South Florida sugar farmers are attacking an Everglades water-pollution report being circulated among lawmakers as flawed and misleading. They’re saying the report under-represents the amount they’ve spent on cleaning up polluted water.
The sugar farmers are complaining the report, paid for by the Everglades Foundation, relies on incomplete information. They says it greatly inflates the amount of money the public sector has spent on removing pollutants from water, which makes the $200 million they’ve spent on the cleanup effort look smaller in comparison.
Florida Sugar Farmers spokesman Brian Hughes said the state, which leases land to the farmers, needs a more complete picture when making decisions.
“We need to make sure that all parties have accurate information and are working from a common set of assumptions that are based in science and not in flawed research," he said.
The farmers commissioned their own analysis of the report that shows there was too much information missing for it to be credible. The Everglades Foundation has been presenting the report to committees.