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From The Oregonian, Sept. 19, 1991 p D2

The following is posted as a courtesy. It appeared first in The Oregonian on
Sept. 15, 1991.

PHOSPHATE MINE RECLAMATION WORKS, BUT PROBLEMS EXIST

By ELLEN MORRIS BISHOP

Florida companies aim to re-establish wildlife, vegetation

	To some, they are moonscapes. To others, once and future wetlands.
Whatever your prejudice, Florida�s phosphate strip mines are both models for
successful mined land reclamation and examples of exasperating environmental
problems beyond restroation.	   North America�s most extensive phosphate
deposits lie less than 50 feet below the boggy surface of central florida.
First mined in the mid-1800s, the phosphate industry today processes about
35,000 tons of ore annually, providing 80 percent of U.S. fertilizer.	
Until 1975, the industry earned a villainous reputation for environmental
desecration. Although some comapnies practiced token refilling or gave the
used- up mines to the state for parkland, too many left mounded piles of
overburden and kerosene-tainted ponds as relics of pillage.	  In the days
of Apollo, the barren hummocks at Cape Kennedy�s back door were terms
�moonsapes.� Even Florida�s aggressive vegetation found them inhospitable.
Their hummocky topography defied agriculture; wildlife habitat disappeared.
In place of pasture and water-conserving wetlands, the mines left a landscape
of convenience and greed.	 But in 1975, Florida enacted laws requiring
reclamation of mined land, and the phosphate industry gained a legislated
conscience. Today caompanies such as Seminole and Agrico point with pride to
wetlands, pastures and orange groves on property that 20 years ago might have
been left destitute.   Compared to the problems of reclaiming coal mines or
restoring heap-leach mining�s gaping desert pits, Florida�s problem seemed
easy to fix. Pump back these slurried sand and clays robbed fromthe phosphate
pit, then spread the overburden of topsoil. Add water and stand back as the
land re-establishes itself.   But even in Florida life is not that simple.   
From the wetland edge of Agrico�s Morrow Swamp, we could wsee the dragline
digesting a distant landscape. Denver Phares, Agrico�s environmental
engineer, waved generally toward the marshy sawgrass I was wading through.
�We even see a few alligators around here now and then,� he said
nonchalantly. I edged casually closer to firm ground.	    Morrow Swamp
wasmined in the early 1980s, Phares said. Today it is premium wetland. Some
66,000 new trees shade its waters. Egrets, heron, spoonbill and, yes,
alligators, call it home.	 Re-establishing the vegetation and the
wildlife was a learning experience for Agrico, according to Phares.
Strip-mining robs subtropic wetland soil of bacteria and fungi essential to
nutrient cycling. In particular, mycorrhizal- dependent plants like some
dogwood and holly-like species grew poorly or not at all on reclaimed sites. 
  The phosphate companies have learned to treasure the smelly black mulch,
repository of seeds, bacteria, and the nutrient-cycling system of wetlands.
They strip it off the surface of a new mine -- and spread it right back onto
adjacent land in the process of reclamation.  �It�s a wonderful seed source,�
Phares explained. �We can save a lot of native vegetation by just taking
proper care ofthe organic ooze on wetland bottoms.�    The 1975 Mined Lands
Reclamation law required that all mined land be recliamed. Another act in
1984 required permits for mining wetlands and that all wetland that was mined
for phosphate be restored to wetland condition.    Florida�s Department of
Natural Resources mandated exhaustive topographic and hydrologic surveys as
well as painstaking botanical inventories and approval of detailed
reclamation plans prior to approval of a mining permit. Pushed by the state,
mining companies re-established plant and animal habitat at an average cost
of $4,000 per acre.	Agrico, a division of Freeport-McMoRan mining, now
operates one of Florida�s largest native-plant nurseries. Its Morrow Swam
reclamation project -- a designed, rebuilt wetland, has won environmental
awards from the National Wildlife Federation. Seminole Phosphate has
established a sawgrass nursery from native stock, rehabilitating its mines to
sawgrass pairie within two to five years of closure.  Lands not categorized
as wetlands are often reclaimed to pasture or planted in citrus. Agrico is a
leader among phosphate companies that now grow organes and grapefruit on
reclaimed land.     But despite some noteworthy successes in land
reclamation, problems still plague the phosphate mining industry.	 
Across central Florida, huge flat-topped pyramids of glimmering white
phosphogypsum rise, like some ancient Mayan�s nightmare.  The phosphate
refining process (calcium phospahte plus sulfuric acid yields phosphate plus
calcium sulfate, or �gypsum�) produces ton after tone. And no one, despite
years of research and frantic trials, has ever found a practical use for it.
Secondary road matierla, additives for heavy, acid soils, a source of sulfur
or sulfuric acid: The research continues, but nothing has worked. Suspected
of slightly above-background radioactivity, no one wants to use too much in
too many places too quickly. So it continues to stack up, 33 million tons per
year.	  And ther eare the enormous, mucky, consolidation ponds, secreted
behind huge earthen walls, known as �clay settling areas.� here the finest
clay, left after initial ore processing, is pumped to settle and stabilize.  
      Industry reports claim bountiful yields of everything from alfalfa to
zucchini planted on these areas.  According to David Schiebles of the Polk
county, Fla., Minced Lands Agriculture Research office, the high phosphate
content of the clays -- up to 8000 parts per million  -- provides natural
fertilizer. but the clay soil is a challenge to work without boggin down, and
sophistiacated drainage systems are essential. Agricultural utilization of
these large areas may be in Florida�s future, but it is not much in Florida�s
present.   So reclaiming mined land is not as simple as just filling in the
hole, not even where rampant vegetation and abundant water hold sway.
Florida�s phosphate industry has made major strides, though. And the
companies, the state, and the public intend to keep striding.

	Ellen Morris Bishop teaches in the physical sciences department at Eastern
Oregon State College.

Posted as a courtesy by
Daniel B. Wheeler
http://www.oregonwhitetruffles.com

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