Tallahassee lobbyists target Palm Beach County's moratorium on limestone mines

[seafan]

Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Under Florida's swamps, forests and cane fields lie crucial materials for the construction of roads, bridges, houses and shopping centers. And a fight has begun in the state Legislature over how -- and whether -- to extract them.
Hoping to tap vast underground deposits of limestone and sand, state legislators have proposed bills that would overturn Palm Beach County's moratorium on new limestone mines and set up a commission to find ways to extract more of these construction materials from other parts of the state.

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Supporting the bills are Associated Industries of Florida, which is the state's main business lobby, the sugar industry and the Florida Department of Transportation. It says the state could face a construction-materials crisis if a judge shuts down the Miami-Dade County mines.

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"It's another way you lose habitat," said Eric Draper, lobbyist for Audubon of Florida. "You can't regrow trees. The mining pits they leave behind aren't very environmentally friendly."

In a preliminary survey, the state Transportation Department identified a major untapped deposit of limestone on the Lake Wales Ridge, an area known for rare plants and animals, such as the Florida scrub-jay.

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[seafan]

1. Grpahic of location of limestone mines/sand deposits in FL

(Included in the article)

[madrchsod]

2. someday all that land will be salt water lakes

i may be wrong but it seems to be an inordinate amount of idiots in florida.

[seafan]

3. These republicans are also aggressively pursuing stripping local control of wetland protection

Another FL Republican House assault on Florida's environment:

Bill would threaten wetlands, critics say

BY JIM ASH
FLORIDA TODAY

April 2, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Lawmakers, urged on by developers, are proposing to strip local governments of their power to protect wetlands, environmentalists and critics warn.
"This would be a huge step backward for wetlands protection in Florida," Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, said Friday. "We're spending millions and billions of dollars to restore the Everglades, and this is just a total contradiction."

Sponsors of the measure, including Rep. Will Kendrick, R-Carrabelle, say they just want to strike a blow for common sense in a Byzantine growth management process.

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The amendment goes a step further, banning local governments from creating or enforcing wetland regulatory programs, "except through the delegation of the state environmental resource program."

Locals already have the power to enact stricter protections than the state, and that wouldn't change, argues Frank Matthews, a lobbyist for the Association of Florida Community Developers and the Florida Home Builders Association.
"This amendment has been misunderstood and misrepresented," Matthews said. "We've always said raise the bar as high as you like. Just give us one bar."

But local governments don't have the money or the employees to re-create the state's massive regulatory program, Randolph said.
"Technically, they could still have stricter regulations," he said. "But in practicality, and reality, this would do away with local control."

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We absolutely must find a way to purge every single right wing extremist Republican in the 2008 election.