Bruce Ritchie
With hundreds of lobbyists in suits and Parrotheads in flower-patterned shirts cheering in applause, singer Jimmy Buffett urged Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature to buy land to protect the Everglades.
“It’s good to be back in Tallahassee,” Buffett said before playing an acoustic version of “Changes in Lattitudes.”
“It’s good to be raising a little hell for the right reason,” he said.
Buffett was at the Capitol for an Everglades Day celebration held by the Everglades Coalition, which wants the state to buy some of 46,000 acres of U.S. Sugar Corp. land. The state faces an October deadline to exercise an option to buy the land, which U.S. Sugar says it isn’t interested in selling.
The land would serve as a reservoir to clean water flowing from Lake Okeechobee into Everglades National Park. Scott and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli have opposed the purchase.
Scott said he’s focused on completely funding planned projects such as reservoirs along the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. Crisafulli, a Republican from Merritt Island, said he objects to the state buying more land.
Everglades Coalition co-chair Cara Capp urged the audience to send messages through Twitter to the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives. She said money from Amendment 1, the water and land conservation measure approved by voters in November, was available for the purchase.
Author and Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen said the U.S. Sugar Corp. land is in the Everglades restoration plan approved by Florida and Congress, and signed by President Bill Clinton.
Hiaasen also said 4.2 million people voted for Amendment 1 statewide in November compared with 42,363 votes for Crisafulli in his District 51 race.
“That means 100 times more people voted for Amendment 1 than voted for the House speaker — 100 times more,” Hiaasen said. “So he needs to hear from all of you. So does Governor Scott and so does every member of the Legislature.”
Hiaasen’s introduction led Buffett to recall the “Skink” character from Hiaasen’s books including Double Whammy. Skink, also known as Clinton Tyree, opposed development as Florida governor during the 1970s before quitting office to become an eccentric hermit.
“As I watched Carl I said what would Skink do? He would do the right thing,” Buffett said.
“Governor, Legislature do the right thing here,” Buffett said. “We want to buy us some precious latitudes south of the Everglades. We want to preserve our water. And we want to save our swamp. And we want to have a future in Florida for our children like we have had so far.”
There were probably a few skeptics in the crowd dominated by sign waving environmentalists and Buffett fans, who affectionally call themselves “Parrotheads.”
“I love the music,” said Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, who added that he loves Hiaasen, too.
As far as the politics? “I think we’re a little different,” Pilon said.
“It’s not a matter of whether we buy the land, it’s when we buy the land — for the right reason and the right timing.”
Bruce Ritchie (@bruceritchie) covers environment, energy and growth management in Tallahassee.
