Our Drinking Water and the Lakebelt Issue - We Have a Victory!
Rock Mining is an unfortunate fact of life in South Florida. What should not be, is having mining contaminate our drinking water. We knew we were in for a fight when the the industry successfully got everyone to refer to the string of giant open mining pits as a "Lake Belt". The public had another setback when the county passed an ordinance saying rock mining companies no longer needed to hold public hearings to get new permits.
For 10 years we have been in a legal battle in Federal Court with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just to get them to obey the environmental laws when permitting these mining operations. But, now, we have a winner.
Judge Hoeveler has ruled that the Corps was wrong, and did not take into account Endangered Species or the effects of mining on our drinking water, when they gave out permits for the mining.
Here was a great newpaper write-up on the lawsuit from the Miami New Times.
Click Here and read "Poisoned Well" - March 2008.
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