There are points of view that the Miami Herald editorial board needs to take the time to express, that are getting lost in the shuffle of McClatchy towards some sort of resolution. We do our best here, for free. The strange part of it is: we hear that the Herald itself is very profitable. So why isn't the Herald putting the money into reporters, staff, and intensity on issues that affect not just north Florida where the St. Pete Times excels, but South Florida?
Click 'read more', for the St. Pete Times.
Failed stewardship puts Florida wetlands at risk
In Print: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
As the Tampa Bay Times' Craig Pittman reported Monday, DEP scientist Connie Bersok has been on suspension since May 11. That is two days after she added a memo to the file of the Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank permit application objecting to its request to expand its wetland mitigation credits from 193 credits to 424. That apparently didn't sit well with her boss, Deputy Secretary Jeff Littlejohn, who had suggested this permit expansion could be part of a performance-based experiment approved by Vinyard. The only problem: State law requires a "reasonable assurance" that wetland mitigation plans will actually work.Wetlands are fragile things, and in recent years Florida has done a horrible job of protecting them. But under Gov. Rick Scott, there are no limits to how far the state will go to change the rules to help big landowners make millions at the environment's expense. The governor and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vinyard should explain why the state's top wetlands expert has been suspended after using science reflected in state law to deny a permit to a well-connected landowner. The administration's integrity is as at risk as the wetlands that are being ignored.
Highlands Ranch, under the previous governor's administration, had already unsuccessfully challenged its own permit in state administrative court. Later, the exact scheme Littlejohn was trumpeting — giving Highlands Ranch more mitigation credits for land that was dry — had been rejected by the 2011 Republican-led Legislature.
Under state law, a mitigation bank can receive wetland mitigation credits by creating or restoring wetlands property. It can then sell those credits to developers elsewhere who destroy wetlands to build a project. But what Bersok objected to was that Highlands Ranch was seeking credits for dry land that would do nothing for wetland preservation. Apparently, the company was counting on politics — not science — to cash in on credits that can go for as much as $100,000 in northeast Florida.
Among Highlands Ranch's owners is the highly successful Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that once counted former President George H.W. Bush among its team.
Scott's environmental credentials are in shreds. His first year in office, the governor pushed extraordinary tax cuts onto the state's five water management districts that are charged with protecting the state's long-term water supply. And Vinyard's leadership of DEP has been marked by significant retreat on long-standing policies, including challenging water management districts on buying land they deem necessary to protect watersheds. Now it appears DEP's leaders are willing to ignore state law to grant a well-connected landowner the ability to make money off wetlands that don't even exist. If not for Bersok, it might have even gone unnoticed until years after environmental damage was done.
Bersok should be rewarded for doing her job and following state law regarding wetlands. Instead, she was punished by an administration that has a habit of banishing anyone within its ranks who fails to follow the script.
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Click 'read more', for the St. Pete Times.
Failed stewardship puts Florida wetlands at risk
In Print: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
As the Tampa Bay Times' Craig Pittman reported Monday, DEP scientist Connie Bersok has been on suspension since May 11. That is two days after she added a memo to the file of the Highlands Ranch Mitigation Bank permit application objecting to its request to expand its wetland mitigation credits from 193 credits to 424. That apparently didn't sit well with her boss, Deputy Secretary Jeff Littlejohn, who had suggested this permit expansion could be part of a performance-based experiment approved by Vinyard. The only problem: State law requires a "reasonable assurance" that wetland mitigation plans will actually work.Wetlands are fragile things, and in recent years Florida has done a horrible job of protecting them. But under Gov. Rick Scott, there are no limits to how far the state will go to change the rules to help big landowners make millions at the environment's expense. The governor and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vinyard should explain why the state's top wetlands expert has been suspended after using science reflected in state law to deny a permit to a well-connected landowner. The administration's integrity is as at risk as the wetlands that are being ignored.
Highlands Ranch, under the previous governor's administration, had already unsuccessfully challenged its own permit in state administrative court. Later, the exact scheme Littlejohn was trumpeting — giving Highlands Ranch more mitigation credits for land that was dry — had been rejected by the 2011 Republican-led Legislature.
Under state law, a mitigation bank can receive wetland mitigation credits by creating or restoring wetlands property. It can then sell those credits to developers elsewhere who destroy wetlands to build a project. But what Bersok objected to was that Highlands Ranch was seeking credits for dry land that would do nothing for wetland preservation. Apparently, the company was counting on politics — not science — to cash in on credits that can go for as much as $100,000 in northeast Florida.
Among Highlands Ranch's owners is the highly successful Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that once counted former President George H.W. Bush among its team.
Scott's environmental credentials are in shreds. His first year in office, the governor pushed extraordinary tax cuts onto the state's five water management districts that are charged with protecting the state's long-term water supply. And Vinyard's leadership of DEP has been marked by significant retreat on long-standing policies, including challenging water management districts on buying land they deem necessary to protect watersheds. Now it appears DEP's leaders are willing to ignore state law to grant a well-connected landowner the ability to make money off wetlands that don't even exist. If not for Bersok, it might have even gone unnoticed until years after environmental damage was done.
Bersok should be rewarded for doing her job and following state law regarding wetlands. Instead, she was punished by an administration that has a habit of banishing anyone within its ranks who fails to follow the script.
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10 comments:
You are so right. The Herald has sadly gutted its news reporter ranks because of twisted priorities.
Rather than keep top notch investigative reporters, the Herald has opted instead to retain a full-time staffer to write a gay news blog (Steve Rothaus) and a syndicated columnist who neither lives in Florida nor writes about Florida issues (Leonard Pitts).
The Herald also continue to fund a full-time secretary for Pitts and Dave Barry (who hasn't written a column in years) and paid for a full-time reporter and photographer to be stationed in Port au Prince for more than a year.
The Herald is a trashy news paper for a long time.
Did you ever read an article written by Christina without vomiting?
She picks her stories from the trash pins of the most Corrupt Elected officials In Miami.
Her mentor "Judy Waldman, of Homestead" is the most corrupt elected official in the state
I go hunting a lot... i found the Miami Herald paper to be much better to use than toilet paper in the woods.
Christina is an excellent writer she has covered the housing authority well. I also get along with Waldman.
Christina is a fine writer and covers Homestead well. She has done a fantastic job with exposing the dirt at the Housing Authority.
The newspaper is our eyes and ears in the community, and the good people in Homestead have
found a friend in a reporter who roots out corruption and is not afraid to write about it.
If the Herald ever gets rid of her, I will cancel my paper.
The only people I know who don't like her are Bateman and Oscar Hentschel.
If ever there was a compliment, that is it!
Yes, let's not pick on Herald Reporters...
Even Carl Hiassen is phoning it in. Demoralizing for Miami.
Even Carl Hiassen is phoning it in. Demoralizing for Miami.
The herald always has the option of running stories And columns from the St. Pete Times. And they should. Especially on statewide environmental issues.
Folks, newspapers all over are in trouble. The people would rather get their news-fix on a quick TV bite than sitting down and reading the newspaper...that is if they can read!
For me, I must have a newspaper to read every morning with my coffee. I guess old habits are too hard for me to break, and knowing the plight of all newspapers nationwide, I will never abandon my paper.
I clip articles that I want to re-read and e-mail certain bits and pieces of news all over the world to my family and friends.
Besides, the Herald is one of the best investigative reporting papers I have ever read. So, if there is one thing I wish they would increase is their investigative reporting. How can I ever forget the ALF exposure?
Therefore, I will stick with my Herald.
Further, I would never want to live in a community where there is no daily paper.
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