Tampabay.com
JUNE 23, 2008

U.S. Sugar preparing to sell Everglades land

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In a surprise move environmentalists call "breathtaking," U.S. Sugar Corp. plans to announce today a deal to sell the state 187,000 acres in the Everglades for $1.75-billion.

If approved, it would be the largest conservation purchase the state has ever made, helping restore the ecosystem's natural flow and providing a quantum leap to the effort to clean up the Everglades.

"It's like the Louisiana Purchase for the Everglades," said John Marshall of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, an advocacy group.

The effect on U.S. Sugar is also profound. A force in Florida's economy and politics for decades, the Clewiston company could cease to exist in about five years. (story here)

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