U.S. Sugar to Sell Everglades Tract to State for $1.75B

The state of Florida has agreed to buy a 300-square-mile section of the
Everglades from U.S. Sugar Corp for $1.75 billion dollars–an
arrangement that is being called on one of the biggest conservation
deals in U.S. history. 

The state has been working to restore the Everglades and reduce the impact of sugar cane growers and development on the nation’s largest wetlands. 

Republican governor Charlie Crist said the deal is "as
monumental as the creation of our nation’s first national park,
Yellowstone."

U.S. Sugar, which has been under competitve pressure from
imported sugar, will continue to farm the 187,000 acres for six more
years before turning it over to the state and going out of business.

Read the full Associated Press story.