Peace River Makes the 2004 Most Endangered Rivers List

Lorelei Jackson
04.14.04

Florida - America's rivers and streams are becoming more polluted -- and the White House and Congress are making a bad situation worse by cutting clean water law enforcement and spending on pollution prevention, charged American Rivers with the release of its 2004 Most Endangered Rivers report.

* On President Bush’s watch, EPA is issuing less than half as many “violation notices” to polluters who break the law, and is levying smaller fines, as well

* One-fourth of America’s largest industrial and sewage treatment plants are in “significant noncompliance” with water pollution standards at any one time

* The White House and Congress have declined to reauthorize the Superfund tax to ensure that polluters pay to cleanup toxic waste instead of the taxpayers

* On his first day in office, President Bush scrapped a proposal to require wastewater treatment plants to notify the public when the spill sewage into streams and rivers.

* In November 2003, the EPA proposed to sanction dumping fully and partially treated sewage into rivers when it rains.

* The federal government used to pay 20% of water infrastructure costs. Now it pays 5% and President Bush has asked the Congress to cut this by another third for 2005.

* Removed restrictions that protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining

* Issued new nationwide permits for building shopping centers, tract housing, and corporate campuses on top of wetlands and flood-prone areas

* Discouraged federal field staff from protecting many wetlands and streams under the Clean Water Act.

* 51% of the mouths of America’s rivers were designated “impaired” in 2000, up from 37% in 1994

* EPA estimates that sanitary sewers overflow directly into streams, lakes, and estuaries 40,000 times and that as many as 3.5 million American get sick from swimming in water laced with sewage each year.

* Forty-three states have issued fish-consumption advisories along 500,000 miles of river

* The United States loses 60,000 acres of wetlands each year – increasing the frequency and severity of floods

#8 on the list - Peace River
THREAT: PHOSPHATE MINING
HUGE PHOSPHATE MINES ARE DEVOURING THE PEACE RIVER WATERSHED, LEAVING BEHIND UNSTABLE CLAY POOLS THAT PREVENT WATER FROM REACHING THE RIVER — UNTIL THEY COLLAPSE.
Summary
Phosphate mining in the Peace River watershed has been the source of serious environmental problems for many years, and large new mines are planned. Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) must take measures to safeguard the river and communities in the watershed from mining impacts, including protecting drinking water, and important tourism and commercial fishing industries.

The River
The Peace River begins in central Florida at Green Swamp and flows south 105 miles to the Charlotte Harbor Estuary. Fresh water from the Peace River is vital to maintain the delicate salinity balance in the estuary that hosts several endangered species as well as commercial and recreational harvests of shrimp, crabs and fish.

The river has always been a vital resource to the people in its watershed. Historically, the abundant fishery and wildlife supported Native American populations. Today, the Peace is an important source of drinking water, supplying some 6 million gallons of drinking water every day. The river is also an important source of economic vitality, providing tourism, recreation, and commercial fishing. During 1995-1996, these industries generated almost $4.5 billion and created more than 91,000 jobs in the watershed.

The Risk Phosphate is a growing export to China, where it is used in fertilizer, but the consequences of mining it are borne in the Peace River watershed. Phosphate mining companies bore and scrape huge pits up to 60 feet deep over thousands of contiguous acres. More than 180,000 acres have been mined in the Peace River watershed already, and mining corporations are now seeking permits for another 100,000acres – an expansion of more than 50 percent.

One byproduct of the extraction process is clay, which is stored in settling ponds that eventually comprise more than 40 percent of a mine site. Some of these ponds can measure thousands of acres. Rain is trapped in these massive clay-laden ponds rather than soaking into the soil to replenish underlying aquifers. This reduces flows in the Peace River.

Since the 1960s, the average annual flow of the middle Peace River has declined from 1,350 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 800 cfs. Most of this flow reduction is due to phosphate mining. Each holding pond is a potential time bomb that threatens water quality, public health, wildlife and the regional economy. Dams restraining the ponds have burst or overflowed, sending a slurry of clay, containing uranium and radium, into the river, and coating the riverbed for many miles with a toxic clay slime that suffocates flora and fauna. One such incident killed 3 million fish. In 1971, two million gallons of phosphate waste swept into the river, causing a five-foot tide of slime that spread into adjacent pastures and wetlands. On some occasions, clay slime spills have prevented the Peace River Manasota Water Supply Authority from using river flows for drinking water, forcing counties to seek water supplies elsewhere or rely on stored supplies.

On at least 24 occasions, heavy rains have created sinkholes beneath the settling ponds.

PHOSPHATE MINING THREATENS RECREATIONAL AND COMMERCIAL FISHING IN THE PEACE RIVER AND CHARLOTTE HARBOR

This caused the floor of the ponds to collapse, allowing mine waste to be released into underground aquifers.

The 12-Month Outlook
On May 10, 2004, a judge will examine the Florida DEP’s decision to allow IMC-Cargill to expand the Ona Mine by 4,000 acres. The company has signaled that it may expand the site by an additional 16,000 acres beyond that at some point in the future. Charlotte County, the Peace River Manasota Water Supply Authority and conservation groups are challenging the DEP’s permit for the mine.

It appears DEP is poised to allow mine construction, despite the fact that an Environmental Impact Statement has not been completed for this project. DEP should reject the Ona Mine.

Charlotte County and conservation groups are challenging or monitoring at least five other phosphate mine proposals. These proposed mines and mine expansions total over 40,000 acres. DEP should deny permits for each of them. After a three-year delay, SWFWMD is scheduled to set new minimum flow levels for the middle and lower Peace River in 2004. The large number of pending mine permits and their consequences for flows make it imperative that SWFWMD set minimum flow levels without further delay. The district should set minimum flows in the Peace River that will preserve and protect drinking water and fish and wildlife habitat. If SWFWMD attempts additional stalling, the state legislature should mandate that the decision be made in 2004.

Most of the Peace River was listed under the Clean Water Act as an impaired river in 1998, and the DEP has agreed to develop a cleanup plan for the river. DEP should resist pressure from phosphate mining companies and establish clean water management requirements that will lead to improved water quality in the river. The Bush administration has halted a Clinton- era initiative to strengthen the Total Maximum Daily Load program in the Clean Water Act and has signaled that it will propose weaker regulations.

The administration should not dilute this program, which is the Clean Water Act’s primary tool for cleaning up waters like the Peace that are impaired by development, mining, and other land uses that generate pollution.

Contacts
SERENA S. MCCLAIN, American Rivers,
(202) 347-7550 ext. 3004,
smcclain@americanrivers.org
HONEY RAND, Charlotte County Commission,
(813) 948-6400, honey@eprgroup.com
BECKY AYECH, Environmental Federation of
Southwest Florida, (941) 322-2164
DENNIS MADER, HARDCAP, (863) 494-4687,
rasayana@cyberstreet.com
GLENN COMPTON, ManaSota-88, (941) 966-
6256, info@manasota-88.org
CHARLOTTE COUNTY VISITOR'S BUREAU

America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2004

#1 Colorado River (CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA)
Contact: Eric Eckl, (202) 347-7550 ext. 3023
While conflict over Colorado River water sharing has grabbed headlines for years, water pollution problems from human waste, toxic chemicals, and radioactive material have been largely overlooked and threaten to get much worse. Unless Congress and the federal government step in to bolster local cleanup efforts, the drinking water for 25 million Americans will be at risk.

#2 Big Sunflower River (MS)
Contact: Melissa Samet, (415) 482-8150
A pair of costly flood control boondoggles promoted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers threatens Mississippi's Big Sunflower River. Unless the Environmental Protection Agency vetoes the Yazoo Pumps, this single project will drain and damage seven times more wetlands than all the nation's private developers harm in one year. Without firm opposition from EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Corps of Engineers will also dredge more than 100 miles of the Big Sunflower's riverbed, destroying even more wetlands, stirring up a toxic stew of pesticides, and endangering the health of those who eat fish caught in the river.

#3 Snake (WY, ID, OR, WA)
Contact: Michael Garrity (206) 213-0330 ext. 11
Dams on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers have caused dramatic declines in the Snake River's once abundant wild salmon population, with all the river's runs either extinct or sliding toward extinction. Studies show that local economies would benefit from thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions of new dollars if wild salmon were restored to the Snake River. However, unless the Bush administration delivers a credible plan to rebuild wild salmon populations, these economic opportunities will be lost and our generation could be the last to enjoy these legendary species.

#4 Tennessee (TN, AL, MS, KY)
Contact: Jamie Mierau, (202) 347-7550 ext. 3003
Along the length of the Tennessee River, overloaded wastewater systems discharge large amounts of inadequately treated sewage into the river with distressing regularity. Unless the Bush administration holds these sewer systems accountable - and Congress provides financial assistance - the Tennessee River will continue to be deluged with sewage.

#5 Allegheny and Monongahela rivers (WV, PA, NY)
Contact: Sara Nicholas (717) 232-8355
Thousands of abandoned mines are leaking acid and other toxic substances into streams throughout the coal country of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Unless Congress reauthorizes the Abandoned Mine Land Trust Fund, ongoing efforts to fix this problem will cease and the amount of pollution reaching the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers will increase, threatening 42 public drinking water intakes, thousands of private wells, and fish and wildlife.

#6 Spokane River (ID, WY)
Contact: Ross Freeman, (206) 213-0330 ext. 16
More pollution concentrated in less water will be the future of the Spokane River unless new groundwater withdrawal applications are rejected, sewage plants meet stringent water quality standards, and mine waste is cleaned up.

#7 Housatonic River (MA, CT)
Contact: John Senn, (202) 347-7550 ext. 3056
Irresponsible industrial activity has left the floodplain and river bottom of the Housatonic River contaminated with some of the highest levels of toxic PCBs in the nation. People who consume contaminated fish and wildlife from along the river are at elevated risk for cancer, birth defects, and immune problems. Unless the Environmental Protection Agency orders a cleanup of the remaining contamination, General Electric Company's toxic legacy in the Housatonic will remain a major health hazard for generations to come.

#8 Peace River (FL)
Contact: Serena McClain, (202) 347-7550 ext. 3004
Phosphate mining in the Peace River watershed has been the source of serious environmental problems for many years, and large new mines are planned. Florida's Department of Environmental Protection and the Southwest Florida Water Management District must take measures to safeguard the river and communities in the watershed from mining impacts, including protecting the drinking water for more than 750,000 people and important tourism and commercial fishing industries.

#9 Big Darby Creek (OH)
Despite its close proximity to Columbus, Ohio, Big Darby Creek has managed to escape many impacts of urban sprawl. That may be about to change. Unless state and local governments adopt and enforce river-conscious land use planning in the Big Darby watershed, one of the highest quality streams left in the Midwest may become just another polluted, flood-prone urban ditch.

#10 Mississippi River (MN, WI, IA, IL, MO, KY, TN, AR, MS, LA)
After decades of manipulation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi River is beset with problems. Unless Congress gives the agency marching orders that reflect the needs, desires and opportunities of today's communities, the river faces ecological collapse with vast negative economic impacts to tourism and recreation industries worth $21 billion per year.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO TAKE ACTION:
WWW.AMERICANRIVERS.ORG/PEACE2004.HTML

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