FFCU Logo Header Photo
SWFL ENews:
Jun 28 / go to archive


BIG CYPRESS

Federal report faults Everglades oil rights buyout.
Editorial /Sun sentinal /June 16
Bottom Line: Taxpayers dodged a bullet in a deal that would have cost too much money ...

Special interests at work
Editorial /St Pete Times /June 14
Sometimes, the public wins. The Collier deal has been scrapped. ...

Strange tales included in new book
Chris Wadsworth /News Press /June 20
Among the most reliable of local sightings took place in 1971. A group of archaeologists was excavating an Indian mound in the Big Cypress swamp. In the middle of the night, a large beast with no neck, walking upright on two legs, came crashing into their camp. The men described the creature as nearly 8 feet tall with shaggy white fur. ...

Big Cypress deal par for Bush course
AJ Weldon /Sun Sentinal /June 20
If oil is found in any quantity, the destruction of the Everglades will follow and the taxpayers and the environmentalists will be stuck with the clean-up and restoration of whatever the oil men leave us while they enjoy themselves in far-off places like Kennebunkport, making more devious plans to strip Mother Nature of all that is sacred. ...

Quiet settlement ends 45 creosote spill lawsuits
Janine Zeitlin /Naples Daily News /June 17
The settlement means there will be no trials on the cases that the lawyer representing the plaintiffs once estimated could net a multimillion-dollar payout from Collier Enterprises and Collier Development Corp. ...

Panther Refuge opens to public
Carl Kelly /Marco Island Times /June 23
The Panther Refuge, located just north of I-75 on route 29, was established 16 years ago under the authority of the Endangered Species Act to protect the Florida panther and its habitat. Since that time the Refuge has been closed to the public except for occasional tours for persons specifically involved in support of the Refuge. ...

Big Cypress Oil Scammers Go Scot-free
Press Release /PEER /June 23
Under the deal, the Interior Department offered the Collier family, prominent supporters of both Bush brothers, more than twelve times the assessed value of its oil and gas holdings in the Big Cypress National Preserve, adjacent to the Florida Everglades. This hugely inflated buyout was announced in a May 2002 White House ceremony intended to burnish the environmental credentials of both Bushes. ...

A panther in Brevard? Purrrobably
Victoria Thompson /Florida Today /June 05
Ann Dodds and her neighbors Dean and Anne Ekonomou know there's a killer in the wooded lot behind Dodds' home off North Wickham Road, but there's little they can do except wait for help. ...

Supreme Court ruling could have impact in Collier
IM Stackel /Naples Daily News /June 24
"Like any very powerful tool, it will be as good as the person (wielding) it," said Forman, who represented Jesse Hardy in his fight to hold onto his Southern Golden Gate Estates home. ...

SOUTHWEST COAST

First Phase of Ave Maria gains approval
Dianna Smith /Naples Daily News /June 15
Tuesday's unanimous approval means they can continue with plans on 5,000 acres to build the first phase of Ave Maria the town and Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in more than 40 years. The project also will preserve 17,000 acres of habitat, including almost 10,000 acres that border the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. ...

Public Input Sought on design of Naples Bay water park
staff /Naples Daily News /June 26
Collier County is asking for the public's help in designing a new nature park at the headwaters to Naples Bay. The project, dubbed a water quality park, is planned for 50 acres near the northeast corner of Golden Gate Parkway and Goodlette-Frank Road. ...

County Developers need to help rock mining to succeed
Larry Hannan /Naples Daily News /June 27
Nancy Payton, a field representative for the Florida Wildlife Federation, said any increase in mining within Collier County is problematic. She rejects the idea that mining can be done on restricted lands such as the southern Estates in an environmentally sensitive way. ...

Miccosukees forced to give up land to Everglades restoration
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /May 27
Collier County Circuit Judge Ted Brousseau signed an order May 17 forcing the tribe to give up more than 800 acres it owns in the restoration area in exchange for $2.2 million from the state. The tribe's land was the last of some 19,000 parcels the DEP has been trying to acquire since 1983 across 55,000 acres of the failed subdivision. The land cost more than $111 million, according to state figur ...

County unveils plans for water quality park
Eric Staats /Naples Daily News /June 28
Collier County has never seen a park quite like this one. This park, proposed for the northeast corner of Goodlette-Frank Road and Golden Gate Parkway, would give both stormwater runoff and people a place to go, according to plans the county unveiled Monday. ...

Coastal waters made cloudy by recent string of heavy rains
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /June 21
Organic material from a recent algae bloom in the freshwater segments of Estero Bay tributaries seems to have washed out to the Gulf of Mexico, but local water quality experts are keeping an eye on coastal waters that have become murky and stained in recent days. ...

Fort Myers Beach officials float Estero Bay bridge plan
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /June 19
Building a bridge over Estero Bay has been called an environmental catastrophe by state wildlife agencies and biologists, but once again the idea has resurfaced as town of Fort Myers Beach officials continue to struggle with strangling traffic. ...

Rain endangering river
Pamela H Smith /News Press /June 14
The region isn't usually this wet so early in the rainy season, said Tommy Strowd, a program director with the South Florida Water Management District."I wouldn't say it's rare, but it's not real frequent," Strowd told reporters in a briefing Monday at the LaBelle Municipal Airport. "It's going to be a tough year for water management." ...

LAKE OKEECHOBEE

Lee officials say alternative routes for CR 951 just won't work
Jamie Henline /Naples Daily News /June 25
It would be impossible to get funds or permits for either of two alternative routes for County Road 951 proposed by residents upset with the county's proposed path, Lee County Department of Transportation officials said Friday. ...

Water Quality Key to Altering Bonita's Density
Jeremy Cox /Naples Daily News /June 24
Higher concentrations of nitrogen, lead and many other pollutants will discharge into the Imperial River if city officials allow more homes and businesses to sprout east of Interstate 75, according to a study released Thursday. ...

Nature Groups Want More Bear Protection
Mike Salinero /Tampa Bay /June 27
The Florida black bear, increasingly victimized by speeding cars and squeezed by diminishing habitat, needs federal protection, a host of conservation groups said last week. The Humane Society, Defenders of Wildlife, The Fund for Animals and Sierra Club gave 60-day notice last week that they intend to legally challenge a federal decision not to give the bear protection under the Endangered Species ...

Feds fish for ways to save red grouper
Byron Stout /The News Press /June 27
Federal officials with a controversial plan to save red grouper are finding themselves in a tough spot: how to enforce it without state help. ...

EVERGLADES RESTORATION

Deep-sea grouper off-limits
Tilde Herrera /Miami Herald /June 24
In a move to protect the grouper stock in the Gulf of Mexico, regulators on Thursday closed federal waters to commercial deep-water grouper fleets. ...

Water managers: Okeechobee releases must continue for flood control
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /June 15
State and federal agencies can't ignore flooding and water supply concerns, even if it's at the expense of once-productive estuaries like the Caloosahatchee River. ...

Lake's murky water might be drained into Caloosahatchee
Chad Gillis /Naples Daily News /June 14
"This isn't bad water quality, this is crippling water quality," Lee County Smart Growth Director Wayne Daltry said. "The sad thing is we're 10 years into the Everglades restoration and the lake is dead." ...

Angling opportunities going to waste
Susan Cocking /Miami Herald /June 19
Water managers say there isn't a whole lot they can do to stem the flow of dirty water out of the Everglades agricultural area, Lake Okeechobee and surrounding developments. With statewide water levels still high after last summer's four hurricanes and June rainfall at 300 percent above normal, around 500 cubic feet of water per second is pouring out of the Port Mayaca locks into the St. Lucie Riv ...

St. Lucie River faces a murky future
Tony Chatowsky /TCPalm /June 24
The final conclusion is that the St. Lucie Estuary is becoming a dead ecosystem. The fish are not coming in as they once did. The associated birds have decreased in significant numbers. The aquatic plants cannot grow. The oysters have died off. The water gets browner and siltier and high E coli bacteria counts are turning up. The St. Lucie River is becoming the deadest estuary of its size in Flori ...

Lagoon restoration money closer
Larry Lipman /Palm Beach Post /June 15
After years of delay, federal approval for the $1.2 billion Indian River Lagoon restoration project moved a step closer Monday when it was included a massive water projects bill. ...

OP: Everglades cleanup right on target
Colleen Castille /Orlando Sentinal /June 14
Recent media coverage about the Everglades continues to fuel myths and misinformation surrounding Florida's commitment to restoring the famed River of Grass. ...

Mayor Alvarez stops annexation by Florida City
Mc Nelly Torez /Sun Sentinal /June 14
A controversial vote by the Miami-Dade County Commission that would allow Florida City to annex over 1,700 acres of environmentally sensitive land has opened the door to a fierce battle over proposed development near the Everglades. ...

OP: Another silicon injection for the worn old beach
Fred Grimm /Miami Herald /June 16
This will be the county's 10th beach restoration project since 1970 -- the fourth headed by Higgins, our own version of Sisyphus, the Greek king forced for all eternity to push a boulder up a hill. ...

Questions emerge over affordability of planned biotech village
Andy Reid /Sun Sentinal /June 16
"This is exactly what we were afraid of when they stuck Scripps way out there," said Joanne Davis, spokeswoman of the development watchdog group 1,000 Friends of Florida. "It is the wrong place, just like Scripps." ...

ED: Indian River Lagoon plan gets boost
Editorial /Palm Beach POst /June 20
It sounds like a minor, bureaucratic victory: The $1.2 billion Indian River Lagoon restoration plan was included in a federal water projects bill last week. But U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Jupiter, is correct to call it "a huge breakthrough." ...

Some South Florida scientists claim they were fired for being outspoken
Neil Santaniello /Sun Sentinal /June 19
Andy Eller said he was just doing his U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service job -- protecting the endangered Florida panther from development -- when he was fired in 2004 for finding fault with the science his employer used to approve home and road construction through panther territory in southwest Florida. ...

Eavesdropping on frisky fish
Suzanne Wentley /TC Palm /June 18
Millions of finger-sized shrimp snapped their claws, creating a high-pitched crackle similar to frying bacon. Catfish wiggled their pectoral spines, emitting a weak whimper. Spotted seatrout, silver perch and toadfish vibrated their muscles in a loud, pulsing chorus. ...

Wildlife Federation suing feds over snail kites, panthers
staff /The News Press /June 17
The federal government faces two environmental lawsuits this week, one for destroying critical snail kite habitat with high water in Lake Okeechobee and another for skirting a judge's order regarding panthers earlier this spring. ...



© FGCU 2006. This is an official FGCU web page.
Florida Gulf Coast University is accredited by the
Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
(1866 Southern lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097; Telephone number 404-679-4501)
to award associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degrees.

Florida Gulf Coast University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.

Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd S., Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565
Contact the Webmaster