Counties, mining companies to meet
In 1881, phosphate rock was discovered along the banks of the Peace River. The mining boom that followed helped towns flourish from Boca Grande to Bartow.
Now the mining industry is returning to the lower Peace River basin where it began, and several counties are awakening to the negative impacts of phosphate mining. As the cliché goes, the local citizens have a dog in that fight.
Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota and Lee counties fear the mining will harm the lifeblood of the region: the Peace River's naturally abundant flows and the contributions it makes to public supplies and the health of the Charlotte Harbor estuary.
Hardee County approved 44,000 acres in mining in the 1970s and is now facing decisions on 35,000 acres more. Hardee doesn't object to the industry -- just to what it leaves behind. Community leaders say the mining has contributed nothing to its economy despite mining company promises of prosperity.
But the mining companies have bought 107,000 acres of the county. And they have property rights.
The mining companies say they can provide reasonable assurances the mining won't cause the adverse impacts that the counties fear.
A point of decision is quickly arriving.
Hardee County has one proposed development agreement under review and another is expected within a year.
To gather input, Hardee has invited its surrounding counties, state and federal agencies, regional water managers and the public to a phosphate forum.
The forum will be held at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 13 at the Hardee County Civic Center.
"If anyone has anything to say about our mining decisions, this would be the time to do it," said Doug Knight, Hardee mining coordinator. "All the input we can get will be helpful."
Horton to head north
Mac Horton, chairman of the Charlotte County Commission, said he plans to attend. In fact, Horton said Wednesday he hopes to present a settlement deal he has been negotiating with IMC Phosphates. The deal is intended to resolve county litigation over its mining concerns.
"I'm planning to have something to share with them by then," he said.
Horton, along with a Sarasota County commissioner and the Peace River Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, has been meeting with IMC officials. They'll meet twice more in the next few weeks.
Horton hopes to present a proposed settlement to the Charlotte County commission Sept. 4. The commission would vote on it Sept. 10.
Horton said he wants to protect "the quality and quantity" of the flow of the Peace River.
The protections are needed "so the mining doesn't destroy our number one asset: Charlotte Harbor," he said.
Horton called Hardee County's battle "very important" to Charlotte County. "Their decisions will impact the water coming down river," he said.
"I don't think the majority of people understand the complexities of the issue. They want the county to go out there and 'slay the dragon.'
"But how can Charlotte stop phosphate mining in Polk County? It can't," he said.
IMC has also proposed a 24,000-acre mine in DeSoto County. However, IMC has temporarily postponed pursuing permits for its Pine Level Mine.
Ronald Neads, a DeSoto County commissioner, said he plans to attend the Hardee forum.
"I want to learn as much as possible about phosphate mining should it come into DeSoto County," Neads said. "We don't know how far down the road it's going to be. But I want to be educated."
Terry Welles, another DeSoto commissioner, said he feels the phosphate companies should find an alternative way to dispose of clays left over after ore is processed. The industry now disposes of it in clay settling areas that cover 40 percent of each mine site.
"You'd think they'd be able to disperse it back into the ground somehow," he said.
The phosphate industry wants to work with all the counties to resolve concerns, said John Joyce, spokesman for the Florida Phosphate Council.
He said the industry hopes to invite county leaders on tours of reclaimed mines and clay settling areas.
"(The tours) will show clay settling areas can be used in certain instances to grow crops and vegetation," he said. "The science speaks for itself."
Diana Youmans, spokeswoman for IMC Phosphates, said she also hopes to see more phosphate "education."
"We have maybe the best story in the state concerning reduced groundwater pumping," she said. "We've reduced pumping more than 50 percent over that last 10 years.
"We have 30 years of USGS data that shows very good water quality coming out of our property and going down river."
Florida produces 75 percent of the phosphate used in the United States and 25 percent of U.S. phosphate exports.
Phosphate is a nutrient crucial to all forms of life, the industry often points out.
The size of the industry will make battling phosphate "just as difficult as stopping the pumping of oil in Texas," Horton said.
Joining the fight
Matt Bixler, conservation director for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, explained how the impacts will affect people:
"Freshwater is critical to the health of an estuary and the estuary is critical to the environment of the region," he said. "It's important for fishing and boating. Boating is huge in Charlotte and Lee counties."
Sarasota County also shares Charlotte's concerns for the water resource, said Sarasota Commissioner Shannon Staub.
Staub has also participated in Charlotte's negotiations with IMC. She described the talks as showing "progress."
Clarke Keller, a member of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, said phosphate mining shouldn't be permitted until the industry's cumulative impacts are studied "by an independent scientific agency."
Keller said state agencies have proven to be too aligned with the phosphate industry for him to trust.
The Peace River Audubon Society's board has taken a bold position on the mining. Its 11-member board voted unanimously this month to adopt a resolution voicing opposition to "any further large scale strip mining in Florida," said Larry Linn, chapter conservation director.
The board will present its draft resolution to its 500 members Sept. 19. Linn cited mining impacts to water flows and wildlife habitats.
"We considered taking some less extreme measures," Linn said. "We decided that was not appropriate for an environmental organization to take. It's that important."
On Tuesday, Charlotte Commissioner Adam Cummings asked Lee County -- which has already committed $100,000 for the legal fight -- to continue supporting Charlotte's battle against phosphate. He won a consensus of support. On Wednesday, he made the same presentation to the Punta Gorda City Council, but council members weren't anxious to commit dollars to the effort.
Power is in the people
Phosphate was discovered along the Peace south of Fort Meade in 1881. The first mining company arrived five years later and, before long, mining towns sprouted, including Liverpool, located in southern DeSoto County.
The industry shipped the ore by barge to the Punta Gorda phosphate dock until a railroad was built to Boca Grande. The industry later concentrated in richer parts of the Bone Valley reserve in Polk County.
Those mines are now played out and the industry is moving south.
In the early 1990s, Consolidated Minerals Inc. of Leesburg sought permits to open the then-15,000-acre Pine Level Mine. That proposal also called for chemical and power plants.
Alan Behrens, founder of DeSoto Citizens Against Pollution, challenged the permit on the grounds CMI failed to provide assurances the mine wouldn't impact Horse Creek, a major tributary to the Peace River.
An administrative law judge sided with Behrens and CMI withdrew its permit request. CMI later sold its property to IMC, which has expanded the proposed site to 24,000 acres.
A year ago, Charlotte County challenged a permit for IMC's 2,800-acre Manson-Jenkins tract in Manatee County. The county spent $1 million taking the company and the DEP to court, but lost its challenge one year ago.
The county appealed and is currently seeking to have DEP Secretary David Struhs barred from deciding the appeal. Struhs has expressed a bias in favor of the DEP permit, county attorneys argued last May. A decision from the 1st Court of Appeals remains pending.
Meanwhile, the DEP issued a permit for IMC's 2,200-acre Altman Tract, also located in Manatee County. As the county prepared to file a challenge last spring, IMC withdrew its application.
The Manson-Jenkins and Altman tracts encompass the entire wetlands in the headwaters of Horse Creek, said Marty Burton, assistant county attorney.
During the decade since the CMI project was rejected, the county tried to protect the resource in the following ways:
* Lobbied the DEP to declare Horse Creek an Outstanding Florida Water.
* Tried to get the Southwest Florida Water Management District to buy the creek's floodplain through the Save Our Rivers program.
* Attempted to get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a cumulative impact study.
All the efforts failed. The state agencies cited the economic benefits of mining.
In July, Charlotte County adopted a $3.8 million plan to "offset the historic impacts" and "protect the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor" from future mining.
Tactics range from lawsuits to legislative lobbying.
"All of the improvements in the phosphate industry ... have been done legislatively," Horton said. "No matter what we all say and what we want, it will be what the state Legislature will be willing to legislate and demand."
State Rep. Jerry Paul, R-Port Charlotte, said he's interested to hear about the county's legislative goals.
"I think most people think that phosphate is a necessary thing," Paul said. "But I think most reasonable people know that mining in the middle of streams like Horse Creek is not the place to do it. Horse Creek should have been designated an Outstanding Water years ago."
"We already have all the laws we need," said Bill Byle, Charlotte County natural resources planner. "The challenge for the people is creating the political will to make sure these laws are properly enforced."
You can e-mail Greg Martin at gmartin@sun-herald.com
You can e-mail Steve Reilly at reilly@sun-herald.com
By GREG MARTIN
and STEVE REILLY
Staff Writers