Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Phil AmmannDecember 15, 2017

Extending a two-decade record for Everglades restoration south of Lake Okeechobee, a group of farmers — armed with an effective water quality treatment strategy — have posted historic water-quality performance levels in 2017, sending more clean water than ever flowing south. Seizing on numbers announced this week by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), […]

Phil AmmannMarch 27, 2017

Joe Negron recently visited Pahokee High School for a town hall meeting to discuss his plans for taking farmland in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). During the meeting, the Senate President said he is in discussion with “many owners of land south of the lake” in the effort to acquire 153,000 acres of productive land to […]

Phil AmmannAugust 11, 2016

Joe-Negron-05-mw-120315-Large-e1461606439734-3500x5000.jpg

Incoming Senate President Joe Negron is pushing a $2.4 billion purchase of 60,000 acres of land south of Lake Okeechobee to store excess water and ease the effects of discharging polluted runoff. Announced Tuesday, the plan, which represents a major break in one of the state’s most divisive environmental battles, took the sugar industry by […]

Peter SchorschApril 22, 2016

As the global community celebrates Earth Day April 22, farmers for America’s largest sugar producer are highlighting their role in safeguarding South Florida land and water resources. Now in its 46th year, Earth Day is the largest secular observance on the planet, with more than 1 billion people observing a day of eco-friendly engagement and […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 24, 2016

It’s not surprising that David Guest and his radical Earthjustice group would use a true weather-related crisis – record rain and flooding across Central and South Florida – to level yet another mean-spirited and false assault on local farmers living and working in the Everglades Agricultural Area. Guest’s statement regarding the state and federal government’s […]

Ryan RaySeptember 29, 2015

Longtime water consultant and former South Florida Water Management District staffer Tom McVicar says that according to new data, water quality in ecologically sensitive parts of The Everglades is improving despite the conventional wisdom to the contrary. McVicar told attendees of Associated Industries of Florida’s 2016 Water Forum last week that according to data collected between […]

Guest AuthorJune 3, 2015

For students of Big Sugar and its control of Florida, sub-section county government, Tuesday’s discussion and vote on a resolution proposed by Miami-Dade County Commissioners Daniella Levine Cava and Rebeca Sosa was a master class. The resolution, aimed at lawmakers now in special session, from the outset seemed innocuous but doomed. Instead, it passed. Here, […]

Bruce RitchieApril 30, 2015

The Florida office of a national environmental group on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against federal agencies over protection of an endangered sparrow and Everglades restoration indirectly related to a proposed big land purchase. Environmental groups and some local government officials are pressuring the state to exercise an option to buy 46,800 acres of U.S. Sugar […]

Guest AuthorApril 1, 2015

A major debate is taking place in the Florida House and Senate over public policy regarding water and the allocation of Amendment 1 funds. Various special interests are striving to make their voice the most influential regarding these two high profile issues. At stake is finding a balance of effective policies, which will guard our […]

Guest AuthorApril 1, 2015

With the million-dollar sugar babies still running the show in the Legislature, it might seem impossible to stop the polluting discharges bombarding the coasts and sucking dry the Everglades. And yet there seems to be a sense of momentum for change in the air. More and more angry citizens are realizing that purchasing 46,000 acres […]

Tag: Everglades Agricultural Area
Image via Palatka Main Street.

Everglades farmers celebrate another record year of clean water flowing south

Glades landowners double down on Joe Negron to reveal his ‘willing sellers’

Joe Negron’s Lake O proposal takes sugar industry by surprise

For Earth Day 2016, sugar farmers celebrate history of sustainability, conservation

Phillip Roland: Environmental activist’s claims about Everglades water and farmers don’t square with facts

Former Fla. water official: Data shows Glades water quality improving

Alan Farago: How Big Sugar's shadow fell across a simple Miami-Dade resolution

Sparrow lawsuit has indirect link to water storage, U.S. Sugar land purchase

Dan Peterson: Buying more land isn't Amendment 1's first priority

Karl Wickstrom: Use Amendment 1 to buy land, take on Big Sugar