Radioactive Road Proposal Faces Roadblocks Aplenty

After the Florida Legislature passed and Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed legislation authorizing state transportation officials to test the feasibility of using a toxic byproduct of fertilizer production in Florida to build roads, it seemed that was that.

Wrong.

The Ledger in Lakeland reports that state officials and Mosaic, the fertilizer corporation that proposes to build test roads on its property, are awaiting review of this scheme by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA rules currently prohibit using this material called phosphogypsum for anything other than piling it up in stacks the size of small mountains.

Phosphogypsum is a waste product that is slightly radioactive and contains a number of toxic elements such as arsenic, lead, mercury and chromium.

The argument for using this material in roads is that it is not as dangerous as critics claim and that it could reduce road-building costs by eliminating the need to transport limerock, the material that has been traditionally used in Florida road-building projects, from far away mines elsewhere in Florida.

They could further argue this study is unnecessary because the material has already been used in building a road on the outskirts of Fort Meade decades ago. A subsequent investigation of the environmental impacts by the University of Miami reportedly found no problems.

Mosaic certainly has an incentive to push this through because as things stand now, it is financially responsible until the end of time for monitoring and managing these stacks. This is an expense the corporation would be happy to shed.

Opponents are concerned that this opens the door to spreading this material all over the landscape with uncertain results.

However, the reality of this venture is even more complicated.

First, any action by EPA would require a public process before the agency makes a decision.

That decision is subject to legal challenges by organizations that oppose the idea.

This could take years to play out.

Meanwhile, the perfunctory staff analyses accompanying the legislation did not address how much demand there actually is for this material and whether there is enough demand to make even a small dent in the size of the stacks that dot southwest Polk County and a couple of spots in adjacent counties.

Also unaddressed is what would happen if phosphogypsum road testing is ultimately authorized and EPA subsequently decides it is a suitable road-building material and a road project is proposed somewhere in Florida using it.

It is not hard to imagine the political fallout that could occur when word gets out and residents show up at city or county commission meetings to object to using this material near their homes and wells.

You get the idea.

Furthermore, it will be interesting to see, given all of the uncertainty over the EPA review, whether any state-mandated report will be available by its next April Fool’s Day due date and how much it will cost the taxpayers.

Stay tuned.

 

Horse Creek, Charlie Creek Minimum Flows Meetings Planned

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is planning a series of public meetings beginning July 17 and continuing through Oct. 2 to update minimum flows and levels for Horse Creek and Charlie Creek, two major tributaries of the Peace River.

The meetings will principally involve peer review of draft report by scientists, but public comments are allowed throughout the process, according to Swiftmud officials.

A public workshop is scheduled for this fall. Formal Governing Board action is scheduled in November.

The idea behind setting minimum flows and levels for water bodies to prevent environmental harm as a result of water withdrawals.

Historically, the Peace River has been one of the most impacted streams in central Florida as a result of water withdrawals that included the loss of base flow that caused portions of the river in Polk County to cease flowing during droughts.

For more information, including a copy of the draft and the meeting schedule, go to

Minimum Flows for Horse Creek and Charlie Creek | WaterMatters.org (state.fl.us)

 

Putting The Malaria News In Historic Perspective

The news that four people in Florida contracted malaria from local mosquito populations certainly drew attention because the disease is fatal if left untreated and is almost unheard of in modern times in this country.

There have been some suggestions that this is somehow vaguely connected to rising temperatures associated with climate change.

The reality is more complicated.

Malaria was once a common disease in Florida, according to some older schoolbooks titled Florida: Wealth of Waste? These books were published in the 1940s and 1950 and used in public and private schools and colleges.

In 1930, malaria was the fifth leading cause of death in Florida for children 1 through 4, causing 31.8 deaths per 100,000 population.

In 1940, (see figure above) Florida had the largest concentration of malaria cases in the Southeast. That year Florida officials reported 24,498 cases of malaria, 98 of them resulting in deaths.

There are a number of reasons malaria has declined in Florida.

Chief among them is the fact that homes had gradually become equipped with window screens and door screens to keep mosquitoes out. Today many homes are completely enclosed from the outside because they have air-conditioning.

Mosquito control efforts also increased, though the use of DDT in the early days had some serious environmental effects on wildlife that eventually led to its ban and its replacement with less harmful pesticides. Mosquito repellents also improved.

Also, as in the recent cases, public health surveillance for disease outbreaks is an important tool for detecting outbreaks early and taking appropriate action.

 

 

Polk OKs Long-Sought Project To Reduce Peace River Pollution

The Polk County Commission voted June 20 to buy 120 acres on the south shore of Lake Lulu in the Winter Haven Chain of Lakes for an environmental restoration project.

The $480,000 purchase from Harmony on Lake Eloise is part of a $1 million planned appropriation from President Joseph Biden’s American Rescue Plan for land acquisition and design for a wetlands treatment and wildlife habitat restoration project.

No money for construction of the project was listed.

A canal flowing out of Lake Lulu connects to a series of drainage canals that eventually reaches the Peace River near Bartow.

The need to reduce the flow of pollutants from Lake Lulu, where one of Winter Haven’s sewer plants was once located, has been an issue for decades.

That sewer flow was mentioned in a 1953 scientific paper that discussed the contributions of pollution into the Peace River system from Polk County that affected red tide occurrences downstream in the Gulf of Mexico at a time when sewer discharges in Florida were largely unregulated.

 

 

Polk Environmental Lands Tax Will Not Be Cut

Questions about whether the Polk County Commission would cut the amount of taxes that would be levied to preserve land were answered Tuesday.

The majority of commissioners agreed during a budget work session not to cut the voter-approved tax of 20 cents per $1,000 of taxable value of real estate.

Commissioner Rick Wilson, who chairs the committee that will oversee spending the tax’s proceeds, said he would “fight (cuts) to the bitter end,” Commissioners Bill Braswell and George Lindsey agreed not to cut the tax, cementing a majority.

The discussion came after Marian Ryan, conservation chair for Ancient Islands Group of Florida Sierra, addressed commissioners at the beginning of Tuesday’s regular meeting.

She said although the county ordinance was indefinite about the exact tax rate, the ballot language was clear that the levy should be 0.2 of a mill.

During the budget work session county staffers said the tax will produce an estimated $11.3 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

 

Arbuckle Creek Corridor Gaining More Protection

Arbuckle Creek is a blackwater creek that meanders for 24.7 miles from the south end of Lake Arbuckle in Polk County to Lake Istokpoga in Highlands County.

It is surrounded primarily by ranchlands that are home to a variety of native Florida wildlife.

Thousands of acres of this land along the creek are protected by a variety of federal, state and private conservation acquisitons.

The most recent announced conservation easement acquisition involves a deal finalized earlier this year for the 1,250-acre Arbuckle Creek Ranch though the efforts of Conservation Florida. This organization is among a variety public agencies and private organizations that have been active in securing conservation easements and similar protections for property along the Lake Wales Ridge and the Everglades Headwaters, two key areas in local land-protection efforts.

The deal also furthers efforts by the U,S, Air Force to prevent development encroachment that could affect operations at the Avon Park Air Force Range, a major training base in Polk and Highlands counties.

This and several other acquisitions, either through outright purchases or the purchase of conservation easements, contributes to the preservation of regional wildlife corridors as well as preserving habitat for rare and endangered species of plants and animals.

The portion of this landscape in Polk County will be one of the focuses of the renewed conservation land-protection effort expected to get under way in coming years, thanks to voter approval of additional funds for conservation land purchases in a November 2022 referendum organized by local conservation activists.

 

 

 

Florida Cabinet OKs Heartland Conservation Buys

More More land in this part of Florida will be protected via a series of conservation easements approved Tuesday by the Florida Cabinet sitting as the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund.

Conservation easements allow owners of working lands to continue their historic operations, but limit future development.

The purchases were:

An easement covering 1,071 acres along Horse Creek, which has been endangered by phosphate mining, owned by the Keen Family Ranch in DeSoto County.

An easement covering 1,027 acres in Hardee County owned by the Charlie Creek Cattle Company that is the third purchase from this property owner dating from 2017.

An easement along the Kissimmee River in Highlands County totaling 3,068 acres owned by Doyle Carlton III LLC.

An easement totaling 3,634 acres owned by Midway Farms near Frostproof.

An easement totaling 549 acres owned by Grubb Ranch in Hardee County near Highlands Hammock State Park.

A 643-acre easement in Highlands County owned by Sandy Gully Dairy adjacent to Highlands Hammock State Park.

These are key parcels that protect portions of the Peace River Basin, the Lake Wales Ridge and the Everglades Headwaters, three key areas targeted for protection by Sierra Club and other environmental groups.