Water managers appeal to Gov. Scott: restore money for water protection

Twenty former governing board members of Florida’s water management districts are urging Gov. Rick Scott to reverse another round of pending budget cuts.

In a letter sent to Scott Monday, they urged the governor to “restore adequate funding’’ for the five regional agencies responsible for the water supply, flood control and many environmental protection projects, including Everglades restoration.

The Florida Legislature this year removed a year-old revenue cap that had slashed district budgets statewide by 30 percent, a move environmental groups had hoped would restore some of the lost funding. Instead, water district governing boards, who are appointed by the governor, have continued cutting back, rather than holding the line or raising property tax rates to previous levels.

Scott reappoints Batchelor-Robjohns to water management district board

Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday reappointed Anne "Sandy" Batchelor-Robjohns, 59, of Miami Beach, to the South Florida Water Management District. She had previously been appointed by former Gov. Charlie Crist to the post in 2010.

From the governor's office:

Environmental groups launch amendment drive to create enviro protection fund

A coalition of the state's top environmental organizations on Tuesday launched a petition drive to put an amendment on the November 2014 ballot that would guarantee a stable source of money for environmental protection.

The effort, organized by a group calling itself the Florida Water and Land Legacy Campaign, aims to end the years of eroding funding for environmental perservation and protection programs prompted by legislative budget cuts and shifts in priorities away from environmental protection.

Since 2009, legislators have cut funding for the state's Florida Forever program by 97.5 percent to $23 million for land management and ecological restoration, including the Everglades. This year, the Legislature reduced water protection and conservation funds dropped to $8.5 million.

“This will be the most significant vote in Florida for our environment in our lifetimes,” said Will Abberger, the campaign’s chair and the director of conservation finance for the Trust for Public Land in a statement. “We are launching a grassroots effort to let the people decide if clean water and natural land are a legacy we want to leave for our children and grandchildren – and generations to come.”
 

Lobbyist's access and DEP treatment raise questions about unusual handling of wetlands permit

To get a wetlands permit from a state water agency, the owners of the Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank hired engineers and a law firm. When that permit didn't give them what they wanted, they took an unusual step.

They hired Jacksonville lobbyist Edward "Ward" Blakely Jr. and took their case to the state Department of Environmental Protection — an agency headed by someone Blakely knew well: former Jacksonville business executive Herschel Vinyard.

But DEP Deputy Secretary Jeff Littlejohn says politics play no role in the agency's permitting process.

"We do not consider politics or public opinion in making permit decisions," he said. "We've got some really excellent science and policy people in the agency."

The way DEP has handled the Highlands Ranch permit already has been the subject of two inspector general investigations. The first, in June, cleared the agency's top wetlands expert, Connie Bersok, who had refused to approve the permit to build a wetlands mitigation bank. Her bosses had accused her of leaking damaging information about the project.

More from Craig Pittman here.

100-year future for South Florida, forecasters say: a chain of islands

The subject of global warming has become so politically unpalatable over the last few years that neither party mentions it much anymore.

A conference on climate change sponsored by Florida Atlantic University made it clear that ignoring the threat has done nothing to slow it down — particularly in South Florida, which has more people and property at risk by rising sea levels than any place in the country.

The two-day summit in Boca Raton, which wrapped up Friday, painted a bleak and water-logged picture for much of coastal Florida.

Under current projections, the Atlantic Ocean would swallow much of the Florida Keys in 100 years. Miami-Dade, in turn, would eventually replace them as a chain of islands on the highest parts of the coastal limestone ridge, bordered by the ocean on one side and an Everglades turned into a salt water bay on the other. Story by Curtis Morgan here.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/22/2864586/rising-seas-mean-shrinking-south.html#storylink=cpy

As oil rig drills off Cuba's coast, embargo could threaten safety

The 50-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba is getting in the way of safety when it comes to deepwater drilling in Cuban waters, an expert on the communist country’s offshore drilling activity said Thursday.

Lee Hunt, the former president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, warned that Cold War-era economic sanctions threaten not only Florida’s economy and environment but that of Cuba, too, in the event of a major disaster on the scale of 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The worst-case scenario is “state-sponsored chaos at a disaster site,” Hunt said during an event sponsored by the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank that advocates for a foreign policy based on human rights.

The U.S. Coast Guard has extensive response plans, as does the state of Florida. But Hunt said he would give prevention efforts an “F” grade. He likened the work to stocking body bags for a plane crash — but not training pilots to fly safely or to maintain aircraft properly.

Everglades settlement in the works between feds and state

Peace may finally be at hand in the decades-long Everglades dirty-water war.

Eight months after Gov. Rick Scott flew to Washington to extend a political olive branch and personally pitch Florida’s latest plan for stopping the flow of polluted farm, ranch and yard runoff into the Everglades, state and federal negotiators are on the verge of an accord expected to be hailed by both sides as a major milestone.

A settlement crafted with the goal of resolving two protracted and paralyzing federal lawsuits — one goes back almost a quarter century, the other eight years — could be soon finalized, possibly within the month, according to officials on both sides of the confidential negotiations.

The agreement would commit Florida to a significantly expanded slate of Everglades restoration projects pegged at an estimated $890 million. Still, that’s a considerably smaller price tag than a $1.5 billion plan drawn up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that a Miami federal judge has threatened to impose.

Most key technical issues — such as the size of additional artificial marshes used to scrub dirty, nutrient-laced storm runoff that has poisoned vast swaths of the Everglades — have been largely sorted out. But both sides cautioned the deal could still be delayed as negotiators work through the nuts and bolts of rolling out, implementing and enforcing a complex and likely controversial agreement.

Story by Curtis Morgan here.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/05/v-fullstory/2785647/settlement-close-in-glades-cleanup.html#storylink=cpy

Report finds financial shenanigans at, drum roll, USF Poly

Two top administrators at the University of South Florida Polytechnic are facing dismissal following an investigation into complaints about financial mismanagement at the Lakeland campus.

And the former leader of the school, Marshall Goodman, could soon be under investigation himself.

Those are among the recommendations made by USF officials who just completed a two-month ethics review at USF Poly. Not only did investigators confirm that USF Poly officials misused money, it revealed a dysfunctional world that one employee dubbed "Marshall Goodman's own playground."

Read more here as the story develops. 

-- Kim Wilmath, Tampa Bay Times

John DeGrove, Florida's father of growth management, dies

From 1000 Friends of Florida statement:

Dr. John DeGrove, “Father of Growth Management,” passes away

The Board and staff of 1000 Friends of Florida deeply regret the passing of one of its most eminent founders. A fifth generation Floridian, Dr. John DeGrove was born on May 4, 1924 in St. Augustine, growing up on what he described “one-sick-mule farm” in nearby Palm Valley. 

Democrats say budget shortchanges schools

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith, center, slammed the proposed budget on Wednesday during a press conference outside of the Capitol saying the spending plan shortchanges Florida's students.  [Scott Keeler, Times]

Democrats slammed the proposed budget on Wednesday, saying the spending plan shortchanges Florida's students.

"This budget, which is before the Legislature now, is an assault on education unlike anything we have seen in recent time," Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said.

Smith pointed out that the plan includes $300 million in cuts to higher education.

And while the budget boosts schools spending by $1 billion, it doesn't make up for the $1.3 billion in education cuts the previous year, he said.

Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, raised another issue: no construction and maintenance money for traditional public schools. Charter schools are set to receive $55 million.

"If we really want to make the state move forward, what we have to do is invest in the future," Gibbons said. "Investing in education is investing in our future."

Democrats were also critical of "pet projects," like the creation of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, a priority for outgoing Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander. 

Smith urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto the budget.

"If he means what he said, that he is the education governor, now is the time to prove it," Smith said.