Donald Trump in Sarasota

Part of Tampa Bay cleanup canceled due to Donald Trump rally

Part of a major Tampa Bay cleanup effort scheduled for Saturday will be canceled because of a Donald Trump rally; the presumptive Republican nominee for president will speak at the Tampa Convention Center and it means that volunteer divers won’t be able to clean up a pier along Bayshore Boulevard. Tom Damico is environmental program coordinator… Read more »

contamination sign

Wastewater discharged into Tampa Bay and other Pinellas waters

Because of flooding from Tropical Storm Colin this week several cities in Pinellas County urged residents to stop using the sewer systems and had to release partially treated wastewater into the open water. Beginning at 4:00 p.m Tuesday the City of St. Petersburg discharged partially treated wastewater into Tampa Bay about one-quarter of a mile east… Read more »

Karl Nurse no fracking

St. Petersburg seeks ordinance to ban fracking

St. Petersburg City Council will soon consider an ordinance to ban the drilling technique known as fracking and the transportation or storage of fracking wastewater within the city limits; Council vice chair Darden Rice says fracking for natural gas is too risky for St. Pete’s regional water supply, climate change and rising seas. Listen to the… Read more »

An Angry Woman’s Heart – on From a Woman’s POV

 I am getting steamed – really, really steamed.  If I hear one more comment on “the women’s card…..”  Read Rebecca Solnit’s column, “If Donald Trump Were a Woman and Hillary Clinton Were a Man: Here’s what the election would look like” (posted on our Facebook page ).  This election campaign is turning the spotlight on… Read more »

Life in a Democratic Socialist country; Looming water crises threatening Florida.

http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_160129_110617_radioactivityF1_337.MP3 By Rob Lorei During last nights GOP debate,  Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said  democratic candidate Bernie Sanders ” is a good candidate — for president of Sweden. We don’t want to be Sweden, we want to be the United States of America.”, reiterating a common attack of Sanders’  socialist leanings as un-American. Our guest for the… Read more »

Rick Tschantz on Morris Bridge Sink

Permit to pump Morris Bridge Sink won’t be challenged

Hillsborough County will not file a legal challenge to a permit to pump water from a sinkhole in sensitive wetlands near the Hillsborough River. That’s after meetings by the region’s water management district produced a compromise with the county’s Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) and environmentalists. On Tuesday County Commissioners went along with EPC staff recommendations to… Read more »

Les Miller

Hillsborough moves meeting about sinkhole: keeps option of legal challenge

The region’s water management district has rejected Hillsborough County’s request for more time to consider a plan to pump water from a sinkhole located in sensitive wetlands; and after several environmentalists spoke out against pumping water from Morris Bridge Sink during Wednesday’s county commission meeting, Commissioner Les Miller announced that the county would move the timing of… Read more »

Women Discuss Climate Change Through The Lens Of Their Lives

There has been a lot of talk about the recent COP 21 agreement in Paris, where almost 200 countries came together and agreed to cut emissions and the global temperature to under 2  degrees Celsius. We thought it would be great idea for us to speak with Dipti Bhatnagar , climate justice and energy coordinator… Read more »

Hillsborough County Commission

Hillsborough County threatens legal action against SWFWMD if plan to pump Morris Bridge Sink moves forward

Hillsborough County Commissioners oppose a plan to pump water from a sinkhole near Thonotosassa as one source to restore flow to the Lower Hillsborough River; meeting as the county’s Environmental Protection Commission Thursday morning, commissioners unanimously voted to ask the region’s water management district for an extension to challenge the permit to pump. And if… Read more »

Mosaic $2 Billion Deal with EPA is Not Enough, Environmentalists Say

By Rob Lorei In October, phosphate mining giant Mosaic reached a $2 billion agreement with  the Environmental Protection Agency to settle a lawsuit regarding the mishandling of toxic material at 6 mines in Florida and two in Louisiana. But a local environmental group says the deal does not do enough. Joining us talk about the… Read more »

Environmentalists say Mosaic not doing enough to clean-up mining waste; Author Les Leopold talks about his new book on inequality

By Rob Lorei If you’ve been thorough rural areas of Hillsborough, Polk, Hardee, Manatee or Sarasota counties, you’ve probably noticed large mounds of earth  dotting the landscape; these are landfills for toxic waste from  phosphate and gypsum mining. Last Month, the EPA and the Mosaic corporation,which operates many of the mines, reached a $2 billion… Read more »

power plant / Seán Kinane/WMNF News

Could rising atmospheric CO2 affect Florida sinkhole formation?

As humans continue to burn fossil fuels and cut down forests, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have skyrocketed far beyond historic levels; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began measuring carbon dioxide levels more than 400 parts per million for the first time in 2013. Atmospheric CO2, along with other greenhouse gasses, is causing… Read more »

CO2

Florida scientists warn about ocean acidification

There are at least three major ways that skyrocketing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are affecting the oceans and species, like humans, that depend on them; you probably already know about soaring temperatures and about rising seas, but scientists discussed the third – ocean acidification – at a roundtable panel Wednesday in Sarasota. Higher concentrations… Read more »

Tampa Council delays decision on stormwater fee hikes

Despite more than 30 residents speaking out during a public hearing that lasted into the afternoon, Tampa City Council made no decisions Thursday on proposed increases in stormwater fees. Like the majority of the citizens who spoke, resident Larry Patterson opposes the rate increases – at least the way they are proposed. There are two… Read more »