Tag Archives: Suwannee River

Draft Conditions from the Planning Commission to the BoCC on SE 23-01 3RT Sand Mine, Levy County, FL 2023-07-20

The Levy County Commission is meeting tomorrow morning, Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at 9 AM. It’s always good to show up and be seen, maybe say a few words, even if your item of interest is not on the agenda. Or contact your Commissioner via telephone or email.

There will be no decision about the 3RT Sand Mine tomorrow. The agenda includes:

16. PUBLIC HEARING: Requesting the Levy County Board of County Commissioners grant the request for continuation by applicant for PETITION NO SE 23-01: Ryan Thomas for 3RT Sand Mine. Requesting a Special Exception for a major mining operation pursuant to Sec. 50-719; Mining and excavation of minerals, or natural resources, and site reclamation of the Levy County Land Development Code to allow a sand mine (no blasting) on approximately 1,100 acres (includes mine property and access to CR 337) of land located in Section 35, Township 12 S, Range 17 E, Levy County Florida. These parcels are located in Agriculture/Rural Residential (A/RR) Land Use and Zoning district. Parcel Number(s) 0359701600, 0359700400, 0359700000, 0359700300, 0360400600, 0360400000, 036040040B, 036040040A, 0360400400, 0360400500, 0360600500, 0360600300, 0360600000, 0359400000, and 0359200000.The applicant has requested a continuation to a date uncertain to evaluate the Planning Commission conditions with his project. This item will be continued.

All 22 draft conditions

These appear to be the 22 draft conditions from the Levy County Planning Commission about the proposed Special Exception for the 3RT Sand Mine. See also PDF.

Draft Conditions from the Planning Commission to the BoCC on SE 23-01 3RT Sand Mine

Continue reading →

Packet: Levy County Planning Commission, with 3RT Sand Mine Special Exception application 2023-07-10

1 Reply

Update 2023-07-23: Levy County 3RT Sand Mine is in Springshed of Rainbow Springs 2023-07-23.

Only one Levy County Planning Commissioner, a former miner, voted against recommending a Special Exception for a proposed 1,100-acre sand mine, after 70 people testified for four hours under oath that the mine is a bad idea in a rural residential agricultural area.

The county mailed about 2,800 notices in April to residences within two miles of the site, because of the large number of truck trips that would be required, about one every 90 seconds.

When this case comes up before the Board of County Commissioners of Levy County, I recommend interested parties show up and speak. And meanwhile send them a letter or call them.

If approved, this mine will be there for 40 years, and maybe 100 years.

This case will not be heard by the Levy County Commission at its next meeting on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, because on July 18th the Planning & Zoning Office received official notice from the 3RT Sand Mine (SE 23-01) applicant, Ryan Thomas, requesting a continuation to a date uncertain to have time to assess the project with the Planning Commission conditions.

This is a standard developer tactic: delay hoping the opposition will forget. I recommend the opposition keep on it.

The Levy County parcels of the mine site and other parcels proposed for access are shown in yellow on this map. Manatee Spring on the Suwannee River is highlighted towards the left. Levy County staff wrote, “e) Site is not located within one mile corridor (one-half mile on either side) of known geological features with the potential to Impact Manatee Springs or Fanning Springs. Additional study is not recommended to be required.” Apparently the staff believe what DNM Engineering & Associates, Inc., told them on behalf of the miners. I’d prefer to see further study. Continue reading →

Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest returns –Valdosta Today 2023-07-14

Chuck Roberts returns as M.C. for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest plus WWALS River Revue

Update 2023-07-20: Juneteenth and River Ferries: Speakers in WWALS River Revue 2023-07-20.

Chuck Roberts returns as M.C. for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest plus WWALS River Revue

Hahira, GA, July 10, 2023 — Chuck Roberts returns as M.C. for the Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest, and this time for the entire first-ever WWALS River Revue.

MC Chuck Roberts, Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest 2023

“I’m very pleased to welcome Chuck Roberts back again as M.C.,” said WWALS President Sara Jay Jones.

Follow this link for tickets, sponsorship opportunities, and more:

https://www.betterunite.com/WWALS-wwalsriverrevue2023/ Continue reading →

Nominating Okefenokee NWR for UNESCO World Heritage List –WWALS 2023-06-28

This is what we sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their bid to make the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Remember, you can still help stop a strip mine from locating near the Okefenokee Swamp:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining

The WWALS letter 2023-06-28 and the old-growth cypress 2021-01-10

It features an old-growth cypress stand with trees 400-500 years old.

NW: Big Cypress Camp Island, Little Cooter Lake, 30.6829690, -82.2001230 seen on a Southwings flight for Suwannee Riverkeeper 2021-01-10.

The WWALS letter

In web form below, and also in PDF and with attachments.

See also the previous WWALS letter of January 26, 2021.

And, among the references cited, thanks to WWALS Science Committee Chair Tom Potter for spotting G. Ronnie Best, et al., “An Old-Growth Cypress Stand in Okefenokee Swamp,” University of Florida, 1984. https://cfw.essie.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/312/2020/07/Best-etal-1984-OldGrowthCypressStandInOkefenokeeSwamp-BookChapter.pdf

Continue reading →

Another reason to reject TiO2 strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp: food coloring health issues 2023-06-02

If white paint wasn’t a bad enough reason for a strip mine too near the Okefenokee Swamp, how about food coloring linked to serious health issues?

“Research shows the chemical [titanium dioxide] is likely a neurotoxin and immunotoxin, and can damage the reproductive system, cause birth defects and damage genes.”

Skittles, TiO2 dragline

Remember: Twin Pines Minerals is proposing to mine titanium dioxide, not titanium metal. And the Okefenokee Swamp is the headwaters of the Suwannee and St. Marys Rivers, exchanging surface water with groundwater down to the Floridan Aquifer, from which we all drink in south Georgia and north Florida.

For ways you can object to the permits for that strip mine, currently before the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA-EPD), or to support a bill that would prevent it expanding, see:
https://wwals.net/issues/titanium-mining/

Tom Perkins, The Guardian, June 2, 2023, Health advocates urge US regulators to ban common food coloring additive: Titanium dioxide, found in candy, meat substitutes and packaged cookies, has been linked to a range of serious health issues,

Public health advocates say a common color enhancer added to thousands of US foods is toxic and dangerous, and have formally petitioned federal regulators to ban the chemical’s use.

Though the compound, titanium dioxide, has been widely used for decades and is found in foods like M&Ms, Skittles, Beyond Meat plant-based chicken tenders and Chips Ahoy! cookies, recent science has shown it is also linked to a range of serious health issues and accumulates in the body and organs.
Continue reading →

Final webinar, Upper and Middle Suwannee River Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) 2023-06-23

Thanks to the anonymous tipster.

Notice: 27234319
Notice of Meeting/Workshop Hearing
Department: WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS
Division: Suwannee River Water Management District
The Suwannee River Water Management District announces a public meeting to which all persons are invited.

DATE AND TIME: Friday, June 23, 2023, 10:00 a.m.

PLACE: Webinar

Subject: The meeting can be viewed by webinar to maximize the opportunity for public participation. The webinar is free to attend and can be accessed from a computer, tablet, or smartphone in listen only mode — comments will be received from the online audience during this meeting.

Agenda plus map

The purpose of the meeting is to conclude the peer review process for the Upper and Middle Suwannee River Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs). This meeting will allow for the peer reviewers to discuss any revisions to the final draft of the peer review consensus report for these MFLs. Following their discussion, the reviewers will vote to approve the peer review consensus report. These MFLs are specifically for the Upper and Middle Suwannee River segments. The District will continue to work on the MFLs for priority springs along the river based on the District’s MFL priority list schedule.
Continue reading →

Pictures: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup, Three Steps Landing to Fargo, GA 2023-06-10

The second Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup went well. Got a little hot in the middle, and rained towards the end.

Chainsawing deadfalls, Suwannee River 2023-06-10

But the rain came only after we cleared four deadfalls above Fargo Ramp and Reeves Landing: Continue reading →

Crossings under CR 6 by Nutrien Phosphate Mine 2023-06-10

An anonymous photographer sent these pictures of the Nutrien Phosphate Mine in Hamilton County digging under CR 6 east of Jasper, heading north towards the GA-FL line.

Remember, the same phosphate deposits continue north into Echols County, Georgia.

Collage, Nutrien Phosphate Mine across CR 6

I don’t know quite where these pictures were taken. But if I had to guess, probably somewhere a bit east of where the label is for Nutrien Phosphate Mine on this SRWT map. Continue reading →

FL Gov signed sprawl bill: need Rights to Clean Water 2023-06-08

Thanks to everyone who asked the Florida Governor to veto the sprawl bill, HB 359 / SB 540. But he signed it anyway, so now anyone who sues to stop a comprehensive plan change and loses has to pay the other side’s legal bills.

And the Supreme Court drastically limited the scope of the Clean Water Act in its decision in Sackett II.

Now we really need Right to Clean Water in Florida as a constitutional amendment. Please sign the petition and ask all your Florida registered voter friends and relatives to do so.
https://www.floridarighttocleanwater.org/petition

With enough signatures, the RTCW petition can get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024, and there is nothing the legislature or governor can do to stop it.

Right to Clean Water, FL SB 540

Georgians, please encourage Floridians to sign the petition.

Here’s an explanation of why other means won’t work,
“Floridians who’ve been following along know that we are not going to achieve anything remotely resembling such protections through legislative action, which is why supporting this amendment is a no-brainer.”

Cheryl Lasse, Palm Beach Post, June 8, 2023, New Florida law and court ruling leave state’s waterways in peril, Continue reading →

WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS) is Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

A healthy watershed with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable water.

Tag Archives: Suwannee River

Draft Conditions from the Planning Commission to the BoCC on SE 23-01 3RT Sand Mine, Levy County, FL 2023-07-20

Draft Conditions from the Planning Commission to the BoCC on SE 23-01 3RT Sand Mine

Packet: Levy County Planning Commission, with 3RT Sand Mine Special Exception application 2023-07-10

Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest returns –Valdosta Today 2023-07-14

Chuck Roberts returns as M.C. for Suwannee Riverkeeper Songwriting Contest plus WWALS River Revue

Nominating Okefenokee NWR for UNESCO World Heritage List –WWALS 2023-06-28

The WWALS letter

Another reason to reject TiO2 strip mine near the Okefenokee Swamp: food coloring health issues 2023-06-02

Final webinar, Upper and Middle Suwannee River Minimum Flows and Levels (MFLs) 2023-06-23

Pictures: Suwannee River Chainsaw Cleanup, Three Steps Landing to Fargo, GA 2023-06-10

Crossings under CR 6 by Nutrien Phosphate Mine 2023-06-10

FL Gov signed sprawl bill: need Rights to Clean Water 2023-06-08