A Times Editorial

A dubious victory

The state's agreement to eliminate a lime rock mine while allowing a cement plant near the Ichetucknee River doesn't seem like a good deal for the environment.

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 1, 2000

David Struhs, secretary of Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, called the deal worked out with a potential polluter on the Ichetucknee River "a remarkable piece of good news for Florida's environment." The deal isn't that remarkable, and the news isn't that good. It allows one source of pollution to be replaced by another.

Yes, the state will buy (for $23-million) a lime rock mine that threatens an Ichetucknee tributary, but that means the mine owner, paving company Anderson Columbia, will be allowed to build a cement plant near the river. By burning coal and tires as fuel, the plant will be releasing mercury and other pollutants that could contaminate the Ichetucknee, considered Florida's most pristine river. Some environmentalists think the cement plant is a worse threat than the mine.

Struhs and his boss, Gov. Jeb Bush, made a show of defending the Ichetucknee last year by canoeing on the river, raising hopes that they would hang tough with Anderson Columbia, a company known for its poor environmental record and unseemly influence over politicians. They shouldn't have bothered donning their boat shoes and sunscreen. Soon Struhs was announcing the settlement that looks like a tie, at best, rather than an environmental victory.

Maybe Struhs made the best compromise available (local government was no help, allowing a cement plant 3 1/2 miles from the river). But it is difficult to know, given the way the deal played out behind closed doors. This much is clear: A pollution-belching cement plant will still be built near a river that Struhs is charged with protecting.

At least Struhs has provided some reason to hope he will enforce this deal, such as it is. Under Struhs, the DEP has filed more criminal charges against polluters than in the previous five years and doubled the number of enforcement officers in the Panhandle, the Pensacola News Journal reports. That reverses a disturbing habit of lax enforcement under former DEP Secretary Virginia Wetherell.

Struhs should put that same energy into policing Anderson Columbia, which has promised to create a trust fund for the Suwannee, Santa Fe and Ichetucknee rivers, use the latest pollution filters at the cement plant and share emissions information with the public. Struhs will have to make a sustained effort to convince Floridians he is doing his best to protect our shrinking environmental resources.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.