Florida megadeal aims to restore fabled wetlands, close US Sugar

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Florida has reached a tentative 1.75-billion-dollar deal to buy the largest US sugar producer and turn its vast swaths of farmland into reservoirs to protect the fabled Everglades wetlands, US media reported Wednesday.

"The plan, described by Governor Charlie Crist as the largest conservation purchase in Florida's history, envisions restoring some of the natural flow of water to the Everglades from Lake Okeechobee," The Washington Post reported. The amount of land involved is some 187,000 acres (75,678 hectares).

Crist has been named as a potential running mate for Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

The announcement by Crist Tuesday capped months of secret negotiations with US Sugar. He called the deal as "monumental" in scope....