By Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 10, 2002; Page A17

The two men with the most power over the $7.8 billion effort to restore the Florida Everglades -- President Bush and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush -- signed a historic agreement yesterday to make sure water captured by the multi-decade effort actually goes to the Everglades.

In the agreement, Jeb Bush pledged the state of Florida to reserve enough water for the restoration of the parched Everglades ecosystem, regardless of the needs of farms or people. President Bush pledged that the federal government would respect Florida's control of its own water allocations. Both Bushes agreed to pursue adequate funding for the effort, which will be divided equally between the state and federal governments.

"We're really, really pleased," Jeb Bush said after the private Oval Office signing ceremony. "This is an important project. It will show that what was harmed by man can be restored by man."

Environmentalists and many federal officials had worried that the "Agreement of the Two Bushes" would give too much leeway to developer-friendly Florida, especially after the Army Corps of Engineers released draft rules for the Everglades project last month that just about everyone except Florida officials criticized as toothless and vague.

But some environmental groups and just about all relevant federal agencies yesterday praised the agreement's language as binding and enforceable, calling it a significant step forward. "It has the teeth we wanted," said Sean McMahon, a lobbyist for the National Audubon Society.

American presidents usually sign nothing but legislation, proclamations and treaties, but Congress specifically required this unusual president-governor Everglades agreement well before it became clear that the two Republican brothers would sign it. The reason was that even though the federal and state rhetoric about Everglades restoration is often indistinguishable, federal and state interests are not.

The federal interest is straightforward: environmental improvements that will revive the ailing River of Grass and protect Everglades National Park and several other federal properties in South Florida. But Florida's interest in this massive replumbing plan is much more complex -- not only improving its environment, but also supplying water and flood protection for a growing population, not to mention sugar farms and citrus groves.

The three-page agreement was designed to guarantee that the natural ecosystem is not forgotten. Yesterday, it drew praise from Michael Parker, assistant Army secretary for civil works; Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton; Marshall Jones, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, who was previously Florida's parks director.

Some environmentalists were disappointed that it did not include a specific water guarantee for Everglades National Park, but park superintendent Maureen Finnerty was satisfied. "Today's agreement is an important step in restoring Everglades National Park," she said. "It will ensure that the entire Everglades ecosystem receives the water needed to restore the biological abundance and diversity for which this special place is so universally admired."

Some conservation groups are not so sure. The 68 projects that make up the restoration plan will be designed to capture 1.7 billion gallons of water that flows out to sea through canals built to drain the Everglades decades ago. The agreement tries to provide assurances that the water captured by the plan will go to the natural system first. But Bradford Sewell, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, warned that Florida could still give away too much water via permits before construction starts. "These aren't real assurances," Sewell said. "They can still suck water out of the Everglades."

Still, even Sewell acknowledged that the agreement was stronger than he had expected, given the environmental community's often rocky relationship with President Bush. Both brothers yesterday affirmed their commitment to the Everglades, and both have so far kept their commitment to fund the project. "It's a lot of money, and the taxpayers want their return on this," the governor said yesterday. "We're going to do it in the right way."