Gov. Crist announces U.S. Sugar purchase

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Governor Charlie Crist announced today that Florida would buy nearly 300 square miles of land from U.S. Sugar Corp. for Everglades restoration, as reported yesterday by the Palm Beach Post, in what the Governor called “the largest conservation purchase in the history of the state.” The state would pay $1.7 billion to the company, which is the largest producer of cane sugar in the U.S., and allow it to grow on the land for six years before closing up shop and effectively ending its business in Florida. The deal, which officials hope to finalize by September, would leave at least 250,000 acres of sugar-producing land operated by other companies in the state.

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