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| From the Miami Herald - Posted on Thu, Oct.
19, 2006 -
link to original article.
Hearing to explore rock-mining impact - The potential environmental impact of rock mining in northwestern Miami-Dade County will be the subject of a public meeting set for 7 tonight in Doral. Under a federal court order, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reevaluating its approval of the lime-rock industry's expansion into 5,400 acres of wetlands -- first phase of the controversial ''lake belt,'' a vast string of rock pits planned over the next several decades. In a lawsuit brought by environmental groups in 2002, Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler found that federal agencies had done a poor job of analyzing potential harm to the Everglades, the endangered wood stork and a well field that supplies more than one million people in Miami-Dade with drinking water. The Army Corps said the new analysis will explore a range of options, including limiting mining, continuing mining and exploring potential rock sources elsewhere. The meeting will be held at Miami-Dade Fire Rescue headquarters, 9300 NW 41st St. For more information or instructions on submitting written comments, see www.lakebeltseis.com. Article by Curtis Morgan - Miami Herald FROM www.lakebeltseis.com : Lake Belt Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intends to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to evaluate potential impacts of further rock mining within wetlands in western Miami-Dade County, Florida. The original EIS, The Rock Mining-Freshwater Lake Belt Plan Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, issued in May 2000, focused on the potential impacts of a 50-year mining plan within the Lake Belt area. After evaluating the EIS, the Corps issued a Record of Decision and permits that allowed mining within a smaller, 10-year plan in April 2002. The Corps’ decision was challenged in United States District Court and the Court’s decision instructed the Corps to engage in additional analyses of rock mining in the Lake Belt region. Accordingly, the Corps is preparing this SEIS. The Lake Belt SEIS website has been developed to provide the public with access to key documents, announcements, background information, and a means for submitting comments and requesting specific information.
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