Recently, a small group of private citizens decided they would like to try their hands at phosphate mining and filed for permits in Bradford County, Florida through HPS II, a company they formed to exercise their mineral rights. The proposed phosphate mine site is on over 5,000 acres of property that abuts the New River in Bradford County.

New River is a 31-mile-long tributary of the Santa Fe River and serves as the border between Union and Bradford Counties in North Florida.

The original phosphate mine site proposed by HPS II was over 11,000 acres that straddled New River into Union County. At the end of 2018, Union County successfully warded off the environmental threat posed by this proposal when their County Commission revised the Land Development Regulations to prohibit mining operations in order to safeguard the wetlands and aquifer recharge.

While the HPS II phosphate mine proposal was halted in Union County, it will still go before the Bradford County Commission soon for a final vote. It is in the best interest of all current and future residents of Florida to oppose this permit by contacting the Bradford County Commissioners as soon as possible to voice your concern.

Phosphate mining in Florida has never benefited the locals who live around the mine and instead creates devastation. It is shown to poison their water, ruin their health and the surrounding ecosystem while deflating their property values.

Chris Bird, director of Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, has stated that the HPS II mining proposal poses the greatest threat to the Santa Fe River that he has seen in his tenure of many years with Alachua County. Alachua County has drafted a strong letter opposing this threat and has sent it to many agencies and municipalities in the area.

Schreuder, Inc. of Tampa, an independent engineering company that provides expert testimony in permit application phosphate mining site hearings, has stated that the HPS II proposal is flawed. Hydrogeology maps indicate that the groundwater level underlying the proposed mine site is slightly elevated, which indicates a zone of recharge and the proposal from HPS II has no provision to assess whether the mining operations and subsequent reclamation will affect this recharge zone.

Strip mining for phosphate is done at the expense of the original ecosystem (the beautiful forests of north Florida), as these places are laid bare. Proponents of the phosphate mine will point to the reclaimed land. Keep in mind that the land is only reclaimed many years after the mining is stopped. This land is planted with trees, but the trees take decades to grow and is not restored to its original state as the life giving mineral nutrients have been removed. The scars of the earth movement will not heal for many generations. Those alive today to see the mining in person will not likely live long enough to see this land “reclaimed”.

In addition to being an eyesore, this will create other problems as well. Mining operations take place 24 hours per day. This means large amounts of light and noise will be coming from the mining operations in Bradford County. If you want to see how much light and noise this operation will make, travel to White Springs, Florida and observe the mining operations for yourself. The calm quiet so often observed in north Florida will be replaced by the deafening roar of heavy machinery 24 hours per day, even while you are trying to sleep.

Phosphate mining has also been linked to more directly dangerous things as well. In 1979, phosphate mining in North Carolina was linked to the discovery of radioactive forms of Radon and Radium (2). Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.

Given the potential health risks, and the fact that Bradford County and neighboring Union County rank very low in the health rankings for the state of Florida [3], this county can ill afford more potential risks to our health. This is especially concerning because the water from the Santa Fe River goes DIRECTLY into our drinking water (the Santa Fe River goes underground and into the aquifer [where your drinking water comes from] at O’Leno State Park [4]).

Phosphate mining near the Santa Fe River could increase the turbidity (cloudiness) of the water. Any time sediments from mining are added to water, the water gets murky. If you want to see this for yourself, add a handful of dirt to a bottle of water and shake it up. This is the same thing that will be happening to the water in the Santa Fe River. For those of you who enjoy fishing on the River here or downstream (the Suwannee River and the Gulf of Mexico), understand that increasing the cloudiness of the water will have a negative impact on fish populations in those waters (5).

It should be clear to everyone by now that phosphate mining will have negative impacts on our home. The Bradford County Commission will be voting on this matter very soon. Between now and then, you will be hearing more from us and others on the subject. We invite you to validate all of the information provided in this article. Please contact the Bradford County Commissioners for information and feel free to check these references we have provided. Together, we as residents of North Florida can stop this poor decision from becoming a reality.

References

1. Brown MT. Landscape restoration following phosphate mining: 30 years of co-evolution of science, industry and regulation. Ecological Engineering. 2005;24(4):309-329.

2. Strain CD, Watson JE, Jr., Fong SW. An evaluation of Ra and Rn concentrations in ground and surface water near a phosphate mining and manufacturing facility. Health Physics. 1979;37(6):779-783.

3. Bradford County Health Rankings 2017; https://wellflorida.org/data-reports/bradford-county-data/.

4. Florida State Parks. 2016; https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Oleno.

5. 2016; http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/ja_henley001.pdf.