“For more than 20 years, the little-known South Florida Geographic Initiative has been monitoring the threat of phosphorous, mercury and other damaging nutrients seeping into the ecologically fragile region — sometimes with dramatic results. The data it collected for the Environmental Protection Agency and Florida agencies was key to a massive court-ordered settlement in 2012 to protect the River of Grass from encroaching pollution. The initiative is now among more than 50 EPA programs the administration has proposed eliminating in an effort to return “the responsibility for funding local environmental efforts and programs to state and local entities.” More.