Panhandle Wetlands

The New Orleans region lost a million acres of wetlands from development. Man attempted to make a levee system to replace nature's natural drainage system. We all know how that turned out from Katrina. The Florida Panhandle has consistently voted anti-environmental Republicans. "The 16-county area of Northwest Florida from Pensacola to Jefferson County has never had a strong state wetlands and stormwater permitting program, unlike the rest of the state," Tallahassee Democrat writes. "That's because Panhandle politicians have refused to let it happen."

Florida House Speaker Allan Bense was forced to give in. The Department of Environmental Protection's resource permit program is not allowed to override counties with stricker codes for builders. The bad news is only $2.7 million was budgeted for the Environmental Resource Permitting. The Florida isn't as stingy when it comes to building a new stadium for the Marlin.