Nope, that's not Sugar Land, TX, but land used to grow sugar cane for sugar production in Florida.
Florida is spending $1.75B to purchase about 292 square miles of U.S. Sugar Corporation's holdings in the Everglades (see map, courtesy of the Washington Post). Those holdings equal the land area of the entire city of New York - all five boroughs.
Read about it in the New York Times.
U.S. Sugar Corporation is the USA's largest sugar cane grower. Here is the complete media kit from U.S. Sugar, which contains the statement of President and CEO Robert H. Buker, Jr., the details, Q&A, etc:
Download us_sugar_media_kit.pdf
The South Florida Water Management District, a quasi-governmental entity of the State of Florida, will assume control of the land, which will not occur for 6 years.
It's not quite a done deal yet, however. More work needs to be done over the next few months.
The importance of the land acquistion cannot be underestimated. The purchased land will add about 1 million acre-feet of storage, and taking land out of agricultural production will reduce the phosphorus and nitrogen loads to the system. The former was a particular issue. Some of the "natural plumbing" will be restored.
The negotiations were a well-kept secret, and the announcement surprised a number of people.
Let's hope the Everglades are on the road to better health.
“Most agencies want to spend the money making things happen and not spend the money finding out if they work." – Dr. William Dietrich, UC-Berkeley geomorphologist
Comments