Summary
"The Peace River is the No. 1 water supply for the people of southwest Florida and the No. 1 water supply for Charlotte Harbor, which provides a $4.5-billion economic impact to the regional economy," says Tampa lawyer Ed de la Parte. Reclamation science has steadily improved, says Richard W. Cantrell, director of DEP's Bureau of Mine Reclamation. Since the state began requiring companies to restore wetlands acre for acre and type for type in 1987, he says, the projects generally have been successful: Are they an absolute snapshot of what existed before?
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Extract
Mine Field
In rural west-central Florida, County Line Road defines the border between Polk and Hardee counties. On the south side, the Hardee landscape is typical Florida heartland: Drought-browned pasture stretches mile after mile, dotted by grazing cows, lonely palms and scrub-oak trees. To the north, the view into Polk County is a jarring contrast: Mile after mile of strip-mined earth in shades of gray, with not a tree or other living thing on the horizon.
That moonscape to the north is the South Fort Meade Mine, a phosphate operation most owned by the most powerful company that most Floridians have never heard of: Minnesota-based Mosaic Co. The $6 billion fertilizer company is one of only three phosphate firms left in Florida from the 100 that operated during the industry's heyday in the early 20th century. Formed in 2004 by a merger of Cargill Crop Nutrition and IMC Global (Cargill remains 65% owner), it controls more than 300,000 acres of the s...See the full content of this document
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