Author name: bruce

The outlook for a Public Service Commission reform bill passing this legislative session doesn’t look good, Senate President Jeff Atwater said Thursday. And he added that passage of a renewable energy bill is in question. The 60-day legislative session ends Friday. SB 1034 would extend a ban on lobbying to top commission aides and provides […]

Oil could begin washing ashore on Florida Panhandle beaches as early as Monday, a federal forecast suggested Thursday. About 200,000 gallons of oil per day is leaking from an oil well under 5,000 feet of water off the Louisiana coast after an oil drilling rig exploded and sank last week. The slick appeared to be

Democrats on Thursday clamored for an end to talk about opening state waters to oil drilling in the wake of an ongoing spill off the Louisiana coast. U. S. Sen. Bill Nelson Thursday sent a letter to President Obama telling him that he’s filing legislation to block the expansions of offshore oil drilling announced by

A bill that would ban Burmese pythons and five other snake species along with Nile monitor lizards was approved Wednesday by the House. SB 318 by Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, now goes to the governor. The bill was introduced in response to media firestorm created last summer after a pet python strangled a 2-year-old girl

Oil spill location map provided by The Response Group Wednesday evening. Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday described as “very disturbing” an oil slick he viewed Tuesday on an aerial tour leaving from Alabama. The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank on April 22, causing a continuing leak of up to 200,000 gallons per day

A Senate water bill won approval on Wednesday from the House despite opposition from legislators from the Wekiva River area north of Orlando. SB 550 at one time had required that septic utilities be established statewide but the measure faced opposition from the Florida Home Builders Association. That requirement was dropped from the bill last

An oil spill off the Louisiana coast drew the scrutiny from Florida officials Tuesday as it appeared the slick was moving closer to Florida. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up and sank last week, causing 1,000 barrels (about 42,000 gallons) of oil per day to leak from the ocean floor. The Coast Guard said

A bill that allows utilities to charge customers separately for the cost of renewable energy passed the House on Tuesday. Supporters cited a Washington Economics Group study that said legislation similar to HB 7229 could produce up to 40,000 jobs in renewable energy industries. But opponents raised concerns about the cost to the economy of

PSC Commissioner David E. Klement The Senate on Thursday rejected two of Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointments to the Public Service Commission, widening the political divide between Crist and the Legislature’s Republican leadership. Saying he wanted “new blood” on the commission, Crist last year nominated David E. Klement, a former Bradenton newspaper editor, and Ben A.

Representatives of eleven environmental groups called on the House Monday to adopt legislation reauthorizing the state’s land planning agency. The Legislature in 2006 established a “sunset review” process for state agencies to determine whether a need for them exists. HB 7107 would reauthorize the Florida Department of Community Affairs but it has been stalled in