PUNTA GORDA -- Charlotte County Commissioner Adam Cummings will be looking for support in the legal fight against phosphate companies.
Cummings is scheduled to explain the county's three-year plan Wednesday to the Punta Gorda City Council and is also planning to go before the Lee County Commission. The county is attempting to stem the potential impacts of additional phosphate mining to the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor.
"The goal is to garner additional support and resources, including political support, staff support and financial support," Cummings said Monday. The plan could bear a price tag of $3.8 million.
"I really hope to come back with money," Cummings said.
In April, Charlotte commissioners adopted a multi-faceted plan that calls for political lobbying of legislature and state agencies to help implement regulatory rules on the phosphate industry that might better protect the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor.
The plan also suggests the county is ready to take its battle to the courts over pending permits for various mines.
Among the goals, Charlotte plans to:
* Ask the legislature to create a trust fund to be administered by the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program to pay for water supply restoration and enhancements to the Peace River basin.
* Call for a state review of all the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's phosphate mining permits, other than the state's Bureau of Mining Reclamation.
* Call upon the Southwest Florida Water Management District, better known as Swiftmud, to establish minimum flows and water levels for all of the Peace River.
* Have Swiftmud conduct an independent cumulative impact analysis of phosphate mining on the Peace River.
* Ask for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare an area-wide Environmental Impact Statement, which is an intensive environmental study.
* Participate in a "uniform wetland assessment" state rule-making process to insure no exemptions are made for the phosphate industry.
* Negotiate with the mining companies in settlement discussions sponsored by the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority.
* Convene a summit with representatives from the phosphate industry, regulatory agencies, local governments and other interested parties to develop a plan for the restoration and protection of the Peace River watershed.
Out of its own concerns over future phosphate mining, the Hardee County Commission has invited representatives from some 16 counties, state and federal regulatory agencies and regional water resource managers to a phosphate mining planning session next month.
You can e-mail Steve Reilly at reilly@sun-herald.com
By STEVE REILLY
Staff Writer