Editing Biscayne National Park (section)

===Proposed development===
[[File:Boca Chita Miami skyline NPS1.jpg|thumb|alt=Aerial view of Boca Chita Key with the skyline of Miami in the distance|[[Boca Chita Key]] lighthouse and the [[Miami]] skyline]]
[[File:Turkey Point FL1.jpg|thumb|alt=Power plant smokestacks and cooling units|[[Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station|Turkey Point Power Station]]]]
As modern communities grew in and around Miami, developers looked to southern [[Miami-Dade County, Florida|Miami-Dade County]] for new projects. The undeveloped keys south of [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]] were viewed as prime development territory.

Beginning in the 1890s, local interests promoted the construction of a causeway to the mainland. One proposal included building a highway linking the [[Biscayne Bay]] keys to the [[Overseas Highway]] at [[Key Largo, Florida|Key Largo]] and to the developed barrier islands to the north.<ref>Miller, pp. 17–18</ref> At the same time, pressure built to accommodate industrial development in [[South Florida]]. This led to competing priorities between those who wanted to develop for residential and leisure use and those in favor of industrial and infrastructure development. On December 6, 1960, 12 of the 18 area landowners who favored development voted to create the City of [[Islandia, Florida|Islandia]] on [[Elliott Key]].<ref name=mozingo1>{{cite news|last=Mozingo|first=Joe|title=Tiniest Town in Fla. an Almost-Was; Islandia Held Promise for Development Until National Park Swallowed 33 Keys|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=March 9, 2003}}</ref> The town was incorporated to encourage Dade County to improve access to Elliott Key, which landowners viewed as a potential rival to [[Miami Beach, Florida|Miami Beach]]. The new city lobbied for causeway access and formed a negotiating bloc to attract potential developers.<ref name=npsbisc10>{{cite web|title=The Birth of Biscayne National Park|url=http://www.nps.gov/bisc/historyculture/the-birth-of-biscayne-national-park.htm|work=Biscayne National Park|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref>

In 1962, an industrial seaport was proposed for the mainland shores of Biscayne Bay, to be known as SeaDade. SeaDade, supported by billionaire shipping magnate [[Daniel K. Ludwig]], would have included an oil refinery. In addition to the physical structures, it would have been necessary to dredge a {{convert|40|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep }} channel through the bay for large ships to access the refinery. The channel would have also required cutting through the coral reef to get to the deep water.<ref name=npsbisc10/> In 1963 [[Florida Power and Light]] (FP&L) announced plans for two new 400-[[megawatt]] oil-fired power plants on undeveloped land at [[Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station|Turkey Point]].<ref>Miller, p. 46</ref>

Many local residents and politicians supported SeaDade because it would have created additional jobs, but a group of early environmentalists thought the costs were too high. They fought against development of the bay and formed the Safe Progress Association. Led by Lloyd Miller, the president of the local chapter of the [[Izaak Walton League]], ''[[Miami Herald]]'' reporter [[Juanita Greene]], and Art Marshall, the opponents of industrialization proposed the creation of a national park unit that would protect the reefs, islands and bay.<ref name=npsbisc10/> After initial skepticism, the park proposal obtained the support of ''Miami Herald'' editors,<ref name=duncan1>{{cite book|last=Duncan|first=Dayton|title=The National Parks: America's Best Idea|url=https://archive.org/details/nationalparksame00dunc|url-access=registration|year=2009|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-307-26896-9|author2=Burns, Ken|page=[https://archive.org/details/nationalparksame00dunc/page/351 351]}}</ref>  as well as Florida Congressman [[Dante Fascell]] and Florida Governor [[Claude R. Kirk Jr.]], and were supported by lobbying efforts by sympathetic businessmen including [[Herbert Hoover, Jr.]]<ref name=mayr1>{{cite book|last=Mayr|first=Monika|title=Everglades Betrayal:The Issue that Defeated Al Gore|year=2008|publisher=Two Harbors Press|isbn=978-1-935097-04-4|pages=72–73}}</ref>

One vision of Islandia, supported by land owners, would have connected the northern [[Florida Keys]] from [[Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]] to [[Key Largo, Florida|Key Largo]], with bridges and created new islands using the fill from the SeaDade channel. Although Miami-area politicians and the state of Florida did not support Ludwig's SeaDade plans, Islandia's supporters continued to lobby for development support. In 1968, when it appeared the area was about to become a national monument, Islandia supporters bulldozed a highway six lanes wide down the center of the island, destroying the forest for {{convert|7|mi|km}}. Islandia landowners called it Elliott Key Boulevard, but called it "Spite Highway" privately. It was hoped that since there was so much environmental damage, no one would want it for a national monument. Over time in the near-tropical climate, the forest grew back and now the only significant hiking trail on Elliott Key now follows the path of Elliott Key Boulevard.<ref name=npsbisc10/>

The oil-fired Turkey Point power stations were completed in 1967–68 and experienced immediate problems from the discharge of hot cooling water into Biscayne Bay, where the heat killed marine grasses.<ref>Miller, pp. 48, 59, 61, 64</ref> In 1964 FP&L announced plans for two 693 MW nuclear reactors at the site,<ref>Miller, p. 48</ref> which were expected to compound the cooling water problem. Because of the shallowness of Biscayne Bay, the power stations were projected to consume a significant proportion of the bay's waters each day for cooling. After extensive negotiations and litigation with both the state and with Ludwig, who owned lands needed for cooling water canals, a closed-loop canal system was built south of the power plants and the nuclear units became operational in the early 1970s.<ref>Miller, pp. 69, 76–79</ref>

Portions of the present park were used for recreation prior to the park's establishment. Homestead Bayfront Park, still operated by Miami-Dade County just south of Convoy Point, established a "blacks-only" segregated beach for African-Americans at the present site of the Dante Fascell Visitor Center. The segregated beach operated through the 1950s into the early 1960s before segregated public facilities were abolished.<ref name=npsbisc15>{{cite web|last=Lawson|first=Charles|title=Park Seeks Recollections of Homestead's "Blacks Only" Beach|url=http://www.nps.gov/bisc/parknews/blacks-only-beach-oral-histories-sought.htm|work=Biscayne National Park|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=21 November 2012}}</ref>