| WASHINGTON
- May 3 - The Sierra Club and other environmental groups sent a letter today
to Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman asking that he conduct a formal
environmental review before granting $100 million to Florida's sugar industry.
On April 27, the Wall Street Journal reported that the sugar industry and its
congressional allies were lobbying Secretary Glickman and the White House for a
$100 million federal subsidy to compensate for low sugar prices. The
environmental groups' letter states that such a subsidy would have a profound
effect on Florida's Everglades, and requests that Secretary Glickman conduct a
formal review to determine its potential effects on water quality before making
a decision.
"If Secretary Glickman has an extra $100 million to give away," said Frank
Jackalone, Director of the Sierra Club's Florida Office, "It would be better
spent on acquiring land to protect the Everglades than by subsidizing a crop
responsible for Everglades destruction."
Under the National Environmental Policy Act, federal agencies are required to
review how their decisions would affect the environment. Artificially increasing
the price of sugar could prolong or increase sugar production in south Florida,
and potentially cause a major disturbance to the Everglades.
"This is an industry that has continuously damaged the Everglades by polluting
the waters of this fragile ecosystem or diverting enormous amounts of water from
the area for their own use," said Jackalone. "Not only should Secretary Glickman
produce this study to protect the Everglades, he is required to under federal
law."
Meanwhile, the Senate is scheduled to begin hearings on a multi-billion dollar
Everglades restoration plan on May 11. The groups noted this contradiction in
their letter to Glickman. "It is particularly ironic that you are considering a
$100 million subsidy to an industry responsible for polluting the Everglades at
the same time the Administration is seeking Congressional approval for an
ambitious, $7.8 billion plan to restore the Everglades. The prospect of another
subsidy to the sugar industry is completely inconsistent with the
Administration's commitment to restoring the Everglades."
"The Florida Everglades is a national treasure that deserves to be protected and
saved," said Jackalone. "We strongly oppose a bailout of Big Sugar and hope that
the Clinton Administration will assess the potential environmental damage and
deny the sugar industry this federal prize money."
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