PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The Southland Water Resource Project is so controversial that Palm Beach County Mayor Maria Marino says she’s received more than 7,000 emails both for and against the project.
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The group developing the land, owned by US Sugar and Florida Crystals, said it will mine limestone, which will then be crushed and used to build roads.
Then the land would be converted to a reservoir to complement the state’s Everglades Agricultural Area reservoir, built to store excess water from Lake Okeechobee.
Protesters from the Treasure Coast to Fort Myers rallied before the meeting hoping commissioners would slow down the process until the Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District review the proposal.
The Gulf Coast environmental group, Captains for Clean Water, rallied outside the county building.
Members said mining will pollute water from the state’s soon-to-be-built reservoir nearby.
“If this rock mine and the process of mining and blasting, jeopardizes the integrity of that reservoir and rendered it useless, it would have devastating effects on the entire southern part of Florida,” said Chris Wittman, co-founder of the Environmental Group, Captains for Clean Water.
“This project sure looks like a rock mine masquerading as a public resources project,” added Eve Samples of Friends of the Everglades.
Representatives of nearly every South Florida environmental advocacy group spoke out against the project at the Palm Beach County Commission meeting.
Commissioners were voting whether to uphold the County’s Planning and Zoning Board’s 5-3 vote that found the project is a suitable land use for the Southland project.
On Thursday evening, commissioners voted unanimously to approve the project.
Roughly 70 people also came to the meeting from the communities of Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay in support of the mining and reservoir.
Leaders in these communities said the project will bring badly needed jobs to the Glades.
“We know that there are a lot of people in our community that experience hunger issues,” said Tammy Jackson-Moore of the group, Guardians of the Glades. “And they’re just trying to make sure that they have the opportunity to make sure they can have a roof over their heads, and their bills and take care of their children. So there are jobs that are urgently needed in our community.”
