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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Awful Reason Florida Is Bulldozing One of the World’s Rarest Forests

The lush tropical canopies of pine rocklands exist only in South Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. But soon the Sunshine State will lose some of its remaining tracts of the imperiled ecosystem in Miami-Dade County, expelling wildlife and rare flora to make room for a new tenant: Walmart.

This month the University of Miami sold 88 acres of rockland to Ram, a Palm Beach County–based developer known for building strip malls and residential complexes. The Miami Herald reports that the company has allotted space for 900 apartments and 185,000 square feet for a Walmart, in addition to a Chick-fil-A, a Chili’s, and a fitness center.

Before the sale, the university and the developer agreed to preserve 40 acres of rockland. For environmentalists, it’s not nearly enough.

“You wonder how things end up being endangered? This is how,” Dennis Olle, a lawyer and a board member of Tropical Audubon and the North American Butterfly Association, told The Miami Herald. “This is bad policy and bad enforcement. And shame on UM.”

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And where is the EPA on this one.

Anonymous said...

10:19-The EPA is controlled by big businesses like Walmart. The rules and regs and fees, etc that the EPA comes up with are really dictated by big business. It's a way for them to rid competition since the advent of anti trust laws. It's the democrat plan to have all trade, commerce and services controlled by a handful of large corps. When there are less choices for consumers and employment opportunities people can be better controlled.