Glades deal creates political void

The modern political history of U.S. Sugar traces back to a 1987 pizza and beer night at the company lobbyist's townhouse near the state Capitol.

Robert Coker wasn't home that night, but his job is to build relationships in Tallahassee. So he lent his place to state legislators, who secretly crafted a deal to tax services such as dry cleaning and barbers, scribbling the details on a pizza box. The next day, the tax was passed.

Months later, due to public outrage, the tax was repealed. But Big Sugar's role in Florida politics has continued.

The Clewiston sugar colossus agreed last month to sell its vast land holdings to the state for $1.75-billion, a deal certain to alter the future of the Everglades. But U.S. Sugar's disappearance will alter the political landscape in Florida as well. (story here)

Comments

Good riddance!

And Chuck, wait a couple years and see what they will take for the land... you know, after they haven't been able to farm it for a while... the taxpayers might just get a better deal and in the end, the state may just have enough to start the cleanup... just an idea though...

Coker is the Elvis of Florida Politics

None Better.

Correct 8:27 except that this sweet deal allows US Sugar to operate in the same way they are now for a minimum of six years after the State pays them top dollar for their lands. Rent free too!! So we pay them top dollar, they continue to operate for free, they continue to pollute, they don't pay for any clean up, and after they leave (if ever) we still pay for the clean-up. I predict that after their six years are up you will see another multi-million dollar campaign to allow them to stay longer, rent free, because of all the jobs that will be lost if they have to leave.

Just wait until you find out how much taxpayers will have to pay to clean up the mess they left behind!

Hahahahahaaa...

[Thomas D'Andrea]

Good intentions aside, this is nothing more than a "boondoggle" dressed in Environmental Green. Why? Because if what I read in the newspaper is accurate, the State of Florida is in financial difficulty. Cities, counties and the state are all scrambling to tax everything from parking spaces to wheeled walkers. Library hours have been curtailed, garbage pick up reduced and hundreds of government employees have been let go. Unfortunately no one has passed this information along to Governor Crist. Why? Because our governor has just obligated 1.75 billion dollars to purchase land from U.S. Sugar for strictly environmental use? Consider the fact that we’re in the process of selling a lucrative toll road (Alligator Alley) to a private corporation to ease maintenance costs make a fast buck. Then, in a temporary lapse of morality the governor approved additional gambling devices to gather in more dollars for the treasury. So why are we spending what few dollars we have to purchase land without a productive purpose? A better question might be, how can the governor obligate so much money without the consent of the people's representatives? Or did the House and Senate approve when I wasn’t looking?
I'm told the deal with U.S. Sugar results from a convergence of self interest. The state is trying to restore the Everglades and clean up pollution caused by Big Sugar and other growers, while American Sugar is being squeezed by low-price imports. So the deal is – we buy the land at a premium price of over nine thousand dollars an acre with money we don’t have, then allow U.S. Sugar to pollute and farm our 187,000 acres for six more years free of charge. Brilliant!
If all that doesn't smack of a colossal "bail out" for a failing corporation with a long record of environmental pollution - I don't know what does. Do you?

[Thomas D'Andrea]

Good intentions aside, this is nothing more than a "boondoggle" dressed in Environmental Green. Why? Because if what I read in the newspaper is accurate, the State of Florida is in financial difficulty. Cities, counties and the state are all scrambling to tax everything from parking spaces to wheeled walkers. Library hours have been curtailed, garbage pick up reduced and hundreds of government employees have been let go. Unfortunately no one has passed this information along to Governor Crist. Why? Because our governor has just obligated 1.75 billion dollars to purchase land from U.S. Sugar for strictly environmental use? Consider the fact that we’re in the process of selling a lucrative toll road (Alligator Alley) to a private corporation to ease maintenance costs make a fast buck. Then, in a temporary lapse of morality the governor approved additional gambling devices to gather in more dollars for the treasury. So why are we spending what few dollars we have to purchase land without a productive purpose? A better question might be, how can the governor obligate so much money without the consent of the people's representatives? Or did the House and Senate approve when I wasn’t looking?
I'm told the deal with U.S. Sugar results from a convergence of self interest. The state is trying to restore the Everglades and clean up pollution caused by Big Sugar and other growers, while American Sugar is being squeezed by low-price imports. So the deal is – we buy the land at a premium price of over nine thousand dollars an acre with money we don’t have, then allow U.S. Sugar to pollute and farm our 187,000 acres for six more years free of charge. Brilliant!
If all that doesn't smack of a colossal "bail out" for a failing corporation with a long record of environmental pollution - I don't know what does. Do you?

[Thomas D'Andrea]

Good intentions aside, this is nothing more than a "boondoggle" dressed in Environmental Green. Why? Because if what I read in the newspaper is accurate, the State of Florida is in financial difficulty. Cities, counties and the state are all scrambling to tax everything from parking spaces to wheeled walkers. Library hours have been curtailed, garbage pick up reduced and hundreds of government employees have been let go. Unfortunately no one has passed this information along to Governor Crist. Why? Because our governor has just obligated 1.75 billion dollars to purchase land from U.S. Sugar for strictly environmental use? Consider the fact that we’re in the process of selling a lucrative toll road (Alligator Alley) to a private corporation to ease maintenance costs make a fast buck. Then, in a temporary lapse of morality the governor approved additional gambling devices to gather in more dollars for the treasury. So why are we spending what few dollars we have to purchase land without a productive purpose? A better question might be, how can the governor obligate so much money without the consent of the people's representatives? Or did the House and Senate approve when I wasn’t looking?
I'm told the deal with U.S. Sugar results from a convergence of self interest. The state is trying to restore the Everglades and clean up pollution caused by Big Sugar and other growers, while American Sugar is being squeezed by low-price imports. So the deal is – we buy the land at a premium price of over nine thousand dollars an acre with money we don’t have, then allow U.S. Sugar to pollute and farm our 187,000 acres for six more years free of charge. Brilliant!
If all that doesn't smack of a colossal "bail out" for a failing corporation with a long record of environmental pollution - I don't know what does. Do you?

[Juan Valdez]

Thomas: Go to decaf. Your 'send' finger is twitchy this morning.

[Cautious Environmentalist]

Thomas: you hit the nail on the head! (Three times!)

This is nothing more than Corporate Welfare and a political payback, concocted during a budget crisis.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2008/07/crists-sweet-gl.html

US Sugar isnt going to be able to operate for 6 years. Their employees are well trained and well paid. They arent stupid enough to wait around 6 years to find new jobs. They'll be gone within a year or two.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/local_news/epaper/2008/06/28/m1a_sugar_how_0629.html?cxntlid=inform_sr

12:35 - but Charlie didn't engage in hand-to-hand combat with big sugar, he folded under pressure and offerred them more than 3 times the value of their land.

thing is, charlie's hole is big enough to take in all of big sugar--he got screwed but so did the taxpayers

[Paul D. Harvill]

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility News Release (www.peer.org)

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2008
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

U.S. SUGAR BUYOUT MAY NOT HELP THE EVERGLADES — Corps Rejected Concept a Decade Ago Due to Insurmountable Hydrological Barriers

Washington, DC — Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s plan to purchase 300 square miles of U.S. Sugar land as the “missing link” to restore the Everglades may be an expensive pipe dream. Ten years ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted a detailed analysis of re-creating a “flow way” from Lake Okeechobee as envisioned by Gov. Crist and rejected it as unworkable, according to agency documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

The Corps analysis and hydrological modeling, which was vetted by both the Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida and the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, among others, found that a flow way through what is now the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) was technically infeasible, and would not help, and could harm, Everglades restoration, citing –

* Land Subsidence. By some estimates, intensive agriculture has reduced the elevation of the current land twenty feet below where it was before human intervention. As a result, any released water would pool rather than flow. In the words of the Corps: “Soil subsidence in the EAA has substantially reduced the hydraulic head that would drive the southward flow of water; hence, velocities and flow rates would be greatly reduced”;
* Water Loss. The flow way would lose a tremendous amount of water to both seepage and evaporation: “By spreading the water over shallower areas (as opposed to reservoirs) and because a marsh habitat would have to be kept hydrated, the evapotranspiration loss could easily be doubled”; and
* No Steady Supply. “Perhaps the most crucial element, water flowing from the lake to the WCAs [Water Conservation Areas] is not present in dry or even normal years!...The only years where water could flow for long duration are wet periods…[and in] those years, the stages in the WCAs are already too high and additional flow from flowways would be damaging, not beneficial.”

“The idea of obliterating all artificial alterations to revive the River of Grass is alluring but will not make non-existent water flow up hill,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “Before jumping on yet another Everglades bandwagon, hardheaded study is needed to make sure the wheels actually turn.”

Another huge problem is the accumulated pollution in both the soil and the water. Beyond the possibility of mass poisoning of wildlife from releases of highly polluted waters, the Corps is concerned that the native saw grasses would not return: “Because nutrient-laden soil would be flooded for the flowway, the vegetation most likely to dominate would be cattails and not desirable Everglades habitat.”

In addition, there will likely be legal and political barriers as well. Since flow ways were not included in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) authorized by Congress, Gov. Crist’s plan would require Congress to endorse it as a condition of federal funding.

###

See the summary of the Corps findings on barriers to the flow ways

View what was included in the CERP and why

Read about worsening water pollution problems in South Florida

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1075

[Lifelong Republican]

Great, let's commission a state statue for Coker.