ManaSota-88 A non-profit 501.c3 public health and environmental organization.

Famous And Not-So-Famous Environmental Quotes “Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so called knowledge.” Thomas Edison “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.” Ronald Regan 1981 “Mining is like a search and destroy mission.” Stewart L. Udall

“Every American expects and deserves clean air, and then we act on that belief, then we will set an example for the rest of the world to follow” George H.W. Bush 1989 “It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.” George W. Bush 2002 “I do not intend that our natural resources shall be exploited by the few against the interests of the many.” President Theodore Roosevelt

Horse Creek

Mosaic, the Largest Fertilizer Maker in the United States Reported quarterly earnings rise of nearly six fold, a 493 percent jump A year ago, Mosaic shares were at $27, today nearly $114 The average selling price of a ton of phosphate is up 70 percent in one year

Phosphate Economics Phosphate Net explorer 0.5% Florida’s Gross State Product Not played a significant role in Florida’s overall economy since the early 1960’s Peace River Basin $4.5 billion in tourism sales $38 million in Commercial Fishing $1.8 billion in agriculture

Employment Fewer than 10,000 jobs state-wide are employed in the Phosphate Industry More than 1,000,000 are employed in the fishing, tourism, recreational and agricultural industries

Potential Impacts to Regional Watershed Areas Peace River Total Mine Acres = 104,644 Myakka River Total Mine Acres = 25,238 Total Acres (2006 – 2036) = 129,882 Over the next 30 years, impacts from 130,000 mined acres may endanger the Peace River, Myakka River and Charlotte Harbor

Phosphate Accidental Spills 1945 Polk County – Peace River Spill 1963 Brandon Slime Dam Failure 1967 Mobil Oil Retention Dike Failure 1971 Fort Meade Waste Spill 1994 IMC Global Payne Creek Mine Spill

2004 – Cargill Crop Nutrition Radioactive Clay Waste Spill

Tenoroc Fish Management Area

Tenoroc Petroleum Contaminants, Elevated Levels of Radionuclides, Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Manganese (known since 1984) Water quality, fish tissue sampling, human health risk assessment and ecological risk assessment needed 14 Reclaimed Sites in Florida currently are used by the public as Recreational Areas

Retaining Water While Land is Mined

Creating Lakes Where None Existed Before

Clay Settling Areas “Toxic Slime Ponds”

ManaSota-88 Legal Challenges 1980, 1984, 1987 Gardinier Inc. (NPDES Permitting for Gyp Stacks) 1983, Estech, Inc Agrico Chemical Company (wetland mitigation and mining impacts) 1989 IMC Fertilizer Gyp Stack Expansion 1999 Piney Point Phosphate

ManaSota-88 Legal Challenges 2001 IMC Manson-Jenkins 2003 IMC Phosphate – Section (1) F.S IMC Wingate Mine NPDES Next ???

Phosphogypsum Stacks Every ton of phosphoric acid produced generates about 5 tons of phosphogypsum

One Billion Tons of Radioactive Waste and Adding 30 Tons a Year Phosphogypsum has no economic value Alternative uses banned by EPA since 1992 A public health threat for 1,630 years (radium’s radioactive decay half-life) Radioactive dust, arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium, fluoride, zinc, antimony and copper toxins

1995 IMC New Wales 15-story sinkhole

1997 Mulberry Corporation Phosphogypsum Stack Spill - Alafia River

2001 Piney Point Phosphate Bankruptcy

HBK Holdings, LLC Bought Piney Point for $4.3 Million FDEP has spent $93 million on closing costs Adjacent to a proposed C & D Landfill Will assume long-term care of the site in 2010

50 years + and still no acceptable disposal methods of PG FIPR proposes PG for landfill and roadbed uses No published scientific studies confirming safe uses for PG ManaSota-88 believes the phosphate industry should not be permitted to externalize the costs of their waste disposal problem at the expense of the public.

FIPR A. The Florida Institute of Phosphate Research B. The Development and Research Arm for the Phosphate Industry C. An agency that has lost its focus and credibility and should be deauthorized and eliminated D. All of the above

What Can Be Done? Strengthen Mining Reclamation Rules Phosphate Environmental Impact Statement Enforce Existing Mining Regulations Designate Horse Creek as an Outstanding Florida Water Reclaim Previous Mined Out Lands Public Involvement – Make Policy makers realize phosphate is a limited resource of national significance

Industrial Wide EIS Needed Cumulative Assessment not done since the 1970’s New study paid for in part by Phosphate Severance Taxes and Fees Phosphate permitting should link mining, processing and phosphogypsum disposal together

ManaSota-88 A non-profit 501.c3 public health and environmental organization.