Is not there a green solution for phosphate band extraction

There remains a green solution for phosphate band extraction. Phosphate mines are mined daily in the Peace River Valley, while Floridians are unaware of the serious, irreparable environmental damage caused by the industry. Unfortunately, people living on reclaimed mineral surfaces show signs of a serious illness that can be caused by radiation emissions from radioactive substances occurring naturally in open pits.

The majority of people in the United States UU Those living in central Florida are generally unaware of the devastation of the phosphate mining industry in the surrounding counties. Most people are unaware of the severe environmental impact of open pit mining for rock phosphate in this case. The phosphate is extracted at one hundred feet from the surface of the earth. Huge machines, so-called drag lines, roam the earth. Trawls remove soiling from certain configurations to increase efficiency. The excavator completely eliminates the landscape, including streams, rivers, watersheds, groundwater, aquifers and springs. The towline is inexorable for destroying all life in wells mined by the precious phosphate rock it seeks.

Proponents of phosphate mining use the term "land reclamation" (1) in general, while opponents of phosphate mining cause irreparable damage to the ecological landscape. Who would believe that he speaks openly of the restoration of the landscape, which is severely disturbed and exhausted by phosphates? At the local level, the commercials of the phosphate industry can point to the overall success of salvaging severely disturbed post-mine areas. The same abandoned mines he visited in the early 1970s near Brandon, Florida, however, were still not considered a claim. The citizens of Florida do not have the resources to place their ads on ads that illustrate the irreversible environmental damage to the phosphate industry.

Let me be clear; It should be noted that both sides of this "disagreement" do not play at the same "level". By "level" I mean a political influence based on the financial gain of the two conflicting parties. For example, Florida's phosphate industry annually donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to political parties of republican and democratic interest. On the other hand, the citizens of Central Florida can not afford to compete with the dollars spent on political interests.

It is interesting to note that the Florida phosphate industry has enough land to cover the state of Rhode Island. In other words, the phosphate industry has hundreds of square kilometers of fragile ecosystems, all of which have been acquired through political interest in order to make financial gains. According to the statutes of Florida, the claimed landscapes must fulfill the original purpose; Be part of a complete ecosystem that has been restored under conditions of exploitation. The industry claims that the reclaimed land will be reintegrated into the surrounding natural landscape and that the original drainage patterns will be restored to mining conditions.

Florida's laws require the phosphate industry to use "degraded land for useful purposes." Economic use refers to the optimization of social, economic and environmental benefits, the provision of quality of life and the creation of sustainable jobs for local communities and the optimization of environmental protection. By definition, the shady landscape of central Florida is not returning to its "beneficial use" state, opponents to the Florida phosphate industry say. According to advocates of phosphate mining, representatives of the phosphate industry and Florida politicians point out that their stimulus packages are making the landscape "useful" again.

Unfortunately, the phosphate industry and politics in Florida are not telling the whole truth about the recovery of mined land. The definition of "useful use" empirically used today adapts to the advocates of the phosphate industry. Reclaimed minefields are sold for residential purposes and are now populated. These residential areas, built in Lakeland, Florida, on reclaimed land, have a negative impact on human health. People would get sick because they lived in minefields whose radio emissions were between five and seven picocuries, according to EPA reports.

The public is unaware that it is impossible to restore the landscape to its original state. Each of the mining landscapes observed over time shows that the mixture of compacted soils from mining landscapes does not work as efficiently as the original soils. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that dense soils on reclaimed land do not allow water to penetrate, which is essential in central Florida. Condensed soils reduce water mobility (2), reduce root penetration, and increase runoff, hampering the development of a new landscape of degraded areas. Condensed soils also make it difficult for earthworms, insects and small animals to aerate the soil, because the soil is too compacted to dig or form worms and insect nests.

It is now known that soils derived from the Florida phosphate industry contain above-average radioactive elements absorbed by food crops grown on reclaimed land. It is interesting to note that the Florida Phosphate Research Institute (FIPR) claims that the radioactivity in agriculture is high, but not enough to cause concern. Many pollutants, including radioactive elements such as 226-radium, can be absorbed by crops and enter the food chain. The IFPRR concluded that concentrations of radioactive substances in crops and farm animals increase when grown on areas harvested with recovered phosphate.

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