Florida Audubon and Everglades advocates analyzed the National Academy of Sciences report, Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Third Biennial Review--2010, released this week and believe it should have made a stronger call for pollution controls to improve water quality in the system. The report also acknowledged the progress of Audubon endorsed projects such as bridging Tamiami Trail and the urgency of the state purchase of U.S. Sugar lands in the Everglades Agricultural Area, south of Lake Okeechobee.
Executive Director Eric Draper in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
Eric Draper, of Audubon of Florida, credited the report for giving an "endorsement" to the U.S. Sugar deal.But Draper said it was "disappointing" that the report didn't make a stronger call for imposing more water pollution prevention requirements on the agricultural operations that pass along much of the phosphorus that is washing off farmland and overloading the Everglades.
"We're not requiring sugar cane farmers to do everything they can … to control pollution that is coming off their land," Draper said.
You can find further coverage, including additional responses from Audubon of Florida staff, at the Palm Beach Post, Miami Herald and the New York Times.
