Mosaic gets panel's recommendation for another phosphate mine in Florida

After a contentious public hearing, a land-use panel on Thursday recommended that Mosaic Fertilizer should be allowed to establish another phosphate mine in Manatee County. The Manatee County Planning Commission voted 5-1 to recommend approval. Commissioner Matt Bower cast the dissenting vote.

 

“I know Mosaic does a great job,” Bower said. “I don't have any doubt that that's not true.” Yet Bower expressed concerns about potential impacts on the watersheds of the Manatee and Peace rivers. “They haven't met the burden of overriding public benefit,” he added. Commission Chairman Bill Conerly said he viewed the application through the lens of the county's development codes and voted in favor because the county staff said the project met the criteria.

The Manatee County Commission will make the final decision on Sept. 15.Environmentalists and area residents expressed concerns about potential ecological damage and public health threats. Yet Mosaic argued that it effectively restores the environment after mining and that long-term scientific studies show no difference in health risks and mortality rates among phosphate mine workers than those for the nation overall.

 

The County Commission will hear the matter on Sept. 15. Mosaic Fertilizer — which also owns the Four Corners Mine spanning Manatee, Hillsborough, Hardee and Polk counties, and the Wingate Creek Mine in Manatee — wants to rezone 3,599 acres known as its Wingate East property from agriculture to extraction, which will allow the mining of phosphate ore. Phosphate is a key ingredient in fertilizer products.

 

The site flanking Duette Road is east of Mosaic's Wingate Creek mine, north of the 202-lot Winding Creek subdivision, south of Duette Preserve and west of Hardee County land owned by Mosaic. Mosaic will conduct dredge mining west of Duette Road, which is what already occurs at the Wingate Creek Mine, and drag line mining, which is what is used at the Four Corners Mine, east of Duette Road. Mosaic will have to relocate wildlife on the site, such as gopher tortoises. After the property is mined, Mosaic will be required to replace the habitat that was destroyed with uplands and wetlands.

 

 

Hugh McGuire, attorney for Mosaic, called the proposed mine “a logical extension of existing uses in the area.” He emphasized that it meets all state and county standards for mining.

 

Property within 1,000 feet of the closest homes and property within the watershed of Lake Manatee, the county's reservoir, is not proposed to be mined. Nearly 280 of 367 acres within the Peace River watershed will be impacted, but the county's environmental staff determined that Mosaic will use “best possible technology” and “best operating practices” and “will not cause a degradation of water quality or adverse impacts on water quantity” within that watershed.

 

Bart Arrington, mine permitting manager for Mosaic, said the company already has acquired Florida Department of Environmental Protection permits and has applied for a required permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mosaic officials said that, after mining, the company is required to restore natural habitats on the property. They said reclamation at Wingate East will create 14 percent more wetlands than exists there now and groups those wetlands together to be more beneficial. The company also promised to make a $2.5 million donation to Manatee Community Foundation. The contribution is to go toward the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast for land acquisition or enhancement of ongoing projects it has in the Myakka River watershed.

 

 

Andy Mele of the Sierra Club, which has endorsed Bower's candidacy for the County Commission, argued that phosphate mines are not “a temporary land use” — as mining advocates contend. He claimed the mines create lasting environmental harm, including the creation of clay settling ponds that are “toxic waste pools” because of the radium that is dug up with the clay and phosphate ore. “Reclaimed CSAs will not grow crops or sustain livestock without radioactive contamination and without economically unsustainable investments,” Mele said. "... Here's a simple test: Just ask yourself, 'Would I eat fruit grown on a toxic waste pit?'” 

Mosaic later countered that water used in its mining process passes annual tests for toxicity and has proven safe for aquatic life.

 

Debbie Mafera, whose home is near the headwaters of the Myakka River south of the potential mine, said the project would release radon gas, draw down the aquifer, destroy “old growth trees,” strip top soil of nutrients and hire less employees per acre than virtually any other industry. “It's going to destroy our way of life,” her husband, Ricky Mafera, said. "... It will plummet the property values out there ... You can never replace that natural habitat.” Jaclyn Lopez, president of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, expressed concerns about the effects on endangered species. “The leading cause of species extinction is habitat loss,” she said.

 

Dan Cacchiotti of Myakka City spoke in favor of Mosaic's application, saying he has visited their mines and said they are “heavily regulated” and operate in “an extremely safe manner. ... I have a lot of faith in what Mosaic has been doing.” Cacchiotti said he has also seen their reclaimed lands. “They've got wildlife there. The habitat is surviving and doing quite well.”

 

Mosaic is actively mining more than 70,000 of the 380,000 acres it owns in Manatee, Hillsborough, Polk and Hardee counties. Roughly half of its property in the region has been mined or is permitted for mining.