New 2012: "Review of EPA’s Economic Analysis of Final Water Quality
Standards for Nutrients for Lakes and Flowing Waters in Florida" preprint AVAILABLE NOW
2010 Progress
Report on Everglades Restoration preprint AVAILABLE NOW
THE
EVERGLADES NEWS - continually updated from the web.
Only a few selected press headlines shown above.
EVERGLADES PROJECTS in THE NEWS - locate
them here :
Click if the project location has a LINK (for more
details) If a POP-UP appears, click IT (anywhere) for
removing it before you can see another one.
OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING
The Gulf oil disaster does not directly
concern the Everglades - let's keep
focused.
MARINE OIL SPILL
CLICK photo for a satellite view of early spill
extent, also see OIL SPILL page
VIDEOS - professional, easy and brief
:
Many more VIDEOS on
different aspects of the Everglades - their challenges and
ISSUES - are posted in a special section of this
web-site. Click HERE to get to the video section
and spend as much time watching as you care and can afford -
it is definitely worth it !
Kissimmee
River- Restoration project: The
US Army Corps of Engineers recently backfilled draining canal
and restored meandering old river flow. Marshes now filter the
water feeding into Lake Okeecho- bee and provide wildlife
habitat.
Tamiami Trail
has a section that blocks water to
the Everglades (NP). After protracted debates, a bridge
project has been initiated (Dec,4, 2009) to lift the road and
let water through to feed the Everglades.
The Everglades
- a National Geographic video
showing the beauty and unique nature of the River of Grass.
Over the last century, the Everglades wetland was drained to
less than 1/2 of its original size.
Agricultural
Pollution - a clip from the PBS
series: It is mainly the surplus nitrogen and phosphorus
threat from fertlizers that is oozing from the fields into the
surface and even underground waters.
The Everglades
Foundation's video is wonderfully narrated by Harrison
Ford. It shows the majestic Everglades and, as typical for
many NGOs, the thrust toward restoring this unique ecosystem
essential for the environment and people alike.
10. Invasive plants and animals. 9. Global climate change. 8. Degradation of marine habitats. 7. Air pollution. 6. Unsustainable agriculture. 5. Threat of disease. 4. Freshwater quality and quantity. 3. Habitat loss, fragment'n, and degradation. 2. Human overpopulation. 1. Apathy. »
Read more - -
Florida agricultural interests could soon learn if their state can wrest control of nutrient loading standards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As things now stand, EPA’s rule on the standards could go into effect in March 2012.
“In April of this year the governor authorized the department to ask EPA to exit the state and turn this back over to Florida,” says Drew Bartlett, Florida Department of Agriculture director of Environmental Assessment and Restoration. Could EPA be persuaded to cede Florida to Floridians ? »
Read more
Water author speaks at CF
Ocala.com, Oct.5, 2011
»MORE -
EvergladesHUB.com
“If we Southerners knew as much about how our forbearers altered rivers and wetlands as we do about the Civil War, we'd have great appreciation for the natural waters that are left", the "Water Author" Cynthia Barnett told the audience at CF.
She said much of the problem is that governments and utilities reroute and dam water to create the illusion that there's water to spare, when in fact springs are disappearing and groundwater tables are shrinking.
“That is our illusion of water abundance,” she said.
» Read more
In your wildest dreams, you could barely imagine the corporate welfare that is flowing to some of Florida’s biggest air and water polluters. From 2009 and up to the present day, the federal government gives paper mills billions of dollars to do something that they have been doing for decades: burning “black liquor” in their boilers. Black liquor is a byproduct of their process. - -
We can’t afford to keep subsidizing big polluters who are not doing their part to protect and preserve the resources that are the economic lifeblood of our state. Don’t think that the federal government will come to our rescue – they are on board with the big polluters, too.
»
Read more
Next time I unwrap a candy bar, I'll think about sugar, free markets, the Florida Everglades and Monica Lewinsky.
Why ? Because although the sugar in that candy bar may be natural, its price is entirely artificial -- depending, as it does, on government trade barriers, price supports and subsidized water, as well as the fact that the sugar industry is paying only a fraction of the costs of cleaning up pollution in the Everglades.
Put simply, crony capitalism is alive and well in the sugar business.
"The sugar industry doesn't make its money from agriculture," - -
»Read more
With the FL state Dept. of Environmental Protection reverting to what critics once derisively called -
"Don't Expect Protection", Floridians who want clean rivers, lakes, streams and estuaries must depend on the federal courts.
The US-EPA was not enforcing the Clean Water Act in Florida and it is now forced by the court to do so. - -
Florida Independent: May 2, 2011
»
Read more The use of sulfate in agricultural areas near the Florida Everglades is creating an enormous mercury problem — with seemingly no end in sight.
The Everglades are often thought of as the state’s natural gem, protected from the hustle and bustle of nearby Fort Lauderdale and Miami. - - It has been demonstrated that increasing MeHg occurrence there is driven by the sulfate contamination problem. To lower highly toxic MeHg is to reduce the amount of sulfate entering the ecosystem - mainly due to discharges from the Everglades Agricultural Area. »
Read more - -
Protecting Water State's resource
Ocala.com, Feb.21, 2010
»
Read more
In 2007 alone, industry dumped 1.16 million pounds of toxic chemicals into
Florida's waterways - as Bush administration weakened the
Clean Water Act in 2001, making Florida a polluted paradise.
More alarming, the risk extends to the precious Floridan
aquifer, a major source of fresh water. Based on court order,
the federal EPA is in a hurry now to reverse this situation.
Ethically and legally, we do not allow someone to throw a
hamburger wrapper out a car window. Why, then, do public
officials allow industry to discharge toxic litter that kills
? Stopping polluters and wetland developers brings
immeasurable dividends. No state will benefit more from the
Clean Water Restoration Act than Florida - the Water State. - -
»
Read more
Turning wetlands into rock mines
»
An ISSUE -
Environmental Fight Brewing :
For 25 cents a ton, rockmining interests, including cement exporting,
are digging into the Everglades. Looking for new opportunities
when the soil gets exhausted and land falls cheap, limestone
quarries are a big business that destroys wetlands and
disturbs freshwater supplying aquifers - - » Read more
Everglades: wisdom in an artificial swamp
True/Slant: Feb. 18, 2010
»
Read more - -
- - four rectangular ponds - a miniature of the Everglades. These are
man-made structures, open-air laboratories. Nowhere else in
the world is the wetland so monitored, so analyzed on such a
large scale for its water-cleansing performance. ARM Loxahatchee Nat. Wildlife Refuge and
its test wetlands were designed to help find the best and most efficient ways to repair decades of
damage imposed on the Everglades by other man-made structures
– like canals and flood gates – installed to provide more dry
land for farmers, ranchers, developers and the towns that have
steadily encroached - -
Since $$$ seem to be the predominant driving force in our brains,
ECONOMICS of environmental systems and 'environmental services' invariably represent the essential 'bottom line' of our decision making -
"Conducting the cost analysis with increased attention to
careful assessment of rule differences, stakeholder engagement, and uncertainty
analysis, might
not have been possible within the EPA's budget and time constraints. Any critique of
the existing EPA cost analysis should consider this."
EvergladesHUB WEB-SITE
MAP - and POLLS :
The Everglades-HUB
is a service provided by Prof. B. Volesky which is intended as an
information hub for the worldwide science community and
public at large. Information concerning Florida
Everglades is widely scattered and this web-site concentrates
and streamlines the most important aspects of it. Access to
information on the pages of The EvergladesHUB is free, and if
you have information which you think would be of interest
please contact http://www.evergladeshub.com/cont.htm.
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