Charles In Charge: Florida Governor Protects Manatees

i-c7cdd9218c167c08e746508025ade0f9-manatees_l.jpgAs reported in the NYTimes, Florida's Governor Charlie Crist has asked the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to delay a vote scheduled today on reclassifying the Florida manatee to threatened from endangered. With factors like possible power plant closures to consider, Thank Crist!

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Perhaps some of you may remember me mentioning the plight of the Florida manatee a few months back, specifically that their status as an endangered species was being petitioned by the powerful boating lobby. This would have meant that many of the special protections that manatees enjoyed, such as…
Some good news for the Florida manatee: We just learned today that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) deferred the manatee's status change from Endangered to Threatened. They also directed their staff to undertake a review of the flawed state classification system for ALL…
The New York Times reports today that Florida Republican Governor Charlie Crist asked to delay the vote today to reclassify the gentle, gigantic manatee as threatened (rather than endangered). The Governor hopes the delay will give the panel more time to review the issues, including the fact that…
Good news! Florida is opening a public comment period from May 1-June 14, and the decision about whether to downgrade their status from endangered will be postponed until after that period. The final plan will be presented to commissioners in September. If approved, the state will upgrade the…

My family's in FL and we've been impressed with Crist's willingness to bring climate change to the table. I'm pretty worried about sea level rise. I think the Keys are in trouble.