Environmental issues must be considered in terms of social and economic 

 ramifications. Environmental decisions have wide-ranging economic impacts and 

 wrong decisions may cost millions of dollars to State and local economies. On 

 the other hand, economic decisions have wide-ranging environmental impacts and 

 the wrong decision may result in severe pollution and the alteration or loss 

 of extensive natural resources. The continuing need for a balance between 

 resource use (economics) and natural resource preservation requires informa- 

 tion on environmental values (e.g. fishing) and habitat alteration such as 

 air pollution (Lynch 1977). 



PURPOSE 



This synthesis paper provides a baseline assessment of the natural 

 resource in Northwest Florida; the regulatory standards governing its resource 

 quality, the level of resource quality, and the value of the resource as best 

 described by national or state-specific economic research. The key linkage 

 between the quality and the value of the resource should provide a base line 

 measurement against which to weigh other potential competing uses. 



Because of the broad scope of major environmental issues, this paper 

 focuses largely on Northwest Florida's air and water quality problems and 

 compliances with Federal and State pollution standards. The papers on mineral 

 and oil production, agricultural production, and recreation and tourism relate 

 more with the economic aspects of environmental problems. The last section of 

 this report summarizes the major Federal and State legislation dealing with 

 environmental matters. 



SCOPE AND FORMAT OF THE SYNTHESIS 



The scope of this paper is limited to a general discussion of the major 

 environmental issues prominent in Northwest Florida and will be limited to a 

 brief discussion of (1) the general characteristics of the major natural 

 resources, (2) the appropriate Federal, State and local standards relevant to 

 those resources, (3) the historic and current levels of compliance including 

 specific circumstances regarding compliance, (4) the future forecast or trends 

 affecting the resource, and (5) estimates of the economic values of the 

 resources. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA 



Climate 



Northwest Florida is characterized by a Gulf of Mexico climate that is 

 generally humid and subtropical with warm summers and mild winters. Average 

 January temperatures are in the midfifties range (°F) and frost and light 

 freezes are infrequent and short in duration. Mean summer temperature is 

 about 81°F; maximums sometimes reach 100°F. Air temperatures usually are in 

 the high eighties (°F) along the coast and in the midnineties (°F) inland. 



The region has a wet season in late winter and early spring because of 

 major fronts from the northwest, and in June through August, because of warm. 



245 



