Florida has reached a deal with a real estate company to acquire 20,000 acres of the Everglades that is slated for oil production in order to protect the wetlands, Florida’s governor announced Wednesday.

When coastal communities start losing their battles with sea level rise, king tides and storm surges, one of the first signs of retreat will be the relocation of their water supplies even further inland to escape saltwater intrusion. An emerging motivation for Florida cities and counties is fear of losing their municipal bond credit ratings and tax bases.

The Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources invites the public to attend a presentation on coastal resiliency at noon Jan. 28.

Over the next six months, four erosion “hot spots” on Miami Beach will be replenished with sand from central Florida. The $16 million federally-funded project started this past week around 64th Street. According to Mayor Dan Gelber, this first phase will run from January through March.

Space Coast voters agreed to tax themselves to clean up the Indian River Lagoon.

Dredging to deepen the shipping channel to the Port of Savannah has resumed after an 18-month pause, Col. Daniel Hibner of the Army Corps of Engineers recently announced as the second half of the $973 million expansion has started to get under way.

The 2020 Marco Speaker Series presented by the Audubon of the Western Everglades (AWE) was held at Mackle Park on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020. It was led by biologist Ryan Young on Florida’s Mangroves and their Importance in the Environment.

The project's consultant writes the homeowners wanted to create a more natural shape to the dune to stabilize the sand.

The idea is to build a buffer between the condos and the rising seas.

Increasing sea rise is going to water down the value of some of the most coveted and expensive real estate in Florida, and insurance rates will go up too.

Anthropogenic climate change and its associated rise in sea levels could prove a significant threat to some of the world’s iconic coastal space launch sites, including Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

One treehouse built in Holmes Beach in 2011 without a permit has led to four pending lawsuits spanning seven years.

One treehouse built in Holmes Beach in 2011 without a permit has led to four pending lawsuits spanning seven years.

On a stretch of the Lower Keys, near an old borrow pit quarried during the construction of Big Pine, sea water and mud cover much of the rocky ground.

The results of an 18-year study of Atlantic tarpon by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science revealed that these large silvery fish take extensive seasonal migrations--1,000s of kilometers in distance--beyond U.S. borders. The new findings can help protect the fish, which is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN--International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the main draw of a more than $6 billion catch-and-release sport fishing industry in the United States.

As Mote seeks $20 million in public funds from Sarasota County for an aquarium at Nathan Benderson Park, the county could divert tax dollars from tourism promotion and arts programming.

State permit shows DEP gave the homeowners permission to excavate 6 feet of dune in order to cope with "windblown material."

A project to repair erosion to Georgia’s largest public beach is underway east of Savannah.

Florida Bill would deny local governments power to regulate shore-term rentals

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is warning that continued misbehavior on the shoreline east of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse could result in restricted access to the area and the closing of part of its trail. The BLM reported a wave of misdeeds over the holiday season.

This photo taken by an aerial survey team for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission shows an injured right whale calf swimming alongside its mother about 8 miles off the coast of Georgia on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. Conservationists say the newborn right whale was suffering from deep cuts on either side of its head, dismaying conservationists who closely monitor the southeast U.S. coast during winter for births among the critically endangered species.

This is not the first time the homeowners bulldozed part of the dune, but it is the first time they have the blessing of the Department of Environmental Protection.

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (WMBF) – A multi-million dollar beach renourishment project in Pawleys Island could be entering its second phase soon.

My wife's best friend is in town, and we were going to take her over to Bathtub Beach. It's such a little gem, the kind of place you take guests as a way of showing off where you live.

South Florida Legislator Evan Jenne calls controversial law created through passage of HB 631 “a wildly unpopular law.”

The rating agency responsible for assigning financial stability ratings (FSR) to more than 40 Florida domestic insurers has warned that several carriers will receive downgrades due to deteriorating conditions in the state’s property insurance market, and more than a dozen more could be downgraded in the next few months

As tugs and pushboats become larger and more complex, one sector of the industry is growing by staying small. The truckable towboat is having its moment and Marine Inland Fabricators (MIF) is happy to meet the growing demand.

The head of the state agency in charge of wildlife management said in a statement Wednesday that his agency, not the federal government, should be the one to decide if more areas of the Florida Keys would be off limits to commercial and recreational fishing.

The preparation activities for the Manasota Key Beach Renourishment Project, to be conducted by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD), are currently underway.

Destin ponders cost of placing utility lines underground

In a world more than 5 degrees warmer, the wood thrush likely would never fly this far south to sing its flute-like songs in Florida. And fat chance of ever hearing the staccato pecks of a red-headed woodpecker.

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Endangered right whales are migrating south along Florida’s east coast and were spotted near Daytona Beach, Florida on January 1, 2020.

Tuesday, Dec. 31 is an important deadline in the $144 million beach renourishment project for St. Johns County.

A fund for potential buyouts is part of the town’s new comprehensive plan to address all aspects of climate change.

An oil spill, toxic algae blooms and two hurricanes left their marks

The environment will likely be a top story in Florida in the upcoming year. 2019 has been one of the hottest on record. King tides were some of the highest recorded. And, while Hurricane Dorian skirted along the Atlantic coast, it was a reminder of how vulnerable Florida is as climate change fuels more intense and wetter storms.

Beach erosion in St. Johns County has been an issue for decades. Made worse by hurricanes, nor’easters and sea level rise, oceanfront homeowners have watched as the once-wide beaches continue to narrow and threaten their homes.

SeaWorld Orlando says it will begin 2020 by changing its centerpiece killer-whale show.

BRUNSWICK, GA. A company has agreed to pay the state of Georgia $4 million for environmental cleanup of a former chemical plant.

After logging a record 10.2 million visitors in 2018, the tourism industry in Volusia County struggled to maintain momentum this year in the face of challenges that included a costly brush with a Labor Day hurricane and the looming prospect of a cloudier economic forecast.

University of Miami researchers are leading a massive undertaking to plant 150,000 coral colonies on reefs decimated by disease, pollution and rising temperatures using corals grown at UM and partner organizations.

Beaufort County staff says that a resort development planned for an undeveloped island shouldn’t be allowed under its definition of “ecotourism.”

ORLANDO, Fla. – FEMA has approved $1,241,315 for the State of Florida to help Nassau County defray the cost of repairing beach and dune erosion on South Amelia Island following Hurricane Irma. Funding is provided under FEMA’s Public Assistance Program.

Clues of a warmer, wetter future are already evident. “People will have to make a decision to retreat or adapt,” said West Palm Beach Assistant City Administrator Scott Kelly. “I don’t see the city coming in and putting a seawall the length of West Palm Beach. Maybe where it’s public, but not on private property.”

Facing ongoing threats from sea level rise and potential storm damage, Flagler County officials are hoping to make resiliency a key element of beach management efforts.

Florida lawmakers are interested in addressing climate change. But they’re not setting any sort of renewable energy goals—which is something democrats have proposed in the past. Instead, the Republican-led majority is focusing on making the state more adaptable to rising sea levels.

Charleston has the highest measured concentration of spilled plastic pellets anywhere outside of the Gulf of Mexico, where they’re produced, according to a Texas academic who spearheaded study into the pollution.

Fast Facts: Karenia Brevis is the organism that forms red tide. Experts say red tide begins naturally; However, human activities have the potential to influence red tide. Red tide is poisonous to wildlife and can be deadly. ‘Brevetoxin,’ which is found in red tide, is what causes people to cough and have respiratory irritation. The ‘brevetoxin’ is not known to be linked to neurological diseases in humans.

A similar bill filed last year never made it out of committee

How Florida‘s coast is being saved with huge dumps of sand: Before and after pics show $11.5million project to move 300,000 tons to save coastal resorts

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has awarded a contract to remove 5.5 miles of an elevated Tamiami Trail roadbed long cited as a “dam” that impedes Everglades’ sheet flow.

It finally happened. Monroe County has admitted publicly what many have long known: local government will not be able to save all places and properties from losses due to rising seas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), verified Palm Beach as a class 7 community meaning that residents who reside in flood areas can receive a 15% discount on their flood insurance premium.

Pepper Uchino, president of Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association, said the Pinellas Pass-A-Grille re-nourishment project alone will run around hundreds of millions of dollars with 60 percent matching funds from the federal government. The project has been set for 2021.

The designation could be drafted such that it would not hinder residents’ beach access rights, County Attorney Al Hadeed said.

What looks like dirt now will soon turn a lighter shade of gray. Brevard County officials assured residents that's the case with the new sand trucks are spreading this week in the southernmost mile of the so-called Mid Reach, between Flug Avenue and Poinsetta Street, in unincorporated Indialantic.

Stacy Clardy, a long-time resident of Pawleys Island, suggested Monday that the Town look into putting up a gate and charging a fee to raise money for the Town. Money matters took up a large portion of the meeting. Council will meet again on Dec. 16 to consider approval of the 2020 budget.

Change. “Change is a word you hear all the time, and not in a favorable way,” Pawleys Island Administrator Ryan Fabbri told the audience at a recent luncheon.

Biblia will use the dry dock to service its own tugboats and will offer similar repair and maintenance services to other vessel owners in the area from its Savannah River facilities.

A plan that would allow real estate developers to propose apartments, condos and townhomes in parts of St. Petersburg that could flood during storms is not consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan, the local planning agency has determined.

Visit Florida touts a “return on investment” by taxpayers, but that hasn’t always been the case.

Florida has an underappreciated secret weapon to help heal its ailing reefs: prickly sea urchins.

Martin Arostegui scans the ocean floor as he snorkels above a patch reef just east of the Ragged Keys. Spear gun in hand — just in case; he had a close encounter with a bull shark here once — the retired doctor looks for fish. Any fish.

KEY LARGO (CBSMiami/FKNB) – NOAA and its Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Monday announced an intent to raise almost $100 million to restore seven iconic coral reef sites off the Florida Keys.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A request by Gov. Ron DeSantis to establish a statewide office focused on the impact of rising sea levels was approved Monday by a Senate committee.

As state park officials prepare for a major project to restore beaches at Hunting Island State Park, environmental groups are exploring whether the state violated an agreement that the work would avoid turtle nesting season.

On Monday, the Florida Senate Infrastructure and Security Committee approved legislation to create a Statewide Office of Resiliency in the Governor’s office and create a Statewide Sea-Level Rise Task Force. SPB 7016 was the panel’s committee bill.

While scientists say global warming is to blame for wetter storms, no consensus exists for such a link to storm strength.

In the minute or so it takes you to read today’s installment, some $7 worth of sand will wash away from St. Lucie County beaches.

ATLANTA (AP) — Conservation groups have purchased a swath of land in Georgia that they describe as one of the largest unprotected open space parcels along the southeast Atlantic coast.

USACE awarded a $15.5 million contract in September to the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC, to execute the project. Funding is provided entirely by the Navy, with no cost to the City Fernandina Beach.

The town’s two public beaches and nearby shoreline are in line for major sand fills this winter and spring.

Currently, 75 percent of the tourist tax is used for items like beach renourishment, marketing by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and convention center operations. The remainder goes to the county-owned BB&T Center, which is home to the Florida Panthers professional hockey team.

A nonprofit surfing and conservation group gave Florida a "D" in coastal management, because the state keeps allowing homes too close to the ocean, relies too much on seawalls and beach renourishment to guard them, and is ill-prepared for sea-level rise.

Repairing and heightening Charleston’s Low Battery begins this week with crews drilling more than 100 feet below ground to test the strength of concrete and wire cables before demolition work begins next to the Coast Guard station.

With Miami Beach predicted to be 30% underwater by 2045, the convention centre where the fair currently takes place could soon become an island

A few days after a full moon on a sultry summer evening, a light current and sea water temperature of about 85 degrees created the perfect conditions for coral sex in the Florida Keys.

Grabbing a clump of vegetation to steady herself, Tiffany Troxler gingerly slides her feet along the makeshift boardwalk as she ventures out into the marsh. The boards sag, dipping her up to her knees in the tea-colored water.

Miami faces a major threat from sea level rise. But there are parts of the city that don't flood, and that's becoming a selling point for real estate developers. Nadege Green of member station WLRN reports.

Carey Schafer’s graduate research finds her waist deep in Florida waters, covered in mud and battling mosquitoes.

Every Winter, many North Atlantic right whales make their way home to the ocean off Georgia's coast to calve, seeking safe and warmer waters to have their babies before the long voyage home to the New England and Canadian waters in the Spring. North Florida and Georgia coastal communities play an important role in the stewardship of one of the largest whales roaming the seas.

For tourists looking for a small surfside town to stroll along the ocean, St. Augustine Beach is the perfect getaway

REDINGTON SHORES, Fla. — A major project to add sand along nine miles of Pinellas County’s coastline could be in jeopardy. Property owners are drawing a line in the sand and now county leaders are scrambling to gather hundreds of signatures.