2010 archive

With the Gulf oil spill threatening wildlife and coastal economies, federal officials are planning to relocate sea turtle hatchlings from the region to the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Petersburg Times reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity said it is filing a federal lawsuit against BP and the U.S. Coast Guard for burning sea […]

Speakers at the Clean Energy Congress called for requiring more renewable energy and a special legislative session to deal with energy issues. Against the backdrop of the ongoing Gulf oil spill, more than 120 business owners, environmental activists and government officials participated in the gathering in the Florida House chambers. The Florida Business Network for

Statewide environmental groups are objecting to the Suwannee River Water Management District’s designation of “surplus” lands that could be sold and say they will ask Gov. Charlie Crist to intervene. Florida has the largest conservation land-buying program in the nation with 2.4 million acres having been purchased since 1990. Some legislators say the state has

Many people along the Gulf coast are affected by the ongoing BP oil spill, says Linda McCue of Tallahassee. On Saturday, she joined hands with about 15 of them at a Wakulla County beach in a quiet demonstration in support of the coastal environment against the effects of oil drilling. Other “Hands Across the Sand”

A divided state panel on Thursday refused to set aside $2 million towards a Citrus County conservation purchase that had been tucked deep inside the new state budget. Instead the board of the Florida Communities Trust would only agree to a much a smaller amount for the project that had the backing of Sen. Charlie

Expect oil to continue washing ashore on Florida’s beaches between Escambia and Walton counties, Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole said Thursday. The state was expected to mobilize heavy equipment Thursday to clean up the beaches. But research by the University of South Florida suggests that such efforts can’t clean up all of

“There really is a psychological cloud descending over the Panhandle. And frankly that is beginning to affect the rest of Florida.” George H. Sheldon, secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, June 23, 2010

Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole is asking NOAA to scale back the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico that are closed to fishing. On Wednesday, there were 78,597 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico closed to fishing. That’s an area larger than Florida and 34 other states but it represents

Darryl Willis, a new media new face for BP in its response to the ongoing Gulf oil spill, says he doesn’t consider himself a star — or a potential new target of the company’s critics. Willis, who oversees BP’s claims process on the Gulf coast, spoke Wednesday in Tallahassee to the BP claims working group

Some of the heaviest oil yet washed ashore today in Pensacola Beach where Gov. Charlie Crist and President Obama visited last week, according to news reports “It’s pretty ugly. There’s no question about it,” Gov. Charlie Crist, who arrived at the beach expecting to see tar balls, but not pools of sticky goo, said, according