Author name: bruce

The Environmental Regulation Commission on Tuesday will consider changes to regulations dealing with “biosolids.” That’s the term used to describe the waste from sewage treatment plants, also called sewage sludge. Spreading biosolids or sewage sludge on land has raised health and safety concerns in some counties. The National Academy of Sciences says the use of […]

State planners say it would take 268 years of population growth to use up the new home lots that already are allowed in Tallahassee and Leon County. In DeSoto and Jackson counties, it would take even longer: DeSoto would require 328 years of growth and Jackson County would require 996 years. Despite — or perhaps

Florida CFO Alex Sink says her department’s efforts to reduce the use of paper and printing have saved state taxpayers $1 million since 2007. Sink, whose elected position places her in charge of the state Department of Financial Services, today announced a legislative proposal to require electronic payments from some vendors instead of processing paper

Representatives of stores and packaging industries slammed the Department of Environmental Protection today for a draft report’s recommendation to tax and then ban plastic and paper bags in Florida. DEP posted the draft report Oct. 15, then withdrew it two days later after criticism. Still, industry representatives said today they disagreed with the recommended tax

Following an uproar last month over a draft proposal to ban plastic and paper shopping bags, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday holds another public workshop on whether to regulate bags. DEP last month withdrew a draft report that recommended taxing bags by up to 25 cents each and then banning them by

Bald Point State Park, purchased by the state under the Florida Forever predecessor program. Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet today approved a resolution issuing $250 million in bonds for buying conservation lands, representing the last money approved by the Legislature for the program. Florida Forever program is the largest land-buying program in the nation,

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle today said he will approve a legal settlement that calls for the federal government to set specific water quality standards for nutrients in Florida — a move that industry groups and Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson have opposed. Florida now prohibits excessive nitrogen and phosphorus that cause an imbalance of

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today backed off a proposal to ban the sale of raw oysters from Gulf states during summer months by 2011. The federal agency instead says it plans to study the issue and work with industry to develop a new timetable for possibly requiring the treatment of raw oysters. The

Virginia Wetherell, left, speaks to reporters while Colleen Castille waits to speak. Both are former Florida DEP secretaries. Opponents of federal water quality standards for nutrients in Florida waterways raised their level of opposition today, unveiling a Web site and two former state environmental chiefs who are on their side. Scientists say nutrients from a