1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Looming ecological disaster in Tampa Bay

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by 2muchcoffeeman, Apr 4, 2021.

  1. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Nah, this ain’t staying contained.

     
  2. Slacker

    Slacker Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

    “Whaddya want me to do about it? So you can't fish for a few months, big deal. Go bowling!”


     
    BitterYoungMatador2 and garrow like this.
  3. Mngwa

    Mngwa Well-Known Member

    It is an uphill battle in this state. Where I live a well-known activist was fighting against a company that owned a some kind of quarry. And part of their deal with our county was that they couldn't sell water. Well they started selling water. She tried to bring it to the public's attention and got sued by the company and lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
     
  4. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    The reason we know there's one liner is Rodney Dangerfield is buried there.

    ADD: Tough crowd. No respect, I tell you.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2021
    I Should Coco and maumann like this.
  5. Severian

    Severian Well-Known Member

  6. Mngwa

    Mngwa Well-Known Member

  7. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    They think they’ve pumped out enough contaminated water to have the situation under control, but now they have to do something with the rest of it before rainy season gets going. The lege is even trying to push through a bill to cap and close Piney Point using American Rescue Plan money (which I’m not sure is an appropriate use for that money, but welcome to Florida where they only have the sales tax revenue to fall back on).

    Florida reservoir breach is 'under control now': Catastrophic flooding fears ease, but environmental concerns remain — USA TODAY
    Piney Point waters may fuel harmful algae bloom along Southwest Florida coast — The News-Press
     
  8. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    Well, the evacuation order has been lifted. I guess they've poured enough of the toxic junk out into the bay to keep the thing from inundating the (EDIT) western half of Manatee County, but can't imagine the little creeks and inlets that are so great for kayaking and canoeing are going to be so wonderful for the foreseeable future. (Maybe it'll kill the mosquitoes, but chances are they'll just get meaner.)
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2021
  9. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Sounds similar to the Caloosahatchee and Myakka rivers affected by runoff from Okeechobee and/or farmlands, and the rivers becoming a mess of blue-green algae. Not to mention the red tide in the Gulf outside of Fort Myers. The latter hasn't been determined to be caused specifically or solely from nutrient runoff, but likely is a contributor.
     
    2muchcoffeeman and maumann like this.
  10. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    The rainy season will actually help flush out the freshwater creeks and tributaries, but only time will restore the bay.
     
    2muchcoffeeman and maumann like this.
  11. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    The guy who owns this mess … well …

    His list of past and present investments is long and, to say the least, eclectic. At one point he owned a series of Hooters franchises in Long Island, had a seat on the board of lingerie company Frederick’s of Hollywood, served a stint as president of a uranium mine in Namibia, and most recently, began a foray into the marijuana industry.

    Forbes, in 2004, called him “a vulture,” an investor who specializes in swooping in on dying and troubled companies and making a profit anyway. In 2006, the Wall Street Journal highlighted the time he bested legendary financier Warren Buffethimself in a deal over Seitel Inc, a then-bankrupt seismic data company.

    Nowadays he serves as CEO of Greenrose Acquisition Corp., which just announced it plans to buy four cannabis companies, where he describes himself in his bio as an “agriculturist at heart.” His mini-resume on the site includes serving as president of an organic blueberry farm, running “the largest vertically integrated pecan company in the world,” and managing a handful of hedge funds.

    It doesn’t mention his stake in Piney Point, an abandoned phosphate plant with a long history of environmental problems.

    Harley’s long business record also is dotted with a few lawsuits — including one that accused him of improperly using his hedge firm’s money to bail out the phosphorus plant after another spill years ago. ​

    And about that lawsuit:

    When HRK Holdings was first incorporated in 2006, documents filed to Sunbiz said official mail should be sent to Mellon HBV Alternative Strategies, a limited liability company based in New York with the same three managers as HRK, including Harley.

    Mellon HBV Alternative Strategies, a hedge fund management unit, was a subsidiary to a large hedge fund, Mellon Holdings, that managed almost a billion dollars in assets at the time. In December 2006, the Bank of New York bought Mellon Holdings and sold Mellon HBV Alternative Strategies to Harley for an undisclosed sum, Pensions&Investments reported.

    Harley renamed the firm Fursa Alternative Strategies. Two years later, mid-financial crash, the asset management firm announced to all its investors it was shutting down the business.

    But a lawsuit filed in 2011 by The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, which had invested $2 million into the hedge fund, said Harley didn’t return its money. The suit accused him of continuing to run the business out of the basement of one of his Hooters franchises, a claim he denied, and funneling the foundation’s investment into buying 8 million stocks of Frederick’s of Hollywood, a lingerie company he co-owned at the time, as well as the cleanup at Piney Point after it spilled 170 million gallons of toxic water into Tampa Bay’s Bishop Harbor.

    The human development charity argued that instead of paying his investors back, Harley continued to pay his own salary, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars to his brother for no apparent purpose and at least $5.6 million to other investors who were his friends or business acquaintances, Trib Live reported.

    Harley’s own lawyer, Patrick Cavanaugh, acknowledged in court that Harley was unable to explain many of the payments or account for where the money went.

    “It’s not the greatest bookkeeping,” he said, according to Trib Live.

    The lawsuit ended in a sealed settlement, Newsday reported.​

    https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article250448056.html
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page