Mining ban could crush our industry - Area construction needs rock from east Lake Belt
By Dick Hogan The News-Press July 03, 2006
 

A federal judge is weighing whether to shut down the rock-mining district of northwest Miami-Dade County on environmental grounds — a move that could devastate the construction industry of Southwest Florida.

Meanwhile, residents of eastern Estero are watching the case as they continue their campaign to keep new mines away from them.

U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler recently issued a ruling invalidating 10 mining permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers in a 5,400-acre area of the region known as the Lake Belt — saying that the permits contain a "multitude of defects" centering on failure to protect drinking water supplies and wetlands and endangered species such as the wood stork.

The judge hasn't stopped mining but is considering whether to do so.

If that happens, some in the construction industry say the result would be disastrous.

"The cost to the public would be astronomical" as prices soared for the rock and sand that is a main ingredient for most construction, said Steve Shimp, president of construction company Owen-Ames-Kimball.

A study by the South Florida chapter of Associated General Contractors shows that at least half the rock used in Southwest Florida would be lost if the Lake Belt is shut down, he said.

Ron Inge, chief operating officer of Land Solutions, a Fort Myers-based real estate company, said quality rock now goes for about $15 a ton, double what it was six years ago.

"If we eliminate mining in the Lake Belt, I can easily see that going for $30 a ton," he said.

Will Glusac, president of the Florida Materials Division of Rinker Materials — which operates a mine off Alico Road in south Lee County — said replacing the Lake Belt production would be expensive and logistically difficult.

About 50 million tons of the total 120 million tons a year of rock used in Florida comes from the Lake Belt, he said.

It costs 10 to 15 cents a mile to move a ton of rock by truck and 6 to 8 cents by rail, Glusac said, a substantial increase for a product that runs about $15 a ton for high-quality rock.

Ramping up production at other mines isn't a practical short-term solution, Glusac said. "We're already running our mine in Lee County 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Could you add larger equipment, a second plant? Yes, but that would take time."

The environmental groups who won the lawsuit, however, say the mining industry's disaster scenario is highly unlikely to occur because the case involves disputed permits for only 5,400 acres of the much larger Lake Belt mining region. And nobody is talking about a complete shutdown of all mines, the groups say.

Shimp noted that if a shutdown occurred, it would come at a time when prices for construction materials are already soaring.

For example, the price of a cubic yard of dirt clean enough to use for fill at a home site is about $20, he said — twice what it was a year ago.

Builders say other products are high as well: $250 to $300 for a 250-foot roll of copper wire that would have cost $45-50 a year ago, for example.

But as builders fret, others are cheering the judge's ruling as they try to keep mines away from them along the eastern part of Corkscrew Road in Estero.

Jim Lytell, a marble restorer who lives in the area, said Hoeveler should shut down the mines.

"I just read that whole case," he said. "I'm not an environmentalist but I do know the bottom line in zoning is the peaceful and quiet use of your land and mines are incompatible with people."

He and some of his neighbors in the sparsely populated area are fighting three pending applications to open mines along Corkscrew, and last week they met with county Smart Growth director Wayne Daltry about putting a community plan into effect to rule out mining altogether in the area.

Glusac, however, said Lytell's fears are unfounded because getting a mine permitted is a long and comprehensive process.

In the Lake Belt, he said, "It took almost a decade to get those permits issued. This isn't something that was done in some roughshod manner. It was done very well, keeping in mind how to protect the natural resources."

Daltry said it might be possible to amend Lee County's land-use plan to eliminate mining in Lytell's vicinity but that mining and residential development will always be at odds because the huge lakes left behind when the mining is finished make valuable home sites.

The mining companies, he said, "have created their own dilemma" because the best way for them to maximize profits is by selling off old quarries for residential while mining is still going on nearby.

But Lytell said the issue of whether to mine where he lives is simple: "They're going to mine it over the corpses of me and my neighbors."

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