CLEWISTON, Fla. - The state of Florida is expected to announce a new agreement to buy the farmland of U.S. Sugar, and people in Clewiston, 60 miles east of Fort Myers, are reacting with anger and confusion.

"Uncertainty is killing this community, and the surrounding communities as well. It is devastating," said Jeff Barwick, a Clewiston native and former head of the Chamber of Commerce in that city.

"Nobody is willing to invest, all plans are on hold," he told WINK News.

Barwick blames the revised deal, which reportedly will allow the sugar giant to keep its refinery and some other buildings, while selling off its fields.

"We wonder, what sense does it make to keep the refinery, while getting rid of the fields that produce the sugar cane," asked Butch Wilson, a former U.S. Sugar employee and current head of the Clewiston Historical Museum.

The state originally was negotiating to buy the sugar company, and all its assets for $1.75 billion. Now the state will buy the land for $1.34 billion, according to the Associated Press.

Some people in Clewiston worry about severance packages for long-time U.S. Sugar employees. Lori Williams, the owner of a restaurant in Clewiston, told WINK that her husband was hoping for a good severance package from the company in a few years. Now, she says, "It's a matter of wait and see. We don't know what is going to happen. It puts us potentially in limbo."

Another sugar company, Florida Crystals, already is expressing interest in buying the refinery in Clewiston. But an executive with that company is quoted as saying, it will all depend on how much land is left for sugar production in South Florida.

Most environmental groups support the buy-out. They want to return the land to its natural state, and allow clean water to flow south into the Everglades.