The following letter was published in Wauchula hometown newspaper, The Herald Advocate, April 3, 2012….
April 1, 2012
Dear Editor,
The lawsuit filed by FINR against CF Industries as reported in your March 29, 2012 edition (FINR Sues CF – Wants Quarter-Mile Setback) spotlights the conflict inherent in land-use for phosphate mining as opposed to other more desirable [...]

Restoration Work Still to Be Completed After Alafia River Acid Spill
The 1997 spill from a fertilizer plant damaged 377 acres of riverine habitat.
(Click here for PDF format of article below containing maps/images)
By Tom Palmer
THE LEDGER
Published: Monday, April 2, 2012 at 11:33 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, April 2, 2012 at 11:33 p.m.
MULBERRY | It’s been nearly 15 [...]

The attached article appeared on the front page of our local newspaper, The Hardee County Herald Advocate. Since the HA does not have an on-line presence I had to clip the article out and scan it.
The gist of it is that FINR, the Florida Institute for Neurological Rehabilitation, (largest employer in Hardee County) is suing [...]

The settlement agreement negotiated between the environmental plaintiffs (Sierra Club, Manasota-88, and People for Protecting Peace River) was approved by the District Court.
A copy of the court’s order is attached to this email.

On Thursday, February 2, at 9 am, Mosaic Phosphate will go before the Manatee Board of County Commissioners to ask for another permit to mine in eastern Manatee County.  The permit would allow Mosaic to mine 661 acres and destroy another 50 acres of wetlands.  Our Planning Commission voted in favor of this permit and now it goes before [...]

Expanding Phosphate Mining… Seriously?
Published Sunday, January 15, 2012 12:10 am
by Dennis Maley

As the Manatee County Commission gets set to vote on a Duette phosphate mining expansion recommended for approval by the county’s planning commission, we need to again ask when Florida is going to seriously evaluate the cost/benefit ratio of placating such a disaster-prone industry [...]

Mosaic request gets nod of Manatee planning panel
Planners give preliminary OK to mine extension
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/01/13/3788734/mosaic-request-gets-nod-of-panel.html
By SARA KENNEDY – skennedy@bradenton.com
MANATEE — A plan to extend a phosphate mine over 661 acres of East Manatee won preliminary approval Thursday from the Manatee County Planning Commission.
Commission members heard a presentation from the applicant, Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC, and from a [...]

Manatee Planning Commission Recommends Duette Phosphate Expansion
Published Friday, January 13, 2012 2:11 am
by John Rehill
BRADENTON — At the Planning Commission meeting Thursday, the seats were full of Mosaic suits. They were there to explain why they should be allowed to mine a 660 acre expansion to the Wingate mine, located in eastern Manatee County. 
Many environmental [...]

Manatee phosphate mine expansion advances
By Halle Stockton
Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 4:10 p.m.
MANATEE COUNTY – Mosaic Fertilizer plans to expand its phosphate mining operations on more than 3,000 acres of Duette pastureland, east of an existing 7,300-acre tract that has been mined since the 1970s.
But while the new land is tied up in a [...]

Posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:33 AM

Judge won’t delay phosphate mining halt
http://www.capitalpress.com/newest/mp-mosaic-legal-update-011312
A federal judge has refused to postpone an order that has blocked extraction from a major U.S. phosphate mine.
The Mosaic Co.’s South Fort Meade mine, which represent 20 percent of U.S. phosphate production, was shut down earlier this year by a federal judge in [...]