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  1. Florida buys 340 acres from golf developer who sought state forest land
    • Environment
    Eugene Kelly, president of the Florida Native Plant Society, tracks a gopher tortoise hole at a Withlacoochee State Forest parcel adjacent to Cabot Citrus Farms near Brooksville in this September 2024 photo. Cabot recently sold 340 acres of land to the state of Florida.
  2. Pinellas County OKs redevelopment of flood-prone mobile home park
    • Environment
    A motorcycle is parked outside a vacant mobile home that was slated for demolition in this photo taken just before Halloween at the Twin City Mobile Home Park on Gandy Boulevard in St. Petersburg.
  3. Water pollution puts Floridians at risk of severe health problems
    • Investigations
    Carol Leone was visiting Florida on vacation when she encountered a red tide off Longboat Key. She experienced a cough and difficulty breathing, even weeks after she left the state.
  5. Merry Christmas, except for the hungry, poor and sick | Column
    • Viewpoints
    Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to reporters during a press conference as he stands on the airplane runway of Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee , Florida on Friday, July 25, 2025.
  6. Controversial $2.5 billion Florida toll road through sensitive land approved
    • Environment
    Disney Wilderness Preserve, pictured on Aug. 7, 2025, features scrubby flatwoods among 3,500 acres of restored wetlands in Poinciana.
  7. DeSantis names sponsor of bill striking ‘climate change’ from Florida law to utility board
    • Environment
    A worker takes a water break on July 23, 2024, under Duke Energy transmission lines in New Port Richey. Gov. Ron DeSantis nominated former state lawmaker Bobby Payne to the state board that regulates utilities like Duke.
  8. A Florida town and its very expensive legal fight to take boathouses from owners
    • Florida
    Windermere boathouses in a lagoon in front of Lake Butler, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. A judges ruling this week sunk Windermeres long held but disputed claim to ownership of five small boathouses built on the north side of Lake Butler more than 100 years ago, before the town was incorporated. The town has spent an estimated $500,000 on the lawsuit. In his ruling Monday, Circuit Judge John E. Jordan pointed out Windermere did not construct the five boathouses and has never had physical possession of them.
  9. ‘We want to have a legacy here.’ Inside a landowner’s plan in Florida’s Ag Reserve
    • Florida
    Paul Okean stands on his property in West Delray on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. Okean's proposals have gone through revisions amid some pushback.
  10. Temple Terrace must wait longer for plan to remove PFAS from drinking water
    • Hillsborough
    Roughly 200 people turned out for the Temple Terrace town hall about the city’s water quality in August. Residents will likely have to wait at least six more months for a plan to remove PFAS from the city’s drinking water, after consultants said their work will extend into late spring and possibly to the end of June.
  11. Florida completes $83M purchase of 4 waterfront acres in Destin
    • Environment
    The state of Florida has officially closed on the purchase of 4 acres of waterfront land in Destin for more than $83 million. Conservation experts say the large purchase price raises unsettling questions.
  12. As Florida offshore drilling looms, birds less protected from spills under Trump
    • Environment
    Workers clean a brown pelican at a rescue center set up by the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Buras, La., in 2010. The birds were covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident.
  13. Florida leads nation in cuts to environmental protection jobs, report says
    • Environment
    Florida leads the nation in cuts to jobs in environmental protection over the last 15 years, according to a new study. In this 2024 file photo, a snowy egret feeds in a wetland area at Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin.
  14. Nearly all staff laid off at UCF energy research institute
    • Environment
    Solar panels are shown in this 2021 file photo. UCF has laid off nearly 60 employees from the Florida Solar Energy Center.
  15. Christmas carols that could only come from Florida | Column
    • Viewpoints
    Christmas colors illuminate palm trees at Curtis Hixon Riverfront Park in Tampa on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021.
  16. Tampa’s Mosaic says legal challenge to phosphate road plan now ‘moot’
    • Environment
    The Mosaic facility in the Hookers Point section at Port of Tampa Bay is shown in this February photo. The company says a lawsuit challenging its use of phosphgypsum is no longer relevant.
  17. Sinking skyscrapers? As buildings got bigger in this Florida city, so did concerns
    • Environment
    An aerial view shows the Chateau Beach Condo, left, near the coastline in Sunny Isles Beach on Oct. 31. At least a handful of towers have sunk as much as two to three times more than expected, the Miami Herald found in a monthslong analysis of dozens of engineering reports covering nearly every building along the city’s multibillion-dollar skyline.
  18. Blue Origin’s wastewater plans add to Indian River Lagoon concerns
    • Environment
    One of the new manufacturing buildings at Blue Origin's massive campus in Merritt Island is dedicated to its crewed Blue Moon and uncrewed Mark 1 lunar landers.
  19. Applied for Elevate Florida? Tell us your thoughts on the new state program
    • Environment
    A resident holds an Elevate Florida information sheet while listening during a presentation at the St. Petersburg Sunshine Center on March 13 in St. Petersburg.
  20. Manatee protection may be eroded under Trump’s proposed Endangered Species Act changes
    • Environment
    A manatee swims up to the surface of the water at the Manatee Viewing Center on Dec. 4, 2024, in Apollo Beach. Environmentalists worry proposed rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act will put sea cows in peril.
  21. Does horse poop pollute Bradenton’s Palma Sola Bay? And what about birds?
    • Environment
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  22. Florida city eyes lofty goal: Plant 276,000 trees
    • Environment
    Black olive trees line the median along Las Olas Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Real estate investors have pushed back after residents rallied to save the trees.
  23. Every Florida Congress member to Trump: Keep oil drilling away from our coast
    • Environment
    Oil is seen on the water at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana on May 7, 2010. All 28 of Florida’s U.S. House members and both U.S. senators united Thursday in a bipartisan letter urging President Donald Trump to keep offshore oil drilling away from the state’s coastline.
  24. Florida, let’s put money into our state parks | Column
    • Viewpoints
    Hillsborough River State Park features the River Rapids Nature Trail, which is one of four inside of the park and measures out as an unpaved 1.4-mile loop.

About the Tampa Bay Times Environment Hub

The Tampa Bay Times Environment Hub is dedicated to probing Florida's most urgent environmental challenges, from polluted waters and rising seas to unchecked development and threatened wildlife. Through fearless, fact-based journalism, we hold leaders accountable and empower communities with the knowledge they need to take action.

Initial funding for the hub was provided by local residents Naomi Rutenberg and Robert Burn.

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