Everglades

Jimmy Buffett playing for U.S. troops on the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in 2008

Water Quality Report: Did you know what Jimmy did for Florida's environment?

Tom Bayles

It's been one year since Jimmy Buffett died, and the environmentalist wrote in his will that his holdings need to be environmentally sound, forever

A lawsuit filed by whistleblower alleges that one of Florida’s most prominent, powerful and wealthy families – the Colliers – bamboozled the state of Florida into paying $30 million for a site near Everglades National Park while concealing the fact that it was contaminated with lethal hazardous waste.

Health

Federal suit alleges Collier family sold contaminated land to state

WGCU Staff

A lawsuit unsealed Thursday in a Florida federal court claims one of the state's most prominent and politically connected families — the Colliers — lied to state officials and covered up a hazardous waste site contaminated with lethal Creosote. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers, alleges claims by Sonja Eddings Brown — described as a longtime aide to family matriarch Parker Collier and a "whistleblower" — that the Colliers bamboozled the state of Florida into paying $30 million for a site near Everglades National Park while concealing the fact that it was contaminated with lethal hazardous waste.

Soon, the only thing traveling through the Port Mayaca Lock and Dam will be boats, as releases of water from Lake Okeechobee through Port Mayaca into the St. Lucie Canal will all but cease under the new management plan for distributing excess water from the lake

Environment

Moving how much water, where, when: A new guide for Lake O

Tom Bayles

The new plan to manage the water flow from Lake Okeechobee throughout the Everglades is making its final rounds among various higher-ups before expected approval in the fall.

Environment

DeSantis backs $1.5 billion in Everglades funding in budget

News Service of Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he will approve $1.5 billion directed towards Everglades cleanup that was included in the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, which he has not yet received.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a bill allocating $750 million for a revenue-sharing agreement on gambling proceeds with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and he detailed that much of the money is going to projects to repair parts of the environment and to prepare other parts for the effects of sea-level rise and other changes due to global warming while having said: "I am not in the pews of the church of global warming. Do put that label on me."

Environment

Water Quality Report: Global warming, or not, and the fine line DeSantis is walking

Tom Bayles

An important point for politicos on the entire spectrum, and we speak to them all, is how often DeSantis sends taxpayer dollars to the Everglades restoration, in this case $750 million a year

A postcard from 1910, picturing the dredge named the Everglade working to drain the Everglades, shows the activity that was the catalyst for many of today's problems involving the environmental health of the Caloosahtachee River

Environment

Water Quality Report: Concerns for the Caloosahatchee River created a century ago

Tom Bayles

Controversy surrounds the Army Corps’ decisions when to release how much water from Lake Okeechobee, slowly, quickly, during the wet season or dry

The Army Corps has closed floodgates like this one, shown open during the release of tens of billions of gallons of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee during the past six weeks, to allow the environment to recover; whether the gates will reopen will be decided later this week

Environment

Army Corps puts two-week hold on polluted Lake O water flowing into Caloosahatchee

Tom Bayles

The Army Corps of Engineers has stopped releasing 3.5 million gallons of water every day from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River for two weeks to allow the environment to recover

Unpopping the cork: This is one of two bridges built to raise several miles of Old Tamiami Trail, also known as U.S. 41, from ground level to atop a bridge some 20 feet above the water. By doing so, engineers are opening pathways for water through a roadway that acted essentially as a dam with two lanes on top for vehicles traveling from Naples to Miami; the mile or two under the bridges now allows the River of Grass to flow naturally to the south on its way to Florida Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, restoring many rare and important ecosystems along the way that have been parched for decades

Environment

Money earmarked for Everglades restoration sets one-year record

Tom Bayles

“The Everglades has not seen this type of funding at these levels, ever,” said Eric Eikenberg, chief executive of the Everglades Foundation. Eikenberg said that billion-dollar-plus annual funding will now be needed to get the job done

One of the residential developments held up by a U.S. district judge is Kingston, which will be located near this land by the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Environment

State seeks to speed up decision in wetlands permitting case

Jim Saunders/News Service of Florida

Florida is asking a federal judge to speed up a final ruling in a high-stakes case about permitting authority for projects that affect wetlands, as the state sets the stage for a likely appeal.U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss on Feb. 15 ruled that federal officials did not follow required steps in 2020 before transferring wetlands-related permitting authority from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the state. Moss vacated the shift but said the state and the federal government could seek a stay of his ruling. He also did not decide certain legal issues in the case.

Environment

Federal judge halts developments where panthers remain in the western Everglades

Tom Bayles

A U.S. district judge ruled that by putting Florida in charge of approving permits for projects that affect wetlands in the state, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Endangered Species Act.Washington, D.C.-based Judge Randolph Moss, in a 97-page decision, found that actions by federal officials did not follow the required steps in 2020 before shifting permitting authority to Florida.