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Revised Everglades Restoration Deal Gets Green Light August 12, 2010 - An effort to restore Florida's Everglades will move forward after water managers approved a new, scaled-back land deal. The South Florida Water Management District board voted Thursday to approve a state plan to buy roughly 27,000 acres for about $197 million from U.S. Sugar. For the fourth time, the governing board has gone up against critics like Florida Republican Senator Paula Dockery. She’s been calling the agreement a sweetheart deal, and a bail-out of a for-profit corporation using taxpayer money. “Part of the problem is that the Water Management District board members are appointed by the governor and they have been pretty much dictated to make this deal go through,” says Dockery. The board unanimously approved the plan, which state officials say will be used to help restore the Everglades. Opponents claim the deal will only stall other key restoration projects. The Miccosukee Indians, who live in the Everglades, are asking a federal judge in Miami to stop the deal. The original plan, announced in 2008, was to pay $1.75 billion for all U.S. Sugar's 180,000 acres, but it has now been scaled back. |
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