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

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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Mosaic ad campaign hides the truth about phosphate mining

Mosaic ad campaign hides the truth about phosphate mining
Sarasota Herald Tribune, 12/15/09

Recently many Florida newspapers carried a 12-page advertising supplement from The Mosaic Co. with images of happy families and wildlife. Mosaic is the large Minnesota-based corporation which operates almost all of the phosphate mines in Central Florida.

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Judge revokes permit for Mirasol development

Judge revokes permit for Mirasol development
Naples Daily News, 10/26/09

A coalition of five environmental organizations – National Wildlife Federation, Florida Wildlife Federation, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Collier County Audubon Society and National Audubon Society, opposing golf course and residential developments in a wetland slough flowing from Corkscrew Swamp, saw their federal lawsuit decided in their favor. Federal circuit court judge Jose Martinez has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers did not do adequate accounting of the cumulative impacts to this watershed due to numerous developments being proposed in wetlands. In response to thelawsuit the environmental groups filed against the Corps and the US Fish and Wildlife Service back in 2008, Judge Martinez revoked the federal permit to destroy 645 acres of wetlands for Mirasol and invalidated the biological opinion written by the USFWS on level of threat to endangered wood storks nesting at Corkscrew Swamp. The environmental coalition has also filed a similar lawsuit against the adjacent Saturnia Falls project and anticipate a ruling on this case soon.

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Politics, not science, controls our water

Politics, not science, controls our water
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 4/15/09

When Florida had too much water, property owners drained the swampland, elevated it with fill and sold it to northerners.

Now that Florida has too little water, property owners are ready to sell their dried-out lowlands to the government, which will fill them with — you guessed it — water. [Read More]