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SWFL ENews:
Jun 13 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

A real Swampy deal
Edward T. Pound /News Wire /6/5
Some deals seem too good to pass up. In the spring of 2002, President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, unveiled a plan to prevent oil and gas exploration in a vast Everglades wildlife refuge. For $120 million, they announced, the Interior Department would acquire 400,000 acres of mineral rights held by a private company. Environmentalists, not usually big fans of the president, cheered ...

Florida Approves Oil Drilling Rights Buyout
Jerome Stockfisch /Tampa Tribune /6/2
Bush acknowledged the state ``got a pretty good deal, to be honest with you,'' for its $12.5 million. Lawyers said at one point, Coastal could have sought as much as $1 billion for the loss of its royalty interests. ...

Lord God! Good news
Leslie Peacock /ARkansas news /6/9
Somewhere in the Big Woods of Eastern Arkansas, a large but wary woodpecker tours its shady, swampy home. He’s indifferent to the “60 Minutes” helicopter that’s flying overhead, giving a TV cameraman what he thinks is a brief glimpse. Oblivious to the shock, tears, worry and thrill he’s caused, to the $35 million spent or pledged so far for the good of his neighborhood. ...

Senators lash out at Everglades deal
Edward Pound /News wire /6/8
At a hearing, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said a report prepared by Devaney's staff showed that Interior officials planned to overpay as much as $80 million for the 400,000 acres of mineral rights. Baucus said Interior also agreed to allow Collier Resources Co., a politically connected company in Naples, Fla., to seek a potentially lucrative tax write-off. He ref ...

Skunk Ape festival draws crowd of believers, skeptics
Tracy Miguel /Naples Daily News /June 12
Despite never having seen a skunk ape and unsure if she believed in it, Naples resident Sandy Long, 30, said they were having a good time. The festival, hosted by David Shealy, Collier County's skunk ape expert, attracted more than 30 believers and skeptics to a day of live music of Kimberly Lamp, of Copeland, food and a Ms. Skunk Ape contest, at the Trail Lakes Campground on Saturday. ...

Everglades' last resident loses home, still fighting
Jill Barton /Sun Sentinal /June 11
Hardy now promises to watch over the restoration plan that he believes robbed him of his land and make sure the state keeps its promise to turn the land back to the way it was. ...

Senators slam deal for mineral rights in Florida cypress preserve
Larry Lipman /Palm Beach Post /June 9
Using a range of values from $31 million to $140 million, the department agreed to pay Collier Resources $120 million. In addition, agency lawyers agreed to give the company tax breaks that Devaney said usually are considered mutually exclusive. ...

E-Bay seller justifies price of property in preserve
Brent Batten /Naples Daily News /June 7
One person who can perhaps foresee the future of the Fakahatchee Strand better than most is preserve manager Ralph Smith. He doesn't believe owners of inaccessible lots will ever see roads leading to their land, or services like water, sewer and electricity. ...

Naples woman's trek leads to finding of 'lost' orchid
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /June 4
An orchid species, not reported in the United States since 1905, was growing on the top of a moss-covered log floating in the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

Four inches of rainfall begins Southwest Florida's wet season
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /6/3
The wet season started off with record rains this week, prompting some water quality experts to predict algae blooms and other pollution problems throughout the summer months. ...

Volunteers to plant new marsh
Pamela Smith Hayford /News Press /June 2
This particular project is small — about a quarter of a football field. But organizers hope it will make a big impression. ...

Critics say reservoir won't help river if drought occurs
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /6/5
An Everglades restoration project designed to help remedy hydrological changes to the Caloosahatchee River may be incapable of providing enough water for the ailing river during drought conditions, critics say. One of eight projects put on a funding fast-track by the state, the Berry Groves reservoir, called the C-43 reservoir by Everglades restoration agencies, has been pitched as a way to ensure ...

Filtering marshes could help restore areas with faltering water quality
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /June 11
"This is supposed to be a swimming area," said Lee County Smart Growth Director Wayne Daltry. "It's supposed to be for children, but many times it gets closed (due to poor water quality)." Filter marshes are becoming more popular in Southwest Florida as land and water managers try to get a grip on faltering water quality and the rate of local urbanization. ...

Money woes ripple under surface of Gulf conference
Jeremy Cox and Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /June 11
An undercurrent of worry is rippling just below a surge of support for an unprecedented effort to save the Gulf of Mexico. State and federal officials found themselves on the defensive Friday as anxiety about money surfaced inside and outside of the auditorium at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on the last day of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance's inaugural summit. ...

Florida's population boom contributes to Gulf's poor health
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /June 10
The population is exploding along the coast, increasing the amount of nutrients that pour into rivers and streams that feed into the Gulf. The nutrients are fueling noxious algae blooms that kill thousands of fish and drive away tourists. Toxic chemicals such as mercury are showing up in fish, leading to consumption advisories. Some areas are devoid of marine life, including the mouth of the Missi ...

Editorial: Gulf of Mexico Alliance
Editorial /Naples Daily News /June 10
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance — a group of federal and Gulf states' officials — convened at Naples' Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve this past week and made all those points, and more. ...

Estero Bay group calls for tougher policies
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /June 6
Regulatory and permitting agencies overseeing development in the Estero Bay basin need more stringent policies if the bay and its polluted tributaries are going to thrive. That was the unanimous position from members of the Estero Bay Agency on Bay Management, a non-governmental group created in the settlement that allowed for the construction of Florida Gulf Coast University on environmentally se ...

Red tide can kill manatees after it passes, study says
Ludmilla Lelis /Orlando Sentinel /June 12
But researchers said last week that they have discovered that manatees can die from red tide poisoning long after its colorful blooms have subsided, because the algae accumulate on their primary food of sea grasses. ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Lake Okeechobee Cleaning May Take Year
staff /WESH /June 2
Water managers said it could be almost a year before they can lower Lake Okeechobee's coffee-colored, algae-covered waters to give its grasses and bottom plants a chance to regrow. ...

Rain adds to Lake O's 'deathbed' condition
Robert King /Palm Beach Post /June 2005
Three hurricanes, years of abnormally high water and decades of pollution have turned Lake Okeechobee into a coffee-colored, algae-coated stew in danger of losing some of its most popular game fish.And with every drop of rain, chances slip away for rescuing it any time soon."The hurricanes are an act of God," said Paul Gray, a biologist working for Audubon of Florida. "All the gunk they stirred up ...

Panel to study restoration of Lake Okeechobee
staff /Sun Sentinel /June 1
The South Florida Water Management District said Tuesday it would create a special committee to recommend steps to speed the recovery of ailing Lake Okeechobee. ...

Editorial: Haste makes waste for Lake Okeechobee, rivers
staff /TC Palm /June 7
Next time you think humans understand what they are doing, take a look at Lake Okeechobee and the water situation in South Florida. Water managers say they must lower the level of the lake from 14 feet to 12 feet to save it. Unfortunately, saving the lake means continuing to seriously damage to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and their estuaries. The 2-foot reduction correlates to more tha ...

Editorial: Ranchette, village plans have their drawbacks
staff /TC Palm /June 2005
Which would you rather have? About 25 miles of 20-acre homesites, stretching from Stuart to Lake Okeechobee? Or neat clusters of homes surrounded by agricultural land or other open space? ...

New plant to meet future needs
Pete Gawda /Okeechobee News /June 2005
One of the frequent complaints of Okeechobee Utility Authority (OUA) customers — unpleasant odor and taste in the drinking water caused by algal blooms on Lake Okeechobee — should be eliminated now.Roy Reno, supervisor of OUA's new $8 million surface water treatment plant, that has been online for about a month, predicted that the ozone treatment process used in the new plant should eliminate that ...

110 miles of waterfront, all yours for free!
Robert Hughes /Florida Today /June 2005
But, The Big O is a real bonanza for partakers of the outdoors, with a lakefront that is indeed free to all because there are only a couple tiny spots that aren't publicly owned. And, since almost all its visitors hit the water for its fish, the stunning levee that wraps the lake is quite empty and available. ...

R.I.P. Lake Okeechobee? That's the new prognosis
Editorial /Palm Beach Post /June 12
After years of pollution and high water, last season's hurricanes have pushed the ailing lake to the brink. The storms stirred up 50 years' accumulation of brown muck on the lake's bottom. That has left the water too cloudy for sunlight to reach marsh grasses that bass and other game fish need to thrive. Water that enters the lake still contains too many pollutants. ...

Big Sugar is culprit in Lake Okeechobee's ill state
Thom Rumberger /The News Press /June 9
Mr. Coker wants to convince us that the lake's illness is linked only to sediment runoff from agricultural farming just north of the lake. That's flat out incorrect. The lake's decline is the result of phosphorus-laden sediment that Big Sugar is in part responsible for putting there. Has Mr. Coker forgotten about Big Sugar's back pumping of Everglades lands into the lake during last year's hurrica ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Right state investment, wrong site choice
Editorial /Miami Herald /May 31
However, the Palm Beach County Commission's decision to locate the Scripps campus on the Mecca Farms land adjacent to the Everglades Agricultural Area and in the headwaters of the federally designated Wild and Scenic Loxahatchee River is a bad idea. It sends the wrong signal to Congress and will give congressional critics another reason to question just how committed Florida is to doing its share ...

St. Lucie Estuary oysters finally spawn
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /May 27
After weeks of waiting for healthy water conditions, hundreds of oysters finally have spawned in the St. Lucie Estuary, a local biologist said Thursday. ...

Judge: Phosphorus violates Everglades settlement
Curt Anderson /Naples Daily News /June 1
A federal judge ruled today that the state and federal governments have violated the 1992 Everglades cleanup settlement by allowing repeated excessive discharges of phosphorus into the vast wetlands and failing to meet a key construction deadline. ...

Developers have allies in their assault on wetlands
Carl Hiaasen /Miami Herald /June 1
In theory, wetlands are supposed to be protected under the Clean Water Act by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since the federal government is an equal partner with Florida in the much-hyped Everglades project, you might reasonably assume that the Corps would make at least a token effort at vigilance.But you'd be wrong. ...

Park chief gets a grip on job, Glades issues
Annie Tasker /Miami Herald /June 1
The National Park Service has officially appointed Dan Kimball as superintendent of Everglades National Park and the Dry Tortugas.Kimball had been the acting superintendent since January 2004. His duties won't change now that his position is permanent. ...

Spin machine busts gasket
Alan Farago /Orlando Sentinel /June 8
Uh-huh. The Everglades, where everything politics touches turns to opportunity! Huzzah! The Everglades will be saved, federal law or not! ...

Expect rain to stick around S. Florida for next several days
staff /Sun Sentinel /June 7
The wettest June on record brought 20.16 inches of rain in 2002 to West Palm Beach and 24.37 inches in 1992 to Fort Lauderdale, according to weather service data. ...

Win One, `Lose' One
staff /The Ledger /June 6
After more than half a century of political skulduggery and contentious litigation, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet finally made a deal that will put Florida's state-controlled waters off limits to oil drilling. ...

Palm Beach County No. 1 in state in agricultural production
Susan Salisbury /Palm Beach Post /June 8
Palm Beach County's agricultural acreage shrank by 5 percent in the last year, but the county remains the state's top agricultural producer. The county has 472,113 acres classified for agricultural use this year, compared with 495,404 acres in 2004, Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said Tuesday. That's a third of the county's 1.427 million acres. ...

We can build homes and protect environment
Gus Gil /Miami Herald /June 2005
Much of the land immediately beyond the current UDB has been farmed or otherwise used for decades. These are not wetlands, and none of the projects proposing to relocate the UDB will impact wetlands, encroach on Everglades National Park or jeopardize water supplies or Everglades' restoration. ...

New boss for our wild place
Kathleen Krog /Miami Herald /June 12
I'm a hydrologist by training. This park is in the midst of the largest ecosystem-restoration project in the history of the planet. There is no better place for me to be as the project moves forward. ...

Everglades restoration to top $600 million
Pamela Smith Hayford /The News Press /June 9
More than $600 million would be spent on restoring the Everglades under next year's budget of the local water management district. ...



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