send any equipment over if anything starts leaking. We just have to wait until it gets into our waters. "
Land Conservation
Nearly 14,000 acres of protected land removed from consideration for sale by state Nearly14,000 acres of land that the state was reviewing for possible sale this year have been removed from consideration because of its conservation value, according to a report issued Friday.
The report, from the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Management Services, could help define the emerging debate over the Florida Forever land-buying program. Program critics say Florida owns too much land and should sell some, but environmentalists say they're concerned the state could sell off prime conservation land.
Florida has purchased more than 2.4 million acres since 1990 under Florida Forever and its predecessor program, Preservation 2000, which began in 1990.
The report sent Friday to Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders is the first of its kind in Florida, said Clay Smallwood, director of DEP's Division of State Lands. SB 1516 in 2010 required DEP and DMS to inventory land and buildings for possible sale.
DEP and DMS in March issued an interim report that identified 24,554 acres that could be sold, including 22,363 acres that was under review. Another 2,191 acres in March was actively being marketed or was under contract.
The report issued Friday identified 10,053 acres that could be sold, including 8,375 acres still being reviewed and another 1,678 acres being marketed or under contract. That means 13,988 acres were removed from the review list since March.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other agencies identified more than 9,440 acres that were on the review list that had conservation value, including possible additions to the Rotenberger and Holey Land wildlife management areas. Another 4,450 acres that were taken off could be transferred to the state's five water management districts.
Most of the 13,988 acres taken of the list had not been purchased under any conservation program nor were being managed by any state agency.
The state sold 18 parcels last year, traded two and gave away one. In return, the state received $851,324 and 186 acres valued at $5 million.
None of the land sold and none of the 1,678 acres now up for sale were purchased by the state for conservation, Smallwood said.
The sale of any conservation land must be approved by the governor and Cabinet and the state Acquisition and Restoration Council, he said. Before that happens, state agencies and universities are offered the opportunity to take over managing the property.
"There is a lot of thought and process in this and a lot of science and opportunity for formal input," he said. "This (report) formalizes it."
As for those who may think the state should sell more land, Smallwood said the state is just beginning its review by looking primarily at lands that were not being managed by any agency.
Existing managed landholdings will be reviewed in subsequent years, and more land could wind up on the review list, he said.
"We should make sure to question that all past purchases were on target, on task," he said. "If not we need to see how to correct that."
Redwoods vs. Wineries One of Northern California's redwood forests is in danger of being sacrificed to wine grapes and high-end housing. Two wineries are proposing to clear-cut a total of nearly 2,000 acres of redwood trees and Douglas firs to plant vast new vineyards and erect a high-end housing development to boot.
Turning forest into vineyards is arguably even worse than clear-cutting alone -- because tree loss with vineyards is permanent. Redwoods-to-vineyard conversions increase greenhouse gas emissions and harm stream flows, water quality and habitat for imperiled wildlife, including endangered salmon and steelhead trout.
Air Quality
Cities Speaking Up for Clean Air -- Will Yours Be Next? Albany, N.Y. this week became the first city to join the Center for Biological Diversity's new Clean Air Cities campaign by passing a resolution in support of the Clean Air Act and reducing greenhouse gas pollution. Less than two weeks after the launch of our national campaign, resolutions urging federal action on climate change and pollution cuts are already moving forward across the country, from Richmond, Calif. to Seattle, Wash. Will your city be next? We need your help to make it happen. Center staffers stand ready to support you, because this work is more urgent than ever.
Not only is the global climate crisis deepening every day, but the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to vote on legislation that would gut the Clean Air Act. These bills would prevent the EPA from moving ahead with long-overdue efforts to reduce air pollution such as mercury and other toxic metals, as well as smog and soot from industrial boilers, solid-waste incinerators and cement plants. We need our cities to stand up to big polluters and stand up for the Clean Air Act.
Please take a minute to check out CleanAirCities.org and send the supplied cover letter and draft resolution to your city officials. We have step-by-step instructions on how to do it and need your help to get cities in all 50 states to take action. Not sure who to contact? Email Rose Braz, our climate campaign director.
House votes to delay cement pollution rules To the dismay of environmentalists and the delight of Florida's cement makers, the U.S. House voted on Thursday to delay air-quality standards designed to remove mercury and other pollution from the skies and waters.
Hardy Johnson of Parkland had lobbied hard for the bill on behalf of Titan America, which runs a cement plant in north Miami-Dade County, the biggest in Florida. Earthjustice and other environmental groups warn that this plant and others across the country are putting dangerous amounts of mercury into the air, which then sinks into the water, creating a health hazard.
Hardy Johnson Republicans pushed the bill through the House, on a vote of 262 to 161, as part of a campaign to roll back or stall EPA regulations that they say stifle business. South Florida Congressman Allen West co-sponsored the bill.
Johnson told lawmakers that the EPA standards, if fully enforced, would cost 100,000 jobs nationwide, saddle cement makers with $3.4 billion of costs and add another burden to Florida's beleaguered construction industry.
Johnson acknowledged that he faces "a challenge" in the Senate, which is unlikely to pass a companion bill.
The issue is especially important to Florida, strapped by a 10.7 percent unemployment rate and home to lots of health-conscious residents, many with breathing problems.
The bill would delay enforcement for at least 15 months, which Johnson called a "time out" but environmentalists said would amount to suspending the air standards indefinitely.
"If they change those standards, you will see an increase in asthma, particularly in younger people," said Doug Young, president of South Florida Audubon. "These standards were set up this way for a reason. You go backward and it starts reversing everything."
Miscellaneous
DEP celebrates improvements to Tallahassee- St. Marks The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Division of Recreation and Parks, Office of Greenways and Trails (OGT) celebrated the reopening of the Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail today. DEP held a special grand reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of a resurfacing and widening project and to invite community members and visitors to take advantage of these improvements.
Designated as a National Recreation Trail, this 16-mile multi-use trail was Florida's first paved rail-trail. The Trail was originally built with an 8-foot wide surface, but after 20 years of service, OGT widened the Trail to 12 feet to meet current state and national standards. It also resurfaced the Trail to address wear and tear and safety issues. Today's ribbon cutting marks the Trail's return to full service as a key recreational and economic resource for the region.
"Today we celebrated not only the Trail's return to full service, but also the recreational value and economic significance of Florida's trails and greenways," said Florida Park Service Director Donald Forgione. "Trails are so much more than a corridor of pavement. They enhance communities, promote tourism and connect people to the local natural and cultural resources."
Florida Park Service Director Donald Forgione was the keynote speaker at today's event, while the Chief of the Office of Greenways and Trails, Jim Wood, served as the emcee for the morning's festivities. In addition, Kerri Post, Senior Marketing Director for Visit Tallahassee, spoke about the benefits of the trail to local tourism and Harry Reed, Executive Director for the Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency, discussed the benefits of the Trail as an important component in the non-motorized element of the Regional Mobility Plan and the developing Capital City to the Sea Loop.
Susan Matthews, Supervisor of National Forests in Florida with the U.S. Forest Service, also joined the program to highlight partnerships and new properties, including land that connects the Munson Hills off-road bike trail to the North Trailhead of the St. Marks Trail. Representatives from the Capital City Cyclists and the Southern Trailriders Association also shared accolades and appreciation for the improvements. The event culminated with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and light refreshments provided by the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation, Inc.
October is Florida Greenways and Trails Month Have you ever wished that you could have seen Florida back when it was primarily small rural towns and communities with dirt roads, abundant forests and wild animals? Of course, you can't go back in time, but the next best thing is actually right outside your back door.
Throughout Florida, there are thousands of miles of trails comprised of diverse landscapes that offer a glimpse into the Florida of yesteryear. And they may be even better now than a few decades ago, because the trails are well marked and well maintained. There are now also numerous ways to travel across the various terrains – back then, travel was mostly by foot or by hoof. Now you can still choose hiking or horseback riding, but in addition, bicycling or rollerblading just add to the adventure of going on, up, over, across and through some of those same trails.
Florida's state parks, along with its greenways and trails system, lead to just about every type of outdoor activity imaginable. Whether you'd rather be camping, fishing, swimming, paddling or simply observing wildlife, there's a trail for that. And yes, the wild animals are still out there, but luckily these days you probably won't find it necessary to protect yourself from them. Then there are the waterfalls and springs, rivers and creeks, or oceans and lakes at the end of the trail. How about winding up at a fishing museum or Second Seminole War battlefield, an ancient archaeological site or a lush garden nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Matanzas River?
Florida's parks and trails offer outlets for weddings and family reunions as well, a place to relax and for friends to meet and socialize, or a place where you can go to achieve your fitness goals. Yes, Florida has grown, but our parks and trails enable us to take pleasure in some of the same beauty and untamed nature that previous generations enjoyed – and then some.
It Came Out of the Dark In the five years since it was discovered, a frightening fungus has killed more than a million bats in North America; is there anything we can do to help the besieged flying mammals?
It was first discovered about 40 miles outside of Albany, New York, in 2006, when a spelunker photographed hibernating bats with a powdery white substance covering their muzzles. Today, just five years later, white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed more than a million bats of six species and spread north to Canada and as far south as Tennessee and North Carolina. In a few years, biologists fear this disease, caused by a cold-loving fungus called Geomyces destructans, could reach the Pacific Coast. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) calls it the "worst wildlife health crisis in memory.
"This fungus came out of the dark," says Paul Cryan, a bat ecologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Fort Collins Science Center in Colorado. "It is unlike any other skin pathogen that we know about." Most skin infections in mammals, such as athlete's foot, affect only dead areas of the skin and rarely are life threatening. But WNS is different. "It invades and destroys living skin tissues in hibernating bats," he adds.
In some locations, mortality in bat colonies has reached 95 percent. And since more than half of the 46 bat species found in the United States and Canada hibernate, primarily in caves or abandoned mines, they are susceptible to WNS. This includes Indiana bats, gray bats and Virginia and Ozark big-eared bats, which are all included on the U.S. Endangered Species List.
Despite its name, white-nose syndrome seems primarily to attack a bat's wings. The infected wings tear easily, lose elasticity and often end up looking like "crumpled tissue paper," says Cryan. "Healthy wings are very important to bats," he explains, not just for flying but also during hibernation. Bats are especially susceptible to dehydration throughout the long winter, and their wings help them maintain proper water balance. When WNS penetrates a wing, Cryan notes, the fungus is "basically poking holes in the bucket," causing water to leak out. He and his colleagues believe extreme thirst eventually rouses the bats from their winter torpor, and they leave their cave to find water. This depletes the fat stores the animals depend on to get through the cold months. Most of them perish before spring.
"It's almost impossible to overestimate the consequences of white-nose syndrome to these animals and to the environment," says Nina Fascione, executive director of Bat Conservation International (BCI) Bats are primary predators of night-flying insects and are known to eat mosquitoes. They also eat many agricultural pests, particularly those that attack corn and cotton crops. But despite the benefits they provide for people, "bats have had a hard time of it over the years," adds Fascione. "They've been victims of myth and superstition, and have long been killed by misinformed people. Sometimes, bats have even been dynamited in caves. Today they are threatened by loss of habitat, wind turbines and climate change. White-nose syndrome is one more horrible thing."
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