Environment
Florida’s fertilizer addiction leads to ban on sales bans, roads that glow
Hey everybody, good news! We can all come out of the storm shelters! The Legislature left! The two-month session ended last week with the traditional declaration of “sine die,” which is Latin for “good riddance.” As the lawmakers departed, they left behind teams of lobbyists gleefully tallying their clients’ per-hour charges as a handful of […]
In the Southeast, where big utilities rule, calls for a real power market persist
A report prepared for the South Carolina state legislature and released on April 28 determined that a range of electric market and transmission reforms — including creating a new independent organization to run the electric grid or joining an existing one — would bring “substantial benefits” for customers, potentially as much as $362 million a […]
Florida legislators OK bill likely to lead to higher water and sewer rates
Florida once had two capitals, Pensacola and St. Augustine. That was because it was two separate Spanish colonies, West Florida and East Florida. The story goes that when the two colonies became a single U.S. territory in 1819, a guy from Pensacola set out headed east and a guy from St. Augustine headed west, and […]
Interior secretary under fire at U.S. Senate hearing over oil and gas leases, public lands
Members of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee used a Tuesday hearing on the Interior Department’s fiscal 2024 budget to voice their displeasure with the administration’s energy production policies to Secretary Deb Haaland. The strongest criticism came from Republicans on the panel, though Chairman Joe Manchin III, a centrist West Virginia Democrat with […]
With decarbonization, advocates see a bright future for nuclear after decades of dormancy
IDAHO FALLS, Id. — At the sprawling array of laboratories and test facilities in the southeastern Idaho desert where the U.S. nuclear power industry was born more than 70 years ago, past, present and future are converging. Not far from where the first reactor to ever produce usable electricity made history in 1951, Idaho National […]
U.S. Interior secretary unveils $125 million for local climate projects
BOISE, Idaho — The U.S. Interior Department will send $125 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law to scores of local climate resiliency and conservation projects, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told a group of environmental reporters Friday. Speaking at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference, Haaland promoted several aspects of the Interior Department’s agenda, including programs […]
Climate change makes Florida ‘rain-bombs’ more common
If you live in Florida, you never suffer from an irony deficiency. Case in point: Flood managers from across the nation gathered in South Florida last week for a conference — only to run into the region’s worst flooding in yeeeeeeeeears. (Hey, do you think we can get the nation’s lottery managers to meet at […]
U.S. House fails to override Biden veto of WOTUS legislation
The U.S. House on Tuesday failed to override a President Joe Biden veto, which means the administration’s regulation stays in place expanding which waters and wetlands can be regulated under the federal Clean Water Act. The House did not clear the two-thirds mark needed to overturn Biden’s veto of a resolution that would have blocked […]
Surprise! Florida leads the nation in lead pipes carrying water supply
As a native Floridian, I am always eager to pass along good news about our state. That’s especially true these days when there’s so much of the other kind — soaring property insurance rates, no affordable housing, a governor who got outfoxed by a mouse, etc. That’s why I frequently point out that our beaches […]
Federal judge temporarily blocks new Biden WOTUS rule in two dozen states
A federal judge in North Dakota on Wednesday blocked in 24 states the Biden administration’s newly effective definition of waters that can be regulated under the Clean Water Act. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, a George W. Bush appointee on retired status in the North Dakota District, issued a preliminary injunction in a case two dozen Republican […]
Biden vetoes attempt to repeal WOTUS rule on wetlands
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday vetoed a measure that would repeal a rule expanding which types of wetlands can be regulated under the Clean Water Act. Biden promised to veto the legislation that saw Democrats crossing party lines in both chambers to join Republicans in rolling back a rule that is unpopular with […]
Good news-bad news on Florida manatee deaths this year
My dad, an inveterate jokester, was a big fan of “good news-bad news” gags. One of his favorites was about two old codgers named Bill and Joe who were big baseball fans. As Bill lies on his deathbed, Joe makes him promise to find a way to tell him if there’s baseball in heaven. Sure […]