Pollution in the Everglades remains significant despite billions of dollars spent on cleaning and restoring the park over the last decade, according to new analysis from the U.S. EPA. On the bright side, erosion has stabilized and mercury levels in the tiny mosquitofish have dropped; on the, um, not-bright side, mercury levels still accumulate in higher-up-the-food-chain fish enough to require state health warnings, and phosphorus from sugar farms, suburbs, and polluted Lake Okeechobee has spread deeper into the park. Toxic contamination notwithstanding, the Bush administration recently backed a decision by the U.N. World Heritage Committee to remove the Everglades from an international list of endangered sites.
