Misc

A Senate agriculture bill was amended Monday to remove a prohibition against local governments adopting stricter fertilizer amendments than an adopted state standard. SB 382 would have established criteria for local governments to meet if they wanted stricter ordinances than the state “model” fertilizer ordinance adopted by the Legislature in 2009. A late-filed amendment (140990) […]

Legislation to allow drilling in state waters won’t be voted on by the House this year, Rep. Dean Cannon on Friday told the House Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning. The council chaired by Cannon, R-Winter Park, held 10 hearings and workshops last winter and spring towards developing legislation to lift the state’s

Northeast Florida Blueway Project, St. Johns County City and county officials, ranchers, conservationists and a Florida National Guard representative on Friday pleaded for their favorite land-buying projects and for support for the state’s Florida Forever program. The statewide land-buying program is the nation’s largest but it’s in jeopardy. Florida Forever received no money from the

Images from report by the Collins Center for Public Policy report on oil drilling to the Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida. To download the report, click here. A draft proposed House council bill would open Florida’s waters to oil drilling but would ban permanent rigs and platforms above the water’s surface within six miles

A House panel is expected Thursday to receive a draft committee bill that would lift the ban on drilling for oil and gas in state waters. The House Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning has been holding hearings on whether to allow drilling in state waters within 10.4 miles of the coast. Rep.

A bill that would allow utilities to charge customers in advance for renewable energy projects cleared a Senate committee Wednesday. SB 1186 received backing from several business groups and firms that said the bill would quickly spur the growth of solar and other renewable energy technologies in Florida. The Senate Committee on Communications, Energy and

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is using federal dollars to help some schools in north Florida get greener. DEP announced Thursday that it had completed a $250,000 federal grant project that allowed for 199 buses in 10 rural school districts to be refitted with devices that reduce harmful tailpipe emissions. The diesel oxidation catalysts

The new group opposing Amendment 4, the “Florida Hometown Democracy” amendment to the Florida Constitution, raised nearly $1 million in its first quarter of existence with most of its contributions coming from business and development interests. Voters statewide in November will be asked to decide whether the state will require referendums for changing local comprehensive

An amendment that would have removed language in state law directing the Florida Department of Health to consider requiring advanced septic tank systems in the Wekiva River basin was withdrawn Tuesday. The DOH last year proposed a rule that would have required homeowners in the area north of Orlando to upgrade their septic tanks before

A petroleum tanks cleanup bill in the House has been amended to extend the deadline for tank site owners to replace older tanks that could leak. In 1990, Gov. Bob Martinez and the Cabinet directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to require that petroleum tanks above ground and underground have secondary containment by 2010