Action for
our Fragile Landscapes

We need the state of Florida and the federal government to act decisively to protect intact natural areas as they are for future generations. Florida has done a good job in acquiring and protecting much of the Nature Coast through cooperative efforts among Water Management Districts, FFWCC, DEP, DCA, the federal government, and non-profit/private partners. Now is the time to ensure those investments are protected. Each voice counts—speak out for the Nature Coast.

 
 

Advocacy Calendar

June182010

The Florida Coastal and Ocean Conference

The Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition, a group of organizations working together to conserve, protect and restore Florida’s coastal and marine environment, is a one day conference in Tallahassee at the Hotel Duval. registration info...

June262010

Hands Across the Sand Florida

Throughout Florida, citizens will go to the beach at 11 AM in for one hour, rain or shine. At 12:00 they will form lines in the sand against oil drilling in our coastal waters.

Nature Coast Issues

Oil Drilling and the Nature Coast: A Bad Idea Just Got Worse

Action to Save our Coasts

Few things incite the passions of Floridians like the idea of offshore drilling. For lifelong Floridians it is unimaginable that we would go to the beach and see oil rigs on the horizon. For those of us who came here—and stay here—for the beaches and coastlines, the idea of drilling in our state waters, just 3-9 miles offshore, is a betrayal of the Florida Dream.

Daily news stories of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the the BP leak in the Gulf of Mexico, remind us of the magnitude of the hidden costs. And those costs are measured in millions. Millions of tourists come to Florida each year to fish, and to enjoy the beach. They bring their wallets and billions of dollars to Florida. Without clean beaches, the tourists will not come, and we are seeing this already. Once the places fish breed and live (seagrass beds, coastal estuaries, coastal wetlands, etc.) are innundated with oil, the “Fishing Capitol of the World” will be an wistful memory.

Right now, however, our coastlines, our beaches, and our state are facing a level of threat never seen before. There is much political back peddling in evidence, after a year of industry lobbying for drilling off the coast of Naples, Sarasota, Destin, Crystal River, Aripeka, or Tampa in the name of reducing reliance on foreign oil. It now seems obvious that energy plans that include oil drilling off the Nature Coast were shortsighted at best.

Oil Drilling Florida’s broad, beautiful horizons are the wrong place for rigs, pipelines and refineries.

Florida's Nature Coast is one of the most imperiled coastlines along the Gulf Coast. We now know that distance offers little protection from catastrophic mishaps, and are more certain than ever that our Coast is a poor choice for the siting oil drilling infrastructure (pipelines, refineries, tank farms, etc.)

Every one of us can be a voice for the Florida we know and love. Just say “no” to oil drilling off Florida’s shores. Every one of us can be a voice for clean beaches, clean coastlines, marine mammals, and wild places. It is time now to get involved, learn the facts, and ACT! Write a letter to the Governor, to the Legislature, to Congress, to the editor, and share this website with your friends and neighbors. Tell folks in your church, and around the water cooler. They are now listening.

Will Our Water Policy Run Clean?

Action for our Waterways

Two critical water policy issues face the Nature Coast: water quality and water quantity.  Will our waters be clean, and will they flow?  As powerful political interest work to weaken water quality standards and target our waters to feed unsustainable growth around Florida we must remain vigilant to ensure our waters are clean and abundant.
 
This year the U.S. EPA will be considering new, strong rules to protect water quality in the Nature Coast and across Florida by proposing numeric nutrient standards for pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorus.  After years of inaction on the part of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a coalition of Florida conservation groups sued the U.S. EPA to force them to step in to protect Florida waters.  Now U.S. EPA is considering proposed draft rules with specific numeric nutrient standards and benchmarks to protect our rivers, springs, and estuaries from algal blooms and nutrient pollution.
 
Floridians need to step and be heard on this issue and contact the U.S. EPA to urge them to continue this critical first step and stand strong in the face of opposition from polluters.
 
Additionally the Florida Legislature will consider legislation this year to protect Florida’s springs.  A “Springs Bill” will be considered this session that would help protect Florida springs from pollution.  Anyone who loves Florida’s springs needs to speak up and out for them, and for this bill.
 
Last but not least, while the fight for clean water continues, a new fight is on the horizon to ensure that the rivers of the Nature Coast are not tapped to fuel growth in Tampa Bay and Orlando.  Rivers ranging from the Suwannee to the Withlacoochee area being considered for water supply needs of communities near and far.  These rivers are essential to the aquatic and coastal health of the Nature Coast and have not a drop to spare.  Our coastal estuaries need clean water, and plenty of it to function and thrive.  With multiple large water intensive projects facing the Nature Coast our rivers are threatened enough without the sucking straws of developers looming on the horizon.

Will We Manage Our Growth or Will It Manage Us?

Action for Protecting our Natural Heritage

  • Write Governor Crist to support Florida DCA during the Florida Legislative Session.

While Florida’s economy has slowed the onslaught of development, the large scale mega development projects still wind their way through the local and state permitting system trying to get ahead of the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, and in anticipation of the next boom.   Projects up and down the Nature Coast are being proposed or are in the development and review process.

The good news is the Florida Department of Community Affairs, under the leadership of Sec. Tom Pelham, is taking some bold and strong stands on projects that would have previously got approval with little resistance.   Florida DCA, while not perfect, is being more proactive in working to ensure good growth management, protecting coastal resources, and vigorously applying Florida’s growth management policies.

In Florida politics no good deed goes unpunished and pro-development advocates in the Legislature have attempted to weaken DCA’s ability to review and regulate growth in Florida.  We need to support Florida DCA and urge Governor Crist to stand behind them as they work to make growth management work in Florida. This legislative session will likely see a renewed attempt to weaken Florida DCA and we can’t let that happen.

County Issues

The proposed Sunwest Harbourtowne DRI in Pasco County

Action for the Pasco County Coast

On  March 30th the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve changes to the Comprehensive Plan  which is prerequisite for the Development Order.

Read more below, and at http://gulfcoastconservancy.org and read Joe Murphy's guest column on the key issues in the June 6th St. Pete Times.

The proposed SunWest Harbourtowne is a large-scale resort development in Pasco County on the southern reaches of the Nature Coast. This proposal calls for 2,300 acres of coastal development that will affect the survival of the federally endangered West Indian Manatee and state listed Florida black bear.

SunWest's proposal includes construction of a marina and park. The marina will be available to resort residents but the park will be open to the public. A 2.2-mile long channel will be dredged through shallow water seagrass meadows to allow deep water access for boats using the marina and public park.

This proposal is detrimental to manatees on many levels. The destruction of seagrass will remove vital habitat to manatee survival. Seagrass mitigation measures, where developers replant seagrass elsewhere equal to the amount they destroyed, have proven ineffective. Increased traffic from the marina and public park will increase exposure of manatees to their number one threat; boat collisions. The proposed canal site falls within an area that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designates as critical to survival.

Another serious concern is that SunWest resort will further fragment the habitat of a fragile black bear population living in the region. Florida black bears are at one-tenth their historical numbers with only eight distinct populations remaining in the entire state. Pioneering black bear research by the late Dr. David Maeher, who wrote letters of concern about SunWest before his death in 2008, provided evidence that several collared bears were using the development site. Importantly, the bears moved both south and north of the development site. It is feared that SunWest will effectively cut in half the habitat used by this fragile population of bears.

Pasco County is the gateway to the Nature Coast and if we can stop or dramatically improve large proposed projects in and along the gateway to the Nature Coast we stand a better chance of influencing development patterns in the future. With thousands of proposed homes, golf courses, commercial and industrial projects, and a marina this project (all of which is proposed directly on the Gulf of Mexico) is literally a bookend project to the former Magnolia Bay (now Reserve at Sweetwater Estuary) proposed development.

Throughout the course of 2009 conservation groups engaged in continued and successful media, advocacy, and organizing work to pressure the Florida Department of Community Affairs (FDCA), Pasco County, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) to deny permits or approvals for this project.

Conservation groups met several times with FDCA in Tallahassee and most, if not all, of the concerns and opposition they have expressed mirrored the concerns we conveyed to them along with numerous documents and our analysis of the environmental problems (as well as land use, planning, transportation, etc.). We hammered the project's impacts on coastal wetlands, wildlife habitat, seagrass beds, essential habitat for recreational and commercial fish species, etc. and met numerous times with local, state, and federal agencies to raise these concerns.

Although the Florida Department of Community Affairs took a strong position opposing many of the proposals related to the project, they did, at the end of the day, approve the comprehensive plan amendment (while setting some strong conditions). The next step for us is to communicate opposition throughout the permitting processes.

In addition to our work targeting FDCA on the Sunwest Harbourtowne issue, we also engaged in an intense effort to block the SWFWMD from swapping away conservations lands purchased with Florida Forever funds to the developers of the Sunwest Harbourtowne project. This work included lobbying almost all of the Governing Board members of the SWFWMD individually, and numerous presentations and advocacy efforts conducted at SWFWD Governing and Basin Board meetings. The land the SWFWMD proposes to swap to developers is essential habitat for Florida Black Bears, one of the keystone species of the Nature Coast. Additionally we feel strongly that swapping away conservation lands, held by the public and acquired with Florida Forever dollars, to developers sets a dangerous precedent along the Nature Coast and across Florida. While we did not successfully convince the Governing Board of the SWFWMD to deny the proposed swap, we did generate significant media coverage over the issue and engaged a wide range of conservation groups in the effort. The proposed swap is contingent upon the overall DRI being approved by all local, state, and federal agencies and that is where we are focusing our continued efforts.

The proposed Tarmac Mine in Levy County

Action for Stopping Destructive Mining

  • Commit to showing up en masse at the Army Corps of Engineers Draft Environmental Impact Statement hearing when it is scheduled in Inglis. See info from the Corps at their website.
  • Follow the agenda of Board of County Commissioners hearings in Levy County
  • Communicate independently to Michael W. Sole, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. and/or Charlie Crist their objections to the project.
  • Join the Withlacoochee Area Residents (WAR, Inc.) if one is willing to undertake direct hands on involvement with the State or Feds
  • Contact Jack Schofield, Director of the Tarmac Task Force of Withlacoochee Area Residents for a status report.

Titan Cement Company based out of Athens, Greece, purchased Tarmac America, LLC. This international cement manufacturing company, through its newly-acquired subsidiary Tarmac America, LLC, has proposed a 4,000 acre limestone mine in the heart of Gulf Hammock swamp.

In 2010 there will be important regulatory and permitting decisions on the part of government agencies that will determine this project’s future.

Long-term water quality and availability is the main concern resulting from the Tarmac proposal. More than a quarter of the proposed minesite (1,150 acres) is comprised of wetlands. The mine pits will be up to 100 feet deep in the fragile aquifer and pump 22 million gallons of fresh water to process the aggregate. Pollution is a significant concern because USGS tests of other mine sites in Florida have shown carcinogenic pathogens traveling at 1,200 feet per day through the fractured limestone caused by mining. As of spring 2010, Florida DEP has issued a Wastewater Management Permit, but several permits are pending. Also, of the 1500 acres identified for mitigation, over 50% are projecting to be submerged by 2100 due to global warming.

The mine is also at odds with Levy County's Comprehensive Development Plan, which identifies the Gulf Hammock Swamp as “Environmentally Sensitive Lands” protected by a specific set of standards including limiting development in wetlands according to conservation policies 3.1 and 6.1. For example, Policy 6.1 states, “Any activities known to adversely affect the quality and quantity of water sources will be prohibited by the county through adopted local ordinances and rules.”

Six thousand acres in Dade County's “Lake Belt” were ordered closed to mining by a state judge due to this policy, putting pressure on the mining industry to find new locations. Rural Levy County is a perfect target because of its narrow tax base and interest in economic development projects.

We suggest that Levy County assess use of its natural resources to develop sustainable commercial opportunities.