In 2003 Bush admin bought oil and gas rights for Everglades and beaches.

[madfloridian]

I was trying to figure how this fits into today's scenario, where our "pristine" beaches are more endangered than when this article was written 3 years ago. I had posted about it then because Bob Graham was infuriated at the price the government paid to protect the Gulf coast beaches and the Everglades.

I do not fully understand this, I just know drilling is in our future now. Maybe a hundred miles offshore now, then gradually creeping closer to shore.

I guess I never thought about the Everglades. I guess from this 2003 article that the government owns those rights as well? So is that area next? A lot has happened in 3 years, and I can't fit the puzzle pieces.

Graham Challenges $120 Million Oil Deal

MIAMI -- Sen. Bob Graham wants the Bush administration to justify spending $120 million to buy oil and gas rights from a pioneering Florida family to protect the Everglades and the state's pristine beaches from drilling.

The proposed buyout of the Collier family would nullify its substantial oil and gas rights in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress National Preserve, which is adjacent to Everglades National Park in southwestern Florida.

..."President Bush announced plans to spend $235 million in federal funds to protect the Everglades and Florida beaches last May in a ceremony with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. While the proposal was applauded by environmentalists for protecting the state's fragile "River of Grass" and Gulf beaches, some critics accused the president of making the deal to boost his brother's re-election campaign.

Estes Whitfield, the former chief environmental adviser to three Florida governors, including Graham, said he could not recall an appraisal being done on the mineral rights. He said company officials had tagged the value at $1 billion in the mid-1990s, but he was unsure of its true value.

"I've never known a real survey or account of the value of the mineral rights beneath the Big Cypress," Whitfield said.

I am not sure how the Everglades "clean-up" has gone, I have not been paying attention. I would guess under Jeb's tutelage, not that well. I do know that our "pristine" beaches are more endangered now than before.