Sugar-soaked Everglades deserve restoration, Florida governor decides

OKEELANTA, Florida – The golden days for sugar giants in Florida, who have made their profit at the peril of the Everglades, may soon be waning, reports Reuters. A long-time subsidizer of sugar barons, the U.S. government is paying more attention to the consequences its sweet tooth has visited upon one of the nation’s most fertile ecosystems.

The fragile state of the Everglades, drained to facilitate agriculture and drenched with fertilizer-fraught runoff, is no longer dismissed as a conservationist’s soapbox heartache. This summer, Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist announced a $1.75 billion plan to purchase land in the northern Everglades. Currently the area belongs to agriculture baron U.S. Sugar Corp. If Florida acquires the land, Crist says, the state will launch efforts to restore nearly 200,000 acres.

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Source: Reuters