The SC Florida Waste Minimization Team has been busy creating materials for you to use to educate the public on the waste problems in Florida. You can download the following handouts:

Virginia Key Update

GHOST OF TEDDY ROOSEVELT influenced Virginia Key Master Plan delay. The Miami City Commission voted 4-0 to defer Virginia Key Master Plan until May, 2010. This gives more time to public input and the opportunity to develop a plan that preserves the ecology, cultural and historic assets and beauty of the island. Miami Commissioner Tomas Regalado invoked the memory of conservation president Teddy Roosevelt to make his decision. "What would Roosevelt say?" Regalado asked, recounting the conservation president who created five national parks during his tenure. “I think he would say, if you want to make money from Virginia Key you don’t develop the place. There’s nothing else like this.” Regalado said preserving the island’s beauty and nature and restoring the Marine Stadium would bring people from all over the world to Miami, to photograph and visit the unique wilderness island next to a major city. "History will judge what we do with this island. We need to get it right," Regalado said.

Press Release - December 17, 2009

Citing Threats to Florida Panther Habitat, Sierra Club and Conservancy of Southwest Florida Notify Federal Government of Intent to File Legal Challenge

Washington, D.C. – Citing the federal government’s failure to conserve and protect the Florida panther and its habitat, as required under by the Endangered Species Act, the Sierra Club and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida sent a notice letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Department of Interior of their intent to file a legal challenge. The notice gives the federal agencies sixty days to respond.

The letter from the two organizations states that “The Florida panther was listed as endangered in 1967, in large part due to habitat loss. Forty-two years later, the panther still does not have protected critical habitat, even as development continues to accelerate in south Florida. To fulfill its conservation mandate under the ESA [Endangered Species Act], and to avoid violating the basic strictures of the APA [Administrative Procedure Act], FWS must finally designate sufficient critical habitat for the panther.”

On January 21, 2009, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida petitioned FWS with a formal request that it designate three important regions in south Florida as critical habitat. These regions known as the “Primary”, “Secondary”, and “Dispersal” Zones, embrace the core of panther habitat in the region. They extend from the Everglades through the Big Cypress National Preserve to the Caloosahatchee River, including vital migration corridors to South Central Florida, relatively undisturbed core habitat, and areas with important habitat restoration activities and opportunities. A broad coalition of citizen’s groups including the Sierra Club joined the Conservancy in a second petition on July 23, 2009, which reiterated the need to protect the habitat described in the Conservancy petition. FWS has not acted upon the petitions.

“Unfortunately, despite the pressing conservation needs outlined in the petitions,” the Sierra Club and Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in its letter, “FWS has not acted to designate critical habitat and has not responded in the manner and within the time period required by the ESA and the APA. Instead, it has allowed the petitions – and the panther – to continue to languish, even as habitat destruction and other threats to the panther’s survival intensify.”

Only 90-120 Florida panthers remain, but 20 have been killed so far in 2009, including 12 run over by cars.

Florida Springs Rally

Are you saddened that Florida’s springs are becoming polluted and losing their flow? Have you wanted to do something meaningful to help save them? This is a way for you to make a difference.

Legislation to protect Florida’s springs was introduced but failed to pass in each of the last five legislative sessions. This was due, in part, to inadequate public support for meaningful protection. In order to demonstrate public concern for the health of Florida’s springs and support for significant regulatory protection, a special event will be held at the Capitol during a Legislative committee week Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

The event will begin with a Run for Wakulla Spring. Local youth will collect a bottle of water from Wakulla Spring and deliver the water by relay runners from the spring 16 miles to the Capitol. They will arrive at the Capitol at 12:00 noon for the start of the Florida Springs Rally. Their message will be: Save Wakulla Spring for the Next Generation.

The Florida Springs Rally will be attended by delegations of citizens from the major springs and cities in north and central Florida. Prior to the rally, delegates will ask their legislators to attend the rally and meet with them at their Capitol offices. Their message will be Real Legislative Protection in 2010. The event is sponsored by: Florida Federation of Garden Clubs; Friends of Wakulla Spring; 1000 Friends of Florida; Friends of Wekiva River; Audubon of Florida; Save Our Suwannee; Florida Wildlife Federation; Rainbow River Conservation; Sierra Club Florida; Homosassa River Alliance; Florida Defenders of the Environment; Friends of Lower Suwannee River; The Nature Conservancy; St Johns Riverkeeper; Save the Manatee Club; Apalachicola Riverkeeper; North Florida Springs Alliance; Our Santa Fe River; Global Underwater Explorers; Putnam Co. Environmental Council. For more information email florida_springs@comcast.net or call 850-556-3072

Let Nature Rule in Virginia Key Master Plan

Editorial by Bianca Mesa

Virginia Key is not just another piece of real estate. It is one of our community's special places, a sacred space, really, because it is our last, vast open greenness amid a sea of urbanity. We desperately need it to remain so.

Despite years of neglect, there is a power to this place. Much of it is untamed, a place of possibilities not programmed by the hand of man. Here, a dolphin might leap out of a wave or a manatee sidle up to a rower. And deep in the night, sea turtles nest in a ritual as ancient as the sea. Even a cursive glance at the expanse of sky and sea around the island from the top of Rickenbacker Causeway can momentarily take your breath away. It is that achingly beautiful.

When Miami began a master-plan process more than five years ago, I naively thought that once the consultants came to Virginia Key they would be equally inspired. Surely they would design a plan befitting of an island that had bestowed us with such amazing gifts. They didn't. But there is still time to correct that. On Thursday a proposed master plan for Virginia Key will be presented to the City Commission, and it will have an opportunity to weigh in. I'm hoping the commission's definition of ``highest and best use'' for Virginia Key matches mine: open spaces -- green forests and blue waterways, the kind of silence that lets the you hear the wind whisper, the flutter of bird wings, the ripple of incoming tides. Less is more when it comes to Virginia Key. Minimize concrete. Respect the wildlife. Preserve the views. Give people access to the waterfront.

We can't let this jewel languish amid the jumble of decay and commercial clutter it has become when no one was looking. For starters, we need to clean up the place. Plant a few trees. Park a few benches where the views are terrific and the salty breezes blow sweetly. Then we can sit down awhile and take it all in, in silence. Minimize the concrete. Respect the wildlife. Preserve the views. Give people access to the waterfront. Nature has a way of taking care of itself. If we just get out of its way.

June, 2009 - FPL Quietly Plans for Nuclear Reactor Waste Storage

FPL is seeking to construct a storage facility in Miami-Dade County. They are trying to get it done without any zoning hearings or study. The Sierra Club Miami Group is asking for the Dept of Planning and Zoning to look into this matter. Here is the letter to the Director which voices our concerns.

TO: Marc C. LaFerrier, Director, Department of Planning & Zoning
It has come to our attention that Florida Power & Light (FPL) needs to construct a long-term storage facility, for high-level nuclear reactor waste, in Miami-Dade County. We believe that this is a zoning issue and should be handled as such so that public health, safety, and environmental issues can be studied and discussed.

It is true that Yucca Mountain, Nevada, was to be the national repository for nuclear reactor waste, but there are currently many problems with it. The position taken by President Obama is that a national repository at Yucca Mountain is no longer an option. This means that nuclear reactor waste will be stored in Miami-Dade County for many, many years, possibly forever. President Obama will give each state an opportunity to find its own solution for the interim storage of nuclear reactor waste. Complicating the storage issue is climate change and sea level rise. It seems the Nuclear Regulator Commission (NRC) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) have neither the rules nor the willingness to adequately address these important issues in their permitting procedures.

The Sierra Club, Miami Group urges you to decide that the construction of a long-term nuclear reactor waste storage facility is indeed a zoning issue. Such a decision would start a normal process for addressing important public health, safety, and environmental issues.

• How long will the casks (or vaults) stay at Turkey Point?
• Will the State of Florida provide an interim nuclear reactor waste storage facility?
• Can casks (or vaults) be transported?
• Will access roads to Turkey Point be flooded before the nuclear reactor waste is removed?
• What are predicted consequences of climate change and sea level rise for the Turkey Point area?
• How can the nuclear reactor waste storage facility be made safer?
• What mitigation would be appropriate?

We urge you to pursue a transparent zoning process where there can be contributions to a necessary base of information from the county staff, the FDEP, the NRC, FPL, the County's Climate Change Advisory Task Force, the public, and other interested parties. Respectfully submitted, The Executive Committee, Sierra Club, Miami Group

FPL Announces Plans for Two New Nuclear Reactors at Turkey Point

FPL is seeking approval to expand the Turkey Point site by two new reactor units by 2025. This would make it one of the largest sites in the Southeast. Forgetting all the issues with nuclear waste and the supervision and measuring of the existing aging reactors, these units need fresh water for cooling. So much water that it is an obvious question in these drought years, where are they going to get the water?

Mark Oncavage, Conservation Chair for the Miami Sierra Club was interviewed by the Miami Herald and was quoted as saying " That is one of the biggest problems I see, there is not enough water to build it." Mark has been the Energy Chair for the local Sierra Club for many years and testified at many of the hearings on the workings at Turkey Point. Over the years, issues of waste storage, security, and hurricane protection for the aging nuclear plant have all been in the news.

Everglades - US Sugar land acquisition and the Florida Legislature.

March, 2009. SFWMD will make yet another presentation on its purchase of 180,000 acres of US Sugar land to the Senate Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee March 17, 2009.

The legislature does not have direct input on whether the US Sugar land deal goes through or not as the contract is between SFWMD and US Sugar. However, the legislature can change the rules that affect the Water Management Districts and the funding that they receive for other projects. This gives legislators leverage over the WMDs in this situation.

The US Sugar land deal is dependent on SFWMD receiving permission to issue bonds to come up with the $1.34 billion needed to complete the purchase. They have gone to the court to “validate” the bonding process. The court is devoting Monday – Wednesday of the third week in March to hearings on the issue.

Our Drinking Water and the Lakebelt Issue - We Have a Victory!

Rock Mining is an unfortunate fact of life in South Florida. What should not be, is having mining contaminate our drinking water. We knew we were in for a fight when the the industry successfully got everyone to refer to the string of giant open mining pits as a "Lake Belt". The public had another setback when the county passed an ordinance saying rock mining companies no longer needed to hold public hearings to get new permits. For 10 years we have been in a legal battle in Federal Court with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just to get them to obey the environmental laws when permitting these mining operations. But, now, we have a winner.