July - August 2008 Member Update:
Last week we were witness to an initiative of monumental proportion that opens a whole new chapter in the history of Everglades restoration. On June 24, 2008 Governor Charlie Crist held a press conference at Stormwater Treatment Area 1 -- on the edge of the A.R. Marshall/Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge -- to announce the purchase of 187,000 acres or 292 square miles of land in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) from U.S. Sugar Corporation. The purchase, more than twice the size of Orlando, is being called a once-in-a-generation opportunity and a critical missing link in achieving fundamental restoration.
The announcement featured the signing of a “Statement of Principles” that will guide the negotiations and transfer of land and improvements – including a rail line, sugar refining facility and office equipment. The deal, which is scheduled to close in November, will allow U.S. Sugar to continue operations for six years, at which point the 77-year-old company would close.
What it means:
This purchase represents an opportunity to restore historic water flow south out of Lake Okeechobee to and through the Everglades, Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. This alone accomplishes a central, critical function of Everglades Restoration that the current plan - the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) (a/k/a the “Yellow Book”) did not achieve. It could restore hydrology to a portion of the historic Everglades wetland system, allowing natural wetland systems to re-emerge to treat the water as it sheet flows south, feeding water to the Park and Florida Bay, long starved for freshwater.
For the river and estuaries, it could provide a relief valve from damaging high water flows by re-establishing an historic flowway outlet for water from the lake. It is estimated that 85% of the excess flows could be eliminated. This new development removes a huge impediment to restoration planning that the CERP plan had to work around. As displayed on the map, parcels owned by U.S. Sugar are spread across the EAA, so creation of a flowway will require swapping of parcels. Toward that end, discussions are underway with Florida Crystals Corp. about swapping parcels so the State could purchase a contiguous swath of land.
What happens to the current plan?
This will take time to study. A direct result is that the restoration planning will need to be reopened to evaluate projects for their function under a new landscape plan. We may finally be able to purge some doomed projects such as aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). Other alternatives previously not considered could be re-examined, some projects may need to be changed and others may be reprioritized. We will continue to work closely with the planning and re-evaluation efforts to assure that west coast alternatives are evaluated.
Behind the scenes - How it came about?
Central to this development are Governor Crist's appointees to the SFWMD Governing Board, a federal lawsuit by Earth justice over backpumping from the EAA into Lake Okechobee and pressure from all quarters of the environmental community over water quality degradation. Credit is being given to Earth justice, who last year sued in Federal Court over the parctice of backpumping excess water from the EAA into lake Okeechobee. The court found that the backpumping constituted a violation of Federal water law and would require a storwater (NPDES) permit. Following this decision, the Governing Board in a close vote decided to discontinue backpumping. The vote was carried by Governor Crist's appointees. As a result of this action, U.S. Sugar Corp. lobbyists appealed to Governor Charlie Crist about water restrictions in Lake Okeechobee and other pressures on farming in the EAA. At the meeting, Governor Crist asked about a buyout and the plan was hatched.
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Next steps:
The first change to occur was the resignation of Water Management District Governing Board member Malcolm "Bubba" Wade, Jr., a senior vice president with U.S. Sugar. This will leave a position open for a new Governing Board member, who will be representing 10 counties including Lee, Hendry and Glades. The District Governing Board met on June 30 and voted to adopt the "Statement of Principles" which will guide the negotiations (see below for a link to the document).
By November, the deal is scheduled to close. In the meantime, work will begin to evaluate projects and alternatives to determine how CERP, Acceler8 and Northern Everglades projects will proceed. Stay tuned!
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