Author name: bruce

A state panel on Friday will consider removing 7,577 acres from the state conservation lands purchase list because the land has been developed or otherwise is no longer considered desirable. The Florida Forever conservation land-buying program is the largest in the nation but its funding has been sharply cut the last two years. Some Republican […]

The White House on Thursday gave more details about the pending visit of President Barack Obama and his family to Panama City Beach. The president and First Lady Michelle Obama will travel to Panama City Beach on Saturday and will join area small business owners, elected officials and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus for a roundtable

Florida officials on Tuesday welcomed the reopening of 5,144 square miles of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico that had been closed to fishing because of the BP oil spill. Federal waters are beyond state waters, which extend 10.36 miles into the Gulf. The re-opened area, which is almost the size of Connecticut, extends

Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, voted for SB 550 in a committee and on the Senate floor. But on Tuesday, he released a statement saying that during the upcoming special session he wants lawmakers to remove the bill’s requirement that septic tanks be inspected once every five years. The bill resulted from hearings held across the

Members of an oil spill task force appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist grilled a BP representative Monday about how claims would be paid from the $20 billion escrow account established by the company. BP reached an agreement with President Barack Obama in June to establish the account to pay claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon

A University of South Florida study on Thursday described the cleanup of oiled beaches on the Florida Panhandle and Alabama as “superficial” because oil remains buried within sand. The BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico pushed mats of oil onto Escambia beaches in early July and scattered reports of tar balls continue. On

The use of chemical dispersants against the oil spill was a benefit to Florida with no drawbacks, Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole told a House work group on Wednesday. House Speaker Larry Cretul appointed work groups last month to recommend possible legislation in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the Louisiana

Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole said Wednesday that his absence from the department since the oil spill and the temporary capping of the well on July 15 hastened his departure from the agency. Sole told Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday that he is leaving the department on Sept. 10 to seek other

BP and the Coast Guard on Wednesday took another big step towards permanently sealing an oil well that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from April 20 to July 15. Meanwhile, a federal science team issued a report suggesting that about one-fourth of the 205 million gallons that leaked from the well had been collected