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Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 #1389 |
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Daily Eco-Voice Emailed Digest of news, views and events.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
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The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has a long history monitoring and protecting our water, including the first landmark Naples Bay study conducted in 1979. Water quality monitoring and research are still large parts of the work we do.
Throughout the five-county region, we work with planners and decision-makers to ensure they are educated on the that stringent water management tools and best practices are in place, utilized and enforced across the region, and that they base their decisions on best-available science.
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You know I'm a palm, but wwhich one?
Click Mark Renz photo to find out
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| Attorney General Pam Bondi | Credit: pambondi.com The state is waiting for a response from BP after Attorney General Pam Bondi informed the energy giant that Floridians are not being offered a fair share of the pending settlement out of the 2010 spill. In a letter to John Lynch Jr., the U.S. general counsel for BP America Inc., Bondi expressed concerns this past week that individuals and businesses in Florida are not being equally considered for compensation as with their counterparts in other Gulf Coast states. "Our review of the approximately 2,000 pages of settlement documents confirmed that while the entire states of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi were included in the proposed settlement, claimants in much of Florida were excluded, without explanation," Bondi wrote on Tuesday. "A joint filing boasts that the proposed settlement provides "tourism businesses even 220 miles from the Louisiana coast ... over double their documented damages." However, Floridians "just a few miles from the coast" are not mentioned, she noted. John Lucas, press secretary for the attorney general's office, responded Friday that the office has yet to receive a response to the letter. Contacted Friday, representatives from BP did not respond to requests for comment.
Bondi noted that the proposed $7.8 billion settlement only provides relief within 30 of Florida's 67 counties, yet the impact of the deadly spill was recorded in all but one of Florida's counties through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. "The proposed settlement does not cover individuals and business claims in the remaining (36) counties but the GCCF made more than $100 million in payments to claimants from those counties," Bondi wrote. "The GCCF payments are in addition to millions of dollars in payments BP made during the few months in 2010 when it operated a claims process." While the spill only directly impacted a portion of the Panhandle in Florida, the entire state economically suffered as the national perception was that oil from the spill covered beaches across the Sunshine State, Chris Thompson, Visit Florida president, said Tuesday. "People literally thought there was oil on every beach in Florida," Thompson said. "Six-to-8 percent of the people thought there was oil on Jacksonville Beach." In April, Bondi had filed a statement of interest asking the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, to review the pending settlement in the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In her letter to Lynch, Bondi suggested that BP should establish several claims offices in Florida: "Although many Floridians may choose to handle their claims over the phone or the Internet, others would benefit from physical claims locations staffed with helpful representatives who would review the paperwork," Bondi wrote. "I am disappointed that BP has no plans to establish a physical presence in Florida." Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com
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South Florida Water Management District
GOVERNING BOARD MEETING
This meeting is open to the public -webcast
August 9, 2012 - 9:00 AM
District Headquarters - B-1 Auditorium
3301 Gun Club Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
Workshop on Wednesday in Auditorium at 1:00 PM, CEPP workshop after the Governing Board meeting on Thursday to discuss in more detail the results of the CEPP Northern Estuaries modeling. Building 2, 3rd Floor South, Biscayne Bay Conference Room, SFWMD headquarters, West Palm Beach. 2:30 PM-4:00 PM |
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FCC Organizations and Members,
The Department of Environmental Protection is hosting workshops in the month of August as part of its Consumptive Use Permitting Consolidation Project. The current workshops are located here http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/waterpolicy/rule.htm
To date, the Department is focusing on areas related to the procedures for water use permitting seeking more uniformity throughout the state. In the future, they indicate that they will also add clarification of some of the permitting criteria, which could include key areas involving natural resource protection. You can find all this explained on the same website referenced above.
In the meantime, the FCC urges you to support the work that Audubon Florida and others are doing to emphasize obligatory conservation measures and public participation in the Consumptive Use Permitting program by urging the following changes at the workshops and in writing:
A. Conservation. The state rule should include specific requirements for water efficiency in all permits for one million gallons per day or more. For public water utilities this could include conservation pricing, appliance standards and replacement (?) and restrictions on watering. For the agricultural sector, this could include mandatory use of the most efficient irrigation methods and proven best management practices.
B. Public Notice and Participation. Public notice should be given by electronic means for the issuance of new or renewal permits that are for quantities of more than one million gallons per day. After notice is given, the public should have opportunity to comment for the following 15 days. For permits of this size, all decisions should take place at a noticed meeting of the full Governing Board.
Vicki Tschinkel |
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Cool 'Nulle
Mark Renz photo
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Climate Change Study Ties Recent Heat Waves To Global Warming
WASHINGTON - The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can't be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist.
The research by a man often called the "godfather of global warming" says that the likelihood of such temperatures occurring from the 1950s through the 1980s was rarer than 1 in 300. Now, the odds are closer to 1 in 10, according to the study by NASA scientist James Hansen. He says that statistically what's happening is not random or normal, but pure and simple climate change.
"This is not some scientific theory. We are now experiencing scientific fact," Hansen told The Associated Press in an interview.
Hansen is a scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and a professor at Columbia University. ....
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Clyde Butcher's New Magazine - Swamp Walks
September 1-3, 2012
Annual Labor Day Weekend Meet Clyde
Big Cypress Gallery: Book Signing, New Images and guided Swamp Walks
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Water issues - animal wastes . |
Welcome to the USACE public website regarding the Areawide EIS on phosphate mining within the Central Florida Phosphate District (CFPD). Click HERE for ... |
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Sometimes the only thing we have control over is our attitude Whether we look at storms in fear of the future or as an opportunity to grow is up to us Mark Renz photo and words
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ARTHUR R. MARSHALL LOXAHATCHEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Long-Time Friend Hal Wiedemann Passes
Long-time volunteer and Friend of the Refuge Hal Wiedemann passed away on Friday, July 20. Hal started volunteering here in 1982, becoming one of our longest serving volunteers and one of the most influential.He became the universally-acknowledged expert in the flora and fauna of the Refuge, and spent nearly 3 decades sharing that knowledge with visitors and volunteers alike.Refuge Ranger Lew Hecker remembers spending two years training under Hal to be a trail guide, and wishes he could remember half of what Hal taught him (and Lew's quite the expert himself).Audubon Society of the Everglades President Cynthia Plockelman calls him one of the "stalwarts" of the Friends organization.Florida Master Naturalist and Refuge Education Consultant Marta Isaacson calls him a "legend" at the Refuge for his knowledge and dedication.
On November 17 of last year Hal was able to visit for the first time the Research Library he so generously donated to the Refuge.The library now resides in the Education Office in the Everglades Program Team Building.Hal's daughter Gail LaMotte and son Roger brought him to the dedication ceremony.Marta remembers how Hal's eyes lit up when he saw his books neatly arranged on the shelves with color-coded labels for the various categories and each number preceded by a W (for Wiedemann Library).She and the other volunteers who worked on the library were pleased to show Hal that his work and his books will have a lasting, living legacy at the Refuge.Here are some photos from that day:
http://loxahatchee.smugmug.com/Events/Other/Hal-Wiedemann-Library/20369910_8vXHD2#!i=1611607852&k=qGph27t
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ACES and Ecosystem Markets 2012
www.conference.ifas.ufl.edu/aces
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The goals of the Central Everglades Planning Project (CEPP) that will help restore habitat for an array of wildlife include: - Connecting freshwater from Lake Okeechobee with the Southern Everglades,
- Delivering additional freshwater flows to Everglades National Park,
- Relieving unwanted water releases to the Northern Estuaries,
- And preventing water in the Everglades from being lost to tide through seepage.
While a new initiative, the components are existing projects that will now be planned cohesively and implemented together. This coordinated planning effort will result in an overall cost savings, while the shortened time frame will expedite progress and help reverse thecontinued decline of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Project components of CEPP include water storage and treatment in the Everglades Agricultural Area and the Decompartmentalization (Decomp) of Water Conservation Area (WCA) 3A. Long known as the "heart"of Everglades restoration, Decomp is an absolutely critical project that will break down barriers to natural sheetflow in a large remaining segment of the Everglades just north of Everglades National Park. WCA 3 is not simply a gateway to move water from north to south, but a huge expanse of remaining Everglades that contains valuable ridge and slough and tree island habitat. Relief for WCA 3 cannot come soon enough, as it is critical habitat for the severely endangered Everglade Snail Kite. These birds are not currently nesting in the area because of degradation resulting from our inability to move water more naturally in and out of the system. |
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The Calusa Blueway Festival is three months away, so let the countdown begin! We'll be bringing you a weekend full of canoeing, kayaking, SUPing, demos, speakers, live music, fishing tournaments, evening socials and much more! But, before the festival even begins, be sure to check in with all of our social media channels-Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and FourSquare. There you will find the latest festival news, paddling tips and trends and most exciting of a
ll, you will have the opportunity to participate in our Facebook contests for the chance to win some prizes, including overnight stays, guided trips and outdoor gear.
Check out the new look of our festival Facebook page now. Later this month, visit our picture boards on Pintrest. We'll know soon where our check-in locations for FourSquare. And don't forget about our call for photos. We want to see your pictures of kayaks, canoes and SUPs with Toyota cars and trucks. Email them to bclayton@leegov.com. |
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Wetlands International will press for adoption of resolutions at the Ramsar Conference of Parties that call upon countries to take action on some of the most pressing challenges facing wetlands, such as energy production and pesticide use in rice fields. As an International Organisation Partner (IOP) we will also urge for a climate change resolution that commits Contracting Parties to take up the newly available incentives to invest in the protection, restoration and sustainable use of their peatlands, as part of their strategies to address climate change.
Wetlands on the frontline of development pressures
If Ramsar Contracting Parties fail to take sufficient action, the pressures created by energy development, climate change and expanding agricultural production will continue to accelerate the loss and degradation of wetlands, with increasingly serious impacts on biodiversity and human well-being.
"The Ramsar Convention was created to promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands as a contribution to sustainable development. It needs now to increase its relevance to the issues of the day in which wetlands are in the frontline", says Jane Madgwick, CEO of Wetlands International. Key resolutions
Therefore, we urge governments to strengthen and adopt key resolutions addressing these issues in Bucharest:
- Draft Resolution 10 (energy) preventing increased greenhouse gas emissions from energy production - in particular biofuels - in wetlands.
- Draft Resolution 14 (climate change) stimulating uptake of the new incentives created under the Kyoto Protocol and opportunities under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA), to restore and better manage peatlands.
- Draft Resolution 15 (agriculture & pesticides) to reduce the overuse of pesticides in rice paddy ecosystems.
- Draft Resolution 20 (responsible investment in land) to ensure wetlands and their underlying freshwater are protected from the growing impacts of foreign-based land investment.
Delivering a global update of numbers and trends of waterbird populations
During the COP, we will also launch the Fifth Edition of the Waterbird Population Estimates, in the form of a summary report and online resource, which sets the global standard in presenting estimates of the numbers and trends of waterbird populations throughout the world.
This fifth edition provides a comprehensive update on information last provided in 2006 and summarises waterbird population data on over 800 waterbird species. It provides the authoritative source for the 1% threshold used to identify Ramsar's Wetlands of International Importance. Follow us online
Contact: Paul Brotherton Tel: +31 (0) 6 8473 8947
Wetlands International and the Ramsar Convention was instrumental in establishing the convention in 1971 and has played a key guiding and implementing role as an International Organisation Partner for the past 40 years. Together with partners and contracting parties (national governments), we provide crucial information on wetlands and waterbirds. We remain on the cutting edge of management approaches and research and provide information on Ramsar sites through our Ramsar Site Information Service. We have also been instrumental in amplifying the health, livelihoods and poverty, as well as climate dimensions involved in wetland conservation within the convention. |
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Darwin knows when I am pointing
my camera at a subject
and tries to understand
what fascinates me
Sometimes the shell belongs
to a turtle with a small head
and a long neck
that ducks in and out of its home
Other times he waits
and no turtle emerges
During these times my fascination
shifts from snail shell
to loyal fur ball
Mark Renz photo art & words
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Organize a 2012 River Cleanup
Organizing a river cleanup is a great way to reconnect your family, friends and neighbors with the streams and rivers in your backyard. The first steps to organizing a river cleanup are selecting a date and location, and registering your cleanup online.
When you register, your cleanup will appear on the Find a Cleanup map, allowing volunteers to find you. We provide FREE trash bags to all organizers who register their event four weeks in advance.
Organizing a river cleanup is a rewarding experience. You'll be satisfied in knowing that you are playing a role in improving your hometown waters.
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Sincerely,
Eco-Voice Moderator
Eco-Voice, Inc.
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