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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Jun 5, 2010
Description:
There isn’t nearly as much water in the river as there used to be. Most of it has been sucked up by phosphate mining operations, or, as the industry argues, natural climatic oscillations, or, as I suspect, a lot more people drinking water in combination with all the above. Whatever, the flow is 25% less than it was in the 1960’s.
The phosphate deposit was discovered by Capt. Francis LeBaron of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1861 while looking along the Peace River for a way to connect Charlotte Harbor with the St. Johns River. What he found were fossils in the River’s sand banks. Fossils included mastodon, sabertooth tiger teeth, and 40’ shark teeth from the Miocene and Pleistocene seas that covered this part of Florida.
Date Taken:
Jun 5, 2010
Place Taken:
Near Handcock Lake, Peace River, FL
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Racing_Tracks.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZQH80000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZQH80000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZQH80000s">
Category:
34, Florida Flying
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Read what others had to say:
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Jon Ladd - Jun 05,2010
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Maybe a tooth from a 40' shark. Definately not a 40' tooth
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Kenneth Leonard - Jun 05,2010
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A 40' shark tooth...now that must have been to a big shark! All I know about phosphate mining is that they work until no longer profitable, sell the mine to a sub-company, let that company go out of business and leave the polluted mine and it's troubles to the taxpayer. Tampa had a phosphate storage lot on the bay that was abandoned by the company and proceeded to dump tons of phosphates into Tampa Bay for years. Pierce the corporate bubble and go after the personal wealth of those responsible then forbid further mining until they buy insurance to cover all potential environmental damage. (Yeah, this is really about BP)
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Dan Nickens - Jun 06,2010
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Is this the one you mean, Ken? Mulberry Phosphates operated the Piney Point plant until filing for bankruptcy in 2001 leaving a huge problem: phosphate slime ponds. Phosphate slimes (phosphogypsum) are actually clay particles in a watery suspension that is a byproduct of the floatation process. They also contain uranium in enough quantity to make its recovery potentially economically viable (but it also makes EPA nervous). It is estimated that left to natural processes the slimy stuff would take centuries to solidify.<br /><br />The State of Florida requires phosphate companies (and other mining operations) to post a financial bond for the cost of reclamation. What wasn’t realized by the bureaucrats was that the amount of the bond was woefully inadequate to address 1.2 billion gallons of slimy water, on top of the other costs. The State basically screwed the taxpayers through its bad cost estimates.<br /><br />What didn’t get a lot of publicity was that when Mulberry slunk out of town, Cargill stepped in to help the state with the problems they left behind. It is estimated that the state saved $20 million in cleanup costs as a result. Cargill even invested in creation of a bird rookery and habitat restoration in the affected areas of Tampa Bay.<br /><br />Cargill also left the phosphate industry, selling out to Mosaic. Mosaic is generally considered to be a responsible, environmentally conscientious operation.<br /><br />Did you enjoy a sandwich at lunch today? If so, the bread is likely an end product of U.S. wheat production that is made highly efficient through the use of fertilizer (ammonium phosphate) from Florida, Tampa Bay’s number one export. We all enjoy the benefits of cheap, easily available food products. We also enjoy flying our SeaReys with BP high octane fuel, but not when left to landing on oily waters. Somewhere in between unbridled prosperity and ecological disaster there should be a sustainable spot, eh?<br /><br />
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