Florida's governor
has bought another victory
Scott wins, Animals,
Birds, Floridians, and Reptiles lose, Again!
Money talks in the
Florida Government!
If you want to, for
any reason, destroy the beauty of Florida, bring along cash!
Florida Legislature
moves bill forward allowing state parks to be repurposed for hunting, grazing
Fri, Feb 19, 2016
A bill that would
give the Florida Department of Environmental Protection the ability to allow hunting,
cattle grazing, timber farming and RV camping in Florida's parks and preserves
was advanced by a Florida House committee, the Tampa
Bay Times reports.
HB 1075
passed its final hurdle, the House State Affairs Committee, on Thursday.
Proposed by the DEP, the bill would "consolidate state laws relating to
land management and give the agency more flexibility as it attempts to manage
the more than 13 million acres of land in the state's control," according
to the Times. Environmentalists, mainly the Sierra Club of Florida, are
concerned the bill gives DEP too much control by letting them decide if
conservation land can now be used for recreation.
Environmental groups
have been unhappy with the DEP since last
year, when it proposed leasing land on the Myakka River State Park to
ranchers for cattle grazing. DEP Secretary Jon Steverson told legislators he
wanted the park system to become "self-sustaining" because it only
covers 77 percent of its $80 million budget. Later documents showed DEP planned
to have bid documents ready to send out to companies for timber harvesting and
cattle grazing on some parks by the end of 2015.
"We think this
is the case of the tail wagging the dog," says Sierra Club lobbyist David
Cullen, according to the Times. "By legislative fiat, it employs a small
piece of the executive branch — that being DEP — to overturn what the members
of the Cabinet and governor have done."