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Okay. Now, we'll find out why some officials in Florida are suspicious of what sounds like good news. The news involves the Florida Everglades. That giant marshland used to be on a United Nations' list of World Heritage sites that were considered in danger. Farmland and other development were changing the Everglades, and then the Everglades went off the list. The Bush administration says it's because the region's environment is now being restored. Environmental groups say the change in the list reflects politics, not progress. And today, a Democratic senator from Florida leads a hearing into that decision.
NPR's Greg Allen reports.
GREG ALLEN: It was a decision made in late June at a meeting of the U.N.'s World Heritage Committee in New Zealand. The committee, comprised a representatives from 21 countries, unanimously approved a proposal removing the Everglades from the list of endangered sites. The Everglades, the only U.S. site on the list, had been designated in danger since 1993 because of encroaching development and other pressures.
Jonathan Ullman, Everglades' field representative with the Sierra Club, says he was shocked. The action by the committee contradicted findings by scientists with the National Park Service and the U.N. that a restoration of the Everglades still has a long way to go. Ullman says he soon learned the committee was honoring a request from the Bush administration to take the Everglades off the list.
Mr. JONATHAN ULLMAN (Field Representative, Everglades; Sierra Club): I think they wanted it off the list because it was a black eye, and they just wanted to get rid of the problem. But the problem still exists.
ALLEN: Todd Willens is a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of the Interior, and he represented the U.S. at the World Heritage Committee meeting. He defends the delisting, saying it doesn't signify a lessening of commitment on the part of the federal government. Willens says the U.N. is simply recognizing the progress the U.S. has made developing a plan to bring the Everglades back.
Mr. TODD WILLENS (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of the Interior): The World Heritage Committee recognized the work that's going on and the obligations that the U.S. has made to restore Everglades and return it to as much of a natural state as it can, and felt that the goals of listing it as an in danger site had been met.
ALLEN: Willens concedes that restoration of the Everglades, an ecosystem covering 18,000 square miles in South Florida, still has a long way to go. But especially when compared with endangered sites in developing nations, he says the $7 billion spent so far indicated to the World Heritage Committee that the U.S. is serious about Everglades restoration.
I asked him does that, practically speaking, mean the Everglades is out of danger?
Mr. WILLENS: I'll be honest. I would leave that question to the scientists and the experts down there.
ALLEN: And in Florida, the scientists and experts agree that the Everglades is still in danger.
Jonathan Ullman of the Sierra Club says he'd be happy to show Willens or other members of the U.N. committee some of the problems that threaten its future.
Mr. ULLMAN: For example, rock mining in the Everglades, landfills in the Everglades - and these activities are really industrializing the Everglades.
ALLEN: In addition, seven years after it was approved by Congress, that comprehends that Everglades restoration plan has yet to really get under way. Report in May by the general accounting office found that while many small rojects are in the works, none of the 60 most important projects, the ones critical to the restoration of the Everglades, have yet begun. Meanwhile, the price tag has climbed by more than a quarter, to about $20 billion.
Florida Senator Bill Nelson says it's a critical time for the Everglades. There are still way too many questions about its future to take it off the in danger list.
Senator BILL NELSON (Democrat, Florida): The Everglades is endangered. We can't take anything for granted. And therefore, anybody who says the Everglades is okay, you've already done the progress, is directly threatening Everglades restoration.
ALLEN: Money for two large Everglades restoration projects recently was authorized by Congress as part of a $20 billion water resources bill, but its prospects are uncertain. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill because of its cost. If he does, Senator Nelson says he thinks there will be enough votes to override it.
Greg Allen, NPR News. Miami.
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