Following is a pictorial essay of scenes from the HPS II mining issue starting in 2016. Early crowds were so large the meetings had to be moved from the normal meeting chambers to an auditorium. People came to oppose the mine from deep into Mosaic territory. Andy Melee and Louella Philips drove four hours each way to speak to commissioners against the mine.
Union County commissioners opposed the mine from the beginning and acted immediately to assure it would not ruin their county. This was difficult for some commissioners who were grade school chums with some of the family who wanted to mine. A rarity this day, these commissioners listened to their constituents and chose what they knew was right, even at personal cost.
The opposite occurred in Bradford County, where some commissioners could not see beyond the dollar sign and were immediate supporters of the good ole’ boy crowd who claimed the mine would make the county rich.
The grass roots victory after a seven-year fight against a powerful enemy such as the phosphate industry did not come without cost.
We know of at least one family with land near the proposed mine who moved out of the county and there are probably more. HPS II sank millions in this failed project. Individual volunteers spent thousands of hours and dollars opposing the mine. Thousands of miles were driven, hundreds of speeches to governing groups, videos were made, op-eds written and published in multiple newspapers, signs made, meetings planned and executed, money was spent on consultants on both sides.
Alachua County environmental head Chris Bird stated to the effect that in his thirty years as the official environmentalist of Alachua County, the mine was the worst threat he had seen for the Santa Fe. Alachua County county commissioner Hutch Hutchinson said, when asked what his county would to do stop the mine, he replied “Whatever it takes.” Alachua County initiated joint meetings with Union and Bradford counties and themselves. This had no positive results with Bradford.
Jackie Lopez from The Center for Biological Diversity organized statewide ban on phosphate mining meetings with communities most impacted by this dangerous land development industry. Some of these meetings took place in St. Petersburg with people driving from Fort White and Lake Butler. The Sierra Club Phosphate Committee also supported the drive against the mine. Carol Mosley founded the Bradford Environmental Forum near Brooker, and she seldom missed a BOCC meeting.
HPSII had several missteps along the way. They were inexperienced in mining and were unable to produce a viable master mining plan, they wasted time and credibility in promising new mining techniques which did not work, they were fined for drilling dozens of wells without permission, they drilled test wells on other people’s land, thinking it was theirs, and family members were caught illegally draining wetlands. Local pushback against the mine was furious, passionate and loud from the very beginning.
Even though Jack Hazen said God wanted him to take the phosphate out of the earth and sell it, it is not happening for now. That phosphate is still there but you can be sure someone is eyeing it and wondering if they can make money on it. Mr. Hazen can be heard on video at the link played on PBS at the last photo of this post.
After development, the mining industry is the most destructive industry in the state. It leaves the ground mostly useless since about the only thing that will grow there is grass and some stunted, scraggly trees, but mostly we see weeds. This is in contrast with the false picture painted on Mosaic’s website which shows beautiful nature, with grass, birds and flowers. That is not reality.
This battle was won after seven years and lots of money and work, but the enemy is not defeated.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Looking toward the north from Brooker. HPS II headquarters are located just north of town. Most of this land would have been destroyed by mining.
