Crist cross

Was Florida guv's big Everglades deal an attempt to keep him in the running for VP?

Posted by Kate Sheppard at 11:12 PM on 25 Jun 2008

Over on The Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capitol blog, Keith Johnson raises the question of whether Charlie Crist's $1.75 billion deal to buy 300 square miles of the Everglades from U.S. Sugar Corp. was timed to keep his chance at the VP spot alive, as some Floridians have suggested.

Last week Grist noted that Crist's enviro cred may be at stake now that he's backed John McCain's call for off-shore drilling. Tuesday's announcement of the deal for the Everglades has been heralded as possibly the biggest environmental restoration in the history of the United States, which might restore some of the guv's reputation in the enviro world.

But Johnson also raises another good question -- will that help him in the world of Republican presidential politics?

[E]ven if the Everglades deal promises to boost Gov. Crist's standing at home, it's not clear that burnishing his environmental credentials would make him more attractive nationwide for the Republican ticket in the fall, when Sen. McCain's aggressive approach to climate change and other environmental issues has already alienated lots of hardcore Republicans, like the WSJ edit page.

For story: Crist cross
5 Comments | Post a Comment

Everglades & the GOP

Crist's announcement represents a potentially huge move on the Everglades restoration front, but the credit for getting the world's largest restoration project started in the first place belongs to former Gov. Jeb Bush and Pres. Bill Clinton, who signed the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan into law in 2000.

Unfortunately, the feds have never delivered on their side of the 50/50 matching funds required for the project, leaving the state of Florida to select priority projects to fund by themselves. The state has put about $2 billion into the restoration so far ... can't remember the exact numbers but total project spending for both feds and state is projected to be greater than $10 billion.

No doubt this announcement is politically timed, but the move to reclaim the sugar cane land south of Lake Okeechobee has been going of for years and will be a huge step in restoring (and filtering) water flow from the lake into the Everglades. Without that flow, and the acreage needed to soak up the nutrient load from a polluted Lake. O., Everglades restoration exists in word only.

So Crist deserves credit for that. Clearly, Jeb's brother hasn't been any help at all in Glades restoration during the last eight years. This deal should give restoration a huge boost, even if it does happen on the state's dime. But it doesn't exonerate Crist for his offshore drilling flip-flop. Nobody should make those kind of trade-offs.

by bkpx at 5:41 AM on 26 Jun 2008

State Fuel Farm?

From the St. Petersburg Times ~

But more than 100,000 acres of it could be turned back to farming -- perhaps growing crops for use as fuel, said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole.

"I don't need 187,000 acres for environmental restoration," said Sole -- an assertion that was already stirring opposition among environmental activists who have long wanted to restore the broad expanse of the River of Grass.

Crist offered buyout as U.S. Sugar hit wall
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wetlands/article ...

by KO at 2:24 PM on 26 Jun 2008

Save Alligators; Kill People

Green anti-human sentiment is in full force, as precious natural sugar is ceded to the alligators. This forces more consumption of corn syrup which increases obesity, high blood pressure and death.

by jabailo at 4:43 PM on 26 Jun 2008

hurray parking lot planet!

according to John Bailo's ethic, apparently. Sure, let's keep human beings alive at all costs, and then let's force them to live in an impoverished world.

The Everglades are unique. There is nothing like them on Earth. Whatever Crist's motivation might be, a chance to restore them is a beautiful hope.

Bailo, on the other hand, loving the death of Edward G. Robinson in "Soylent Green," seems to recommend that, once the food runs out, we should look at movie screens of Everglades wildlife, while we lie on a hospital bed and are calmly euthanized.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 11:55 PM on 26 Jun 2008

Sugar, the other planet killing biofuel

SUGAR FOR BIOFUEL TO DISPLACE KENYA'S TANA DELTA WILDLIFE

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 26, 2008 (ENS) - Kenya's Tana River Delta, inhabited by 350 species of birds, lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles, is about to be converted to sugar cane production over the objections of conservationists and local communities. The Kenyan government has approved a proposal by a publicly traded company based in Nairobi to covert 2,000 square kilometers of the pristine delta into irrigated sugarcane plantations.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-26-03.asp ...

The 5% Project

by JMG at 10:02 AM on 27 Jun 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.