STOP MELBOURNE SCHOOL GRAB

from Spence Guerin

The Melbourne school board is quietly eliminating the reversion clause that require property to revert to school board if not used for public use. Obviously, BRAG / Henegar has failed to meet contractual obligations. If BRAG / Henegar did not want the building, the building should revert to school board for other public uses.

The school board has put this item on Consent Agenda for March 10. This means the reversion clause can be eliminated with NO discussion and NO meaningful public input.

From workshop closed to public comment on January 27, to March 10 Consent Agenda approval for removing 'reversion clause' that protects public interest -- all in six weeks.

Valuable community asset may be dumped for dimes on the dollar. Conservatively valued on the tax rolls at $3 million, a single proposal by one developer without competition may walk away with the property for $600K.

Why the rush to judgment?

Shouldn't the community have time for careful consideration of other options?

NOTE: City of Melbourne people are saying this matter 'is out of our hands.' The City of Melbourne has been complicit from the outset, with City Manager and Mayor attending the workshop on January 27, and the City Manager stating that the building is an 'eyesore' -- and a new apartment building is a 'public use.' The City of Melbourne has helped this move to school board with NO public announcement, NO public hearing, NO public review, and NO feasibility study to evaluate long range benefits of other options. Does that sound like the matter is 'out of their hands?'

For more information, visit the website: http://oldmelhi.com/

KEEP FRACKING OUT OF FLORIDA

from Spence Guerin

U.S. EPA PUBLIC HEARING: KEEP THE FRACK OUTTA FLORIDA WATER

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014, 4:00PM-8:30PM Golden Gate Community Center Auditorium

4701 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples, FL  34116

contact:  STONECRAB ALLIANCE @ FACEBOOK or dwyerka@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/events/660833463978584/

NOTE: CARPOOL FROM ORLANDO to Naples will be announced soon.

 The EPA Hearing is scheduled for MARCH 11. SAVE THE DATE! 4:00-8:30PM. We need you and all of Florida to join us to create critical mass; how many show up will determine what the EPA does. Save our water and our Everglades from dirty drilling. To speak or submit comments, email Mcmanus.Fred@epa.gov

Oil drilling is more than an environmental issue. It is a human rights issue. Extreme extraction violates the most basic of all human rights – access to clean water and clean air. The drilling we’re trying to stop is only 1000 feet from homes in the Big Cypress Swamp watershed, a critical recharge area in the western Everglades. Each well is permitted to use 5 million gallons of water per month. Unlike agricultural water, the drilling water cannot be recycled or reused; it is toxic and must be injected into the boulder zone. Given the worldwide water scarcity and annual water restrictions in South Florida, it is criminal to permit the oil industry to destroy so much fresh water. Imagine thousands of wells on this 115,000-acre parcel, and even more, since Collier Resources just leased another 350,000 acres of mineral rights for seismic testing. Just as the pumping of aquifers in Florida has dried up natural springs, and in Texas, entire cities, so too, the oil industry’s pumping of our aquifer threatens to dry up nearby wells and wetlands, including the Fakahatchee, Picayune, and Corkscrew.

       This new type of drilling that includes acid fracking could easily destroy the entire 30-year, 13-billion dollar Everglades Restoration Project. Drilling is thus a major threat to our water: our drinking water, beaches, estuaries, rivers, wetlands, Gulf, Everglades, Florida Bay, and Keys—all of which are vital to our economy, wildlife, and to the people who call Florida home. Florida is still suffering from the worst oil disaster on record.  We know that accidents happen. Over time, pipes leak. Injected fluids, surface. And, as the BP disaster shows, even cement casings fail. Because it only takes one incident to taint or even ruin a community’s aquifer, drilling is not in the public interest. Our water and our Everglades are far more valuable than even a major oil play. They're our life-blood, fueling everything from agriculture to our multi-billion dollar tourist industry. The Everglades is also a national treasure, on par with the Grand Canyon. Extreme extraction isn’t safe. Not here. Not anywhere. Ask Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. Now is the time to preserve our air and our water that keeps us alive. Now is the time to create a sustainable future.

    So join us, March 11, in Naples and bring as many people as you can. This is an URGENT REQUEST. The federal EPA is flying in for a hearing that could decide the fate of Florida water and open the door to Everglades drilling. We need to act fast and get big. It’s time to show just how strong and far reaching opposition is to Everglades oil drilling. We need you at the hearing to say “NO” to the injection well. March 11. Clean water not dirty drilling. See you in Naples!