To The Editor:
The Governor and Cabinet are scheduled to vote next Tuesday to spend
up to
$27 million to purchase the Kirby Mine from Anderson Columbia -- to
stop
ongoing mining and protect the Ichetucknee Springs, located 14 miles
south of
the mine. In other words the mine is 14 miles upgradient of the
springs. A
victory for environmental protection is the spin.
Perhaps, but at what price? In exchange, the State will allow
the Company to
expand a small, existing limerock mine only two miles west of the Park
boundary. A mine that is on the edge of the recharge zone to
the Ichetucknee
Head Springs. The expanded mine will produce over 1,300,000
tons of rock
and sand per year to feed an adjacent cement kiln. The mine is
only three
miles upgradient from the springs.
The goal is to protect the Springs. Is the State buying the right
mine?
NOBODY -- not even the Company -- has studied the recharge zone to
the
Ichetucknee Springs in sufficient detail to know the effect of the
adjacent
cement plant mine on the flow and quality of the water flowing from
this
unique and irreplaceable National treasure. The deal to save
Ichetucknee
could just as likely destroy it. NOBODY KNOWS.
The Company has offered to spend a paltry $1 million to study water
quality
problems in the Three Rivers Area -- but only after they have received
approval to build the cement kiln and expand the mine, not before.
The
Company has a horrible record of environmental compliance, yet the
juggernaught to appease Anderson Columbia is moving through Tallahassee
with
unprecedented speed.
No scientific data have been released to provide assurances that the
Ichetucknee Springs will be protected from this new mine. There
has been
only one public hearing; but only on the air permit, none on the mine.
Sierra Club and Save Our Suwanee have appealed the air permit.
Nobody
outside the Company knows about the mine impacts. Yet the Cabinet
is set to
vote before the facts are known, before litigation is resolved, before
air
construction permits are issued. What is going on?
Why is the State of Florida rushing to sell out the Ichetucknee?
Why are the
people, even Sierra Club and Save Our Suwannee, parties to the air
permit
litigation, being shut out of the process?
David E. Bruderly, PE
Professional Water Resource Engineer
1826 NW 57th Terrace
Gainesville, Florida 32605-3357
352-377-0932