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THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF SIERRA CLUB FLORIDA

Winter 2013-2014

Inside this issueFrom the Chair............................................2New ExCom Leaders............................2Can Civil Disobedience Usher in New Era for Sierra Club?...............................2Sierra Leaders Come From Across the State.......................................................3Two Floridians Win Nat’l Awards.......42013 Awards Recognize Volunteers..5Everglades Project Gets $90M...........5Floridians Unite for Clean Water..........6Plug In Events Promote Zero Emissions Vehicles............................6Grassroots Effort Wins One for Sarasota Bay.....................................7FFWCC Prohibits Importing Deer.......7Oil Well Endangers Panthers............8

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Chapter Gives to Legacy Campaign

PelicanTheSierra Club Florida

Small Acts continued on Page 3

Sierra Club Florida has donated $10,000 to the Florida’s Water and Land Legacy Campaign,

which has until November 30 to gather enough signatures to place an amendment on the November 2014 ballot that would direct one-third of existing state revenues from “doc stamps” to fund restoration and conservation projects in Florida’s most critical water protection areas and lands. The campaign is a coalition of the state’s leading conservation organizations including Sierra Club, The Trust for Public Land, Audubon Florida, Florida Wildlife Federation and others. For information and to sign the petition, go to floridawaterlandlegacy.org.

Actions TakenIn other action, the Sierra Club Florida Executive Committee recently:• Voted to introduce the Beyond Coal campaign to Florida. This National Sierra Club project aims to replace dirty coal with clean energy by organizing grassroots activists to work to retire coal-fired plants in their communities and discourage building new ones. • Approved a letter threatening legal action to stop a dredge-and-fill permit for wetland areas at the Hogan Island Quarry in Collier County. The permit was given by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2012 to Cemex Construction Materials of Florida. This is an action that the Club’s Florida Panther Team and its Litigation Committee recommended. Multiple mining sites are proposed around the project site in an area in which federally endangered and threatened species have been documented, including the Florida panther, wood stork, eastern indigo

snake and northern caracara. The letter contends that the Corps used a flawed biological opinion in stating that the project would not likely impact the eastern indigo snake and the caracara in that area.• Agreed to oppose site certification and operating licenses for the expansion of new transmission lines and construction and operations of reactors 6 and 7 at the Florida Power and Light Turkey Point Nuclear Plant in Homestead.• Signed a letter of intent to sue regarding the destruction of habitat for the eastern indigo snake in Palm Beach County. The habitat is located in the Scripps /Briger Tract Development of

It’s easy to observe our environmental challenges and ask “What can one

person do?” Here’s a good-news story that proves small acts can lead to big results.

Linda Bremer, Sierra Club member from Jacksonville, received an email alert from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) regarding an unidentified person who was spotted tampering with a sea turtle nest on Casey Key, a barrier island off the coast of Sarasota. A suspicious beachgoer had photographed the culprit and sent the picture to the FWCC.

Linda posted an alert on the Florida Conservation Forum, a listserv for Florida subscribers that posts information about Florida environmental issues. The alert included a link to the photo of the culprit posted on the FWCC website.

Small Acts, Big Results

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ChairBy Debbie Matthews

From the

The Pelican, Vol. 46, No. 3

Ron Haines, managing editor

The Pelican is published by Sierra Club Florida, 405 Inglewood Dr., Tallahassee FL, and mailed to Sierra Club Florida members. Annual

membership dues include $1 for the Pelican newsletter. Address all inquiries to PO Box 575, Tallahassee FL 32302-0575 or email

editor@florida.sierraclub.org or katwalk100@aol.com

Sierra Florida Executive CommitteeMarti Daltry, Calusa, North Fort Myers

Bev Griffiths, Tampa Bay, Tampa Tom Larson, Northeast, Jacksonville Beach

Deborah Longman-Maren, Turtle Coast, Rockledge Stephen Mahoney, Miami, MiamiDebbie Matthews, Miami, Miami

Rudy Scheffer, Suncoast, Safety Harbor

Pelican Editorial TeamLiz Cantarine, Bradenton, ecantarine@tampabay.rr.com

Kathy Criscola, Tallahassee, katwalk100@aol.com Ron Haines, Lantana, ronaldhaines@bellsouth.netLisa Hanley, Boynton Beach, lisa.hanley@juno.com

Visit www.florida.sierraclub.orgBetsy Grass, Miami, webmaster

The Council of Club Leaders weekend meeting in San Francisco in September was a great opportunity

to meet Sierrans from all over the country, and I was privileged to represent the Florida Chapter. Delegates from all but six of the 63 chapters were there. Barbara Williams, former chair of the Council of Club Leaders, welcomed the delegates and asked us to introduce ourselves. I was thankful for nametags. David Scott, president of the Board of Directors, reported that membership was on the upswing, and thanked us for our role in advising the Board of Directors. Executive Director Michael Brune delivered a positive message and declared a war on pessimism in spite of depressing subjects such as climate change and fossil fuels. He reminded us that we can do this because it has been done before. He cited Tom Brokaw’s book, “The Greatest Generation,” which speaks about how during World War II, U.S. citizens made tremendous sacrifices which helped us win the war. Brune suggested that is the challenge for this generation, to move to a green energy economy. It was very inspiring. A special thrill was the Saturday night Sierra Club Awards celebration and cocktail reception where two Florida volunteers receive national awards. Dwight Adams received the Special Service Award and Suzanne Valencia the One Club Award (see article on Page 4). It was a great way to end the weekend.

Debbie Matthews, Miami Group; Bud Long, Turtle Coast Group; and Kent Bailey, Tampa Bay Group, have been elected to two-year terms on the Florida Chapter Executive Committee.

The election was held at the chapter meeting in St. Petersburg in September. After meeting the candidates in person and hearing a short presentation from each, group chairs or vice chairs and the current ExCom members voted.

Congratulations to the winners and to the other excellent candidates who ran for the three open slots.

Matthews Long Bailey

New ExCom Leaders

Can Civil Disobedience Usher in New Era for Sierra Club?

Editors’ Note: Earlier this year, the Sierra Club broke with a 120-year tradition and officially participated in an act of civil disobedience, with Executive Director Michael Brune joining others at the White House in opposition to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. He was among 48 persons arrested for blocking the sidewalk. Visit sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2013/01 to read Brune’s explanation of the Club’s decision to break its prohibition against civil disobedience. Florida Sierran Panagioti Tsolkas, former Loxahatchee Group ExCom officer, offers his views on civil disobedience and the Sierra Club below:

By Panagioti Tsolkas

Last year, the Loxahatchee Group newsletter published my article, “Should Sierra Club Update

Its Policy on Civil Disobedience?” Read it at florida.sierraclub.org/loxahatchee/2012MayJuneTurtleTracks.pdf.

Less than a year later, the Sierra Club break with its 120-year-old policy was nationwide news. The magnitude of climate change and tar sands mining had finally pushed the Club's staff to step into a new territory of movement strategy—putting the Club in the historic company of civil rights activists, union

Civil Disobedience continued on Page 3

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Sierra Leaders Come From Across the State

As one can see from this group shot, taken at the most recent Sierra Club Florida meeting in

September, our Chapter leaders hail from all over the state. Bottom, left to right: Jim Teas, Palmetto Bay; Tom Larson, Jacksonville Beach; John Swingle, Altoona; Debbie Matthews, Coral Gables; Phil Compton, Tampa; Rudy Scheffer, Safety Harbor; Julia Hathaway, St. Petersburg; Brack Barker, Williston; Marti Daltry, North Fort Myers. Upper row, left to right: Dave Wilson, Gainesville; Pat Kemp, Tampa;

Frank Jackalone, St. Petersburg; Deborah Longman-Marien, Rockledge; Kent Bailey, Thonotosassa; Kathy Teas, Miami; Linda Behret, Viera; Stephen Mahoney, Miami Shores; Barbara Ruge, Oakland Park; Bud Long, Merritt Island; Linda Bremer, Jacksonville; Ricardo Zambrano, Lake Worth; Marjorie Holt, Orlando; Marcia Biggs, Safety Harbor; Linda Jones, Bradenton; Macy Zander, Orlando; Robin Katz, Orlando; and Bev Griffiths, Riverview. Photo by Mike Shultz, Eckerd College

Manatee-Sarasota Group Chair Linda Jones saw the alert and immediately shared the information with the Sarasota Herald Tribune and local television station SNN 6. Each covered the story and included the photo of the unidentified turtle nest disturber. One week later, a 21-year-old Wesley Chapel resident was arrested for the crime. A live loggerhead turtle and unhatched turtle eggs were found in his home. Gary Morse, a FWCC spokesperson, said, “Without cooperation of the media and citizens, we would not have been able to find this individual.”

Kudos to our alert Sierrans for each taking the time to pass on information to appropriate channels and creating a chain of events that resulted in justice for sea turtles.

To subscribe to Sierra Florida’s Conservation Forum, go to http://lists.sierraclub.org/archives/FL-CONSERVATION-FORUM.html. Click “Subscribe or Unsubscribe” and follow the instructions. If you need help, email Ron Haines at ronaldhaines@bellsouth.net.

organizers and suffragists, to name a few. Executive Director Michael Brune, along with

other staff and members, participated in a symbolic civil disobedience action in Washington, DC, regarding the Keystone XL pipeline.

Although this was a tightly coordinated event, far from a call that would send Sierra members flooding to the front lines of blockades and sit-ins around the country, it has certainly amplified the question posed to the relatively small numbers of Turtle Tracks readers in 2012.

Many individual Club members had already been engaged in civil disobedience actions against the tar sands pipelines—only they had to hide their affiliations to stay within the Club’s civil disobedience policy.

Since Brune's February 2013 arrest at the White House, we have seen more environmental civil disobedience than ever before in the history of

Civil Disobedience continued from Page 2Small Acts continued from Page 1

Civil Disobedience continued on Page 4

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Two Florida Chapter members were honored at the national Sierra Club’s 2013 ceremony recognizing

volunteers in a variety of areas, including conservation, outings, administration, photography, journalism and working with youth. The awards were presented Sept. 21 in San Francisco.

D w i g h t A d a m s o f t h e Suwannee-St. Johns Group and Suzanne Valencia of the Turtle Coast Group were among two dozen volunteers recognized for their outstanding contributions to protecting the environment. Dwight received the Special Service Award for strong and consistent commitment to conservation or the Club over an extended period of time. Suzanne received the One-Club Award for using outings as a way to protect or improve public lands, instill an interest in conservation, increase membership in the Sierra Club or increase awareness of the Sierra Club.

Dwight AdamsIn May of 1985, as Group chair, Dwight outlined in his group’s newsletter the environmental problems associated with solid waste disposal, and proposed an ambitious plan for waste management—what was essentially a forerunner to the slogan Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Many cities were looking to incinerators to relieve waste problems, but Dwight set out to change the way Floridians view and manage their solid waste. Creating and chairing the chapter Solid Waste Issue

Committee, Dwight wrote articles and letters to the editor about the benefits of recycling and composting, Over the next few years, he participated in task force studies and helped design and create a trial program to prove the feasibility of recycling as opposed to burning.

He founded Sierra Club’s National Solid Waste Committee and wrote its solid waste policy.

Suzanne ValenciaSuzanne Valencia is the recipient of the One-Club Award for her efforts using conservation messages on outings. Since 2001, Suzanne has enthusiastically developed and led service trips that focus on conservation and preservation issues. She has been a leader in offering family and multi-generational trips that appeal to Club members and attract new members.

Suzanne has staffed 45 national service trips, which are estimated to have contributed approximately 15,120 volunteer hours to a variety of public land agencies in the Southwest, Southeast and at Sierra Club’s Clair Tappaan Lodge in California. In Florida, Suzanne has been instrumental in assisting Pelican

Island National Wildlife Refuge, which has very little funding. By organizing one-day service outings for her local Turtle Coast Group, she greatly contributed to making the local Sierra Club members aware of the needs of the Refuge. — Jessica Newman and Mary-Slater Linn contributed to this story

Two Floridians Win Nat’l Sierra Awards

environmentalism. Yet the base of members who keep the Club afloat are still told, essentially, to stay on the sidelines.

If Sierra Club doesn't catch up to the times with the environmental movement, especially with the younger generation that is heading up this escalation of tactics and strategy, the organization's reputation could suffer greatly.

For those who have been involved in Sierra Club and participated in a campaign that involved effective civil disobedience, I ask you to speak up with me. Check out where ongoing civil disobedience is

Dwight Adams, top, and Suzanne Valencia, bottom, are flanked by Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, left, and David Scott, president of the Board of Directors, at the awards ceremony in San Francisco.

happening in this country—at coal mines in West Virginia, frack wells in Pennsylvania, tar sand pipelines in Michigan and industrial logging in Oregon. See for yourself how empowering it can be to put your body in the way of machines and corporations that are trashing the planet. While there is no age limit to participating in civil disobedience, if for any reason you can't be out there yourself, consider other ways you can support these brave individuals.

Consider making donations for legal costs, writing letters to activists in jail and sending letters-to-the-editors about why you support this sort of action.

Civil Disobedience continued from Page 3

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2013 Awards Recognize VolunteersChapter Launches Teamwork Award

Sierra Club Florida has for decades recognized the work of individual volunteers on behalf of the

Florida Chapter and conservation efforts in the state. This year, the Chapter created the Florida Ecosystem Award to give team achievements the same recognition given to the work of individuals. Florida Ecosystem AwardThe first recipients of Florida Ecosystem Award award are Sierra Club members Rudy Scheffer, Craig Diamond, Marian Ryan, Tom Larson, Al Donn, John Swingle and Linda Bremer, who became the Steering Committee in May of 2008 and worked for four years to bring the Chapter out of suspension. They were charged with managing ongoing functions and relationships with Groups in the state, rebuilding trust among volunteers, staff and the National Board of Directors and transitioning to a functioning chapter as soon as possible. They were also handed an additional task of considering how functions might be handled differently than in the past, and take the opportunity to reinvent the chapter. They achieved their goals through four years of phone conferences, face-to-face brainstorming sessions and working against deadlines set by National Sierra.

Scheffer Diamond Donn Swingle BremerLarsonRyan

The Dolphin Award was presented to John Koch and Ron Haines, both from the Loxahatchee Group. This award honors a member with an outstanding record of consistent, long-term, invaluable service in sustaining or rescuing a vital Chapter function. John joined the Loxahatchee Group in 1999, where he served as political chair for 12 years. He was also co-chair of the Florida Chapter political committee, conducting many candidate interviews and helping increase the number of endorsements.

Ron is the managing editor of the The Pelican, and has been on the Pelican Team for six years. He has helped incorporate the use of the Sierra database HELEN, e-newsletters, email lists, and all types of communications at the chapter and group level. Manatee Award

Dolphin Award

Haines Koch

In addition to the Florida Ecosystem Award, four volunteers were honored with Dolphin and Manatee awards this year. The Manatee Award honors a volunteer who has done an outstanding job of service to his or her

group. Linda Bystrak from the Central Florida Group and Candy Rue from the Northeast Group were honored with this award.

Candy is a member of both the conservation and local political committees of her group. She campaigns by walking neighborhoods, fundraising and phone campaigning. She passionately solicits signatures for the Florida Water and Land Legacy amendment petitions, contributing well over half of her group’s portion. Linda has been a member of the Central Florida Group for 12 years. She is active in land development regulation

ordinances in Lake County, the Green Swamp and Lake Apopka issues. She speaks on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s criteria falling short of protecting lakes, rivers and springs and the lack of pollution limits for Florida’s waters.

Bystrak

Everglades Project Gets $90 M Boost

Governor Rick Scott has committed $90 million to build a series of bridges across Tamiami Trail, a major

step toward the restoration of America’s Everglades. The $30 million-per-year, three-year project will

restore water flow into Everglades National Park. Soon we will have the funds needed to start construction of the next span—a 2.6 mile bridge. It will fulfill the requirement for matching funds requested by Congress under the Obama Administration’s $30 million request for 2014.

Ultimately, the 6.5 miles of bridges will provide water to restore clean, natural water flow to the Everglades, helping to restore wetlands and provide a buffer against climate change and sea level rise. Sierra Club has been calling for bridging of Tamiami Trail for almost two decades. — Jonathan Ullman, Everglades Sr. Rep.

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Plug In Events Promote Zero-Emission Vehicles

Floridians Unite for Clean Water

Regional Impact, where a proposed biotech facility and residential construction project is sited partially in a wetlands area and would adversely impact the snakes’ habitat and possibly harm the animals directly. • Approved funding for preliminary legal work regarding the Adena Springs Ranch Conditional Use Permit application to be considered by the St. Johns River Water Management District. The owner of the large cattle ranch in Marion County proposes building an abattoir and a biomass power plant to power it and has applied for a permit to pump 13 million gallons of water daily from the Florida Aquifer. This has raised concerns with Sierra Club and St. Johns Riverkeeper among others as to the effect on nearby Silver Springs, whose flow has already dropped by half in recent years due to drought. Sierra Club is anticipating possible legal action. • Agreed to urge Gov. Rick Scott to complete the purchase of 153,000 acres of U.S. Sugar lands south of Lake Okeechobee before the state’s three-year option expires. When the option expires, the state would have to pay market prices for this same land and compete with other purchasers. This purchase would help send more water to the Everglades and reduce stress on the ecosystems and estuaries of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.

On Sept. 1, nearly 500 Floridians put their Labor Day plans on hold, converged upon Clewiston

and joined local residents to send a clear message to Tallahassee: they are sick and tired of sick water and they are ready to take action. The rally, hosted by the Sierra Club, Expedition Florida 500 and partner organizations active along the Indian River Lagoon, marked the beginning of a movement uniting Floridians who demand both immediate reprieve and long-term solutions to the pollution that plagues waterways from the Panhandle to Florida Bay—the sewage, manure and fertilizer that feeds toxic algae. People who live in the communities downstream of the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie locks spoke of being fed up with being treated like the spillways for a “cesspool,” which happens whenever the impounded Lake Okeechobee reaches levels considered unsafe by the Army Corps of Engineers. The people who live and work south of Lake Okeechobee spoke eloquently about the threat of a failing dike and the flood waters it could send over their community, the fear of loss of jobs and the need for a secure future. But all, from every side, asked the same question: how long can Lake Okeechobee, the estuaries

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downstream to the east and west, the Everglades, the springs, the state’s imperiled lakes and rivers hang on while we wait for truly comprehensive plans and actions? All agreed on one thing—impacted citizens must join together as one.

A petition calling for the Governor to: “Clean the water. Move it south. Restore the Everglades. Protect the People. Now” was circulated among the crowd to send to the governor until he acts accordingly.Sierra Club activists from the Calusa, Suncoast, Turtle Coast, Broward, Miami and Loxahatchee groups attended the rally, where Rhonda Roff of the Calusa Group and Sierra Club Slime Crimes Campaign Coordinator Cris Costello were featured speakers.

Sierra Club’s Thomas Krumreich, left, with Temple Terrace Mayor Frank Chillura at Plug In Day event.

For the second year in a row, Sierra Club Florida helped organize National Plug In Day events, this

year in Temple Terrace, Orlando and Sarasota. The events were part of a national campaign organized

by the Sierra Club, Plug In America and the Electric Auto Association to draw attention to the environmental and economic benefits of zero emission plug in electric vehicles.

In Temple Terrace, solar panels were on display next to the cars to clearly illustrate that powering a car by using solar energy is not as far-fetched as it may seem. You can power your car from 100 percent solar power by installing just 150-300 square feet of solar panels on your home or office building.

“I became involved in National Plug In Day because I believe that we need to do everything we can to encourage people to live sustainably, and one of the best ways to do that is to drive an electric vehicle,” said Sierra Club volunteer team leader Thomas Krumreich. This is Tom’s second year organizing the Temple Terrace event and he set a goal to make it bigger and better than last year. He recruited more vendors, more cars, more partners and more media to make this year’s event an outstanding success.

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FFWCC Prohibits Importing Deer et al to Reduce Chance of Chronic Wasting Disease

Urged by Sierra Club Florida and groups as diverse as the Humane Society and the National Rifle

Association, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission passed a rule prohibiting the importation of live captive cervids (deer, elk and moose) into Florida from out of state. The ruling will reduce the chances of chronic wasting disease (CWD) being introduced into the state.

Effective Sept. 6, 2013, by executive order, the rule provides limited exemptions for reindeer and zoos. The Commission also directed the executive director to create a working group to develop other measures to safeguard the state from CWD. If these other measures are deemed sufficient to adequately reduce risk, the executive director has the authority to then allow importation.

The Sierra Club Florida letter of June 25 urged the Commission to adopt the proposed draft rule because the risk to Florida is significant enough to justify the ban. Factors in our decision to support the ban include:

There are only approximately 300 endangered Key deer in the lower Florida Keys. CWD in Florida could wipe out their entire population.

The primary purpose of the ban is to reduce the risk of CWD entering the state but the ruling will reduce the risk of introduction of other new diseases (i.e. epizootic hemorrhagic disease).

The number of deer imported into the state has normally been low and all states surrounding Florida have protective bans in place. The ban is unlikely to have significant impacts on Florida’s economy.

A CWD-positive deer found in Florida would trigger costly management actions including the quarantine of affected captive populations, increased testing, reductions of wild deer populations in the vicinity, a ban on feeding deer, and other measures. The public costs for managing CWD-infected deer populations in other states have been in the millions of dollars.

CWD is not known to affect people but is a contagious neurological disease affecting cervids. It is always fatal, and there is no known cure or vaccine. In North America the disease has been discovered in 22 states and two Canadian provinces so far.

If you see a sickly, extremely skinny deer report its location to the CWD hotline, toll free 866.293.9282.

If ever there was a doubt about the power of a passionate grassroots movement to persuade local

government to do the right thing, the Manatee County Commission’s Long Bar Pointe decision dispelled it.

At issue was a Comprehensive Plan change requested by developers of a tract known as Long Bar Pointe along north Sarasota Bay to facilitate the removal of mangroves and dredge a 1,200-foot channel through shallow seagrass beds to the Intracoastal Waterway for the purpose of building a marina.

Sierra members held protest rallies on land and on Sarasota Bay, circulated petitions and wrote letters to the editor. After a marathon County Commission hearing that attracted 1,000 residents and ran more than 12 hours, commissioners unanimously rejected the developer's text amendment to the Comp Plan that would have exempted the project from the conservation and coastal chapters of the plan.

In the months leading up to the hearing, Sierra Manatee Conservation Committee members worked to alert the public. The Manatee-Sierra Group produced a DVD featuring local fishermen, and Group Chair Linda Jones wrote the counterpoint (con) to developer Carlos Beruff's point (pro) featured in the local daily newspaper.

A coalition of environmental groups—Sierra Club, the Riverkeeper and Manasota 88—submitted a 15-page documented analysis of the proposed Comp Plan changes, urging denial. Manasota 88, League of Women Voters and others submitted strong written comments and 6,500 people signed petitions opposing the proposal.

The message was received loud and clear by the Manatee County Commission and the developers who may have thought their wishes would be rubber- stamped and turned into personal profits at the expense of our irreplaceable natural resources. Sierra Club once again proved the power of the people is a force to be reckoned with. — Judy Johnson, Manatee-Sarasota Group

Rob Harris documents biologists and fishermen off Manatee County in Sarasota Bay for the Sierra-sponsored video, “Long Bar Pointe - At What Cost?” (Photo by Sandra Ripberger)

Grassroots effort wins one for Sarasota Bay

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Sierra Club FloridaThe PelicanPO Box 575Tallahassee FL 32302-0575

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Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet

Oil Well Endangers PanthersSierra Club’s Florida Panther Critical Habitat Campaign

is partnering with Preserve Our Paradise, a Collier County citizens’ group, to stop an exploratory oil well in Golden Gate Estates in Naples. The proposed well site is within 1,000 feet of residences and one mile from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

A Texas-based drilling company, the Dan A. Hughes Corporation, has leased an additional 115,000 acres of land, with the potential for more exploratory wells, though no permit requests have been submitted.

Collier County residents have been fighting hard to prevent the permitting of this well. More than 100 people recently participated in a protest at the Naples Pier, erecting a symbolic oil well in front of Gov. Rick Scott's beachfront home.

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the South Florida Water Management District have both approved the exploratory oil well permits.

We intend to file an administrative challenge to try to halt the DEP permits. We have also petitioned

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a public hearing, which should take place in November or December. In order for the permits to be approved, they both must pass the federal EPA and the state DEP.

The proposed oil well is located in panther primary habitat —land essential for the panther’s continued existence. Numerous panthers have been sighted within Golden Gate Estates, and the project site is within one mile of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and north of Picayune Strand State Forest and Fakahatchee Strand Preserve, considered the “Amazon” of Florida.

This oil well is only the tip of the iceberg for southwest Florida. Opening up this site to drilling endangers Florida panthers, the watershed and our aquifers; it violates environmental rights of residents; and it also sets a precedent to open more land for drilling at a time when we should be looking toward clean, sustainable energy alternatives such as wind and solar.

A protester holds a sign in front of Gov. Rick Scott's Naples home declaring that oil wells and panthers don't mix. (Photo by Alexis Meyer)