Big Sugar

Big Sugar spent more than $600k on state lobbying in Q2

September 5, 2025

Big Sugar continues to spend big on lobbying, according to state data. In the second quarter of 2025, the industry reported that at least 55 individual lobbyists from 25 different firms were registered to lobby on their behalf. Those lobbyists collected…

Rock mine update: Project files for extension after nearly missing deadline

August 28, 2025

UPDATE: In our Aug. 28 newsletter we noted that while the Southland Water Resource Project (the EAA rock mine) faces a legal challenge over its FDEP permit, the “water resources” aspect of the project hasn’t even begun the South Florida Water…

Legal challenge filed to halt Big Sugar’s rock mine

August 13, 2025

The Florida DEP planned to issue an Environmental Resource Permit (ERP) for the first phase of the Southland Water Resource Project project this week; but on Monday the Everglades Law Center filed a legal challenge to halt the project, acting…

Rock mine could get DEP permit Aug. 11 unless ‘Everglades Governor’ steps in

August 8, 2025

Barring some legal challenge, the Florida DEP (“Don’t Expect Protection”) is scheduled to issue its permit for Phase 1 of the Southland rock mine project on Aug. 11 — and the one person who can stop it, Gov. Ron DeSantis,…

Deep Dive into herbicides: Can Florida cut back on all the spraying?

August 7, 2025

At the May 10 South Florida Water Management District Governing Board meeting, member Ben Butler said he’s heard “numerous concerns” about the district’s use of herbicides. Butler, manager of the family-owned dairy farm Butler Oaks Farm north of Lake Okeechobee,…

Sugar smackdown: Former Congressman calls out ‘oligarchy’

July 31, 2025

That’s gonna leave a mark! Former Florida Congressman Francis Rooney (at right) slapped Big Sugar with a rhetorical 2×4 last week, calling out the industry — and the Trump Administration — for pushing policies that reward their political cronies while…

Ag Secretary visits Clewiston as Big Sugar billionaires get richer

July 24, 2025

No doubt about it — one of the big winners in the President’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” was Big Sugar. And U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ visit to Clewiston Monday proved it. Rollins met with Big Sugar employees…

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and Big Sugar’s rock mine – what are we doing to the Everglades?

June 26, 2025

By now you likely know that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wants to build an immigrant detention center — “Alligator Alcatraz” — on the grounds of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. Once upon a time the world’s biggest airport,…

HUGE questions about Southland rock mine at SFWMD meeting

June 6, 2025

The Southland rock mine proposal, on 8,600 acres of Palm Beach County farmland owned by US Sugar and Okeelanta Corp. (Florida Crystals), has been sailing through the county and state approval process. But at the South Florida Water Management District…

Big, beautiful… benefit to Big Sugar

June 5, 2025

Reconciliation bill looks like another giveaway to the sugar industry Federal lawmakers still haven’t passed a new, updated Farm Bill. But some agricultural programs look like they’ll be part of President Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” — including, you guessed…

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