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Pollution Science 101 - The Everglades, Florida
Published: February 25th, 2025
Updated: February 27th, 2025
Author: Michael James Ross
Website: PollutionScience.com
The following is an emergency report.
The trust in the media is at an all time low. We can see that many governments also have lost the trust of the public, and why we are always seeking to better or civilizations and society.
It is my obligation to inform the public if any group or government would attempt to bribe or intimidate my media agency, that I would inform the public of this.
I would like to state for the record that my media agency PollutionScience.com is currently being intimidated by the Collier County, Florida authorities with an illegal mistrial. We would like the public to intervene and to stop the illegal mistrial of Michael James Ross. This mistrial continues with the corruption in the 20th District Court that now attempts to harm medical researchers and science researchers with falsified video and audio evidence they refuse to release to the public. This happens while this corrupt court system attempts to hand down full sentences to scientific journalists and medical journalists. We accuse these officials in a type of private prison scheme that is similar to the corruption where judges were caught attempting to hand down draconian sentences to make a profit for many of these private prisons.
This government reduces their First World science researchers into illegal trials and attempts to continue to silence my voice. The officials in Collier County, Florida made an illegal arrest against our media agency, and why we cannot even show the public the tainted video evidence and audio evidence of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross. These officials in Florida do not want the media to be able to tell the public the truth of the corruption that is going on in the State of Florida.
We want the media and the public to demand that the 20th District Court release the real Video footage and Audio Footage of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross. You can clearly see that Michael Ross was illegally arrested as Officer Luna stated that Ross was being arrested for being a felon with an air rifle in the State of Florida. The truth is that Ross was never a felon and this was a wrongful arrest. It is now even worse that these government officials covered up the video footage and audio evidence to further hurt Ross with an illegal mistrial. We want these officers charged with tampering with video evidence and audio Evidence.
We still are willing to work in America as a researcher on one condition, and that is for the authorities to produce the video and audio evidence of the illegal arrest of Michael Ross. We do not wish to continue to fight the government about this, yet it is the government that wants to fight our media agency still with an illegal mistrial. This is why we now refuse to work with these officials until they show the public the video evidence and audio evidence of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross. If the government refuses this, then we simply refuse to work in these conditions and will move out of the country.
I would like to report my research laptops as being stolen from my illegal arrest by these corrupt authorities in Collier County, Florida. These authorities continued a mistrial for over a year and refused to give me back my research or money for over one year. These authorities attempt to flood America with illegal Third World refugees, then this same government attacks members of the press for trying to stop this invading illegal enemy army of Third World refugees and illegal immigrants. The American government attempts to harm their own researchers. We want others to see that these government officials were a nuisance and that we would not want to give credit to the Biden Administration for our work. We want the public to see the Biden Administration was a nuisance to our science and medical researchers and we refuse to work in these types of conditions any longer.
I no longer want to work for a government that allows tainted audio evidence, video evidence and physical evidence in an illegal trial against their own medical researchers and science researchers. These corrupt authorities hand down illegal sentences to members of the scientific community. This is being done because I am conservative and a First World researcher. The 20th District Court District Attorneys continued an illegal trial against Michael James Ross because they consider Michael Ross a political rival. These same corrupt court officials attempt to harm medical researchers while letting many of these Third World criminals continue to terrorize American scientists and researchers. Remember that this can go both ways. I now refuse to work in America if the 20th District Court in Collier County, Florida is still in operation and continues to harm their own medical researchers and science researchers. I am now moving my research out of the country until the authorities in Florida stop this mistrial and the covering-up of the illegal arrest of medical journalist Michael James Ross. If the authorities refuse to clear my name of this wrongful arrest and mistrial, then I will move my research out of the country permanently.
Have you noticed how many say the court systems in Washington D.C. and New York were rigged, and people cannot even get a fair trial. The State of Florida also has rigged court systems that do not give researchers, scientists and members of the media a fair trial. This is why many refuse to work in these conditions. We promise the public that we will have the video of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross within one week if the authorities release the video and audio evidence on the front of our books and websites.
Let me remind you that the 20th District Court of Florida also cheated my legal team. My legal team is not happy with these officials, this is why an appeal is being made. My legal team stated that the authorities messed up big time and were trying to be deceitful with hiding the evidence from my legal team. One judge even stated the authorities acted inappropriately and still continued this illegal mistrial. Once the public is aware and the media is aware, they will clearly see that Michael Ross was illegally put on probation to avoid incarceration. I feel that these authorities want to hide this evidence and attempt to harm my life and attempt to assassinate me to cover-up this illegal arrest. As soon as this evidence is released, the people will see that I was wrongfully imprisoned. Ask yourselves why the 20th District Court illegally holds this physical evidence from the public as well. Now many in the public soon will know that the 20th District Court cheated the American public as well.
The American East Court Districts cheat too many people and why we now wish to leave the country with our research. I would like to report my research stolen by the 20th District Court and advise other researchers that your research is no longer safe with these illegal trials the 20th District Court holds against their researchers.
I do not even want to call many of these authorities American. These authorities are un-American and continue to bring in an illegal army of Third World refugees and criminals.
I do not appreciate governments that attempt to keep me as a political prisoner with falsified video evidence and audio evidence.
I have disowned this government, all they are good for now is continue illegal trials with their researchers.
Look at how many problems this illegitimate government causes members of the scientific community and the press. These authorities made a mistake and thought I was a felon on my record, the police then illegally arrested me and claimed I was a felon with an air rifle. The police had to drop these charges and wanted to attempt to give me 5 years in prison for simply just owning a standard pellet air rifle. You can even see the charges in the paperwork of the illegal arrest. The police had to drop this charge and that this was the original charge that Michael James Ross was arrested for. I was then illegally put on probation and had to plead no contest to simply avoid an 11 year prison sentence. We see many people are illegally thrown into jail, while I was illegally put on probation. The authorities still threaten me with prison time if I do not give into their illegal demands.
The truth is that these government authorities are illegitimate and continue to bring in an invading enemy army of illegal Third World immigrants. These Third World groups are a burden to the scientific communities in First World nations and we are also going to ask Trump or a conservative government to start deporting the majority of these Third World groups to save America and to save the West.
Many of these Third World groups will exhaust our resources and dry up the groundwater when the scientific community agrees that the country is already full.
We hear more how the American Government will just show up to members of the press multiple times and attempt to claim that scientists, the press and researchers are crazy. The American government acts similar to the Pol Pot Regime. I refuse to work with a government that resorts to these tactics. The government of Laguna Beach, California attempted these same tactics in 2018 and I was forced to have to move out of this area, simply because these officials were trying to assassinate me.
I have even written a science research paper on COVID in 2019, I predicted before the pandemic what would happen, and why it is important that the people listen to me.
These are the same officials behind the JFK assassination and the supposed attempted Trump Assassination. These officials plan to assassinate me to cover-up my illegal arrest and to terrorize their own researchers. This same government betrayed their own soldiers in Vietnam and Afghanistan. The American government let Communist North Vietnam win, simply because many groups in America such as the Democrats were working with the Communists. We see how the American government would even use Agent Orange to experiment on everyone, while risking the lives of our soldiers and created a stalemate in the war instead of finishing the war. America could have easily defeated the North Vietnamese within months with the technology we have. Instead this incapable government will go down in history as one of the biggest disappointments, and let a bunch of Third World North Vietnamese continue on. We would expect the American government to also harm their own researchers with mistrials as well. We cannot say that researchers are safe under this government, this is the same government that killed many with frivolous lock-downs. This is why so many Americans are now homeless and dying, many business have gone bankrupt because of these tyrannical and draconian lock-downs, while giving priority to low IQ Third World groups to invade America and take Americans jobs. We are warning the public that this government wants to kill you and your family in the next pandemic. These same people would rather give jobs to unqualified CEO's and Board members that are part of these groups and clubs. This is why we have many unqualified people as CEO's and board members in the workforce. These are the same people that think biological males should be able to play in women's only sporting competitions.
This government hindered our efforts and continues to steal our research with illegal arrests. We are going to move our research out of the country permanently if this illegal mistrial does not stop right now.
All this government is good for now is legalizing toxic pesticides and food that needs to be recalled.
This government is so dumb, we have hundreds of people in the media warning this government to not use Depleted Uranium in war and this nuisance government still does it. This government has painted a giant target over the heads of their civilians. I do not want to be associated with this government any longer. This government now threatens my life and my research with illegal arrests, and with tainted video and audio evidence to continue an illegal trial. The only way this government can even get my medical research is by illegally arresting me and holding an illegal trial. This government is no better than the Pol Pot regime and any serious researcher would not want to work with these people. Look at how bad they degrade the big cities in America. America is now considered the ghetto of First World nations because of these corrupt government officials.
This government is responsible for the death of the honeybees and butterflies with all the harmful Monsanto products that should have never been legalized. I do not want to have any part of this corruption.
I refuse to work with a government that attempts to bring in an invading army of illegal immigrants, then if anyone attempts to stand up to these corrupt governments in these liberal towns, they are either declared crazy or some type of terrorist. We refuse to work with the government of Laguna Beach, California for this reason as well. We now refuse to work with the government of Collier County, Florida as well. The no good public lets this happen also. This is why we predict that many people will die in the next fake lock-down. It was the public that severed their last remaining lifelines. We predict a great catastrophe will happen in the State of Florida before 2050 and that many people in South Florida will be exiled. This will be of Biblical proportions, and that we see Hurricane Helen and Hurricane Milton. Hurricane Helene happened on the same day as the illegal court trial.
This will prove that the government does not care about their own researchers and scientists. Look at how many medical researchers and scientific researchers have been murdered in America as well, what makes this any different. These are the same people that want to kill you and your family with fake COVID lock-downs and dangerous COVID vaccines that needed to be recalled. According to this government, in order to be in good standing with your COVID shots since the year 2020, the average American would have to be on their 10th shot by now. We are tired of this pompous government that does not care about their people. The scientific community and medical community now moves against this corruption in the American government. If anything, this corrupt government plots night and day on how to kill me, you and your family.
The problem is we know this government will not stop the torture of their own medical and science researchers. Why would this government stop, many radio show hosts claim that our government is being ran by a bunch of no good Communists. These were the same people who were running the Killing Fields in Communist Cambodia under the Pol Pot Regime. These are also the people in charge that want to eliminate you and your family in the next fake COVID type lock-down.
I am still willing to work in America as a researcher. However, this will require that the government hand over the video evidence and audio evidence of my illegal arrest, or I am going to move out of the country and take my research with me. I also will not give credit to this government if they continue to illegally harm my media agency with a mistrial that has tampered video evidence and tampered audio evidence of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross. I am being perfectly reasonable about this, I ask if the government wants me to continue to be an American researcher, that they hand over this tainted video and audio evidence of my illegal arrest, and to not keep me on probation for 2 years. I have my rights and I deserve to be a free man, and to not face an illegal mistrial that continues to cause harm to me.
Michael James Ross is willing to fix all of this if you give me the
powers of a scientific dictatorship. I am
willing to accept powers as the leader of America to replace many of
these government officials that are incapable of ruling.
I am now available for interviews.
I tried so hard to be good to America and these corrupt authorities betrayed me.
The 9th District Court refused my lawsuits on my illegal arrest in Laguna Beach, California in 2018.
For every month that I am illegally put on probation will be two years that I am going to not allow the American government to take credit for my research. If this illegal probation continues for 1 year, then that will be 20 years the American government will not take any credit for my research. If I am illegally incarcerated while on probation then consider that the American government will no longer take credit for my research at all and this will be permanent. This is effective starting February 1st, 2025. We currently are not willing to work with this government and do not want them to take credit for our research until the year 2027. If this continues through March you can consider the American government will not take credit for our research until 2029. We want the government to release the video evidence and audio evidence of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross right away, or we most likely are going to make this permanent, and the American government will never take any credit for our research if they want to continue this illegal charade. We also are going to seek a public apology from the government as well. This corrupt government obviously is not going to take this seriously and we most likely will make this permanent if this illegal detainment of Michael James Ross continues. We now are going to refuse to work with this government permanently for their lack of respect to our media agency. We are not going to work with a government that holds our research hostage and terrorizes its own researchers like this. This is unacceptable and our research is being held hostage by this corrupt government we not longer want to be around or work with. All this corrupt government can do now is to hold us hostage and not leave the corrupt state of Florida. While I am slowly being psychologically scarred by this illegitimate government of Florida and their corrupt court systems. We refuse to work with governments that lie about us and waste our time, this is unacceptable and pitiful how the government of Florida harms its own researchers. We do not appreciate how this rotten and depraved government even has to lie to the press and the public about their own researchers. This is why the mainstream media did not tell the truth and stated Michael James Ross was a felon in their headlines. The mainstream media then had to delete these untrue articles about Michael James Ross, simply because Michael James Ross was never a felon.
Michael Ross plans to take his research out of the country of America as long as the government of Florida illegally keeps the tainted video evidence, audio evidence and physical evidence of the illegal trial of Michael James Ross from PollutionScience.com.
At this time we want Donald Trump, Desantis, the Florida Bar and the Florida Senate to review the tainted video evidence and tainted audio evidence in the illegal trial of Michael James Ross. My legal team is going to appeal this mistrial.
We want to know from the Government if they think it is acceptable that my legal team was not allowed to see the video and audio footage of the illegal arrest of Michael James Ross.
We have a disagreement, these corrupt government officials think they can illegally hold their own medical researchers and science researchers with an illegal mistrial and withhold evidence from the media and the public as well. This government even made the media lie about me and claim I was a felon with an air rifle. This was not true, and why the media had to remove these lies that this illegitimate government created.
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Pollution Science X - Florida (Pollution Science 101 - Florida)
Ross vs Florida
Author: Michael James Ross
Publication Date: April 4th, 2024
https://archive.org/details/pollution-science-101-florida
PollutionScience101Florida.Blogspot.com (The publication pollution Science Florida was a banned scientific publication, this book was banned because the authorities wanted to cover-up the corruption going on in Florida).
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Michael James Ross Explains Why the Authorities Had to Drop the Illegal Arrest Charges Against Him & Why the Courts still are threatening to Stop the Research of Michael Ross with Tainted and Falsified Audio Evidence in a Mistrial.
September 16th, 2024
https://archive.org/details/AudioEvidenceTampering
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Florida Kidnapping Rings Investigated (Collier County, Florida)
August 28th, 2024
FloridaKidnappingRings.Blogspot.com
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Michael Ross - PollutionScience.com Lawsuits
September 23rd, 2024
https://archive.org/details/michael-ross-lawsuits
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Michael Ross vs Florida - Illegal Arrest - Document: Evidence Exhibit A-7 - Pages 1-109
July 1st, 2024
https://archive.org/details/evidence-a-7
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Michael Ross vs Florida - Illegal Arrest - Court Document: Evidence Exhibit A 4
July 1st, 2024
https://archive.org/details/evidence-a-4
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Michael James Ross vs Collier County, Florida
PRIMARY DOCKET # 24CF95
Our Environmental Websites and Reports:
Website: Pollution Science - PollutionScience.com
Book: Pollution Science X - Florida - https://pollutionscience101Florida.blogspot.com
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The illegal arrest of Michael Ross - Background check to prove Michael Ross was never a felon.
July 16th,2024
https://archive.org/details/innocent-not-a-felon
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1/15/2020 - Michael Ross gets illegally abducted by the Laguna Beach, California Police (Help) - Laguna Beach Police Brutality - Scientific Research Being Destroyed
https://archive.org/details/michaelrosslagunabeachpolicebrutality
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Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of flooded grasslands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee. Water leaving the lake in the wet season forms a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. The Everglades experiences a wide range of weather patterns, from frequent flooding in the wet season to drought in the dry season. Throughout the 20th century, the Everglades suffered significant loss of habitat and environmental degradation...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades
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Lawsuit: Collier family sold land soaked with toxic chemical, then fired whistleblower
July 16, 2024
Florida was duped into buying conservation land tainted with creosote, a toxic wood preservative linked to cancer and birth defects in a deal hailed as an environmental win, says a lawsuit unsealed in federal court last month.
The Colliers, through a spokesman, deny the allegations, but whistleblower Sonja Eddings Brown, who worked closely with matriarch Parker Collier for more than a decade before she was fired, says the powerful, wealthy family helped engineer the nearly $30 million deal, but hid the fact that some of the Everglades land was dangerously polluted.
The claims are part of a larger suit seeking damages from Collier for Brown’s “loss of income, business opportunity, and goodwill, as well as emotional distress and reputational harm,” and she demands a jury trial. The 45-page complaint occasionally veers into only-in-Florida territory, including the gift of a napkin embroidered with skull-and-crossbones, the sale of a Lamborghini, death threats and Collier’s use of a numerologist.
The Colliers have categorically denied Brown's allegations through a spokesman, and an environmental lobbyist who helped put the deal together says Brown's claims are baseless.
But the issue at the heart of it is clear, Brown alleges: the Colliers, who once owned more than a million Southwest Florida acres, got richer by unloading tainted land onto taxpayers while relieving themselves of polluted property.
Once home to the C.J. Jones Lumber Co., the biggest steam milling operation in the Southeast, it was the processing heart of the logging juggernaut that chewed through pine flatwoods and cypress swamps in the early 20th Century, until it closed in 1957.
Though Jones had leased the land, the Colliers and their various business entities owned it.
'A toxic source for hundreds of years'
Despite a 1990 agreement with the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (now Protection) requiring the Colliers to clean it up and provide water to residents of nearby Jerome, a tiny hamlet of fewer than 50 people, “almost as soon as the Colliers inked the deal with the State of Florida … they stopped providing the residents the gallons of bottled water the Consent Decree required (so) Mrs. Collier and her family profited from the polluted land while leaving residents at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals in the water they drink, cook, and shower with," according to the lawsuit.
The transaction that included the tainted land, Brown claims, was foisted on the state after a series of high-level meetings with then-President Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and their respective teams. Because of Brown's government relations expertise, Parker Collier tapped her to help with the deal.
“Mrs. Collier falsely told Brown that the creosote contamination, which she said had happened a long time ago, had been cleaned up. And despite knowing that Brown would be interacting with President Donald Trump and senior White House and campaign staff, as well as Governor Ron DeSantis and his senior team, regarding the acquisition, she told Brown not to discuss the creosote during her meetings," according to the lawsuit.
Brown was fired in early 2020, before the sale was final, but the deal included the tainted land, the suit claims.
The contamination remains, Brown says, offering as evidence independent testing reviewed by physician James Dahlgren, "an expert who has studied toxic chemical exposure since 1973" that found creosote's chemical signature in area well water.
Dahlgren says the findings mean "water from that well will produce adverse health effects for those using that water” and the results are “the tip of the iceberg reflecting likely widespread water contamination” that poses significant health risks. Dahlgren says the “water and soil around Jerome and Everglades City are contaminated and need to be remediated or it will be a toxic source for hundreds of years,” the suit claims.
Naples Daily News questions to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection about the deal were directed to the South Florida Water Management District, which took charge of the property's vetting and purchase.
Suit's allegations 'just wrong,' lobbyist says
In an email, spokesman Randy Smith wrote: “It is a long-established practice for the South Florida Water Management (District) to conduct a comprehensive environmental assessment of any real estate prior to its purchase, and this includes the purchase in Collier County known as the Green Heart of the Everglades. Assessments are performed as part of a standardized process to meet the District’s high-level of commitment to public safety, environmental stewardship, and good governance.”
After reviewing the lawsuit, Ernie Cox, a lobbyist for the environmental nonprofit Wild Landscapes International, which negotiated the sale, said the land the legal challenge involves wasn't part of the sale.
The allegations are "just wrong," he said.
The sale involved land owned by two sides of the Collier family. On a map, Cox pointed to a small piece of property referenced in the lawsuit, east of State Road 29, showing it as outside of the acquisition's boundaries.
Wild Landscapes, he said, approached the Colliers about the sale of the property for conservation, not the other way around. The group saw it as a missing jewel, as it's surrounded by other protected lands in the "middle of the Everglades."
Cox also questions the character of the suit: "There is a whole lot of inaccuracies in that lawsuit," he said. "It looks more like a contract dispute than a whistleblower lawsuit."
He believes the adjacent property was "cleaned up years ago," and it's owned by the U.S. Department of Interior, which purchased it long ago, he said.
The Water Management District knew the site’s history, so it wasn't "hidden" in any way, as claimed by Brown, Cox said.
"It looks like she's making allegations that she was supposed to be paid for something," he said. "That's not something I know anything at all about."
He insisted there was nothing toxic about the land sold to the water district, and that Wild Landscapes did its homework.
"I'm really, really happy that we were able to get this property into public ownership," Cox said. "I think it's a great piece of conservation land. It's got incredible natural resources on it."
Area environmental nonprofits, including the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and the Everglades Foundation were not involved in the deal and declined to comment on Brown's claims. "(This) is the first that we’ve heard of this. The claims in the suit are not issues that we have any insight or knowledge about, so we are not able to provide comments," wrote Nicole Johnson, the Conservancy's director of environmental policy, in an email.
The 'new face' of Collier Enterprises turns whistleblower
In her years with the Colliers, Brown had an up-close view of their activities, particularly those of Parker Collier, for whom she became a close confidante.
According to the suit, Brown was "on-call for a variety of projects and tasks related to Mrs. Collier’s personal and professional affairs. Brown would often attend meetings and local political events as Mrs. Collier’s representative and was even trusted by Mrs. Collier to supervise her contractors (and) frequently shared personal information regarding herself, the Collier family, her consultations with her numerologist, and her ambitious business and financial goals."
The suit says Brown's work included:
Managing certain philanthropic and community relationships for Parker Collier. "While attending events on Mrs. Collier’s behalf, Brown created relationships and secured business for Mrs. Collier’s business endeavors."
Facilitating the sale of Collier’s Lamborghini.
Coordinating the Collier family’s personal political giving (separate from Collier Enterprises).
Assisting with business opportunities for Collier family members, including evaluating an athletic contract for Mrs. Collier’s daughter and developing a website for (her husband) Miles Collier’s book.
Consulting on a marketing strategy for products from the Collier Vermont Farm
The suit alleges that "in March 2020, a month before Brown’s termination, the Colliers asked Brown to hold herself out as the 'new face' of Collier Enterprises, alongside Interim CEO Don Whyte." Brown is quoted in the Naples Daily News about Rivergrass.
Also part of the complaint are Brown's allegations of other Collier malfeasance, particularly involving the family's work to secure government approval to develop some of their land into a series of "villages," the largest of which is Rivergrass.
According to the suit, as she learned about what she saw as the company's shady practices, Brown became worried her association with it would damage her own credibility and reputation.
The suit also alleges company corruption involving development approvals. Brown says she tried to question it, but she was ignored and lied to, which led to "loss of income, business opportunity, and goodwill, as well as emotional distress and reputational harm."
The suit claims: "Concerned about the possible consequences of the questions and alleged corruption Brown had raised, as well as her fear that Brown would eventually learn the full truth about the creosote contamination, Mrs. Collier began to view Brown as an existential threat. As a result, she engineered her sudden termination at the peak of her responsibilities at Collier Enterprises."
A Collier spokesperson denied Brown's complaint: “This claim is without merit and completely baseless. We categorically refute all allegations made against us and will vigorously defend our position and reputation, utilizing the full extent of legal remedies available to us."
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2024/07/16/whistleblower-says-collier-family-sold-8-000-tainted-acres-to-florida/74368607007/
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What’s stopping the vulnerable Everglades from being healed?
Mar 29, 2017
DUARTE GERALDINO:
The Tamiami Highway is one example of that progress. For nearly 90 years, it acted like a dam, preventing freshwater from flowing south to the Everglades National Park.
Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers elevated a one-mile section of the road and is currently working to raise two more miles, so water can flow more freely.
And the state has also built some stormwater treatment areas, which use plants to scrub clean agricultural water before it flows into the Everglades.
But journalist Michael Grunwald, author of "The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise," says the plan has not accomplished its main goal.
MICHAEL GRUNWALD, Author, "The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise": The real thrust of CERP is supposed to be about storing water. And, well, we're 17 years in, and they still haven't built any storage.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-stopping-vulnerable-everglades-healed
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The Founders
Barron Gift Collier and The Collier Brothers by Rich Taylor
Barron Gift Collier
Our saga starts with Barron Gift Collier, a larger-than-life, self-made entrepreneur from the Gilded Age. Born in 1873 in Memphis, Barron was the son of U.S. Naval officer Cowles Myles Collier, who resigned his commission to join the Confederacy in 1861. Cowles’ reputation and fortune both blew up when the Confederate gunpowder mill he commanded was destroyed.
With no money nor connections, Barron Collier dropped out of school at age 16 and went to work for the Illinois Central Railroad. At 20, he became a salesman for a Memphis printing company that made advertising posters placed in horse-drawn street cars. Inspired, Collier promptly moved to New York City and started the Consolidated Street Railway Advertising Company.
Almost overnight, his in-house agency was preparing advertisements that he placed in street cars, buses and subway trains for thousands of clients from New York to San Francisco, Chicago to Havana. By the time he was 26, Collier was already worth a million dollars. J.P. Morgan became his personal investment advisor, William Randolph Hearst and Theodore Roosevelt his friends.
In 1907, Collier married much younger Juliet Gordon Carnes of Memphis. Four years later, Barron and Juliet stayed at the Florida vacation home of John Roach, a wealthy client who ran the Chicago Street Railway Company. They liked Roach’s place so much, Barron and Juliet bought all of remote Useppa Island, including Roach’s house, for $100,000. It’s now the exclusive Collier Inn, a National Historic Site.
At the time, Collier was raking in $5-million a year, and already had Overlook Estate on the Hudson River adjacent to John D. Rockefeller’s Kykuit in Sleepy Hollow, NY, a summer house in Presque Isle, ME and Villa Meineck in Baden-Baden, Germany. He and Juliet travelled by private railroad car or on one of his yachts.
Collier constantly expanded and diversified his business, buying or starting two different chains of hotels, a chain of banks, a telephone company, the Atlantic Coast Steamship Company, a group of golf courses, the Manhattan bus company and a long-distance bus company that became part of Trailways. He also became a patron of the Boy Scouts of America, founded in 1910.
Most importantly, Barron Collier was one of the business leaders who guided and bankrolled the Golden Era of Transportation that blossomed between 1900 and 1940. In addition to his promotion of railroads, street cars, subways, buses and airlines, he encouraged Americans to vacation by automobile, and through his political connections was responsible for thousands of miles of new roads.
During the post-World War I Recession of 1921-1923, despite J.P. Morgan warning him not to waste his money, Collier bought 1.3-million acres of undeveloped land in Southwest Florida. He personally paid millions of dollars to complete the 368 mile Tamiami Trail from Tampa to Miami via Naples.
The Miami to Naples stretch of the Tamiami Trail aka “Alligator Alley” was a gargantuan task that took years to finish, but in the process required the invention of new road-building machinery and techniques that spread throughout the world. In 1923, parts of Lee County were split off into two new counties named for the largest landowner in each: developer Barron G. Collier and Francis A. Hendry, Cattle King of Florida.
Collier then spent the next 15 years developing not just Collier County, but Florida’s entire Gulf Coast. He was responsible for roads, canals, railroads, bus lines, steamship lines, banks, phone companies, hotels, restaurants, airports, real estate sales…a total infrastructure carved out of tropical jungle and aimed at bringing residents and tourists to beaches from Sarasota to Naples.
His income was rumored to be $10-million a year during the Roaring Twenties, and he spent most of that transforming Collier County. He suffered stock market losses in 1929, but still had more than enough to keep wheeling and dealing through the Thirties. Barron Gift Collier had a lasting impact on transportation and tourist industries not just in Florida, not just in America, but around the globe.
Still working 12 hour days, he became ill at his beloved winter home on Useppa Island, was brought back to New York and died March 13, 1939 at Manhattan Medical Center. He never knew that in 1943, oil would be discovered in what is now called Sunniland Oil Field in the middle of Collier County, and that Collier Resources would help turn his heirs into not just millionaires, but multi-billionaires.
https://speedtour.net/articles/the-collier-family/
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Collier family
7/1/15
The Colliers came up with a simple way to avoid the dissent that befalls many family-owned businesses: toss a coin. In 1976, the grandchildren of Florida landowner Barron Gift Collier, Sr. (d. 1939), split the company in two, dividing the assets randomly. Today Collier Enterprises and Barron Collier Companies have diverse ventures in commercial and residential real estate, agriculture, oil exploration and golf courses. In partnership with Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, Barron Collier Companies is building a 4,000-acre university town in Southwest Florida called Ave Maria that will eventually hold 11,000 homes. Among the 30-some heirs living today, cousins Katie Sproul and Blake Gable are co-presidents of Barron Collier, while Barron "Barry" Collier III chairs the board. The family patriarch, who'd made a fortune in streetcar advertising, started buying up land in Southwest Florida after a visit in 1911. He eventually acquired more than 1 million acres and brought the first telephone and railroad service to the county, which was renamed after him. His sons, Barron, Sam and Miles, ran the company for three decades before the split.
https://www.forbes.com/profile/collier/
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A look at what it took to construct 76-mile Tamiami Trail as we celebrate 85th anniversary of its op
April 18, 2013
https://archive.naplesnews.com/community/a-look-at-what-it-took-to-construct-76-mile-tamiami-trail-as-we-celebrate-85th-anniversary-of-its-op-331556511.html/
By the numbers alone, the completion of the Tamiami Trail was a mind-boggling event.
Across 76 swampy miles, more than 2,000 workers toiled for the better part of five years. If you laid all the dynamite used end to end, it would have reached all the way to San Francisco.
The project, which spanned from 1923 until 1928, cost a mind-boggling $8 million, which breaks down to about $25,000 per mile. Adjusted for inflation, that $8 million would have been equivalent to nearly $109 million in today’s economy.
While the building of the Tamiami Trail was big in terms of numbers, its impact was far more impressive than pure tonnage of dynamite consumed or man-hours spent. The Tamiami Trail quite literally paved the way for Southwest Florida to be the booming mini-metropolis it is today.
But the Tamiami Trail wasn’t always a sure thing. While today we hop on and off U.S. 41 with ease, there was a time when the future of the road looked uncertain. In fact, how the road came to be is actually a pretty interesting story. And with April 26, 2013, marking the 85th anniversary of the opening of the Tamiami Trail, we thought this was a perfect time to take a drive down memory lane.
The story starts in the early years of the 20th century. Personal automobiles were becoming more prevalent, and as Museum of the Everglades manager David England says, “If you had the money for a car you had the money for a vacation.” Northern visitors wanted to come to Florida, but the roads were few and far between.
In fact, most visitors arrived by boat. At the time, going by land from Fort Myers to Everglades City (which was just called Everglade) would take almost a week. The trip from Naples to Miami was a much longer adventure, since drivers had to drive north to Tampa, cross over to Daytona and then drive south to Miami.
“The state said, ‘Look, we need to build infrastructure,’” says England, adding, “And the state offered to put up half the money for the east-west portion if Dade County would provide the other half.”
But many taxpayers in other parts of the state cried foul, suggesting that it would be a huge waste of money, if the road were even possible.
“No one really even knew what was out there,” says England.
But Dade County land developer Captain James Franklin Jaudin wanted to find out. On April 4, 1923, Jaudin led a group of mostly city slickers brazenly calling themselves the “Tamiami Trailblazers” into the swamp.
“It took them a lot longer than they’d thought. They even had to send up a plane to spot them and drop supplies,” says England.
Russell Kay, the former author of the syndicated column “Too Late to Classify,” wrote about his experience as a Tamiami Trailblazer in his memoir by the same name. According to his report, he says that almost immediately upon entering the swamp, several vehicles broke down. At least one may — to this day — still be buried in the murky waters.
Twenty-three days after departing, the bedraggled crew emerged from the swamp. Clearly, the trail was going to be more difficult to build than had been imagined.
Nonetheless, construction on the east-west portion of the trail began. Because Jaudin was financing much of it, he had mandated that the trail run through Monroe County, where he owned vast parcels of property. But almost from the day they broke ground there were problems. The limestone was deeper than imagined and the project soon ran out of money. Leaders looked to business tycoon Barron Gift Collier for help.
“There was more and more pressure on Barron Collier to get involved, but he kept telling them, ‘There’s no way to recoup my cost here,’” says England. The shrewd businessman he was, Collier made a deal. He would help finance the road if Lee County would relinquish the land that he owned for the formation of a new county. In addition, the road had to go through this new county. In October 1923, work on the trail began in earnest.
“Collier always picked really good people for the job,” says Ron Jamro, director of the Collier County Museum. “From his personal chef to David Graham Copeland, who he hired as the head engineer, he always hired the best people.”
Seemingly overnight, 2,000 workers flooded into the town of Everglade, totally transforming it. Crews worked 12-hour shifts and Collier turned the work into a competition, offering up prizes for the teams that worked the fastest. From Everglade, the road made its way north, then east and west. The crews gobbled up any bit of landscape that dared stand in their way.
“Amazingly, we didn’t lose a single person during the construction of the trail, and it was by far the most dangerous part,” boasts England.
Of course, it wasn’t the only part. While the east-west portion of the trail was definitely the biggest engineering feat, Lee County’s sections had its own problems.
“There was a war between the Board of Trade, which favored the Dixie Route — which went through Fort Meade with crossings at Fort Thompson, now present day LaBelle — and those who favored a coastal route,” says Jim Powers of the Southwest Florida History Museum. “Those who favored the coastal route actually left the Board of Trade and formed the Chamber of Commerce,” he adds.
Had the route gone the inland route, the growth of towns like Bonita Springs and Estero certainly would have been stunted.
But 85 years later, Bonita, Estero, Naples and virtually all of Southwest Florida are thriving. Undoubtedly, much of the thanks is due to the accessibility that came with the completion of the Tamiami Trail.
Interestingly, however, the Tamiami Trail is still making headlines. In fact, while the Trail was such an integral part of our history, it may need to be modified in order to remain part of our future.
What Barron Collier and David Copeland didn’t understand at the time was that they were essentially damming (and ultimately damning) the Everglades. Dr. Tom Van Lent, a senior scientist with the Everglades Foundation, says that, “It was a project of profound and unintended consequences.”
In March, a ribbon cutting ceremony marked the opening of the first one-mile-long bridge section of the Trail. Eventually, several bridge sections will allow water to once again flow from Lake Okeechobee out to the Florida Bay.
With this new initiative underway, the future of the Everglades — and Southwest Florida — looks as bright as the past. Which actually makes sense. Because as anyone who has driven on the east-west portion of the Tamiami Trail knows, the view from your rearview mirror is just as lovely as that from your windshield.
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Many citizens have accused the Collier Family of having a lot of influence in some of the organized crime that is going on in Collier County, Florida. We see different counties in Florida and America were even attempting to bring in Third World gang members. We see that many people say that the Collier Family is behind a lot of the organized crime with the illegal Dumping going on in Collier County, Florida. The Collier Family even sold tainted land to the State of Florida. Many accuse the Collier County Family of organized crime.
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Florida National Park Named Popular Place For Murderers To Dump Bodies In The U.S.
May 11th, 2024
https://wild941.com/listicle/florida-national-park-named-popular-place-for-murders-to-dump-bodies-in-the-u-s/
Everglades
Everglades National Park is located in Florida and is great for tourist attraction. Sadly the isolation makes it a great place to get rid of bodies. One of the most eerie stories involves serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Elwood Toole. Toole was sentenced to life in prison for arson and raping and eating people. Lucas was arrested and claimed to have participated in about 3k murders. The two told police they were approached by a man about joining a cult called ” The Hand Of Death.” The cult was located in a secret location in the Everglades. Police however searched and found no sign of the cult. According to Crime Reads,” Since 1965 alone, there have been 175 unsolved cases involving deaths and murders in the Everglades.”
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Cold Case Chronicles: Everglades body dump, Miami drug wars drove up Collier murder rate
May 21, 2010
A fisherman made the grisly discovery on a Sunday afternoon in June 1982 ? a young woman's dismembered body floating in a canal off Alligator Alley, just west of the Collier-Broward line.
Her head, arms, breasts and legs had been smoothly cut away, and the word "DRUG" had been carved into her back.
To former Collier sheriff's Lt. Harold Young, the agency's lead homicide detective in the late 1970s and 1980s, that was a "whodunit" ? a difficult case with little to work with. The woman's identity was never determined.
Of Collier County's more than 175 unsolved homicides since 1965, several are "whodunits" from the ?80s ? charred bodies tossed into canals, a skeleton with a bullet hole through the skull discovered in the Everglades, the nude body of a woman buried in a shallow grave off Alligator Alley.
It was a time when the Cocaine Cowboy wars were heating up, and the illegal drug trade flourished on Florida's east coast.
"They were smart enough to know that if they dropped their bodies in a different venue, it would make it more difficult to solve them," Young said.
Homicide is the ultimate crime, and local law enforcement officials say treat them all as equally important, whether it be an innocent child or a hardened criminal killed during a drug deal.
"You're taking away everything that a person has and everything they'll ever have," said Capt. Chris Roberts, who heads up the Collier County Sheriff's Office's Major Crimes Division.
"Sixty-four other counties cannot be that far ahead of this county," Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said. "I'm telling you that right now."
According to a Scripps Howard News Service study of crime records provided by the FBI, between 1980 and 2008 there were 31,715 reported homicides in Florida, 19,057 of which were cleared ? or just over 60 percent.
During that same period, Collier County had 360 reported homicides and cleared 206 ? just over 57 percent; the third lowest in the state, ahead of only Miami-Dade and Duval counties (44 percent and 56 percent, respectively) and tied with Hendry and Palm Beach counties.
The median county among 67 Florida counties cleared 74 percent of its homicides in that period, according to FBI statistics.
Local officials say the homicide clearance rate isn't a particularly significant statistic in a county with as few homicides as Collier, which also has the lowest crime rate of any county south of the Interstate 4 corridor in Central Florida. They also say comparing one county or agency to another is like comparing apples and oranges.
"Sixty-four other counties cannot be that far ahead of this county," Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said. "I'm telling you that right now."
https://archive.naplesnews.com/news/crime/cold-case-chronicles-everglades-body-dump-miami-drug-wars-drove-up-collier-murder-rate-ep-394902174-343342022.html/
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Naples mayor says complaint against her meant to sabotage reputation
May 26, 2021
An ethics complaint by City IT Director Brian Dye against the mayor in the City of Naples has brought forward serious accusations. It brought up allegations of corruption and child prostitution involving high-ranking leaders in Naples and Collier County.
We sat down with Mayor Teresa Heitmann who told us the complaint doesn’t look like something the IT director would write.
Heitmann believes the IT director was put up to it and she says a seven-page complaint is meant to sabotage her reputation.
“It’s shocking and impurely accusations that have potentially now harmed important relationships with the city,” Heitmann said.
The complaint claims Heitmann accused the former mayor and Sheriff Kevin Rambosk of running a child sex ring out of Naples Airport.
https://winknews.com/2021/05/26/naples-mayor-says-complaint-against-her-meant-to-sabotage-reputation/
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Slavery in our midst: Luncheon at yacht club spotlights human trafficking
January 24, 2018
The amazing thing is, slavery is happening today, in 2018, and all around us in our own community.
We tend to think of slavery or human trafficking as something from long ago or taking place in faraway lands. But as a group at the Naples Sailing & Yacht Club found out on Jan. 19, though, it is happening in this century, right here in Collier County.
Naples Community Church hosted the presentation to boost awareness of human trafficking, in recognition that January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. The approximately 110 attending the luncheon heard from two people who are intimately involved in dealing with the problem, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and Linda Oberhaus, CEO of the Shelter for Abused Women and Children.
Human trafficking can involve forced labor, often agricultural; domestic servitude in the trafficker’s or another home; and sex trafficking, Rambosk and Oberhaus told the gathering, taking turns and “tag-teaming” the presentation. Because such a high percentage of the human trafficking, especially that which ordinary citizens are likely to come across in our area, is sex trafficking, that was the focus of most of the discussion.
https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/communities/collier-citizen/2018/01/24/slavery-our-midst-luncheon-yacht-club-spotlights-human-trafficking/1061985001/
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Former Naples customs officer admits to stealing almost $19,000 cash from passengers
June 19, 2024
A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer who worked out of the Naples Airport admitted to stealing cash from passengers.
According to the plea agreement, 43-year-old William Timothy said he stole from at least 17 people totaling nearly $19,000.
https://winknews.com/2024/06/19/customs-officer-stealing/
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3 Broward men accused of luring airplane technician to his death, dumping body in Everglades
December 21, 2023
https://broward.us/2023/12/21/3-broward-men-accused-of-luring-airplane-technician-to-his-death-dumping-body-in-everglades/
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How many bodies have been dumped in the Everglades?
https://www.reptileknowledge.com/reptile-pedia/how-many-bodies-have-been-dumped-in-the-everglades
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Florida National Park Named Popular Place For Murderers To Dump Bodies In The U.S.
May 11th, 2024
https://wild941.com/listicle/florida-national-park-named-popular-place-for-murders-to-dump-bodies-in-the-u-s/
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Alligators Found Eating Dead Body In Everglades
31 May 2016
An autopsy will be carried out to determine the man's cause of death after fishermen discover the gruesome scene in Florida.
https://news.sky.com/story/alligators-found-eating-dead-body-in-everglades-10300203
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The History of the Florida Everglades Is a History of Crime and Mystery
August 22, 2022
https://crimereads.com/the-history-of-the-florida-everglades-is-a-history-of-crime-and-mystery/
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Preserving ‘Heart of the Everglades’ sparks fuss over access by Florida airboat operators
October 12, 2023
State acquisition of 11,000-acre wilderness leads to questions about who will get to use it
https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/10/12/preserving-heart-of-the-everglades-sparks-fuss-over-access-by-florida-airboat-operators/
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Feds to Ban Airboats in Everglades National Park
September 28, 2015
One of Florida’s most quintessential ways of getting around the wetlands, the airboat, will soon be banned in the state’s Everglades National Park. A government plan that’s been in the works for years is set to end private air boating in the park.
For decades, Florida glades-men have been hydroplaning their propeller-powered crafts through the acres of saw grass and mangroves, sighting alligators and introducing visitors to the swamp’s natural beauty.
Established as a national park in 1934, hunting was banned in the area with the exception of one small sliver of land known as the “eastern extension.” That land became part of the 1.5 million acre park in 1989. An act of Congress that same year mandated that the US Park Service formulate a management plan that included the government buying up an additional 9,000 parcels of land and holding more than 50 public meetings. With those plans finally ready to be implemented, the end is near for private air boating within the park.
The phasing out of the air boats does make an exception and that’s for anyone who was at least 16 years old in 1989 and an active air boater. That’s anyone over 42-years-old today, but we’re not sure how you’ll need to prove you were an “active airboater.” For anyone else, just a few months remain before the ban takes effect.
Aside from those grandfathered in, the only allowed air boating that can continue will be four commercial air boat tour operators who will work as contractors for the park and cover the eastern section. Park officials will regulate the number of runs they can do.
So why are they banning the airboats? Park officials say that the threat to the swamp’s fragile environment has grown larger with an increasing number of tourists visiting every year. Last year an estimated 14,000 people toured the park by air boat, compared to a mere 2,500 back in 1990.
These delicate wetlands are being eroded by the air boat traffic, according to the Florida Biodiversity Project. That group doesn’t think that the long-anticipated ban goes far enough and has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to close the entire preserve to all air boats, swamp buggies and ATV vehicles until their operators can conclusively prove they are not violating the Clean Water Act. So far the agency has not responded to the group’s petition.
Many long-time air boaters view the coming change as a sad end to a special piece of Florida culture and heritage, while environmentalists insist that the ban is the only hope for preventing permanent destruction of the Everglade’s wetland ecosystem. But unless a future Congress reverses the ban, these air boaters will soon have to operate elsewhere – perhaps on state lands or those controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
Some current air boaters have defiantly predicted that they will become “air boat outlaws,” speeding through the park while on the lookout for park rangers who will try to enforce the rules from their own air boats.
https://www.liveoutdoors.com/motorsports/222133-feds-to-ban-airboats-in-everglades-national-park/
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Anti-fouling paints: What are they and what effects do they have on the environment?
November 16, 2022
Innovation in the field of ship hull coatings is helping to improve fuel efficiency, reduce air emissions, cut noise pollution, and prevent the spread of invasive species.
Every day, thousands of commercial ships transit from one part of the world to another, keeping supply chains and essential goods moving. With lifespans in the range of 20 to 25 years, merchant vessels spend a great amount of time in the ocean, cruising through tens of thousands of nautical miles and sailing through countless marine ecosystems.
If not treated with special coatings, small marine organisms can accumulate on a ship’s hull and increase the vessel’s resistance in water, leading to higher fuel consumption, greater air emissions(opens in a new tab) and increased levels of underwater noise(opens in a new tab). Furthermore, the sections of ships below the waterline become vehicles for the transfer and spread of aquatic invasive species(opens in a new tab) such as zebra mussels, barnacles, and tunicates.
Before diving into the specifics of hull coatings, their benefits, environmental impacts, technological advances and how they are regulated, let’s look at why they are needed in the first place.
What is biofouling and what effects does it have on shipping activities and the marine environment?
Have you ever noticed the buildup of algae or shellfish on the submerged parts of waterside structures such as the pillars of a pier? If so, you have witnessed biofouling. Through this process, also referred to as marine growth, marine organisms and species settle and accumulate on the many surfaces, nooks, and crannies of underwater structures. When biofouling occurs on the hulls, propellers, intakes, and other parts of ships that contact the water, marine species can ‘hitch a ride’ from their home ecosystem to a new one. They are then considered invasive species(opens in a new tab) because they are disturbing the new ecosystem’s balance which can threaten the survival of native species in the area.
What are anti-fouling paints and how do they prevent biofouling?
One of the main and most efficient solutions to prevent, manage and counter the environmental and economic effects of biofouling in ships has been the use of anti-fouling coatings. Anti-fouling coatings are a type of paint applied to the hull of a ship to prevent marine species and organisms – barnacles, zebra mussels, algae, and more – from attaching to the surfaces of vessels that contact water. By doing so, anti-fouling paints play an important role in preventing the transfer and spread of invasive species by ships and ensuring that commercial vessels can navigate without unnecessary resistance, improving their flow in the water, and the overall performance and sustainability of their voyages.
Are anti-fouling paints harmful to the marine environment?
Hull coatings are not new. For centuries, sailors and mariners have been trying to prevent aquatic life from growing on ships through hull linings, notably thin sheets of copper nailed to the hulls. Because of its toxicity to marine organisms, copper was the preferred solution against biofouling since the early days of marine transportation. But because it accelerates corrosion, copper was no longer a viable solution when iron replaced wood as the predominant material used for ship building. That is when paints (hull coatings) emerged as the anti-fouling solution par excellence.
Although effective at preventing bioaccumulation, these paints – made from compounds such as copper, arsenic, and other biocides – eventually flake off or leach out into the water releasing harmful chemicals into the marine environment. Those toxic compounds are being ingested by marine organisms, contaminating the food chain, and disrupting the growth of marine life.2 Although the use of harmful biocides such as tributyltin (TBT)3 in anti-fouling paints are prohibited since 2008, copper-based coatings, which transform the hulls into hostile environments for marine life to settle and grow, are still being used to this day.
Low friction anti-fouling paints that make it harder for marine life to attach – rather than killing it – are an alternative. Teflon-based anti-fouling paint is one of them. Just like in the kitchen, Teflon prevents anything from ‘sticking’ to the bottom of the ship and being transferred from one part of the world to another. But like other hull coatings, Teflon-based paints eventually flake-off, and result in a direct path for plastics(opens in a new tab) into the ocean.
Although anti-fouling technologies have been evolving and improving over the past decades, there is still room for perfecting them to a point where the toxicity and plastic pollution that may result from coatings flake off can be eliminated. Canadian innovators think there may be a way forward.
What anti-fouling technologies are under development?
Three Canadian companies are working on anti-fouling technologies that are both safe for the marine environment and improve the efficiency of ship voyages.
A20 Advanced Materials Inc.
To prevent pollution of anti-fouling paints into the marine environment, Vancouver-based A20 Advanced Materials Inc. has developed a novel underwater adhesive that can prevent corrosion and enable durable bonding of low-friction foul-release coatings. Using proprietary self-healing technology, their non-toxic coating can extend the working lifetime of marine assets while improving vessel efficiency through reduced drag. This technology is originating from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia. A2O is currently validating the technology through pilot demonstrations on small watercraft and fixed marine assets, such as underwater infrastructures.
Graphite Innovation & Technologies (GIT)
This Halifax-based organization has taken a different path by developing a durable low-friction coating impregnated with microscopic graphene particles that make it extremely slippery and durable. In addition to making it hard for marine organisms to attach to the slippery surface, this coating contains no biocides to leach out nor microplastics to flake off. It also has surprising sound deadening properties. Early results from full-scale trials on fishing boats in Halifax have shown that a vessel that is cleaned and freshly painted with the GIT coating glides through the water more efficiently than before it was cleaned. The company claims that the coating is even more slippery than conventional paint but hasn’t released data from the trials yet. More testing is ongoing to prove how much the GIT coating slows the bioaccumulation process.
Mirapakon
Quebec-based company Mirapakon is working on bringing to market a silicon-based coating – that is free of toxic compounds – developed by the U.S. Navy, with the primary goal of improving the efficiency of maritime activities such as shipping. This includes fuel economy provided by hulls that are free of organisms that could create in-water resistance. As part of recent trials, the technology was tested in fresh and ocean waters, including in the St. Lawrence River.
What are the rules around the use of anti-fouling paints and the prevention of biofouling?
Internationally
Recognizing that both biofouling and treatments to prevent the phenomenon can harm the marine environment, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) – the agency responsible for the safety and security of international shipping and the prevention of ship-source pollution – has established an anti-fouling convention as well as guidelines to control biofouling, while committing to further research on these topics.
In 2001, the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships(opens in a new tab), prohibiting the use of harmful substances (metallic compounds, tributyltin and others) in anti-fouling paints, was established. In 2021, the Convention was amended to limit the use of anti-fouling paints containing cybutryne, another harmful chemical for marine life.
In 2011, the IMO published Guidelines for the control and management of ships’ biofouling to minimize the transfer of invasive aquatic species(opens PDF)(opens in a new tab), providing ship owners and operators with recommendations to prevent bioaccumulation and reduce its associated risks, including:
Applying anti-fouling paints on the hull and other submerged parts of the ship;
Inspecting and cleaning of the hull, and underwater nooks and crannies;
Developing a management plan and recording the actions taken to prevent biofouling (e.g., type of anti-fouling paints used, date of application, etc.); and
Factoring in the type, design, and speed of the ship in the choice of anti-fouling system to use.
In 2019, microplastic pollution from hull coatings(opens PDF)(opens in a new tab) was assessed by the IMO. Further research is required to understand microplastics contributions from the cleaning and maintenance of coatings.
https://clearseas.org/insights/anti-fouling-paints-what-are-they-and-what-effects-do-they-have-on-the-environment/
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Boat Coating Controversy
September 20, 2019
Coating Controversy
Wax? Plastic polymers? Ceramic coatings? What’s the deal?
Mother Nature is brutal on boats. Sun, wind, water, and temperature have damaging effects to every material included in the boat’s structure and the goods brought on board. Wood, fiberglass, gel coat, paint, stainless steel, vinyl, plastic, fabric, nylon, wire, you name it, everything is affected by the environment, including the contaminants produced by humans.
It’s a known fact that boats, cars, cowboy boots, snowboards, windshields, skin, swim platforms, and most products do much better when protected by a coating, whether it’s wax, silicone polymer, nano-glass (ceramic), zinc oxide (for skin), or varnish. They repel water and provide lasting protection against the elements.
Cover it Up
Fiberglass boat hulls have a gel coat outer layer that creates a durable, water and UV-resistant shell that strengthens the fiberglass structure. However, gel coat is porous and susceptible to oxidation, stains, and contaminants. It needs a protective cover, a coating to keep it clean and shiny.
Coatings
Many different coatings are available to protect the boat’s hull—wax, sealant, and ceramic—and they all have variations in their own group. Gel coat is not the same as the clear coat applied over car paint and oxidizes much quicker. Even new boats will have some degree of oxidation even if there’s a shine. (To test it, take a wax and apply it to the worst-looking area, suggests Darren Priest, owner/operator of Auto Fetish Detail. If there’s any difficulty removing the wax, then it’s best to polish out the oxidation before applying boat wax to the rest of the boat.)
Wax: Wax has been around a long time, so there are lots of choices in the marine market. They almost all provide a similar level of gloss that will help increase the shine and offer a level of protection from dirt, saltwater, and ultraviolet light when applied to a clean surface. Natural wax is usually durable for six months.
Sealants: Sealants are chemically engineered to bond to the surface. They take a little more time to apply, but last longer than wax, about nine months to a year. Some add ingredients to remove old wax and residue when applied and provide a clear, hardened polymer barrier to reduce the slow fade induced from ultraviolet light as well as guard against salt and weather conditions. They can also be used on aluminum and stainless steel surfaces.
Ceramic: Ceramic coatings have become more commonplace in the marine market over the last few years because of its claim to last much longer than wax or sealants without re-applying, typically 18-24 months in southern states and 3-4 seasons up north. Ceramic coating is a liquid polymer made from ceramic nanoparticles (usually silicon dioxide or silicon carbide) that are suspended in a clear resin. When it hardens on the surface, it’s chemically bonded to create an impermeable layer that is semi-permanent, meaning it won’t come off unless it’s abraded.
There are many brands like wax and sealants. “The amount of silica dioxide in the ceramic is the difference between brands,” says Chris Stephan, owner/operator of Astroglaze Autoworks in Fort Lauderdale. “The more silica, the better.” Professional ceramic coatings usually contain 90 percent silica. However, the surface needs extensive preparation for it to secure properly.
https://southernboating.com/maintenance/maintenance-child/boat-coating-controversy/
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The impact of antifouling on the marine environment
Mar 4, 2022
Use of antifouling methods to prevent the build up of marine fouling on the hulls of boats has multiple benefits to boat owners, including improving fuel efficiency and performance. Hulls may gather up to 150kg of fouling per square metre in just six months, with a suggested fuel consumption increase of 50% without the use of any fouling control.
However, as people become more aware of the implications of their actions on the environment, we wanted to shed some light on the impact of antifouling paint and the alternatives on marine ecosystems, as well as why we should all care.
Marine biodiversity – what is it and why is it important?
Biodiversity is all the different types of life you find in one environment; from the microorganisms to the predators and everything in between, including the plants. Ecosystems are relatively fragile and carefully balanced systems in which all the different organisms living in an area all rely on each other and how they interact with the physical world around them. Targeting certain marine organisms with chemicals, such as those used in traditional antifouling or introducing new creatures to it can be catastrophic to the health of our oceans.
Our oceans are key to the health of our planet, with the providing more than 50% of the oxygen we breathe and storing 50 times more carbon than the Earth’s atmosphere. However, the WWF report that around 66% of the ocean environment of our planet has been altered in recent decades. Reducing your use of chemicals and making sure you know the impact of your choices on the environment is even more important now than it has ever been.
Importance of antifouling to prevent transfer of invasive non-native species
Our previous blog may have spoken about the benefits of a biofoul-free hull on boat performance and fuel consumption, great for reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. However, one thing we haven’t spoken much about is the beneficial effect of antifouling on the transport of potentially invasive, non-native species that can attach to the boat hulls that can impact the ecosystems they are deposited in.
Transport of invasive species from one area of the world to another is well documented. One example in the introduction of tube worms (Ficopomatus enigmaticus) to UK waters from Australia from the hulls of boats. They can form reef like structures 4m wide and 2m high, making them a huge fouling nuisance for both ships and harbours.
Another example is zebra mussels which were introduced to the USA from Europe, these mussels remove algae that other marine organisms depends upon to survive as well as physically attaching to and incapacitating native mussels. This upsets the delicate balance within the ecosystems of the great lakes of America, having negative impacts on many of the species within the water.
How to prevent the transfer of invasive species
Cleaning the underside of your boat thoroughly before and after long trips will ensure you minimise the potential transfer of invasive species between different marine ecosystems. This will help to preserve biodiversity and ensure healthy and robust ecosystems can be maintained.
Another way of preventing fouling transfer is to use antifouling. Traditionally this is a paint applied as several gel coats which contains chemical pesticides, such as copper oxide, to kill off any marine life that does attach.
Ultrasonic antifouling technologies help protect the areas that are tricky to reach with conventional paints such as propellers, inlet grill and cooling systems. Invasive species can end up hidden in these areas, therefore ultrasonic antifoul technology is a fantastic way to minimise the likelihood of you transferring invasive species on a vessel.
How traditional antifouling paints work compared to ultrasonic antifouling
As we have mentioned previously, traditional antifouling paints work by containing organic biocides – otherwise known as pesticides. Although, after extensive research, previous formulations of antifoul which include the extremely toxic tributyltin (TBT) have now been banned in many countries on leisure boats and those under 25m. However, the ‘safer’ formulations of other biocide-containing paints does not mean they do not cause harm or pollution.
These newer formulations are predominantly copper oxide-based and work to kill and therefore prevent the attachment of algae and other marine fouling, in turn preventing larger organisms such as barnacles and mussels would usually feed on the algae and other biofoul from attaching. In order for these paints to meet strict standards and contain lower copper concentrations or less powerful ingredients like cuprous thiocyanate, they often require additional biocides which can be zinc based, elevated levels of which can also have harmful effects on the aquatic environment.
Ultrasonic antifouling systems use transducers attached to the outer hull that emit ultrasonic (very high frequency) sound waves. These ultrasonic waves create microcurrents which prevent the attachment of aquatic life to the hull of the vessel. These ultrasonic waves do not harm aquatic life, do not interfere with marine mammals which use sonar navigation or cause any damage to the environment, providing multiple environmental benefits.
Why traditional antifouling paints are bad for the marine environment
Release of paint particles into the marine environment
‘Soft’ or ‘ablative’ antifouling coatings work by shedding the outermost coat of paint as the boat moves through the water, taking with it any microorganisms that are attached and always leaving a fresh coating of biocide exposed. Alternatively, ‘hard’ antifouling paints contain the copper particles suspended in an epoxy resin coating that slowly leeches the copper when in contact with sea water. The copper then reacts with oxygen dissolved in the water to create cupric ions which work to repel weed and mollusc growth, although additional biocides are often needed to prevent the attachment of other organic matter.
Use of ultrasonic antifouling technologies greatly reduces the amount of antifouling paint required. They therefore show great environmental benefits compared to traditional methods which can lead to elevated levels of paint particles, copper and other heavy metals in the sea.
Impact on the local aquatic ecosystem
With painted surfaces polluting the oceans and killing or incapacitating the algae and smaller organisms which other marine life needs to feed on biocides often accumulate in the food chain. This means that even the food we eat has been contaminated with copper and other biocides, copper containing biocides have been shown to be harmful to human health, particularly at such elevated concentrations. Copper is one of the most poisonous heavy metals when present in excess, with the estimates of the amount of copper used annually on coastal leisure boats to be between 75,173 and 311,769 Kg. Further research is needed into the effects of copper concentrations on the local marine environment and aquaculture but it is known to cause toxicity by impairing water and ion regulation in the gills of multiple aquatic animals as well as by generating reactive oxygen species (free radicals).
Several countries are now considering a ban on copper-based antifouls and to underwater hull cleaning which can also contribute to release of toxic copper particulate matter within harbours suggesting an increasing need to switch to copper-free alternatives.
However, pollution of booster biocides added to paints alongside copper have been shown to have off-target effects for other species, with several shown to be growth inhibitors of marine plants, influencing the growth of both sea grasses and corals. This again increases demand for biocide free alternatives such as ultrasonic antifouling.
Contribution to antibiotic resistance
Recently use of high concentrations of biocides has been shown to exert selective stress on bacteria. This can lead to mutations within the bacteria that can make them resistant not just to the biocides but also to some antibiotics.
Incorrect disposal and spillage of antifouling paint
It’s not just boats in the water that can lead to pollution with antifouling paint particles. Sanding down the old coatings during annual cleaning, maintenance and antifoul renewal creates a mass of paint dust particles that the boat owner requires full personal protective equipment (PPE) protection from, yet they are often released into the environment with little thought. These particles can go on to have a detrimental effect on aquatic organisms and their marine environments, particularly in the coastal waters.
Recently, tighter regulations have come into force from the British Coatings Federation with their DIY antifouling initiative which suggests that old paint be wet sanded to reduce dust, a vacuum cleaner attachment is used on any scraper when removing old paint and a tarpaulin is used to collect any additional dust or paint spillage during the procedure. Furthermore, any excess paint must be treated as hazardous waste and disposed of correctly through local chemical waste disposal.
This is another area where ultrasonic antifouling systems come into their own with yet another environmental benefit. By reducing the frequency by which antifoul paint needs to be reapplied to a vessel from annually to every three to five years, they help significantly reduce the amounts of toxic paint particles being released into the environment.
The future of antifouling- ultrasonic technologies?
Biocide free paints have been developed but have been shown to still leech toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the environment.
Ultrasonic technologies are completely chemical free and greatly reduce the need for use of traditional fouling control. By using high frequency waves to deter the attachment of marine life to the hull, without affecting non-target species, it is a safe and environmentally friendly alternative for use on vessels of all different sizes. Furthermore, the ultrasonic waves protect more of the boat surface that traditional paint, including all those tricky to reach inlet pipes, giving a better coverage.
Have you been persuaded to try ultrasonic antifouling technology? If so you can learn more about our products here or contact our team to discuss your needs and find the perfect product for you and your boat.
https://www.electronic-fouling-control.com/the-impact-of-antifouling-on-the-marine-environment/
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How do AkzoNobel Yacht antifoulings present the lowest risk to the environment?
https://www.interlux.com/us/en/boat-painting-help/expert-advice/lowest-risk-to-the-environment
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Marine pollution from antifouling paint particles
February 13, 2019
https://ldiprete.wordpress.ncsu.edu/2019/02/13/marine-pollution-from-antifouling-paint-particles/
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Paint particles in the marine environment: An overlooked component of microplastics
2021
Highlights
Paint particles are often overlooked in the micro-debris and microplastic pools.
The sources, behaviour and impacts of paint in the marine environment are reviewed.
Paint particle emissions may be as high as 35% of the synthetic micro-debris input.
Paint is regularly detected in sea surface trawls, sediments and animal digestive tracts.
Hazardous additives in micro-paint particles render them more harmful than microplastics.
Abstract
Because paint particles consist of a resin (polymer) combined with one or more additives, they bear compositional similarities with microplastics. Despite these shared characteristics, however, paint particles are often undetected, deliberately overlooked or evade classification in the pool of micro-debris (all synthetic debris of < 5 mm in size), and in particular in the marine setting where an extensive body of microplastic literature exists. Accordingly, the present paper provides a critical insight into the physico-chemical properties, sources, distributions, behaviour and toxicity of paint particles in the marine environment.
Paint particles contain a greater proportion of additives than plastics and, consequently, are more brittle, angular, opaque, dense, heterogeneous and layered than microplastics of equivalent dimensions. Land-based sources of paint particles, including deteriorating or disturbed coatings on roads and building, are transported to the ocean with other microplastics via urban runoff, water treatment facilities and the atmosphere. However, inputs of paint particles are enhanced significantly and more directly by the disturbance, erosion and weathering of coatings on coastal structures, boats and ships. Estimates of paint particle emissions to the marine environment vary widely, with calculated contributions to the total synthetic micro-debris input as high as 35%. Upper estimates are consistent with available (albeit limited) quantitative information on the relative abundance of paint particles amongst synthetic material captured by sea surface trawls and ingested by marine animals. Of greatest environmental concern is the high chemical toxicity of paint particles compared with similarly-sized microplastics and other synthetic debris. This results from the contemporary and historical use of high concentrations of hazardous inorganic additives in marine antifouling and land-based paints, and the relatively ready mobilisation of harmful ions, like Cu+/Cu2+, TBT+, Pb2+ and CrO42−, from the matrix. Recommendations arising from this review include greater use of particulate capturing devices, waste collection systems and recycling facilities during paint disturbance, raising awareness of the potential impacts of discarded paint amongst users, and alerting the microplastic community to the significance of paint particles and developing means by which they are isolated from environmental samples.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589914721000232
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Abandoned fiberglass boats are presenting environmental hazards
January 3, 2023
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/03/1146620859/abandoned-fiberglass-boats-are-presenting-environmental-hazards
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Abandoned fiberglass boats are releasing toxins and microplastics across the world
August 4, 2020
Where do old boats go to die? The cynical answer is they are put on eBay for a few pennies in the hope they become some other ignorant dreamer’s problem.
As a marine biologist, I am increasingly aware that the casual disposal of boats made out of fibreglass is harming our coastal marine life. The problem of end-of-life boat management and disposal has gone global, and some island nations are even worried about their already overstretched landfill.
The strength and durability of fibreglass transformed the boating industry and made it possible to mass produce small leisure craft (larger vessels like cruise ships or fishing trawlers need a more solid material like aluminium or steel). However, boats that were built in the fibreglass boom of the 1960s and 1970s are now dying.
We need a drain hole for old boats. We can sink them, bury them, cut them to pieces, grind them or even fill them with compost and make a great welcoming sign, right in the middle of roundabouts in seaside towns.
But there are too many of them and we’re running out of space. To add to the problem, the hurricane season wreaks havoc through the marinas in some parts of the world, with 63,000 boats damaged or destroyed after Irma and Harvey in the Caribbean in 2017 alone.
Most boats currently head to landfill. However, many are also disposed of at sea, usually by simply drilling a hole in the hull and leaving it to sink someplace offshore.
Some say that dumped fibreglass boats will make suitable artificial reefs. However, very little research has been done on at-sea disposal and the worry is that eventually these boats will degrade and move with the currents and harm the coral reefs, ultimately breaking up into microplastics. Recently, scientists have investigated the damage to mangrove, seagrass and coral habitats and although the effects have only been recorded on a relatively localised basis for now, the cumulative effect of abandoned boats may increase exponentially in the coming years.
To take one example, researchers from Plymouth University found high concentrations of copper, zinc and lead in sediment samples and inside the guts of ragworms in two estuaries in eastern England (Orwell and Blackwater). These contaminants greatly exceeded the environmental quality guidelines, and came from peeling paints from boats abandoned nearby.
Since no registration is needed for leisure vessels, the boats are often dumped once the cost of disposal exceeds the resale value, becoming the liability of the unlucky landowner. Human health hazards arise from chemicals or materials used in the boat: rubber, plastic, wood, metal, textiles and of course oil. Moreover, asbestos was employed extensively as an insulator on exhausts and leaded paints were commonly used as a corrosion inhibitor, alongside mercury-based compounds and tributyltin (TBT) as antifouling agents. Although we lack evidence on the human impact of TBT, lead and mercury are recognised as neurotoxins.
And then there are the repairs – grinding away at fibreglass boats, often in the open, creates clouds of airborne dust. Workers have not always worn masks and some succumbed to asbestosis-like diseases. Inevitably, some of the dust would find its way back into the water.
The fibreglass is filtered by marine shellfish (in my own research I found up to 7,000 small shards in oysters in Chichester Harbour in southern England) or cling on the shells of tiny water fleas and sink them to the seafloor. The particulate material accumulated in the stomach of shellfish can block their intestinal tracts and eventually lead to death through malnutrition and starvation.
The microparticles stuck on water fleas may have repercussions for swimming and locomotion in general, therefore limiting the ability of the organisms to detect prey, feed, reproduce, and evade predators. There is huge potential for these tiny specks of old boats to accumulate in bigger animals as they are transferred up the food chain.
Those microparticles are the resins holding the fibreglass together and contain phthalates, a massive group of chemicals associated with severe human health impacts from ADHD to breast cancer, obesity and male fertility issues.
Abandoned boats are now a common sight on many estuaries and beaches, leaking heavy metals, microglass and phtalates: we really must start paying attention to the hazard they pose to human health and the threats to local ecology.
https://theconversation.com/abandoned-fibreglass-boats-are-releasing-toxins-and-microplastics-across-the-world-143857
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In lakes and rivers, abandoned fiberglass boats present environmental hazards
January 1, 2023
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/01/1146485970/in-lakes-and-rivers-abandoned-fiberglass-boats-present-environmental-hazards
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The Problem with Boating’s High-Fiberglass Diet
July 11, 2023
Fiberglass revolutionized boating, but decades later, discarded and degraded vessels are adding to marine pollution. We can do something about it.
Since 1971, the Chichester Harbour Conservancy has overseen the relationship between wildlife, the environment, and the human impact on the area, from sailing to fishing. Over the past decade, they noticed a steady rise in the numbers of dying oysters until a severe shortage of healthy oysters led to a fishery closure in 2018. Mystified, the conservancy contacted Ciocan.
Initially, the conservancy suspected dumped sewage and overfishing. But when Ciocan examined local shellfish, she discovered a huge number of mystery shards inside the animals, dead and alive. “We had no idea what they were,” she says. “I looked in the [scientific] literature, searched everywhere—there was absolutely no account of this in any other organism.” To identify the shards, Ciocan’s team turned to spectroscopy, a technique that analyzes the wavelengths and intensity of light emitted by a material to identify its core elements. In this way, the researchers identified yet another worrisome microplastic in oceans—fiberglass, a composite of glass and plastic.
The concentrations were staggering, with up to 7,000 tiny hairlike shards per kilogram of oyster flesh. Ciocan found the shards, which averaged around 100 microns in length and about 10 microns wide—10 times thinner than a human hair—attached to prey animals such as water fleas, too. Research has already shown that microplastics impact fish health, disrupting eating behavior, brain development, and immune systems. For human health, seafood contaminated with fiberglass is worrisome: the material is associated with a range of serious health issues, including heart and respiratory disease, as well as cancer and chronic lung disease.
With Chichester Harbour supporting a leisure boat fleet of around 12,000—many likely to be made from fiberglass—Ciocan’s research team and the Chichester Harbour Conservancy have no doubt that the material is coming from these boats. One avenue of contamination is the scraping and grinding of hulls in waterside boatyards when removing and repairing damaged sections of fiberglass. While not routine, this generates a significant amount of airborne dust that then drifts onto the adjacent water.
Dumped and abandoned boats are also culprits in the spread of dangerous fiberglass particles into the marine environment. Boats scrape against the sand and rocks at low tide and are degraded by the scorching sun. “It’s constant,” says Ciocan.
At her lab, Ciocan has containers full of pollutants extracted from Chichester Harbour waters and the animals that live there. When she carefully opens a sealed plastic container people might regularly use for food storage, she tells me that what looks like flour is actually a toxic mix of ground particles of fiberglass, marine paint, and antifouling material of the kind discovered escaping into the environment as a byproduct of hull maintenance work at waterside boatyards...
Science still has a long way to go but a return to organic materials is possible. In fact, cotton was used as a key complement in early plastics, since it provides excellent mechanical reinforcement, and flax fibers were integral to the first composite aircraft structures. Hemp and coconut are other plant fibers that offer a mix of workability plus structural and mechanical qualities that could underpin recycling-friendly composites. They have potential, says Bray, although he cautions about the need to avoid “armies of related plantations further degrading natural habitat to supply the industry.”
In Germany, the technology company Greenboats is pioneering composites made from flax fibers and bio-based resins. Unlike the emission-heavy petrochemical processes behind fiberglass, flax absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, and the manufacture of flax-based composites uses around 20 percent of the energy of fiberglass production, according to Jan Paul Schirmer, managing director of Greenboats. He also calls for a maritime equivalent to car-share programs on land: like terrestrial traffic, it would lead to fewer boats on the water...
Basalt fiber is another boatbuilding material offering a less environmentally damaging alternative to fiberglass. Made by crushing volcanic rock, heating it intensely, then extruding the mash through tiny nozzles to form structural fibers, basalt fiber is stronger than steel, inert in terms of reacting with air or water, and only two to five percent heavier than different forms of fiberglass. It is also comparable in price.
But more is needed beyond material advances. “At the end of the day, everything is driven by money,” says Ciocan, who points out that the fiberglass leisure boat market is predicted to continue growing over the coming years.
Yet with Ciocan and other researchers spotlighting the ubiquitous problem of fiberglass boat pollution—whether from active or abandoned boats—some sense of real change is finally coming. As well as boats made from new materials taking to the water around the world and more rigorous legislation on ownership and boat disposal, there is the work underway in Ciocan’s lab to trial new materials designed to actively remove fiberglass pollution from sites like Chichester Harbour. One of her graduate students has developed a new biocomposite material that absorbs microplastics from water in laboratory testing and is now being readied for real-world use at different sites around Chichester Harbour.
All of which means hope for us, and for the oysters.
https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-problem-with-boatings-high-fiberglass-diet/
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Fiberglass – An Overlooked Aquatic Pollutant
Sep 12, 2023
https://earth911.com/living-well-being/fiberglass-an-overlooked-aquatic-pollutant/
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Dust Collection when Grinding Fiberglass
Feb 13, 2014
https://forums.iboats.com/threads/dust-collection-when-grinding-fiberglass.615854/
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Reducing Air Pollution from: Fiberglass Fabrication Operations
9/12/2005
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-06/documents/fiberglass_oo_sheet.pdf
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Fiberglass Biodegradable? (Eco & Health Facts You Should Know)
Updated 2025
https://citizensustainable.com/fiberglass/
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How Do Boats Pollute? 6 Ways You Should Know (Explained)
1. Oil And Gas Pollution
2. Carbon Dioxide Emissions
3. Cleaning Solutions and Other Chemicals
4. Boat Maintenance and Repair Impacts
5. Human Garbage And Waste
6. Noise Pollution Is A Threat To The Fish
https://www.godownsize.com/boats-pollute-oceans-environment/
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Illegal Dumping #Boat #Fire in Homestead, FL - Entrance to Everglades National Park
2024
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fC8lfkI_wDY
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Question: why are the everglades the only national park being constantly threatened by approaching housing developments? why am i not hearing about this shit in big bend or Yellowstone or something?
2023
Parkrangingstoicbro
2y ago
The ACE is directly responsible for some of the worst ecological damage done to the glades my man. Not to mention I’m definitely not impressed by ACE
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miami/comments/zyvk27/question_why_are_the_everglades_the_only_national/
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“Recovery Operations” harm more than they help
February 21st, 2025
On February 20, 2025, Friends of the Everglades sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers outlining a summary of adverse impacts from Recovery Operations on the Northern Estuaries.
Since Lake Okeechobee “Recovery Operations” began on Dec. 7, 2024, the northern estuaries have experienced negative impacts from the discharges including high turbidity, stressful salinity fluctuations and ranges, dissolved oxygen dips, and mobilization of nutrients. Release of this heavily polluted water can intensify red tide on the west coast and lead to seagrass loss, harmful algae blooms, fish kills, stress for organisms such as oysters, and loss of food for manatees.
75 days into “Recovery,” there is still no guarantee of improved health in Lake Okeechobee. The only certainty is that of more damage to the estuaries and estuarine communities. The estuaries have endured enough pain and suffering. Let the lake recede naturally and send water south, allowing the estuaries to “Recover”.
Red tide stains the Gulf of Mexico waters off the coast of Sanibel seen in an aerial image from February 6, 2025.
https://www.everglades.org/recovery-operations-harm-more-than-they-help/
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Will your flood damaged Florida home get bulldozed? FEMA's 50% rule explained
Oct 04, 2024
The future of Florida's Beach Communities: FEMA's 50/50 rule explained
If local officials determine that a residential structure has been substantially damaged – meaning the cost to repair the home is equal to or greater than 50 percent of its market value before the disaster damage – the owner generally has three options to bring the structure into compliance.
o Elevate the building to a height determined by local officials.
o Relocate the structure outside the floodplain.
o Demolish the structure.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/will-your-flood-damaged-florida-home-get-bulldozed-floridas-50-rule-explained
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We believe that many buildings in Florida should be elevated above 12-16 feet. We can see too many problems of many chemicals in garages that end up polluting the waterways of Florida when it floods. This is not sustainable and that the people of Florida need to stop their reckless ways of allowing their petrochemicals to harm the environment when it floods. This is why many are debating if we should even let many of these people in Florida to continue to pollute the waterways of Florida. The government and people of Florida need to put in more effort to stop this pollution runoff from these Florida Homes with toxic insulation and toxic fiberglass boats. Many question if we should limit the population in Florida as well, and why we should not allow many invasive Third World groups to illegally immigrate to Florida.
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Thousands of Florida homes flood repeatedly. You’re not allowed to know which ones
January 14, 2024
https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2024-01-14/thousands-of-florida-homes-flood-repeatedly-youre-not-allowed-to-know-which-ones
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Florida’s Flooded Fate: What’s the Risk for Your Property?
Oct 5, 2020
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/earth-systems/blog/floridas-flooded-fate-whats-the-risk-for-your-property/
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Lori Berman, Lindsay Cross seek more info on sewage spills, to develop priority rankings for infrastructure upgrades
February 22, 2025
Two Democrats in the Florida Legislature hope to efficiently address sewage discharges and aging wastewater infrastructure with a pair of bills that would increase transparency.
Sen. Lori Berman of Boynton Beach and Rep. Lindsay Cross of St. Petersburg filed bills (SB 978 and HB 861) ahead of the 2025 Legislative Session that would direct the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to compile a comprehensive list of wastewater treatment facilities, where those facilities are located in relation to storm surge or flood zones, treatment levels at the facilities, whether they have spilled sewage in the past and the health of surrounding water bodies.
The list would allow the state to develop priority rankings of facility needs and how resources can best support infrastructure upgrades. It would also be used as a tool to notify the public of progress on upgrade projects. The reports from the list called for under the legislation would help guide policy and funding decisions now and into the future.
The two lawmakers — who, it’s worth noting, each serve from the super-minority in their respective chambers — are seeking to mitigate sewage discharges, which have become leading causes of water quality degradation throughout the state.
“It’s about time we get a handle on our state’s sewage and wastewater infrastructure. Looking at a tight budget, I am proud to file SB 978 with Rep. Cross to make sure that going forward, we are spending taxpayer dollars wisely and putting the most in need projects at the top of the list when it comes to state funding,” Berman said.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/722460-lori-berman-lindsay-cross-seek-more-info-on-sewage-spills-to-develop-priority-rankings-for-infrastructure-upgrades/
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802,555 Homes at Risk of 10-Year Flood Inundation by 2050
Jul 31 2019
In a third of all coastal states, new housing is being built faster in 10-year flood risk zones than in non-risk zones.
https://www.zillow.com/research/homes-at-risk-coastal-flooding-25040/
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‘On borrowed time’: Why coastal Florida keeps rebuilding after storms like Hurricane Ian
December 1, 2022
Southwest Florida has already answered the immediate question after Hurricane Ian slammed into the coast, killing dozens of people and destroying thousands of homes with record-high storm surge: Will we rebuild?
The answer — yes, of course — is practically a given in storm-prone Florida, despite the double whammy of an exploding population on the coast and climate change raising the risk of hurricanes with deadly coastal flooding. That combination may one day force the conversation on retreating from these dangerous places, but for now, in Florida, the focus has shifted to how we will rebuild.
Elected officials like U.S. Sen. Rick Scott have already talked about updating the building code, renovating older buildings and leaning into stricter building standards. But the best window into what post-storm rebuilding may look like may be in the Florida Panhandle.
Before Michael hit, new or redeveloped Mexico Beach homes inside the floodplain only had to meet the state minimum: one foot over whatever height the Federal Emergency Management Agency sets. The new rules increased the number of houses that would have to be raised, pushing new construction up several feet higher depending on the location.
Two years later, under a mountain of complaints from residents who resented the higher building costs that come with elevating homes and scoffed that such a powerful storm would ever hit again, Mexico Beach undid its groundbreaking work. The building code for elevation was rolled back. How much?
Four years after an estimated $25 billion in damage and 59 deaths, some new Mexico Beach homes in spots hit by more than six feet of storm surge now will be required to be built only six inches higher off the ground than before — just above the minimum set by Florida’s building code. Individuals can choose to go higher, but the code is what most owners and contractors tend to follow.
https://news.wjct.org/state-news/2022-12-01/on-borrowed-time-why-coastal-florida-keeps-rebuilding-after-storms-like-hurricane-ian
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‘I just want to leave’: Floridians selling flood-damaged homes ‘as is’ to investors after 2 major hurricanes
November 3, 2024
In the wake of back-to-back damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton, a
wave of Florida homeowners are selling their flood-damaged properties
using words like "as is," "cash only" and “for investors.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/just-want-leave-floridians-selling-125800150.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALs8HPlA0mSAD24BeppZaZScvU8ydq1Udf28O6UBv6zS_SRNP6QTMHIB_3MV8EBuKGbfjDZfJdO3cXndHiIlz2Mggst_tbCfhIhzEIdS_f4nIGvukSNkF8GmFkERuz7-g0wt7VHln3Kp22zn-vWWhccBdMSG5i4r2bIJnWdf1Orb
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How Newer-Construction Homes Fared in Florida’s 2022 Hurricane Season
March 17, 2023
https://urbanland.uli.org/sustainability/building-for-resilience-how-newer-construction-homes-fared-in-floridas-hurricane-season
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Many of these Greedy land developers in Florida and the government have made it so that the public and wildlife cannot enjoy the beaches in Florida without a giant hotel or homes that block the path to natural beach access for miles. At least the California coast has more beaches and was planned better for people to enjoy the beaches more. The government of Florida should be ashamed and we should get rid of about half of the Hotels on the Beach in Collier County and Miami. In fact, some say the the Everglades should have not as many big cities. Many have stated that these lands should have been a wildlife preserve, and that many of these people should not even be living in the Everglades the way they trash the Everglades with these toxic buildings and boats. We are going to also demand that the people of Florida stop putting these toxic fiberglass boats in the ocean. We want these toxic boats removed from the waterways. The people of Florida have lost their boating privileges for allowing the corrupt 20th District Court to still operate and harm our media agency. We requested the public either choose the 20th District Court in Collier County, Florida or our media agency to still exist, and you can only pick one. We see the public in Florida continues to allow the corruption, especially many of these elderly retired mafia type people we see getting away with harming members of the scientific community. Remember that this can go both ways and that the scientific community now moves against the corrupt people in Florida. We should only be allowing steel, alloy, wooden boats or non-toxic boats on the water with non-toxic paint. We are now going to declare martial law in Florida and to remove many of these Third World groups in the Everglades for refusing to cooperate with PollutionScience.com. We want to know why the corrupt people of Florida continued to allow this corrupt government to harm our media agency, you had one simple order and that was to stop these corrupt courts from harming our media agency. We are calling for a 40% reduction of the population in Florida, this starts with many illegal Third World groups, Haitians, Africans, Mexicans and illegal Mexicans.
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It is debated if Florida will be underwater in the future. Many Climate Change skeptics claim that the numbers are off. However, we can see that the past history that Florida was once underwater when America had the Western Interior Seaway. Even parts of the middle of North America were underwater many millions of years ago. Eventually when the plates shift, certain areas of the globe could one day be underwater again.
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Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, or the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses for 34 million years. The ancient sea, which existed from the early Late Cretaceous (100 Ma) to the earliest Paleocene (66 Ma), connected the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The two land masses it created were Laramidia to the west and Appalachia to the east. At its largest extent, it was 2,500 feet (760 m) deep, 600 miles (970 km) wide and over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) long.
The map of North America with the Western Interior Seaway during the Campanian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Interior_Seaway
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Two hurricanes swamped Tampa Bay flood defenses. What can be done?
Nov. 29, 2024
Sewage stations backed up. Drainage systems were overwhelmed. But experts say there are upgrades possible to prevent flooding in the future.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/hillsborough/2024/11/29/two-hurricanes-swamped-tampa-bay-flood-defenses-what-can-be-done/
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As floodwaters rise, toxic contaminants released from old landfills pose more of a hazard to nature and to us
December 9, 2024
https://theconversation.com/as-floodwaters-rise-toxic-contaminants-released-from-old-landfills-pose-more-of-a-hazard-to-nature-and-to-us-223257
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How do septic tanks pollute?
Septic tanks were not made for South Florida
Even when functioning properly, septic systems are unsuitable for South Florida. This is because South Florida bedrock is composed of porous limestone, containing many small holes and spaces. We also lack a thick layer of soil - instead, much of our soil is sandy! The spaces in the rock beneath our feet and the sandy soil allow liquids to flow through the ground very easily. Normally, soils and bedrock would act as filters for septic waste -- much like how a coffee filter works! But, South Florida's geology means that wastewater from septic tanks is moving too quickly through the natural filters -- and that means more contamination is reaching our groundwater more quickly than it should.
How septic tanks pollute
Septic tanks can pollute both through groundwater and through stormwater runoff. The small spaces and holes in our geology do not properly filter septic waste before it reaches the groundwater. This means that - even when working properly - nutrient-rich septic waste can make its way through the groundwater system. Groundwater can move rapidly from septic tanks through the holey landscape beneath our feet and can quickly flow into nearby waterways.
Septic tanks can also pollute through stormwater runoff. When septic tanks and drainfields become flooded from high water table levels, substantial rainfall, and/or high tides, they can overflow. When this happens, contaminated septic wastewater can runoff into nearby storm drains or even back up into the pipes on your property! Most storm drains in Miami-Dade County have no filtration and generally flow directly to canals, waterways, Biscayne Bay, and other coastal waters. This means, flooding in areas with septic tanks can result in serious pollution problems.
https://www.miamiwaterkeeper.org/how_do_septic_tanks_pollute
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Plastic pollution and flood risk
https://preparecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/5797_Global_Impact_of_plastics_on_flooding_-_Summary_-_FINAL_-_Tearfund.pdf
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Flooding's Impact on Public Water Supplies, Sanitation
Dec. 9, 2021
https://www.waterworld.com/water-utility-management/article/14211783/floodings-impact-on-public-water-supplies
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How Flooding Affects Water Quality
November 2022
https://www.aquaread.com/blog/how-flooding-affects-water-quality/
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PBDEs and PCBs, Organic Pollutants Persist on the Earth From Air to Deep Ocean
June 11, 2018
https://stg.savethewater.org/pbde-pcb-organic-pollutants-persist-earth-air-deep-ocean/
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Common Code Violations
Below is a list of common code violations. To review the Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances go to Municode, from there you can search for laws by key words or look up specific laws by chapter and section.
ANIMALS
Turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, horses, cows, goats, hogs, and the like are prohibited in residential zoned district. In the Estates Zoned District, you can have a total of 25 fowl/ poultry; 2 hoofed animals allowed per acre (such as horses, goats, cows). NO pigs/hogs allowed.
Animal enclosures shall be a minimum of 30 feet from any lot line, and a minimum of 100 feet from any residence on an adjacent parcel. Please confirm with the Building and Permitting Department if a permit is required before erecting the enclosure.
[Ordinance 04-41, Section 04.02.07, Section 02.03.01, and Section 02.03.02]
BUSINESS TAX RECEIPTS AND HOME OCCUPATION
LOCAL BUSINESS TAX
No person shall engage in or manage any business, profession, or occupation anywhere in Collier County, including within municipalities, for which a local business tax is required by this article unless the required local business tax receipt shall have been issued by the Collier County Tax Collector or in some instances, the tax collector in another Florida County. A separate receipt shall be required for each geographic location (situs) of the respective business, profession, or occupation. The tax receipt shall be issued to each person upon the tax collector's receipt of the applicable local business tax and upon compliance with other applicable requirements.
[Code of Laws and Ordinances, Section 126-111]
HOME OCCUPATIONS
There shall be no retail sale of materials, goods, or products from the premises.
The home occupation shall be clearly incidental to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes. The existence of the home occupation shall not change the character of the dwelling.
A. An allowable home occupation shall be conducted by an occupant of the dwelling.
B. There shall be no on-site or off-site advertising signs.
C. The use shall not generate more traffic than would be associated with the allowable residential use. To that end, traveling to and from as well as meeting or parking at the residence by either employees of the business operated there from who are not residing at the subject address or by customers or clients of the home occupations is prohibited.
D. There shall be no receiving of goods or materials other than normal delivery by the U.S. Postal Service or similar carrier.
E. Parking or storage of commercial vehicles or equipment shall be allowable only in compliance with the requirements for commercial vehicles in the County Code.
F. The on-site use of any equipment or materials shall not create or produce excessive noise, obnoxious fumes, dust, or smoke.
G. The on-site use of any equipment or tools shall not create any amount of vibration or electrical disturbance.
H. No on-site use or storage of any hazardous material shall be kept in such an amount as to be potentially dangerous to persons or property outside the confines of the home occupation.
I. There shall be no outside storage of goods or products, except plants. Where plants are stored, no more than fifty (50) percent of the total square footage of the lot may be used for plant storage.
J. A home occupation shall be subject to all applicable County occupational licenses and other business taxes.
https://www.colliercountyfl.gov/government/growth-management/divisions/code-enforcement/common-code-violations
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A study finds Florida has highest number of polluted lakes in the U.S.
March 24, 2022
https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2022-03-24/a-study-finds-florida-has-highest-number-of-polluted-lakes-in-the-u-s
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In Florida, a race is on to save the Everglades and protect a key source of drinking water
December 19, 2024
https://apnews.com/article/everglades-florida-water-restoration-quality-f59f0a48e58d2fd3d23169c8b8e54e50
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Threats to the Everglades
10/03/2018
The Everglades National Park is often referred to as the “most threatened park in the U.S.”
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/southflorida/regions/everglades/threats/
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Protecting The Everglades
One of the United States' Last Great Grasslands
September 10, 2018
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/florida/stories-in-florida/everglades/
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Whistleblower accuses Port Everglades’s Cliff Berry Inc., two other clean-up companies of fraud, illegally dumping oily sludge
Jan 9, 2025
A Broward whistleblower’s lawsuit kept secret for nearly five years alleges a trio of companies illegally dumped oily waste and sludge containing heavy metals and other pollutants at Port Everglades, then falsely billed the federal government for proper disposal services that were never provided.
https://www.floridabulldog.org/2025/01/whistleblower-accuses-port-everglades-clean-up-companies-fraud-illegal-dumping/
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Port Everglades boss: We didn’t check whether dumped ship wastewater was contaminated
Dec 12, 2019
https://www.floridabulldog.org/2019/12/port-everglades-boss-we-didnt-check-if-ship-wastewater-contaminated/
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Illegal Dumping Enforcement in Florida
Feb 2024
https://www.stateregstoday.com/business/solid-waste-management/illegal-dumping-enforcement-in-florida
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Illegal Dumping: Causes, Effects and Solutions to Huge Piles of Wastes
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-illegal-dumping.php
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ILLEGAL DUMP FOUND AT EVERGLADES EDGE
2021
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1990/01/30/illegal-dump-found-at-everglades-edge/
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The various impacts of Lake Okeechobee discharges
February 29, 2024
Less than two weeks into Lake O discharges and the difference downstream is already heartbreaking.
It’s easy to recognize the immediate impacts of high-volume Lake Okeechobee discharges on water quality—once clear, clean water has been replaced by dark, turbid water—but how else do these discharges affect our coastal waterways and communities?
Some of the impacts aren’t as immediate, but they can be even more destructive.
Read through to learn more about the ecological, economic, lifestyle, and human health impacts of lake discharges—and to understand better why the solution to these issues, Everglades Restoration, needs your support now more than ever.
https://captainsforcleanwater.org/the-various-impacts-of-lake-okeechobee-discharges/
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2024 Everglades Restoration: A Snapshot of Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Projects and Funding
January 03, 2025
Everglades restoration is the world’s largest ecosystem restoration effort, spanning decades. To stay on track, we must measure progress, celebrate successes, and meet deadlines for funding and implementation. As 2024 comes to a close, we celebrate significant achievements: The Army Corps of Engineers released an updated Integrated Delivery Schedule (IDS), with 24 projects completed this year and construction underway for 11 more in 2025.
https://fl.audubon.org/news/2024-everglades-restoration-snapshot-comprehensive-everglades-restoration-plan-projects-and
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South Florida Coastal Ecosystem Vulnerability
October 10, 2015
Mangroves represent only 3% of the global forest cover, but the current degradation of pantropical mangrove forests is responsible for approximately 10% of the total carbon emissions from deforestation worldwide (Donato et al, 2011). Beyond being one of the most carbon dense ecosystems due to their high carbon sequestration rates (Donato et al, 2011; Pendleton et al, 2012), mangrove forests and other blue carbon wetlands (e.g., coastal sawgrass marsh) are economically and biologically important from local to global scales (Alongi et al, 2002). The large carbon stocks along with the many ecosystem services they provide, and threats from rising seas, saltwater intrusion, degradation and urban expansion, make mangrove environments globally important ecosystems.
https://mangrovescience.org/2015/10/10/everglades/
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Environmental Felon at it again, as Stolen Trailer Leads to Redland Sewage Dump, Cops Say
2024
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2024/08/29/environmental-felon-at-it-again-as-stolen-trailer-leads-to-redland-sewage-dump-cops-say/
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'Ultimate Catch:' 3 men arrested for dumping boat in Naples canal
Aug 31, 2022
https://www.fox4now.com/collier-county/3-men-arrested-for-dumping-boat-in-naples-canal
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Creepy Stories And Legends About The Florida Everglades
July 3, 2024
https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-everglades-stories/jacobybancroft
#2 Prime Spot For Dumping Bodies
Some people look at the Everglades as a beautiful area packed with lush wildlife and exotic beauty. Others see it as a great spot to dump bodies. If you're ever lucky enough to visit the Everglades, keep an eye out for decomposing remains that have a habit of getting tangled in the weeds and the muck.
Authorities and locals have stumbled across numerous bodies that were dumped in a gruesome manner in the Everglades. Bodies that had been shot, stabbed, mutilated, burned to death, and otherwise tortured have all been found floating the rivers, and the cases are notoriously difficult to solve. Since 1965, there have been over 175 unsolved homicides in the Everglades, and those are only for the bodies that were actually found.
#5 People Just Vanish Off The Face Of The Earth
Scarier than the people who are found floating face-down in the swamp are the people who just vanish without a trace. In 1998, Wendy Hudakoc snuck out of her bedroom window to go to a party and promptly disappeared forever without any solid evidence or leads. In 2009, seven-year-old Adji Desir went missing while playing in the front yard of his grandmother's house. Amy Billig was last seen hitchhiking down a stretch of road in 1974 and was never seen again, leading her mother on an extensive search to find her with tragic results.
Those are just a few examples of the hundreds of missing person cases from the Everglades. Where are all the people who went missing? Were they kidnapped? Are their bodies just decomposing in the Everglades, waiting to be discovered by some unfortunate tourist? Perhaps we will never know.
#6 A Cornerstone Of The Bermuda Triangle
Mysterious plane disappearances around the Everglades have helped cement the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. One of the most infamous plane disappearances of all time happened in 1945 when a training patrol of five Avenger aircraft just vanished. Nobody knows what happened to them and no scrap of wreckage has ever been found. It's no wonder why the squadron has been labeled "The Lost Patrol."
To add to the strangeness, the Navy seaplane that was sent to try to rescue them also disappeared without a trace. The mysterious disappearances of the planes and the boat would become one of the major reasons why the Bermuda Triangle is so feared.
#7 Edgar Watson Brings Mystery And Death To Chokoloskee Island
In the 1880s, Edgar Watson moved to Chokoloskee Island in the Everglades and quickly got to work building a sugar cane empire. He was an eccentric individual, and soon rumors began to spread that he moved to the island after killing several people, but there wasn't any evidence to back that up.
The townsfolk realized how dangerous he was after one drunken fight led Watson to slash a man's throat. The man barely survived, but strangely, no charges were pressed and Watson never stood trial for attempted murder. Many people believed Watson's wealth helped keep him out of jail.
His reputation got even worse when laborers on his property started to disappear. People assumed Watson was killing them at the end of the season and dumping them in the Everglades so he didn't have to pay them. The rumors were so strong that those who vanished at the end of the season were said to have gotten a "Watson Payday."
Eventually, evidence of Watson's crimes surface and the town had had enough, so they gathered up a posse and confronted Watson. Watson denied everything, then accounts say he raised his gun and tried to fire it. He had purposely been sold waterlogged bullets by a suspicious townsperson, however, and nothing happened. It caused the posse to open fire on Watson, riddling his body with bullets and killing someone who might have been a mass murderer.
#9 The Lost City Brings A Mysterious History
Nobody knows the true history of Lost City, leaving only wild speculation and rumors to fill in the blanks. Lost City is a three-acre site full of rotted shacks and old artifacts. It's perhaps best known as one of Al Capone's hideouts. The famous gangster allegedly used the area for an illegal bootlegging operation, but there are more ghostly connections than people realize.
Before Capone, during the Civil War, close to 40 Confederate soldiers hid out there but were soon slain by the Seminole tribe. It's rumored that their spirits still haunt the place. Whatever happened before that is anyone's guess.
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Florida faces a triple threat to its environment
Mar 30th 2022
The environment is Florida’s biggest attraction, but also its biggest vulnerability
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2022/03/30/florida-faces-a-triple-threat-to-its-environment
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Human Impact on The Florida Everglades
December 10, 2022
A brief history of the human impact on the Florida Everglades
Issues the Everglades Face
The Everglades first faced trouble after two major floods caused great damage to the surrounding area. In response, the United States Federal Government initiated a new project called the Central and South Florida Project in 1950, with the intention of removing water from the landscape (Perry, 2004, p. 2). The project consisted of 1000 miles of canals, 720 miles of levees, 16 pumping stations, and 200 control structures, and resulted in the Everglades losing 70% of its water supply (Perry, 2004, p. 2). This was truly a massive project, and in retrospect it seems as though lawmakers hardly considered the environmental implications of this project. Overall, human impact has been primarily responsible for environmental damage in the Everglades, and now we must work backwards to undo such treacherous effects.
How Did the Central and South Florida Project Impact The Everglades
As mentioned previously, the Everglades lost most of its water supply as a result of the Central and South Florida Project. With such a massive loss of a critical resource in the region, it's no surprise that the ecosystem was also massively damaged. Preceding human intervention, the Everglades are estimated to have stretched over 11,000 square miles. As of 2003 however, the Everglades have shrunk to nearly half its former size (Perry, 2004, p. 2). Additionally, the shrinkage of the overall Everglades ecosystem has brought vegetation and animal populations spiraling down with it.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
One primary goal of the Central and South Florida Project was to divert water from the Everglades out to the eastern and western shores of Florida. The impact of this water diversion was that the Everglades themselves lost most of their water supply. In response, one major goal of the new Everglades restoration plan was to build the Everglades' capacity to hold water so that there is enough in the region to support animals and vegetation.
The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan should not be thought of as an attempt to completely revert the changes made by the Central and South Florida Plan, but rather as a compromise between two wants. The main goal of the first project was to keep human occupied land dry, and the main goal of the new plan was to restore water to the Everglades. In order to compromise, one major goal of the new restoration plan was to keep dry land dry, while also restoring water to the Everglades. The solution that the new everglades restoration plan imposed was to conduct freshwater flow into reservoirs, where water may remain for between two to four years before it is used (Perry, 2004, p. 6). Of the reservoir water, eighty percent of it is intended to be used for the environment, and twenty percent of the water will contribute to human water supplies (Perry, 2004, p. 6). This is really a great solution because water which was previously just flowing out to the ocean will now benefit both humans and the ecosystem.
Fixing Water Redirection
Impacts of the Central and South Florida Project did not only result from the removal of water from the Everglades, but also the redirection of water flow elsewhere. Water conducted by the South Florida Project was redirected downstream into estuaries. These new water flows not only interrupted normal salinity levels in these estuaries, but the timing of water flow also interrupted other natural cycles. As a result, one major goal of the new everglades restoration project was to improve the timing of freshwater deliveries to the natural ecosystem (Perry, 2004, p. 6). In order to accomplish this goal, the project removed over 240 miles of levees and canals, in addition to large parts of the Miami Canal (Perry, 2004, p. 6).
Water Quality Improvement
The third and final goal of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was to improve the quality of water flowing through the Everglades. Before human intervention, the wetlands in the Everglades served as a natural filter to pollutants (Perry, 2004, p. 6). However, given the ecosystem has shrunk by approximately fifty percent, the natural filtration system has also shrunk by a similar metric (Perry, 2004, p. 6). In addition, far more human pollutants pass through the area in comparison to the past. These pollutants primarily flow from city streets and agricultural production (Perry, 2004, p. 6-7).
A large amount of the pollutants coming from agricultural production are not necessarily nasty chemicals, but are in fact nutrients. This sounds really counterintuitive on the surface level because how could excess nutrients possibly be harmful to an ecosystem? As mentioned in my bio section of my profile, I am currently a student at the University of Florida. Right now I am taking an introduction to Oceanography, so I actually learned a lot about this specific type of pollution. When excess nutrients flow into wet ecosystems, algae uses these nutrients to multiply in mass numbers. A gargantuan overpopulation of algae then absorbs all of the oxygen in the water, killing off all nearby species who no longer have enough oxygen to survive. The name of this process is called eutrophication.
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ce9160bf52b8431c9d70b2acc7f7e40a
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In Florida, the Miccosukee fight to protect the Everglades in the face of climate change
December 20, 2024
https://apnews.com/article/everglades-restoration-miccosukee-water-climate-change-b87825ad937bfa017e5f948797784b36
Many of the Everglades’ modern problems began in the 1940s when the region was drained to build cities and plant crops. Over time, the ecosystems where the Miccosukee people hunted, fished and gathered plants, held sacred rituals and put their deceased to rest, have been destroyed.
A state-federal project to clean the water and rehydrate the landscape aims to undo much of the damage. But water management decisions and restoration efforts have flooded or parched lands where tribe members live and hold ceremonies.
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'Not even close': Clean-up of Everglades water polluted by Big Sugar struggles to keep up
December 10, 2023
https://www.wusf.org/environment/2023-12-10/clean-up-everglades-water-polluted-big-sugar-struggles-keep-up
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Florida's sugar barons grow fat on subsidies, diabetes and Everglades destruction
1st September 2014
Big Sugar is the new Big Tobacco, writes Alan Farago - lethal to human
health, wreaking environmental devastation, gouging huge public
subsidies, and with the political clout to stop First Lady Michelle
Obama from breathing a word against it. Only an alliance of 'green',
health and taxpayer campaigners can kill the beast.
https://theecologist.org/2014/sep/01/floridas-sugar-barons-grow-fat-subsidies-diabetes-and-everglades-destruction
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Florida is building the world's largest environmental restoration project
16 August 2024
Polluted waterways and red tides
Agricultural runoff has been a major problem in the state, with a 2022 report finding Florida had the most polluted lakes in the country. More than 70% of the nitrate found in the state's natural springs – which are an important source of freshwater – comes from agricultural runoff, which includes fertilisers as well as animal waste. In 2020, Governor Ron DeSantis signed The Clean Waterways Act, a law to improve water quality across Florida. Although environmental groups criticised the bill for not going far enough, the legislation requires inspections of farms and ranches every two years.
One issue that's hard to ignore is the toxic algae on Florida's coastlines. In 2016, the bright green bloom was so bad the then-governor declared a state of emergency. The following year the uncontrolled growth of an algae known as "red tide" killed at least 29 manatees. The toxins from the red tide, caused by the Karenia brevis algae, can be suspended in the air near beaches, and cause respiratory issues in humans. It's caused thousands of dead fish to wash up on Florida's beaches, and burned the throats of beachgoers.
The problem stems in part from Lake Okeechobee, which is often host to algae blooms itself. When the lake gets too full, excess water is discharged into the surrounding waterways. The Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the discharges, and the agency sends water to the coastlines in either direction: to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Coast.
When the water, which is heavily polluted by agricultural runoff and human waste, reaches the open ocean, the algae blooms appear in these marine ecosystems too. The blooms have resulted in significant ecological damage, and wreaked havoc on the tourist industries. One study found the 2018 Florida red bloom event cost the coastal tourism industry around $2.7bn (£2.1m).
One study found the discharging of Lake Okeechobee correlated with red tide blooms on the Gulf Coast.
It's complicated. Can you really get the relief you want from a reservoir?" Rosen says. "The reservoir is not going to resolve the whole thing. But if it shaves a little bit of the problem, then great. If the system is better restored it will be more resilient."
One of the aspects of the restoration project is improving and enlarging stormwater treatment areas. Part of the reason why water cannot be sent south to the Everglades is because all the current stormwater treatment areas south of Lake Okeechobee are at full capacity cleaning the sugar industry's wastewater, says Chabba.
"This underscores the critical need for building the EAA Reservoir and its stormwater treatment area so that we can have capacity to hold and clean this water when the lake's levels are too high," she says.
Earlier this year, up to 224,000 gallons of water per minute were sent from the lake to Palm Beach County's Lake Worth Lagoon, after El Niño rains ballooned the lake to 16.3ft (5m) above sea level.
"The EAA Reservoir and Stormwater Treatment Area is a cornerstone project that reduces damaging discharges that harm our coastal communities while providing fresh, clean water to America's Everglades and Florida Bay," Schultz, the spokesperson for SFWMD adds. "Additionally, the reservoir will help to reduce harmful discharges to the St Lucie River, the Caloosahatchee River and the Lake Worth Lagoon."
Natural solutions
In the 1940s, the Everglades was cut off from its primary source of freshwater: Lake Okeechobee, and around 1.5 million acres (600,000ha) – roughly half of the Everglades – was cleared and drained to claim the land for building. As a result, the ecosystem was devastated.
Although the reservoir is still under construction and won't be completed until 2029, smaller solutions have already been rolled out, such as raising roads and creating bridges for the water to flow freely underneath.
"The Everglades is a unique and complex ecosystem found nowhere else in the world and it is crucial to life in Florida," Schultz says. "Restoring America's Everglades is one of the most ambitious hydrologic restoration projects ever undertaken and will restore the natural flow of clean water south where it is needed most."
One example that's already underway is the raising of sections of the Tamiami Trail, a 284-mile (457km) highway that cuts through the Everglades. Around 6.5 miles (10.5km) of trail has been raised, and a 2.6 mile-long (4.2km) bridge installed, both which improve water flow into the Northeast Shark River Slough, an area in the Everglades National Park.
"As more water makes it way south," Cheeba says, "the project has built vertical underground walls at different locations to ensure that nearby communities don't get flooded. All these project components are contributing to making the Everglades regain their health and our communities become resilient."
The National Academies report found that there had already been signs of progress, including increased hydroperiod – days per year when the soil is waterlogged – in the Picayune Strand, a state forest, and the Everglades prairies.
"The potential benefits for ecosystem restoration, water management and reduction of harmful algae blooms are significant," says Melesse. "The reservoir is not a complete solution and is part of a broader, integrated approach to water management and environmental protection in Florida."
Prescribed burns have also been utilised in the Everglades ecosystem, to reduce fuel and improve the flow of freshwater. Sawgrass fires improve the passage of water through shallow river basins and sloughs by burning back grass that would impede the flow.
"Water used to move naturally and slowly through Okeechobee, and we've permanently reduced the footprint of the Everglades," says Rosen. "Yet the same rainfall is coming down. The best thing we can do is to get the quality improved and the quantity of water back to somewhat normal to feed the ecosystems that are left."
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240815-floridas-everglades-reservoir-will-clean-the-states-water
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In the Everglades, a Clash Portrayed as ‘Science vs. Politics’ Pits a Leading Scientist Against His Former Employer
June 30, 2023
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30062023/everglades-science-politics/
Everglades restoration is aimed at restoring key historic attributes of the river of grass, especially water quality, storage and flow. It is projected to take many decades to complete. Maps courtesy Everglades National Park
An influential foundation contends that Tom Van Lent stole “trade secrets.” Environmentalists question why such “secrets” exist, as work unfolds on a controversial reservoir touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis as the “crown jewel of Everglades restoration.”
ORLANDO, Fla.—In the two decades since one of the most ambitious attempts at ecological restoration in human history became law, Tom Van Lent has built a reputation as a leading scientist in the effort to save the Florida Everglades.
His research has delved into almost every issue to arise from the $21 billion restoration effort, from litigation over water quality to water management operations to development concerns. Van Lent is perhaps best known, though, for his clear and easy way of communicating highly complex technical concepts, sometimes in the face of considerable opposition, to decision-makers and their constituents: most notably, the more than 8 million Floridians who depend on the treasured and troubled wetlands as their primary source of drinking water.
“After working on the Everglades for 42 years, I often found that the complexity is just used to hide the simple truth,” said Van Lent, who is now a science adviser to the nonprofit advocacy group Friends of the Everglades. “There are simple truths, and it is important to keep focused on the central, the main thing, the central point, and complexity is often distracting.”
Now, Van Lent’s science—and his determination to convey scientific findings as he sees fit—are at the heart of a bitter legal battle with his former employer, the Everglades Foundation, where he worked for 17 years, including as chief scientist.
In a civil complaint, the foundation accuses Van Lent of stealing “trade secrets” and destroying files when he left the organization in February 2022, potentially to enrich himself or for the benefit of Friends of the Everglades, where he is now a paid contractor. The foundation says the “trade secrets” include internal memos and reports, white papers and confidential presentations related to the spectrum of issues on which Van Lent worked while at the foundation. Van Lent denies the allegations.
The parties agreed to a settlement last September and an injunction barring Van Lent from disclosing confidential information and ordering him to return the materials. But a few weeks later, the foundation accused Van Lent of violating the injunction. In May, a circuit judge sided with the foundation and found him guilty of indirect criminal contempt. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled; Van Lent could face penalties ranging from a nominal fine to incarceration. He plans to appeal the ruling.
The litigation has shocked the otherwise tight-knit Everglades advocacy community and exposed a long-running tension between science and politics in the massive restoration effort. Some advocates are asking whether the “trade secrets” involve scientific findings that in principle should be public.
“What does the Everglades Foundation want to keep secret?” said Stuart Pimm, a specialist in endangered species at Duke University whose research has included the habitat of the Everglades’ Cape Sable seaside sparrow. ”Because that is not how science works.”
The dispute appears to stem in part from a controversial plan for a reservoir described by Gov. Ron DeSantis, among others, as “the crown jewel of Everglades restoration.”
The 16-square-mile reservoir would be the largest of its kind that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ever constructed in the United States, and some advocacy groups have raised concerns about its design, which they say does not meet restoration requirements. The foundation, closely aligned with DeSantis, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, supports the reservoir.
After leaving the foundation to work with Friends of the Everglades, Van Lent tweeted about his new opportunity with a group that he said “put facts over politics.” He told Inside Climate News the tweet might have prompted the lawsuit. The foundation said the only motivation of the litigation was to recover the materials that it contends Van Lent downloaded and destroyed.
“The Everglades Foundation has made the reservoir the centerpiece of their public relations and their political efforts,” Van Lent said. “So anyone who potentially gets in the way, of course, is a potential target.”
“The role of the scientist should be to articulate the facts, whatever they are, so that people out there can make decisions,” he said. “There are other inputs besides science: politics, law, economics. There are all kinds of things that go into a solution, and science isn’t the only factor. Politics is definitely one of those input areas, and that is often where there is a rub.”
An Ecosystem Reshaped by Politics
To appreciate this tension between science and politics in the restoration effort, it is important to understand that the Everglades, poetically known as the river of grass, no longer flows freely but has been reshaped by politics and sustained by the science and engineering of some of the most complex water management infrastructure in the world.
Science and politics function here like competing forces directing the flow of water through some 2,200 miles of canals, 2,100 miles of levees and berms, 84 pump stations and 778 water control structures, which together serve as life support for a watershed that once spanned much of the peninsula but has been drained to a remnant of its former self.
Everglades restoration involves a series of landscape-scale projects, like the reservoir, intended to revive key historic attributes of the Everglades, especially water quality, storage and flow. The watershed begins in central Florida with the headwaters of the Kissimmee River and includes Lake Okeechobee, sawgrass marshes to the south and Florida Bay, at the peninsula’s southernmost tip.
“Every Tuesday at 11 a.m. we sit down with the water managers, the engineers and the scientists, and we start all the way at the top of the river, and we discuss what’s going on hydrologically and environmentally, and the scientists make recommendations for water management,” said Fred Sklar, director of the South Florida Water Management District’s Everglades Systems Assessment Section, a group of scientists studying the restoration’s implications and helping to guide water managers’ decisions on where and how the water should flow.
“We come to an agreement on how to move the water around and how to make sure that things stay healthy or get better.”
The South Florida Water Management District, the state agency overseeing the restoration, is not a political organization. But like its federal partner the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it operates under statutes and regulations dictated by elected leaders who are beholden to stakeholders—from powerful developers and agricultural interests to environmental groups to Florida citizens.
“It boils down to the practical reality that Florida was drained to accommodate development and agriculture,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “Where those tensions exist, it’s usually because the restoration effort would require some sort of sacrifice by those two forces: development or agriculture.”
This tension between science and politics can be traced to the beginnings of Everglades restoration and a federal lawsuit filed against the state in 1988 over water quality problems in Everglades National Park and the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The litigation would lead to a consent decree and restoration plan in the early 1990s that environmental groups said did not go far enough.
Discord, for instance, over a water quality standard and whether polluters were paying their fair share toward the effort would eventually help lead to a monumental federal-state restoration plan that became law in 2000 and remains in progress today.
The turmoil would also prompt a wealthy Orlando developer, George Barley, and a billionaire Wall Street investor, Paul Tudor Jones II, best friends determined to save their beloved fishing spot in Florida Bay, to establish an organization in 1993 that could add more science to the political debate: the Everglades Foundation. Van Lent joined in 2005 as its first scientist.
“I think a lot of people felt left out because the process was very—and rightly so—very scientifically based, and understanding all that takes an expert,” Van Lent said. “They wanted help understanding what the agencies were saying. They also wanted, I think, objective assessments to help understand what the facts actually were, and that was my initial role.”
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Everglades Illustrated: These maps explain Florida’s water woes
June 11th, 2024
Take a look at the maps above.
Side-by-side, these renderings of the historic and altered flow of water through the Greater Everglades ecosystem illustrate the fundamental reason we face so many water challenges today.
On the left, historic sheet flow envelops the southern half of Florida, from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. No man-made connections from Lake O to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. There was no Everglades Agricultural Area, now dominated by hundreds of thousands of acres of sugarcane. And the historic system was devoid of development — of throngs of people who have made a home out of a once-wild landscape.
On the right, an altered Everglades remains today. Where water once flowed slowly, freely and at will from one end of the system to the other, now canals, levees and other water management structures govern the movement, velocity and timing of each drop. Unnatural connections from the east coast to the west coast were carved into the landscape a century ago, forcing water into ecosystems that never needed additional inputs. Industrial sugarcane south of Lake O became an immovable bottleneck — staunching the flow of clean water necessary for the survival of the southern Everglades in order to sate sugar’s own irrigation and drainage needs.
More than 22 million people now call Florida home, and the natural system has changed in irreversible ways. But the future of Florida is not lost. It depends on the survival of the remnant Everglades and restoration of wide swaths of wetlands — not just to safeguard wildlife habitat, but also to protect Florida’s drinking water, reduce flood risk and safeguard all of us in the face of climate change. Friends of the Everglades continues to advocate for nature-based restoration efforts to reverse the damage caused by human activities and restore the only Everglades in the world to a more natural state.
You can find interactive versions of these maps on our website under the Everglades Learning tab. Click the boxes in the legends on the right to explore environments, park boundaries, tribal lands and other identifying features in both the historic and altered renderings. We created these maps to serve as a useful tool for those of you who wish to learn more about this special ecosystem and the quest to protect it.
https://www.everglades.org/everglades-illustrated-these-maps-explain-floridas-water-woes/
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2024 Everglades Update Focuses on Economics, Water Quality
February 29, 2024
https://sccf.org/blog/2024/02/29/2024-everglades-update/
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A hydrological paradox: Lake O's new plan reins in the water going out, yet empties the lake the same?
August 20, 2024
https://news.wgcu.org/section/environment/2024-08-20/a-hydrological-paradox-lake-os-new-plan-reins-in-the-water-out-yet-empties-the-lake-the-same
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Billions of Gallons of Freshwater Are Dumped at Florida’s Coasts. Environmentalists Want That Water in the Everglades
June 18, 2024
Environmental groups want to use engineered wetlands to help replenish the river of grass and address toxic algae. The state’s politically powerful sugar growers say those wetlands are for their own polluted water.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18062024/everglades-wetlands-toxic-algae-pollution/
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IMPLEMENTING LEGALLY MANDATED SCIENCE AND PEER REVIEW IN SUPPORT OF THE EVERGLADES RESTORATION PROGRAM
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1126&context=jcwre
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Florida Wildlife Corridor Eases Worst Impacts of Climate Change
4/16/2024
https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/florida-wildlife-corridor-climate-report
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Humans and the Everglades
https://www.everglades.org/the-everglades-handbook/section-4-environmental-impacts/humans-and-the-everglades/
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Florida County Map Shows Where The Income Gap Is Biggest
Jan 31, 2023
Based on the data and the Florida county map, Collier County displays the greatest difference between average household income and median household income, at $45,134: Its mean household income of $120,677 minus its median household income of $75,543. Collier County encompasses wealthier cities such as Marco Island (median income of $93,134 and mean income of $148,234) and Naples (median income of $125,306 and mean income of $248,988), as well as lower-income places like Immokalee (median income of $40,144 and mean income of $57,397). In Collier County, 37.2% of households earn $100,000 or more alongside 33.1% of households that earn less than $50,000. Not surprisingly, the Gini index in Collier County is 0.5264 (versus the U.S.’s 0.4818), making the county the second most unequal in terms of income, behind only Hardee County, whose Gini index is 0.5343. Hardee County features 56.6% of households that earn less than $50,000 while 15.1% of households earn $100,000 or more.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewdepietro/2023/01/31/florida-county-map-shows-where-the-income-gap-is-biggest/
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Everglades Water Quality Issues
Water quality includes many aspects such as nutrients used by plants for growth, dissolved substances that affect pH (acid/base scale), hardness, salinity, and toxins that may inhibit or poison living processes. Degraded water quality has created widespread changes in the Everglades. Water quality concerns in the freshwater Everglades have focused on tow main issues: phosphorus enrichment and elevated mercury in wildlife.
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient in Everglades water quality. Natural levels between 4 and 10 ppb characterized the original system, although it is thought that incoming waters from Lake Okeechobee, prior to agricultural development of its watershed, were naturally higher—at least 20 ppb. The northern Everglades acted as a natural nutrient-removal system as it grew and laid down peat soils. Considerable research has attempted to quantify the level of phosphorus that the natural Everglades could assimilate without causing an imbalance in natural populations of flora or fauna—the legal definition of allowable change. Consensus among most scientists is that the maximum level for sustainability in the Everglades is 10 ppb, which is now the center of a complex standard for waters in the Everglades Protection Area, basically the water conservation areas and Everglades National Park.
With its conversion into the EAA, the northern Everglades became a nutrient source instead of its historic role as a “sink.” Without treatment, EAA stormwater contained high phosphorus levels from the fertilizer applications, often in excess of 500 ppb. As the entire EAA became fully developed in the 1970s, the problem of where to put excess stormwater was increasingly solved by backpumping to Lake Okeechobee. It was recognized, however, that Lake Okeechobee was suffering from eutrophication from intensely used agricultural lands in its watershed. A water management decision in 1979 protected the lake from EAA nutrients, redirecting stormwater to the water conservation areas, including WCA-1, the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
Sulfur and Mercury
Everglades surface-water background levels of sulfate are 0.5 ppm or less (about six thousand times less than sea water). It is now clear that enrichment in the element sulfur, caused by agricultural releases of sulfate into the freshwater Everglades, is a major concern because of deleterious effects on the ecosystem.
Two main problems result from sulfate enrichment:
Biomagnification of toxic mercury in Everglades wildlife and consequent increased human exposure;
Formation of hydrogen sulfide in Everglades soils at levels potentially toxic to wetland vegetation and aquatic animals, particularly burrowing species like crayfish.
Sulfate and Sulfide
For decades, and continuing today, elevated sulfate has been passing into the Everglades from the EAA so that most areas are far above the background of 0.5 ppm or less. In descending order, the major sources have been: (1) release of legacy sulfate from the EAA due to soil oxidation/subsidence, (2) Lake Okeechobee waters passing through the EAA via canals, and (3) ongoing agricultural applications in the EAA. Sulfate from these sources has passed from the EAA into the Everglades, and since the late 1990s has moved through the EAA stormwater treatment areas (STAs, see “The Everglades Forever Act and Everglades Construction Project,” this chapter). Sulfate levels in waters released from one STA have been as high as 80 ppm. STAs were designed to treat phosphorus, not sulfate. As a result, they have little effect on sulfate.
Mercury and Methylmercury
Mercury (chemical symbol Hg) is a naturally occurring element, most familiar as a silvery metallic liquid. It has no known biological function but forms chemical compounds of various toxicities. The most dangerous is an organically bound form, methylmercury (CH3Hg+), which is a powerful teratogen, endocrine disruptor, and neurotoxin. While other forms of mercury are also toxic, they do not readily enter living organisms. Methylmercury, however, is readily absorbed and then biomagnified through the food web. It can cause mutations, abnormal growth, and neurologic/behavioral disorders leading to death at higher concentrations. In humans, embryonic development through infancy is most susceptible to mercury toxicity because of interference with tissue differentiation, even at mercury levels that are not dangerous to adults.
Alarmingly high mercury in Everglades wildlife was first reported in 1974 in largemouth bass and other predatory fish. Especially surprising were levels dangerous for human consumption in remote locations inside Everglades National Park’s Shark River Slough.
Current concerns about mercury in the Everglades are:
Largemouth bass of edible size in the Everglades continue to have high levels of mercury. The Florida Department of Health has continuing “Do Not Eat” advisories, directed at women of childbearing age and young children, for bass of 14 inches in length or more in most areas of the Everglades, and for all bass in Everglades National Park
Wading birds: Mercury is deposited in the growing feathers of birds. Feathers have been used extensively to monitor mercury levels in Everglades wading birds. Research has shown egret nestlings with high levels of mercury began to exhibit severely disoriented behavior including substantially decreased breeding success, and males exhibiting male-male pairing.
Pythons have been found to harbor excessive mercury in muscle tissue, to the extent that researchers are puzzled about their survival. Python mercury levels have been found three to four times higher than in alligator meat, previously thought to be the highest in the ecosystem.
https://www.everglades.org/the-everglades-handbook/section-4-environmental-impacts/everglades-water-quality-issues/
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Environmental issues in Florida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_Florida
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Four threats to manatees and mangroves in Florida – and how we can save them
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/four-threats-to-manatees-and-mangroves-in-florida-and-how-we-can-save-them
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Alfie Oakes argues political corruption
June 18, 2024
Alfie Oakes pointed his accusatory finger at Collier County’s supervisor of elections, Melissa Blazier.
On Friday, the Collier County Republican party committee man was told he couldn’t run for re-election, unqualified after improper paperwork was filed with Blazier.
Oakes did not mince words, saying Blazier is making up her own rules to keep him off this ballot. ..
https://winknews.com/2024/06/18/alfie-oakes-argues-political-corruption/
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Everglades restoration is getting a billion dollar windfall. Here's what that will buy
2022
https://www.wlrn.org/environment/2022-02-25/everglades-restoration-is-getting-a-billion-dollar-windfall-heres-what-that-will-buy
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Why is it Important to Restore the Everglades?
Restoring America's Everglades
https://www.epa.gov/everglades/why-it-important-restore-everglades
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Restoration of the Everglades
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_of_the_Everglades
An ongoing effort to remedy damage inflicted during the 20th century on the Everglades, a region of tropical wetlands in southern Florida, is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The degradation of the Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s after a proposal to construct an airport in the Big Cypress Swamp. Studies indicated the airport would have destroyed the ecosystem in South Florida and Everglades National Park.[3] After decades of destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the natural environment in South Florida with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly grown in and near the Everglades.
In response to floods caused by hurricanes in 1947, the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project (C&SF) was established to construct flood control devices in the Everglades. The C&SF built 1,400 miles (2,300 km) of canals and levees between the 1950s and 1971 throughout South Florida. Their last venture was the C-38 canal, which straightened the Kissimmee River and caused catastrophic damage to animal habitats, adversely affecting water quality in the region. The canal became the first C&SF project to revert when the 22-mile (35 km) canal began to be backfilled, or refilled with the material excavated from it, in the 1980s.
When high levels of phosphorus and mercury were discovered in the waterways in 1986, water quality became a focus for water management agencies. Costly and lengthy court battles were waged between various government entities to determine who was responsible for monitoring and enforcing water quality standards. Governor Lawton Chiles proposed a bill that determined which agencies would have that responsibility, and set deadlines for pollutant levels to decrease in water. Initially the bill was criticized by conservation groups for not being strict enough on polluters, but the Everglades Forever Act was passed in 1994. Since then, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have surpassed expectations for achieving lower phosphorus levels.
A commission appointed by Governor Chiles published a report in 1995 stating that South Florida was unable to sustain its growth, and the deterioration of the environment was negatively affecting daily life for residents in South Florida. The environmental decline was predicted to harm tourism and commercial interests if no actions were taken to halt current trends. Results of an eight-year study that evaluated the C&SF were submitted to the United States Congress in 1999. The report warned that if no action was taken the region would rapidly deteriorate. A strategy called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was enacted to restore portions of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, and Florida Bay to undo the damage of the past 50 years. It would take 30 years and cost $7.8 billion to complete. Though the plan was passed into law in 2000, it has been compromised by political and funding problems.
A portion of the C-38 canal, finished in 1971, now backfilled to restore the Kissimmee River floodplain to a more natural state
Compartments established by C&SF projects that separated the historic Everglades into Water Conservation Areas and the Everglades Agricultural Area. One-fourth of the original Everglades is preserved in Everglades National Park.
Structure 65B on the Kissimmee River is destroyed by the Corps of Engineers in 2000 to restore the natural flow of the river.
Cattails indicate the presence of phosphorus in the water. Cattails are an invasive species; they crowd out sawgrass and grow too thick to allow nesting for birds and alligators.
Aerial view of stormwater treatment areas in the northern Everglades bordered by sugarcane fields on the right
Roseate spoonbills, along with other wading birds, have decreased by 90% since the 1930s and 1940s.
Climbing ferns overtake cypress trees in the Everglades. The ferns act as "fire ladders" that can destroy trees that would otherwise survive fires.
Natural water drainage patterns prior to development in South Florida, circa 1900
Current water drainage patterns in South Florida in 2005
Planned water recovery and storage implementation using CERP strategies
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Draining and development of the Everglades
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draining_and_development_of_the_Everglades
A
national push for expansion and progress toward the latter part of the
19th century stimulated interest in draining the Everglades, a region of
tropical wetlands in southern Florida, for agricultural use. According
to historians, "From the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle
of the twentieth century, the United States went through a period in
which wetland removal was not questioned. Indeed, it was considered the
proper thing to do."
A pattern of political and financial
motivation, and a lack of understanding of the geography and ecology of
the Everglades have plagued the history of drainage projects. The
Everglades are a part of a massive watershed that originates near
Orlando and drains into Lake Okeechobee, a vast and shallow lake. As the
lake exceeds its capacity in the wet season, the water forms a flat and
very wide river, about 100 miles (160 km) long and 60 miles (97 km)
wide. As the land from Lake Okeechobee slopes gradually to Florida Bay,
water flows at a rate of half a mile (0.8 km) a day. Before human
activity in the Everglades, the system comprised the lower third of the
Florida peninsula. The first attempt to drain the region was made by
real estate developer Hamilton Disston in 1881. Disston's sponsored
canals were unsuccessful, but the land he purchased for them stimulated
economic and population growth that attracted railway developer Henry
Flagler. Flagler built a railroad along the east coast of Florida and
eventually to Key West; towns grew and farmland was cultivated along the
rail line.
During his 1904 campaign to be elected governor,
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward promised to drain the Everglades, and his
later projects were more effective than Disston's. Broward's promises
sparked a land boom facilitated by blatant errors in an engineer's
report, pressure from real estate developers, and the burgeoning tourist
industry throughout south Florida. The increased population brought
hunters who went unchecked and had a devastating impact on the numbers
of wading birds (hunted for their plumes), alligators, and other
Everglades animals.
Severe hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 caused
catastrophic damage and flooding from Lake Okeechobee that prompted the
Army Corps of Engineers to build a dike around the lake. Further floods
in 1947 prompted an unprecedented construction of canals throughout
southern Florida. Following another population boom after World War II,
and the creation of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control
Project, the Everglades was divided into sections separated by canals
and water control devices that delivered water to agricultural and newly
developed urban areas. However, in the late 1960s, following a proposal
to construct a massive airport next to Everglades National Park,
national attention turned from developing the land to restoring the
Everglades.
Satellite image of the northern Everglades
with developed areas in 2001, including the Everglades Agricultural
Area (in red), Water Conservation Areas 1, 2, and 3, and the South Florida metropolitan area
Satellite image of the southern Everglades with developed areas in 2001, including Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Bay and the southern tip of the South Florida metropolitan area
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South Florida Ecosystem Assessment: Everglades Water Management, Soil Loss, Eutrophication and Habitat
September 2000
https://www.epa.gov/everglades/south-florida-ecosystem-assessment-everglades-water-management-soil-loss-eutrophication
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State Still Lets Central Florida's Sludge Foul Everglades, Critics Say
June 29, 2009
https://fl.audubon.org/news/state-still-lets-central-floridas-sludge-foul-everglades-critics-say
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After Ian, Florida’s waterways could remain polluted for months
November 2, 2022
In the weeks since Ian pulled away from the Sunshine State, city workers and concerned citizens filed hundreds of pollution reports to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/11/02/ian-sewage-florida-wastewater/
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Thunderstorms spread mercury pollution
AUGUST 31, 2016
https://phys.org/news/2016-08-thunderstorms-mercury-pollution.html#google_vignette
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The impact of heavy metal contamination on soil health
August 2018
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326894899_The_impact_of_heavy_metal_contamination_on_soil_health
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Heavy metal pollution in the environment and their toxicological effects on humans
2020
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32964150/
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Waterbirds as bioindicators of wetland heavy metal pollution
2011
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878029611006244
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Effects of heavy metals on fish physiology – A review
2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653522010128
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Assessing the ecological risk of heavy metal sediment contamination from Port Everglades Florida USA
November 14, 2023
https://peerj.com/articles/16152/
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Problems in the assessment of heavy-metal levels in estuaries and the formation of a pollution index
1 March 1980
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Problems-in-the-assessment-of-heavy-metal-levels-in-Tomlinson-Wilson/df12b558b164ae276a03a8c844ffc5b6cb63a5df
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The impact of heavy metal contamination on soil quality and plant nutrition. Sustainable management of moderate contaminated agricultural and urban soils, using low cost materials and promoting circular economy
2023
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352554123000803
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Heavy Metal Contamination in Groundwater Sources
May 2021
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351873383_Heavy_Metal_Contamination_in_Groundwater_Sources
________________________________
Metal-mining pollution impacts 23 million people worldwide
22 September 2023
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66880697
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Toxic Mechanisms of Five Heavy Metals: Mercury, Lead, Chromium, Cadmium, and Arsenic
2021 Apr 13
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8078867/
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Impact of heavy metals on the environment and human health: Novel therapeutic insights to counter the toxicity
2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1018364722000465
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Growth response and mycoremediation of heavy metals by fungus Pleurotus sp.
19 November 2022
Abstract
Heavy metal contamination (HMs) in water and soil is the most serious problem caused by industrial and mining processes and other human activities. Mycoremediation is a biotechnology that employs fungi to remove toxic contaminants from the environment in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Pleurotus spp. have been shown to either increase plant growth on metal-contaminated soils by providing more nutrients or by reducing metal toxicity. Pleurotus species (J. Lange), a mushroom that can be eaten, has been observed growing on plantations of wood trees in Kerman's orchards. P. sp. was the subject of this study, which examined the effects of different concentrations of various heavy metals Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), and Nickel (Ni) (0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 mg/L) on fungal colony diameters, mycelial dry weights, accumulation of heavy metals, and antioxidative enzymes. The findings revealed that P. sp. was more tolerant of Co than other metals, so the fungus grew more in the presence of low concentrations of Co and Cu. However, even at concentrations as low as 15 mg/L, Ni greatly inhibited the growth of biomass and colony diameter. Heavy metals increased the activity of superoxide dismutases (SOD) and catalase (CAT) up to 45 mg/L, but an increase in metal concentration above 45 mg/L resulted in a significant decrease in SOD. Metals in mycelium also increased as the concentrations of these heavy metals increased.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24349-5
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Clean-Up of Heavy Metals from Contaminated Soil by Phytoremediation: A Multidisciplinary and Eco-Friendly Approach
2023 May 2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10221411/
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Phytoremediation of heavy metal polluted soils and water: Progresses and perspectives
2008
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2266886/
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Mineral Oil Dielectric Fluid (MODEF) Cleanup Protocols
2020
https://floridadep.gov/waste/district-business-support/content/mineral-oil-dielectric-fluid-modef-cleanup-protocols
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Mercury pollution is not a problem (as long as we use this fungus)
27 December 2022
A fungus, called Metarhizium robertsii, is reportedly able to remove mercury around plant roots, thus preventing its uptake. The remediation operation, moreover, occurs as much in the soil as in fresh or salt water. These findings come from a study published in recent weeks in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
https://resoilfoundation.org/en/environment/suolo-contamination-fungus/
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We created a new material from orange peel that can clean up mercury pollution
October 19, 2015
https://theconversation.com/we-created-a-new-material-from-orange-peel-that-can-clean-up-mercury-pollution-49355
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Research Offers Promising Solution To Worsening Mercury Pollution
AUGUST 20, 2003
https://news.ufl.edu/archive/2003/08/research-offers-promising-solution-to-worsening-mercury-pollution.html
________________________________
Microbial transformation to remediate mercury pollution: strains isolation and laboratory study
2022
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13762-022-04158-z
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Mercury Pollution History in Tropical and Subtropical American Lakes: Multiple Impacts and the Possible Relationship with Climate Change
2023
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36802450/
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Stop the Pollution of the Everglades with Methyl-Mercury
The fish swimming in our Everglades are poisoned with toxic mercury. The only way to fix this is to regulate runoff from the Everglades Agricultural Area.
https://www.everglades.org/methyl-mercury/
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Everglades Marshes Contain Mercury That Can Poison Birds. But There's A Fix: More Water
October 28, 2020
https://www.wlrn.org/2020-10-28/everglades-marshes-contain-mercury-that-can-poison-birds-but-theres-a-fix-more-water
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Dragonflies reveal mercury pollution levels across US national parks
2020
Local research project spurs first nationwide survey of the toxic metal
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200722083811.htm
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How Mercury Pollution Affects Our Oceans and Fish
October 17, 2019
https://environment.co/mercury-pollution-in-fish/
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Mercury as a Threat to the Endangered Florida Panther
https://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~fishw/WQC_HgPanthers.pdf
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Mercury accumulation in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacépède) within marsh ecosystems of the Florida Everglades, USA
2014 Oct 22
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25336046/
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Why Is Mercury Stubbornly High in Tuna? Researchers Might Have an Answer.
Feb 2024
Old accumulations of the toxic metal in the deep sea are circulating into shallower waters where the fish feed, new research found.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/climate/tuna-mercury.htm
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Mercury levels drop in Atlantic bluefin tuna
2016
Study shows 19-percent improvement in just 8 years.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/12/less-pollution-makes-for-less-mercury-in-atlantic-bluefin-tuna/
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Bluefin tuna reveal global ocean patterns of mercury pollution
2021
https://phys.org/news/2021-09-bluefin-tuna-reveal-global-ocean.html
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Health Impacts of Mercury Toxicity on Fish in an Aquatic System
Aug 2023
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373485073_Health_Impacts_of_Mercury_Toxicity_on_Fish_in_an_Aquatic_System
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Mercury Pollution Threatens Health Worldwide, Scientists Say
August 11, 2006
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060811191845.htm
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Our evolved understanding of the human health risks of mercury
2023
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-023-01831-6
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Heavy Metal Pollution from Gold Mines: Environmental Effects and Bacterial Strategies for Resistance
2018
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5129257/
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Gold Rush's Poisonous Legacy: Mercury Will Linger for 10,000 Years
2023
https://www.livescience.com/40794-gold-rush-mercury-pollution.html
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The surprising source of most mercury pollution: Gold mining
2013
https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/surprising-source-most-mercury-pollution-gold-mining-8C11269314
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Florida Police Continue Crackdown on Illegal Mining and Crime
September 8, 2023
https://www.joburgetc.com/news/more-arrests-for-illegal-mining-in-florida/
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Reducing Mercury Pollution from Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining
https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/reducing-mercury-pollution-artisanal-and-small-scale-gold-mining
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Global deforestation leads to more mercury pollution
February 12, 2024
Scientists quantify a previously overlooked driver of human-made mercury emissions
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/02/240212133224.htm
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America’s Biggest Mercury Polluters
JANUARY 3, 2012
How Cleaning Up the Dirtiest Power Plants Will Protect Public Health
Power plants continue to release large amounts of toxic pollutants, including mercury, into our air. In 2010, two-thirds of all airborne mercury pollution in the United States came from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. In other words, power plants generate more airborne mercury pollution than all other industrial sources combined.
https://environmentamerica.org/florida/center/resources/americas-biggest-mercury-polluters/
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Widespread Mercury Contamination Across Western North America
2016
https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/comprehensive-study-finds-widespread-mercury-contamination-across-western-north
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Bioremediation of environments contaminated with mercury. Present and perspectives
2023
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10338569/
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Mercury accumulation trends in Florida Everglades and Savannas Marsh flooded soils
1995
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01189752
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Mercury Contamination in Florida: Strategies to Reduce Mercury Pollution and Protect Public Health
2005
https://policyarchive.org/handle/10207/5158
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Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Environments
November 13, 2018
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/mercury-contamination-aquatic-environments
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Mercury in Stream Ecosystems—New Studies Initiated by the U.S. Geological Survey
2003
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-016-03/
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Challenges and opportunities for managing aquatic mercury pollution in altered landscapes
2018
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-017-1006-7
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Mercury Water Pollution in the Everglades: A Decades-long Concern
August 12, 2020
https://savethewater.org/mercury-water-pollution-in-the-everglades/
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Lethal mercury in the Everglades exceeds EPA standards
February 5, 2020
https://caplinnews.fiu.edu/mercury-in-the-everglades-lethal-and-increasing/
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Global deforestation leads to more mercury pollution, finds study
FEBRUARY 12, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-02-global-deforestation-mercury-pollution.html
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Humans have tripled mercury levels in upper ocean
06 August 2014
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2014.15680
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Toxic mercury pollution found in the ocean’s deepest point
2020
Two independent teams of scientists have found methylmercury in fish and crustaceans captured in the 11,000-metre-deep Mariana Trench.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/toxic-mercury-pollution-found-in-the-oceans-deepest-point
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Dioxin pollution leads to more baby girls: study
2007
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN18363845/
________________________________
New study reveals transgenerational effects of pesticide linuron on frogs
March 11, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-reveals-transgenerational-effects-pesticide-linuron.html
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Study says pollution makes birds gay
2010
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/cosmic-log/study-says-pollution-makes-birds-gay-flna6C10403546
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Mercury poisoning makes male birds homosexual
2010
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19784-mercury-poisoning-makes-male-birds-homosexual/
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Mercury causes homosexuality in male ibises
2010
https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.641
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Mercury pollution threatens to impair the ability of birds to migrate
2018
https://phys.org/news/2018-09-mercury-pollution-threatens-impair-ability.html
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Experimental lake shows fish populations can recover quickly from mercury contamination
2021
https://www.science.org/content/article/research-experimental-lake-shows-fish-populations-can-recover-quickly-mercury-contaminatio
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EPA Says Limiting Mercury Pollution From Power Plants Is No Longer ‘Appropriate and Necessary’
2019
To justify its position, the agency is choosing to blatantly disregard the health impact to humans and wildlife, critics warn.
https://www.audubon.org/news/epa-says-limiting-mercury-pollution-power-plants-no-longer-appropriate-and
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Mercury Air Pollution Hotspots Remain a Problem
June 8, 2023
https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/mercury-air-pollution-hotspots-remain-a-problem-374415
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Florida Keys' Record-high Water Temperatures Would Spell Disaster for Florida Bay Seagrasses Without Fresh Water Delivered Through Everglades Restoration
July 27, 2023
Audubon Florida's long-term monitoring shows the significance of this event and the saving grace of restoration projects already in place.
https://fl.audubon.org/news/florida-keys-record-high-water-temperatures-would-spell-disaster-florida-bay-seagrasses-without
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Babcock Ranch Problems: Unveiling the Challenges Faced by a Growing Community
2023
https://www.animascorp.com/babcock-ranch-problems/
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The Troubling Impacts of Florida’s Piney Point Pollution
2021
https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2021/08/02/floridas-piney-point-pollution/
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Why are Collier County skies so smoky?
February 23, 2024
https://winknews.com/2024/02/23/smoky-skies-collier-county-prescribed-burn/
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Cypress Camp Trail fire in Collier expands to nearly 6,700 acres; reported burning close to I-75
April 7, 2023
https://news.wgcu.org/section/environment/2023-04-06/cypress-trail-fire-in-collier-county-expands-to-over-4-500-acres-reported-burning-close-to-i-75
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Methane Gas Ebullition Dynamics From Different Subtropical Wetland Vegetation Communities in Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Are Revealed Using a Multi-Method, Multi-Scale Approach
2023
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023JG007795
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Sea-Level Rise Might Kill Big Cypress Preserve's Namesake Trees, Study Warns
2018
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/sea-level-rise-threatens-big-cypress-trees-fiu-study-warns-10655103
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Coalition Comments On Big Cypress National Preserve Supplemental Draft Backcountry Access Plan, Wilderness Study, and Environmental Impact Statement
2022
https://protectnps.org/2022/09/20/coalition-comments-on-big-cypress-national-preserve-supplemental-draft-backcountry-access-plan-wilderness-study-and-environmental-impact-statement/
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Where have all the big cypress gone?
2022
https://floridanationalparks.org/where-have-all-the-big-cypress-gone/
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Oil drilling in Big Cypress National Reserve? Not if we can stop it | Opinion
February 2024
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/oil-drilling-in-big-cypress-national-reserve-not-if-we-can-stop-it-opinion/ar-AA1n2YWZ
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Burnett Oil Seeking to Drill in Big Cypress National Preserve, Part of America’s Everglades
2021
https://www.npca.org/articles/2802-burnett-oil-seeking-to-drill-in-big-cypress-national-preserve-part-of
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New Report Examines Repercussions, Damage from Oil and Gas Testing in Big Cypress National Preserve
Nov 7, 2023
https://www.npca.org/articles/3609-new-report-examines-repercussions-damage-from-oil-and-gas-testing-in-big
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Army Corps Finds Significant Damage in Big Cypress National Preserve After NPS Green Lights Oil and Gas Exploration
Mar 11, 2020
https://www.npca.org/articles/2486-army-corps-finds-significant-damage-in-big-cypress-national-preserve-after
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Wildcat Wells in Florida’s Big Cypress Preserve Bring New and Unstudied Risks
2014
Regulatory agencies aren't carefully assessing the impact of ramped up oil and gas exploration in southwest Florida, say critics
https://earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/wildcat_wells_in_floridas_big_cypress_preserve_bring_new_and_unstudied_risk/
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Industrious beavers, flooding causing headaches for Regatta Bay residents
Oct 19, 2021
https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/local/2021/10/19/beavers-blamed-flooding-problems-destin-florida-regatta-bay-neighborhood/8471229002/
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Climate Change Forces a Rethinking of Mammoth Everglades Restoration Plan
2023
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052023/climate-change-florida-everglades-restoration-plan/
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'Bypass surgery for the Everglades': Scientists detail latest on restoration efforts
March 11, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-bypass-surgery-everglades-scientists-latest.html
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Origin and development of true karst valleys in response to late Holocene sea‐level change, the Transverse Glades of southeast Florida, USA
2019
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/dep2.84
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A look at the Florida Legislature’s spending plan: From bears to water quality
March 12, 2024
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/03/12/a-look-at-the-florida-legislatures-spending-plan-from-bears-to-water-quality/
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New study of Florida pollution just an expensive way to delay cleanup
March 21, 2024
The Legislature wants to spend $25M to find out something we already know
https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/03/21/new-study-of-florida-pollution-just-an-expensive-way-to-delay-cleanup/
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Appeal court says state must do more to clean Florida’s polluted springs
February 15, 2023
"This allows us to hold polluters accountable," Ryan Smart of the Florida Springs Council said after Wednesday's ruling.
https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/investigations/10-investigates/appeals-court-floridas-polluted-springs/67-b5c1063c-15bd-4d25-9ead-26059389b973
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EPA: Florida must change water quality standards to protect citizens' health
Dec 5 2022
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2022/12/05/epa-florida-runs-afoul-of-clean-water-act-must-update-water-standards/69699997007/
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DEP’s language for protecting Florida springs copies what doesn’t work
March 24, 2022
After repeated delays, agency fails to follow what the law requires
https://floridaphoenix.com/2022/03/24/deps-language-for-protecting-florida-springs-copies-what-doesnt-work/
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$57 million budgeted to protect Florida’s springs
2023
https://www.wcjb.com/2023/11/16/over-57-million-budgeted-protect-floridas-springs/
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Lake County experts work to restore water quality at area lakes
Jun. 07, 2022
https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2022/06/07/lake-county-works-to-restore-impaired-lakes
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Plan underway to protect Florida's springs
2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8TgZEP5vus
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Did Florida lawmakers move to protect water quality? Here’s what passed and failed
2023
https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article274488696.html
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Counties set aside millions to protect Sarasota Bay
November 14, 2023
https://www.wusf.org/environment/2023-11-14/counties-aside-millions-protect-sarasota-bay
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DeSantis signs sweeping new environmental law for cleaner water
2020
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/environment/2020/07/01/desantis-signs-sweeping-new-environmental-law-for-cleaner-water/41714235/
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DeSantis is spending heavily on water-quality improvements throughout Florida
January 16, 2024
https://www.wusf.org/environment/2024-01-16/desantis-spending-water-quality-improvements-algae-bloom-florida
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DeSantis unveils $53 million for Indian River Lagoon cleanup, septic tank elimination
2021
https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2021/09/24/desantis-unveils-millions-indian-river-lagoon-cleanup-money/5846024001/
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DeSantis announces $13 million in grants for water quality in Hernando
Nov 9, 2021
https://www.suncoastnews.com/news/desantis-announces-13-million-in-grants-for-water-quality-in-hernando/article_8a392dd2-4185-11ec-842d-6fc36e3ef18f.html
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Rubio, Florida lawmakers ask Biden for $725 million for Everglades restoration
March 2024
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rubio-florida-lawmakers-ask-biden-for-725-million-for-everglades-restoration/ar-BB1jsoyV
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FLOODING FARMS? Everglades Project worries some Clewiston ranchers
Mar 14, 2024
Local rancher voices worries over potential flooding and land use impacts of a $3.4 billion environmental project
https://www.fox4now.com/clewiston/flooding-farms-everglades-project-sparks-concern-among-some-clewiston-ranchers
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What is a perigean spring tide?
A perigean spring tide occurs when the moon is either new or full and closest to Earth.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/perigean-spring-tide.html
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What are spring and neap tides?
A spring tide—popularly known as a "King Tide"—refers to the 'springing forth' of the tide during new and full moon.
A neap tide—seven days after a spring tide—refers to a period of moderate tides when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/springtide.html
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Threat from below: Sea rise is pushing up groundwater
March 6, 2023
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article257091902.html
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Tell Me About: Saltwater Intrusion in Florida
Nov 4, 2021
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/earth-systems/blog/tell-me-about-saltwater-intrusion-in-florida/
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Saltwater Intrusion, a “Slow Poison” to East Coast Drinking Water
August 2, 2022
https://www.circleofblue.org/2022/world/saltwater-intrusion-a-slow-poison-to-east-coast-drinking-water/
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Water level and surface salinity trends in the Everglades freshwater-saline ecotone
September 2022
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363855738_Water_level_and_surface_salinity_trends_in_the_Everglades_freshwater-saline_ecotone
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What's Happening to Cape Sable?
One of the most drastic landscape changes in Everglades National Park, and one that is complicated by sea-level rise and inland effects, is seen in the Cape Sable area. Cape Sable is a large coastal landmass located at the southwestern tip of Florida that was once characterized by an expansive interior freshwater marsh with associated freshwater lakes. In the early 1900s, settlers determined to use the area for agriculture began draining the freshwater out to the ocean so the land could dry7. However, the canals they built -- coupled with the effects of hurricanes and the manipulation of water farther north -- transformed Cape Sable, and much of this alteration has been aggravated by climate change.
Scientists have used geological clues found in the landscape to estimate historic sea levels long before humans had the instruments to do so. This analysis shows that sea-level rise in south Florida was relatively slow over the past 3,200 years7; however, modern instrumentation has recorded an accelerated rate of rise over the past century, which has had visible impacts on Cape Sable. The canals are now a pathway for salty ocean water and sediments to travel inland, especially during high tides or with the help of strong wind and surge from tropical storms7. In recent years, the interior freshwater marsh has disappeared almost entirely, and nearby lakes have filled almost completely with marine sediments. Changes along Cape Sable also have implications for the mangrove trees that live at the waters edge. In response to rising seas and increased flooding, the trees have been moving inland as the habitat becomes more suitable. And along the coast, high tides and storm surges have helped wash sediments away from their roots and have contributed to erosion along Cape Sable7. While many wonder whether coastal plants and mangrove forests will be able to keep pace with sea-level rise, others are beginning to notice similar changes further inland.
https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/cceffectscapesable.htm
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How Are the Saline Glades Changing?
Changes in plant communities in the park are not limited to Cape Sable. Paralleling the shoreline in extreme southeastern Florida is a clearly distinct vegetation community known locally as the saline glades, a long, linear zone of sparsely vegetated marsh, much of which occurs within Everglades National Park. Because this area receives little freshwater flow and lies just out of reach of the tides, it is unfavorable to the growth of most inland and coastal plant species8. The zone is best characterized by the few plants species that can survive there: stunted red mangroves, sawgrass, and spike rush.
Over the past 50 years, the coastal vegetation of red mangroves has expanded its range inland (more than 1 km in some areas) and has displaced other freshwater species8. The red mangroves are able to grow farther inland because the exchange of fresh and saline water in the marsh has been influenced by roads, canals, and sea-level rise. Roads block the flow of fresh water from the north into the saline glades and canals reroute fresh water away from the area8. Storm surge and overwash from extreme high tides deposit salt into the soils, making the area inhospitable to freshwater species, and rising seas have helped extend this reach farther inland. This increasingly salty environment makes it easier for saline species to grow and reduces the overall area of freshwater marsh8. Increased sea levels have also brought similar changes elsewhere in south Florida.
https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/cceffectssalineglades.htm
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How NASA spotted El Niño changing the saltiness of coastal waters
April 3, 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-nasa-el-nio-saltiness-coastal.html
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A freshwater, saltwater tug-of-war is eating away at the Everglades
2018
Scientists wrestle with how to fight the effects of sea level rise and years of redirecting freshwater flow
TOXIC LAKE: Fertilizer-laden runoff from farms and urban areas caused a months-long harmful algal bloom in Lake Okeechobee in 2016.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/florida-everglades-freshwater-saltwater-sea-level-rise
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Restoring Florida Everglades Depends Upon Fixing State’s Freshwater Flow, Conservationists Say
February 9, 2024
https://www.ecowatch.com/florida-everglades-restoration-freshwater-conservation.html
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Science academy: Everglades restoration won't fix water quality in Caloosahatchee, estuary
2021
https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2021/04/04/everglades-report-focuses-water-quality-issues/7058820002/
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‘River of Grass’: Inside the quest to restore the Everglades
2022
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2022/0616/River-of-Grass-Inside-the-quest-to-restore-the-Everglades
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A novel approach for removing microplastics from water
September 12, 2023
Texas A&M AgriLife study shows fungal isolates can remediate potentially harmful microplastics in aqueous environment
https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2023/09/12/a-novel-approach-for-removing-microplastics-from-water/
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Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (BBSEER) Project
https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/BBSEER/
________________________________
Everglades Restoration
https://www.everglades.org/the-everglades-handbook/section-4-environmental-impacts/solving-deterioration/
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Restoration Successes in America’s Everglades
August 24, 2023
A River of Grass:
America’s Everglades is called the “river of grass” for a reason. The slow-moving, rain-fed sheet of water that is the Everglades once covered roughly 11,000 square miles, with source waters stemming from the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and flowing into Lake Okeechobee in the center of the state. From Lake Okeechobee, water historically flowed slowly south through what is now Everglades National Park and into Florida Bay and the Florida Keys, as well as to estuaries on the east and west coasts.
This created a unique patchwork of mangrove forests, sawgrass meadows, estuaries, continuous seagrass meadows, and some of the oldest cypress trees in the world. In fact, it is the only place in the world where the American alligator and crocodile coexist in the wild.
Toxic blue-green algae coats the waters of a canal off Florida’s Caloosahatchee River. In 2016, harmful algae put St. Lucie and Martin counties under a 242-day state of emergency.
https://blog.nwf.org/2023/06/restoration-successes-in-americas-everglades/
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Second Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Creek and Black Seminoles as well as other allied tribes (see below). It was part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars. The Second Seminole War, often referred to as the Seminole War, is regarded as "the longest and most costly of the Indian conflicts of the United States".[13] After the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 that called for the Seminoles' removal from Florida, tensions rose until fierce hostilities occurred in Dade's massacre in 1835. This engagement officially started the war although there were a series of incidents leading up to the Dade battle. The Seminoles and the U.S. forces engaged in mostly small engagements for more than six years. By 1842, only a few hundred native peoples remained in Florida. Although no peace treaty was ever signed, the war was declared over on August 14, 1842 by Colonel William Jenkins Worth.
White settlers massacred by the Seminoles. From an 1836 book.
Illustration from an 1836 book on the murder of a woman by Seminoles
Viewing the demise of Major Dade and his Command
Attack of the Seminoles on the blockhouse
This lithograph, published in 1848 after the war ended, depicts the common misperception that the bloodhounds physically attacked the Seminole.
A U.S. Marine boat expedition searching for the Seminoles in the Everglades during the Second Seminole War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Seminole_War
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Nonnative Species: Muscovy Ducks
General information
Wild
muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata) are native to Central America and
South America, and have expanded their natural range to parts of Texas.
In Florida, feral muscovy ducks can be found on urban and suburban lakes
and on farms throughout the state. These birds have escaped captivity
or were released illegally for ornamental purposes. Males can be
identified by the fleshy red caruncles, or warty bumps, on the face over
the eyes and at the base of the bill. Females generally have smaller
caruncles or may lack them entirely. They feed on aquatic plants,
grasses, seeds, insects and human handouts.
https://myfwc.com/media/16297/muscovy-duck-flyer.pdf
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What is the problem with the Muscovy ducks?
December 4, 2023
https://www.birdful.org/what-is-the-problem-with-the-muscovy-ducks/
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Muscovy Ducks in Florida: A Nuisance or a Welcome Sight
June 14, 2023
https://floridaing.com/muscovy-ducks-in-florida/
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35 Species of Ducks in Florida – Our Fascinating Guide
May 11, 2023
https://www.wildbirdscoop.com/florida-ducks.html
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MUSCOCVY DUCK AND THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
2010
https://myfwc.com/media/16298/muscovy-faq-fact-sheet.pdf
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Some question if we should feed the invasive Muscocvy Ducks to the invasive Haitian population.
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List of invasive species in the Everglades
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_invasive_species_in_the_Everglades
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Defanged
Money and politics could doom the Florida panther — and the Endangered Species Act.
January 24, 2021
https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2021/01/24/defanged/
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It is Not right how one state says having cannabis and hash is legal, while another state attempt to give you over 10 years. That is because the government of Florida and many of the politicians in the government were taking bribes from private prison companies. We refuse to do work in this private prison type society that causes too many problems. We need to legalize cannabis so that many do not resort to organized crime.
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Democrat has a meltdown over memes of Trump protecting ducklings and kittens over wild claims Haitian migrants are eating pets
10 September 2024
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13835395/eric-swalwell-meltdown-memes-trump-ducks-kittens.html?os=httpswww.google.com
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'Pets
for Trump' AI memes explode on social media after ex president claimed
Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs in debate rant
11 September 2024
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13837875/Pets-Trump-AI-memes-explode-social-media.html
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Trump throws out protections from deportation for 500,000 Haitians, thousands from South Florida
February 20, 2025
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is throwing out protections that shielded roughly half a million Haitians from deportation, meaning they would lose their temporary work permits and could be eligible to be removed from the country by August.
The decision, announced Thursday, is part of a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations and specifically to scale back the use of the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, designation, which was widely expanded under the Biden administration to cover about 1 million immigrants.
The TPS designation gives people legal authority to be in the country but doesn’t provide a long-term path to citizenship. They are reliant on the Department of Homeland Security for renewing their status when it expires. Critics say over time, renewal of status becomes automatic, regardless of what’s happening in the person’s home country.
The decision will have far-reaching implications for tens of thousands of Haitians and their families in South Florida, home to one of the largest Haitian-American communities in the nation.
https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2025-02-20/trump-admin-tps-haitians
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‘Been there before’: Haitian community leaders urge caution as Florida deploys troops to halt potential migrant surge
March 17, 2024
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/17/us/haiti-migrants-florida/index.html
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DeSantis is prepping for a wave of Haitian migrants. Advocates say he's grandstanding
March 21, 2024
Officials in Florida are worried the chaos and violence in Haiti will trigger a surge in migrants attempting to come to the U.S. by boat. so far, the Coast Guard says it has not seen an increase in the number of Haitians attempting the hazardous crossing.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he wants to be ready. He's sending more than 250 officers and National and State Guard troops to the southern part of the state. Some Haitian-American leaders believe it's more about politics than preparedness.
More than a half million Haitians live in Florida. For decades, the state has been a primary destination for people fleeing political turmoil and economic hardship on the island. Florida's large Haitian-American community is closely monitoring the crisis. Tessa Petit. who was born and raised in Haiti now directs the Florida Immigrant Coalition, an advocacy group. She's been in touch with people on the island and says, "Folks in Haiti are living in complete panic. Supermarkets don't have food. People are running out of food. There's no electricity. Communication is very difficult. And people are living in fear."
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/21/1239647148/haiti-florida-migrants-desantis-immigration
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Haiti - The iron grip of the gangs | DW Documentary
Feb 21, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmPE-qev3g
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How the Mafia STOLE Cuba & built a Gangster Paradise... (feat. the CIA)
Apr 9, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUM6tY5n-28
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Cuba: High prices, lines and shortages | DW Documentary
Oct 22, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya46bmRa0os
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No-Go Zones - World’s Toughest Places | Jamaica | Free Documentary
Nov 21, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFrldKFqjYI
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Most BRUTAL Torture Methods by Mexican Cartel's
Aug 18, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovPvKGvXCWE
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American Military's Plan To Destroy the Cartel Terrorists
Feb 24, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dXZS9oLfFI
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Violent Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, now appears to be in the DC area
Nov 21, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxxHviMCqno
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Venezuelan gang takes over Colorado apartment complexes
Aug 31, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JbIt11fdf4
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Tren de Aragua Gang is Spreading Across America
Nov 8, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNJccBHK9E
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Special Report: Inside Venezuela
Aug 20, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7wAehjsXLY
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Inside South Africa's Deadliest Neighbourhoods: Where Gangs Rule | Witness | Documentary
Dec 24, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsIUC4f5_10
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The Raskols: The Most Violent Gang In The World? | Witness | Papua New Guinea Gang Documentary
Oct 31, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86in8frImaA
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Who were the ghost people of Africa? DNA reveals ancient Africans bred with new unknown race of humans just 50,000 years ago
13 February 2020
The researchers studied the genetic material of 405 people from West Africa
They discovered mystery genetic material, which they have termed 'ghost DNA'
It suggests that humans mixed with an unknown group about 50,000 years ago
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7997861/New-study-shows-ghost-DNA-modern-day-population-west-Africa.html
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The 'Ghosts' of 2 Unknown Extinct Human Species Have Been Found in Modern DNA
17 JULY 2019
https://www.sciencealert.com/two-unknown-species-of-ancient-extinct-hominids-have-been-identified-in-modern-dna
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Aboriginal Australians, Pacific Islanders carry DNA of unknown human species, research analysis suggests
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Ancient Girl's Parents Were Two Different Human Species
Born 90,000 years ago, the child is the first direct evidence of interbreeding among Neanderthals and their cousins the Denisovans.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/08/news-denisovan-neanderthal-hominin-hybrid-ancient-human/
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{Black Subspecies}
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Immigration Act of 1924
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub.L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a United States federal law that set quotas on the number of immigrants from certain countries while providing funding and an enforcement mechanism to carry out the longstanding (but hitherto unenforced) ban on other non-white immigrants. The law was primarily aimed at further decreasing immigration of specifically Italians and Eastern European Jews, though it also targeted to a lesser extent other Southern and Eastern Europeans, including Greeks, Poles, and Slavs in general. The law affirmed the longstanding ban on the immigration of other non-white persons, with the exception of black African immigrants (who had long been exempt from the ban). Thus, virtually all Asians were forbidden from immigrating to America under the Act.
History
A limitation on Southern and Eastern European immigration was first proposed in 1909 by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
In the wake of the Post-World War I recession, many Americans believed that bringing in more immigrants from other nations would only make the unemployment rate higher.[citation needed] The Red Scare of 1919–1921 had fueled xenophobic fears of foreign radicals migrating to undermine American values and provoke an uprising like Russia's 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The number of immigrants entering the United States decreased for about a year from July 1919 to June 1920 but also doubled the year after that.
People who supported the 1924 Immigration Act often used eugenics as justification for restriction of certain races or ethnicities of people in order to prevent the spread of feeble-mindedness in American society. Most proponents of the law were rather concerned with upholding an ethnic status quo and avoiding competition with foreign workers. Samuel Gompers, a Jewish immigrant and founder of the AFL, supported the Act because he opposed the cheap labor that immigration represented, despite the fact that the Act would sharply reduce Jewish immigration.
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Immigration Act of 1917
The Immigration Act of 1917 (also known as the Literacy Act and less often as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act) was the most sweeping immigration act the United States had passed until that time. It was the second act, after The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, aimed at restricting immigrants, and marked a turn toward nativism. The law imposed literacy tests on immigrants, created new categories of inadmissible persons, and barred immigration from the Asia-Pacific zone. It governed immigration policy until amended by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, also known as the McCarran–Walter Act.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917
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Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws_in_the_United_States
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Jim Crow laws
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws
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4/10/2020 - The Cephalic Investigation - Race Eugenics & Dysgenics
(Skull Evolution & The History of the Lineage of Man)
https://skullevolution.blogspot.com
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3/5/2019 - Race Dysgenics: Evolution, Dysgenic De-evolution, Eugenics
& Genetic Modification - The History of the Lineage of Man -
https://racedysgenics.blogspot.com
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04/19/2018 The Dysgenics Investigation - Race, Science & the Human
Genome Project - The Eugenics Investigation (Akoniti) -
DysgenicsInvestigation.blogspot.com
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5/12/2019 - Race Virus 101 - The Eugenics Investigation (The Dysgenics Investigation) - https://racevirus101.blogspot.com
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8/15/2017 - Genetically Modified Vaccines Investigated - The Eugenics Investigation (MonsantoInvestigation.com) - GMOvaccinesinvestigated.blogspot.com
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Race Dysgenics Brazil | Eugenics in Brazil
https://eugenicsbrazil.blogspot.com
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July 7th, 2017 - Genetically Modified Humans & Viruses - The Eugenics Investigation - GMOhumansandviruses.blogspot.com
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4/4/2019 - The Rockefeller Dynasty Investigation 2020 - The Eugenics
Investigation - https://rockefellerdynastyinvestigation.blogspot.com/
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Pollution Science 101 - China
https://pollutionscience101china.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - Brazil - Emergency Report
https://pollutionscience101brazil.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - Mexico
https://pollutionscience101mexico.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101- Russia
https://pollutionscience101russia.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - India
https://pollutionscience101india.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - Cancer Investigated (California)
https://pollutionscience101cancerinvestigated.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - Texas
https://pollutionscience101texasvsbpoil.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - Solutions
https://pollutionscience101solutions.blogspot.com
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The DuPont Investigation
https://dupontinvestigation.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 - Brazil - Emergency Report
https://pollutionscience101brazil.blogspot.com
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We can see that it is no longer safe in many big cities in America for scientists to continue their research without putting their lives in danger. America has turned into the ghetto of First World nations because of these politicians bringing in illegal Third World groups. We want to declare many of these Third World groups a nuisance to First World nations and phase-out many of these Third World groups. We must declare many of these African, Middle Eastern, Central American, South American refugees and illegal immigrants an invasive species and eliminate these groups off as an invasive species.
Michael James Ross is willing to fix all of this if you give me the
powers of a scientific dictatorship, I promise you to phase out these
invasive Third World groups by over 80% by the year 2030 or 2050. I am
willing to accept powers as the leader of America to replace many of
these government officials that are incapable of ruling. I think it is
good that Trump wants to invade Mexico, yet I think Trump may not be
enough for what the scientific community requires. We are calling to
eliminate over 75% of the Mexicans, Guatemalans, El Salvadorians,
Cubans, Haitians, Jamaicans, North Koreans, North Vietnamese, Communist
Chinese and Middle Easterners. We should be concentrating on creating a
higher IQ Western society that is not as Dysgenic as many of these low
IQ invasive Third World groups. We should be promoting Americans,
English, French, Germans and Nordics as having an alliance, we should be
creating a manifest Destiny for the First World in North America,
Central America, South America, Africa and the Middle East. We were one of the first media agencies that even told Donald Trump to invade Mexico in 2018. We are ordering Donald Trump to invade these Third World countries. If Trump cannot stop these Third World groups, then Michael James Ross from PollutionScience.com will demand a scientific dictatorship in order to phase-out many of these Third World groups from our civilization. We should not allow the Communists to expand, we should not allow North Korean Communists to invade Eastern Europe and Ukraine as well.
We must remove these Third World groups from the Caribbean, we need to phase-out over 80% of the Third World population by the year 2030 and 2050. We should not assimilate these Third World groups into our First World civilizations.
We now declare martial law in the State of Florida. Too many politicians have stocks in the private prison industry and continue to bring in illegals to other states through the State of Florida and the private prison industry.
Radio hosts have even mentioned if the public should arrest many of these families that have
the top 5% of stocks in the plastic industries, fiberglass industries, insulation industries and the private prison industries. This is why many homes have to pass home inspection codes, and that many of these homes are not even sustainable. We can see that castles built many hundreds of years ago were more sustainable than these homes with these petrochemicals.
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For more information on the pollution in Florida you can view our other book titled "Pollution Science 101 - Florida."
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Pollution Science X - Florida (Pollution Science 101 - Florida)
Ross vs Florida
Author: Michael James Ross
Publication Date: April 4th, 2024
https://archive.org/details/pollution-science-101-florida
PollutionScience101Florida.Blogspot.com (The publication pollution Science Florida was a banned scientific publication, this book was banned because the authorities wanted to cover-up the corruption going on in Florida).
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PollutionScience@Protonmail.com
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