Growth Management & The Environment

QUIZ

The $8 billion restoration project of the Florida Everglades recently experienced a setback when the Florida Legislature passed a bill that eliminates a deadline set 10 years ago for stopping the flow of a basic element that has been polluting the glades region for decades. Gov. Jeb Bush signed the bill. This common element has already caused permanent damage to the Everglades and much of South Florida. What is the common element? (a) arsenic (b) oxygen (c) phosphorus (d) retirees (e) cream of wheat (f) sulphur (g) mercury

(Scroll down for answer)

Texas Cited in EPA Toxic Release Report

Fighting to remain in compliance with air quality regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency, officials in Texas were likely disappointed by a recent EPA study that showed the Lone Star State as the fifth-highest state in the U.S. in the amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment. The EPA reported that 270 million pounds of chemicals were released in the state by industry in 2001, the latest figures available. Only industries in Alaska, Arizona, Utah and Nevada released more toxic material into the environment than did Texas during that time frame. It has been estimated that the State of Texas must spend nearly $350 million if it is to remain in compliance with EPA air quality standards. If attainment is not reached by 2007, Texas is in jeopardy of losing millions in federal aid and tax dollars from expanding industry.

Louisiana's Wetlands are Focal Point of Big Oil

About 25 percent of the nation's energy is being threatened by the loss of natural wetlands in southern Louisiana. To give you an idea of the level of the threat, the city of New Orleans was located 52 miles from the Gulf of Mexico 100 years ago. Today New Orleans is located 21 miles from the Gulf. Wetlands lost in Louisiana each year equal about 25 square miles and big oil is concerned. Pipelines throughout southern Louisiana that were under water when originally placed are now exposed. Shell Oil is doing something about it, as they should. The wetlands being lost are home to about a quarter of the nation's fisheries. But more importantly to big oil, the risk of damage to their delivery systems is at an all time high. Storm surges from hurricanes not only have exposed New Orleans, but also the facilities that bring natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico to processing terminals. It's been estimated by the Corps of Engineers that it will cost $14 billion (that's with a "b") to save Louisiana's coastlands. We hope big oil is preparing to pony-up.

Air Permit Legislation Approved in Tar Heel State

The North Carolina Senate has approved a bill that will enable companies to start construction on parts of their new facilities prior to receiving air quality permits from the state. The bill will expedite construction of new facilities say state officials. The new bill does state that construction cannot be started on any equipment that emits any air pollution, however.

Florida, Georgia Water Riff Going to Supreme Court

While Alabama and Georgia are close to signing an agreement on water rights to the Alabama, Coosa and Tallapoosa river basin, Florida and Georgia are taking their gripes concerning the use of water from the Apalachicola, Flint and Chattahoochee river basin to the Supreme Court. On September 3, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said Florida officials are asking too much over how much water should flow from the Peach State to the Sunshine State.

North Carolina Utilities Offer Green Power

EnergyUnited, Duke Power and other utilities in North Carolina, including municipals and cooperatives, are offering green power alternatives to their customers, both on the home and commercial front. Power plans have been designed for households, small commercial users, as well as one plan for large-scale users.

QUIZ ANSWER

The Army Corp. of Engineers is responsible for rerouting water flows into the Everglades as a result of their massive projects in the 1950s and '60s aimed at reclaiming wetlands. This new "land" was bought by big agribusiness concerns for pennies and subsidized by the federal government. The element (the answer to the Quiz) spewed into the Everglades by those same big agribusiness concerns located south of Lake Okeechobee is (c) phosphorus. Editor's Note: The Everglades is the South's most sensitive environment as well as one of its most spectacular (have you ever driven Alligator Alley?). In a time when low-wage manufacturing is closing its doors like never before in the South, why would Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, give any assistance to big sugar plantations that pay below even low manufacturing scale, while polluting one of the most precious environments in the South?