Big Sugar bullies?

E: The Environmental Magazine, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Starre Vartan

Big Sugar has won another victory in its opposition to cleaning up the mess it's made in the Everglades (see "Bitter Sweets," feature, July/August 2003). Legal wrangling over how to clean up the phosphorus-polluted Florida waterway, and who's going to pay for it, has dragged on for 15 years. In September, U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler, who has presided over this litigation from the start, was ordered off the case after complaints from the sugar industry. A federal judge agreed with Big Sugar that Hoeveler's public criticism of intense industry lobbying, and the subsequent passage of a state bill rewriting the Everglades cleanup, showed impartiality. "It's an outrage," says Mary Munson, regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). "Judge Hoeveler has been nothing but objective and thorough."

Hoeveler's randomly reassigned replacement, Federico Moreno, has little experience with environmental cases. Munson and others see a significant setback in the cleanup campaign. CONTACT: NPCA, (800)NAT-PARK, www.npca.org.