The Battle of the Everglades: The Politics of Sugar

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The Battle of the Everglades The Politics of
Sugar

• Nicholas Hall

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First of all..

• How large were the Everglades before human
  development started in south Florida?

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• About 4 million acres! it stretched from the
  south end of Lake Okeechobee to the southern tip
  of Florida along the gulf coast.

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The Everglades during the Industrial Years-1920
to 1960

• After devastating hurricanes in 1926 and 1928,
  the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers redesigned and
  developed the south end of Lake Okeechobee for
  development by building large canals and series
  of dams to channel the water that was supposed to
  be feeding the everglades eastward to the
  Atlantic side and into the ocean.

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• This newly developed area provided 1.3 million
  acres of what used to be the everglades into land
  for urban use.
• This developed area also provided 1 million acres
  of land for the Everglades Agricultural Area.
• During the 1950s (after the embargo on Cuba
  limiting our sugar imports) new growers focused
  on the Agricultural Area for sugar cane. The
  great Florida weather, rich soil and abundant
  source of fresh water was a perfect combination
  for Sugar Cane.

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Second Question

• How much is the Sugar industry in Florida worth?
• 700 million! worth
• more than Florida-grown
• corn, soybean, tobacco
• and peanut crops combined! Only citrus
  is more important than
  sugarcane for Floridas Agricultural Economy.

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The Impacts of Sugar

• The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) was
  specifically designed for the Sugar industry, yet
  no one took into consideration the environmental
  impacts of what may happen to the Everglades
  directly south of the Sugar cane fields.
• It was soon discovered that the runoff from these
  sugar cane fields carried large amounts of
  phosphorus, a nutrient, which choked off other
  plants from growing in the Everglades. In a
  fragile eco-system, these nutrients can have a
  huge impact on the balance of life for all that
  live in it.

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• Also with phosphorus in the water, the usually
  clear waters of the Florida Bay turned a dark
  cloudy brown by the dead sea grass from the
  Everglades.
• The Everglades is also home to 54 endangered
  species and it provides drinking water to Palm
  Beach and Miami.

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So what is being done?

• Nothing can be done about the already developed
  land south of Lake Okeechobee..but steps have
  been taken to clean up the run-off from the sugar
  cane and improve the future for the remanding
  area of the Everglades.
• The Sugar Industry has tried to oppose
  environmentalists claims that the pollution is
  from the sugar cane and have appealed decisions
  that clean-up of the Everglades is necessary.
• But

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The Everglades Forever Act

• After much lobbying from environmentalists and
  after extensive research was done.In 1994, the
  Everglades Forever Act was passed by the Florida
  Legislature and signed into law by Governor
  Lawton Chiles.
• It has been called the most ambitious and complex
  environmental restoration effort ever undertaken

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What will this plan do?

• set farm water runoff quality at a standard that
  is twice as clean as rain.
• create over 40,000 acres of filtering marshes.
• restore a more natural timing and distribution of
  water to Everglades National Park.
• increase the level of water flowing to the
  Everglades by 28.

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Has it worked?

• Yes and No
• Yes the levels of nutrients have declined to the
  set level and the amount of water flowing though
  the Everglades is rising.
• No the state of Florida has had trouble keeping
  to the high price tag that is needed to do more
  repairs and rejuvenate what remains of the
  Everglades

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• THE END