The Mosaic Co. told the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida at Jacksonville last week that it has shut down the South Fort Meade phosphate rock mine, and that its 60-day WARN notice has expired. Mosaic said that approximately 60 employees out of the 221 who received WARN notices have been laid off to date and are no longer on Mosaic’s payroll as of Sept. 13, 2010. Earlier indications from Mosaic were that this number would be 140. The company told Green Markets last week that it is continually working to place employees in temporary assignments, and that the numbers shift as it identifies temporary assignments and then places the employees.
Mosaic said in an effort to mitigate harm to employees, it has placed the remaining South Fort Meade employees in temporary positions outside the South Fort Meade mine. However, it says these positions are expected to be limited in duration, and that additional employees will be laid off in subsequent phases should the mine remain closed.
Mosaic again asked the court to allow it to mine its South Fort Meade expansion for four months in an area where wetlands have already been disturbed (GM Sept. 13, p. 1). (The district court this summer had issued an injunction to prevent impacts to federal wetlands on the Hardee County extension – GM Aug. 9, p. 1.) Mosaic had already asked the court for this relief back in August and renewed its efforts Sept. 14, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied Mosaic’s motion for a limited stay pending appeal and/or an expedited appeal without prejudice. Mosaic said the Eleventh Circuit is awaiting the district court’s ruling on this issue before addressing the requested stay.
Mosaic noted that the Army Corps of Engineers approves Mosaic’s four-month plan. Mosaic has had to carry the weight of the case since the plaintiff environmentalists filed it June 30, 2010, and the district court issued the injunction. The Corps just last week, on Sept. 13, filed its official answer to the environmentalists’ complaint.