Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jacob OglesDecember 28, 2018

Rep. Randy Fine made clear his first priority for the 2019 Legislative Session: Cleaning up the polluted Indian River Lagoon. Fine, a Palm Bay Republican, filed new legislation (HB 141) to budget $50 million in annual state matching funds for cleanup projects in the water body, which the Audubon Society says faces an “ecological crisis.” […]

Janelle Irwin TaylorDecember 10, 2018

The St. Petersburg City Council will consider a conditional ban on plastic straws and single-use plastic foam containers. The council will take up the proposed ban at its meeting Thursday. The ordinance would regulate straws in all food establishments citywide and ban polystyrene to-go containers in establishments on city-owned property or rights of way. The […]

Janelle Irwin TaylorSeptember 25, 2018

The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce is backing the voluntary “No Straws St. Pete” campaign to reduce the use of single-use plastic straws, the organization announced Tuesday. The Chamber previously objected to a mandatory ban on straws because businesses wanted the option to use them if they felt their clientele would object to not […]

Janelle Irwin TaylorSeptember 24, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott is directing another $2.2 million to red tide mitigation efforts, his office announced Monday. The state is funding testing on technologies to reduce red tide, including ozone treatments and specialized clay. The funding will expand Mote Marine Laboratory Ozone Treatment System in Sarasota. Mote has successfully tested ozone systems in tanks at the […]

Janelle Irwin TaylorSeptember 18, 2018

Gov. Rick Scott is putting another $4 million toward red tide funding for local communities impacted by the outbreak. The Tuesday announcement brings the total Florida Department of Environmental Protection funding available so far to $13 million. Red tide has been spreading north along Florida’s Gulf Coast for much of the late summer. It’s plagued Pinellas […]

Ryan NicolJuly 20, 2018

As algae blooms continue to pour out of Lake Okeechobee, environmentalists and other activists are once again taking aim at the farming industry, blaming them for contributing to the toxicity that allows algae to grow. The sugar industry has long disputed that it deserves the majority of the blame. Now one group is ramping up […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 25, 2018

Vern Buchanan has fired off a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, urging the agency to preserve offshore drilling safety regulations adopted after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Longboat Key Republican’s letter is a formal protest to the proposed weakening of federal rules requiring better emergency shutdown systems, new guidelines regulating acceptable drilling […]

Jim RosicaOctober 10, 2017

Democrats and Republicans from both sides of the Capitol rotunda came together Tuesday to back Sen. Dana Young‘s latest try to ban fracking in Florida. Also known as hydraulic fracturing, the drilling technique involves shooting water and chemicals deep underground, breaking up rock to get at oil and natural gas that’s unreachable by conventional drilling. “Advocates […]

Associated PressFebruary 1, 2017

Republicans jammed two of President Donald Trump‘s top Cabinet picks through the Senate Finance Committee with no Democrats in the room Wednesday after suspending a rule that would have otherwise barred them from taking the vote. The tactic seemed a warning shot that they might deploy brute political muscle in the upcoming fight over the […]

Larry GriffinJanuary 19, 2017

A new bill filed today by Rep. Randy Fine, who represents House District 53, would aim to solve the Indian River Lagoon’s septic tank crisis and help all of Florida’s water quality by requiring the inspection of septic tanks as part of home and other real estate sales. The Indian River Lagoon was revealed last year […]

Tag: pollution

Randy Fine seeks $50M to help Indian River Lagoon

St. Petersburg considering ban on plastic foam containers, plastic straws

Chamber backs voluntary St. Pete plastic straw ban

Rick Scott directs $2.2 million for red tide mitigation

State red tide funding soars to $13 million

Sugar farmers launch website to counter criticism over algae blooms

Vern Buchanan (again) protests drilling regulation rollbacks

Dana Young will try for fracking ban again

GOP pushes 2 top Cabinet picks through to full Senate

Hoping to curb pollution, Randy Fine bill would require inspection of septic tanks