Posted on Tue, Apr. 03, 2007 - BY CURTIS MORGAN - cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

Lawmakers may lower local hurdles to new mining

With the state warning a rock shortage could derail development, lawmakers look to lower the local hurdles to new mining.

Between neighborhood complaints about blasting and trucks and environmental lawsuits over impacts to wetlands and water, it can be hard to run a rock pit in Florida.

Lawmakers in Tallahassee may make it easier.

House and Senate committees have approved creating a mining task force with marching orders to promote more quarries statewide. And the rich limestone reserves under farmland bordering the Everglades in western Palm Beach and south Miami-Dade counties rank among top targets.

The proposals also could limit -- or potentially eliminate -- local government authority over where rock pits go and how much noise and traffic they generate.

The measures have breezed through initial votes in the House and Senate but still have a way to go before final Legislature approval.

They are supported by an influential coalition including the Florida Department of Transportation, road contractors, development interests, mining companies and some sugar growers.

Sen. Carey Baker, who is sponsoring one version of the bill, said the state has to confront looming shortages of the limestone and sand that form the literal bedrock of the state's construction industry.

'Mining is not a popular industry. There is a lot of `not in their backyard' reaction,'' said Baker, R-Eustis, chair of the transportation committee. ``This county will say it shouldn't be here and the next county will say it shouldn't be there, and we'd probably not have another rock mine in the state.''

FDOT STUDY

The proposals spring from a new FDOT analysis predicting road and construction demands will outstrip rock supplies in five to 10 years. The report also says community resistance could hamper state growth and warns of crippling economic blows if a long-awaited ruling by a Miami federal judge so much as slows rock trains rolling out of northwest Miami-Dade's chain of mega-mines, source of half the state's limestone.

Ananth Prasad, a chief engineer for FDOT who briefed lawmakers, said the proposals would raise awareness that the state faces serious construction delays and spiraling costs if Florida doesn't start to boost rock production or imports.

''We're not advocating more mining or less mining,'' he said. ``We're just advocating that there should be a better thought-out process. People need to understand the consequences of their decisions.''

Environmentalists and county representatives worry the end result could ''preempt'' -- meaning gut -- local regulation at the same time quarries are embroiled in legal or political disputes in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Lee, Collier, Citrus, Sumter and Levy counties.

LOCAL CONCERNS

''Any kind of preemption is a problem,'' said Carlos Espinosa, director of Miami-Dade County's Department of Environmental Regulation. ``It's a long laundry list of things that would become a problem.''

Pro-mining lobbyists insist the measures aren't intended to weaken environmental scrutiny -- rock pits would still need federal, state and, in some cases, county permits. Instead, they argue the proposals would reduce what they call red tape impinging on private property rights and squeezing the supply of a critical commodity.

''We still have to go through the permit process,'' said Keyna Cory, chief lobbyist for the 11,000-member Associated Industries of Florida, which includes road and home builders and mining companies. ``It's not like we can go in in the middle of the night and just start digging and blasting.''

A Senate version (SB 2804) would require local boards to consult with FDOT and ''address'' how land-use or permit decisions on mining proposals would impact the rock supply.

The House bill (PCB ENRC 07-12) goes further, blocking counties or municipalities from enacting or enforcing any rule that ''prohibits or prevents'' operation or construction of quarries on land zoned or designated for mining -- an area that covers the 700,000-acre Everglades Agricultural Area, heart of the sugar industry.

Both proposals also would cap any local moratorium on mining at 12 months.

The preemption language was crafted and pushed by lobbyists for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, whose 49 members farm some 60,000 acres in western Palm Beach County.

BIG SUGAR'S NEW CROP

Cooperative Vice President David Goodlett made no bones about growers' goal -- to bypass the Palm Beach County Commission and overturn a moratorium on new mines the county imposed last year until a study of environmental impacts is completed.

With muck soils thinning and foreign competition increasing, Goodlett said, farmers in coming years need profitable options and the state needs rock.

''What they're really afraid of is a rock mine with meandering shores that will ultimately grow roof-tops instead of agricultural commodities,'' he said.

Critics, including the Florida Association of Counties, caution ripple effects could reach beyond sugar fields.

The association, in a March 23 letter, argues the House bill could undermine county land-use decisions, roll back existing local noise, traffic and other restrictions and eliminate protection for springs and wetlands.

There are also concerns about opening farmland statewide to rock mining and how much power FDOT would wield in ''consulting'' on mining-site decisions.

''We clearly have a problem with the language,'' said Diana Grawitch, environmental lobbyist for the association. ``A lot of questions have been asked about what it means.''

FDOT V. JUDGE

FDOT began its ''strategic aggregates study'' last year after Senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler ordered federal regulators to reassess environmental impacts of excavating 5,400 acres of wetlands in Miami-Dade's so-called ''Lake Belt,'' home to four of the state's five largest mines. He has yet to rule on whether to limit mining during the review.

The study, which FDOT paid $236,000 to a Tallahassee consultant to produce, projects that even a 5 percent cut in Lake Belt rock would have ''significant'' impacts and a total shutdown would cost the state a staggering $28.6 billion in lost annual economic output.

To combat the shortfall, it recommends expanding port and railroad supply lines as well as unspecified ''regulatory changes'' to ease community and environmental conflicts.

Prasad said FDOT had not taken a position on preemption or the study's recommendation but stressed Florida needs new rock sources, even if the judge leaves the Lake Belt alone.

FDOT lists some 100 state-certified limestone and sand mines operating in 22 counties. There's no estimate of how many new or expanded quarries might be needed, but the report notes it would take 80 new mines or 10 new mega-mines to replace the 55 million tons the Lake Belt scoops each year.

TARGET: S. FLORIDA

It identifies undeveloped western edges of South Florida as one prime mining zone, with the exception of largely built-out Broward County.

FDOT's goal, Prasad said, was to find a ''more holistic approach'' to mine expansion and ``get all the players together and come up with a solution.''

Kerri Barsh, an attorney for the Miami-Dade Limestone Products Association, said the 10-company coalition supported the task force but was not lobbying for preemption. In years past, the Legislature has granted Miami-Dade miners a number of preemptions, including on blasting regulations.

John Adornato, Everglades policy coordinator for the National Parks Conservation Association, said environmentalists aren't seeking to shut down the Lake Belt but to move mining back from sensitive areas pending a more thorough environmental review.

He accused FDOT of trying to create a crisis to ram through legislation that would encourage more mining while weakening oversight.

''Whether the egregious preemption language is spelled out or not, the intent of the law is egregious,'' he said.

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