This covert proposal has now been withdrawn, but serves to show how sneaky corporations can be to hide their intentions from the public.
Read the original article here at WINK News.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
The now-withdrawn proposal for the Southland Water Resource Project was submitted to the South Florida Water Management District in July by contractor Phillips and Jordan. It lays out plans for an 8,000-acre water storage project south of Lake Okeechobee in the Everglades Agricultural Area.
Daniel Andrews is the Executive Director of Captains for Clean Water, a group that pushes for Everglades restoration.
He said, “The land that it’s being built on is land that is very valuable to the state for Everglades restorations and is owned by the sugar industry. And they’ve repeatedly said, ‘The land’s not for sale; we need this for agriculture, for production of our crops.’”
When Andrews discovered the proposal, he found plans for more than water storage.
“The proposal that was submitted doesn’t really say anything about mining, but diving further into the public records on it, and some permitting from the Department of Environmental Protection, it’s aggregate they’re looking for limestone to build roads or concrete,” Andrews said.
The permit titled “Supplemental information for Stormwater Management Systems for Mines,” was submitted by Phillips and Jordan to FDEP Feb. 2 for the Southland Water Resource Project.
Captains for Clean Water said that’s the application you fill out if you’re mining.
The application proposes an on-site processing facility where excavated material will be sorted, washed and graded for rail transport off-site. It also proposes building a rail spur to transport high-quality limestone aggregate for road construction.
“There’s been a long history of attempts to mine this area, and they’ve all been stopped, either in court or before it even got to that point,” said Andrews. “There appears to be a loophole if this is considered a water resource project, for that type of mining to be allowed.”
On the application, the contractor said it projects to excavate 1.4 million yards of material every year with construction anticipated to span 20 years or more.
Incentives and Risks
Captains for Clean Water said the incentive behind this project is the roughly $800 million worth of rock to be mined in the process, and it’s at the cost of our environment.
“It is immediately adjacent, due north, of the largest Everglades restoration reservoir, the EAA reservoir and STA. Could the blasting and dredging over a course of decades or longer have an impact on the integrity of that reservoir?” said Andrews.
In March, one month after Phillips and Joran submitted the permitting application, FDEP responded to the contractor with five pages worth of questions. There is no record of a response from the contractor.
WINK News reached out to Phillips and Jordan, asking why they withdrew the proposal and if this is temporary but never heard back with answers…..
WINK reached out to US Sugar and Florida Crystals, who own the land where the project is proposed, for comment and did not hear back.
