Pass the Sugar, Sugar

Florida will buy out sugar company to restore Everglades

Posted at 3:22 PM on 24 Jun 2008

Nearly 300 square miles of sugar plantation in the Everglades will once again become marsh, as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced Tuesday that the state will buy the land from U.S. Sugar Corp. If all goes to plan, the $1.75 billion deal may be the largest environmental restoration in the history of the United States. Environmentalists have long lamented the sugar industry's role in diverting and polluting the Everglades' water supply; the River of Grass is only half the 11,000 square miles it was in the early 20th century. U.S. Sugar, which has farmed the Everglades for nearly 80 years, plans to go out of business within six years. The deal is, says Kirk Fordham of the Everglades Foundation, "an achievement of breathtaking significance and priceless value." Sweet.

sources: Los Angeles Times, Herald-Tribune, Reuters, CNN, The New York Times, Associated Press
see also, in Grist: McCain says he hearts Everglades, despite opposing bill with restoration funding

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Comments: (9 comments)

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Whoa!

300 square miles is a shitload of terrain! That's close to 200,000 acres! This is a major coup for Mother Earth!

Positive environmental news is so hard to find these days, this really made my day. The whole idea that we have been using our tax dollars to subsidize sugar production in Florida when the commodity can probably be produced for 1/3 the cost in numerous other spots around the Caribbean (can you say "Cuba"?), and when we've ALSO been using tax dollars to try to restore the Everglades we've been destroying with irrational water use, has always struck me as ... well ... irrational.

The first step in Recovery is admitting you have a problem. Florida has admitted it, and anted up the money to begin addressing it.

Good job. Please keep the good news flowing, Grist. I can use it.

by GonzoDon at 7:49 PM on 24 Jun 2008

The only thing better than the Everglades...

would be a North Woods National Park that encompasses most of Aroostook, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset counties in Northern Maine.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

by John former Marine at 5:20 AM on 25 Jun 2008

True,

sugar can be produced cheaper in other parts of the world. It is also seeing increased demand in other parts of the world.. China, India, etc. Why should these countries be interested in supplying the US now when we've had these crazy protectionist policies in place for decades. With the world facing looming food crises, I really hate to see agricultural land go out of production with no real plan for replacement.

by MsJ at 10:50 AM on 25 Jun 2008

tax dollars

Anyone concerned about the nearly $2 billion tax payers will shell out to pay for the land destroyed by the sugar farmers? Concerned about the price to fix the land? It's full of phosphorous from fertilizer and useless to the sugar farmers when the government takes it over!

For the sugar company, they'll have useless farm land and a HUGE clean up bill on their hands in a couple of years.

Instead, Crist has bailed them out AND given them nearly $2billion to take the hideous land off their hands!

Any one care that Big Sugar paid a bunch of money to get Crist elected? http://www.democraticunderground.com...dress=145x7468

by no1underdog at 11:02 AM on 25 Jun 2008

Bailing Out The Rich

Underdog,

I agree that morally, it would have been economically better for Florida or the feds to buy the land by eminent domain and charge the company's officers, board members, and shareholders for the cost of cleanup. But environmentally, this is a huge victory. The land, water, plants, and animals of the Everglades couldn't care less who pays for it, so long as their habitat is cleaned up and restored.

by Wolverine at 11:11 AM on 25 Jun 2008

SuperSize Me Some More

Great...our one domestic supply of natural sugar is being taken away. Now we'll have to pay top dollar for imported sugar from our enemies, or consume deadly corn syrup.

Sugar is a little bit like...well...oil.

by jabailo at 11:16 AM on 25 Jun 2008

Brilliant business move !

Sell land that will be underwater in a few years!

Richard Pauli Seattle, WA

by rpauli at 11:26 AM on 25 Jun 2008

Beets, anyone?

Sugar doesn't only come from cane. The Red River Valley (of the North) is rife with sugar beet production. So no worries about being short on sugar anytime soon.

I'm just happy to see some positive progress on wetlands restoration.

by SnoDragon at 11:28 AM on 25 Jun 2008

What about the people?

I've lived in Florida all my life and know how Big Sugar influences politics in the State. Everyone seems to be forgetting about the 20,000+ people who will lose their jobs (and there is nothing else to do in the Glades) and the small farmers who will lose a place to process their crops. Funding the 2 BILLION needed initially will raise everyone's property taxes at a time when most are having a hard time making ends meet. While I am fully in favor of restoring the natural flow to the Everglades, this won't do it. There is still a huge tract of land that must be purchased (at top dollar) to say nothing of the cleanup required for both parcels. This is a bonus for Big Sugar, a disaster for the people of the Glades and it still won't restore the natural water flow into the Everglades. It sure is a great photo op though and looks great unless you dig into it.

Florida Native

by FloridaNative at 12:17 PM on 25 Jun 2008

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