News

The infamous Fresh Kills Landfill, a 150-foot-high mountain of waste material in Staten Island, New York, is getting a makeover. That makeover is Freshkills Park, a 2,200-acre park complete with meadows and wetlands. The project is expected to take decades, but a small part may be open within the next few years.

Projects like this aren’t new; in fact, landfill redevelopment as parks and recreational areas has been around for a long time. Locally, HSA Golden professionals have been involved in similar landfill projects, including the Evans Street Landfill in Oviedo and the Lake Destiny Soccer Field in Maitland. Such reuse isn’t only smart, it’s incented at both the federal and state level through initiatives such as the Brownfields Program.

Read more about the Fresh Kills Landfill at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/nyregion/26bird.html?th&emc=th

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Mufson and David A. Fahrenthold – Washington Post
December 8, 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration yesterday moved closer to issuing regulations on greenhouse gases, a step that would enable it to limit emissions across the economy even if Congress failed to enact climate legislation.

The move, which coincided with the first day of the international climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, seemed timed to reassure delegates there that the United States was committed to reducing its emissions even if domestic legislation remained bogged down . . .

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20091208_EPA_takes_step_on_greenhouse_gases.html

Orlando Business Journal
Anjali Fluker
November 27-December 3, 2009

Settlement with environmental groups irk local developers, DEP

. . . the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new stormwater runoff rules that could make doing business more expensive for Florida land developers . . . At issue: Stormwater runoff — when excess water from rain or irrigation flows from land into ponds, lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters — generally contains pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus from pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer and animal manure. These nutrients can render water unfit for drinking, as well as kill wildlife and cause toxic algae blooms.

So Oakland, Calif.-based law firm Earthjustice, which represented the Florida Wildlife Federation, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Sierra Club, St. Johns Riverkeeper and Ecoswift, sued the EPA in mid-2008. The suit alleged the EPA wasn’t enforcing the federal Clean Water Act strongly enough in Florida, which resulted in some of the poorest water quality in the nation.

http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/11/30/story7.html?b=1259557200^2501981

The Miami Herald
Nirvi Shah
November 24, 2009

The federal government has linked some Chinese drywall to corrosion found in homes in South Florida and across the country, but questions remain about what steps need to be taken in order to fix the problem . . . .

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1349057.html

Orlando Sentinel / Associated Press
Bill Kaczor
November 17, 2009

TALLAHASSEE — The federal government will attempt to set Florida’s water pollution standards – the first time it will try that for any state – under an agreement approved [November 16, 2009] . . . .

epaper.orlandosentinel.com/OS/OS/2009/11/17/index.shtml?Search=Y&ArtId=111_003