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State environmental officials are backing down on an outright ban of
plastic bags at the supermarket and other stores. Mike Vasilinda first
reported on the ban this past October, but now he tells us the state
will likely rely on voluntary efforts to keep the plastic out of landfills.

Gladys Cherry admits she sometimes forgets the canvas bags in her car
when shopping. She’s been using the canvas bags for at least five years,

“I don’t have to use plastic bags and I’m trying to be environmentally correct,” Cherry said.

Dog owners and others gave the state an earful after a proposed ban with
a tax on plastic bags was suggested in a draft report last October.

The final report, just out, makes no conclusion.

This environmental protection report lists 12 options to discourage the use of plastic bags, everything from taxing them to banning them or encouraging the use of recyclables like this.

Stores big and small are offering canvas alternatives. This Tallahassee specialty market gets five bucks for a sack with it’s logo.

“They love to have your logo on there, especially a small place like this,” Tomato Land’s Linda Reagan said.

And the nation’s big retailers are taking notice.

“Target recently began offering a five cent rebate to customers when they bring in their reusable bag,” Samantha Padgett with the Florida Retail Federation said. “CVS has employed an option where you buy their little tag and you attach it to the reusable bag and every four times you use it, they’ll give you a one dollar CVS extra care buck.”

Other states and countries that have opted for taxes on plastic bags
have used the money for environmental programs, but while money is tight here
in Florida, there may be no stomach for a tax on something just about
everyone uses.

2009 was the deadliest year in state history for manatees. 429 were found dead in Florida waterways, about a hundred were victims of careless boaters. 2010 is also getting off to a shaky start for the mammals. As Whitney Ray tells us, the cold weather has manatees fighting for their lives.

Manatees are making a comeback in Florida. A quick counting expedition early last year found 38-hundred in the state, a record high. There are even large herds being found in the Panhandle.

But along with the record high numbers comes a spike in deaths. Last year 429 manatees died in Florida waterways. Boaters claimed a hundred lives while the cold weather is being blamed for 56 deaths.

This week’s freezing temperatures have put thousands of manatees in a fight for their lives. When manatees find a warm spot they hunker down for hours. Wildlife experts are asking people to stay away from manatees they see lingering.

“Even if they are leaving to go out and get a little food they are going to be coming back because it will be cold through next week. So please do whatever people can do to stay away and be quiet and leave them alone,” said Carol Knox, a biological administrator with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation.

And for gawkers not willing to mind their own business, wildlife officers will be on hand to write citations or arrest anyone breaking the law. Patrols in areas with large populations of manatees will be beefed up throughout January. Wildlife officers are taking a zero tolerance approach to speeding.

A Florida property rights dispute was the subject of a case before the US Supreme Court today. The case could have ramifications to every beachgoer in Florida. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the issue is who owns the beach when it has been re-nourished.

Signs like these, which have popped up in the panhandle, could soon sprout all over Florida, depending on the outcome of a court battle over who owns beachfront after it has been re-nourished.

“There is a group of beachfront property owners who have declared they own the beach; that the public doesn’t have a right to use it,” retiree and activist Jack Abbit said.

In Florida, the law says the public owns the land on the waterside of the mean high water mark. Traditionally dry sand belongs to the property owner.

Last year, Florida’s Supreme Court ruled against five homeowners who claimed ownership of everything between their homes and the water. The court wrote that the constitution says the state has a duty to protect its natural resources and was justified in making the beach wider.

The argument made it all the way to the US Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The Attorney who argued the case says Florida courts got it wrong, the homeowners are entitled to their beach, and the re-nourishment was unnecessary.

“It’s a new 80-foot stretch of dry sand beach that the state created, that it’s entitled too on that dry sand beach,” Ken Safreit, attorney for the homeowners, said. “Commercial vendors can now come set up, that’s what our clients objected to.”

If the property owners win, they will ask to be paid for their land, or for title to the enlarged beach. Such a decision could affect beach ownership and public access around the state.

During this morning’s hearings, a majority of the justices asked questions about Florida law and appeared to be siding with the homeowners.

The Florida Delegation on Climate Change is traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark next week to find ways to create jobs in the state.

This morning delegates unveiled their plans at Danfoss Turbocor, a Tallahassee business that builds energy efficient air-condition parts. Executives from other Florida based green companies were also on hand. Rob Szumowski, The VP of a company helping businesses cut energy costs, says attending the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will help bring new ideas to Florida that will create jobs down the road.

“Smart grid, energy audits, carbon audits, strategic direction, or financing for local governments will be able to meet the challenges of an economy driven by a low carbon diet and help our clients plan manage and thrive, cause if we help clients thrive in Florida then that means they are going to high more Floridians,” said Szumowski

Florida is one of several states sending a delegation to Copenhagen. The conference begins December 7th and lasts two weeks.

Fifty billion dollars. That’s the estimated cost of cleaning up Florida’s lakes, rivers, and canals.

The Environmental Protection Agency is asking Florida to reduce the amount of nutrient pollution in the state’s waterways and could enforce new regulations as early as next year. Several business groups are joining two former DEP secretaries to fight the EPA. Paul Steinbrecher, a spokesman with the Florida Water Environment Association says the new standard will require millions of dollars of upgrades to water treatment plants.

“The average combined water and sewer is 56 dollars per month. With this regulation and those billions of dollars of upgrades I just told you about it would by 62 dollars per month. So that is more than double,” said Steinbrecher.

The EPA has yet to reveal details of the new standards which raises questions about the opposition group’s math.

Florida could be the first state in the nation to ban plastic bags used by supermarkets and other stores. The Department of Environmental Protection has developed a plan to phase the bags out over the next five years, or begin charging a fee for their use. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, political reality makes a complete ban unlikely, at least for awhile.

The question “paper or plastic” will soon leave our vocabulary if the state Department of Environmental Protection has its way. DEP would discourage the use of common plastic super market bags by charging a nickel a bag tax. The idea doesn’t sit well with shopper Kendra Walker.

“It would be outrageous,” Walker said.”I don’t even have the funds to cover it. You can barely pay for food.”

But the ban isn’t totally outrageous. This food co-op stopped using plastic bags six months ago, with no complaints.

“We support it because we encourage our customers to really think about where their trash is going,” Cristin Burns, marketing manager of New Leaf Food Co-Op, said.

Cloth bags offer an alternative…but pet owners like Ray Handley and his friend Ninja have a special need that would be very unpleasant with cloth bags.

“I use them, obviously when I’m here in the park, to clean up after my dog,” Handley said. “So it’s something that I, you know, when I go to the grocery store, I get plastic and I save the bags.”

The Department of Environmental Protection is still months away from making a recommendation and when it does it won’t likely be a total ban.

“So what we’re trying to do is work to try to find ways that we can reduce that waste stream, but still deal with the public’s need to get groceries home,” Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole said.

In the end, public pressure to use alternatives, not public policy, will likely determine the plastic bags future.

In addition to supermarkets, newspapers, who depend on plastic bags to keep the paper dry are expected to fight even a partial ban on plastic bags.

Today was the deadline for all 50 states to submit plans to offer rebates on energy savings appliances. Florida is expecting over 17 million dollars to be returned to consumers over ten days in April, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, some dealers are wondering why the state is waiting so long.

Nationwide, 300 million dollars will be available for energy-saving appliance rebates. 17 and a half million will go to Florida customers who purchase one of six items.

Included are: Gas Tank-less Water Heaters

Room Air Conditioners

Clothes Washers

Refrigerators

Dishwashers

and Freezers.

Customers will see 20 percent rebates, up to 15 hundred dollars, but the state’s plan has them available only from next April 16th through the 25th.

“Looking at the recession, these appliances haven’t been moving,” Jeremy Susac with the Governor’s Energy Office said. “That was the impetus behind funding this initiative.”

The Florida Retail Federation, which represents big chains, helped negotiate the April dates to make sure stock would be available.

“If you’re going to increase demand, and we hope this will increase demand, you do need to give the manufacturers time to get the appliances in the store,” Samantha Padgett with FRF said.

During the 10 day program, the state estimates that the retailers will sell as many as 65,000 appliances.

But small retailers worry that other states with earlier dates could use up the nation’s inventory before Florida’s rebates begin.

“I’m a little bit concerned that there’s the possibility of stores actually selling out and manufacturers maybe not being able to supply products in a timely manner with such a tight time frame,” appliance store owner Ray Monroe said.

If there’s cash left at the end, the state says it will offer a second rebate on the best selling appliances.

If all 65 thousand appliances sell, energy savings would be equal to the electricity used by about 700 homes each year.

Two Democratic state lawmakers say the oil drilling debate is being rushed and more time is needed to educate the legislature.

State Senators Dave Aronberg and Ted Deutch have filed legislation to create a taskforce charged with investigating the economic impact of coastal drilling. The lawmakers say no one has put a price tag on an oil spill or how property values would be affected by drilling. Aronberg says the environmental costs need to be calculated before the House and Senate vote.

“We have these reviews that are being done pretty quickly, by people who have business backgrounds, but what about environmental analysis? We haven’t had a full environmental analysis of oil drilling and that is what we want to do,” said Aronberg.

The state legislature is expected to vote on drilling next spring. If a taskforce is formed, its report wouldn’t be done until 2011.

Environmentalists and representative of the oil industry are filling the capitol halls and fueling the offshore drilling debate.

Florida House Democrats invited both sides to a working luncheon to inform members about the issue. A commission dedicated to responsible growth launched a fact finding mission on drilling in state waters yesterday. Governor Charlie Crist says it’s time for lawmakers to take a serious look at offshore drilling and whether or not it can be done safely.

“I grew up in Tampa Bay, I’m a Gulf Coast guy, and I believe in protecting our beaches. I also believe in us being energy independent, so long as we can do it in a way that is safe and protects Florida’s beaches. But if there is a way that we can participate in having more fuel domestically produce so that we are less dependant on foreign oil so we can manage to keep the cost down as opposed to the four dollars a gallon we had last year then I think it is worth looking at,” said Crist.

Tomorrow Democratic lawmakers will file legislation aimed at leaving decisions on coastal drilling up to the state. The legislature is expected to vote on oil drilling legislation during the 2010 legislative session.

A Florida State Senator is proposing a total ban on the importation and possession of non native Reptiles of Concern, which includes most species of pythons. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the proposed ban comes at a time when the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told lawmakers that it may never be able to catch all of the pythons in the everglades.

Carol’s Critters sells between two and five snakes a week.

Jerry Peterson says most buyers have one thing in common.

“Generally, people buy snakes in order to watch them eat,” Peterson said. “Just because, it gives you, I guess, a little bit of a rush to watch something eat another animal.”

But the store could soon be out of the snake business. A year and a half old law requiring registration isn’t working.

Since 2008, when a new python law took effect, only one in ten snake owners has registered their pet.

This State Senate Committee is working on a total ban on new Pythons and other reptiles of concern.

“We don’t want to find a python that’s 16 feet long in our backyard,” Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Broward County, said.

Snake posses have rounded up just 35 of the perhaps hundred thousand pythons in the Everglades. Wildlife managers expect the pace to increase dramatically, but they don’t ever expect to find them all.

“It’s not about getting rid of them, it’s about containing them,” Lt. Col. Jim Brown of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said. “I’m not sure that can happen at this point.”

Also on tap is a year round amnesty program for snake owners and a promise that any snakes turned in will be cared for and not killed.

“They’re named. They’re almost like a family member,” Tim Breault with the FWCC said. “[The owners] just want to know they’re getting some sort of permanent care.”

The state fears that if it were to kill the snakes being turned in, owners would prefer to set them loose.

While conceding it could never round up all the snakes in the Everglades, the commission now hopes ot keep the snakes contained south of US 41, which runs along the northern end of the Everglades.