Bradenton Herald

Manatee Planning Commission to consider phosphate mine extension

By SARA KENNEDY skennedy@bradenton.com

January 12, 2012

http://www.bradenton.com/2012/01/12/3785478/planning-commission-to-consider.html

DUETTE -- Right now, a vast stretch of grassy land near Duette is so quiet you just hear birds singing and the wind.

But that might change if Mosaic Fertilizer LLC wins approval for its plan to extend a phosphate mine across 661 acres.

Company officials are slated today to appear before the county Planning Commission, seeking a permit to extend the Wingate Creek Mine. Also expected to appear or to file written comments are representatives of ManaSota-88, a local environmental group that is asking the commission to deny the company’s request.

The group’s chairman, Glenn Compton, contends it would degrade pristine park land and rivers, increase radium levels, and curse the quiet rural haven of Duette with industrial noise and pollution. He also argued adjacent county-owned land, such as the 21,000-acre Duette Preserve, should be protected.

A company spokesman Russell Schweiss countered Wednesday that park land and rivers, some protected as Outstanding Florida Waters, have remained undisturbed throughout more than 30 years of mining in the immediate area.

He predicted they would continue to thrive, also noting the project would produce jobs, and generate millions in annual wages and taxes for the county.

Mosaic is among the world’s leading makers of phosphate and potash crop nutrients, according to its website.

It seeks a master plan authorizing mining and reclamation; a waiver of the setback requirement for mining adjacent to the county’s Duette Preserve. The company is proposing to mine 1.5 acres of the 500 foot setback adjacent to Duette Preserve. Mosaic also is seeking approval of a build-out date for mining of Dec. 31, 2019; reclamation until Dec. 31, 2023, and rezoning of 645.9 acres west of Duette Road and north of State Road 64, according to county records.

A preliminary decision will fall to members of the county Planning Commission meeting at 9 a.m. today at the County Administrative Center. County staff members have recommended approval.

The Manatee County Commission is slated to make the final decision Feb. 2 at the same place and time.

“The existing Wingate mine should not have been permitted in the first place,” said Compton, chairman of the environmental group, in an e-mail. “It was an historical mistake because Wingate is located in the headwaters of the Myakka River. To expand upon an existing mistake is irresponsible.

“If the holding ponds located at the Wingate mine fail, the toxic waters running off site would annihilate almost everything downstream, with significant impacts to the fish and wildlife in Myakka River State Park,” he added. “We are one hurricane away from finding that out.”

He noted that Manatee County residents depend on fresh water from the eastern part of the county.

Schweiss, disputed Compton’s argument, saying that the plan does not call for impacting any new water features, and that the outfall from the mine will be the same as it has been since mining began in 1981.

“There are two wetlands on the property, one is a cow pond, the other is a 40-acre low-quality marsh system not connected to other systems,” said Schweiss.

“Downstream, water bodies have remained Outstanding Florida Waters since mining began there in 1981,” he said.

There have been no failures under current standards for the areas where liquid from the mining process is stored, said Schweiss.

Although there have been a number of hurricanes in recent years, Schweiss said “the standards those dams are held to are some of the most rigid standards for any water-controlled structure built in Florida.”

Also part of the equation, he noted, would be more than 300 jobs, and $19 million in annual wages generated for the local economy and an estimated $6 million in taxes for Manatee County over the life of the project.

Plans call for a total project area of 661 acres, with 599 acres to be mined, and almost 47 acres that will be disturbed, but not mined, according to the company.

Sara Kennedy, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7031