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| Peaceful Horse ranch. Source: Herald Tribune |
Over
the last few years Sierra’s Phosphate Committee has actively participated in
the permitting process for several phosphate mines. Sierra appealed the
US Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) permit for the South Fort Meade mine and
after much legal activity achieved an important settlement with Mosaic.
Mosaic set aside land along the Peace River in conservation and purchased the
Peaceful Horse Ranch at the confluence of the Peace and Horse Creek for
donation to the state for conservation and recreation. That donation
should be completed shortly.
The
Phosphate Committee was also active in the Corps' preparation of an Areawide
Environmental Impact Statement (AEIS) for phosphate mining in the Bone Valley,
filing multiple sets of comments and providing expert submissions on issues
such as economics, wetlands and water impacts.
While
the Committee has been deeply disappointed in the final AEIS, it has continued
to urge the mining companies to provide more preservation for their mining
activities. Recent meetings with Mosaic have focused on the Ona mine,
with the Committee pointing out areas for additional preservation and
protection for wildlife corridors and watershed protection. These
discussions have resulted in significant improvements at Ona, including:
■
2,222 additional acres of preservation focusing on Horse Creek, the West Fork
of Horse Creek and other onsite stream systems.
■The
preservation of a large wetland system in the center of the site that had
originally been planned for a clay settling area.
■ Changes
in mining procedures which will involve mining one side of a creek system and
completely reclaiming it before mining the other. This change will
maintain wildlife corridors during mining and will aid in protecting water
flows. Changes in reclamation plans will result in more complex and more
natural post-mining systems and the commitment to reclaim before mining the
second side will guarantee timely reclamation, a continuing concern of
environmentalists.
■ Offsite
mitigation projects to include a bayhead restoration demonstration, restoration
of Payne Creek in Polk County from a ditch (allowed under past reclamation
protocols) to a natural stream and restoration of the area at the confluence of
Bowlegs Creek and the Peace River. These last two projects will begin to
repair reclamation projects approved under prior regulatory regimes which
Sierrans have long argued were insufficient.
■The
preservation areas will be designed to connect to preservation areas adjacent
to Ona, for example, to the CF South Pasture Extension mine to the north and to
potential mining areas to the south in DeSoto County. These connections,
which will follow streams and connected wetland systems, will act to protect
water flows and provide extended wildlife corridors.
The
improvements in the Ona mining plan do not mean that Sierra approves of
phosphate mining. Indeed, the AEIS, flawed though it is, clearly revealed
the great damage caused by mining that Sierra and others have complained about
for years. Recognizing, however, that the Corps is determined to permit
mining, the Phosphate Committee has worked to push for protections for streams
and wildlife corridors and is supportive of the improvements made by Mosaic to
the Ona plan. Sierra will continue to work to ensure that the Corps
includes strong provisions in its permits to require that reclamation occurs
promptly, that failures in elements such as water flows, water quality or
similar issues are corrected through enforceable adaptive management and that
the Corps and other responsible agencies undertake active enforcement of permit
protections.
The
opportunity to repair past mistakes through well-thought out mitigation
projects in areas previously impacted by mining is important as well. We
have learned that unless we tell the regulators and the mining companies what
their environmental protection priorities need to be they don’t get it, with
the result that they continue to bless unconnected projects and mitigation
banks far-removed from the mining damage.
Sierra
Club Florida continues to work to educate the public about the real impacts of
mining and is very pleased that its Manatee/Sarasota Group has recently applied
for and received an $8,000 grant from the Grassroots Network of Sierra Club to do just
that.
The Chapter ExCom applauds the initiative and commitment of
Manatee/Sarasota as well as other Groups and individuals who have devoted so
much energy and effort to the phosphate mining problem.
Sierra
is committed to a multi-level, multi-tool and practical response to mining,
including education, research, expert input, regulatory participation,
discussion and where appropriate, litigation.
Authored
by: The Phosphate Committee Members - Percy Angelo, Marian Ryan, Bev Griffiths
