We are going to be losing a lot of wetlands! Strip mining of our rock persists! Hit on image to enlarge.
According to these notices, published Dec. 12th in the Daily Business Review, various mining companies want to create 8,000 acres of rock pits. A square mile is 640 acres. The rock miners are asking to mine an area about the size of Coral Gables which is about 11.8 square miles. I would assume the notices weren't printed in the Miami Herald as expected because the State Dept. of Environmental Protection was hoping that we might not see them.
But that's okay, after all, rock mines are an economic engine and economic engines always get what they want don't they? And, they employ people too. What are jobs worth? According to Miami Dade County records for 2000, 250 to 499 people were employed by 19 mining entities. Not just rock mining. That ain't much of a workforce when you consider we had 115,010 working in retail and 101,404 in Health care during 2000. Should we cut down all our trees to keep loggers working? Should we mine all our rock to keep about 500 jobs? Again I ask, what are our priorities?
14 comments:
I especially appreciate how the application is available for public inspection during normal business hours at the DOT office in Tallahassee. Convenient.
In the age of the Internet, DOT makes only paper records available 800 miles from the impact.
I had a studio for 15 years next to the RR track. Every day a train of 20 - 30 cars rolls north laden with crushed rock, empty trains roll south to haul another load.
This is the stuff of developers drunk on concrete and profit.
All we get is a very big hole somewhere out in the swamp.
Q: how does rock mining impact the environment, no doubt a negative.
is there any benefit to us, probably none.
We get a hole, if we put all these new applications together, the size of Coral Gables.
in the good ol' days we would get a Venetian Pool after the rock quarry.
Maybe today, after the destruction, we could get a ginormous water park in the swamp.
Where exactly are the sites, existing and proposed.
Disgusting. But the people in charge are a bunch of money hungry crooks and easily paid off.
Most of the mining is in western area of Miami outside the UDB line. Ask Doral and Miami Lakes where they hear the blasting and sometimes feel it.
If it isn't illegal to mine in these places, what's the problem?
I guess no more rock mining should ever take place now that you all have your home and a paved road in front of it.
Unless your house is made entirely out of wood and you live on a dirt road, why was it OK to mine these materials for your home, but not for anyone after you?
Because, "Moderate", if they keep mining and building, one day there'll be nothing left but concrete and one hell of a big lake. Wetlands, like concrete, are a finite resource. We can do without more concrete, but without wetlands we're f**ked.
You mean "Not a moderate" last reader. A moderate would discuss sustainablility or at least refer to it, not totally ignore it.
Wetlands are the kidneys of the eco system. They absorb mercury and other chemicals...so moderate doesn't have deformed babies.
So I guess none of the people who blog on here have children.
By having more children you are contributing to the need for more products like concrete, wood, and a need for more resources like water.
Your breeding has caused the downfall of the environment in South Florida. Or so goes your logic.
How do you know I am breeding or have every breeded in the past? You assume too much.
I think a big point, Not a Moderate, is that the game's been rigged to provide token "public" input.
That means the mining conglomerates get to blast with impunity, destroying homes nearby.
They get to dig giant, lifeless holes in the ground without any real environmental accountability.
They get to expose our water supply to pathogens while promising to eventually pay, 15 cents at a time, for the expensive equipment to clean up the mess they're making right now.
They get to destroy what used to be a clean source of drinking water with the regulators worried more about getting cheap rock from the pits than protecting our health.
The issue for me is accountability. This is classic robber barron stuff.
Lobbyists for the quarry industry have been working on this for 10 years at least. Do a search in Nexis Lexis for "Lake Belt" plan and see the absurd stories that have been printed about water sports parks and recreational use supposedly planned for these mega-lakes. Weather forecasters said the expanse of water - almost as large as Biscayne Bay - to the west of the city could influence the course of weather.
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