Showing posts with label Everglades National Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Everglades National Park. Show all posts

Monday, April 3, 2017

Latest threat to Everglades National Park comes Tuesday in Tallahassee, via variance for FP&L. Honestly, must #SoFL always be a laughingstock?





So, I was minding my own business Monday afternoon working on some forthcoming blog posts of interest to South Florida, and especially residents of Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, when I received the email below from the South Florida Wildlands Association.
It goes without saying that it's an email that really should have been sent over the weekend,
given that a crucial vote will be taking place in Tallahassee tomorrow, but at this point, it is what it is.

I've added some helpful links that the folks at SFWA should have included below but didn't, 
just as they should have listed or had links to the the names of lobbyists and law firms 
pushing this legislation, so that everyone knows who the players are.
You know, for #transparency and all? 
But they didn't. :-(



If you ever needed a new example of the Florida Legislature being blind to the long-term 
interests of South Florida residents, and the rest of the state, please consider this as your
go-to case.

Ever see miles and miles of utility lines in postcards of scenic parts of U.S. National Parks 
in the West? Probably not. That's NOT by accident.
Honestly, must #SoFL always be a laughingstock?

While I know that many well-intentioned people who live in very exclusive areas of South Florida, esp. anywhere along a beach, profess their belief that their own part of #SoFL is clearly THE best place for electrical power lines to be buried -and perhaps there's something to that- when confronted with the news below, could there really be any doubt that the best place in South Florida for buried utility lines is near U.S. National Parks that local, national and international visitors go to specifically because it's...nature?

There's only one Great Wall of China, one Grand Canyon and one Everglades.
Is FPL's technology in 2017 really so inadequate to the task of making sure that the eastern border of the Everglades doesn't look like South Dixie Highway in the future?
I think not.






Having trouble reading this email? View it in your browser.
SOUTH FLORIDA WILDLANDS ASSOCIATION
Dear Friends,
Fresh off their defeat in the Florida Supreme Court in February (the Supreme Court refused to hear their case), Florida Power and Light (FPL) is back at it - trying hard to open up wetlands along the east side of Everglades National Park to 6 miles of massive new power lines.  In the nutshell, FPL, the state's most powerful (and generous) lobbyist, would be the beneficiary of two identical bills now making their way through the Florida House and Senate.  HB 1055 in the House and SB 1048 in the Senate ("Linear Transmission") changes the rules under which the Florida District Court of Appeals decided last April that FPL's power lines could not go forward at this location.
In the nutshell, the District Court determined that these power lines would cause "irreversible" harm to wetlands, ecology, and wildlife in the area - and were legitimately prohibited under Miami-Dade County's protective "East Everglades Ordinance."  What these new bills do is bring in a subtle change - and allow an agency such as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to provide a "variance" to a company such as FPL (in other words - give them a permit) - if it would cause economic hardship for the applicant.  This change would also apply to other protective local ordinances if a power plant or power lines were involved.
This is absolute nonsense.  The County's East Everglades Ordinance, the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act of 1989, the National Park Service's Land Protection Plan for the East Everglades ALL emphasized the critical ecological importance of this land for the health of the Everglades and its irreplaceable fauna and flora.  All of this land was supposed to be managed as "park." The East Everglades contain the famous "Shark River Slough" - the lifeline of fresh water into Everglades National Park.  These power lines have no place in this location.  None whatsoever.
The bills referenced are currently being fast-tracked through the Florida legislature.  The House version is still winding its way through - but the Senate version may come up for a floor vote very soon.  Please - we're asking all Floridians to contact both their State Senator and State Representative and urge them to vote NO on "Linear Transmission" - SB 1048 in the Florida Senate and HB 1055 in the Florida House.  Find your elected legislators here - and make those two calls (start with your senator).  Message machines will be on if no answer - and leave your name and address along with your message:
Best Regards,
Matthew Schwartz
Executive Director
South Florida Wildlands Association
P.O. Box 30211
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33303
P.S.  Learn a bit more about the projects we take on at the link below.  Tax-deductible contributions are always a big help to the work we do:
A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. REGISTRATION #: CH32213
South Florida Wildlands Association
P.O. Box 30211
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33303

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

April 21 meeting re Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Restoration Project; Must-read National Journal article: The Battle Over The EPA

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District will host a public meeting for the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Restoration Project April 21 in Miami-Dade County. The purpose is to present the Draft Project Implementation Report (PIR) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and take public comments.

Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Time: 6:30 Open House
, 7:00-9:00 Public Meeting
Location: Deering Estate at Cutler,
16701 S.W. 72nd Avenue, Miami

See http://www.evergladesplan.org/pm/projects/proj_28_biscayne_bay.aspx

---------

National Journal

The Battle Over The EPA
In The Debate Over Climate And Energy Legislation, The Agency's Regulatory Rights Are A Flashpoint
by Eliza Newlin Carney
April 19, 2010


Having spent the last year warring over climate legislation, environmental and industry lobbyists are now facing off over an even higher-stakes trophy: the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency's right to enforce it. Caught in the middle are the three senators who are gearing up to unveil climate legislation soon. Rumor has it that the bill being written by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn., may include curbs on the EPA's authority to regulate carbon emissions.

Read the rest of this must-read story at:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/ee_20100419_4273.php

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Mayor Menino's mosque: Bizarre story behind Boston's most controversial building; UDB

Just wanted to share this terrific and and thoughtfully-written story by David S. Bernstein in the new Boston Phoenix, easily one of the best pieces I've read all year, about the intersection of politics, self-interest and lack of accountability in government.
And some Boston-style stonewalling for a chaser!

Though it's set in Boston, it sounds exactly like an ethnic identity politics/multi-culturalism story straight out of South Florida, where crony capitalism still flourishes in many places under the guise of land development and its so-called regulation.

More proof of that has come within the past 24 hours, per an advisory board's decision in Miami-Dade County to expand the Urban Development Boundary in western Miami-Dade, so that it's now possible there might be development less than three miles from Everglades National Park.
Even though there's years worth of housing inventory on the local market.
More urban sprawl -just what this area doesn't need more of.

(The Miami-Dade County Commission votes on formally adopting this on Dec. 18th.
See Matthew Haggman's excellent story in the Herald at: http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/752455.html
Battle looms on development push to the edge of the Everglades
Fireworks are expected at the first hearing on a controversial proposal to move the Urban Development Boundary to build a town on West Miami-Dade farmland.)


As to Bernstein's article, I especially like the fact that a group continuing to be paid by the City of Boston while continuing to NOT perform the duties they're contracted for, isn't even the most controversial aspect of the story.
As you'll see, that's the least of the problems!

When transferring the land for the mosque, the BRA credited the ISB with close to $200,000 toward the purchase price, in exchange for an agreement to maintain the adjacent Clarence "Jeep" Jones Park — named after the BRA's chairman — and the White Play Space.

The 10-year agreement took effect in February 2003. In effect, the city has been paying the ISB $1600 a month for the job — which, even Kaleem concedes,
it has not been doing.

A lesser reporter would've missed the forest for the trees, but Bernstein captures the whole sad mess and adroitly connects the dots in a compelling way.

Boston Phoenix
Menino's mosque
The bizarre story behind the construction of Boston's most controversial building
By David S. Bernstein
November 19, 2008

Most locals concede that getting anything of substance accomplished in Boston is a Herculean task. Residents have all but embraced the principle of civic inaction with a perverse kind of local pride. In the end, who you know is probably more important than what you are trying to do. And there is no doubt that little is accomplished without the approval and support of the mayor, Thomas M. Menino.

So it is with the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) near the intersection of Tremont Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Better known as the Roxbury mosque, the ISBCC has been in the works for more than 20 years. A few weeks ago it finally opened its doors for prayer — five years late, millions over budget, and still far from complete.

See the rest of the story at: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/72356-Meninos-mosque/