Author name: bruce

Florida’s cleanup program for protecting groundwater from leaking underground tanks at gas stations will effectively end under a budget agreement between House and Senate leaders, Sen. Carey Baker said today. Florida collects an 80 cents-per-barrel tax on petroleum imported into the state to help pay for cleaning up soil and groundwater that poses a threat […]

The Senate voted 37-1 today to approve SB 1154, which requires investor-owned utilities produce at least 20 percent of their electricity from “clean” energy sources including nuclear. The bill, supported by Gov. Charlie Crist to address climate change, was a top priority of environmental groups but faces an uncertain future in the House where a

Sen. Lee Constantine’s effort to get his springs bill attached to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection bill (SB 2104) failed today by a 19-13 vote. SB 274 by Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, would regulate nitrogen releases to groundwater from farms, sewage treatment plants and septic tanks. Scientists say increasing nitrogen in groundwater fuels the growth

Supporters of the Florida Forever land-buying program say reports that the program is dead in fiscal year 2009-10 are premature. The state has purchased 2.4 million acres since 1990 under Florida Forever and a predecessor program, making it the largest conservation land-buying program in the nation and a top priority for environmental groups each year.

The House today adopted a growth-management bill after heated debate during which a Republican leader suggested he’d like Department of Community Affairs Secretary Tom Pelham to leave state government. The remark by Rep. Dave Murzin, R-Pensacola, followed a statement issued by Pelham yesterday against SB 360. DCA supported the bill as approved by the Senate,

The governor and Cabinet today approved its first priority purchase list for more than 54,000 acres of ranches and farmland under a program that’s designed to keep the property in private ownership while protecting it from development. The Rural and Family Lands Protection Act of 2001 established the program to purchase “conservation easements” that would

Gov. Charlie Crist said this morning that it’s “appropriate” that the Senate apparently won’t hear before the legislative session ends a House bill that would lift the ban on drilling for oil and gas within three miles of the coast. “While I believe that it’s worthwhile studying and looking into for energy independence for our

In a vote described by both sides in historic terms, the House today approved a bill that would allow oil drilling in state waters as close as three miles to the coastline. Supporters said the bill was needed to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. But opponents said drilling would put the state’s beach

By Bruce Ritchie Some environmentalists say their low expectations for the legislative session have been met. Heading into the final week of the session that began March 3, the prospects range from uncertain to bleak for Gov. Charlie Crist’s energy bills, conservation land-buying and for a Senate measure aimed at protecting Florida’s springs. But some

“Some people would like to think that (the world’s petroleum supply is limited). Estimates might show that. But that doesn’t mean that at all. We happen to worship a god who made it all out of nothing anyway. And if we ran out, I certainly believe he could make some more.” Rep. Charles Van Zant,