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David Guest

Amendment 1 lawsuit may rev up after Session

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environment

A lawsuit over the state’s environmental funding under a new constitutional amendment is expected to resume now that the annual Session is in lawmakers’ rear-view mirror. An array of environmental advocacy groups had filed suit over the Water and Land Legacy Amendment, also known as Amendment 1. The constitutional change, approved by voters in 2014, mandates state spending for land and water conservation. The amendment, which needed a minimum of 60 percent to pass, got a landslide of nearly 75 percent, or…

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Plaintiffs will combine forces in Amendment 1 lawsuit

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Plaintiffs challenging the state’s environmental funding under a new constitutional amendment agreed to join forces Monday. An array of environmental advocacy groups had filed suit over the Water and Land Legacy Amendment, also known as Amendment 1. The constitutional change, approved by voters in 2014, mandates state spending for land and water conservation. But advocates, including Florida Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club, say lawmakers wrongly appropriated money for, among other things, “salaries and ordinary expenses of state agencies” tasked with…

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Earthjustice, enviro groups slap Legislature with Amendment 1 lawsuit

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Shortly after filing suit against the Florida Legislature for allegedly “misappropriating” some $300 million in public funds and failing to comply with the state Constitution, environmental advocacy group Earthjustice held a conference call where it told reporters that lawmakers have willfully ignored the will of the voters — and their legal obligations. “We don’t think what the Legislature did meets the constitutional test,” said Florida Wildlife Federation President Manley Fuller, listed as a plaintiff in the 10-page complaint before the Leon County…

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Debate on House water bill moves to Senate

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Environmental groups continued Wednesday to criticize a House water bill in advance of a Senate committee workshop while an industry group said the legislation offers a statewide approach to Florida’s water needs. HB 7003 recognizes the Central Florida Water Initiative in state law while eliminating a South Florida Water Management District farm permitting program for Lake Okeechobee in favor of agricultural “best management practices.” It requires the setting of minimum flows for springs simultaneously with setting recovery goals, which environmentalists…

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Earthjustice, Florida Dems slam Rick Scott over ‘ban’ on ‘climate change’

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Democrats and some environmentalists blasted Gov. Rick Scott on Monday after a weekend news report that Florida Department of Environmental Protection employees had been banned from using the term climate change or global warming after he took office in 2011. The report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting appeared in the Tampa Bay Times and was referenced in The Washington Post and The Atlantic. The report said the  policy was unwritten but was “distributed verbally statewide” through the department of 3,200 employees. The report said four…

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Florida environmentalists slam New York Times’ Everglades story critical of Charlie Crist

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WUSF’s Scott Finn has a must-read report in response to a recent New York Times investigation questioned the price tag, environmental value and the politics of the deal with U.S. Sugar to restore the Everglades. But several environmental activists say the New York Times allowed itself to be used as a tool of Crist’s enemies. The headline on the New York Times website sums it up: “A Deal to Save the Everglades Could Rescue U.S. Sugar Instead.” The story has…

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Florida environmentalists slam New York Times’ Everglades story critical of Charlie Crist

in Statewide by

WUSF’s Scott Finn has a must-read report in response to a recent New York Times investigation questioned the price tag, environmental value and the politics of the deal with U.S. Sugar to restore the Everglades. But several environmental activists say the New York Times allowed itself to be used as a tool of Crist’s enemies. The headline on the New York Times website sums it up: “A Deal to Save the Everglades Could Rescue U.S. Sugar Instead.” The story has…

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