Ethical Sugar - U.S. Sugar deal still need’s this family’s OK

Tuesday 8 July 2008

The powerful and politically savvy Fanjul family is in the catbird seat when it comes to the multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration plan.

That's because its Florida Crystals sugar operation owns about 35,000 acres of sugar cane that South Florida water managers need if they are to complete their ambitious plan for a "flow-way" connecting Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

Now that the South Florida Water Management District has announced plans to buy 187,000 acres from U.S. Sugar for $1.75 billion and put that sugar giant out of business, ownership of the Fanjul land becomes the largest challenge to the proposed restoration's success.

The Fanjuls "have leverage in this case because they have land that the water management district needs, so that gives them an advantage," said Bill Malone, a retired water district land negotiator. "And I think they will do their best to play that advantage to their benefit. They always have."

The valuable position held by the Fanjuls will not only help them get top dollar from the district but also raises the specter that they may want more than to just trade their land for U.S. Sugar land. They may want special deals for development or lucrative rock mining.

One goal of Everglades restoration is to recreate, as much as possible, the natural flow of water across farmland long polluted by agribusiness chemicals.

When Gov. Charlie Crist announced the U.S. Sugar deal, he called the company's land the "missing link." But the district still needs some or all of the Florida Crystals land to complete the link. District officials want to trade U.S. Sugar land outside the flow-way for Florida Crystals land inside the flow-way.

The poker game isn't even to the ante-up stage yet.

"They obviously can't build the flow-way without it, because we have 35,000 acres right in the middle of it," said Gaston Cantens, vice president for corporate relations for Florida Crystals. "They have not communicated what they want. We don't have the details yet."