WARNING: Watch Out for Those Phoney Letters to the Editor Supporting Nukes. By Geniusofdespair

The Clean and Safe Energy Coalition is a public relations campaign for new reactors. How can a public relations campaign have members? Only in crazy land Florida.

CASEnergy Coaltion was started in 2006, funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) industry group, and headed by former Bush Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman and former Greenpeace activist Patrick Moore. I wrote about this greenwash group in 2013.

Luz Weinberg, an ineffective former Aventura Commissioner wrote a letter today for them. Actually, they probably wrote it for her and she signed it as a "Member". Shame on you Luz Weinberg! Shame on you.

Kevin Doyle wrote a similar letter in the Sun Sentinel for Consumer Energy Alliance. Their website says: "CEA maintains several campaigns to engage voters on public policy that seeks to increase domestic energy production of all kinds" (except solar).

EDUCATE YOURSELF! Always looks up the group writing letters. They always have nice sounding names. FPL is all upset by their bad press and I suppose is enlisting these groups and their shills to clean up their image.

On a bad note: The evil Florida Cabinet just approved aquifer water for Turkey Point's cooling canals.

Vote for Lynda Bell, I DON'T THINK SO. By Geniusofdespair

Lynda Bell has a campaign website. She said she is going to qualify by petition like Daniella Levine Cava did. We'll see.

It says this on her website:

Thanks to the support of the residents of District 8, I was elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 2010 with the mission to make local government more transparent, efficient and more accountable to the people it represents. I am proud of my track record of rolling-up my sleeves and working hard to effect positive change for the betterment of our community. Over the past three years, I have fought hard to create jobs and improve our local economy while pushing for significant reform at County Hall, as well as helping to build stronger, safer communities while protecting our environment. With your continued support, we can stay on track and continue to move our District and our County in the right direction. 

The rest of the bullshit, I don't care about and won't bother commenting on. But as the recipient of 2 Statewide Environmental awards and my co writer as well has many more Statewide awards from Environmental Groups and is the President of Friends of the Everglades . We both agree on Lynda Bell's Envrionmental record: It stinks. We have both received the John V. Kabler Award, awarded from over 50 environmental groups, local, State and Nationwide, I can safely say as an environmental expert in the State of Florida on most issues: It is my opinion it is a LIE that Lynda Bell has protected the environment. She has done a masterful job of unhinging environmental protection beginning with her Wetland Meeting in South Dade on March 25 2011  and going forth for her entire term. At the March 25th meeting she let a man who had an open case with DERM (he was found guilty and is in appeal) drone on for nearly 1/2 hour when the speaking time was 3 minutes or so. She didn't control the audiences attacks on staff.  The DERM staffer quit about 2 weeks later. The guy speaking at the podium was the same guy who helped finance her husband's hotel and he held Lynda Bell's victory party at his home.  Don't get me started on rock-mining or lifting deed restrictions....

So Lynda Bell, say what ever baloney you want, but do not DARE GREENWASH YOURSELF.

Caroline Lewis speaks out on the teaching profession ... by gimleteye

Caroline Lewis is the inspirational teacher and leader who created the Fairchild Environmental Challenge. Her capricious termination by an insular garden president, Bruce Greer, and a cosseted, oblivious board provoked community outrage in 2009. Fairchild sits on an endowment of more than $20 million, but it was the nexus of environmental education and the industrial and polluting agricultural practices of some board members that triggered her termination (see our archive, under Fairchild, for details and my post, yesterday, on "Money is Truth" for another facet of the same issue.)

I owe a debt of gratitude to Ms. Lewis. When she was a teacher in middle school, Ms. Lewis single-handedly saved my son who, as a dyslexic, would otherwise have slipped through the cracks of an educational institution that made no accommodation for his skills. You can't measure the perception or combination of traits that create teaching excellence. When Ms. Lewis writes about the teaching profession, she writes from the authority of significant understanding and personal achievements. Good for the Miami Herald, for printing her OPED.


Unleash the Superman, Superwoman in teaching

BY CAROLINE LEWIS

CAROLINELEWISEDU@AOL.COM

I saw a young protester’s sign recently that read: “Don’t make me regret becoming a teacher!” and my heart broke into smithereens.

If you are tuned into the economic, social and political debates swirling around education and the teaching profession, it should be alarmingly clear that we are losing ground, a lot of ground.

Martin County and Miami-Dade's UDB: a comparison and thoughts about Florida Hometown Democracy ... by gimleteye

Compared to Miami-Dade, Martin County is positively bucolic. Just like Miami-Dade, Martin County is highly developed at the coast and the development eases west of the Turnpike into thousands of acres of open farmland. The building boom sucked up comparatively more open space here than Martin County but the land speculators, there, are itching the same way they were in South Dade for more growth. What stands in their way? An urban service boundary, like Miami-Dade's. An agitated public that doesn't want more bad growth that costs quality of life, taxpayer dollars, and a declining environment. And, of course, a terrible economy. Nevertheless, Florida Hometown Democracy looms on the horizon that would subject changes here and there to popular vote. Boatloads of developers are climbing aboard the "zone now" and "permit now" train, before the hammer comes down on the old way of doing business. Here are two letters to the editor worth reading on the subject. Someday The Miami Herald will get around to following these issues beyond the cartoons of Jim Morin?


Treasure Coast Palm
Letter: Future Group's proposals 'not the way' to protect Martin County

Monday, July 13, 2009

What’s the best way to break Martin County’s urban services boundary that has prevented sprawl development in rural parts of the county, where most agree limited development, and no urban services, is in the best interest of the public and taxpayers, the environment and the quality of life?

You create a group promoting the idea that new, sustainable communities can be located in those areas at no cost to the public, without the need for publicly supported infrastructure, and you sell it based on the false premise the county not only doesn’t have enough land available for new development, but needs to change its rules to accommodate a population much larger than what exists today.

This is what the County Commission is being asked to sign up for on July 14.

You don’t say anything about who this benefits. You don’t mention staff reports that say the county has no need for any of this.

You do present a blizzard of proposed changes to the comprehensive plan that recommend getting rid of the system that has worked well enough for more than 20 years to give Martin County one of the best qualities of life in Florida.

You make the false claim that the county must accommodate any and all new population growth, when the state planning agency already has said communities have to make those decisions based on their ability to pay, as well as the effects new growth has on environmental and infrastructure needs.

You also don’t acknowledge the available capacity for development on vacant land that hasn’t even received a building permit, or the recently expanded development potential in the community redevelopment areas.

The County Commission must understand this is not the way to protect the public from the kind of overdevelopment that plagues much of South Florida.

Charles Pattison, president
1,000 Friends of Florida
Tallahassee



Daytona Beach News Journal
Amendment would please Jefferson

By REBECCA EAGAN
FLORIDA VOICE

Thomas Jefferson sold me on Florida Hometown Democracy. To the full-court press by business groups against this citizen amendment he resounds: "I am not among those who fear the people." (Letter to Sam Kercheval, 1816.) Similarly he tells John Taylor, "the further the departure from direct and constant control by the citizens, the less has the government the ingredient of republicanism . . . the mass of the citizens is the safest depository of their own rights."

In 1795, to Mann Page, he tartly dubs those who would bypass the public "rogues . . . who, rising above the swinish multitudes, always contrive to nestle themselves into places of power and profit . . . stealing the people's good opinion, and then steal from them the right of withdrawing it, by contriving laws and associations against the power of the people themselves."

It's self-evident why industries behind "Floridians for Smarter Growth" (FSG) seek to scuttle Hometown Democracy -- the people voting would put a dent in their influence over land use. But their recent assertion -- that "Amendment 4 would sideline ordinary citizens" -- is disingenuous.

They cite the St. Pete Beach saga, where lawsuits were filed, muddling the direct vote process. But, the scrap arose not because the concept and structure of citizen referendum on comp plans is flawed. Withholding a questionable item from the ballot -- citizen "sidelining"-- can happen anytime regardless of who decides land use. Foggy wording has derailed constitutional and charter amendments that have zilch to do with comp plans. The problems in St. Pete Beach stem not from the fundamental referendum structure itself but from individual players' actions. Missteps (and lawsuits) also flourish in places where commissioners alone decree land use.

"The functionaries of public power rarely strengthen in their dispositions to abridge it . . ." Indeed.

Lesson from St. Pete Beach: make referenda clear (and authored by a neutral party) so that folks can wisely vote. Put this in Amendment 4's enabling legislation. SPB's trials are not peculiar to land-use referenda, or indictment of the fundamentals of Florida Hometown Democracy.

Snarls abound under the "old" way: when public hearings aren't properly noticed or held; administrative challenges filed when amendments run foul of a county's comp plan; and quirky beefs, as in Orange County, where a landowner sued over Innovation Way's apportionment of conservation lands. The status quo by no stretch bullet-proofs against snafus. Such is the nature of our crowded state. More sprawl grace'a Senate Bill 360 is no antidote.

Amendment 4 should go far to bring stability to hometowns that is key to happiness and pride in place.

In 1812, Jefferson advised F.A.Van der Kemp: "The only orthodox object of the institution of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it . . . unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals . . . selected for the trust."

Doubtless, Jefferson would not balk from granting votes to us just because fears are conjured by the opposition. For him, the principle of direct control by the people far outweighed in magnitude any attendant problems -- which could be worked out.

St. Pete Beach narrates Florida's growth struggle and how ours should be the last word. It may even help clarify statutes for Amendment 4. Under it, comp plan changes by plebiscite will be constitutional, not one tiny town's stab at growth curbs that got high-jacked by the usual suspects. Bitter tugs-of-war needn't occur. If sitting bodies bring reasonable plans after polling stakeholders, these can smoothly be put to vote. Likewise, applicants can engage citizens and expect yeas. But the people must prevail.

Floridians for Smart Growth has a right to sway opinion and to wear a "smart growth" cape, but its huge donors are building and real estate groups.

Hometown Democracy poses as nothing but what it is -- conceived to restore say to people on community changes that affect them. Fear should not deprive Floridians of this voice. Few things cloud our well-being more than collusion by "functionaries" with industry to thwart the public will -- as (I feel) we have now.

"Any evils flowing from the duperies of the people, are less injurious than those from the egotism of their agents."

Jefferson knew the score. He was willing to chance power in the people's hands. Florida Hometown Democracy -- Amendment 4 -- is the real McCoy.

Eagan, an artist and conservationist, lives in Winter Park.

"Green Day" is not a band in Vile Natacha Seijas' District. By Geniusofdespair

Wednesday was a field day for the seniors from Miami-Dade County Commission District 13. They had a stage with a band, refreshments, and they got goody bags plastered with Natacha's name. Then they all went home on a spiffy bus.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner, Vile Natacha Seijas, knows how to buy votes.

Does the copy on the bag sort of turn your stomach? Of all people, she, the Judas of Miami's environment, has a lot of nerve putting her name in the same location as the word "Environment" and "Protect". I smell a seriously bad attempt at a green wash. And, speaking of asses who greenwash, Michael Caputo is also doing a number on the public with a phony "Green" Blog.

It's your water, and they get rich from it ... by gimleteye

It's good to be in the bottled water business in Florida, not in the business of protecting water. Not that protecting water is a business in Florida. There is a business "protecting" water, but it's mainly the business of protecting water from rules and regulations (ie. lobbyists), exploiting water resources (ie. big engineering firms), digging wells (ie. well drillers), doing "environmental law" (ie. Greenberg Traurig), or providing equipment to provide industrial processes to provide what nature did for free.

The deeper you dig into the business of water the dirtier it gets. For more than a decade, Miami Dade county commissioner Natacha Seijas single-handedly held back public investment in necessary water infrastructure just to accommodate campaign contributors from the building industry who didn't want the "high" cost of water to the public to deter their plans to build out Miami Dade County with suburban sprawl. The public has no clue. But back to bottled water.

According to this morning's Herald, the companies that produce bottled water make between 10 and 100 times their fixed costs. There is no cost for extracting water to put in bottles, except a permit fee of a few hundred dollars. Never mind the hidden costs of the carbon footprint of bottle water: shipping around the state and the world in expensive containers made from petrochemicals, using oil and gas to move the bottles here and there.

Governor Charlie Crist is ready to make the bottled water companies pay more, a tax of $.06 for every gallon of water they take from limited aquifers. "The thinking behind the plan is water is available for all of us and we pay taxes and water bills to provide it, but when we choose to spend a buck for a bottle of Florida water, not a cent of that dollar goes to Florida. The company who pumped the water out of the ground didn't pay the state for it either. That is untapped cash that Florida sees a need to go after. All that water that comes out of Florida rivers and out of the ground you pay for."

What do you think?

Posted on Tue, Mar. 03, 2009
Charlie Crist wants to stop free flow for bottled water

By MARY ELLEN KLAS
In a rural North Florida town where the water tower bears the motto ''Tiny but Proud,'' residents have a big secret: They give the cold, clear spring water that bubbles up from the aquifer below their soil to the nation's largest bottled-water company -- for free.
Every day, Nestlé Waters of North America sucks up an estimated 500,000 gallons from Madison Blue Springs, a limestone basin one mile north of town. It pipes the 70-degree water a mile to its massive bottling plant and distribution center, fills 102,000 plastic containers an hour, pastes on Deer Park or Zephyrhills labels, boxes it up and ships half of it out of state.

The cost to the company for the water: a one-time, $150 local water permit.

Like 22 other bottled-water companies in Florida, including giants Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co., Nestlé's profit is 10 to 100 times the cost of each bottle.

Payment to Florida? Not a dime.

Gov. Charlie Crist wants to change that. He is proposing a 6-cents-a-gallon state tax on water used for commercial water-bottling purposes.

''It's a resource of the state and if you're going to withdraw it for a profit, we should charge you for that use,'' said Mike Sole, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, which has been developing Crist's proposal for six months.

The agency estimates the fee would apply to about 5.4 million gallons a day -- the amount it believes is pumped from state springs and aquifers by bottlers that include Coca-Cola's Dasani and Publix. The estimate does not include the water taken by bottlers from municipal water supplies.

The ''severance fee'' would be phased in to raise an estimated $56 million the first year, according to the governor's office. The money would be used to finance water projects, such as desalination plants and other alternatives to traditional water supplies. Making the money even more attractive: The fund that currently finances those projects faces a $15 million deficit since the tax dedicated to water projects dried up in the real-estate crash.

If the fee is passed on to consumers, the cost of a pint-size bottle of water would increase by less than a penny.

A SHIFT

It's a major shift in position for the department, prompted by Crist, which until December had collected no data on bottled-water use in Florida and takes a hands-off approach to its regulation. The Florida Department of Agriculture's Division of Food Safety makes sure bottlers have approval from local water-management districts to withdraw the water, but no state agency tests bottled water. Crist's proposal wouldn't change that.

Instead, Crist's plan would treat water like phosphate, oil or natural gas, all mined from the ground. Companies that extract those natural resources from which they profit pay fees or royalties to the state. Nestlé and other bottled-water users say it is unfair to single them out from all the public and private water users who extract what the Department of Environmental Protection estimates is four billion gallons of spring water from Florida's aquifers each day.

''I don't see how we're different from the agriculture users which, just a few miles from here, have 30 irrigation pivots draining more water than we are,'' said Rob Fisher, who runs the Blue Springs plant and is director of operations for Nestlé's southwest region.

Bottled water ''isn't a luxury, it's a choice,'' he argues, ``and during times of natural disaster, it's a necessity.''

States, including Vermont and Michigan, already impose user fees on bottled-water companies, while Massachusetts has begun debating a ban on extracting water for commercial uses.

The idea isn't completely new to Florida. In 2005, House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands of Weston proposed legislation imposing a fee on bottled water but the measure was killed in the Senate.

''The water belongs to the people,'' Sands said. ``If you take the people's water, it's about time we compensate them for it.''

Throughout the nation, the bottled water industry is under increasing attack. At the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami last June, mayors adopted a resolution to encourage cities ``to phase out, where feasible, government use of bottled water and promote the importance of municipal water.''

Among the reasons cited: Most cities produce high quality, safe drinking water while bottled-water production consumes 17 million barrels of oil per year and plastic water bottles ''are one of the fastest growing sources of municipal waste.'' The Environmental Protection agency estimates state landfills collect 1.7 billion bottles per year.

The industry fired back, arguing that Environmental Protection reports that production of plastic water bottles contributes only 0.04 percent of total greenhouse-gas emissions and make up only one-third of 1 percent of the waste stream in the United States.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Florida's dire economy has some Republicans also ready to change the rules on bottled water. Sen. Evelyn Lynn, an Ormond Beach Republican, has filed a bill to impose the state's 6-cent sales tax on bottled water at the point of sale.

She considers bottled water a luxury and objects to Florida water managers restricting water use by homeowners when the state is ``handing out permits for major bottling companies to bottle as much as they want.''

A companion bill is being pushed by Rep. Michele Rehwinkle-Vasilinda, a Tallahassee Democrat. Economists say that if the state applies the 6-cent sales tax to every bottle of water consumed in Florida, it could raise about $42 million.

Sen. Thad Altman, a Melbourne Republican who chairs the Senate Finance and Tax Committee, has launched a review of all sales-tax exemptions to determine which should be eliminated, including the exemption on bottled water.

''It would be hard to argue that if you tax bottled water you lose Florida jobs,'' he said. ``Does it impede competition? No. Does removing the tax put Florida business at a disadvantage? I don't think so.''

Nestlé's Fisher argues that water bottling is a clean industry. Nestlé employs 1,000 people statewide. Its plant in Madison County has been certified as the largest ''green'' building operation in Florida, and the plant has won numerous productivity and job-safety awards.

The plant also pays more than $650,000 in property taxes each year, proof that the state is getting something in return for the water, company officials say.

''We're an easy target,'' said Jim McClellan, spokesman for Nestlé's in Florida.

He notes how bottled water has become essential when pipes are ruptured, there's a boil-water order or a hurricane cuts off a community water source.

''It makes no sense to take the healthiest packaged beverage on the market today, subject it to an onerous tax and not apply it to any other beverage,'' McClellan said. Environmentalists disagree.

''Most people won't see this as an unfair tax,'' said Eric Draper of the Florida Audubon Society. ``It makes a lot of sense and we need the money for alternative water supply and pollution treatment.''

State Rep. Will Weatherford, a Wesley Chapel Republican whose district includes Nestlé's Zephyrhills bottling plant, said he believes the House will be less open to imposing new taxes on bottled water than the governor and Senate. ``We want to be careful not to single out any industry.''

Crist, who has carefully avoided being associated with tax increases, could be spared from repercussions on this one, Draper predicts: ``This will be very popular with ordinary people who do see that these companies are taking something for free and putting it in bottles and charging a lot more.''

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at

meklas@miamiherald.com

© 2009 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

St. Pete Times and Miami Herald: a sign of the times? by gimleteye

Yesterday I lamented that readers of The Miami Herald miss important stories in our own backyard published by the St. Pete Times. The immediate example was the story about an environmental consulting firm, B.R.A., that was involved with providing "expert" testimony on federal litigation involving rock mining in West Miami-Dade.

The entire issue of "environmental consultants" in Miami-Dade should have been a focus of Miami Herald scrutiny, going back for years. I suspect it hasn't, because taking a close look at the business of permitting development in environmentally sensitive lands would bring Herald executives too close to the "environmental land use attorneys" and their lobbying practices; like Greenberg Traurig's which would have a hard time standing up to the light of day.

The St. Pete Times doesn't have the same trepidation. Along this line, a story sparks my interest-- that I had missed when it was printed two weeks ago in the Herald-- alerting readers the Herald and the Times are merging their Tallahassee bureaus.

Is this good news or not? I'm not sure. As it is, Herald readers have no clue what their own Dade delegation is doing during the legislative session much less the entire legislature. (The Herald blogs are a better source of news on this front, than the print paper. The annual scorecard on legislator's performance is very weak.)

In the Herald story (reprinted below), "Anders Gyllenhaal... said the team's emphasis will be on producing more enterprise and investigative stories for online and print. Future plans call for a website dedicated to ``issues of statewide importance.'' Perhaps.

It is not a good sign that the Herald's excellent series, "Borrowers Betrayed", failed to follow up the chain of responsibility for the mortgage foreclosure and financial crises engulfing Florida. Even today's story, on Florida's budget crisis and economic slowdown, reminds readers how little the Herald reported of the unsustainable development that engulfed South Florida before the housing market crash did.

It will be interesting to see if The Herald will be as hard-hitting at The St. Pete Times on issues that the Miami paper has been loathe to report; like environmental politics. This leads me to wonder: why stop at Tallahassee-- why not share coverage that of stories in its own backyard that The Herald will not report, but the St. Pete Times will?

Miami Herald, St. Petersburg Times merge Tallahassee bureaus
BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA
BGARCIA@MIAMIHERALD.COM
In another sign of the changing nature of the newspaper business, The Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times will merge their staffs in Tallahassee to cover the state capitol and politics.

The newspapers said their goal is to improve coverage by increasing the size of the staff both newspapers can draw on, avoiding duplication and using resources more efficiently.

Anders Gyllenhaal, the Herald's executive editor, said the team's emphasis will be on producing more enterprise and investigative stories for online and print. Future plans call for a website dedicated to ``issues of statewide importance.''

By joining forces, ''we believe we can create a journalistic powerhouse to cover state issues and Florida government,'' Times Executive Editor Neil Brown said. ``Rather than . . . merely lament that there is less being written about the offices of power in Florida, we wanted to try a fresh, even bold, approach.''

Mary Ellen Klas of The Miami Herald and Steven Bousquet of the Times will alternate leadership of the bureau, which will eventually grow to six persons.

Gyllenhaal admitted the shared leadership between the two bureau chiefs is an experiment and its effectiveness will be evaluated as the partnership moves forward.

The two staffs will be combined in early December.

Traditionally, newspapers in similar markets view themselves as fierce competitors and avoid working together. But as the economy slows and more readers migrate to the Internet, they are increasingly trying new arrangements.

Both newspapers had been reducing staffs to cut costs; The Miami Herald's capitol bureau was cut from three to two reporters in July.

Already, The Miami Herald, Sun Sentinel and Palm Beach Post have a deal that allows them to share routine, breaking-news stories.

Can you put Green in Greenberg Traurig? by gimleteye

It is a little breathless: "CLIMATE CULTURE: SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION A CHALLENGE TO PUSH THE RESET BUTTON ON HOW YOU THINK ABOUT CREATING PROSPERITY: A SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM".

The charitable organization sponsoring the symposium at the Mayfair Hotel and Spa on August 28th, "featuring an exhibition of some of the most important visionaries in sustainability", is Miami-based "Dream in Green"; a start up environmental group that has done a good job reaching into Miami Dade classrooms with information and curriculum like having kids understand their carbon footprint.

But the virtues of inclusivity should not be extended without comment or critique: I can't let the masthead for the event slip by without noting how it is dimmed by the presence of Miami law firm Greenberg Traurig as a sponsor.

Greenberg Traurig is a very large law firm, with offices scattered around the country. Its humble origins were advocating as a black hat on behalf of developers and land speculators in Miami Dade; in particular, municipal zoning and permitting.

In that area of practice, the firm in Miami always exercises its muscle vigorously-- cherishing its black hat image. It was no surprise to me that Jack Abramoff ended his legal and lobbying career in the firm's DC office.

In Miami, one of the least commendable aspects of the prevailing anti-environmental ethic that runs through the county commission is how smart attorneys wield lobbying influence in ways so damaging to the public interest.

Robert Traurig often lead his minions at the county commission podium, strategizing and contributing to battles against civic and conservation groups and their causes.

Now that the housing markets have crashed and zoning applications for suburban sprawl are dead as roadkill, now that condominiums and conversions are flat on their backs, I suppose its time for everyone to be a little dreamy and green, even Greenberg Traurig.

Dear Alfie and Pepe Fanjul: No, nyet, non... by gimleteye

The Fanjuls of Coral Gables and Palm Beach are among the richest farmers in America. The family interests own Florida Crystals/ Flo Sun in lands formerly of the Everglades.

I wouldn't care except that the Fanjul's sugar growing interest in the Everglades Agricultural Area is a home-grown Florida polluter whose influence in the political sphere has contributed to the destruction of millions of acres of publicly owned property and irreplaceable natural resources. What adds to my ire is that in the execution of its business strategy, Fanjul lobbyists and attorneys take maximal positions in defense of the last dime of profit-- even when lands like the 50,000 acre Talisman Farm have been committed to public ownership-- causing years and years of delay.

Watching the recent opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, I couldn't help but feel that Americans could never be organized to perform the way the 2008 Chinese drummers did; with synchronous purpose and intensity. Instead, the American way of doing things is exemplified by Florida Crystal: influence 2008 agencies and their missions and their mandates and their political overlords in ways so that nothing ever works with purpose or synchronicity except that a few people win gold every time Big Sugar flexes its muscles.

Well, that's just democracy some people say. No it is not just "democracy"; it is democracy deformed by special interest influence.

Big Sugar exerts its muscle through campaign contributions, largesse to strategically placed "good" causes, highly placed lobbyists like Jesse Jackson or friends like Alfie's golf partner Bill Clinton, and expense paid trips for the politically connected to family owned resort on the Dominican Republican where the family is also the largest sugar grower, subjecting workers to slave-like conditions it cannot impose on its Florida farms. (check our archive feature, Big Sugar, for more).

Big Sugar's influence is so pervasive (at one point, during the Homestead Air Force Base controversy, a call from a sugar lobbyist to then county commission chairperson Gwen Margolis stopped a planned press conference by citizen opponents at Miami Dade County Hall) it is difficult to say what politician is not in its orbit, although Governor Charlie Crist was certainly NOT Big Sugar's candidate in the last gubernatorial election cycle.

And because Governor Crist was not Big Sugar's candidate, I wondered at once when the deal he triggered to acquire the other major sugar producer, US Sugar and its 187,000 acres, how the Fanjuls would react.

Notwithstanding their recent charm offensive with the mainstream media, (ie. they are "for" everything green, including their new energy plant and future plans to make ethanol from sugarcane grown in the Everglades), the Fanjuls have made very clear their intent to develop the Everglades Agricultural Area; either through massive rock mines, or suburban sprawl matching up to West Palm Beach and Wellington, new power generation plants, or through its plan-- to be considered by the Palm Beach County Commission tomorrow-- for an enormous 10,000 acre inland trans-shipment port to handle the increase in goods traded between the Americas and the Far East.

The Palm Beach Post reports, "Sugar giant Florida Crystals is lobbying to develop an industrial and commercial center about the size of Delray Beach on land it owns south of Lake Okeechobee - right in a proposed pathway for the state's
multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration efforts." (Glades port idea fights for balance, August 10, 2008)

It turns out that the Fanjuls own lands critically important to provide a link between the acres I hope will soon be owned by the public and the Everglades. Billions of dollars will need to be spent configuring the US Sugar lands purchase so that the new purpose--cleansing marshes for pollution caused by Big Sugar mainly-- can shift water around the Fanjul's land. All of the Fanjuls' big development plans will require enormous flood management infrastructure that runs at direct cross-purposes to restoring the Everglades.

In its first pronouncements, the Fanjul interests appeared to put a positive spin on the acquisition of US Sugar by the State. Fanjul representatives indicated that the company was looking forward to evaluating the way that the new deal for the Everglades would work. Given that the old deal for the Everglades, called CERP, also imposed billions of costs (mostly in unworkable technology of using wells tapped into underground aquifers as vertical parking lots for excess rainfall), it was only a matter of time before the muscle flexing would begin.

"Florida Crystals, owned by the Fanjuls of Palm Beach, says water could flow around an inland port at the company's Okeelanta site along U.S. 27, where it operates a mill, refinery, rail spur and biomass power plant. But environmental activists see the port plan as a betrayal -- and a sign that money and politics once again may trump the Everglades. "You're putting something in there before you've decided what you're going to do with the Everglades," said Drew Martin of the Sierra Club. Florida Crystals Vice President Danny Martel said the two projects can coexist. "What we're trying to achieve here is, really, to create a balance between economic development, our sugar operation and the environment," Martel said."

What the state should say to the Fanjul business interests, that want to build the massive inland port, is -- in a single word-- no. Nyet. Non.



Avoid a confrontation over Everglades' future
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Sunday, August 17, 2008

Will saving the Glades economy - if the state buys U.S. Sugar for Everglades restoration - undermine Everglades restoration? The Palm Beach County Commission, which faces the question, is not in a position to decide.

The idea that eco-tourism could compensate for the loss of 1,700 jobs is unrealistic. Eco-tourism can't happen in the Glades until Lake Okeechobee gets healthy. A better, if far from certain, idea is an inland port - a warehouse and distribution hub, fed by shipping. A state study identified a need in South Florida based on cooperation among the Port of Palm Beach, which proposed it, the Port of Miami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.

On Tuesday, West Palm Beach based-Florida Crystals, part of the Fanjul family's sugar conglomerate, will ask Palm Beach County to designate 9,000 acres of company land for an inland port. That land is between the Miami and North New River canals - exactly where the South Florida Water Management District wants to create a huge reservoir to store water from Lake Okeechobee after the buyout of U.S. Sugar. Florida Crystals wants the county to start a yearlong planning review. Any review, though, first should determine if there are better sites outside the flood zone.

Florida Crystals notes that its site already is industrial. On 2,300 of the 9,000 acres are the company's Okeelanta mill and a plant that converts sugar byproducts to energy. An ethanol plant is planned. There are roads, rail lines and a distribution center. Putting an inland port somewhere else, amid cane fields with no roads or rail, the company argues, would be wasteful. Besides, as spokesman Gaston Cantens said, Florida Crystals has no intention of selling or trading its Okeelanta Mill. The reservoir, he insisted, would have to be built around it.

Florida Crystals thus becomes an even bigger part of the U.S. Sugar deal. The water management district, which is buying U.S. Sugar, would like to sell the company's mill and some land to make back some of the state's $1.75 billion cost. Obviously, the state's preferred buyer would be Florida Crystals. The company's interest in the inland port became more public after the U.S. Sugar deal was announced. Florida Crystals may be trying to leverage its position to get the inside track on an inland port - there would be profit in the warehousing and distribution - from the county and favorable consideration from the water district in restoration plans.

Water district administrators must decide if the cost of building a reservoir around the mill outweighs the cost of buying the mill. Because they are still negotiating the purchase of U.S. Sugar, they refuse to address the issue publicly. The district also was silent this year about rock mining in the same area. County commissioners granted U.S. Sugar rock-mining rights that water managers - and taxpayers - may have to pay dearly to wipe out in favor of Everglades restoration. The district's silence on the other big sugar grower appears to be a tacit admission that angering the Fanjuls now would jeopardize Everglades restoration later.

The best outcome would be successful Everglades restoration and a thriving inland port. There may be a way to have both. But Palm Beach County commiting now to the Florida Crystals proposal would set up a premature and possibly needless competition between the Florida environment and the Glades economy. Only a longer, closer look will determine if Florida Crystals has the best site for an inland port.

Crist appointees to South Florida Water Management District, by gimleteye

It is no surprise that appointments to Florida's state agencies charged with protecting the environment are the truest indicator of the governor's mind set on the economy. With two new appointees announced to the governing board of the water management district, Governor Charlie Crist continues to put greater distance between his politics and those of his predecessor, Jeb Bush.

Jeb Bush was propelled to office in 1998 by Miami real estate developers. His ambitions included regulatory reform that would enhance economic growth while also--the theory went--protecting the environment: more protection, less process neatly summed his goals for the environment (turning the phrase into the tag line of the state's lead environmental agency).

Bush appointees to the South Florida Water Management District were all about industry cooperation and voluntary measures against "command and control" policies he imagined to be the legacy of drags on growth that he inherited.

Today the real estate crash has imposed its own desperate laws on the aspirations of the Growth Machine, Florida's only native industry, to pave and set concrete for suburbs from one end of the state to the other, interspersed only by public lands that may or may not survive as natural habitat. (Mitigation really is a bummer.)

The conservative revolution that failed in Washington (except, perhaps, in judicial appointees to the federal bench and the extent to which federal environmental agencies have been thoroughly eviscerated through low-level infiltration of ideologues) was much easier to impose at the scale of the state.

So it goes in politics: the glories of rhetorical and linguistic flights of fancy wielded like political cudgels often have limited, contrary effects to what was originally intended. Especially with the environment.

In Florida—as elsewhere—regulations relating to wetlands, water and other environmentally sensitive lands are the only curb on the Growth Machine. So it comes as no surprise that the real action of government takes place where those regulations are established and funded and enforced.

It is not by coincidence at the school-yard, county level of government that the most hardened, anti-environmental commissioners are assigned to be commission chair. In Miami-Dade, Florida's most populous and politically influential county, commissioners like Joe Martinez and Bruno Barreiro don't get selected to be chairman for sensitivity to the environment.

Natacha Seijas, from Hialeah--the political fortress of Cuban American developers--isn't the continuous chair of the county environment committee because she loves manatees.

County managers, like Steve Shiver, don’t materialize without a reason: they are meant to foster what the Growth Machine wants. In the case of Shiver, it was the paving over of the last farmland in Miami Dade County with platted subdivisions during the biggest real estate bubble in a century.

Although Miami Dade is an extreme example of extremists selected to run environmental regulations, this is par for the course. It is also the river that runs through the worst credit crisis in the United States since the Great Depression.

This is not a point of view, of course, that you will read in state's mainstream newspapers-- preoccupied as they are with the loss of advertising revenue from developers. It is "time to move on", which is exactly how the Florida legislature would have it so no critical analysis would ever be applied to incumbents and their role in the massive errors of judgment that despoiled the Florida landscape.

Through his own appointments to the district governing board, Florida Governor Charlie Crist has proven sensitive to the ways in which the Bush legacy harmed comity, imposing a mean, nasty and vindictive layering on predations of an industry gone wild.

Today's Miami Herald notes the undercurrent of disappointment that replacements for the two Cuban American governing board members appointed by Bush, well-connected to the development and agriculture industries like Big Sugar, were not carefully matched by Crist.

But Crist gave the Growth Machine an appointee who runs part of the Disney operation-- what bluer chip symbol than that, to assuage the concerns of the Growth Machine? And he appointed a Miami graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School-- presumably as adapt at balancing competing interests as Crist's appointed chair of the governing board, Eric Buermann.

No doubt Miami Cuban American developers are disappointed. So, too, the dynastic ambitions of former Governor Jeb Bush. In their extreme zeal to promote unsustainable growth, they've done enough to impose massive costs on the state of Florida and the nation. Let them now tend to their cash flows.

Big Sugar, choking on carbon... by gimleteye

Everybody has to be green these days, including the worst polluter of the Everglades, Big Sugar.

When, a few years ago, the Fanjul sugar interests began to market a brand of their sugar as "environmentally friendly" you could be forgiven for grabbing the barf bag. Sugar's phosphorous pollution of the Everglades is an expanding disaster, wrapping up the entire chain of government agencies, wetlands, and environmental groups in the nastiest form of greenwashing. It couldn't get nastier, could it?

Well...

Recently, Florida Crystals proclaimed that it had been deemed "carbon neutral" according to the same accreditation institute called CarbonFund.org that makes you feel better about polluting ways. You can read for yourself, the entire spin, below.

What you will read, in part, is this:
The Carbonfree(R) product certification entails four main steps:
-- Determine the product's carbon footprint through a life cycle assessment (LCA)
-- Displace the product's footprint through greenhouse gas reduction
-- Certify and register the product as Carbonfree(R)
-- Conduct annual review and recertification

Now, the life cycle assessment-- inquiring minds want to know of the Fanjul's claim-- does that include all the energy costs of running the South Florida water management system in order to drive water both into and from sugar fields?

Does it include the life cycle costs of operating all the pumps and machinery and drills required by Big Sugar's forcing of Everglades restoration into ASR (aquifer storage and recovery wells) from here to Kingdom Come?

There is no correct assessment of sugar's carbon footprint without incorporating those costs.

I'm sure that the Fanjul family interests and its spin-masters like Joanna Wragg, of Wragg and Casas, or Seth Gordon will have answers for our blog. I'm also sure that if these costs aren't included in the carbon footprint assessment by "Europe's premier carbon management consultants, Edinburg Center for Carbon Management", an explanation will be forthcoming.

Because we all want to be environmentally conscious, don't we?

Florida Crystals Corporation and Carbonfund.org Announce First and Only Carbonfree(R) Organic and Natural Sugars

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. and SILVER SPRING, Md., March 25 /PRNewswire/ --
Florida Crystals Corporation and Carbonfund.org today announce the launch
of Florida Crystals(R) Carbonfree(R) Organic and Natural sugars, offering
premium sweeteners to environmentally-conscious consumers who care about
sustainability and eco-friendly practices.

Florida Crystals(R) Carbonfree(R) Organic and Natural sugar products
are the first American sugar products certified Carbonfree(R) by
Carbonfund.org.

The certification was earned after a rigorous life cycle assessment
(LCA) performed by Europe's premier carbon management consultants, Edinburg
Center for Carbon Management. They determined each product's complete
carbon footprint by assessing the primary inputs of planting and growing
the sugar cane, through the harvesting, milling and packaging processes, to
the product's final delivery to store shelves. The Carbonfree(R) label
indicates each product's carbon footprint was rendered neutral through
greenhouse gas cutting measures, specifically, through Florida Crystals'
production of renewable energy.

"Florida Crystals(R) certification is unique," said Luis Fernandez,
Florida Crystals' Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
"Unlike other manufacturers who rely on the purchase of carbon credits from
third parties, we are able to provide our products' carbon neutrality
through our own production of renewable electricity. We have a strong
commitment to the environment and continue to invest in the expansion of
our renewable energy program. We are proud to receive the Carbonfree(R)
certification."

The Carbonfree(R) product certification entails four main steps:
-- Determine the product's carbon footprint through a life cycle
assessment (LCA)

-- Displace the product's footprint through greenhouse gas reduction

-- Certify and register the product as Carbonfree(R)

-- Conduct annual review and recertification

Florida Crystals has been operating its renewable energy facility for a
decade. It is the largest of its kind in North America and produces clean
energy that powers its sugar operations and tens of thousands of homes. By
generating renewable energy using sugar cane and wood waste instead of
fossil fuels, Florida Crystals prevents hundreds of thousands of tons of
CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year. Florida Crystals also reduces
foreign oil dependence by one million barrels per year.

"Carbonfree(R) certification and labeling is the next big trend in
environmentally responsible living," Carbonfund.org Executive Director Eric
Carlson said. "Florida Crystals is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and
increasing awareness among consumers of the impact their buying decisions
have on the planet. We're very proud to work with Florida Crystals for a
better environment."

A new study by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) shows roughly half of
all consumers now consider questions of sustainability in their purchasing
decisions, with particular focus on the food and beverage industry.

Florida Crystals(R) Carbonfree(R) Organic and Natural sugar products
are marketed by Domino Foods, Inc.

About Carbonfund.org

Carbonfund.org is the country's leading carbon reduction and offset
organization, making it easy and affordable for individuals, businesses and
organizations to reduce their climate impact. Carbon offsets enable
individuals and businesses to reduce carbon dioxide emissions they are
responsible for in their everyday lives by supporting high-quality verified
renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects.
Carbonfund.org works with over 600 corporate and non-profit partners
including Discovery, Allstate, Volkswagen, Dell, Orbitz, Environmental
Defense, and Lancome.

About Florida Crystals

Florida Crystals is a leading domestic sugar producer and North
America's first fully integrated cane sugar company guiding its sugar from
the field to the table with Florida Crystals(R) natural and organic brands.
Florida Crystals(R) is made from pure sun-sweetened sugar cane but it's
"less refined" than traditional sugar, so it delivers a flavor that's
unique and absolutely delicious. To learn more about our Carbonfree(R)
certification and our earth- friendly practices, visit us at
http://www.floridacrystals.com.

Contacts:
Gary Black, Florida Crystals/Domino Foods, Inc.
614-741-4488

Gaston Cantens, Florida Crystals Corporation
561-248-1953

Russell Simon, Carbonfund.org
240-334-3681

SOURCE Florida Crystals Corporation

Everybody's Green! by gimleteye

Have you noticed how everybody's green?

Mayor Manny Diaz is hosting Earth Hour Miami on March 24th. Whatever that means.

How about more parks and better maintained parks in Miami, Mayor Diaz? That would be very green thing.

South Florida Business Journal announces, "Green Building gala: 'We have arrived'". How about supporting an end to suburban sprawl, green builders of Miami?

Here is more green: the unreformable majority of the county commission votes in April to reject all the applications to move the Urban Development Boundary.

County manager George Burgess fires department heads of environmental agencies who have embarrassed the county by allowing high risk to our drinking water supply.

County Mayor Carlos Alvarez announces he will propose tough new sanctions against rock miners, including a requirement that they pay up front all the costs for a new water treatment plant and ongoing maintenance expenses due to the impacts of their highly profitable industry on our water supply.

The Latin Builders Association adopts as its mascot, Natacha the Manatee, and establish a green educational fund for the YMCA to offer after-school programs in environmental awareness.

When that happens, it is fangless as a 14 year old dog.



Green building gala: 'We have arrived'

by Paul Brinkmann
South Florida Business Journal
Friday, March 21, 2008

The South Florida chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council celebrated a
banner year on March 15 with GalaVerde, a mostly black (and green)-tie affair
at the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens in Fort Lauderdale.

The chapter is the biggest local organization promoting environmental design
and energy conservation in construction. Members help certify buildings and
professionals under the Leadership in Environment and Energy Design (LEED)
program.

More than 300 people attended the $100-a-ticket gala, from business owners
to local mayors and other VIPs. Attendees wore green and blue lights on their
nametags, like fireflies in the garden area.

Chapter President Rob Hink addressed the crowd at about 9 p.m. He noted
the tripling of membership - to about 600 last year -- and the more than 400
LEED-registered projects in Florida. At the current pace, Florida in a few
years will pass states like Illinois and Georgia, which currently have more
LEED buildings.

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/03/24/story16.html

For Demagogue of the Year: Ed Swift of Key West by gimleteye

It’s too early to vote for demagogue of the year. But we can collect candidates.

Last year was a banner year for demagogues in Miami and Miami-Dade county: any county commissioner qualifies who professed heartfelt concern for water supply, incorporated in the 20 year consumptive use permit from the state that took more than four years to negotiate because the county had so seriously lagged in its obligations under the law, yet voted to move the Urban Development Boundary, or, city commissioner who voted build more condos on the bay—like the Related Group’s at Mercy Hospital.

Take note, Miami Mayor Diaz—Vice President of and 2008 host of the US Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Miami. The authoritative source on “greenwashing” (a sub-heading, of demagoguery) is Harry Emilio Gottlieb, who on Earth Day 2007 wrote on the blog, transitmiami:



Mayor Diaz has almost single-handedly been the driving force for the over building and glut of unnecessary homes, condos and offices in our community. This has resulted in the total disregard for our zoning codes, destruction of neighborhoods, disrespect for citizens, increased traffic, increased demand on potable water, electricity, sewage and flood control systems.

Today, Diaz will host an invitation-only environmental event -- the PODER New America Alliance Green Forum. The forum was initially planned for Miami City Hall but was relocated to the Miami Museum of Science Planetarium because the list of attendees kept growing. Those attendees include Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Wal-Mart Vice President Andrew Ruben, and the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker himself -- former Vice President Al Gore.”
I wonder how many VIP’s will be fighting over the front row seats at this “Hot Ticket” event. With all of those many folks responsible for spot-zoning, up-zoning, variances and special permits, which include developers, lobbyists, attorneys, City of Miami and Miami-Dade County elected officials, it cold get petty nasty fighting over those precious front row seats.
The reason for all of this "Going Green" is because that is the color of money.

Who remembers that Gore never showed up, because of the controversy over Uribe’s appearance? But memory is important. Otherwise these fine details disappear in the crush of events, a fine segue to today’s candidate for demagogue of the year, Key West businessman, Chamber of Commerce mouth piece, and Growth Machine representative, Ed Swift III.

On Feb 15, The Miami Herald letters page featured Mr. Swift’s, “Apply wastewater rules equally”.

Mr. Swift raps Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties for shipping its pollution to the Keys waters. Here is an excerpt: “How does it make any sense that our nearest neighbors continue with seeming impunity to dump their waste into the same waters that our national marine sanctuary purports to protect and that we in the Keys are required to protect by meeting strict waste-disposal criteria?” (the full text of the Swift letter is re-printed, below)

Mr. Swift is as correct about our abuses of water quality as Mayor Diaz is right in the elements he supports for greening Miami. But actions belie words.

In his business career, Mr. Swift and his pro-growth nonsense single-handedly turned a charming city into a mess of a cruise port, with all the attendant infrastructure woes that have piled up on taxpayers and the environment in Key West. This is not hyperbole. (For the curious, the record is well documented.)

His business is the Conch Tour Train. In managing to secure a monopoly (subject of a massive lawsuit for which the City is liable) carrying tourists from cruise ships, Mr. Swift built a business empire that deformed Key West.

Florida's most historic, small town --famous for its quirks and beauty--was transformed by Mr. Swift’s domination of business councils and the city commission, into another low-end cruise ship destination, filled with money-laundering T-shirt operators.

But there is more: Mr. Swift has been one of the key anti-environmental voices in Monroe County. In the 1980’s, Swift enforced through proxies in political office his conviction that protecting the environment was not only bad for business—his—but inimical to taxpayers and all freedom-loving Americans. It was the kind of bullshit that took root in Florida in the 1980's and has been harder to root out than Brazilian pepper.

Anything to do with the environment he perceived as a threat to his business, including the national marine sanctuary and the designation of the Keys as a state area of critical state concern. So, to see Mr. Swift's opinion featured in The Miami Herald, deserves note.

For Mr. Swift’s mean-spiritedness, exercised against the public interest in defense of private profit like a cat toying with a mouse, and his apparent senior conversion to concern for the environment, Mr. Swift is hereby nominated to our new category, “Demagogue of the Year”. Congratulations, Mr. Swift: we’re following you all the way.

Here is the text of Mr. Swift's LTE:

I have written two previous letters concerning the 300 million plus gallons of lightly treated sewage pumped into the ocean each day by Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The Keys' ecosystems are being bombarded by other people's waste -- from this toxic effluent that returns to near-shore waters and makes its way to the Florida Keys to the nutrient-rich fresh water runoff from the Everglades that pours into Florida Bay.
Meanwhile, Keys residents are being mandated to remove their septic tanks, replacing them with central-sewer systems and advanced wastewater treatment to ensure the continued health of our near shore waters and reefs. If we do not reach these standards by a 2010 deadline, our limited building permits will be further reduced, and other sanctions such as moratoriums on construction will most certainly be imposed.
Miami-Dade announced a $2.9 billion plan to build a new Marlins stadium, a port tunnel and other projects. Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward continue to build thousands of residential and commercial units, ensuring that more millions of gallons of toxic wastewater will be pumped into the ocean.
How does it make any sense that our nearest neighbors continue with seeming impunity to dump their waste into the same waters that our national marine sanctuary purports to protect and that we in the Keys are required to protect by meeting strict waste-disposal criteria?
Would it be too much to request that our state Department of Environmental Protection, NOAA -- the federal agency responsible for our sanctuary programs -- as well as the governor, Cabinet and our South Florida Regional Planning Council require Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward to meet the same water-quality thresholds that we must?
Isn't it reasonable that, like us, they would meet a timetable to clean up their mess and that sanctions for their failure to do so reflect the same reaction from the state and the federal governments? Why shouldn't they be required to enact moratoriums on growth and building until they come into compliance? In fact, why shouldn't Miami-Dade be put under the state's ''critical concern'' legislation?
The cost to clean up Miami-Dade's sewage outfall is $1 billion, one-third the cost of the proposed mega deal to build the ball park-tunnel-museum project. What are our state agencies' priorities? Does their concern for the environment stop at the Monroe County line?
EDWARD SWIFT III, Key West

Sleeping with the Enemy: Audubon practices greenwashing by geniusofdespair

The St. Joe company is being greenwashed courtesy of the Audubon Society. JOE and The National Audubon Society have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create The Audubon Center at West Bay being designed as the gateway to the West Bay Preservation Area. The Joe Company recently had their groundbreaking ceremony for their new 75,000 acre airport which would service the mega-developments they want to create. From what appears to be a press release found on Pr-inside.com:

"JOE and Audubon are also seeking to join with progressive strategic partners to explore the feasibility of creating a world-class environmental educational venue," said Rummell. "This nature center would offer a unique opportunity for environmental organizations, corporations and citizens to build a consensus about how we can live, work and play in a greener world."

Get me a barf bag.

I just found a clip on You Tube of Audubon’s Lobbyist, Eric Draper, speaking at the groundbreaking of the St. Joe airport.

Eric dismisses me, he treats me like a pillar: You know it is there because you have to walk around it. He has seen me dozens of times once in a room with half a dozen people for hours, but I am still just a pillar. I don't even get a nod. Too bad I don't have St. Joe tatooed to my forehead, I would get manly handshakes.

Want some idea of what goes on: Go to You Tube FPL’s River of Gas (at second counter 02:20, see what they say about Eric Draper). It is no wonder Draper tried to undermine these activists against FP&L, I heard they have someone from Florida Power and Light on the Audubon Board.

Speaking of Audubon’s Eric Draper, Washington Post’s Michael Grunwald, reported (in an article written June 26, 2002 about the Everglades):

"Critics such as Browder -- a former Audubon official -- accuse Audubon of shilling for a deeply flawed plan, providing cover to anti-environmental politicians to maintain a seat at a stacked negotiating table. Audubon officials say they are aware of the plan's shortcomings, but can address them more by working with project leaders than by accusing them of bad faith. Of all the groups in the coalition, Audubon has the most people, money and access to policymakers; Eric Draper, its lobbyist in Tallahassee, believes other groups resent its influence."

"People are going to criticize me for hanging out with Republicans and wearing a suit, but I have to be as good as the sugar industry's lobbyist," Draper said. "When you're the lead organization and you get stuff done, people get angry with you."

Barf bag again.

Later in the article Grunwald reported:

“This spring, the tensions within Florida's environmental movement exploded after Audubon helped engineer a bill ensuring state bonds for Everglades restoration. The problem was that GOP legislators had tacked on language limiting the ability of citizen groups to block development permits. Audubon cut a deal to water down the permit language -- which will not affect Audubon -- but supported the overall bill. More than 100 local groups urged Gov. Jeb Bush to veto the compromise. He didn't, and many environmentalists blame Audubon.”

Yes, you might say this was 2002 but Draper is still there doing his thing in the present with St. Joe: "shilling" and "greenwashing"... the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Readers: Here is a definition of greenwashing because it is going to become more prevalent now that everyone is going green. It is a pejorative term that environmentalists and other critics use to describe the activity of giving a positive public image to putatively environmentally unsound practices. The term first arose in the early 1990s. Environmental groups that accept perks (nature centers for instance) for lending their name to companies doing un-environmental activities are greenwashing the offending company.