Environment reporter @TB_Times. Past: @tcpenvironmentđź’§ Fmr. @ColumbiaUEnergy @MetcalfURI Fellow. @UFJSchool alum. Drone pilot. #ReadLocal
St Petersburg, FL
Joined March 2013
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In newspapers across Florida today: a nearly 3,000-word behind-the-scenes story about how the state wanted to build hotels, golf courses and more on protected state park land
With @mahoneysthename. Read it here: tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Leaders of Tampa Bay’s water district havent spoken publicly about how Amendment 3 would hit their revenues
But internally, staff estimated $23 million in annual revenue could be in jeopardy by 2028
That rises to almost $54 million by 2032, records show
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
NEW: Thousands of Floridians worked in a plant building nuclear weapons parts during the Cold War, handling plutonium. Many have cancer. The federal gov't promised help with medical bills.
30 years later, they're still fighting the bureaucracy to get it. tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
Florida is losing its federal wildlife staff in droves as species protections decline tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
Data center news is often anxiety-inducing. May I present something lighter:
How a donkey named Eloise became a symbol in the fight against Florida data centers đź«Ź
Including this passage where I got to write the phrase: “a donkey fitting her description.” (Link below)
At 72, Jim Watt regularly urges the @MyFWC commission to halt chemical spraying in Florida waters
But Watt has only recently learned the wildlife agency he often criticizes has searched his personal data 34 times since June 2023, records show
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
NEW: Two beachside business owners were arrested today on felony charges of scattering toxic mothballs around a protected bird colony in front of a St. Pete Beach bar and hotel:
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
This is a delightful story from @MaxChesnes with images from Jeff Woo. The storytelling about these three birds includes individual video for each. The first one's a blur, the other two are adorable. Long way for this bird to go, but good to see progress.
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
We joined scientists on a research expedition last week 100 miles offshore Florida to study the largest fish in the sea
It’s rare enough to document one whale shark feeding in the Gulf. On Tuesday, they found 14
Read our story @TB_Times:
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
On this weekend of enjoying the beach, know that we’re sharing the same waters with some of the rarest whales on earth.
Those whales are seeing their protections rapidly eroded after years of oil industry lobbying. w/ @MaxChesnes tampabay.com/news/environmen…
In a hearing last month, @SenKatieBritt and @howardlutnick cited a scientific opinion paper to cast doubt on whether the Rice’s whale is a unique species — a Big Oil talking point
But the author of that paper told us feds are drawing the wrong conclusions
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
The recent endangered species rollbacks for Gulf wildlife come after years of oil industry lobbying against Rice’s whale protections, records show, as companies have argued that restrictions interfere with offshore drilling. W/ @mahoneysthename
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
In 2023, the EPA told Temple Terrace about an invisible threat to residents' health.
A @TB_Times investigation details how regulatory gaps allowed a toxic plant to operate for years without pollution controls, as well as the company's failures over the following years.
For years, a company used a gas known to cause cancer to clean medical tools at a plant in Tampa Bay
But the business and regulators who oversaw it didn’t curb emissions for years
Now, people who lived close to the site have cancer, and they're suing:
tampabay.com/investigations/…
For years, a company used a gas known to cause cancer to clean medical tools at a plant in Tampa Bay
But the business and regulators who oversaw it didn’t curb emissions for years
Now, people who lived close to the site have cancer, and they're suing:
tampabay.com/investigations/…
Max Chesnes retweeted
BREAKING: Convening a rarely used committee for the first time in more than three decades, top Trump administration officials voted Tuesday to exempt oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from endangered species protections. Via @MaxChesnes @mahoneysthename
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
NEW: Casey DeSantis has called out traces of glyphosate in supermarket breads.
But Florida sprays thousands of pounds of it into waterways — and state health officials aren't asking them to stop.
w/@MaxChesnes:
tampabay.com/news/florida-po…
The Florida House just passed a bill to add more transparency around conservation land decisions
The measure came in response to an attempted fast-track proposal last summer to trade away 600 acres of pristine wilderness preserve in St. Johns County:
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
“I’m so impressed with you, and I want you to know how proud of you I am,” her father told her. “You are the proof that when you put your mind to it, anybody can do hard things.” A good one from @MaxChesnes
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Max Chesnes retweeted
In Tampa Bay, a proposed cruise port reignites an old Florida battle tampabay.com/news/environmen…
As the Trump administration proposes new offshore oil drilling closer to Florida shores, a new model from @thecurrentlab shows how oil could spread in the days after a spill
Hours before the public comment period closes tonight, a bipartisan coalition of Florida leaders met in Clearwater Beach today to oppose the Trump admin’s proposal
Read my dispatch here:
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
