Peter Schorsch
The usual environmental advocacy groups have been beating the drums, trying to interest somebody, anybody in state government to exercise an expiring option to buy 46,000 acres of U.S. Sugar land for almost $500 million.
The enviro mantra justifying the land purchase is “Send the Water South.” Opponents of the purchase have argued that there is no plan to use the land that would work and that buying it would be a waste of money.
Wednesday, a leading enviro spokesman, Eric Draper of the Audubon Society, agreed, admitting that the idea of creating a “flow way” to send excess water from Lake Okeechobee south to the Everglades “will never happen. It’s pie in the sky.” Still, Draper thinks the state should buy the land anyway, because it might be needed for water storage someday.
Chances are, however, the Legislature is going to think that half-a-billion dollars is a tad pricey for a slice of sky pie.
