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​Copper in Coral Springs. Lead in Deerfield. Styrene in Dania Beach. These are just a few of the cases that turn up with a quick search of the Environmental Protection Agency's new Toxic Release Inventory database.

The database, consisting of toxic disposals from 2010, allows users to search by zip code in order to find out what awful-sounding chemicals and raw materials are being disposed of in their neighborhood. These aren't cases of some mafia-connected dude dumping a barrel of nuclear waste down the sewer drain or hauling bucket loads of a carcinogen to the Everglades.

But the database does give users an inside glimpse into the toxins local companies are using and releasing into the environment.
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​The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact released a lengthy draft plan intended to make sure South Florida doesn't become some real-life mashup of Mad Max and WaterWorld when sea levels start to rise courtesy of climate change.  More >>

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​They didn't have much reason to do it before, but the Bahamas and Cuba have defined an international boundary in the waters off the coast of Florida. Now, the reason is clear: Both countries are poised to start drilling for oil from floating rigs.

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham cochaired a commission that investigated the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010; now he's raising questions about the safety of this drilling off our shores and talking about preparing an international plan to deal with a potential spill.

One problem, though: That requires having a conversation with Cuba.

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Coming to a cattle ranch near you.

​The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has extended the public comment period for a proposal to turn 150,000 acres of savanna ranch land north of Lake Okeechobee into the "Headwaters of the Everglades National Wildlife Refuge." The acquisition would cost $700 million, and around a third of the land would remain open to ranching.

The grassland around the Kissimmee River, which feeds into Lake Okeechobee and eventually the Everglades, has long been fertile ground for hunting and ranching, even after dredging projects in the '60s and '70s turned it into a straight, lifeless canal. In the early '90s, Congress approved a plan to fill in a large portion of the canal and bring the river back to its rambling roots.

Anyway, the grassland around the river is a topic of hot debate.
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Rep. Allen West

​Rep. Allen West isn't too happy about the State Department's decision -- or as West says, "Campaigner-in-Chief" Obama's decision -- to delay the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which means it's time for another rhetoric-loaded statement from the congressman.

According to the State Department, a more thorough analysis of some of the issues regarding the pipeline -- chiefly the environmental issues of running it through the Sand Hills in Nebraska -- would put the project back up for consideration in 2013.

In West's opinion, that's "pathetic."

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Plaintiffs don't want the Everglades to look like this.

​Several environmental groups, led by the Washington-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, filed a lawsuit last week against the National Park Service, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over plans to open up the Big Cypress Addition Lands to a few hundred permitted off-road vehicles.

The Addition Lands consist of 146,000 acres that make up Broward's oft-ignored western border, bisected by I-75. A debate about how much hunting to allow there is still ongoing, with the Park Service expected to release a draft plan in early 2012.

The South Florida Wildlands Association, a local group led by environmentalist Matt Schwartz, is another plaintiff on the suit. Schwartz says the litigation might be a sign of what's to come for the proposed hunting rules, as well.More >>

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Dropping the reefer.

​The beach: not where your garbage goes.

People apparently didn't know that this year, as the Broward County Natural Resources Planning and Management Division reports today that volunteers picked up more than 4,500 pounds of people's crap left at county beaches.

Of the 72,000 pieces of garbage picked up last month by volunteers during the 26th Annual International Coastal Cleanup, 35,000 of those pieces were cigarette butts.

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​The Everglades is too far gone for anyone to let it take its natural course. South Florida's entire inland economy depends on a water system that stays around the same level all year long, avoids flooding communities (cough, Weston, cough) that are stupidly built in the natural flow of water from Lake Okeechobee south to Florida Bay, and hydrates sensitive natural areas like Everglades National Park.More >>