Local leaders settled on a development group dominated by influential Cuban-Americans with close ties to the Democratic Party. The developers, in turn, proposed an international airport with office buildings, warehouses and hotels. But subsequent studies showed that the project would be an environmental disaster. Among other dangers, runoff would threaten the waters and fish of Biscayne Bay, and large-scale development would deplete the aquifers on which the Everglades depends for fresh water. The project is opposed by Carol Browner, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Bruce Babbitt, the interior secretary.
Polls show that local residents oppose it as well.
There are alternative plans on Mr. Clinton's desk for modest, mixed-use development at the site. He should transfer the base to the Interior Department, with instructions that it not be released for development until everyone agrees on a plan that is fully compatible with the needs of an ecosystem that is under enough stress as it is.