Threats to Everglades National Park
When Congress established Everglades National Park in 1947, its intent was to protect the unique area from all future impacts. Today, Everglades National Park has been and continues to be under the threat of impacts caused by activities outside its boundaries. To correct damage to Everglades National Park from years of water management mistakes, Congress passed the Everglades restoration bill demanding that all development decisions in or near the Everglades ecosystem be appropriately scrutinized.
Everglades Betrayal - The Issue that Defeated Al Gore details one such decision that involved redevelopment of the former Homestead Air Force Base located approximately 12 miles from Everglades National Park. After Hurricane Andrew destroyed the Base in 1992, Miami-Dade County indicated its desire to redevelop the area into an airport that would restore the powerful economic engine that had been there prior to the hurricane. With scant analysis and even less consideration of impacts to Everglades National Park, the airport plan was approved, and a developer was selected.
Everglades Betrayal describes the process moving forward while environmentalists became concerned that an airport in that location would affect the habitat of Everglades National Park. After much effort, these environmentalists convinced President Clinton’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to review the previous decision and conduct a more thorough analysis.
The more in-depth analysis was conducted while concerned citizens developed alternative proposals for redeveloping the Base against the backdrop of a revered Cuban-American mayor who desperately wanted the airport to be developed. It was the threat to Everglades National Park that elevated this issue to national levels. Both sides hired lobbyists, and there were many showdowns that now fill the pages of the book Everglades Betrayal.
Ultimately, the final decision and the 2000 presidential election collided. Environmentalists were disappointed that Vice President Al Gore did not take a stand on the issue, and Everglades Betrayal details a different side of the fateful election. After the election and before George W. Bush was inaugurated the decision was made to prevent an airport from being developed in order to protect Everglades National Park from harm. More than fifty 50 years after its establishment, Everglades National Park continues to be loved by the country and the world.
The Everglades Betrayal – The Issue that Defeated Al Gore is now available to you online.
