A real, true editorial appeared this weekend in the Sarasota Herald Tribune. The Miami Herald, in its English edition, is too absorbed with advertisers to summon tongue-in-cheek on its editorial page unless its phoned in from some other part of the state. Not Miami. And certainly, not in the direction of Sierra Club. For the Herald to acknowledge Sierra Club, as the Tribune did, the Club would have to go through several rounds of pressure washing turning it the color of Fairchild Tropical Garden. There is just too much money to be made and prestige courting the despoilers and industrial agriculture growers.
But the editorial in Sarasota has a point: why not give Sierra Club the job of protecting the lands outside the Urban Development Boundary? Why not put environmentalists in charge of environmental regulatory agencies and their missions in Miami and Miami-Dade? (Clue: your elected representatives approved whittling down those agencies and their missions until all that you can see are little yellow patches where they used to grow from the ground.) You have to admit: local control is what the GOP wanted. The Democrats shrugged.
There is more than a little history to support Sierra Club. The Club waged a winning battle against illegal permits issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the Lake Belt, where powerful, rich rock miners tied up the issue for years. The stinging decision from federal judge William Hoeveler is one of the most powerful in U.S. jurisprudence. Meanwhile, Dade county commissioners who voted for the rock miners no matter what they came to the Chamber for, got off scott-free with voters. It is still happening, and even more, now that DERM has knee-capped by Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Still, no matter your shade of partisan, how much taxpayer money has been lost chasing the development schemes (extension of SR 826, anyone?) big campaign contributors from the Growth Machine? Wake up, people: pay Sierra Club to protect Miami-Dade! (PS. While you are at it, give a few bucks to Friends of the Everglades.)
Eric Ernst: Save taxes, pay Sierra Club to protect Florida Published: Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, February 24, 2012 at 5:33 p.m. Florida legislators didn't want private companies running state prisons, but why not hire the Sierra Club to take over some of the environmental regulatory work handled by state bureaucracies such as the Department of Environmental Regulation?
The idea is not as crazy as it sounds. Sierra Club Florida, People for Protecting Peace River (3PR) and Manasota-88 just negotiated additional protections for the Peace River watershed from Mosaic, the phosphate giant. Mosaic had a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to mine 7,000 acres at its South Fort Meade property.
The environmental groups sued in federal court, claiming the corps hadn't done its job to protect natural resources. After about 18 months of legal activity, Mosaic has agreed to turn over some 4,400 acres of wetlands and riverfront property for a state park. The company also will set aside hundreds of acres as buffers and conservation easements. The concessions come in addition to safeguards already included as part of the permit.
The aim is to protect the river, Horse Creek and the Charlotte Harbor estuary from the effects of mining. The Corps and the Florida DEP espouse to similar goals, but often seem overly solicitous to the businesses they regulate.
We pay taxes for those agencies, but maybe we could save a little by contracting with private concerns, those with their hearts in it, to handle some of the permitting. Just a thought, given the popularity of public-private partnerships.
But the editorial in Sarasota has a point: why not give Sierra Club the job of protecting the lands outside the Urban Development Boundary? Why not put environmentalists in charge of environmental regulatory agencies and their missions in Miami and Miami-Dade? (Clue: your elected representatives approved whittling down those agencies and their missions until all that you can see are little yellow patches where they used to grow from the ground.) You have to admit: local control is what the GOP wanted. The Democrats shrugged.
There is more than a little history to support Sierra Club. The Club waged a winning battle against illegal permits issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the Lake Belt, where powerful, rich rock miners tied up the issue for years. The stinging decision from federal judge William Hoeveler is one of the most powerful in U.S. jurisprudence. Meanwhile, Dade county commissioners who voted for the rock miners no matter what they came to the Chamber for, got off scott-free with voters. It is still happening, and even more, now that DERM has knee-capped by Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
Still, no matter your shade of partisan, how much taxpayer money has been lost chasing the development schemes (extension of SR 826, anyone?) big campaign contributors from the Growth Machine? Wake up, people: pay Sierra Club to protect Miami-Dade! (PS. While you are at it, give a few bucks to Friends of the Everglades.)
Eric Ernst: Save taxes, pay Sierra Club to protect Florida Published: Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, February 24, 2012 at 5:33 p.m. Florida legislators didn't want private companies running state prisons, but why not hire the Sierra Club to take over some of the environmental regulatory work handled by state bureaucracies such as the Department of Environmental Regulation?
The idea is not as crazy as it sounds. Sierra Club Florida, People for Protecting Peace River (3PR) and Manasota-88 just negotiated additional protections for the Peace River watershed from Mosaic, the phosphate giant. Mosaic had a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to mine 7,000 acres at its South Fort Meade property.
The environmental groups sued in federal court, claiming the corps hadn't done its job to protect natural resources. After about 18 months of legal activity, Mosaic has agreed to turn over some 4,400 acres of wetlands and riverfront property for a state park. The company also will set aside hundreds of acres as buffers and conservation easements. The concessions come in addition to safeguards already included as part of the permit.
The aim is to protect the river, Horse Creek and the Charlotte Harbor estuary from the effects of mining. The Corps and the Florida DEP espouse to similar goals, but often seem overly solicitous to the businesses they regulate.
We pay taxes for those agencies, but maybe we could save a little by contracting with private concerns, those with their hearts in it, to handle some of the permitting. Just a thought, given the popularity of public-private partnerships.
1 comment:
I love the idea, but we both know that the job would be contracted to the Farm Bureau instead.
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