TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- An Everglades restoration land deal proposed in 2008 is still possible, although it has shrunk considerably, a Florida water district chairman said.
Chairman Eric Buermann said the $1.75 billion, 180,000-acre project that has been whittled down to a $197 million deal for 26,800 acres was "not a pipe dream," The Miami Herald reported Thursday.
Between a crashing economy and legal challenges by Florida Crystals Corp. and the Miccosukee Tribe, Gov. Charlie Crist's proposal to buy the land from U.S. Sugar Corp. to act as a water filtration system for the Everglades has been cut down considerably.
Environmentalists loved the first deal.
They also love the new deal -- or, at least, they say, it is better than no deal at all.
"The deal was hard for a lot of legislators and other political movers to swallow and when the economy tanked, it made it a harder sale," said Eric Draper, executive director of Audubon of Florida.
"Now, we've got something we can get across the finish line," he said.
Buermann said the governor was "obviously a realist."
"He would like to have done the whole deal as it was originally conceived, as we all wanted to do," Buermann said. However, he said, "If you don't have the money, you don't have the money."
