Articles by: Allie Preston
Call this the calm before the storm. Take a look around at the waterways where you live. They look pretty good, right? After an appropriately dry dry season, many oft-turbid waterways are clear and blue. In some regions seagrass is…
Ding dong, the bill is dead. On June 8 Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he’d vetoed notorious Senate Bill 2508, the worst environmental bill out of Tallahassee this year. SB 2508 was a toxic mixture of dirty politics and terrible policy,…
Out-of-control development, poor water quality, dead seagrass and dying manatees were not inevitable in Florida. It didn’t have to be this way. But it IS this way due to specific decisions made by elected leaders and bureaucratic officials who act…
Florida’s powerful sugar industry spends millions to buy influence in the halls of power. Today begins a new campaign to make that money toxic. In conjunction with a broad array of environmental groups, companies and political leaders on both the…
On the first Earth Day in 1970, organizers said the goal was to “shake the political establishment out of its lethargy.” Fifty-two years later in Florida, we’ve still got a long way to go. Already this year, toxic blue-green algae…
What’s it going to be, Governor? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has styled himself as a Teddy Roosevelt Republican, a conservative who makes a point of conserving our natural environment. And he’s done some good things: He’s steered massive amounts of…
Wilton Simpson has more clout than virtually any other elected official in Florida. And Big Sugar has greased the skids in his ascent to power. Simpson, often referred to as “a Trilby egg farmer” (in truth he runs a multi-million…
If you ever wanted proof our public servants in Tallahassee think little of you — and even less of your clean-water concerns — we invite you to watch the replay of the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee in action on Feb.…
There’s a heist afoot. But you can do something to stop it. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is nearing the completion of the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual, the new “playbook” which will govern how the lake is managed…
The Florida Legislature has convened in Tallahassee, which should make every fan of clean water shudder. Actually there are several good bills under consideration this year, from measures to adopt more recommendations from the state’s Blue-Green Algae Task Force to…