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The state is one step closer to buying 180,000 acres of land in the Everglades.

Thursday Governor Charlie Crist praised a vote of by the South Florida Water Management District allowing the deal to move forward. The state plans to buy the land from US Sugar, for 1.3 billion dollars. While the purchase isn’t a done deal, Crist said getting the district’s approval is a big step.

“Without this bold first step taking place on Tuesday, this vote, this act of democracy in order to protect the environment, none of these other issues, that we will work on very hard together, would even be before us anymore, but they are,” said Crist.

US Sugar can still back out of the deal if the economy gets worse.