Author name: bruce

Critics of Amendment 4 – which will be on the 2010 ballot – on Tuesday released a report concluding that the measure could cost the state hundreds of thousands of jobs and cause a steady decline in residents’ quality of living. The amendment, placed on the ballot by Florida Hometown Democracy Inc., would require voter […]

Manatees float around a swimming platform at Wakulla Springs State Park on Jan. 2 More than 100 manatees have been found dead since Jan. 1 and state wildlife officials say the extreme cold weather earlier this month was to blame for most of the deaths. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking anyone

A rally for Florida springs protection to be held at the Capitol on Feb. 16, the Florida Wildlife Federation announced Monday. Springs across the state are become choked with weeds and algae as nitrogen has increased in groundwater flowing from the springs. Sources of nitrogen include septic tanks, stormwater runoff, sewage treatment plants, livestock farms

To download a larger map, click here. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday established a new hourly nitrogen dioxide standard and proposed additional monitoring requirements for the pollutant. Only Cook County, Illinois is now projected to be in violation of the new hourly standard of 100 parts per billion. But the EPA will step

Gov. Charlie Crist today included $50 million for the Florida Forever land-buying program and $50 million for Everglades restoration in a $2.1-billion fiscal year 2010-11 environmental budget request. Announced by Crist during a press conference in Naples, the budget request was welcomed by environmental groups who were disappointed last year when Florida Forever received no

By the News Service of FloridaAs Gov. Charlie Crist continues to try to navigate a long-standing water dispute with Georgia and Alabama, a federal appeals court has ruled that Georgia can move forward with an appeal. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a move by Florida and Alabama to halt Georgia’s effort to

A Florida Department of Environmental Protection official on Wednesday warned a Senate panel that waiting to protect Florida’s springs could cost more in the long run. The Select Committee on Florida’s Inland Waters is working on consensus legislation to protect springs, said Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs and committee chairman. Springs across the state have

The U.S. Department of Interior is proposing to ban the import of Burmese pythons and eight other snakes that it says pose a threat to the Everglades ecosystem. Exotic snakes became a news sensation last July after a pet Burmese python smothered and killed a two-year-old girl in the Sumter County home where the snake

A House committee’s budget exercise includes proposed new money for Florida Forever but the land-buying program may still face an uphill battle to get funded for the 2010-11 fiscal year. Florida Forever – which had received $300 million a year in cash or bonding authority since 1990 – had its funding suspended in the current

SB 142 by Sen. Carey Baker, R-Mount Dora, would reverse the Legislature’s elimination last year of a requirement that water-management district boards vote to approve water-use permits.Last year, SB 2080, co-sponsored by Baker, prohibited homeowners associations from banning “Florida-friendly” landscaping in yards. The bill was supported by environmental groups until it was amended on the