The State of Florida has now shown the world that they cannot be considered a serious participant in efforts to restore the Everglades. In 1994, the Florida Legislature passed the Everglades Forever Act (EFA) which, with the approval of the federal government, allowed the State to become the dominant partner in what is history's most ambitious ecosystem restoration proposal. That Act, a compromise and settlement to which all of the current stakeholders (including farming interests in the Everglades Agricultural Area) were parties, has spawned a complex legal and regulatory foundation upon which a myriad of international, federal, state and local fiscal expectations were built.

Yet even as originally passed, the EFA failed to set strict enough deadlines for restoring the quantity and quality of water flowing into and through the River of Grass, and has inevitably set the stage for today's conflicts about the restoration plan's pro-development, pro-sugar farming priorities.

The recently passed amendment to the EFA will completely undermine that already weak foundation setting back the deadline to stop the pollution at least another 13 years. The amendment is now law, and the new guideline for "Everglades restoration," and the impact on the biological integrity of the already teetering Everglades system will be devastating. Thousands more acres of wetland will be destroyed by the relentless advance of cattails and stagnant water. Flooding will worsen. droughts will lengthen.

Water quantity and quality flowing through the Everglades affect not only the wildlife and habitats of the protected natural Everglades, but also influence urban water supplies, flood protection, coastal estuaries, tourism, and even sport and commercial fisheries. The thousands of migratory birds who take up temporary residence in the Everglades come from as far away as Canada and South America. The State should have strengthened and to sped up protection for the endangered natural Everglades, simultaneously reducing the costs that all Florida citizens must now pay to continue to subsidize real estate speculators and the sugar industry.

The new law will create more costly environmental damage, relieving only those who divert and pollute Everglades waters of their moral and legal responsibility for degrading our precious water supplies, and reward selfish, short-sighted people who would throw away South Florida's future so they can make a few more dollars today.

In a time of national economic difficulty, Florida remains the potential recipient of billions of federal dollars which, if spent wisely, could help restore the Everglades and significantly improve water management for the benefit of Florida's urban and agricultural economies. Whether the Everglades restoration project will be directed to actually benefit the natural Everglades is still undecided. Most of the indecision is already resting on the State of Florida's reluctance to proceed with its obligations under even the original weak and ambiguous restoration program.

The State's action calls into question the wisdom of a plan that gives the State so much to say about the fate of the Everglades. The federally authorized, federally funded Corps of Engineers project operated by the South Florida Water Management District exists only because people from all over the United States encouraged Congress to fund water management in South Florida, on the condition that the water management project would support, rather than interfere with, protection of the Everglades. More than the Everglades is at risk now that those people are forced to conclude that their continued federal subsidy only means more money for development and the sugar industry in South Florida and more damage to the Everglades.

The Governor and many State representatives seem genuinely perplexed by the ground-swell of criticism of their weakening the Everglades Forever Act. This shows how badly they are being misled by their advisors. The ultimate blame for this betrayal falls at the feet of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District whose leadership has sold out to the polluters - turning the River of Grass into a river of broken State promises.

Very truly yours,

David P. Reiner, President
For The Board of Directors
Friends of the Everglades

In Florida? Contact      your State Representatives!

Not In Florida? E-Mail      Governor Crist!           And simply say: The Everglades is a World Heritage Site Stop Compromising Everglades Restoration!