BRADENTON — On Thursday, the South Florida Water Management District Board killed a 2010 deal to buy 46,800 acres of U.S. Sugar's land, considered critical to restoring the Everglades and many of Florida's coastal estuaries.

The board said the deal cost too much and contained too little benefit. At the meeting, board members voted for Governor Scott's alternative, a $5 billion/20-year restoration plan that does not include purchasing the land that the state had an option on through the agency's board.

The land, which is located just south of Lake Okeechobee, was to be used in storing and redirecting water from the lake, which would also help estuaries currently taking on polluted discharges.

The sugar giant, which came under fire for sponsoring secret, high-end hunting trips to a famous Texas ranch for high-level politicians, including Scott and Ag Commissioner Adam Putnam, now has plans to develop the land it was once eager to sell.

Environmental activists protested the decision for weeks before the meeting, when it became clear the purchase was unlikely. Many have suggested that U.S. Sugar used its close political ties to dissuade officials from funding the purchase, even though more than $700 million dedicated to such land acquisitions is now available annually via Amendement 1, which was passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2014.

Opponents of the land deal, which would have cost around $350 million, maintain that it was too expensive and that the state already held too much preservation land.

see also:

A Story of Clean Water, Big Sugar, Amendment 1, Hunting Trips, the Everglades and More Development