Mining A 'Key Element' Of Everglades Restoration Plan

Rock-mining will have an "irreversible significant impact" on the Florida Everglades. Then why is it considered to be a "key element" in a plan to restore the fragile ecosystem?

1 minute read

June 26, 2002, 7:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech


The 'Lake Belt' mining plan is the starkest evidence that Everglades restoration is not just about restoring the Everglades. It calls for the Corps to wait until the rock pits are mined out in 35 years or so, then spend $1 billion to convert two of them into huge storage reservoirs: one for drinking water and additional flows to Biscayne National Park and one for Everglades National Park. The premise is that sacrificing Everglades fringes as big as the city of Miami can help save the ecosystem... In many ways, the Lake Belt plan is a microcosm of all that is questionable about America's largest, most complex and least understood environmental project."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

Monday, June 24, 2002 in The Washington Post

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