JUDY WOODRUFF: In the coming midterm election, environmental issues have played an unusually
large role in the state of Florida, in part due to the explosion of two blooms of algae
that have crippled part of the state's tourism economy and killed hundreds of thousands of
fish and wildlife.
There are many factors driving these blooms, but scientists believe that the mining of
phosphorous is one of them.
Mining this mineral is a huge business in Florida.
And special correspondent Laura Newberry and producer Alan Toth tell us, the fight over
a new mine is sharply dividing one Florida town.
It's the focus of this week's on the Leading Edge of science and technology.
LAURA NEWBERRY: When most people think of Florida, they probably imagine wetlands and
beaches, but there's a lot more going on there than most people realize.
Buried in Florida's earth is a mineral so essential to our everyday lives that we'd
go hungry without it.
Phosphate is an essential nutrient for plant growth.
It's ubiquitous in fertilizer.
And the only way to extract vast quantities of phosphate is through strip mining.
But to really understand the environmental cost of phosphate mining, you have to get
up in the air.
Ed Golly (ph) and Andre Mele took me on a flight over the mines, so I could get a sense
of the scale of phosphate production.
ANDRE MELE, Suncoast Waterkeeper: Laura, all those water forms off to the right, those
are all related to the mines.
LAURA NEWBERRY: It's fair to say that the human race is dependent on phosphate to grow
enough food.
The United States produces 27 million metric tons of phosphate per year, and the majority
of that phosphate comes out of Florida.
ANDRE MELE: And here's the fertilizer plant, AKA, the acid plant.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Phosphogypsum stacks, also known as gypstacks, are mountains of waste
left over from fertilizer production.
Some of that waste is radon and uranium.
The EPA says that it's too radioactive to be buried, so it's piled in these stacks.
There are 25 of these things in Florida, and they're some of the highest points in the
state.
ANDRE MELE: And here we are at the sinkhole, Laura.
MAN: Now, that's the sinkhole.
ANDRE MELE: There's your sinkhole.
LAURA NEWBERRY: In August of 2016, this huge sinkhole opened up on a gypstack in Polk County,
and hundreds of millions gallons of wastewater drained right into the aquifer.
The company responsible for this spill is Mosaic, the largest phosphate company in the
nation.
MAN: A large sinkhole has now opened beneath a gypsum stack at the Mosaic New Wales plant
in Mulberry.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Mosaic kept the full extent of the spill a secret for 19 days, and only
acknowledged it to the public after local news reported it.
In a statement, the company apologized for not providing information sooner.
But, for some, the potential benefits of phosphate mining outweigh the environmental concerns.
Jack Hazen owns Circle H Ranch in North Florida, on the border of Bradford And union counties.
JACK HAZEN, Circle H Ranch: Well, I was born here on this property in 1933.
My father owned it, and my grandfather owned it before him.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Hazen raises cattle and corn, but he's known for a long time that his land
is rich in phosphate.
He recently formed a company in order to mine his land and four neighboring properties.
JACK HAZEN: This county and the adjoining county that this phosphate's in is poor counties.
And I came to the conclusion that we would work roughly 200 people.
That is the only reason I decided to phosphate this land.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Phosphate mining might benefit some workers in this economically depressed
area of Florida, but some local activist Jim Tatum says that the environmental cost of
a phosphate mine is not worth a few jobs.
JIM TATUM, Environmental Activist: I live on the river, and what happens in Bradford
and Union County will affect my river, or could affect my river.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Jim Tatum lives next to the Santa Fe River.
A small tributary to the Santa Fe divides Bradford and Union counties, and it flows
right through the proposed mining area.
JIM TATUM: I think it was 1997 they had a spill in the north shore of the Alafia River.
The spill killed millions of fish, wildlife crabs.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Fifty million gallons of wastewater from a phosphate fertilizer plant spilled
into the Alafia River, and it killed almost everything, more than a million fish for 50
miles downstream.
Courtney Snyder, who lives right next to the proposed mining area, is also concerned.
COURTNEY SNYDER, Florida: Nobody wants the phosphate mine here.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Why?
COURTNEY SNYDER: Well, you have got the dust, the I guess you could call it radioactive
dust because of the radon and whatever else is found in the ore.
My 4-year-old has asthma, and I'm 100 yards away from the proposed property.
But now we're getting into this dirt road here that cuts through the center of some
of the mining property.
That's part of the proposed mining property owned by the Pritchett family back there,
and on that side there.
It's very close to people's homes.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Snyder and several other concerned neighbors are members of a group called Citizens
Against Phosphate Mining in Bradford and Union Counties.
They hope to convince their county commissioners to deny Hazen's mining permit.
Jack Hazen knows about his neighbors who are protesting the mine, but he says that their
concerns are unfounded.
He says he plans to ship his phosphate out of the county to be processed into fertilizer,
so there will be no gypstacks.
JACK HAZEN: We're not going to contaminate the rivers.
We're not going to contaminate anything.
I'm telling you, this is a clean operation.
And, of course, these environmentalists, they fight this stuff, but they lose.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Union County commissioners recently passed a one-year moratorium on mining
permits, but Bradford County commissioners are still considering the mine.
CAROL MOSLEY, Florida: I heard Mr. Hazen told you not to listen to us because we are activists
and outsiders.
We live here too.
BECKY PARKER, Florida: Building mines next to our residences will make our properties
worthless.
MICHAEL ROTH, Florida: Nobody wants it.
Your people don't want it.
The people that elected you don't want it.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Despite the public outcry, the Bradford County commissioners voted to
hire a consultant to advise them on Hazen's mining application.
MAN: Motion carries 5-0.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Jim Tatum is still concerned that the Bradford County commission will approve
the mine.
JIM TATUM: Education is the most important thing we can do to tell the people what the
threat is.
This will destroy Bradford County.
It will destroy its attraction as a rural paradise, so to speak.
COURTNEY SNYDER: If they get the permits and they start mining across the street from me,
I would probably move.
LAURA NEWBERRY: Jack Hazen is determined to do what he wants with his land.
JACK HAZEN: They can't stop us from mining, because we got property rights.
You don't govern what I can do with my land.
When we get to where somebody is governing what I can do with my land, we in bad shape
in this country.
LAURA NEWBERRY: One thing is for sure.
Phosphate mining in Central Florida continues, so those gypstacks are going to get even taller.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Laura Newberry in Starke, Florida.