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Guest AuthorMarch 30, 2017

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As a former state legislator and now a member of Congress, I’ve been proud to support investments in protecting Florida’s natural resources, including the Everglades. While located far from the Emerald Coast, the Everglades are about as iconic in Florida as the Blue Angels, the Space Shuttle, and the orange. Everglades National Park alone welcomes […]

Peter SchorschMarch 27, 2017

Joe Negron’s controversial plan to reduce Lake Okeechobee discharges is not going over well with federal officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Last week, many of those involved in Everglades restoration called for Florida to stay the course on federal restoration projects; many were critical of the Senate President’s plan to build a reservoir south […]

Scott PowersMarch 22, 2017

Florida’s Congressional delegation is united in its position urging President Donald Trump to fully fund Everglades restoration and to do so quickly – but a small schism has opened between Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Mast and Francis Rooney over whether there needs to be another task force. Last week Mast, of Palm City, and and […]

Peter SchorschFebruary 8, 2017

Florida sugar workers are the latest to come out strongly against Joe Negron’s Senate proposal to create a $2.4-billion, 60,000-acre reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee for Everglades water storage. In a joint letter sent Wednesday from Sugar Labor Management Committee, IAMAW District 166, Florida State Council of Machinists, and Local 2152 (Osceola & Okeelanta), union […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 26, 2017

So far, 2017 has been unkind to proponents of buying land south of Lake Okeechobee. That’s the takeaway from two January Senate committee meetings that have been held on the issue. In the titanic legislative battle pitting landowners, minority residents from the Glades and state and water management district officials against Senate President Joe Negron and environmental groups, the […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 19, 2017

It’s incredible how foggy some people’s memories are when it comes to past efforts to restore the Everglades, buy farmland and build a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. Time and again, environmental extremists are quick to blame the sugar industry for every ill in the region, past, present and future, without any regard to science […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 3, 2017

The tegu lizard is dead to Frank Artiles. The Republican state senator from Miami-Dade County filed legislation (SB 230) Tuesday to eradicate the non-native reptile tegu from Florida. The lizard is “decimat(ing) the fauna and flora of the Everglades and other natural areas and ecosystems in the southern and central parts of this state at […]

Associated PressDecember 11, 2016

South Florida water officials are threatening to cancel a lease with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over management of a 144,000-acre wildlife refuge in the Everglades. The Miami Herald reports that the South Florida Water Management District owns the land occupied by the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, but the federal agency operates […]

Associated PressSeptember 22, 2016

Florida could grow to more than 33 million residents by 2070, and the percentage of the state that is developed could jump from less than 20 percent to 33 percent, according to a new study presented Wednesday. Florida’s population would expand by 15 million people from 2010 to 2070 if growth trends continue, according to […]

Peter SchorschAugust 23, 2016

When it comes to Joe Negron’s plan to save the Everglades, not everyone feels the answer is to “buy the land.” The problem? The Stuart Republican’s proposal is painfully short on details, says a recent editorial in the Fort Myers News-Press. Negron, the incoming Senate President, is pushing the state to purchase 60,000 acres of […]

Tag: Everglades
Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Image via Visit Florida.

Matt Gaetz: Fix Florida’s Everglades, avoid distraction of costly land buy

Feds say ‘stay the course’ with Everglades, rejecting Joe Negron’s land buy

Francis Rooney says Everglades doesn’t need a task force right now

Florida Sugar Union blasts Joe Negron’s ‘job killing’ Lake O reservoir plan

Proposed plan to buy farmland south of Lake Okeechobee off to slow start in Florida Senate

J.P. Sasser: Environmental activists rewriting history, fraudulently manipulating data to sell land plan

Frank Artiles takes on the tegu

Fight over Everglades refuge pits Florida against feds

Study: Florida could have 33 million residents by 2070

News-Press editorial says Joe Negron Everglades plan needs work, more details