Only one project–the 4,200-acre Flagler County Blueway–made the list of the state Florida Forever priorities for preservation this year, and at a low ranking–with little to no money in the state fund anyway.
Environment & Water
Flagler Whacks Proposed Speed Zones on Intracoastal as Manatee Advocates Protest
Tuesday’s public hearing was the latest step in months of wrangles between Flagler County and the Fish and Wildlife Commission over manatee-protecting speed zones on about a third of Flagler’s 18 miles of Intracoastal.
Hurricane Tallahassee: Environmentalists Survey Wreckage of 2011 Legislative Session
Developers gained more power in environmental disputes, state regulation of development was scaled back, the Department of Community Affairs is all but history as the Florida Legislature diminished the state’s growth management role in favor of development.
How Slashing Water Management Districts’ Budget 25% Endangers Our Way of Life
Allan Milledge, a former water management district chairman, asks: Do you want to jeopardize protection of our rivers, lakes, springs, and wetlands and the protection of our water supply to save an average less than $20 dollars per household per year?
BP Oil Spill Aftermath: “Spillionaire” Profiteers of Mismanagement’s Gulf Spoils
How the BP oil spill has made profiteers rich from BP’s $16 billion in clean-up spending while hiding the results of the cleanup, because BP, not the federal government, is in charge.
Disaster Ready? 5 Nuclear Reactors in Florida, 3 Of Them Within 180 Miles of Palm Coast
Progress Energy’s Crystal River Plant in west Florida is exactly the same distance–140 miles–separating Tokyo from the exploding Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Two reactors in Jensen Beach are 180 miles south.
In Your Backyard: Public Discussion on Where to Plunk Desalination Plant Wednesday
The $200 million, Palm Coast-led desalination project is holding an open house and public comment period on the project’s location beginning at 6 p.m. at the Whitney Laboratory in Marineland on March 9.
Gallery Whales: Rick Cannizzaro’s Giants Opening at Ocean Publishing
The third in a series of gallery shows that tie art to books (and a cause), Rick Cannizzaro’s “Ocean Giants” features 11 new paintings of whales, along with a few works from previous shows.
Premature Celebrations: Scott Silent on Park Closures. Legislature May Still Ax Some.
State parks such as Washington Oaks Gardens appear to have been spared closure in Gov. Rick Scott’s budget, but they’re far from safe as the Legislature begins to look for ways to close a $4 billion deficit.
From Flagler’s Washington Oaks, Fla. Audubon Launches Campaign to Save 53 State Parks
Some 65 people gathered at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park Monday to kick-off the campaign to save endangered parks, including two in Flagler County, as Gov. Rick Scott was pledging to cut $5 billion from the budget.