Neil A. Armingeon
St. Johns Riverkeeper
2800 University Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32211
904-256-7591
stjohnsriverkeeper.org
Ubi dubium ibi libertas
Click-2-Listen 
Lawyers air arguments on river withdrawals in
Central Florida.
SANFORD - A high-stakes legal fight over using St. Johns River water in Central Florida utilities opened Wednesday with lawyers arguing about the need for and impact of the river withdrawal.
read more...
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FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT:
Holly
Stalvey 386.362.1001
SRWMD Closes on
Otter Springs Property
LIVE OAK(Oct. 1, 2008)— Two second
magnitude springs and over a mile of frontage on the Suwannee River were given a
new level of protection on Tuesday when the Suwannee River Water Management
District closed on the purchase of the 636-acre Otter Springs property in
Gilchrist County.
The $6.8
million purchase will not only protect water quality and natural
communities associated with the river and springs, it will eliminate a
400,000 gallon per day water use permit. Although no plans were on the table,
the permit would have allowed the water to be pumped from underground conduits
feeding the spring and sent to a bottling
plant.
The transaction was
also the springboard for a new cooperative venture between the District and the
Gilchrist County Commission. On Monday, commissioners voted unanimously to
authorize county staff to develop an agreement with the District to assume the
immediate management of the property. The parties are to work out a long-term
lease of the property which must be approved by both the
Under the proposed
agreements, the county will assume day-to-day responsibilities for the 100-site
RV campground on the property and the associated recreational facilities. The
District will continue to assist with the management of the natural areas on the
property. The plan will ensure that an outstanding recreational resource
will be available to the citizens of the region as well as providing economic
development through nature-based tourism.
Holly Stalvey
Communication Coordinator
Suwannee River Water Management
District
9225 CR 49
(386) 362-1001
Fax: (386) 362-1056
Toll free: 800-226-1066 (FL only)
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Experts, authors talk water at Santa Fe forum
Last Modified: Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 12:22 a.m.
Writer and journalist Cynthia Barnett thinks the state’s water policy is swimming against a current of common sense ideas.
read more....
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20081003/NEWS/810049981
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This is an e-mail exchange I had regarding the $750,000 Community Block Grant that recently "awarded" to build infrastructure for a water bottling plant in Marianna, Florida (located near the Chatahoochee River and the Florida Caverns State Park.
Mr. Lakey,
We have received an inquiry about the County's CDBG
Economic Development grant for the water bottling facility in the Marianna
industrial park. There is no indication that the County was contacted about this
project and has addressed the inquiry. Therefore, I am requesting the County
respond, within 15 days, to Ms. Malwitz-Jipson under your
citizen participation policy, even though she may not reside in Jackson County.
Since her inquiry was received by
e-mail, you may respond by e-mail with a hard copy to the project file. Also,
please copy me on the e-mail response. (You may or may not want to copy
all the other persons she copied.)
Please include in your response information about the public hearings
(notice date and comments, if any) and water permit issue. You may also want to
include the "build out" economic development benefits of this project: job
creation, private investment amount, and tax base increase over the first and
future phases.
Thanks!
In addition, I'm providing for
Ms.Malwitz-Jipson's review a link to the Florida State Clearinghouse review
comments which all federally assisted projects undergo. Both The DEP and NW
Water Management District reviewed the application and provided no negative
comments regarding environmental impact. Therefore, I am unaware of
any issue which would preclude this project from going forward.
http://appprod.dep.state.fl.us/clearinghouse/applicant/project.asp?chips_project_id=59061
Steve Fellerman
Small Cities CDBG Program
850-922-1881
(direct)
850-922-5609 (fax)
The Department of Community Affairs is
committed to maintaining the highest levels of service and values your feedback.
Please take a few moments to complete our Customer Service Survey by
visiting http://www.dca.state.fl.us/CustomerServiceSurvey/. We look
forward to hearing from you. However, if you require assistance or a response
from the agency, please use the "Contact Us" webpage at
http://www.dca.state.fl.us/contactus/.
The Florida Discount Drug Card is
designed to lower the cost of prescriptions for certain Florida residents. To
learn more, visit http://www.FloridaDiscountDrugCard.com or call toll-free
1-866-341-8894 or TTY 1-866-763-9630.
Florida has a broad public records
law and all correspondence, including email addresses, may be subject to
disclosure.
----- Forwarded by Steve
Fellerman/DCA/FLEOC on 10/02/2008 09:39 AM -----
| Anastasia
Richmond/DCA/FLEOC
10/02/2008 09:00 AM |
|
Steve,
Can you answer and of
Ms. Malwitz-Jipson about how Marianna about the CDBG process?
Thanks.
Ana
The Department of Community Affairs is committed to maintaining
the highest levels of service and values your feedback. Please take a few
moments to complete our Customer Service Survey by visiting
http://www.dca.state.fl.us/CustomerServiceSurvey/. We look forward to
hearing from you. However, if you require assistance or a response from the
agency, please use the "Contact Us" webpage at
http://www.dca.state.fl.us/contactus/.
The Florida Discount Drug Card is
designed to lower the cost of prescriptions for certain Florida residents. To
learn more, visit http://www.FloridaDiscountDrugCard.com or call toll-free
1-866-341-8894 or TTY 1-866-763-9630.
Florida has a broad public records
law and all correspondence, including email addresses, may be subject to
disclosure.
----- Forwarded by Anastasia Richmond/DCA/FLEOC on 10/02/2008 08:58 AM
-----
| Merrilleeart@aol.com
10/02/2008 06:40 AM |
|
Hello,
Does
anyone know how these people/corporation/city government got $750,000 of our
state dollars to assist in building a water bottle facility in Marianna, Florida
(near Florida Caverns Sate Park)?
This is a terrible idea.
Especially making our tax payer money available to use our public natural
resources during drought conditions with Georgia, Alabama, and Florida last
year.
Who's idea was this anyhow...the City of Marianna or
Enterprise Florida? This must be stopped...is it too late?
Please
take into the account of the recent victory in Trenton,Florida, Wednesday
morning October 1, 2008. A smaller rural town needing jobs, just like
Marianna. The full story will be at highspringsherald.com later today.
The majority of people in Florida do not want anymore of these extraction
plants taking our water and putting it in plastic and shipping it to the ends of
the earth.
This money needs to be used to repair our water infrastructure and make
good healthy water available to everyone so that people ween themselves off the
wasteful, luxury plastic bottle.
Sincerely,
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson
board member Our Santa Fe River, Inc
1-386-454-4446
Merrilleeart@aol.com
oursantaferiver.org
http://www.newsherald.com/news/county_68465___article.html/community_jobs.html
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Your
Health
FDA Defends Plastic Linked To Health Risks
Listen Now [3 min 56 sec] add to playlist
Morning Edition, September 17, 2008 · The Food and Drug Administration defended Tuesday a controversial compound found in plastic baby bottles and in food packaging. A major study has linked bisphenol A to possible risks of heart disease and diabetes.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94699105
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