Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson testified before the U.S. Senate, Committee on Environment and Public Works this morning, highlighting the need for environmental funding in the President’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget.
State environmental groups are urging Gov. Rick Scott to veto what they call a “rhinoceros of a bill” that would allow state conservation lands to be used as breeding grounds for exotic wildlife.
A slew of national organizations and businesses are continuing to join together in urging EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to approve a set of Florida-specific water pollution standards drafted by the state, rather than set of rules promulgated by the federal government. In a letter sent to Jackson earlier this month, groups including The Fertilizer Institute argue that the state Department of Environmental Protection has “worked tirelessly” to develop its own water quality standards.
Environmental groups in states along the Gulf coast say the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Water Act by refusing to set state pollution standards to tackle the “dead zone” in the Gulf, a Massachusetts-sized area of incredibly low oxygen concentrations that can’t support aquatic life.
A once-controversial bill that would ban all five state water management districts from forcing cities and utilities to give away treated water has passed both the state House and Senate and is now on its way to the governor’s desk.
The U.S. Senate yesterday passed the Gulf RESTORE Act, a piece of legislation that would dedicate 80 percent of the Clean Water Act fines for the gulf oil disaster toward restoring the gulf ecosystem and economy.
Pembroke Pines city commissioners voted Wednesday night to rescind a contract to supply fire, emergency rescue services and water and sewage to a proposed federally-funded but privately-run immigration detention center.
The costs for Florida to switch to a more stringent set of water pollution standards are expected to exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates, according to a National Research Council report released yesterday.
Legislators have made another attempt in this year’s budget to award half a million dollars to a community health center in Apopka. The money would go toward providing specialized health care to a community experiencing a high rate of environmentally-caused illnesses.
On Monday, only hours before they were slated to go into effect, a federal judge postponed the implementation of a portion of a set of federally-mandated water rules. Those rules, which should have gone into effect today, have been delayed until July.
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