August 5, 2010
Dear PURRE Members:
The State of Florida's historic deal to purchase U.S. Sugar lands to restore the Everglades – and the natural water systems and estuaries of South Florida that support this national treasure – has been looted. What was once 180,000 acres became 73,000 acres, and yesterday became a mere 26,800 acres with virtually NO assistance to the Caloosahatchee River at this time.
Almost two years ago, PURRE members rallied to help pass the deal brokered by Gov. Charlie Crist and approved by the South Florida Water Management District to purchase more than 180,000 acres of agricultural land for Everglades restoration from U.S. Sugar Corp. At that time, Michael Sole, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said “this acquisition represents one of the more important opportunities to protect the Everglades ecosystem in recent years.” PURRE agreed – and still believes – that purchase of U.S. Sugar land south of Lake Okeechobee is the greatest opportunity to save the Everglades, restore South Florida’s more natural water flows, and improve the water quality in the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Rivers estuaries.
Now that deal consists of 26,800 acres: 17,900 citrus acres in Hendry County, and 8,900 sugarcane acres in Palm Beach County. Here is a map showing how the deal has changed; the dark green patches are all that is left of the purchase. Neither of these small areas will offer ANY help for moving water south, EVER.
PURRE’s initial reaction to this development is crushing disappointment. This is totally devastating to everything we’ve been working for. Everyone involved has recognized the purchase of this land as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revive the River of Grass and complete the reconnection between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. The purchase as originally proposed would have provided the greatest opportunity we could ever have to store, treat water and move water south that will benefit America’s Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River and St. Lucie River estuaries. We have supported this position since PURRE was formed.
This revised deal, reached with just one week for the public’s consideration prior to a governing board vote at the August 12 meeting in West Palm Beach, leaves just two parcels of land in play that can possibly help, and if used by the SFWMD to their fullest, they will benefit the St. Lucie River and estuary. We are happy for our east coast friends and care deeply about their estuary. But for Florida’s west coast and the Caloosahatchee River, this is possibly the worst thing the water management district could have done.
What’s more, it does not help restore the Everglades, which is the main goal. Additionally, it does not call for immediate action by the SFWMD. One parcel of land will be leased back by U.S. Sugar for its use, and there is no commitment to use the citrus lands by the district except to say they can use it “with 12 months’ notice.”
PURRE understands – as all nonprofits do these days – the realities of the economic downturn. Still, the government takes on debt for projects much less important that provide much less return for its money than restoring the Everglades – a unique environmental jewel that has been dying for decades and does not have much time left.
Is this remnant of Gov. Crist’s brave deal of 2008 better than nothing?
Yes, it is. PURRE has always advocated compromise. If we had a motto, it would be: “Let’s get this done now, and we can work to improve it later.”
But we state emphatically that we will not allow this deal to end here without a fight. We will not allow a lackadaisical attitude to take over, one of congratulation that a deal was done, just as we fear could happen when BP finally closes the Deepwater Horizon well and promotes a feeling that “all is well, we’re finished now.” We will continue to fight for the state of Florida to acquire all the necessary land to restore the historic flow through the River of Grass to Florida Bay, to save the Caloosahatchee and the west coast estuaries, and join with our east coast friends in their quest to save their precious water resources.
We urge you to contact Gov. Charlie Crist AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and tell him that while this deal is better than nothing it is devastating to both the western coast of Florida and to the Everglades. It falls far short of the vision he had in 2008. Ask him to be brave enough to fight for the deal he said he believed in. You can reach him at Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com, or at 850-488-7146, or at Office of Gov. Charlie Crist, State of Florida, The Capitol, 400 So. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001.
Remember, there’s no time to waste: The water management district gave the public only one week to weigh in – they vote on August 12.
To see the complete documents on the revised deal, go to www.sfwmd.gov/riverofgrass
A fact sheet is available at
http://sz0034.wc.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/ROG%20Just%20the%20Facts_0810.pdf?auth=co&loc=en_US&id=200100∂=3
"There are no other Everglades in the world. Nothing anywhere else is like them; their vast glittering openness, wider than the enormous visible round of the horizon, the racing free saltness and sweetness of the their massive winds, under the dazzling blue heights of space. They are unique also in the simplicity, the diversity, the related harmony of the forms of life they enclose. The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below, the grass and water that is the meaning and the central fact of the Everglades of Florida. It is a river of grass."
… Marjory Stoneman Douglas, 1947
