Jacksonville, Fla.-A federal judge here issued a temporary restraining order on the permit approval The Mosaic Co. received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would have allowed it to begin work on its 10,000-plus acre expansion at its South Fort Meade Mine in Central Florida (GM July 5, p. 10). Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Manasota 88, and People for Protecting the Peace River, filed the action. The ruling questioned whether the Corps had made the company conduct enough research on the environmental impact of mining 534 acres of wetlands and 10 miles of streams and tributaries of the Peace River, a major source of drinking water in Southwest Florida. The mine was opened in 1995 in Polk County and produces about 6.6 million tons of phosphate rock annually. The expansion would move the mine southward into adjoining Hardee County.
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