Sarasota, Fla.-Ed de la Parte, the attorney representing Charlotte County, Fla., in its long battle against The Mosaic Co.’s mining plans, said commissioners of three counties should require the Mosaic Co. to agree to ask the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to do an area-wide Environmental Impact Study as part of the agreement not to contest the company’s mining plans. Recently, Charlotte, Sarasota, and Lee counties, plus the Peace River/Manasota Regional Water Supply Authority, reached a tentative agreement with Mosaic that would provide increased environmental protections in its mining plans in exchange for the counties not contesting its plans for the next 30 years. The ultimate decision on the EIS would be made by the Corps of Engineers, but de la Parte said the chances of approval would be greater if Mosaic joined in the request. Mosaic spokesman David Townsend said the company would not likely agree to the request for several reasons. The study would take about five years to complete and cost taxpayers between $4 million and $6 million, and similar studies had been conducted for its proposed Ona Mine and another for the Peace River. In addition, he pointed out the Corps has never agreed to do an area-wide EIS, even though the counties had been requesting one for about 10 years. The counties would have to agree to return to negotiations with Mosaic in order to seek Mosaic’s blessing of the EIS, but it appeared unlikely the company would do so.
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