Citizen Alert: More Phosphate Mining Coming to Manatee

On January 26, the Mosaic Fertilizer company will go before the Manatee County Commission to request a rezone of 3,500 acres in order to expand its phosphate strip mine in the northeast corner of Manatee County. At the same meeting, the BOCC will consider a master mine plan. An approval would significantly increase the intensity of mining in a section of the county that has already been ravaged for decades by the industry.

The Wingate East Mine is in a rural area of Manatee County known as Duette. It's a place that most residents don't even know exists, because there's little reason to drive through the rural hamlet that lies well off the beaten path of major roadways and connecting arteries. Out of sight and out of mind, the $20 billion industry giant has managed to successfully expand operations there despite constant opposition from a determined cadre of local environmentalists and groups like ManaSota 88 and the Sierra Club.

Aside from the apocalyptic damage to wildlife habitats for a diverse range of species that includes the American bald eagle, gopher tortoises, egrets, the Florida burrowing owl, our sandhill crane and many, many more, there are numerous reasons for Manatee County residents to oppose the expansion of this dirty industry, the ramifications of which are far broader than most of us realize.

Phosphate mining is an incredibly water-intensive industry and Mosaic pumps and spoils billions of gallons of groundwater–at the nominal cost of a ridiculously inadequate permit fee–in order to get the phosphate rock out of the ground (read more about that here). Groundwater modeling already paints a very grim picture of water supplies for our state in the near-term future with more sinkholes and more need for expensive, fossil fuel-intensive desalination plants on the horizon, as well as higher residential rates like the ones that phosphate mining have brought to Hillsborough County.

The mining also leaves behind a toxic substance called phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of processing the phosphate, for which no safe use has been found. Quite simply, more phosphate mining means more phosphogypsum. A billion tons of this toxic sludge already lines the Florida landscape in what are called "gypsum stacks," while millions of gallons of acidic wastewater sits in lined ponds waiting for tears to happen like the one which ultimately sent millions of gallons of hazardous discharge into Bishop Harbor–part of the Terra Ceia Aquatic Buffer Preserve–from a spill at Piney Point in 2011. Florida's tendency to suffer hurricanes obviously exacerbates the risk of this nonsensical practice.

Last September, a 45-foot-wide, 300-foot-deep sinkhole opened underneath one of Mosaic's phosphogypsum stacks at the company's phosphate fertilizer plant in Mulberry, putting hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water into the Floridan Aquifer. The company and DEP waited weeks before acknowledging the catastrophe, failing to even notify neighbors who share the water source.

Phosphate mining operations also produce plenty of fluoride gases that once upon a time escaped into the air and poisoned surrounding agriculture and livestock. Pollution control technology like wet scrubbers have helped to contain the fluoride, but it still needs to be disposed of. That's where you come in. While the FDA has never approved fluoride ingestion for medical use, your body acts as a free filtration system when municipalities buy the toxin from such companies (with your tax money) and dump it into your drinking water, ostensibly to prevent cavities–a practice that's been compared to drinking sunscreen lotion to prevent sunburn (and shouldn’t be confused with topical fluoride treatments given by dentists). There is a wide body of evidence demonstrating that municipalities that do not employ this practice have no higher rate of tooth decay, and most bottled water manufacturers have actually removed fluoride from water marketed as being for "babies" because it can cause dental fluorosis when ingested during enamel formation.

Mosaic spends millions of dollars advertising itself as a green company that recycles water and reclaims mined lands (making itself an important client of many media outlets in the process, which may then have an incentive to handle the subject of mining's environmental costs with kid gloves), but a report from the Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute claims that approximately 40 percent of the mined-out lands have been left in toxic-waste clay settling areas, creating over 125,000 acres of these toxic slime ponds throughout the state.

Mosaic’s plan for the Wingate East expansion includes the addition of a third clay settling area, this one in the headwaters of the Myakka River, where it will threaten the tributaries that flow into that body of water (other clay settling areas are already in the Manatee River shed). Some 350 acres of the expansion would also impact the Peace River watershed, yet it does not seem that Sarasota County has been brought into the planning process.

The "overriding public benefit" that the company will attempt to use to justify the expansion is a paltry $2.5 million into a land conservation fund for future acquisition of conservation lands, along with some vague "conservation buffers" on the property. It would seem that Manatee County residents could do without either, if it means not increasing the already significant threat phosphate mining poses to our water supply.

Yesterday, I attended ManaSota 88’s monthly meeting. Chairman Glenn Compton explained that the county commission can only consider the rezone in terms of whether it complies with the county's current comprehensive land use plan. His group has detailed numerous reasons why it does not and will be recommending that it is denied on that basis. Compton was most troubled by the addition of another clay settling pond and says the application fails to prove that there will be no impact on the Myakka River. He said the $2.5 million figure seems to be a completely arbitrary number decided by the company, which seems to be getting off very cheap considering the impact.

Anyone who’s followed this issue knows how such proceedings usually play out. Mosaic gets there early and fills the seats of the commission chambers with bodies in an effort to limit the amount of citizens opposing their actions from getting a seat, while creating the illusion that the community is somewhat split on the issue. Those who can’t get in are shoved off to a 4th floor "overflow" room to watch it on video. The opposition does their best to beg, badger or shame board members into standing up for the community and its public resources and not the company that so generously contributes to many of their campaigns. There is lots of hemming and hawing, followed by Mosaic getting what it wants.

Compton and other activists are hoping that the recent sinkhole incident along with heightened public scrutiny of issues related to drinking water in the wake of the Flint, Michigan disaster will finally tip the scales and our residents will rally to send a powerful enough message to board members that enough is enough when it comes to phosphate mining. Turnout at a protest in front of the county administration building Saturday, where around 50 citizens marched in opposition of the expansion, suggests he may be correct.

In fact, Manasota 88 is expecting so many citizens at the land use meeting that they’ve asked for a change of venue to ensure that all members of the public who want to attend and give public comment can do so. They’ve been told by county officials that it’s unlikely to be granted. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 26 at 9 a.m. at the county administration building, located at 1112 Manatee Avenue West. You probably want to arrive at least 45 minutes early in order to ensure a seat, and then fill out a public comment card if you'd like up to three minutes to tell commissioners how you feel from the dais. The meeting will also be televised online and on local television by ME-TV. If you can’t make the meeting, be sure to call or email your commissioner along with the two countywide commissioners to let them know your position.