FCC News Briefs

 Florida's best environmental reporting, editorials, and op-eds.

Reuters reports - A report by the National Research Council finds that the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program (CERP) has made only modest progress in restoring the Everglades and is not adequately dealing with the threats of climate change and non-native species. Read Everglades restoration project has had modest impact, report shows. 

Lynn Hatter reports for WFSU - Increased oil exploration and an unauthorized "fracking-like" procedure carried out in Collier County by the Dan A. Hughes Company "have some residents and environmental groups at war over what they see as an effort to bring fracking to Florida." The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has also come under scrutiny after waiting seven months to disclose the incident and monitor groundwater in the area. Read Renewed push for oil in Florida sparks concern in Southwest Florida. 

Allie Conti reports in the New Times - As much as 10 percent of Florida's panther population have been killed in collisions with motor vehicles in only the first six months of 2014.

Jimmy Orth writes in the Florida Times Union - The proposed dredging of the St. Johns River to accommodate larger shipping vessels in Jacksonville would have irreversible environmental impacts to the river with no guarantee of economic returns. Orth writes, "It would be tragic to spend $1 billion only to find our river further dredged and our grand hopes of jobs and economic prosperity were but an illusion." Read The business case against deepening the river. 

Matt Keene writes on riverbedammed.org - The fourth installment in a series examining the Kirkpatrick Dam on the Ocklawaha River reviews the history of the dam, whose purpose, according to a 1970 Army Corps of Engineers pronouncement, is to "save the Ocklawaha from nature."

Tom Swihart writes in the Watery Foundation blog - "It is parochial of me but I think that Florida's extraordinary water resources rank close to the top of 'specialness' in any state." Find out why here.

Upcoming Environmental Events & Meetings

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August 5th, 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm - The Silver Springs Alliance will host a public forum covering local and statewide water issues at Center Point Church in Silver Springs. Look for more information soon.

August 13th to 15th - The Florida Green Building Coalition will hold its annual conference at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota.

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September 19th - 20th - The 2014 Florida Wildflower Symposium will be held at Bok Tower Gardens, in Lake Wales.

Construction to start for C43/Caloosahatchee Reservoir in Oct.  Phil Flood, SFWMD, announced start of construction in his review of the many projects happening and about to happen to manage water in the Caloosahatchee Basin at the annual dinner of the Audubon of Southwest Florida. The reservoir will provide a significant portion of the dry season water necessary to restore the fishery habitat in the upper estuary. Some 1000 acres of grass meadows in the upper Caloosahatchee estuary have been lost in recent decades. 

Vast reservoir expected to prevent Everglades pollution

By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau

  March 29, 2014

A gigantic above-ground reservoir - the largest in Florida at 24 square miles - is rising above sugar cane fields in southwest Palm Beach County to help cleanse polluted water before it rushes into the Everglades.

More than 100 construction workers each day are blasting rock and moving earth to build 12-foot walls and gates around a shallow basin bigger than the cities of Sunrise or Boynton Beach.

A lot is riding on the $60 million project - the health of the Everglades, the survival of endangered species and the settlement of a legal battle over the state's failure to meet federal water standards.

But will it work?

On a recent tour through the vast expanse, soon to be filled with 4 feet of water, state engineers said they were confident the reservoir and related projects will solve a pollution problem that now sends fertilizer-laden water into the Everglades after heavy rainfalls. Big doses of phosphorus pour into a delicate ecosystem, creating toxic mercury harmful to fish, birds, reptiles and mammals, including the endangered Florida panther.

"By the time the Everglades sees that water, it will be nice and clean, with the phosphorus taken out of it," said Alan Shirkey, who oversees the project for the South Florida Water Management District.

Skeptics who joined a lawsuit to enforce water standards are not so sure. They fear that Obama administration officials - under pressure to relax environmental restrictions during the 2012 election campaign - were too quick to accept the state's plan to settle the suit.

"This idea is a completely new one that has not been road-tested," said David Guest, an attorney in Tallahassee for Earthjustice.

Gov. Rick Scott sold federal officials on the idea - officially known as a "flow basin" - as the centerpiece of an $880 million plan to remove pollutants that wash off farmland and urban developments. The agreement in June 2012 spared the state from a federal proposal that would have cost nearly twice as much.

The basin taking shape on farmland acquired by the state on U.S. Highway 27 will cover more than 15,000 acres and store up to 20 billion gallons of water. That's enough to fill 45,000 football fields a foot deep.

Pump stations already draw polluted water from the New River and Miami canals into "stormwater treatment areas" - shallow pools lined with underwater plants that filter out phosphorus before the water seeps into conservation areas and flows south into the Glades.

But to prevent heavy rains from overwhelming the system, water managers sometimes must divert dirty water around the treatment areas and send it south, polluting wetlands, jeopardizing wildlife and violating federal water-quality standards.

The new flow basin is designed to solve that problem by temporarily storing all the water from the canals, drawing it in through supply canals and gated structures. Cattails along the bottom will filter out some phosphorus. But the main purpose is to hold water, especially during wet seasons, and release it slowly into the treatment areas.

The construction is marked by explosions that send clouds of dirt and rock into the air as crews blast out sections of limestone to carve out spaces for water to flow in or out. Giant dump trucks haul this material to the perimeter to help form 12-foot levee walls.

Solar-powered gates will help control the flow. Supply canals will be built at a higher elevation so that water runs downhill into the basin when the gates are opened. And gravity will pull the water through the basin to be released into the treatment areas.

Anthony Rosato, the project manager, said contractors are on track to complete the flow basin by July 2016.

A spokeswoman said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is satisfied the plan will meet water-quality standards but that it's too early to comment on the results.

Those who work on the site seem confident.

"I'm a critter lover. And if you go out there, you'll see the wildlife, the hogs, the deer, the coons. The birds are unbelievable," said Lori Fox of Clewiston, a pump station operator.

She fishes south of the treatment areas, where the water is clean and the bass have a golden color, rather than to the north, where the fish are as dark as the water they swim in.

"To me, you are what you eat. You are what your environment is," she said "I had no idea of the concept of what they were doing out here. But when you see it, you know it works."

wgibson@tribune.com or 202-824-8256

  photo courtesy Larry Frogge

Snail Kite 

The Snail Kite has one of the most specialized tools among raptors: a long, deeply curved beak designed to pull snails-the birds' main food-out of their shells. This specialized diet restricts the Snail Kite to wetlands, so if that habitat is destroyed, the bird declines.

When hunting, Snail Kites fly low over marshlands, plunging down to snatch snails from just under the water or from vegetation. They then return to a favorite perch to feed. Although common in Latin America, the species is a federal and state endangered species in the United States.

Read more and hear the Snail Kite's call >> 

Water Policy: EPA to appeal decision sending transfer rule back to agency

U.S. EPA  will appeal a federal district court ruling that sent its controversial water transfer rule back to the agency for reconsideration.

Court watchers on both sides of the case had been anxiously waiting to see if EPA would appeal the ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In March, that court sent the George W. Bush-era water transfer rule back to the agency, holding that its "justification doesn't hold water."

The 2008 rule exempted government transfers between bodies of water from obtaining federal discharge permits under the Clean Water Act, as long as those transfers don't involve industrial, municipal or commercial use.

Municipalities that rely on sophisticated pumping systems to provide water to their residents, such as South Florida and New York City, strongly support the rule, noting that the permuting process would be costly.

Environmentalists have long criticized it, however. They claim it adds dirty water to public drinking water supplies.

The Sierra Club and Friends of the Everglades, among others, brought the current lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sided with their arguments in a lengthy and abstruse opinion that has left several involved in the case wondering how far EPA would have to go to comply with it.

EPA had justified the rule by saying that the transfers don't constitute adding pollutants to "navigable waters" -- those covered by the Clean Water Act -- because water being moved from one navigable body to another navigable body via pipes or canals retained the "status" of navigability. Therefore, EPA said, the transfers don't require permits under the Clean Water Act.

But Karas held that the rule broadened the definition of "navigable" beyond Supreme Court precedent (Greenwire, March 31).

The ruling put EPA in a difficult spot because the Obama administration has signaled it doesn't entirely agree with the policy. But the water office has been busy drafting a new, broader waters policy.

Eleven Western states and the Southern Florida Water Management District have already announced their intent to appeal the ruling (Greenwire, May 28).

Some environmental attorneys speculated that EPA may want to participate in the appeal because the case could end up at the Supreme Court.

The Western Governors' Association applauded EPA's decision to further pursue the case.

"Western states rely on thousands of intrastate and regional transfers to move billions of gallons of water to satisfy domestic, agricultural and industrial needs," Executive Director Jim Ogsbury said in a statement. "Requiring NPDES permits for these transfers will be prohibitively expensive and could curtail certain transfers, with little if any water quality benefits."

by National Wildlife Refuge Association

April 22, 2014

National Academy Of Sciences Delivers Highly Readable Climate Change Warning 

 Courtesy of Mark Renz

https://www.facebook.com/mark.renz.923

               Please consider having organization sponsor Eco-Voice 

 Nature's Steward: A History of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida

 As Michael Grunwald, author of The Swamp, said, "Nick Penniman's book tells an important story-about how one organization fought for 50 years to maintain the fragile balance between managed growth and natural resource protection, between development and conservation, between special interests and the common good."  

 Book available in the Conservancy Bradley Book Store

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

.....Last year, the salmon catch in southeast Alaska was the largest ever recorded. It may have been because controversial scientist-businessman Russ George, under contract with the Haida tribe in British Columbia, dumped 120 tons of iron sulfate into the ocean. The idea was to create a phytoplankton bloom that would in turn create feeding grounds for zooplankton, which in turn provide food for salmon and, in turn, the critters that eat them. Supporters believe George's experiment was a win-win-win all the way up the food chain, for grizzly bears and lox-and-bagel aficionados alike. Skeptics want more data, arguing -- fairly -- that the experiment needs more study.

Geoengineering proponents hope that such techniques might one day be used to sequester large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere (though studies are mixed on this score), thus diminishing the need for wealth-crushing fossil fuel prohibitions while making food cheaper for humanity. In principle, this is no more outrageous than draining swampland to eradicate malaria and create farmland

Save the date for 25th annual "Ding" Darling Days

Mark your calendars for this year's "Ding" Darling Days birding and eco-festival at J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida, the week of Oct. 19-25, 2014.

Family Fun Day kicks off the week with free activities on Sunday, Oct. 19. It features all-free refuge tours, live wildlife presentations, archery clinics, hot dogs, a touch tank and butterfly house, and kids' nature crafts.

Muppeteer Jim Henson's daughter, Heather Henson, with Ibex Puppetry, will return with performances featuring life-size endangered animal puppets.

Conservation Art Day winds up the celebration on Saturday, Oct. 25, with visits from Federal Duck Stamp and Junior Duck Stamp winners and nature art workshops.

Free and discounted birding, biking, kayaking, paddleboarding, sea life boating, and interpretive presentations will fill the week between the two events.

The 25th annual "Ding" Darling Days celebrates the birthday of the refuge's namesake, father of the Federal Duck Stamp program and Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Jay N. "Ding" Darling.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS), and Tarpon Bay Explorers cosponsor "Ding" Darling Days with generous support from the local community and businesses.

Visit www.dingdarlingdays.com for updates on events, information on sponsoring "Ding" Days, or to sign up for e-mail update bulletins. Contact Wendy Schnapp at 239-470-1877 or EcoErler@aol.com to become a sponsor.

As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, DDWS works to support J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge's mission of conservation, wildlife and habitat protection, research, and public education through charitable donations and Refuge Nature Shop proceeds.

To support DDWS and the refuge with a tax-deductible gift, visit www.dingdarlingsociety.org or contact Birgie Miller at 239-292-0566 or director@dingdarlingsociety.org.  

Coastal structures: Shore protection vs. erosion control?

 
Many people talk about hard coastal structures as if they are all the same and are all equally harmful to beaches. This unfortunate misunderstanding originates from past indiscriminate use of structures in ways that often were harmful to beaches.  Many of these structures were constructed 20-plus years ago when we had little understanding of the interactions between the structures and coastal processes.  
 
Coastal structures actually fall into two distinct categories with very different missions: Shore protection structure and erosion control structures.
 
Shore protection structures (such as seawalls and rock revetments) armor the coast to prevent the shoreline from retreating due to chronic erosion. While these structures may protect the upland immediately landward to them, they do not necessarily stop beach erosion.  This erosion may continue as water gets deeper in front of the armored shoreline due to wave reflection (how waves "bounce" off the structure) and the scouring nature of the waves. A poorly designed revetment or seawall may simply transfer the erosion to an adjacent section of beach, necessitating extending the shoreline armoring further along the coast. A poorly designed structure may therefore prevent an eroding beach to recover, cause adjacent beach to erode, or both. Past experiences such as this is why many people believe structures are bad for beaches.
 
Erosion control structures, however, are quite different from shore protection structures in both form and function. In order to understand the difference between the two, it is necessary to understand what causes erosion.
 
Sand is moved along the shoreline primarily by waves. The amount of sand in motion is proportional to the size of the waves and the angle at which waves strike the shoreline. Wave size and angle are largely determined by weather, but are also affected by decreasing water depth as the wave approaches the shore. Since the near-shore water depth may be quite different from one place to another along the coast, the wave size and angle reaching the shoreline in front of a beachfront condominium, for example, may be quite different from the waves that reach the beach in front of another condominium a short distance down the beach.
 
This difference in wave energy can result in a "sand transport gradient." In simple terms, this can mean that one section of shoreline is losing more sand than it is getting (erosion) while a neighboring shoreline is getting more sand than it is losing (accretion).
 
So, simply put, an erosion control structure is intended to changes the coastal conditions that are causing erosion with the intent of slowing or stopping it, while a shore protection structure is meant to be a hard line in the sand to repel incoming waves and keep the upland shore area intact while the near-shore area continues to erode.
 
The best example of an erosion control structure is a breakwater, a structure placed offshore to interact with incoming waves in a way that modifies the size and angle of the wave that reaches the beach. If designed properly, the breakwater can change the sediment transport gradient and reduce -- or even eliminate -- erosion. Breakwaters are often constructed in a number of segments, with gaps between the segments. By adjusting the segment lengths and gap widths, a coastal engineer can "tune" the structure to allow a desired amount of wave energy and sediment to pass through the structure in order to achieve the desired effect on the shoreline.
 
Erosion control structures have been successfully used to stabilize beaches and restore sea turtle nesting habitat along shorelines that had previously been adversely impacted by shore protection structures. This is important because, although beach nourishment is the best response to erosion, in many places where there is no sand for nourishment erosion control structures are a better response than shoreline armoring.
 
Erosion control structures should be viewed as another tool in the coastal management toolbox, that can target specific erosional problems such as "hot spots" to keep an otherwise healthy beach stable, or to help a newly renourished beach last longer by targeting site-specific issues. That is why some areas that banned hard coastal structure altogether are opening up the option of an engineered erosion control structure as part of an overall coastal management plan.

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ABOUT ASBPA: Founded in 1926, the ASBPA advocates for healthy coastlines by promoting the integration of science, policies and actions that maintain, protect and enhance the coasts of America. For more information on ASBPA, go to www.asbpa.org

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. This information is provided by the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association. For information, to change your email address or to unsubscribe from this list, contact us at exdir@asbpa.org

. A complete collection of Beach News Services articles is available for media access online athttp://www.asbpa.org/news/newsroom_beachnews.htm

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Contact: Ken Humiston, Humiston & Moore - (239) 594-2021 orkh@humistonandmoore.com

Kate or Ken Gooderham, ASBPA executive directors, (239) 489-2616 ormedia@asbpa.org. 

  Harry Simmons, ASBPA president -- (910) 200-7867 or president@asbpa.org

 CEER 2014

www.collegeoflifefoundation.org