Editing History of Florida (section)

===Everglades, hurricanes, drilling and the environment===
<!---this subtitle needs to be changed to eliminate incoherence. Suggest separate sections on Everglades; separate on Hurricanes. Omit drilling as a subtitle - put it under "Environment."--->
Long-term scientific attention has focused on the fragility of the [[Everglades]]. In 2000 Congress authorized the [[Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan]] (CERP) at $8&nbsp;billion. The goals are to restore the health of the Everglades ecosystem and maximize the value to people of its land, water, and soil.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Everglades: An Environmental History|date=2000|url={{Google books|cuwlngEACAAJ|plainurl=yes}}|last=McCally|first=David|isbn=978-0813018270|publisher=University Press of Florida}}</ref> [[File:Destruction following hurricane andrew.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Destruction in [[Lakes by the Bay, Florida|Lakes by the Bay]] near Miami following Hurricane Andrew]]

[[Hurricane Andrew]] in August 1992 struck [[Homestead, Florida|Homestead]], just south of Miami, as a Category 5 hurricane, leaving forty people dead, 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than a million people left without electricity, and damages of $20–30&nbsp;billion. Much of South Florida's sensitive vegetation was severely damaged. The region had not seen a storm of such power in decades. Besides heavy property damage, the hurricane nearly destroyed the region's insurance industry.<ref>{{cite book |title=In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew|date=2002|last1=Provenzo|first1=Eugene F. Jr.|last2=Provenzo|first2=Asterine Baker|isbn=978-0813025667|publisher=University Press of Florida}}</ref>

The western panhandle was damaged heavily in [[1995 Atlantic hurricane season|1995]], with hurricanes [[Hurricane Allison (1995)|Allison]], [[Hurricane Erin (1995)|Erin]], and [[Hurricane Opal|Opal]] hitting the area within the span of a few months. The storms increased in strength during the season, culminating with Opal's landfall as a Category 3 in October.

Florida also suffered heavily during the [[2004 Atlantic hurricane season]], when four major storms struck the state. [[Hurricane Charley]] made landfall in Charlotte County area and cut northward through the peninsula, [[Hurricane Frances]] struck the Atlantic coast and drenched most of central Florida with heavy rains, [[Hurricane Ivan]] caused heavy damage in the western Panhandle, and [[Hurricane Jeanne]] caused damage to the same area as Frances, including compounded [[Coastal erosion|beach erosion]]. Damage from all four storms was estimated to be at least $22&nbsp;billion, with some estimates going as high as $40&nbsp;billion. In 2005, South Florida was struck by Hurricanes [[Hurricane Katrina|Katrina]] and [[Hurricane Wilma|Wilma]]. The panhandle was struck by [[Hurricane Dennis]].

In 2016, [[Hurricane Matthew]] paralleled the east coast and caused an estimated $10 billion in damage. In 2017, [[Hurricane Irma]] made a catastrophic category 4 landfall in the [[Florida Keys]], followed by a category 3 landfall in [[Collier County]]. Irma caused over $50 billion in damage in Florida, making it the costliest in Floridian history, until being surpassed by [[Hurricane Ian]] in 2022. In 2018, [[Hurricane Michael]] hit the [[Florida Panhandle]] as a Category 5, the first landfall at that intensity in the [[United States]] since [[Hurricane Andrew]] in 1992. It caused over $20 billion in damage in Florida. In 2022, [[Hurricane Ian]] made landfall in [[Lee County, Florida|Lee County]], killing 146 people and causing over $113 billion in damage, making it the [[List of costliest Atlantic hurricanes|costliest hurricane]] to ever hit Florida and the deadliest since the [[1935 Labor Day Hurricane]].

Florida has historically been at risk from hurricanes and tropical storms. These have resulted in higher risks and property damage as the concentration of population and development has increased along Florida's coastal areas. Not only are more people and property at risk, but development has overtaken the natural system of wetlands and waterways, which used to absorb some of the storms' energy and excess waters.

<ref>{{cite web|url=http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/FLAwetlands/|title=Florida Wetlands|publisher=US Geological Survey|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810134311/http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/FLAwetlands/|archive-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pielke|first1=Roger|last2=Gratz|first2=Joel|last3=Landsea|first3=Christopher W.|last4=Collins|first4=Douglas|last5=Saunders|first5=Mark A.|last6=Musulin|first6=Rade|date=2008|title=Normalized Hurricane Damage in the United States: 1900–2005|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251194283|journal=Natural Hazards Review|volume=9|issue=1|pages=29–42|doi=10.1061/(ASCE)1527-6988(2008)9:1(29)|access-date=2022-08-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/socasp/weather1/pielke.html|title=Trends in Hurricane Impacts in the United States|date=n.d.|publisher=University of Colorado|last=Pielke|first=Roger A. Jr.|access-date=2022-08-11}}</ref>

Environmental issues include preservation and restoration of the Everglades, which has moved slowly. There has been pressure by industry groups to drill for [[Crude oil|oil]] in the eastern [[Gulf of Mexico]] but so far, large-scale drilling off the coasts of Florida has been prevented. The federal government declared the state an agricultural disaster area because of 13 straight days of freezing weather during the growing season in January 2010.<ref>{{Cite news| title=Crist wants ag disaster declared in Florida| url=http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/story/Crist-wants-ag-disaster-declared-in-Florida/LKG_5mjyM0KQcqpawqnCUg.cspx| work=Florida Today| agency=[[Associated Press]]| location=Melbourne, Florida| pages=6B| date=January 16, 2010| access-date=March 10, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116174612/http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/story/Crist-wants-ag-disaster-declared-in-Florida/LKG_5mjyM0KQcqpawqnCUg.cspx| archive-date=January 16, 2010| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Oranges have been grown and sold in Florida since 1872.<ref name=morton>{{cite web|author=Morton, J|url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/orange.html|title=Orange, ''Citrus sinensis''|date=1987|publisher=NewCROP, New Crop Resource Online Program, Center for New Crops & Plant Products, Purdue University|pages=134–142}}</ref> Production dropped 59% from the 2008–09 season to the 2016–17 season. The decline was mostly due to [[canker]], [[citrus greening disease]], and hurricane damage.<ref>{{Cite news | first1=Dave | last1=Berman | first2=Wayne T.|last2=Price|title=Citrus growers feel the squeeze | url=http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2017/11/10/brevard-county-florida-citrus-growers-feel-the-squeeze-oranges-grapefruits/840813001/| newspaper=Florida Today | location=Melbourne, Florida| pages= 1A, 10A | date=November 12, 2017 | access-date=November 12, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111235735/http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2017/11/10/brevard-county-florida-citrus-growers-feel-the-squeeze-oranges-grapefruits/840813001/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=}}</ref>