Bone Valley
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The Bone Valley is a region of central Florida, encompassing portions of present-day Hardee, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk counties, in which phosphate is mined for use in the production of agricultural fertilizer. Florida currently contains the largest known deposits of phosphate in the United States.
Process
Large walking
The matrix is then dropped into a pit where it is mixed with water to create a
Waste byproducts are stored in large phosphogypsum stacks and settling ponds, often hundreds of acres in size, and up to 200 feet (60.96 m) tall. Because this phosphogypsum is slightly radioactive, its use is banned in most situations.[1]
Phosphate processing produces significant amounts of fluorine gas, which must be treated by filtering through special scrubbers.
Much of the final product (known within the industry as 'dryrock') is transported by rail to facilities along Tampa Bay, where they are transloaded onto ships destined for countries such as China. Port Tampa Bay handled 3.9 million tons of phosphate in 2021, though this figure represents a decline from 8 million tons in 2017.[2]
Phosphate product intended for domestic use is assembled into unit trains of covered hopper cars for northbound movement.
History
When the
In December 1886, LeBaron returned to the Peace River where he dug some
The test results became known to Colonel G.W. Scott who owned the G.W. Scott Manufacturing Co. of
Early mining was with pick and shovel where the above-water sand bars were mined by hand. The material was carried on barges to the nearby drying works. Soon suction
Moorhead soon sold his Arcadia Phosphate Co. to Hammond & Hull of Savannah, Georgia a large fertilizer operation in that city. Moorhead returned to Pennsylvania, where he developed a phosphate mine in Juniata County, PA and formed the narrow gauge Tuscarora Valley Railroad. Hammond & Hull also owned the Charlotte Harbor Phosphate Co. which had their works at Hull, connecting with the Florida Southern by a short branch line. To connect the two plants, Hammond & Hull built a narrow gauge railroad between Arcadia and Hull circa 1890. The railroad served various load-outs along the river, where the barges carrying pebble were unloaded into ore cars for the journey to the drying plants at Arcadia and Hull. Hammond dropped out around 1890 and the new firm was known as Comer & Hull.
The Peace River Phosphate Co. had built a narrow gauge railroad north of Arcadia to their load-outs along the Peace River. Like the Comer & Hull operations, the ore was hauled to the drying plant at Arcadia where it was loaded into the narrow gauge boxcars of the Florida Southern. When the railroad converted its Charlotte Harbor Division to standard gauge in 1892, both the Peace River Phosphate Co. and Comer & Hull operations converted their respective railroads. Joseph Hull of Comer & Hull purchased 50% interest in the Peace River Phosphate Co. about this time.
In December 1894, Joseph Hull consolidated the Arcadia Phosphate Co., Charlotte Harbor Phosphate Co., Desota Phosphate & Mining Co. & Peace River Phosphate Co. into the Peace River Phosphate Mining Co.
Peter Bradley of New York was one of the fertilizer capitalists (Bradley Fertilizer Co.) that Captain LeBaron had first approached about the sand bars. In May 1899, he was involved in the merger of 22 fertilizer companies into the American Agricultural Chemical Co., becoming vice president and a director of the new corporation.
AACC began buying the stock of the Peace River Phosphate Mining Co. from June 1899 until January 1902.
The Peace River Phosphate Mining Company Railroad consisted of a mainline running south from Arcadia to Liverpool. A few short branches connected the railroad to the Florida Southern (later the Plant System in 1896 and the ACL after 1902) at Arcadia, Hull and Liverpool. At Hull sand was removed by a washing plant. Liverpool housed the drying plant and barge loading facilities. A branch running north for about 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream from Arcadia served many load-outs along the river.
In the early years, phosphate from the Peace River area was barged to
Today Mosaic Inc. mines the area exclusively and is seeking to mine properties further south, in Hardee and Manatee Counties.
With renewed interest in corn-based ethanol fuel, the demand for fertilizer is expected to increase.
Rail service
Throughout most of the 20th century, the Bone Valley region received service from two major railroads, the
Risks of mining
Phosphate is a declining export to China. Previously, significant amounts of rock were shipped to China, where it was processed into phosphate fertilizer. The majority of phosphate mining in Florida is done in the Peace River watershed. Phosphate mining companies use draglines to remove surface soils up to 60 feet (18 m) deep over thousands of contiguous acres. Once land is mined, state law requires that it be reclaimed. Wetlands are reclaimed on an acre for acre, type for type basis. Most modern mining permits actually require companies to recreate more wetlands than were initially present on the land. More than 180,000 acres (728 km2) have already been mined and reclaimed in the Peace River watershed. As reserves in the northern portion of the bone valley are depleting, mining companies are now seeking permits for another 100,000 acres (405 km2), which will replace reclaimed mines to the north.
One byproduct of the extraction process is clay, which is stored in settling ponds and eventually comprises 30%-40% of a mine site. Some of these ponds can measure thousands of acres. Rain drains slower through these clay-laden ponds than typical soil. Critics argue that this, in turn, reduces baseflow to the Peace River. Some studies have indicated that reclaimed lands actually provide a more consistent baseflow because the sandier soils of the reclaimed land provide faster baseflow, while the clay provides a slower steady flow, creating more flow during dry periods than native land. Since the 1960s, the average annual flow of the middle Peace River has declined from 1,350 cubic feet (38.23 m3) to 800 cubic feet (22.65 m3) per second (38.23 to 22.65 m³/s).
Each holding pond has been perceived as a risk that threatens water quality, public health, wildlife, and the regional economy. Dams restraining the ponds have overflowed or burst, sending a slurry of clay into the river, and coating the riverbed for many miles with a toxic clay slime that suffocates flora and fauna. One such incident in 1971 killed over three million fish when 2 million US gallons (7,600 m3) of phosphate waste swept into the river, causing an estimated 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) tide of slime that spread into adjacent pastures and wetlands. Since the 1971 spill, clay settling areas are now constructed as engineered dams.
In 2004, during
On occasion, clay slime spills have prevented the Peace River Manasota Water Supply Authority from using river flows for drinking water, forcing municipalities to seek water supplies elsewhere, or rely on stored supplies. On several occasions, the effects of heavy rainfall have created sinkholes beneath the settling ponds.
In August 2016, a sinkhole opened up under a gypsum stack at the Mosaic’s New Wales fertilizer plant in Mulberry, Florida. 215 million gallons of containment water dumped into the Floridan Aquifer.[5]
Most recently in March 2021, millions of gallons of industrial wastewater from the former Piney Point fertilizer processing plant in Manatee County was released into Tampa Bay in response to the facility’s second leak in a decade. DEP permitted the controlled release into the Port of Manatee waters in Manatee Harbor to prevent such a failure. Environmental advocates are concerned about the effect that releasing nutrient-rich water once again will have on wildlife in Tampa Bay, and if red tide blooms, over the potential for economic impact. [6]
See also
References
- ^ "Phosphate Mining in Florida". Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
- ^ "Port Tampa Bay - Fiscal Year Summaries FY17-FY21" (PDF). Port Tampa Bay. 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
- ^ "Florida Southern's Narrow Gauge Years". taplines.com. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
- ^ "Phosphate Mining Brings a 'Mosaic' of Destruction to Florida Including Sinkholes & Radioactive Waste". 26 September 2016.
- ^ "A massive sinkhole just dumped radioactive waste into Florida water".
- ^ "Wastewater from Piney Point released into Tampa Bay following leak at phosphogypsum stack".
External links