Shifting Everglades Cost Abroad Intrigues U.S.
A proposal to make some foreign sugar producers chip in for the cost of Everglades restoration is drawing interest from officials in the Clinton administration.</br></br>Under the plan, rights to sell cheap, tariff-exempt sugar to the U.S. would be auctioned to foreign sugar producers. Currently, those rights are granted free to some 40 nations. Boosters say the auction proposal could sharply reduce the taxpayers' burden for the wilderness restoration in the Everglades, which some say may cost $3 billion to $5 billion over the next two decades.</br></br>A draft report done in May 1996 by the President's Council of Economic Advisers estimates that such auctions could have raised $300 million to $400 million since 1990 at the rate of sugar imports during that period. "It's something we're taking seriously and plan to discuss with others in the administration," says one White House environmental official, who asked not to be identified.</br></br>Administration officials say the auctions could be authorized by an order from President Clinton, without a congressional vote. Nevertheless, they're hoping that some key legislators, such as Florida's Democratic Sen. Bob Graham, will give their support.</br></br>Sen. Graham, who has backed the idea of Everglades restoration, but not at the expense of domestic cane growers, couldn't be reached to comment. However, an aide says the senator's staff has been studying the plan and submitted a list of 20 questions about the auction idea to lobbyists in Washington representing the Orlando-based Everglades Trust, an environmental group. Its politcal arm, Save Our Everglades, led last year's unsuccessful fight for an amendment to the Florida Constitution that would have put a tax of one penny a pound on sugar produced in this state, in order to pay for the South Florida wilderness project.