News & Public Affairs

Charter, private fishing boats may be regulated separately listen

11/08/10 Kate Bradshaw
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Tags: Gulf of Mexico, fisheries, environment, Tampa Bay, NOAA, Ocean Conservancy

Florida is dubbed the fishing capital of the world, but overfishing has threatened this key industry for years. Charter fishing boat operators, environmental groups, and other stakeholders are meeting in Tampa this week to discuss a policy that may change the way fishing is regulated.

The concept is called "sector separation." It would result in a separate set of rules for those who, say, fish off bridges or their own boats, and those who make a living taking people out on charter boats. E...

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Feinberg says geographic proximity to oil impact will not play role in compensation listen

10/04/10 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Gulf oil spill, BP, environment, Kathy Castor, Kenneth Feinberg

Kenneth Feinberg announced today that geographic proximity to oil-impacted areas will no longer play a role in whether people can get compensated for losses from the BP oil disaster.

The administrator of the compensation fund had previously said that distance from oiled beaches would be taken into account. But he has reversed that decision after hearing from angry Gulf residents.

Governor Charlie Crist released a statement saying, “Removing physical proximity from the criteria for claim...

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Science in Cuba: how is it different than in U.S.? listen

09/29/10 Kate Bradshaw
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Tags: Cuba, Cuba-US relations, embargo, environment, Gulf of Mexico

Science in the US looks a little different from one of its closest neighbors.

Luis Barerras works for Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment. Speaking through translator Fernando Trelles, a researcher with Miami Beach–based Ocean Foundation, Barerras says relations between the US and Cuba have improved recently in terms of science, but they still aren’t exactly ideal.

Barerras says he’d like to see stronger relations between the two governments’ scientific arms because b...

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Hillsborough County hosts "Art of Sustainability" forum listen

09/17/10 Joshua Lee Holton
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Tags: sustainability, energy, environment, conservation, efficiency

Hillsborough County is looking for ways to get greener as environmental awareness and sustainability grow ever more popular in marketing and politics. Local planning officials and businesses proposed ways to make the region more sustainable this morning at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Tampa. It was the 2nd annual “Art of Sustainability” forum called E3: Energy, Environment, and Economics. County Commissioner Rose Ferlita said that the region will begin to look at its o...

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Citizens express concern over dispersants at town hall meeting listen

08/04/10 Matthew Cimitile
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Tags: environment, oil spill, alternative energy, politics

The Obama administration’s person in charge of Gulf Coast restoration visited St. Petersburg last night to receive citizens’ input. Many citizens used the forum to express concern and frustration about the heavy use of dispersants on the oil and to push the administration in developing clean energy in the region.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus visited St. Petersburg last night to receive Gulf coast citizen’s input towards President Obama’s long-term Gulf restoration plan. Many citizens u...

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Hillsborough Commissioners vote not to ban fertilizer use in summer listen

07/15/10 Matthew Cimitile
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Tags: fertilizer, fertilizer ordinance, environment, water

Hillsborough County Commissioners voted 5-2 this morning not to ban the use of fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus during the summer rainy season. They made their decision in their role as the board of the Environmental Protection Commission in front of an audience filled with fertilizer representatives and environmentalists.

After months of debates and delays, Hillsborough County Commissioners decided not to follow the precedent set by Sarasota and Pinellas Counties. Hillsbor...

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Three feet of muck lines portions of Tampa Bay floor listen

06/18/10 Kate Bradshaw
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Tags: environment, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, water quality, fertilizer, fertilizer ordinance, Hillsborough County Commission, Pinellas Board of County Commissioners, Tampa Bay Estuary Program

Right now there may not be any crude lapping onto the shores of Tampa Bay, but water quality here has certainly seen better days, especially in the bay’s upper parts. A thick layer of muck covers much of the bottom of upper Tampa Bay, but scientists say there are a couple of easy fixes.

It’s shaping up to be a scorcher as Ed Sherwood, a scientist with the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, drops what looks like a solid metal trap into the waters of Old Tampa Bay. It’s attached to a long rope. He p...

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Hillsborough County Commissioners Delay Vote on Fertilizer Ordinance listen

06/10/10 Matthew Cimitile
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Tags: environment, water quality, fertilizer ban

Hillsborough County Commissioners voted to delay a decision on an ordinance that would ban the use and sale of fertilizer during the summer rainy season. They delayed their decision despite a packed public hearing earlier today.

Scientists, lawn care specialists, environmentalists and citizens crammed into a public Environmental Protection Commission hearing to listen and provide arguments for and against a proposed ordinance that would ban residential use of fertilizer between June 1 a...

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The suffering begins on the Gulf Coast listen

05/10/10 Tom Baur
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Tags: BP, Deepwater Horizon, oil spills, environment, wetlands

Oily tar balls are rolling into the pristine bayous and islands ...

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Richard Heinberg on BP oil leak and a post-carbon world listen

05/04/10 Kelly Benjamin
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Tags: BP oil spill, BP, Gulf Oil Spill, Energy, environment

Richard Heinberg is senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, former advisor to the National Petroleum Council on Peak Oil, and author of several books on ecology and oil depletion.

WMNF asked Heinberg how the Deepwater Horizon spill will effect the Gulf of Mexico.

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