By: J.P. Sasser, Pahokee
When the Everglades Reservoir and restoration were originally designed, permitted and funded almost 20 years ago, the first to oppose the reservoir were the environmental groups. Their reasoning was that it would be more of an aid to the sugar industry than it would benefit restoration. In addition, a critical part of the plan was to have land swaps that would allow agricultural interests to swap good farmland for less productive land that could be used for restoration. Again, this was opposed by the environmentalists. This option was later removed from the deal when announced by then-Vice President Al Gore…