Sierra Club activist Barbara Lange standing at the White Rock Quarry.
Lange found out about the benzene contamination by accident, while sifting through records turned over by the Water and Sewer Department.
Until then, the contamination had never been made public.
Mining pits at the White Rock Quarry, just a few hundred feet from the entrance to the Northwest Wellfield, where most of Miami-Dade county gets its water.
The water table is so close to the ground surface that mining pits immediately fill with water.
(photo credits with the Miami News Times story)
"Even if mining resumes, DERM's Mayorga says, there is nothing to worry about. He points out that miners have voluntarily switched to a benzene-free "mineral oil" — a point the newspapers have dutifully repeated. But that might not solve the problem.
The underwater blasting process itself will inevitably generate benzene, according to court testimony by Remmy Hennet, an independent geochemist brought in by the plaintiffs.
Combustion always produces benzene, he tells New Times, "even if it is olive oil.... That is well-established science."
First, the cover up by DERM, WASD and the local Commission that there WAS BENZENE IN THE MONITORING WELLS AFTER BLASTS. EXCEEDING EPA LIMITS BY FIVE TO TWELVE TIMES THE ESTABLISHED LEVELS.
Second, WRQ NEVER TOLD ANYONE WHAT THEY KNEW; BENZENE WAS A COMPONENT OF THEIR BLASTING MATERIAL
Third, they try to get out of what they have done with slick lawyers like Kerri Barsh (who also lobbies the Florida Legislature for her clients, WRQ among them) and pay offs to officials to "kill the investigation" and further media reporting on it.
(**Many commissioners are in jail on corruption charges, see bottom of post)
Fourth, and the most damning, STATE AGENCIES KNEW AND DID NOT TELL THE PUBLIC.
Fifth, equally damning we suggest; "Combustion always produces benzene, even if it is olive oil.... That is well-established science."
Corruption in south Florida is even worse than Alabama and that is a distinction that is nothing to brag about.
WRQ, Fowler, Bradley, Hurley; you are caught for what you are; LIARS.
We will make certain the EPA and Office of Environmental Justice receives this information, along with supporting documentation, as well as numerous other agencies from the top of the state to our local officials in Vincent.
A second article on this:
Rock miners plan major expansion in South Florida
Written by Michael OBrien
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Rock miners plan major expansion in South Florida
South Florida Business Journal - by Paul Brinkmann
South Florida's rock mining industry is lining up approvals for the largest expansion in its history.
Ten quarry companies have applied for federal permits or local zoning approval to excavate up to 17,000 acres in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. A federal lawsuit launched by environmentalists has disrupted some quarry operations in Miami-Dade County, so the expansions could turn into a legal minefield.
The overall outcome could be a major factor for future business in South Florida since limestone is a key ingredient of the concrete used in building materials and highways. The Miami-Dade rock is especially prized for its quality.
"Companies are trying to have multiple options available in the region, and they want the supply available in South Florida because transporting rock is so expensive," said Ananth Prasad, who has overseen purchasing of rock as a chief engineer with the Florida Department of Transportation. "The state is not pushing for growth necessarily, and I do believe rock mining has to be balanced with all the local issues, water issues, everything."
South Florida is dotted with lakes that are the result of quarries, most prominently along the turnpike extension. Their bottoms can scrape close to the Biscayne Aquifer, the main source of the region's water supply, but studies of quarries' impact on wells has been limited.
The industry is at a crossroads now because Palm Beach County just approved zoning changes to allow mining on 11,000 new acres of the Everglades Agricultural Area, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to release a new environmental study of Miami-Dade's Lake Belt mining zone in July.
The corps is considering approval of expansion permits for 6,800 acres in Miami-Dade. To make matters more complicated, a federal appeals court is set to rule any day on a court order that last summer shut down some mines in the Lake Belt area along the Florida Turnpike Extension.
The expansion plans began during the recent construction boom, Prasad said. "In the growth boom, demand was exceeding supply. There were projects affected because the supplies were getting more expensive. Now we've had a slowdown, and the balance has evened out. The supply is there right now."
Miami-Dade's wellfield area mines have supplied most of the rock for the region's growth, and almost half of the DOT's crushed limestone and concrete for roads. But development pressure and environmental challenges have squeezed the mining interests.
The result is a surge of interest in Palm Beach County, where the rock is not as high quality, but is available because of more open space.
Wellfield amid the quarries
One of the biggest challenges for the mining industry is that Miami-Dade's biggest wellfield for drinking water is located in the middle of the Lake Belt quarries.
The Sierra Club and other groups in 2003 filed a federal lawsuit against the Army Corps to nullify mining permits around the wellfield, alleging the mines threaten water supply and the Everglades.
Evidence of benzene in the groundwater around the mines was found in 2005, but was never conclusively tied to rock mining. U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler mentioned benzene concerns in a ruling last year that shut down some operations around the wellfield while the Army Corps studies mining permits. Hoeveler said concerns about contaminating the underground water supply outweighed concerns about negative impact to the economy for that specific case.
Greenberg Traurig attorney Kerri Barsh, who represents mining companies in the Miami-Dade Limestone Products Association, said her clients stopped using benzene-containing explosive emulsion in the wellfield area in 2006 and switched to mineral-oil base "in an abundance of caution." Since 2004, the County Commission hasn't even required a public hearing for new rock mining permits, and the current planning is routine, she said.
Florida consumes about 143 million tons of aggregate limestone materials a year, the association said. About 120 million tons are produced from mines in the state, including 55 million tons from the Lake Belt.
In 2006, Florida East Coast Railway transported 145,100 cars of rock to Jacksonville.
Two companies with a big presence in Miami-Dade are now planning massive quarries in the Everglades Agricultural Area of western Palm Beach County - once the exclusive territory of sugar cane and vegetable farmers.
*Florida Rock is proposing the Lake Harbor Quarry, while Rinker Materials of Florida proposes the South Bay Quarry.
(*Vulcan & FR merged in 2007. FR CEO & Pres. John Baker has this to say about the benzene in the water: "Our evidence shows that the benzene is not a present threat to the well field and is not necessarily attributable to mining operation.")
The Palm Beach County Commission approved zoning for those quarries last month, leaving the Army Corps, the Florida Department of Environment Protection and other agencies to determine the environmental impact. The quarries also will be examined for impact on the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the water supply for the South Florida Water Management District.
"The various agencies will be deciding if they meet all the conditions for a permit," said Ken Todd, Palm Beach County's water resources manager. "My understanding is there are no major problems associated with these."
But an attorney for environmental groups involved in Everglades restoration said the Palm Beach County quarries may face opposition from those groups.
"Litigation is currently under consideration," said attorney Richard Grosso, executive director of the Everglades Law Center. "We represented several organizations at commission hearings and are discussing legal options to challenge what we thought were illegal decisions."
End of story
It was never conclusively proven, yet when the quarries were shut down, after four months with no blasting, monitoring well results showed no more benzene.
Nothing else in the area but quarries. Ms. Barsh is admitting the explosives contained benzene; "not conclusively proven..." the cover up is painfully obvious on its face.
If there had not been any guilt by WRQ, then why is Ms. Barsh saying what she is above: "her clients stopped using benzene-containing explosive emulsion in the wellfield area in 2006 and switched to mineral-oil base "in an abundance of caution."
Ms. Barsch, if what you say is an attempt to promote the "good neighbor policy" we keep hearing here in Vincent, then why didn't the quarry NOT USE BENZENE BASED ANFO in the first place?
Why do they have to get caught POISONING THE WATER WITH A KNOWN CARCINOGEN before we hear about how they want to operate with an "abundance of caution"?
Testimony included with Miami Times article as an "explanation" for the presence of the benzene in the wells:
Fragment of testimony recorded on July 18, 2006 before U.S.
District Judge William Hoeveler. The witness is Bill Brant,
former director of the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department. He
is being questioned by Paul Schwiep, an attorney for three
environmental groups who sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
for permitting mining in the Lakebelt. The 2005 discovery of
benzene in the wellfield figured prominently in the judge’s
decision to vacate the permit and halt mining in the region.
Q In your view, was DERM adequately investigating the
blasting as a potential source?
MR. HALSEY: Objection, leading.
THE COURT: No, overruled.
THE WITNESS: Would you repeat it, please?
BY MR. SCHWIEP:
Q Yeah. In your view, was DERM adequately investigating
blasting as a potential source of benzene in the Northwest
Wellfield?
A I would say we were anxious about the presence of the
benzene, and we were anxious that we were not getting answers
as to what the source could be.
Q Did anyone ever suggest that terrorists might have
dumped benzene into the wellfield?
MR. HALSEY: Objection, calls for hearsay.
MR. SCHWIEP: I'm asking whether it was suggested.
THE COURT: Overruled.
You may answer.
THE WITNESS: Yes. BY MR. SCHWIEP:
Q And by whom?
A John Renfrow.
Terrorists did it. Yeah right.....this from the same man who suggested "guys out there in the middle of the night" and "space invaders" as possibilities.
More testimony:
Fragment of testimony recorded on July 18, 2006 before U.S.
District Judge William Hoeveler. The witness is Bill Brant,
former director of Water and Sewer. He is being questioned by
Paul Schwiep, attorney for the plaintiff.
[Schwiep: ]
Q After this May 16th, 2005, memo, did you prepare any
further memorandum regarding rock mining as the potential
source of benzene?
A No.
Q And why not?
A I was instructed not to write any more memos.
Q And when did that happen?
A There was a meeting a couple of weeks after -- after
this memo and Renfrow's response. There was a meeting
sometime late May.
Q And what was said to you?
A I was told not to write any more memos.
MR. HALSEY: Your Honor, I believe this is hearsay.
It's about what someone else has to say, not a party to this
proceeding. And I'm not sure if there's any kind of applicable exception that would justify these kinds of questions or answers. Otherwise, we're going to have to
bring in other witnesses to rebut these statements.
MR. SCHWIEP: Well, the exception is clearly a
state of mind exception, because he didn't -- he said I
didn't write any other memos. And then the question is why.
He says he was told not to.
Whether -- I'm not admitting that statement for the
truth of the matter asserted. It's not an out of court --
THE COURT: I'd like to know the answer to that.
BY MR. SCHWIEP:
Q You have the question in mind?
A I was told not to write any more memos by Joe Ruiz, the
assistant county manager.
Q And did he say why?
A At the meeting that we had I tried to get -- I tried to
understand why.
MR. HALSEY: Your Honor, I continue to object on
hearsay grounds.
THE COURT: All right, sir. Overruled.
THE WITNESS: All I remember was references to the
Miami Herald. I didn't get much of an explanation.
In other words; "shut up about it"
**In Palm Beach County, a 1999 deal to put one rock mine in public ownership—for the purposes of “water storage”—eventually landed three of five Palm Beach county commissioners in federal prison but not before a well-connected Republican campaign contributor grossed $200,000 per acre from the state.
In prison:
Former Palm Beach County Commissioners
1. Tony Masilotti
Masilotti is serving a five year prison sentence on public corruption charges.
2. Warren Newell
Newell's five year sentence was recently reduced to three years because he cooperated in the McCarty investigation.
Prosecutors say he cut shady, back-room deals for substantial personal gain.
3. Mary Mccarty
A judge has sentenced disgraced former Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty to 42 months in prison for honest services fraud and fined her $100,000. He immediately remanded her to prison. Prosecutors recommended 87 to 108 months for "repeated, long term abuse of public trust." The judge said the other two sentenced committed more egregious acts of corruption and gave them lengthier sentences.
Someone ought to inform Vincent and Shelby County officials of what can happen when "backroom deals" with certain Florida mining companies are made; they get their way and you get put away.
If you don't think something as bad as this could happen here again three words to remember: Alabama Plating Company.
