More phosphate mining a threat to East Manatee, drinking water

Manatee County commissioners will decide the future of East Manatee Feb. 15 when they vote on a rezone and mining plan for phosphate strip miner Mosaic at Wingate East. Do we want a pleasant mix of agriculture, housing and nature preserves as the county grows eastward, or the scorched earth of mined land?

To see our future if commissioners vote yes, Google “aerial photos Polk County mining.” It is ironic that many people think Mosaic, from its TV ads, is some kind of environmental outfit. It is anything but.

Promises of reclamation become magical thinking when you realize that out of more than 450 parcels owned by Mosaic in Polk, where phosphate has been mined since the 1800s, only three are assessed as cropland.

At the public hearing, commissioners heard many credible reasons from dozens of people why Mosaic should not be allowed to mine this tract. Mosaic counters with the same disingenuous promises it always gives. The Lake Wales sinkhole, which poured radioactive phosphate waste into our aquifer for months, shows how empty its assurances are.

To those who feel East Manatee does not concern them, think again. Mosaic’s mining plan puts a huge slime pond of mining waste as close as it can possibly be to Lake Manatee, source of our drinking water. Florida has seen catastrophic breaks in such ponds.

This is not the Florida of the 1800s, when the state had few revenue sources and welcomed mining. We have a robust economy based on clean industry, professional services, agriculture and tourism that mining will threaten.

A mine’s impacts last 30-50 years and more, and Wingate East won’t be Mosaic’s last one. It owns 20,000 more acres next to Myakka State Park. What kind of county do you want for your grandchildren?

The County Commission should vote “no.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 3:46 PM with the headline "More phosphate mining a threat to East Manatee, drinking water."