Misc

By BRUCE RITCHIE FLORIDAENVIRONMENTS.COM The Florida Cabinet will conduct a nationwide search for the Department of Environmental Protection secretary following the Senate’s refusal to confirm appointments during the 2015 legislative session. Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet on Tuesday voted to reappoin DEP Secretary Jon Steverson and Rick Swearingen as director of the Florida Department […]

By BRUCE RITCHIE FLORIDAPOLITICS.COM An official appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to oversee a lawsuit filed by Florida against Georgia over water use on Monday issued an order providing for confidential talks among the states. Ralph I. Lancaster, a Maine attorney who’s special master in the case, in a conference call also called the

By BRUCE RITCHIE FLORIDAENVIRONMENTS.COM Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel T. Vinyard Jr. told Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday that he is leaving the department on Dec. 1. Vinyard, who has lived in Tallahassee while commuting to his Jacksonville home on weekends since being appointed in 2011, was expected to leave following Scott’s re-election

By BRUCE RITCHIE FLORIDAENVIRONMENTS.COM A Florida election with environmental overtones saw Gov. Rick Scott re-elected Tuesday over Democrat Charlie Crist and a state constitutional amendment for conservation passing by a wide margin. Scott, who won election in 2010 with tea party backing and vetoed conservation lands spending in his first year of office, led by

By BRUCE RITCHIE FLORIDAENVIRONMENTS.COM Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed 94 bills into law including most of the notable environmental legislation that passed in the 2014 legislative session. The 2014 session overall was quiet, but only after controversial bills dealing with growth management (SB 372) and environmental regulation (HB 703) died in committees. Among the bills signed