By Trimmel Gomes/Associated Press
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-918216.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – An effort to restore Florida's Everglades is move forward after water managers approved a scaled back land deal. Trimmel Gomes reports the South Florida Water Management District board voted Thursday to approve a state plan to buy roughly 27-thousand acres for about $197-million from U.S. Sugar.
For the fourth time, the governing board has gone up against critics like Republican state Senator Paula Dockery, who's been calling the agreement a sweetheart deal; a use of taxpayer money to bail out a for-profit corporation.
"Part of the problem is that the water management district board members are appointment by the governor and have been pretty much dictated to, to make this deal go through."
Once again, the board approves another scaled back plan. State officials say the land will be used to help restore the Everglades. Opponents claim the deal will only stall other key restoration projects. The Miccosukee Indians, who live in the Everglades, are asking a federal judge in Miami to stop the deal.
The original plan, announced in 2008, was to pay $1.75-billion for all OF U.S. Sugar's 180,000 acres, but it has now been scaled back.