Former Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham will make two presentations at the University of Florida next week, both detailing efforts to conserve the state’s natural resources.
According to a recently released study by the Everglades Foundation, the agriculture industry is responsible for 76 percent of the phosphorus pollution entering the Everglades. But despite passage of a “Polluter Pays” amendment to the state Constitution in 1996, the ag industry isn’t paying for even half of the cost of phosphorus removal, leaving the balance of the burden on the shoulders of taxpayers.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee today passed H.R. 511, a bill that will add nine species of large constrictor snakes to the list of injurious species under the Lacey Act.
A bill aiming to ban the import or interstate trade of nine species of snakes (including Burmese pythons) is expected to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, would help combat Florida’s exotic snake problem.
House Republicans — including Florida GOP lawmakers Allen West, Vern Buchanan, David Rivera, Tom Rooney, Steve Southerland, and C.W. Bill Young — voted against a measure that would have prevented oil and gas exploration in the Great Lakes and the Florida Everglades.
The federal government today released a proposed $8.344 billion budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2013. Florida environmental groups applauded the announcement, arguing the money would help ensure that job-creating restoration projects (like some underway in the Everglades) will not come to a halt.
Despite the fact that a Senate budget draft distributed on Wednesday includes no money for either Everglades restoration or the Florida Forever program, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander says he is “seriously considering” matching the House’s line item for Everglades restoration.
The Broward Group of the Sierra Club today announced its opposition to the federal immigration detention center set to be built in the South Florida town of Southwest Ranches.
The Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday approved a South Florida Water Management District request for authorization to use temporary forward pumps to pull water from Lake Okeechobee lower than gravity-flow will allow, and now, the Corps has agreed to reduce that permit extension to one year only, in part to allow for a thorough analysis of the impacts of the pumps on the endangered Everglades snail kite. The announcement is an important one for the environmental group Audubon of Florida, which has long fought for the snail kite habitat.
Audubon of Florida is urging members of Congress to immediately approve the C-111 Spreader Canal Western project, a longtime priority for the environmental group.
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