Fla. county gives $150,000 to Sierra Club

Port Charlotte, Fla-Although The Mosaic Co. and Charlotte County, Fla., came to terms earlier this year on mining one tract the county had opposed, the two are still battling over another mining site for which Mosaic is seeking approval. Earlier this month, the county voted to give a grant of $150,000 to the Sierra Club to help fund its objection to the proposed approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Ona Mine in Hardee County. The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation has given its okay to Mosaic’s permit for the first 4,197 acres of the mine, and Sierra may also challenge that. Charlotte and neighboring Lee County oppose the plan due to concerns about the impact on the quantity and quality of water in the Peace River, which provides drinking water to many of their residents. Those counties, along with Sarasota County north of Lee, have spent a combined $11 million opposing mining projects in the area, but Charlotte has spent the bulk of that ?Çô about $9 million. The Ona Mine is in the watershed of the Peace River and provides between 10 and 15 percent of its flow. Sierra will base its objection on the Corps’ refusal to do an impact study of all of the mining activity planned for the area, and not simply the Ona Mine, which is now called the Ona-Fort Green Extension. However, Mosaic spokesman David Townsend said it had not been informed Sierra was making a presentation to the Charlotte County Commission. “We could have refuted Sierra,” Townsend said. “We were unaware they were planning to take action, or we would have asked for equal time. It was a one-sided presentation.” He added the project has already received recommendations of approval from three judges of the state Division of Administrative Hearings, who agreed the project would not affect the water quantity or quality of the river. Townsend said long delays in obtaining final approval for mining projects were “the nature of the business, especially in Florida.” The company does not plan to begin mining the Ona site for at least another two years.