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Highlands Today

Grimsley Not Big On Deal For U.S. Sugar

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: December 28, 2008

SEBRING - If the South Florida Water Management District comes up with $1.34 million to buy 180,000 acres from U.S. Sugar, your taxes will go up, says State Rep. Denise Grimsley.

About three-fourths of Highlands County is in the water district, and pays property taxes on homes and businesses.

"They say they can make that purchase happen without raising taxes. I don't believe they can," said Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, who represents Glades, Hendry and parts of Collier and Highlands counties.

One reason for her intuitive conclusion: before SFWMD board members approved the deal Dec. 17 by a 4-3 vote, they inserted an "out" clause.

"If they can't come up with the money, they can get out of the deal," Grimsley said Friday.

The board has said they can pull money from other projects, but Grimsley doubts whether they have $1.34 million in revenues and reserves.

When the deal was announced in June, the state planned to give $1.7 billion to U.S. Sugar for 187,000 acres on the edge of Lake Okeechobee. The amounts have changed, but water officials would use the land to create reservoirs to store and clean the polluted lake water before channeling it into the Everglades.

Environmentalists have worked for decades to restore a dying pond of grass - the Everglades. When U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney first heard about it, he cheered the deal.

But as time passes, questions have multiplied.

"What will this cost? Will this work?" asked Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, asked at a community meeting in Clewiston, which was covered by the Tampa Tribune. U.S. Sugar, one of the world's largest sucrose growers, is headquartered in Hendry County, about 75 miles from Sebring.

"We're asking the questions, but what's so frustrating is state officials negotiating the deal don't have any answers," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow. "No questions are being answered about the impact on the overall restoration plan."

State Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, and Allen Boyd, D-Monticello, sent four pages of questions to state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole about two months ago. Among them: "What is the precise mission of this land acquisition deal?" and "What are the long-term operation and maintenance costs of implementing this deal?"

Grimsley hasn't been contacted about any direct or indirect effect on Highlands County - like a loss of jobs or business. But Clewiston could be devastated: 1,700 U.S. Sugar jobs would be lost.

"When the buyout of U.S. Sugar was announced in June, community leaders were promised an economic transition plan to offset the loss of jobs," Grimsley told the board in a videotaped speech transmitted from the Capitol in Tallahassee.

"On June 27, I received a letter from Dale Brill, director of the office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, advising his office would be working closely with community leaders to begin charting a transition for the region. Yet today, we have no plan," Grimsley said. "Without a plan to replace 1,700 jobs, I can't, in good faith, support this proposal."

Since the meeting last week, Grimsley has been told the OTTED has met with leaders in the affected counties.

She also criticized the governor for failing to appointment a replacement to the SWFWM board from the Everglades area. "There are several qualified applicants. My district has been denied a voting seat at the table, and received only broken promises."

Other than the money, why does U.S. Sugar want this deal?

"I don't know," Grimsley said. "There's been speculation they are in financial trouble and they need to sell, but I can't verify that." But she does think the giant corporation, which reported $121 million in revenue for 2007, is getting above market value for the land.

And why does Gov. Crist want the deal? "I don't know, and I don't get a lot of feedback from them," she said. But she does resent how she found out about the deal: a phone call from a Glades constituent.

"We have the opportunity to provide the critical missing link that represents the key to true restoration," Crist told more than 150 people, including U.S. Sugar executives, leaders of major environmental groups and news organizations from around the country.

"I also want to thank God," the governor said. "We're trying to restore what he planned a long time ago." He compared the purchase to the creation of Yellowstone, the country's first national park.

The deal may be falling apart. Mike Sole, secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, he recognized the contract he crafted with U.S. Sugar would need broader political support to survive - especially from Glades communities and state lawmakers, the Miami Herald reported.

"We can either let the opportunity slip through our fingers or continue to pursue the opportunity," Sole said during a conference call with Eric Buermann, chairman of the South Florida Water Management District.

"This is a deal that makes absolutely no sense," said district board member Michael Collins, who contends most of the tracts aren't needed and are in the wrong place. "Just like the holy grail, this is based on a myth. If you get rid of the sugar industry, you solve all the Everglades problems. It's not true."

If the matter comes before the Florida Legislature, Grimsley doesn't believe it will pass.

"Too many unanswered questions," she said.

Grimsley is scheduled to meet with water management district officials next week.

Highlands Today reporter Gary Pinnell can be reached at 863-386-5828 or gpinnell@highlandstoday.com

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