EAA Land Purchase OLD
State to buy EAA land
June 24, 2008, Governor Crist announced an agreement with U.S. Sugar
Corp. for the state to buy 187,000 acres in the
Everglades Agricultural
Area for $1.75 billion.
July - August 2008 Member Update:Last
week we were witness to an initiative of monumental proportion that opens a
whole new chapter in the history of
Everglades restoration. On June
24, 2008 Governor Charlie Crist held a press conference at Stormwater Treatment
Area 1 -- on the edge of the A.R. Marshall/Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
-- to announce the purchase of 187,000 acres or 292 square miles of land in the
Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) from U.S. Sugar Corporation. The purchase, more than twice the size of
Orlando, is being called a once-in-a-generation opportunity and a critical
missing link in achieving fundamental restoration.
The
announcement featured the signing of a “Statement of Principles” that will
guide the negotiations and transfer of land and improvements – including a rail
line, sugar refining facility and office equipment. The deal, which is scheduled to close in November,
will allow U.S. Sugar to continue operations for six years, at which point the
77-year-old company would close.
What it means:
This purchase represents an
opportunity to restore historic water flow south out of Lake Okeechobee to and
through the
Everglades, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. This alone accomplishes a central, critical
function of Everglades Restoration that the current plan - the Comprehensive
Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) (a/k/a the “Yellow Book”) did not achieve. It could restore hydrology to a portion of
the historic Everglades wetland system, allowing natural wetland systems to
re-emerge to treat the water as it sheet flows south, feeding water to the Park
and Florida Bay, long starved for freshwater.
For the river and estuaries, it
could provide a relief valve from damaging high water flows by re-establishing
an historic flowway outlet for water from the lake. It is estimated that 85% of the excess flows
could be eliminated. This new
development removes a huge impediment to restoration planning that the CERP
plan had to work around. As displayed on
the map, parcels owned by U.S. Sugar are spread across the EAA, so creation of
a flowway will require swapping of parcels.
Toward that end, discussions are underway with Florida Crystals Corp.
about swapping parcels so the State could purchase a contiguous swath of land.
What happens to the current plan?
This will take time to study. A direct result is that the restoration
planning will need to be reopened to evaluate projects for their function under
a new landscape plan. We may finally be
able to purge some doomed projects such as aquifer storage and recovery
(ASR). Other alternatives previously not
considered could be re-examined, some projects may need to be changed and
others may be reprioritized. We will
continue to work closely with the planning and re-evaluation efforts to assure
that west coast alternatives are evaluated.
Behind the scenes - How it came about?
Central to this development are
Governor Crist's appointees to the SFWMD Governing Board, a federal lawsuit by
Earth Justice over backpumping from the EAA into Lake Okeechobee and pressure
from all quarters of the environmental community over water quality
degradation. Credit is being given to
Earth Justice, who last year sued in Federal Court over the practice of
backpumping excess water from the EAA into Lake Okeechobee. The court found that the backpumping
constituted a violation of Federal water law and would require a stormwater
(NPDES) permit. Following this decision,
the Governing board in a close vote decided to discontinue backpumping. The vote was carried by Governor Crist's
appointees. As a result of this action,
in November U.S. Sugar Corp. lobbyists appealed to Gov. Charlie Crist about
water restrictions in Lake Okeechobee and other pressures on farming in the
EAA. At this meeting Gov Crist asked
about a buyout and the plan was hatched.
Next steps:
The first change to occur was the
resignation of Water Management District Governing Board member Malcolm 'Bubba'
Wade, Jr., a senior vice president with U.S. Sugar. This will leave a position
open for a new Governing Board member, who will be representing 10 counties
including Lee, Hendry and Glades. The
District Governing Board met this past Monday and voted to adopt the “Statement
of Principles” which will guide the negotiations. Read the three-page document on our website. By November the deal is scheduled to
close. In the meantime, work will begin
to evaluate projects and alternatives to determine how CERP, Acceler8 and
Northern Everglades projects will proceed.
Stay tuned!
test page
Statement of Principles
Attached is the Statement of Principles which will guide the negotiations. It was signed on June 24, and was approved by the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board on June 30.
Statement of PrinciplesMedia coverage
See links:
The New York Times, editorial on June 26
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/opinion/26thu2.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=everglades&st=nyt&oref=sloginSt. Pete Times, June 25
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wetlands/article641405.eceThe New York Times, June 25
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/us/25everglades.html?_r=1&oref=sloginThe News-Press, Wednesday, June 25
http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/GREEN/80624082/-1/testhurricane&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSELThe News-Press, Tuesday, June 24:
http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/GREEN/806240387/1075Palm Beach Post, Monday, June 23:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/06/23/0623_ussugardeal.html