On the heels of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s declaration last week that he will push to strengthen the urban development boundary, a countermove has sprung up in the Florida Legislature that would weaken the county’s protection against urban sprawl on its western and southern fringes.

State Sen. Ellyn Bodganoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican, put forth an amendment to a House bill on Friday that would make it easier to shift the UDB by requiring a simple majority of the commission to approve any change to the county’s comprehensive plan, which guides development.

But Gimenez protested, calling the move an attempt to undermine the county’s unique local powers.

On Tuesday, at his first state-of-the-county address, the mayor said he would work to bolster the UDB by pushing to incorporate into the county charter a requirement that an extraordinary supermajority — three-fourths, or 10 of 13 commissioners — sign off on any changes to the invisible boundary that limits development bordering the Everglades.

The county currently requires a two-thirds majority — nine of 13 commissioners — to approve any change to the UDB.

Gimenez sent a letter Friday to each member of the Miami-Dade legislative delegation — along with Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park — blasting the legislative move as an interference with Miami-Dade’s Home Rule Charter. He said it “potentially threatens precious wetlands.”

“They are trying to usurp local authority,” the mayor told The Miami Herald. “It strikes me as funny that soon as my state-of-the-county address calls for strengthening the UDB, this crops up.”

(An incarnation of the amendment surfaced Monday, a day before Gimenez’s speech.)

In the letter, the mayor said denying Miami-Dade residents the ability to require a supermajority vote to amend the UDB would be “denying the people of Miami-Dade County the ability to govern themselves on this issue of local concern.”

EMAILS CIRCULATE

Local environmentalists circulated emails over the weekend urging supporters to call Bogdanoff to oppose her amendment.

The most recent effort to move the UDB came two months ago. Miami-Dade commissioners, acting against the recommendation of county planners, sent the state an application by Ferro Investment Group II to allow business and office development on 9.9 acres designated as agricultural on the southeast corner of Southwest 167th Avenue and 104th Street, outside the UDB.

Ferro Investment’s pro-bono lobbyist is lawyer Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, also a Republican state senator from Miami. Diaz de la Portilla, a former county commissioner, said the project has no relation to Bogdanoff’s amendment.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “The Ferro application has nothing to do with that.”

Diaz de la Portilla noted he helped create Miami-Dade’s community councils to give neighbors a say on proposed development. He also backed requiring that a two-thirds majority of commissioners approve UDB-related applications if they burdened public services. That condition has since been eliminated, he said, adding that he favors Bogdanoff’s amendment to even the playing field for property owners.

By NATHAN KOPPEL

AUSTIN, Texas—The state's persistent drought has claimed its latest victims: rice farmers.

Because of low water levels in several lakes that serve as reservoirs here, officials said Friday that they wouldn't release irrigation water to farmers in three counties downstream that produce much of the rice in the state.

Associated Press

Ronald Gertson stands beside one of his John Deere tractors last month at his rice farm in Lissie, Texas.

The rice industry contributes about $394 million annually to the economy of the state, which produces about 5% of the nation's rice. The three counties—Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda—lie west of humid Houston and usually get enough rain to make rice farming practicable.

This is the first time in its 78-year history that the Lower Colorado River Authority, which is based here, has cut off water to farmers. The agency waited until the last possible moment—a minute before midnight on Thursday—to make its decision, hoping that water levels would rise enough to avert a cutoff.

The irrigation ban is not expected to affect the shelf price of rice, but it has forced some farmers to lay off employees and consider diversifying into other crops.

"This is my livelihood at stake," said Ronald Gertson, a Texas rice farmer who projected he would produce only about 40% of his typical rice crop this year.

"It sticks in the craw" of farmers, Mr. Gertson said, that the authority will continue to release water to golf courses and other recreational customers that pay higher rates for a guaranteed water supply.

In a statement, the agency said that farmers "pay considerably less for water than cities and industry. And therefore, their water is considered 'interruptible' during a severe drought."

Texans in the rice business said they could probably stay afloat this year, thanks in part to crop insurance, but they worried about another year of interrupted irrigation water.

"If this happens again, we'll be in much more trouble," said Dick Ottis, the president of the Rice Belt Warehouse in El Campo, Texas, which stores and dries rice. The warehouse plans to store more corn, wheat and other commodities this year, he said, but those crops do not produce the profit margins rice does.

"I have already let go about 20% of our employees, because I knew this day was coming about," Mr. Ottis said, adding that his family had been involved in rice farming for almost 100 years and had lived through droughts, but none this bad.

It always seemed like the good Lord would bless us with more rain," he said.

But there appears to be little relief in sight from the drought that still afflicts 85% of Texas. Temperatures are expected to be above normal this summer, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the state climatologist.

Rainfall levels are harder to predict, he said, but "we are in a dry stretch now, which will be worrisome if it continues. It reminds me of last year."

The water agency said it plans to find new supplies of water to avoid a repeat of this year's problems.

Farmers agree. "The development of new reservoirs is imperative," said Daniel Berglund, a 49-year-old rice farmer in Markham, Texas, who said he woke up at 1:15 a.m. Friday and checked to see whether the lakes, against all odds, had risen high enough to allow irrigation water to be released.

"Consumers only see grocery shelves stacked with food, floor to ceiling," he said. "This is an example of the risks we take as farmers. When you lose irrigation water, it stops everything," he said.

Write to Nathan Koppel at nathan.koppel@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared Mar. 3, 2012, on page A3 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Texas Rice Farmers Lose Their Water.

Giving directions to Laurie Miller’s home just got easier, courtesy of the city of Miami Beach.

“Make a right on 29th Street, go for one block, and I’m the house with a fire hydrant in the middle of the lawn,” she told a reporter.

On Feb. 23, Miller, 70, received a present from the city: a bright yellow fire hydrant smack dab in her well-manicured lawn between pruned, flowering bushes and palm trees.

She said she came outside about 8 p.m. and found a crew installing new water pipes and improving storm drainage in her Central Bayshore neighborhood had also plopped a hydrant about 14 feet into her roughly 40-by-60-foot yard.

The crew was working in the dark — running late, they said — but that wasn’t the problem.

When she asked what possessed the city to place the hydrant there, Miller, who lives in her home of 42 years with her husband, says she was told that it was what the city’s plans called for — even if planners now agree common sense called for it to go somewhere else.

Engineering documents provided by the city’s Capital Improvement Projects office show that Miller’s yard is only about half her property because the public right-of-way stretches deep into her lawn. As a result, the hydrant is technically on public land.

But while dogs in the neighborhood might be excited about Miller’s new lawn ornament, she just wants it removed, or at least moved to the edge of the lot.

“It’s a joke,” she said.

Miller may laugh about it soon.

City spokeswoman Maria Palacios said Miller won’t have to throw a Marlins cap and T-shirt on her hydrant to pass it off as a grandson. Due to Miller’s repeated complaints, the city plans to move the hydrant as close to the road as possible on Friday.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Miller said Thursday.

As for why the hydrant wasn’t placed further out in the first place, Palacios said: “That’s something we will pose to our contractors.”

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Kirk Fordham, CEO of the Everglades Foundation in South Florida since 2008, has resigned to become executive director of Gill Action, a Colorado-based organization that provides funding for pro-gay political campaigns across the nation.

“Perhaps having a family has made it more imperative to get involved on a full-time basis to make sure American families have the same rights as everyone else regardless of sexual orientation,” said Fordham, 44, a one-time aide to several Republican politicians, including former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of West Palm Beach.

Fordham, partner Mike Cevarr, a senior research analyst for Fannie Mae, and their two sons, 13-month-old Lukas and Levi, 7 months, will move this spring from Coral Gables to Denver.

“I’m giving up the sun and the surf for the sun and the snow,” said Fordham, originally from Rochester, N.Y. “It's an unexpected opportunity and I hate, hate, hate to leave my Everglades work. It's near and dear to my heart.”

His last day at the Everglades Foundation will be Friday, April 13. He starts the following Monday at Gill Action.

The Everglades Foundation, based in Palmetto Bay, will soon look to replace Fordham. “Paul Tudor Jones, our board chair, will lead the search committee,” Fordham said.

After graduating from University of Maryland with a degree in government and politics, Fordham got a congressional internship; worked for Jim Inhofe (then a U.S. Congressman, now a senator); and became Foley’s chief of staff in 1994. He stayed with Foley until 2004, then worked a year as finance director for Sen. Mel Martinez.

For three years, Fordham worked in public affairs/governmental public relations. In January 2008, he became CEO of the Everglades Foundation.

Although Fordham has been closely tied to Republican politicians, he also has cultivated relationships with Democrats. South Florida’s two congresswomen both praised him in news statements.

"Although we will miss Kirk's determined efforts to protect and restore America's Everglades, I am thrilled that I will now have the opportunity to partner with him in his new role at Gill Action,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman from Weston. “Kirk practices a bi-partisan approach to problem-solving that has earned him the respect of many friends on both sides of the aisle. As we continue our march forward to protect the right of every LGBT person to enjoy every opportunity this nation has to offer, I look forward to working with Kirk to build on the progress that has been made by groups like Gill Action."

Said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami, one of the Republican Party’s most outspoken gay-rights advocates: “The Everglades will lose one of its most tireless and effective advocates, but the nation will benefit as Kirk shifts his focus to advancing equal opportunity for each and every American. Kirk is well regarded in Tallahassee and on Capitol Hill as a staunch supporter who has used his knowledge and experience in government affairs to further important causes. I look forward to working with him to ensure that our nation — and our laws — treat everyone fairly and equally.”

Gill Action fund, begun by Quark software inventor and philanthropist Tim Gill, has given $14.45 million to pro-gay campaigns since 2005. In Florida, Gill Action helped fund the unsuccessful 2008 campaign to prevent a statewide amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions, said Fordham, who made national news in 2006 when Mark Foley’s political career imploded during a sexting scandal involving teenage male congressional pages.

Fordham, who helped orchestrate Foley’s resignation from Congress after ABC News obtained copies of the text messages, later told a House Ethics Committee that he reported Foley’s antics to House Speaker Dennis Hastert three years before that scandal broke, but that Hastert did little with the information.

Some gay activists believe Fordham didn’t do enough to stop Foley when he suspected inappropriate behavior between the congressman and underage pages.

“While I appreciate Kirk’s many talents at bringing various political players to the table to move the LGBT agenda forward, I am perplexed as to why these guys just can’t say they’re sorry for what they did,” said Mike Rogers, a Washington-based activist blogger who appeared in the 2009 film documentary Outrage, about closeted gay politicians including Foley. “He said, ‘Oh, I gave the information and no one did anything with it.’ ”

Fordham says he doesn’t know what more he could have done about Foley’s “flirtatious” behavior: “I went behind my boss’ back to the House speaker to report it.”

Posted on Thu, Mar. 01, 2012 Everglades may get boost from lawmakers By CURTIS MORGAN AND STEVE BOUSQUET Cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com A year after slashing Everglades funding, Florida lawmakers appear poised to give some back. House and Senate budget negotiators this week agreed to set aside some $30 million for restoration projects. That’s still $10 million short of Gov. Rick Scott’s request but a major leap from the zero the Senate had initially penciled in. Environmental groups praised the move as a positive sign, saying they were cautiously optimistic that it signaled a change in direction from last year’s tough session, when lawmakers and Scott gutted Everglades and conservation land-buying programs, state growth management rules and other long-standing regulations. Now, they’re keeping their fingers crossed the trend will continue with a still-bigger target — a Senate bill that would lift spending caps lawmakers last year placed on the state’s five water management districts, which are largely funded by property tax revenue. The Florida Conservation Coalition calculated that the cap, placed on property tax rates that supply much of the districts’ revenues, wound up shriveling budgets by nearly 40 percent, or $700 million. The law also shifted oversight of the agencies’ spending to the Legislature. Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida, said that even legislative leaders acknowledge that last year’s measure went too far, threatening to cut into the districts’ “core missions” of providing flood protection and a supply of clean water to the public and natural systems like the Everglades. Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, acknowledged the ripple effects had run deeper than desired. The South Florida Water Management District, which oversees Everglades restoration, has tapped reserve funds to cover shortfalls, a strategy that will work only in the short-term. Alexander said he helped put the new bill together “because I felt like we needed to take another look at it and find a more sustainable policy. There are reserves that are just a bit out of balance and I think, longer term, that in order to meet the water resource needs, the water boards must keep the state waters clean.” While the bill would lift the caps on spending, it also leaves a final review of the district’s budget largely to lawmakers — a provision environmentalists hope to see removed. They’re supporting a proposal by Scott that largely restores the system that existed before last year’s changes, leaving oversight of the districts under the governor, who also appoints their governing boards. Kirk Fordham, chief executive officer of the Everglades Foundation, said legislative authority only injects more politics into efforts to maintain funding for Everglades restoration and cleanup projects already expected to take decades. “We certainly don’t want to see the process become pork-barreled where, from session to session, you have a new committee chair that wants to put projects in his own backyard,” Fordham said. “You can’t provide long-term planning with that.” But lawmakers also may be reluctant to give up newly won control over the districts, agencies that collect hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes and have pursued expensive projects or land-buys without legislative approval. Under Gov. Charlie Crist, the South Florida Water Management District sought an audacious $1.75 billion deal to buy out the sprawling empire of the U.S. Sugar Corp. The deal, heavily criticized by lawmakers, was eventually downsized to a $197 million land purchase of 26,800 acres. But some environmental groups have questioned whether the Legislature’s power grab will stand up under court challenge, saying the system of independent districts was established in the state Constitution. Environmentalists are banking on beefed up support to repair some of the losses from last session. The Florida Conservation Coalition — created in November under the leadership of Bob Graham, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, and a number of influential former state executives — has made the water management rollback a priority. They also give some credit to Scott, who told conservation groups in January that he had learned a lot in his first year and was vowing to make Everglades issues a priority. With the state under pressure from federal judges, the governor last year outlined a plan to expand the network of artificial marshes used to reduce the amount of farm pollution flowing into the Everglades. Negotiations with federal agencies continue over the state plan, which was significantly smaller than one proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Scott followed up by proposing $40 million in restoration funding in his budget. That’s still down from a peak of $100 million to $200 million in annual state funding during the administration of former Gov. Jeb Bush but double what Scott proposed the previous year. Scott’s budget proposal also included $15 million for Florida Forever but lawmakers have not yet allocated anything for the land-buying program in their roughly $70 billion proposals. “It does make a difference by him putting it out there,” Draper said.

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© 2012 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

OUR OPINION: Stop the assault in Tallahassee on rivers, lakes

By The Miami Herald Editorial

HeraldEd@MiamiHerald.com

This land is your land, this land is my land — or so the old folk song goes. In Tallahassee, though, public lands and lakes, rivers, streams and beaches seem to be under assault from various quarters that want to privatize what has been public domain since Florida became a state in 1845.

This latest assault seeks to “clarify” what constitutes the “ordinary high water line” for submerged land along lakes, rivers and streams. Odd such a clarification would be needed as court after court has ruled for more than a century that lakes, rivers and streams (along with beaches) belong to the public, period — and that the public part starts at the high-water mark based on the rainy season.

Delicate operation

OUR OPINION: Safety is of the utmost importance in sewage-pipeline replacement

By The Miami Herald Editorial

HeraldEd@MiamiHerald.com

There is only one chance to get this right. Miami-Dade County and cities along the shore are facing a plumbing job so delicate — and so imperative — that, if botched, could mean economic and environmental disaster. A deteriorating pipeline in Government Cut that carries 25 million gallons of raw sewage a day has deteriorated so much in three places that it could rupture just from continued normal use.

This is the bad news from an inspector’s study commissioned last August. The good news is that the county commissioned the study in the first place. Too bad that it wasn’t done earlier, however — much earlier. The pipe carries waste from Miami Beach, Surfside and Bal Harbour to a treatment plant on Virginia Key. It’s about to be replaced with a pipeline laid much deeper. Now the conduit stands in the path of a massive Port of Miami dredging project to deepen the port so that it can accommodate supersized cargo ships coming from the Panama Canal.

U.S. cracks down on python sales

By CURTIS MORGAN

MIAMI -- The federal government branded the Burmese python, infamous for swallowing a smorgasbord of Everglades critters from rabbits to gators, a serpent non grata on Tuesday.

The action, which will ban the import and interstate sale of the python and three other giant exotic constrictors, was hailed by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Florida Sen. Bill Nelson as a milestone for Everglades protection.

"It does us no good to put in these billions of dollars in investments in the Everglades only to have these giant snakes come and undo all the good we are doing," said Salazar, who announced the decision during a news conference along Tamiami Trial near an on-going $80 million bridge project that is key to restoring natural water flow in the Everglades.

After five years of debate and hearings in Washington, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to announce the Burmese python will soon be illegal to import.

With a 17-foot skin from a python killed in the Everglades, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson urges a Senate panel to help ban the import of Burmese python into the U.S.

U.S. Senate Staff

• Photo

By CURTIS MORGAN

Cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

The United States is poised to formally and finally ban that slithering scourge of the Everglades, the Burmese python.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has championed the ban, is expected to make the announcement Tuesday morning during a press conference at a flood control pumping station off Tamiami Trail in the Everglades — a spot that is pretty much ground zero for a giant exotic constrictor that has become one of the nation’s most notorious invasive species.