Federal judge ditches Mosaic mine permit

A federal judge Friday temporarily halted The Mosiac Company from mining wetlands on its 10,885-acre South Fort Meade mine, and remanded its wetlands impact permit back to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for revisions.

The orders came after U.S. District Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. ruled that Mosaic had failed to adequately consider alternatives to mining hundreds of acres of wetlands on the proposed mine as the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act require.

Citing public concerns that the mine could harm the Peace River, the judge also instructed the Corps to conduct a public hearing on the project.

The rulings came in a lawsuit by the Sierra Club, Manasota-88 and People Protecting the Peace River. The plaintiffs challenged the permit on claims the Corps failed to take a hard look at the mine’s impacts and failed to consider alternatives to avoid the wetland impacts.

The mine is located adjacent to the Peace River in northern Hardee County.

The permit had authorized Mosaic to excavate 534 acres of wetlands and 10 miles of streams. For mitigation, Mosaic promised to replace the wetlands and streams and place some 2,500 acres into conservation easements.

“We’re still analyzing the decision and are disappointed in the ruling,” said Richard Mack, executive vice president and general counsel of The Mosaic Company, in a statement Saturday. “The permits for the Hardee County Extension underwent seven years of regulatory, judicial and public scrutiny and are the most stringent of any phosphate mining project in the history of Florida. We are reviewing our contingency plans and intend to quickly file an appeal in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal.”

Thomas Reese, the St. Petersburg attorney who represented Sierra in a hearing on the injunction last week, said he was “thrilled and very pleased” with the judge’s order.

Reese pointed out Mosaic’s own assessment showed 59 percent of the mine site was uplands. Mosaic could mine much of that without harming a wetland while the case is pending, he said.

Mosaic had said it may shut down its entire Fort Meade mining complex if the injunction were granted.

Notices have already been sent to 221 employees warning them of potential layoffs, according to Russell Schweiss, Mosaic spokesman.

Adams, in his ruling, said Mosaic’s claim an injunction would cost 1,400 jobs was “wholly unsupported” and predictions of devastating economic impacts were “based on flawed assumptions.”

The judge cited a “no action alternative” that would allow Mosaic to keep mining uplands without a federal wetlands permit. Mining would not have to shut down, the judge concluded.

Adams directed the plaintiffs to submit a schedule for filing briefs and holding a hearing to bring the case to resolution within two weeks, said Pat Gallagher, Sierra’s general counsel.

Percy Angelo, of Englewood, the Sierra Club’s local phosphate policy chair, could not be reached for comment.

The Sierra Club also argued that Mosaic failed to make a convincing case that no significant impact would result from the mine. The judge ruled, however, that the chance of Sierra prevailing on that claim is so slim it didn’t warrant an injunction.

However, the judge cited several letters written since January by a wetlands chief for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who concluded both Mosaic and the Corps had failed to adequately analyze alternatives to mining the wetlands. The judge cited rules under the Clean Water Act that require applicants to take “all appropriate and practicable steps” to avoid wetlands.