Saving Everglades: Who Should Pay?
By Warren Richey
© Christian
Science Monitor
MIAMI -- An unprecedented
consensus has emerged in Florida over the need to take action to save
the Everglades. But the fragile alliance
between environmentalists and sugar farmers
could splinter anew as the estimated price tag for Everglades
restoration rockets toward $5 billion. Both
generally agree that steps must be taken to aid the region's decimated
ecosystem - an expanse of shallow water and sawgrass 50 miles wide and
100 miles long. But there is no concrete understanding yet of who will
pay. Now that there is agreement to act,
environmentalists are worried there won't be enough money to complete
the job. Sugar farmers, meanwhile, are concerned they'll get stuck
holding a lion's share of the tab. Last
November, the sugar industry spent $22.7 million to defeat a statewide
referendum that sought to levy a penny-a-pound tax on raw Florida sugar
over the next 25 years. It would have raised $900 million for Everglades
restoration projects, including efforts to eliminate fertilizer runoff
from sugar fields and to restore the natural flow of water to the
Everglades' "river of grass." Read
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