TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

U.S. Sugar Spells Out State Deal

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: November 12, 2008

MIAMI - The state has agreed to pay the nation's biggest producer of sugar cane $1.34 billion, instead of the $1.75 billion originally proposed, under a revised deal to buy up vast tracts of farmland to restore the Everglades, the company said in statements Tuesday.

The state will acquire nearly the same number of acres it would have from U.S. Sugar in a deal announced in June, but it no longer has plans to buy up the company's high-tech mill, railroad lines or citrus processing plant.

Environmentalists praised the new deal, saying it's simpler and less-expensive. The state is purchasing the land around Lake Okeechobee as part of an ambitious plan to save the Everglades after decades of farming and development nearby.

Environmentalists lauded the original proposal because it would convert farmland into conservation land, allowing water managers to create a system to clean and store water before sending it south into the Everglades.

David Guest, an attorney for the ecological law firm Earthjustice, likened the deal to getting a hot dog without relish and mustard.

"It's cheaper and what you really wanted in the first place," said Guest, who has spent decades fighting for Everglades restoration.

According to the statement from U.S. Sugar, the deal includes the following terms:

• The state takes over about 181,000 acres as opposed to 187,000.

•U.S. Sugar is allowed to lease back the land at $50 per acre, per year, for seven crop cycles or six years. After that, U.S. Sugar will still own the processing facilities and could continue to operate them even without farmland. The mill could simply refine raw sugar produced elsewhere or be converted for the production of alternative energy.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT