Show Up In Arcadia On April 3rd To Help Save Our Drinking Water

A large group of residents needed at hearing to encourage denial of rezoning for Mosaic Mining Company

3/18/2019

On April 3rd the DeSoto County Board of Commissioners will hear the Mosaic Mining Company's appeal of the Commissioners' decision to deny a zoning change of 18,000 agricultural acres to phosphate mining.

Englewood Indivisible members are planning to carpool to the 9:00 AM meeting at the DeSoto Administration Building, 1st Floor Boardroom, 201 East Oak St., Arcadia. Please join us, by sending your name and phone number to EnglewoodIndivisible@gmail.com. The drive takes about one and one-half hours from Englewood.

Mosaic is the largest phosphate mining company in the US. Its operations just north of us have severely damaged the environment, especially in Hardee County.

A key concern about Mosaic's proposed DeSoto County mining project is the operation's proximity to Horse Creek, a currently pristine stream that flows into the Peace River and makes its waters clean enough to drink. The Peace River supplies drinking water to Charlotte, Sarasota and DeSoto counties. Mosaic would dump millions of gallons of its processing waste into Horse Creek daily, according to a project critic quoted in the Tampa Bay Times.

In 2016, a sinkhole opened under a stack of phosphogypsum at Mosaic's plant in Hillsborough County, sending millions of gallons of contaminated waste into the aquifer. Mosaic waited three weeks to disclose the accident.

Captain Paul DeGaeta, co-founder of Peace River-Charlotte Harbor Environmental Awareness Group (PReaCH), spoke at our March 9th meeting about risks posed by the Mosaic Company's phosphate mining. He showed a short video that graphically depicts phosphate mining's potential for harm. You can see it here.

The hearing on April 3rd will be a public mediation, in response to Mosaic's appeal of the Commission's refusal to okay its project. Signs won't be allowed, but t-shirts or t-shirt patches about water quality are permitted. We will be calling everyone who signs up to go to Arcadia to arrange carpooling. So please include your phone number in an email to EnglewoodIndivisible@gmail.com.

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