A request is on the desk of Gov. Rick Scott to replenish the state’s most prominent land-preservation fund. The Department of Environmental Protection‘s wish list for the 2018-2019 fiscal year—presented to Scott last week as the governor’s office crafts budget recommendations for the Legislature—includes $50 million for the Florida Forever program.
Renewed hunts for oil in sensitive Florida ecosystems have environmental groups raising questions about the state’s regulation of the oil and gas industry. A Miami company, Kanter Real Estate LLC, has submitted a permit application to drill an exploratory oil well on the eastern edge of the Everglades. Meanwhile, federal approval is pending for a seismic survey meant to locate new areas for drilling in the Big Cypress National Preserve, a freshwater swamp whose health is vital to the neighboring…
Climate change activists say they will submit a public records request and petition to Gov. Rick Scott on Friday following reports that state workers were told not to discuss climate change. The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting earlier this month reported that there was an unwritten policy at Florida Department of Environmental Protection banning workers from discussing climate change and global warming. Scott and a Florida Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman denied there was such a policy. On Friday, Florida State University…
