The Economic Perspective 7/18/2025

The Latest Trending Economic, Environmental and Infrastructure News Curated for You by The Balmoral Group

The Balmoral Group provides practical, professional and precise Economics, Data Analytics, and Engineering Consulting services and is part of a globally integrated team.

Happy Friday! 

The Balmoral Group was well represented at the annual Marco Island Stormwater Permitting Summer School this year. Sessions covered new legislation and rules kicking in, including the new stormwater rule and implications of the impending deadline for permits under the existing rules.

Florida's new FY 2025-26 state budget includes funding for spaceports and vertiports, a Transportation Academy to train more CDL drivers, and the creation of the Florida Transportation Research Institute. Recent successes of new initiatives have increased Best Management Practices (BMP) enrollment, and increased success of water resource projects like in St. Johns River Water Management District’s Tri County Ag Area, where farmers used to encounter saline when pumping irrigation in the summer and no longer do, due to improved recharge.

Additionally, our interns curated articles this week on Drone Surveys of Turtles, Florida's Wetland Mitigation Credits, Volcanic Rock, and more. This week's data visualization covers State Food Expenditures Across the US.

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Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

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Drone Surveys of Turtles Contribute to New Wildlife Observation Toolkit

A research team at the University of Florida (UF) has combined aerial imaging with statistical modeling to document over 41,000 Giant South American River Turtles along the Amazon’s Guapore River in collaboration with researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Researchers from the WCS first began counting by using high-resolution images stitched together with hundreds of other aerial photographs, which is a less-invasive approach to observation than being on the ground. They then collaborated with the UF research team to improve accuracy and reduce errors of the drone method through shell markings and probability models. Though the observed numbers varied, they note that the information from multiple surveys and additional drone flights combined will provide guidance for future population predictions and conservation actions. Read more here. 

Florida’s Changes Their Wetland Mitigation Crediting Strategy

As Florida faces an increasing population and high developer demand, they are seeking new ways to adapt to the existing wetland mitigation credit landscape. The new rule, which went into effect on July 1st, proposes several changes including relaxing restrictions on which drainage basin developers can buy credits from. They were previously constrained to their local basin, but they can now pay extra to acquire credits outside of their basin if none are available locally. This may have unequal distributional effects as offsetting may be applied to wetland areas that provide different ecosystem services than the one that is being used for development. Read more here.

Volcanic Rock Could Help a $1.2 Billion Problem for Farmers

Climate change and acidic soils are two major concerns when it comes to agriculture. Crushed basalt, a cheap and common volcanic rock used to make roads, houses, schools and hospitals; could transform the agriculture sector as a natural fertilizer, boosting crop yields and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Basalt could improve infertile soils and simultaneously remove greenhouse gas emissions from farming practices that include nitrogen fertilizers, deforestation and land clearing. Read more here.

WA DNR Cameras Assist with Early Wildfire Detection Efforts

In 21 of Washington State’s high-risk wildfire areas, cameras have been constructed that will provide live stream access to interested viewers while assisting with early wildfire detection. The AI-assisted cameras are designed to identify and relay footage of potential wildfire events to the staff who monitor them. If further action is needed, the appropriate agencies will be dispatched to the scene. This initiative is designed to give people insights into the wildfire rapid response model while providing even more resources to assist with early detection and dispatch. Read more here.

New Study: Wetlands Economic Impact

According to the Convention on Wetlands, they recently reported “The global destruction of wetlands, which support fisheries, agriculture, and flood control, may mean the loss of $39 trillion in economic benefits by 2050”. Around 22% of wetlands have disappeared since 1970, the fastest pace of loss of any ecosystem. The world has lost 411 million hectares of wetlands, with a quarter of the remaining wetlands classified as in a state of degradation. Wetlands’ economic benefits include water purification, carbon storage, and flood regulation. Read more here.

FL Caloosahatchee Reservoir Marks a Significant Everglades Restoration Milestone

The Caloosahatchee (C-43) Reservoir opened on July 15th and is one of over 75 Everglades restoration projects that Florida has undertaken. C-43 is a 10,000 acre reservoir that will continue to contribute to improving water quality, water storage capacity, and nutrient reduction across the state. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has committed $1.4 billion to Everglades restoration and water quality in this year’s FY 2025-26 Budget, contributing to the almost $8 billion that has been invested since 2019. Florida is now seeing annual reductions of over 1.8 million pounds of nitrogen and 770,000 pounds of phosphorus, and water storage capacity in South Florida has tripled. Read more here

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Data Visualization of the Week

Annual Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly Australia 

"Sea surface temperature is the temperature of the top millimeter of the ocean's surface. An anomaly is a departure from average conditions" (NASA Earth Observatory). On the diverging bar chart, the red bars represent a warming in the sea surface temperature and blue represents a cooling in sea surface temperature. Read more on Sea Surface Temperatures here. Access Interactive Visual here.