News Articles – Page 11 – PEOPLE FOR PROTECTING PEACE RIVER, INC.

Brazil Farmers Drill for Fertilizer to Sidestep Vale/Mosaic – May 7, 2010

In Brazil phosphate prices have more than doubled in six years – Mosaic makes big profits from “feeding the world.”

By Lucia Kassai

May 7 (Bloomberg) — Farmers in Brazil have teamed up to drill an area the size of New York for phosphate-based fertilizers, seeking to cut dependency on producers including Vale SA and Mosaic Co. after prices surged.

Farm groups representing about 4,500 soybean and cotton producers in Brazil bought drilling equipment worth about 500,000 reais ($270,000) to prospect for phosphate on 80,000 hectares (197,700 acres) in the center-western state of Mato Grosso. They plan to expand prospecting to another 400,000 hectares and drill 300 to 400 holes in the next 30 days, said Gilson Pinesso, the head of the project.

Mosaic and Vale, which agreed in January to pay $3.8 billion for Bunge’s fertilizer assets in Brazil, control 45 percent of the country’s fertilizer production, said Carlos Florence, the Fertilizer Distributors Association’s managing director. Phosphate prices have more than doubled in six years to about $266 a ton, Florence said by telephone from Sao Paulo.

“Farmers are in the hands of those companies,” Pinesso, owner of eight farms in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, said in a May 4 interview in Sao Paulo. “We want our independence.”

The Mato Grosso Soybean Producers Association and the Mato Grosso Cotton Producers Association formed an exploration company, hired two geologists and 20 other people to conduct the prospecting, Pinesso said.

“We are looking for phosphate, but we may even run into gold here,” Pinesso said, while checking for soybean future prices on his iPhone. He was referring to the history of the state of Mato Grosso, which was developed after a gold rush in the 18th century.

Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugar and coffee and the second-biggest for soybeans, trailing the U.S.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucia Kassai in Sao Paulo at [email protected]

Last Updated: May 7, 2010 17:30 EDT

84,000,000 gallons of contaminated water drain into White Springs sinkhole

The state Department of Environmental Protection has created a new Web site to provide up-to-date information on its ongoing sampling and monitoring of the local water supply after 84 million gallons of contaminated water was released in a spill at PCS in White Springs. This comes after discovery of a sinkhole inside a phosphogypsum stack system at PCS’s Swift Creek Chemical Complex on Dec. 10. The Swift Creek Chemical Complex is located just east of US 41, about 10 miles northwest of White Springs. The stack system stores process wastewater and gypsum resulting from PCS’ phosphate fertilizer manufacturing operations at this site, according to a DEP press release. “Based on site inspections and ongoing collection of monitoring data, it appears that PCS’s production wells are containing the process water on site and not contaminating the aquifer offsite or nearby potable drinking water wells,” according to a DEP press release. “In an abundance of caution DEP has continued its monitoring of the process wells, local private wells and the waters of the Suwannee River.” The gypsum stack in which the sinkhole formed is about 140 to 150 feet above ground level, according to DEP spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller. The sinkhole was about 40 to 50 feet in diameter with a depth of at least 100 feet below surface level, said Miller. The deepest production wells are 750-800 feet deep. “Aerial surveys and exploratory drilling are being conducted to gather information about the depth and geometry of the subsurface opening which will allow more precise measurement and guidance in grouting the sinkhole,” Miller said. Furthermore, Miller said no processed water was released before PCS was able to turn on its wells. “PCS already had wells in operation at the time of the formation, additional wells were put into operation within the hour to make sure they were doing everything they could do to capture the release,” said Miller. Miller confirmed that some broken chunks of gypsum did fall into the sinkhole. Miller also said there is not a synthetic liner beneath the gypsum stack, but rather a natural clay barrier below the stack area. Concerned citizens can now view the new Web page, which provides up-to-date information on DEP’s ongoing sampling and monitoring: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/pcs_sinkhole.htm “This new webpage allows us to make the information about these efforts readily available to the public,” said Deputy Secretary for Regulatory Programs, Mimi Drew in a press release. “We want the public to have real-time information and data about our efforts.” Residents are encouraged to contact DEP directly with questions and concerns at 850-488-8217. Citizens who may be concerned about their drinking water supply can contact the Hamilton County Health Department at 386-792-1414. Copyright © 1999-2010 cnhi, inc.

By Stephenie Livingston, Reporter January 08, 2010 11:25 am, Suwanee Democrat

24,000 Acres of Phosphate Mines in Desoto County Require Comp Plan Amendment

This is huge! Please Plan to Attend en Masse

Charlotte Sun April 20,2010 – Notice of Public Meeting

Tues. May 4, 2010 5:30pm

and

Tues. May 25,2010 6:30pm public hearing:

1. LS 010-01 General Phosphate Mining Overlay for future land use Map and Comprehensive Plan – Transmittal
Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC and Desoto County have prepared an application to amendment the Future Land Use Map (FLUM) to create an overlay category identifying lands with a high potential for Phosphate Mining. Supporting policies regulating density, intensity and permitted uses within the overlay are included as an amendment to the Comprehensive PLan Future Land Use Element text. The proposed overlay includes lands not owned by Mosaic Fertilizer LLC or their subsidiaries. The overlay is approx. 24,000 +/- acres and located west of the Peace River and the city limits of Arcadia and covers an area to the Manatee/DeSoto County line, often referred to as the PINE LEVEL area. Portions of the overlay are approx. 3 miles or greater north of SR70 and approx. 2 miles south of SR72. A map showing the general location is provided herein A legal description is on file with the application in the Planning Department office.

Hardee County Commissioners Hand Over 3600 Acres of Citrus Groves to Mosaic

On April 1^st, while most residents of this county were sitting down to their evening meal, the Hardee County Planning and Zoning Board and Board of County Commissioners amended our county Comprehensive Plan Mining Overlay to include 3600 acres of producing citrus groves for future phosphate strip mining. By the time your meal was over it was a done deal, and the county’s agricultural base was further eroded. I attended this hearing and felt both saddened and outraged by what I witnessed there….

First of all, it seems that a joint meeting of the two boards is a privilege reserved only for the pleasure of the phosphate mining industry. Any other party seeking an amendment or special exception to the Comprehensive Plan has to meet with both boards individually and in succession. Once a party has the approval of the Planning and Zoning Board they then have to take their case before the Board of Commissioners… but not the phosphate industry. Mosaic enjoys the presence of both boards at the same meeting. In this way they can save the expense of having to pay their consultants to present their case more than once, with the added benefit of expediting the whole process in one evening before the public really knows what just happened or can prepare to do anything about it.

In fact that evening another party did appear before planning and zoning for a special exception to locate a double-wide mobile home on a lot. According to that individual it was a two-year process just to fulfill the requirements necessary to appear before the board. The board deliberated on his request and asked more questions than they subsequently would ask in regard to Mosaic’s request to include 3600 acres of active citrus groves to the mining overlay. When the request for the double-wide was finally granted, the individual was told he would need to return at a later date for approval by the County Commission.

I would add here that the Planning and Zoning Board announced that the process of granting a special exception for the double-wide was a quasi-judicial hearing, and that all parties who testified would have to take an oath. This formality was ignored during the second phase of the hearing when the two boards considered Mosaic’s request for a comp plan amendment. No one, including Mosaic’s consultants and representatives, was sworn to tell the truth – a convenient omission which subsequently proved to be greatly advantageous to them before the hearing adjourned.

Mosaic’s case was presented by a Lakeland consulting firm called Kimley-Horn. It lasted about 15 minutes and consisted of about ten slides showing various maps and quoting those aspects of the comp plan which supported their case. At the end of the presentation there were neither questions nor comments by either of the two Hardee County boards.

When comments were allowed from the public I took the lectern and brought to the attention of the boards that Comprehensive Plan Policy C4.1 provides not only for the “protection of areas suitable for extraction of phosphate rock” (as the consultant quoted), but also says, “These provisions shall also protect other land uses from adverse effects of mining operations.”

Since 87% the 3600 acres of land in question were productive citrus groves I also brought to the attention of the commissions the Land Use Suitability Index prepared by the Central Florida Regional Planning Council and adopted by Hardee County in 2002. Only 3 of the five county commissioners professed to have any familiarity with the study. The study points out that: “According to SWFMWD’s 1999-2000 land use/land cover mapping, of the estimated 48,775 acres of mined soils in Hillsborough and Polk counties, only 675 acres (just over 1%) are in citrus.” The study concludes: “… that future land use patterns, in particular the ability to support various types of commercial agriculture and urban development, may be substantially altered as a result of large-scale phosphate mining in Hardee County.”

I also introduced to the commissioners a March 10, 2010, letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calling for an area-wide EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) to address “extensive cumulative impacts” to the Peace River watershed. According to the EPA letter: “The Area Wide EIS could assess the cumulative and secondary (indirect) impacts associated with the redevelopment of former phosphate mining lands into subdivisions, recreational facilities, and commercial/retail uses. The EIS could assess potential radiation issues associated with post-mining lands… An Area Wide EIS could provide an analysis of which these sites may present increased levels of radiation exposure.”

Following my comments one planning commissioner, Gordon Norris, asked the Mosaic representative: “Do you know of a study that might occur for the South Fort Meade Mine Extension?” Mike DeNeve, permit superintendant for Mosaic, answered by saying, “… the letter that Mr. Mader quoted from did not specifically say that EPA is requesting that this study be done before the South Fort Meade Mine is permitted. That’s not what it says at all….”

Indeed the letter I quoted says: “The need for such an EIS has once again been brought to our attention because of issues identified during the review of Mosaic Fertilizer’s request for a 21-year permit to mine phosphate at the South Fort Meade Mine Extension….” A letter from the EPA to the Army Corp of Engineers dated January 15, 2010 said specifically, “EPA recommended denial of the proposed project (South Fort Meade Mine Extension) in letters dated July 26, 2007 and August 23, 2007, because the proposed project did not comply with various requirements of the Guidelines.”

Jim Mercer, a resident of Norris Road, also rose to remind the commission that there is not only existing agricultural but residential land-use as well adjacent to the proposed 3600 parcel that requires protection from the adverse effects of phosphate mining.

Despite his concerns and the information I brought to the commissioners, Mosaic’s request for a comp plan amendment was passed unanimously by both boards with the exception of Roger Conley, vice-chairman of the Planning and Zoning Board, who cast the only dissenting vote.

All EPA letters quoted in this letter and the Soil Suitability Index are available in their entirety on-line at www.protectpeaceriver.org

Dennis Mader

Lily

(This letter was published in the April 14, 2010 edition of the Wauchula Herald-Advocate)

EPA Sets Scope for Mining Study

EPA Sets Scope for Mining Study

Charlotte Sun

March 17, 2010

http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/pnnews.aspx?NewsID=454040&a=newsarchive2/031710/ch5.htm&pnpg=1

‘Sensitive’ area needs impact study, says chief

Calling the Peace River watershed an “important and environmentally sensitive mining region,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency again called for a comprehensive regional impact study on phosphate strip mining within the watershed this week.

The EPA has long advocated an Area-Wide Environmental Impact Study for the Bone Valley phosphate reserve, but Mosaic Fertilizer’s request for a 21-year permit to strip mine its 11,000-acre South Fort Meade Extension triggered the agency to renew that call, wrote Thomas Welborn, chief of the EPA’s wetlands, coastal and oceans branch.

His March 10 letter was written to Col. Alfred A. Pantano Jr., district engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which grants permits for wetland impacts.

The EPA and dozens of environmental groups, political leaders, local governments and residents have been requesting the study for more than a decade. But to date, the corps has denied the requests.

The EPA’s latest letter serves as a follow-up to one sent by the EPA Dec. 15, which said Mosaic’s application for permits to mine the South Fort Meade Extension, located on the Peace River near Fort Meade, falls short in wetlands mitigation. In that letter, the EPA also called for the areawide study.

“(The) EPA is interested in developing a new approach in 404 permit review, to include consideration of overall cumulative impacts within the Bone Valley, rather than incremental review of permits and their associated impacts,” Welborn wrote. “We would like to do this in cooperation and partnership with the ACOE.”

The ACOE has not had a chance to review the EPA’s letter or prepare a response, said Chuck Schnepel, chief of permitting for the corps’ Jacksonville-based district. He declined further comment.

Jim Cooper of Protect Our Watershed, which has lobbied for the study, called the EPA’s letter “a milestone.”

“For a long time, EPA officials have referenced an EIS, but this is much more comprehensive,” he said. “It would be projectwide, studying phosphate mining throughout the Bone Valley, past, present and future.

“It’s very important they knit this tapestry of impacts together and understand, with several of these mines operating simultaneously, these impacts need to be accumulated and taken into account.”

Russell Schweiss, Mosaic’s manager of public affairs, said: “Let’s be clear on one point: The industry has no control over a decision to conduct an Area-Wide EIS. It’s not our call and never has been.

“That said, our consistent position has been that we don’t object to the concept of an Area-Wide EIS, as long as it looks at all impacts, not just the phosphate industry. We don’t see how a study of environmental impacts can be scientifically valid without looking at impacts such as urbanization, development and other land uses that, in many cases, have a far greater footprint in the region.”

Welborn pointed out the EPA has designated the Peace River Watershed as an Aquatic Resource of National Importance. Florida also has declared the river a Priority Watershed.

That indicates both governments have agreed to restore its impaired waters and protect them from further impacts, Welborn wrote.

He also pointed out the Peace provides water to the Charlotte Harbor estuary and 700,000 residents.

Welborn suggested the study determine:

* How mining and other developments will affect compliance with Total Maximum Daily Load limits for pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which are big factors in the Peace’s impairment.

* What impacts are caused by the giant berms, stacks of phosphogypsum waste and stockpiles of ore created by the phosphate industry.

* Whether the future redevelopment of reclaimed mines into subdivisions, shopping centers or recreational sites will pose impacts or radiation hazards.

Welborn also expressed support for the ACOE’s recent suggestion to convene a “phosphate summit” to address the impacts.

E-mail: [email protected]

By GREG MARTIN

Staff Writer

Rays, Mosaic Company Drop Naming-Rights Pursuit 2/17/10

PORT CHARLOTTE – The Rays and the Mosaic Company have decided to not pursue their naming rights agreement for the Charlotte Sports Park for an indefinite period.

“While we believe this naming rights deal presents many benefits to both the Rays and the entire community, neither the Rays nor Mosaic wants it to distract the team and fans from their focus on baseball,” Rays senior vice president Mark Fernandez said Wednesday in a team release.

The Rays and phosphate company announced their 15-year partnership for the naming rights on Feb. 3, but asked the Charlotte County Commission to not vote on the matter during last week’s commission meeting.

David Townsend, Mosaic’s assistant vice president of public affairs, said at the time both sides wanted to regroup before subjecting the deal to the vote of the commission, which must approve any naming rights agreement for the Rays spring training facility.

On Wednesday, both sides announced they would defer pursuit of the agreement until at least the end of spring training, maybe longer.

The deal, which would pay Charlotte County $77,250 this year and more than $1.4 million over the life of the agreement, was met with opposition from several environmentalist groups and at least one member of the Charlotte County Commission.

“Community investment is a core element of Mosaic’s culture and our principal reason for entering into the naming rights agreement with the Rays,” Townsend said in the same release. “We remain committed to continuing and building upon our history of support to communities throughout our operating area.”

The county has fought Mosaic over mining in the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor watersheds during the past decade. The disputes went to court four times, with the courts ruling in Mosaic’s favor in each case.

Mosaic’s name was found throughout the stadium last spring, including on top of the dugouts. Townsend said his company and the Rays will remain partners and Mosaic’s logo will still appear inside the stadium.

By ROGER MOONEY | The Tampa Tribune

Tampa Bay Rays Park Won’t Carry Mosaic Name 2/19/10

An offer by Plymouth-based Mosaic Co. to purchase the naming rights for the spring training home of the Tampa Bay Rays ran into a bit of a stink this week.

The arrangement was ultimately deferred by the baseball team after running into local opposition, including that of the Charlotte County Board, the owner of the stadium.

The County Board has been battling with Mosaic for several years, running up legal fees of $12 million, over Mosaic’s phosphate mining activities northeast of Port Charlotte.

“People in this community believe phosphate damages the environment and if there was an accident it would have a catastrophic effect on our watershed,” said Board Chairman Bob Starr.

Under the proposed deal, Charlotte County would get $75,000 a year but would have to use the revenue for upkeep and improvements at the park. The park would have to be called Mosaic Field at Charlotte Sports Park.

“Money was not a factor for anybody. No amount of money was acceptable,” Starr said. “The Rays didn’t expect the reaction. They did the right thing [withdrawing the proposal] and showed respect for the fans.”

Mosaic spokesman Rob Litt said the company has been a corporate partner with the Rays for the last two years and the naming issue was pulled off the table after the opposition surfaced. “We remain committed to the Rays and we remain committed to our ongoing community investment in the region,” Litt said.

Mosaic is North America’s second-largest fertilizer producer.

David Phelps • 612-673-7269

A federal appeals court in Atlanta has upheld the decision of a federal district court in Florida to vacate permits for limestone mining along a strip of former wetlands west of Miami. 1/22/10

A federal appeals court in Atlanta has upheld the decision of a federal district court in Florida to vacate permits for limestone mining along a strip of former wetlands west of Miami.

Posted on Fri, Jan. 22, 2010

Appeals court upholds vacating of mining permits

The Associated Press

A federal appeals court in Atlanta has upheld the decision of a federal district court in Florida to vacate permits for limestone mining along a strip of former wetlands west of Miami.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the opinion Thursday regarding wetlands known as the “Lake Belt.”

U.S. District Judge Jack Camp, who sat on the panel, wrote in the opinion that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida “did not err” in January 2009 when it vacated the permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers to several limestone mining companies.

The permits are required to extract limestone from the Lake Belt, home to four of Florida’s largest mines, which supply about half of the state’s cement. The 57,500-acre region, which borders the eastern edge of Everglades National Park, also provides 40 percent of Miami-Dade County’s drinking water. There has been mining in the region since the 1950s, creating thousands of acres of lakes.

The 11th Circuit upheld the district court’s finding that the Corps failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act “because it did not take into consideration the impact that limestone mining would have on municipal water supplies, including the potential costs of upgrading water treatment plants,” Camp writes.

The litigation pits the interests of the mining companies against “the need for public drinking water in the Miami-Dade area” and “the protection and restoration of the ecology of South Florida, increasingly threatened by mining, development, and agriculture,” Camp writes.

The Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and National Parks Conservation Association filed a lawsuit in 2002 challenging the validity of nine 10-year permits issued by the Corps.

Line in the Sand – US EPA Calls for Area-wide Impact Study for S. Ft. Meade Mine Extension

In their letter the EPA reminded the Corps that the Peace River watershed is of special importance to both the state and the federal government, and that EPA has stated in documents dating back to the summer of 2007 that “…this mine expansion project, as well as any proposed mining projects within the Peace River phosphate region, a current, area-wide Environmental Impact Statement is most needed in order to address the extensive cumulative impacts and changes to these watersheds due to the phosphate mining industry.”

The rugged Peace River flows into an uncertain new decade

The rugged Peace River flows into an uncertain new decade
Charlotte Florida Weekly

Perhaps by dark night or quiet morning when Ernie Estevez slides into the gentle waters of the lower Peace River — when sometimes little or no sign of a century of hard use exists up river or down — he begins to think of it as the Tallackchopo, so named by the Seminoles in tribute to the wild peas once said to cover its banks.

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