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Focuses on a controversy surrounding the sugar industry in the United States. Big Sugar, like Big Oil or Big Tobacco, has become a stock symbol of corporate greed and backroom politics, while the Florida Everglades, once generally reviled as a pestilential swamp, has become a beloved symbol of environmental rebirth and bipartisan cooperation. Politicians don't want to be accused of carrying water for Big Sugar or messing with the Everglades. Now, however, Florida Governor Jeb Bush has been accused of both. Big Sugar has unleashed a battalion of 46 lobbyists--including two former Florida House speakers and two former gubernatorial chiefs of staff--to push for a bill in the Florida legislature that would weaken the state's decade-old Everglades cleanup rules. And Jeb's administration, if not quite marching in lockstep with the industry, has certainly provided aid and comfort during the battle. The amended bill that Governor Bush now plans to sign is not so extreme, but it has still jeopardized the most ambitious--and perhaps the most popular--environmental project in the history of the planet, an $8 billion rescue mission for the gators, panthers, and wading birds of the long-abused River of Grass. Jeb was just reelected in November, but this fight could create an electoral nightmare for his older brother in 2004. If President George W. Bush sides with Jeb and Big Sugar--and against some officials in his own administration, who privately describe the bill with words such as "shameful," "sinful," "an utter disaster," and "a fundamental betrayal"--he will pay a political price in the ultimate swing state.

Focuses on efforts to save the Florida Everglades. Environmental conditions in the region; State programs to save the Everglades; Components of the Save the Everglades plan launched in 1983; Priorities in protecting the Everglades.

Discusses how the watery wilderness of south Florida, once shunned as mosquito-infested swampland, has been drained, dredged, and diked for farms and cities. How these spectacular feats of engineering have wreaked havoc on the environment; Manipulation of the area by man; Porous limestone of the region; Dairy cows as prime polluters; Disruption of Florida's natural water system; Water-recycling methods in Orlando. INSET: A watershed besieged..

The article analyzes the effects of public opinion on environmental issues. U.S. Federal agencies are required by law, primarily the National Environmental Policy Act, to seek and consider public comments on proposed actions affecting public land. One illustration of the potential impact of the public's comments involved a 2000 proposal regulating off-road vehicle use through Big Cypress National Preserve on the northern border of Everglades National Park in Florida. According to Don Barry, executive vice president of the Wilderness Society, treatment of public comments depends on the open mindedness of the people receiving them and their commitment to effective public involvement and accountability.

Reports that the Orange County Library System will make data available which concerns the release of toxic waste in Florida. Cooperation of the library system with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Outlook for the information to be stored on microfiche; Inclusion of information about businesses which may dispose of toxic chemical wastes, and how toxins can potentially pollute the environment.

The article focuses on environmental issues related to the Everglades National Park in Florida. It informs that more than half of the historic park has fallen victim to development, and 90 percent of the park's wadingbird population has vanished. In June 2007, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Todd Willens, convinced the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee to remove the Everglades from its list of endangered places. It is stated that Willens' assessment ran counter to the opinion of the U.S. National Park Service. According to Senator Bill Nelson, Everglades' removal is just another example of the U.S administrationputting politics before science.

Presents news briefs on environmental issues in the U.S. as of January 2004. Victory of Big Sugar in its opposition to clean up the mess it made in the Everglades; Information on the contamination of seafoods caused by the flame retardant polybrominated diphenyl ethers; Exemption of the U.S. Department of Defense from complying with the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Discusses the law pending on the United States Congress which would create a plan for restoring the Everglades. Causes of destruction on the Everglades; Institutions that are required to write rules on how the water for agribusiness and suburbs should be redirected; Impact of the proposed construction of an international airport near the Everglades.

Presents United States Vice President Al Gore's announcement of the Federal grant for land acquisition for the Everglades. Amount of the grant; Restoration of the Everglades.

Reports on the approval of mercury emission limits by Florida's Environmental Regulation Commission. Requirements set by regulations; Deadline for different facilities to meet standards; Freedom for incinerator developers to choose their own emission control methods; Specified timetable for scrubberless plants; Plans by other states to set their own standards.

Reports on the merger of Florida's Department of Environmental Regulation and the Department of Natural Resources into the Department of Environmental Protection. Wetlands bureau chief Janet G. Llewellyn on the overall impact of the merger; Changes to be made in the permitting process for environmental permits; Streamlining for coastal construction permits; Benefits of the merger; Reshaping of wetlands regulation.