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About this book
Florida possesses more wetlands than any other state except Alaska, yet since 1990 more than 84,000 acres have been lost to development despite presidential pledges to protect them. How and why the state's wetlands are continuing to disappear is the subject of this book.
The authors, both journalists, spent nearly four years investigating the political expedience, corruption, and negligence on the part of federal and state agencies that led to a failure to enforce regulations on developers. They traveled throughout the state, interviewed hundreds of people, dug through thousands of documents, and analyzed satellite imagery to identify former wetlands that are now houses, stores and parking lots.
Exposing the unseen environmental consequences of rampant sprawl, Pittman and Waite explain how wetland protection creates the illusion of environmental protection while doing little to stem the tide of destruction.
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Biography
Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite are both reporters at the St. Petersburg Times. Their work has twice earned the top investigative reporting prize in the nation from the Society of Environmental Journalists.
By: Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite
376 pages, b/w photos, maps
This is an exhaustive, timely, and devastating account of the destruction of Florida's wetlands and the disgraceful collusion of government at all levels. It's an important book that should be read by every voter, every taxpayer, every parent, every Floridian who cares about saving what's left of this precious place. - Carl Hiaasen "Pittman and Waite pulled the lid off federal and state wetlands regulation in Florida and peered deep into the cauldron of 'mitigation,' 'no net loss,' 'banking,' and the rest of the regulatory stew. This is an eye-opening, must-read book." - J. B. Ruhl"