Florida's proposed $1.7 billion buyout of U.S. Sugar has been hailed as a landmark deal for Everglades restoration efforts, but it also could prove to be a financial boon for the state's remaining sugar superpower, Florida Crystals.

The Fanjul family of Palm Beach -- one of the country's wealthiest families -- controls Florida Crystals and today touches nearly every aspect of the U.S. sugar trade.

The buyout plan proposed by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) in June initially promised to send freshwater streaming into the Everglades again, through a wide, shallow expanse called a flow way. But taking title to U.S. Sugar's 187,000 acres will not by itself enable the state to construct the flow way. The state would need an additional 40,000 acres now standing in the way -- land owned by a Fanjul company, the Okeelanta Corp.

So far, negotiations over the land use and purchases are behind closed doors, but many in the sugar trade expect that the Fanjuls will use the U.S. Sugar buyout to expand their holdings in southern Florida, trading some of their land for U.S. Sugar's in a state-orchestrated swap.

"This is going to be a really good deal for the Fanjuls," said Dexter Lehtinen, a former federal prosecutor whose 1988 lawsuit against the state led to a settlement instituting tough clean water standards. "The state embarked on a nonachievable goal, and now in desperation to wrap up some package, they're going to have to give access to Florida Crystals on some favorable terms" (Mary Williams Walsh, New York Times, Sept. 14). -- RB