wetlands

Conservationists have a 5-amendment rights of nature ballot drive going on right now. This is the third in a series looking at each of the rights of nature amendments. Today's story is about the Florida Wetlands Protection Amendment.

Chuck O'Neal, chairman of the Florida Rights of Nature Network, discusses the impact five amendments to the Florida constitution will have across the state.

The Rights of Nature initiative was overwhelmingly passed by Orange County voters last fall. Now, activists statewide are hoping to get not just one, but five Rights of Nature constitutional amendment changes on the ballot in 2022.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, and three of his four Florida Cabinet members, rejected a judge's order that found Miami-Dade County plans for the highway failed to comply with state growth laws.

Rather than relaxing during their spring break, some University of South Florida students are organizing to stop the college from seeking proposals to develop a golf course and forest preserve near the Tampa campus.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce and a major developers’ group are seeking to intervene in a high-stakes lawsuit over a move by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to shift permitting authority to the state for projects that affect wetlands.

The groups say Florida's application was riddled with errors and fast-tracked to get a decision before the Trump Administration leaves office.

Earthjustice said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to follow the rule-making process for transferring permitting authority used in Michigan and New Jersey.

The historic rise of South Florida sugarcane farming turned the giant Lake Okeechobee into a toilet for polluted waters draining from as far as Central Florida and flushing ruinously via canals to coastal estuaries at Fort Myers and Stuart.

Environmentalists argue the move would reduce protections for wetlands.

The cause of the decline and death of the Apalach is far more complex than just climate change.

Supporters say it will help reduce duplication over state and federal permitting and give Florida more control.