The Everglades Without U.S. Sugar
On June 24, Gov. Charlie Crist announced the U.S. Sugar Corp. has agreed to sell its entire operation and all its assets to the state. The company will end operations in six years and the state will acquire 187,000 acres of land in the Everglades. The $1.75 billion deal is an unprecedented land acquisition for perservation and could give the joint state-federal Everglades restoration project a significant boost. But many questions still remain as the South Florida Water Management District and U.S. Sugar negotiate the terms of the deal in secret. What happens to Clewiston, the home of U.S. Sugar and a place that calls itself "America's Sweetest Town"? Will the deal kick-start restoration efforts? And how will those efforts change now? Our panel tackles those questions and more, this week on Florida Matters.