Here at PBCEC HQ, we've been busy (as usual) fighting business-as-usual… And we could use your help! While we are still actively engaged with campaigns in Loxahatchee, Acreage, Lake Worth, Delray, etc.. in the past several months, at the request of activists in our neighboring counties, we have also been spreading out to get involved with regional issues in Broward, Martin and St. Lucie Counties. Our common Everglades watershed does not stop along government borders, and neither should our battles to defend and restore it. As you can imagine, we are stretching thin! So if you've been waiting for a good reason to make that leap out from behind the computer screen into the streets, October might be your month.
Meanwhile on the home front, the plot continues to thicken. Monday following our 9/20 FPL protest, WE WERE BEEN GRANTED A HEARING FOR INJUNCTION, which means FPL could be required to stop construction until our official court date in February. Yes, that seems like a no-brainer to most of us, but it has appeared that the closer our legal battle got, the FASTER FPL seemed to be working..
Also, for those who haven't heard, the PB County Commission is heading towards an incarcerated majority. Our dear friend Mary McCarty is likely about to go down for corruption charges. While I hate to see anyone's house get raided, it's hard to feel much sympathy for the person who has been the single most arrogant, hateful public official towards the PBC Environmental Coalition and towards the planet in general. One can only speculate that Aaronson is not far behind. And I wouldn't be shocked or saddened to see Kanjian behind bars before he even gets elected to his seat…
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpmccarty0927pnsep27,0,7671511.story
Community activists have long been seen as the underdogs, struggling for crumbs at the table. But the tides are turning, and a greed that has seemed so insurmountable is being washed out to sea before our eyes. Now is your chance to join history in the making-- an end to the Energy Empire and its Dictatorship of the Developer. So bust out your calendar and pen (no erasable pencils); etch these crucial events into your schedule!
Let's do this.
For the wild,
panagioti tsolkas, PBCEC co-chair
www.pbcec.blogspot.com
To all who missed the FPL protest last week, check out some photos and
videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Lkom40jkQ
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CALENDAR of EVENTS and other IMPORTANT UPDATES
*September 29, 9am County Commission Zoning Hearing on a Publix gas station in the Acreage.. This would be the first gas station in this rural suburb of 50,000 people dependent on residential wells. The PBCEC is opposed to all fossil fuel expansion from gas stations to roads to power plants, and we believe communities who depend on their regional resources are always better stewards of the land. Join us in standing with Acreage residents against this atrocity..
http://pbcec.blogspot.com/2008/09/buried-gas-tanks-imperil-floridas.html
*October 1, 6pm Riviera City Council will be voting on the proposed new FPL power plant. Our friends in Riviera asked us to come and ask FPL and the City Commission hard questions regarding the new power plant, for example, why residents are being told that they can't clean up the plant until after building the WCEC and why they are not pursuing available alternatives to fossil fuel power generation.. Please join us, 600 West Blue Heron Blvd. see item #7 on this agenda link:
http://www.rivierabch.com/files/OCTOBER12008.pdf
*October 1, 7:30-9pm, "COFFEE WITH THE COMMISH" Join City Commissioner Cara Jennings, who is running for re-election, for live music, coffee, and conversation about brewing fresh politics in Lake Worth. Hear local acoustic duet "Illumination," at Les Beans Coffeehouse, 410 2nd Ave No. (corner of Federal Hwy) Lake Worth. For more info, call Bonnie Redding at 561-762-8191, Check out the website:
http://www.carajennings.com
*October 1-3, Florida's Wildlife: On the Frontline of Climate Change. FWC conference in Orlando, at Rosen Plaza (re-scheduled from last month, due to hurricane) http://www.ces.fau.edu/floc/agenda.php
*October 4, Greenpeace Project Hot Seat event at Exodus Café in Port St. Lucie, for details contact lauren.thorpe@greenpeace.org
*October 6, BUSY DAY! WCEC hearing, Palin Protest, PBCEC meeting..
-2pm WCEC Injunction Hearing at Fed. Courthouse on Clematis, West Palm
-5:30pm Gov. Palin speaks for McCain campaign at 5:30 p.m. at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, 501 E. Camino Real. We will protest against the Energy Empire from 5 to 7pm, "No Drilling Off-Shore, No Drilling ANWR, No Blood for Oil!"
-7pm PBCEC monthly meeting to be relocated to Boca Raton, immediately following the Palin rally at Auggie's Pizza, on NW 2nd St, between Glades and Yamato . WE WILL NOT MEET IN LAKE WORTH THIS MONTH.
*October 7, Stop the Coconut Creek Wildlands Massacre, No-Rezoning, Protect the Wild! Save 42 acres of wetland and rockland hardwood hammock, 10am Broward County Commission meeting… check out a great video about the growing fight, from Everglades Earth First! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbkmPKbGrCs
*October 11, Greenpeace Project Hot Seat event: "we are planning a big aerial art down here…on the Atlantic Coast, that is in conjunction with an aerial that my co-worker is doing on the same day on the Gulf coast in Sarasota. He is spelling out "VOTE FOR A SAFE CLIMATE" and I and doing "CLEAN ENERGY NOW". The beach will most likely be Juno Beach and if you all we're interested in being involved, the image that is created along with the story of hundreds of people gathering on the beach to demand clean energy." For details contact: lauren.thorpe@greenpeace.org
*October 17, 7pm Sierra Club Party for Cara Jennings: The Loxahatchee Sierra Club has endorsed Commissioner Cara Jennings for re-election in Lake Worth! We are having a fund raising party to support her candidacy, Incredible Food, Drink and Fun at Jayne King's House, 3400 Place Valencay, Delray R.S.V.P. by October 15 (561) 637-8896 jaynenote@gmail.com … Jayne says: "Let's keep this proven environmental advocate in office!!!! Florida's land needs all the friends it can get!!!There is no time to lose on this race!!! The environmental stakes are TOO high no matter WHERE you live in Florida!! We need ALL hands on deck!!!!"
*October 18, Volunteer Door-knocking for Cara Jennings' campaign, and for any Cara fans out there who are also Kareoke fans, mark your calendar for that evening: "Kareoke for Cara (ok!)" a fundraiser party in-the-works, details TBA.
*October 27, Public DEP Hearing on FPL's WCEC unit 3, 12pm at Wellington Community Center, 12165 W. Forest Hill Blvd. For those who have a loose work schedule, there will be rally out front at 11am to let people know that the hearing is happening.
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STOP THE PLASMA ARC INCINERATOR IN PORT ST. LUCIE!
This project would be as environmentally devastating to air and water quality in South Florida as the coal plant that have been defeated.. PBCEC has signed on in support of the effort to stop this nightmare:
http://pbcec.blogspot.com/2008/09/stop-plasma-arc-in-port-st-lucie.html
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NO AIRPORT EXPANSION AT PALM BEACH IINTERNATIONAL!
Individuals and communities to the east and west of the airport are opposing this expansion and its impact on their lives. We stand with these residents against this unneeded runway expansion and add our own concerns of further dependence on fossil fuel-heavy transportation. There is a whole mess of studies looking at the impacts air traffic on the global climate. Check 'em out:
http://www.google.com/search?q=airplanes%2C+climate+change&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
The Draft EIS is now out and open to public comment. You can share your feelings with Lindy.McDowell@faa.gov
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And FOR ALL YOU EVERGLADES RESTORATION JUNKIES,
This year's GEER conference materials are now all online:
GEER 2008 – Advancing the Science to Achieve Success Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration Planning, Policy and Science Meeting For Everglades Restoration 2050
July 28-August 1, 2008, Naples, FL
http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/geer2008/
Just a quick note to let you know GEER 2008 speaker PowerPoint files are now posted on the GEER web site as PDFs. If you don't see a file you want to view, you will need to contact the presenter directly.
You will also see a few additional highlights have been posted including a transcript of Lynn Scarlett's keynote address, a link to a PDF of the abstract book and a link to the Everglades Memorial Posters – if you didn't get a chance to view these incredibly moving posters at the conference, you should take a moment to do so now and recognize those who gave their lives working in the Everglades.
Lynn Scarlett Keynote Address:
http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/geer2008/pdf/scarlett.pdf
GEER 2008 Abstract Book:
http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/geer2008/pdf/Abstract_BOOK.pdf
Speaker PowerPoint Files:
http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/geer2008/presentations.htm
Everglades Memorial Posters:
http://sofia.usgs.gov/memorials/geer2008.html
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