Flablog

The breathlessly awaited Quinnipiac University Swing State poll came out today, and here in Florida, the results are virtually unchanged from a month ago.

Among likely voters in Fla. --

                    Jul 31   Jun 18
Obama                46      47
McCain               44      43
SMONE ELSE            2       2
WLDN'T VOTE           -       -
DK/NA                 7       8

+ And offshore drilling:

LIKELY VOTERS..........................FL
                  Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom    Wht    Blk    His


Support              60%    86%    38%    60%    62%    57%    62%    41%    64%
Oppose               36     11     57     37     35     37     34     51     35
DK/NA                 4      3      5      3      2      6      4      8      1

+ Bush's approval/disapproval: 28 - 66 percent

Labels: Environment, Polls, Presidential race

A piece in Time magazine lays out a grim list of troubles here in the Sunshine State:

We're facing our worst real estate meltdown since the Depression. We've got a water crisis, insurance crisis, environmental crisis and budget crisis to go with our housing crisis. We're first in the nation in mortgage fraud, second in foreclosures, last in high school graduation rates. Our consumer confidence just hit an all-time low, and our icons are in trouble--the citrus industry, battered by freezes and diseases; the Florida panther, displaced by highways and driveways; the space shuttle, approaching its final countdown. New research suggests that the Everglades is collapsing, that our barrier beaches could be under water within decades, that a major hurricane could cost us $150 billion.

Yikes. This is grimmer than last year's WSJ downer, "Is Florida Over." The author thinks the state needs to grow up, reinvent itself and get off the wheel of the boom-and-bust cycle. Fat chance.

Labels: Economy, Environment, Growth

I'm looking at the new Strategic Vision Florida poll.

The horserace question:

If the election for President were held today would you support John McCain, the Republican, Barack Obama, the Democrat, or Bob Barr, the Libertarian??

John McCain	49%
Barack Obama	41%
Bob Barr	1%
Undecided	9%

Also:
+ Gov. Charlie Crist's approval is a still-healthy 58 percent, yet a majority (47-36 percent) oppose his running for vice president. (This is reminiscent of polls three years ago that found Florida voters approving of Jeb Bush but overwhelmingly not wanting him to run for president.)
+ Offshore drilling: 59 percent approve, 30 oppose, 11 percent undecided.
+ Approve/disapprove: Pres. Bush 34/57; Sen. Nelson 54/35; Sen. Martinez 47/41.

(N=1,200 likely voters aged 18+, MoE=±3 %.)

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment, Polls, Presidential race

A friend sent this link from the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum site. It's an impressive animated map that shows just how shifting that part of the coast has been from 1741-present. (Didn't you ever wonder why the lighthouse was so far inland? Well, it used to be right on the coast.)

This isn't just about sea-level rise/global warming but about the shifting nature of the Florida coastline, even before there was development. Lessons: Beach renourishment is futile and this is a bad place to build pink hotels and highways.

Labels: Environment, floridalia, Nature run amok

Editorials:
+ Florida Today: Here's a great idea: Let's do something utterly reckless that puts Florida's tourist-dependent economy and rich marine life at serious risk and does nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to cut the price of gas and end our nation's addiction to oil. Crazy? It sure is.
+ Lakeland Ledger: The former Florida legislator who was once known as "Chain Gang Charlie"... is now known as Gov. Charlie Crist. He's earned a new nickname as well: "Change Mind Charlie."

Columns:
+ Cerebino: This week, I had to find a new TV show to explain our governor. I couldn't use F Troop anymore. ...
+ Lane: This is the week that Gov. Charlie Crist went from being the post-partisan, post-Bush, New Model Republican phenomenon to just another loyal Bushie reading the old talking points. It's kind of sad.
+ Littlefield: That wasn't just any normal flip-flop. What Gov. Charlie Crist attempted this week was a triple back flip followed by a triple salchow.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment, Media

+ Daytona Beach News-Journal -- Crist's flip-flop on offshore exploitation is indefensible.
+ Fort Myers News-Press -- It’s time to open Gulf to oil, gas research. (Note: By "research" they mean "drilling.")
+ Gainesville Sun -- McCain and Crist appear to believe that there is a political advantage in offering voters the false hope of achieving lower gas prices and energy independence through offshore drilling.
+ Miami Herald -- Gov. Charlie Crist's stunning reversal of his position on drilling for oil and gas off the Florida coastline is all about politics and political ambition. Sadly for the governor and state residents, the abrupt switch has very little to do with sound energy policy.
+ Orlando Sentinel -- Vice presidential candidate Charlie Crist, formerly Florida's environmental governor, showed on Tuesday what drives him.
+ Palm Beach Post -- Floridians who thought the state might benefit from Gov. Crist's closeness to John McCain can forget about that. When the choice is between doing what's best for Florida and what's best for John McCain/Charlie Crist, the governor on Tuesday let it be known that he's going to make the call based on political ambition.
+ Sarasota Herald Tribune -- McCain and Crist appear to believe that there is a political advantage in offering voters the false hope of achieving lower gas prices and energy independence through offshore drilling. Clearer-thinking Republicans in Congress and in Florida should straighten them out.
+ Sun- Sentinel -- Offshore drilling isn't a short-term strategy for relief. It's a short-sighted strategy, period.
+ Tampa Tribune -- Sen. John McCain's reversal of his position on offshore oil drilling diminishes his reputation as a straight-talking maverick. On this issue, he is offering a false promise of quick fixes to today's high gas prices.

Columns --
+ Troxler -- Drilling advocates from some other states sometimes accuse Florida of thinking that it is special. You know what? It is. Yessir. It is too special to succumb to false promises of cheaper gas and "energy independence." Florida is too special to sell out its coast for a royalty check.
+ Rolling Stone -- I think most people know, on a gut level, that something non-supply/demand-related is going on with the oil markets. And that the answer to sky-high prices at the pump is not putting oil platforms off Daytona Beach.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment, Media

Chorus disapproval includes:

+ Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. ("The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.")
+ Bob Graham
+ Sen. Bill Nelson
+ Marco Rubio -- just sorta. ("It's not fair to tell people that if we drill for oil, we're going to immediately lower gas prices.")
+ The probable next House Speaker Ray Sansom
+ Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz ("a 180-degree flip-flop.")
+ U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan
+ U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment

Headline in St. Pete Times Nov. 7, 2005:

Offshore drilling separates hopefuls
Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist opposes rigs within 125 miles of Florida's coast, while Tom Gallagher supports the idea.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment

Naked Poitics reports that Gov. Crist will veto the seagrass bill. This is the bill containing a stealth amendment to create an seagrass mitigation bank. You know because wetlands mitigation has been such a success -- for creating new subdivisions.

+ The Buzz on the veto.
+ Flablog Vault of Memory.
+ Troxler column
+ A beneficiary tries to tell folks everything is OK. Nothing to see here.

(So is it "sea grass" or "seagrass"? A Google vote says the latter 19,000,000-744,000.)

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment

I missed this story yesterday about how Florida Rep. Will Kendrick, R-Carrabelle, slipped major last-minute changes into a bill meant to protect sea grass.

The changes -- offered as minor technical tweaking -- actually set up a never-before-tried mitigation program for sea grass -- and we all know how well that has worked with wetlands mitigation. It would allow developers to tear up sea grass beds without a problem if they throw a little money to private companies that would create sea grass mitigation banks on state lands. (Which absolutely doesn't sound like a boondoggle. Nosiree.)

So now conservation groups are urging Gov. Crist to veto the bill.

Update: The Buzz says Crist just might veto it.
+ St. Pete Times editorial
+ WCTV: Environmentalists Weary of Sea Grass Protection Bill. (I think they meant "wary.")

Labels: Environment

Meet the three newest appointees Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The governor's picks mean the commission's makeup is now 100 percent developers.

Crist's chief of staff George LeMieux says they bring "balance" to the board.

You know, both construction and real estate sales are represented.

Extra Credit: Be sure to read the Commissioner Ron Bergeron's citation for alligator wrestling, helpfully posted by the St. Pete Times. (Spoiler: the alligator won.)

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment

Poor, simple Bill McCollum. He sees a crank documentary and sends it on to the governor and other Cabinet members as though it has exposed Important New Findings that global warming is a hoax.

Silly rabbit, this sorry stuff has been laughed at and debunked again and again and again and again. (And don't forget to look up some of the "experts" quoted here. )

Labels: Bill McCollum, Environment

I just got around to Saturday's Wall St Journal about water-guzzler mansions in Palm Beach. It seems a few big estates pay their way past water restrictions or find loopholes. One mansion uses the same amount of water as 380 average homes.

Labels: Environment

The Buzz watches today's Republican debate so I don't have to and I'm grateful. It helpfully lists the candidates' responses on oil drilling in Florida. (Short version: Everybody but McCain says "Drill everywhere or the terrorists win!")

Labels: Environment, Presidential race

Say what you will about Sen. John McCain, R-Bomb Iran, at least he does his homework and has the basics down. The senator was in Tallahassee Tuesday, met with Gov. Crist, and said all the right things. He was receptive about a national role for disaster insurance, spoke soberly on global warming, and most of all, wasn't up for drilling for oil in the Everglades.

"In the case of the Everglades, the people of Florida have decided they don't want that tampered with for a variety of reasons and I totally agree. And I do not believe in drilling in the Grand Canyon, either," McCain said.

Unlike a certain former senator we could name who prepared for his trip by looking at a road map and a poll. And maybe not the road map.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment, Presidential race

Gov. Crist appoints three more developers to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

His spokesman says, "The governor takes a very balanced approach" in his appointments. And sure enough, the board now represents both construction and real estate sales. How's that for diversity of interests?

Headline on Sunday's Carl Hiaasen column: Crist blows it on his FWC appointments. ...he picked three people who are inextricably tangled in the business of paving the state, not preserving it.

I'm guessing Charlie's green period won't last out the year.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment

Oh, the mail is arriving from FreedomWorks.org, Dick Armey's conservative advocacy group, blasting Gov. Crist's environmental initiatives and depicting The People's Governor as a dupe of Hollywood swells and trendies.

From their release:

To target Crist’s anti-energy agenda in Florida, FreedomWorks is planning to engage a multi-pronged attack to include targeted grassroots lobbying, literature drops, mail, and print and television advertising that will educate voters on the costs of anti-energy policies.

Oh, we'll see. If they spend a lot money they just might bring down the governor's popularity to below 70 percent.

+ St. Pete Times runs some interesting figures on Florida, energy use and greenhouse emmissions along with a scary map.

+ And House Speaker Rubio, who so far has demonstrated a remarkably tin ear for how policy is going to play (even though everybody still seems to think he's a political genius) runs with the group's talking points. In his Herald op-ed piece he says what's needed is ethanol (Nelson Muntz voice: haw-haw!), tax cuts, handouts to Big Sugar and agrabusiness. Tax cuts and ethanol-based and Big Sugar-friendly corporate welfare are "common-sense measures." He included these his 100 Innovative New Ideas.

+ The Buzz on the Democratic response.

+ Naked Politics on the Democratic response.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Environment, Marco Rubio

The Daily Pulp notes the harumphing of a columnist at the Troubled Sun-Sentinel . Damn environmental kooks standing in the way of progress. Those Chinamen know how to handle the tree-huggers, yesiree.

Labels: Environment

The NY Times has a fine piece about the politics of development in Florida. Don "Bridge to Nowhere" Young of Alaska got campaign funds in Florida and is forcing a new $10 million I-75 interchange to help developers.

Normally local government is a willing helper in such boondoggles, but this time, when a Lee County planning board raised objections, Rep. Young threatened regionwide retaliation.

The plans for the earmark and the Aronoff land hit a roadblock when the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization voted twice last year to block a preliminary study for the interchange, mainly on environmental grounds. Studies by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Federal Highway Administration have all warned that the proposed interchange could threaten wetlands.

But Mr. Young was evidently determined to see the interchange move forward. In a Jan. 23, 2006, letter to the chairman of the planning agency, Mr. Young warned that his committee would draft another bill taking away the $10 million if it was not used for the interchange.

On Jan. 31, Mr. Mack followed up with a letter warning that the rejection would “make it difficult for Southwest Florida to have future success in securing federal resources for other important projects.”

The planning organization subsequently reversed itself and approved an initial study of the proposed interchange. But the last election put more environmentalists on the county commission. Next month, county planners will again take up the question of what to do about Coconut Road.

Comment, Rep. Young?

When he was approached near the House floor by a reporter, Mr. Young responded with an obscene gesture.

Labels: Environment

With only two dissenting votes, the House Committee on Conservation & State Lands OKs a bill that would prevent the state from taking down Rodman Dam and drawing down the reservoir artificial lake it creates or doing anything to "substantially alter the area encompassing the reserve
as the area existed on January 1, 2007." (PDF of bill here. Political Pulse item here.) Yup, this is like the bill Jeb Bush vetoed in 2003.

+ The anti-dam Florida Defenders of the Environment's time line of earlier efforts to get rid of the dam.
+ The pro-dam Save Rodman Reservoir site's time line.

Labels: Environment, Legislature

I missed this the other week when the budget came out, but apparently the Bush administration has resurrected its plan to sell off national forest land, including 973 acres in the Ocala National Forest.

This was widely opposed last year. (Also here.) And fortunately went nowhere. With Dems in charge and little support among Republicans, I would suspect this is another part of the budget that's dead on arrival.

Labels: Environment