Governor Charlie Crist approves deal, acquires 187,000 acres for the Everglades

From The Palm Beach Post:
BY Staff writers Dianna Smith and Jennifer Sorentrue

WST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and other state leaders signed off Tuesday on the outlines of a $1.75 billion deal that will give United States Sugar Corp. six years to end its operations while handing taxpayers control over 187,000 acres in the historic northern Everglades.

Crist called the purchase "as monumental as our nation's first national park" — Yellowstone, created by then-President Ulysses Grant.

Besides helping restore the Everglades, environmentalists hope, the purchase also would allow the state to end the harmful dumping of noxious Lake Okeechobee water into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. Instead, the water could flow through marshes that would cleanse it and return it to the Everglades. Read more...

UPDATE: Blockbuster land deal faces many obstacles

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