Permission to board: Citrus County woos Inglis in port project

That didn't take long.

From Citrusdaily.com:

"Herbert Adams, Dunnellon lobbied commissioners to consider dredging the barge canal from its current 10-foot depth to 22 feet and to address economic activities that might be a byproduct of offshore oil drilling operations."

Can you say refinery? The new ecotourism model.

Also from same article:

"Thorpe and Port Authority Chairman Dennis Damato acknowledged that the land to the north and south of the area that might be used for the port belonged to different landowners, and that another part of the area belonged to Progress Energy."

A large part both north and south is a state park owned by the citizens of the state of Florida. http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/pages/11700/f11798/f11798.htm

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/state/PDF/Withlahoochiebay_web.pdf

I was of the impression that the "barge canal" was actually part of a state park known as the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/cfg/default.htm

I also though this was all suppose to be funded with private money hmmm?

and as for the nature coast, this is the new tourism. Sue to stop protection of manatees, wipe their breeding habitat off the face of the earth and replace it with strip mines and barges soon to be followed by oil facilities and gas pipelines. Can't wait for the refinery proposal to hit.

Mother Nature's Theme Park. LMAO if I weren't crying.

For those of us who have lived in CC since before FPC built the power plants it is not hard to figure out why there is such a push for a Port Citrus. The people making the decsion to establish a port at the barge canal have a vested interest in doing so. First of all the land around the canal is owned by a very wealthy prominent citizen whose family has made money from the use of their land for years. His influence in the CC politics is strong. Secondly at least one member of the BOCC also own land (campground) near the proposed port. There is an opportunity for them to make a lot of money from this venture. I recall a couple of county officials using a similar manuever to make money back before highway 486 was constructed. Since they knew about the road before the rest of the population they were able to buy the land cheap before the road was built. Today their businesses continue to flourish. Port Citrus is a similar scenario. It will benefit very few of the county residents but those who benefit will do so handsomely. What amazes me most about these "civic minded" folks is the way they pay lip service to the enviornment while raping it and reaping the rewards. Very sad to see "old Florida" paved under. I was just fishing the proposed port area this weekend with my sons as myself and my father once had. I wonder what it will look like with another industrial complex implanted into our Nature Coast.

I am all for creating new jobs but it seems as though the creation of a port, as well as establishing a new mine, is in direct opposition to the promotion of our area as the "nature coast." Why not use the proposed port land as a place where people could access our "nature coast" easier. For instance, in Costa Rica, they have developed much of their country through industry but they have designated certain places to be conserved forever. In these places, the government trains locals to guide tourists both on land and in the water. These guides are very well educated and there are literally hundreds of ways that they can showcase the natural world to tourists. Ecotourism is a large reason for Costa Rica's financial success and political stability in an otherwise poverty stricken and largely illiterate region. To facilitate this, in both Citrus and Levy counties, programs at CFC and WTI could offer courses and perhaps certifications to become eco-tour guides or local naturalist guides.
Instead of an industrial port that would provide a limited amount of jobs for people working outside of that industry and almost certainly impact the natural environment negatively, a hub of eco-tourism would support local restaurants, hotels, and many other small business owners. Why not showcase the gifts that our beautiful part of the state has yet to fully unwrap? Why not amplify the draw that the "nature coast" places upon the hearts and minds of most people that travel through our area? We have an extraordinary opportunity, right this very second, to make sure that there is a little bit of old natural Florida left for our kids. Let's be honest, most of it is all gone, Florida has been paved over and over in the name of industry and progress. The coast line from Crystal River to the St. Marks is about the only piece of relatively undeveloped coast line in the entire state, and even that area is disappearing quickly.