The Consequences of Eliminating Rock
Mining in South Florida

Carlos Socarras
Professor – Karen Nead
English-135
December 1, 2008

The reason I chose this topic for my research paper is because I feel that it is critical to help educate you a little on the importance of rock mining in South Florida and the consequences that we will endure without this local resource. Throughout this paper you will see me make reference to Titan Americas Pennsuco facility. This is mostly because I am currently employed by them and have been working in the Pennsuco cement plant for over nineteen years now, so I have managed to learn a lot of its history through time and experience. Another reason is the fact that as a fellow employee the ruling to eliminate rock mining in Florida directly affects me mainly because this decision would put me out of a job. I would first like to begin by giving you a brief history of the Pennsuco land and how Titan America acquired the facility, so that you can have a better understanding of the issues that we are currently experiencing. In the early 1900s, Pennsylvania Sugar Co., which is where the term “Pennsuco” came from was one of several companies that obtained large acreages and planted sugar cane on the drained “muck land” of the Florida Everglades. Operations were good until the Great Depression of the 1930s hit the sugar market. Today the Pennsuco cement plant is located on the former Pennsuco sugar Farms property. (Cement Americas, 2005) In 1962 the Pennsuco site was purchased by Maule Industries, who then built one of the first ever cement plants in South Florida. It was eventually purchased in the 1970’s by Lonestar Cement who later sold the cement plant to Tarmac America who named it the Pennsuco facility. (Manufacturing Industry 1999) Finally, in 2000 Titan America purchased the Pennsuco cement plant. Since then, the Pennsuco cement plant has gone through numerous changes. The most obvious one being the new 200 million dollar state of the art cement plant. The Titan America group is currently one of the premier cement and building materials producers in the Eastern United States. (Titan America 2005) Now that we know a bit about Pennsuco’s history, I want to bring you up to speed on the mining issues that we are currently going through. In 1995, the South Florida Water Management Division began using Pennsuco as a regional off-site alleviation area. Later in 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers issued permits to several companies that authorized dredging of wetlands in the lake belt for mining-related purposes. Today, the Lake Belt is the source of almost half of Florida’s coarse aggregates and a vital part of Florida’s economy and the building materials industry. (South Florida Information Access 2005) To help give to a better idea of where the name Lake Belt came from let me explain. In South Florida, groundwater occurs so near the surface of the ground, that when rock is mined, even in shallow pits, the excavation areas fill with water and man-made "lakes" are formed. The "lakes" that form after rock is mined are the feature after which the "Lake Belt" is named. (Americas Everglades) In March 2006, a U.S. district Courts Judge Hoeveler, from the Southern district of Florida ruled that the mining permits were not issued correctly and asked the U.S. army Corps of Engineers to further review and consider the permitting process. There were also allegations of traces of dangerous chemicals such as benzene found in the lakes that would eventually be filtered into the local drinking water and also cause harm to the everglades. In June 2007 the same judge seized all mining in the lake belt area until further research and sampling of the affected lakes were performed. (South Florida Business Journal, December 2007). Unfortunately Pennsuco happens to lie within the lake belt area and borders the everglades, therefore being directly affected by the ruling to stop mining. Later that month the Army Corps of Engineers held a public hearing for affected individuals and families to voice their opinions. This decision greatly affected many different areas of the building materials industry and specifically Titan Americas aggregate division, because an aggregate that was locally available, would now have to be brought in from other areas, therefore dramatically driving up the cost of aggregates and the products that use it. (Morgan, C. September 2007) The same goes for the cost of cement since limestone is used in the manufacturing of cement. These high costs also go into new homes, roads, bridges, and skyscrapers that will eventually trickle down to you and me. Titan America has done their best to avoid having to lay off employees. The company had to make major adjustments and relocating equipment operators, and maintenance repairmen who would normally run and maintain the machinery to other local plants. Even with these adjustments, Titan alone had to lay off approximately 95 employees with a possibility of more by the end of the year. (South Florida Business Journal, August 2007) The ruling will also put a hold on state projects, and severe disruptions to on-going and planned transportation construction projects because the majority of aggregate provided for highway repairs come from Titan America, and other local aggregate companies. (Associated press Tampa Bay.com, June 2006) This means that city and state employees directly related to those projects would also be affected. The U.S. army Corps of Engineers is expected to perform numerous analyses to determine if the chemicals are directly related to the blasting which is used to break up the limestone before mining commences. (Pit and Quarry 2002) Earlier this year a three-judge panel in Atlanta lifted the ban on rock mining in thousands of acres of Northwest Miami-Dade County , but at the same time rejecting a request from miners to reassign the case to another judge on grounds that Hoeveler was biased. Their decision to lift the ban was based on Judge Hoeveler improperly relying on his own analysis and opinions to dismiss studies and decisions by the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency charged with regulating the industry saying that Hoeveler too broadly interpreted the demands of some laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act. (Barbaccia, T. May 2008) This decision really helped the company and its workers in the sense that employees were able to remain working and no further layoffs had to be implemented. Not to mention that it also helped advance transportation projects throughout the state and put the environmental benefits of the Lake Belt Plan back on track. This would also provide much needed work for construction workers, equipment operators and truck drivers. Titan America along with other major mining industries also plans to “mine-out” another 15,000 to 18,500 acres over the next 50 years which will provide environmental benefits because Everglades restoration plans call for abandoned rock pits to serve as reservoirs. Ever since this lake belt issue began back in 2006 Titan America has made several structural changes that have helped to reduce the amount of layoffs to its workers to try to keep them employed through these hard economic times. A complete restructuring of manpower was made including supervisory changes, relocating personnel to other departments, and eliminating certain shifts. Before the ban was lifted Titan America had to reduce production to more than half of its capability due to the fear of running out of rock inventory stock piles from the lakes, and then having to get rock from other areas, therefore having to increase prices. Now that the ban has been lifted it is business as usual for the company, but the plant remains idling because the new issue that we are facing is the fact that the economy is at its worst, and our building products are not selling. Others affected by this are the vendors that provide services and parts to us. If we don’t produce, then that means that parts won’t wear, so they are out of business as well. This issue has created a domino effect that has impacted everyone from top executives to the blue collar worker. Now we are up against a completely different animal. Titan America Pennsuco has been forced to shut down every month for a period of two weeks at a time due to high inventory levels. This means that costs have to be cut, budgets have to be looked at and reduced and avoid having to spend money. Contact labor, and overtime have been wiped out, and employees have been asked to take extra vacation time without pay on a voluntary basis to try to cut back as much as possible. I remember back just a few years ago the Pennsuco Plant could not keep up with the demands of both cement and aggregates. Now the plant looks like a ghost town operating at half the capacity. Although such measures are being taken to help control costs it keeps people employed and allows us to catch up on much needed maintenance repairs that under normal circumstances would not be done during times when the plant is running at full production. At the same time, repairs need to be done with as little parts usage as possible. As I have stated before, I have been a loyal employee for Titan America for over nineteen years and I can honestly say that even though we are going through some tough times they have nothing but good intentions for their employees as well as the environment and community. Just by looking at their safety record helps to give you a good understanding of the companies values. Safety is their number one goal. In 1979, way before Titan America purchased Pennsuco, safety was not of great concern and safety records were not at the top of the priority list. At the time Lonestar Cement and Quarry owned Pennsuco. During this time MSHA otherwise known as the Mine Safety and Health Administration issued 77 citations in just three days. Afterwards, Tarmac America bought the facility in 1984 and then renamed it Pennsuco. Once Titan America finally purchased Pennsuco, safety started to become the main focus and things started taking a turn for the better. Since then, the Pennsuco facility has operated 10 years without a lost-time injury while still managing to produce 8-million tons of limestone annually. We have also won MSHA's Sentinels of Safety Award six times since 1985. No company has won the award more than four times in the 74-year history of the award, and Pennsuco employees earned the award in 1997 by working 232,232 hours without a lost-time injury. (Manufacturing Industry, July 1999) These types of accomplishments are only achievable by companies that want to do the right thing for the community, its employees, and have the right ideas and visions in mind always looking towards the future. The same goes for the environment. In 2004 Titan America built the largest state of the art cement plant in the Pennsuco facility capable of producing 6000 tons of clinker a day doubling its production capability from one million to 1.8 million tons annually. The new state-of-the-art facility is the largest in Florida (Titan America, 2005), and has the lowest NOx and CO per ton of clinker of any cement facility in the Sunshine State. (Cement Americas July 2005) During the planning stage of the new plant, design modifications were made to recover and reuse heat from both the kiln and the cooling clinker. Raw materials are preheated by exiting kiln gases as they travel through the five cyclones in the preheater tower, resulting in reduced energy requirements. (Cement Americas July 2005) Here in Florida virtually all residential and commercial construction begins with concrete block or poured concrete, and much of it ends with stucco. All of these products derive from limestone, so eliminating mining in Florida along with the current recession that the United States is encountering will cause the prices of cement and stone to skyrocket. Large industrial companies like Titan America help provide jobs and career opportunities to those who really need it. A large facility such as Titan America requires a large amount of manpower to operate and perform maintenance and repairs on machinery. It also needs people to operate the plant, quality control personnel to make sure that nothing but quality products are being sold to the customers, and salesmen to sell the product. The company looks for people who want to learn new technologies, takes those people and trains them to do so. There are so many different types of job opportunities available. Everything from electricians, industrial mechanics, equipment operators, truck drivers and laboratory technicians just to name a few are some of the jobs that these cement plants provides. Allowing these companies to mine and produce quality products that are environmentally friendly does well for everyone. Titan plans to build another large plant in Castle Hayne in New Hanover County located in the state of North Carolina during the next few years investing approximately 469 million dollars into it. This will do wonders to their economy and help to bring them job opportunities as well. The new plant will create approximately 161 new jobs with an average annual wage of $72,068 — more than twice the average New Hanover County average wage. (News Observer May 2008) Even though the new cement plant will bring in much needed employment, residents in the area are still worried about air pollution and wetland destruction, and want to know how plant supporters can’t see how the plant would harm the environment. These types of issues are found with every big industry. The problem with this is that these people need to be educated and be made aware of the many different ways that companies can minimize and in most cases eliminate pollution in the air. Titan America will set up workshops to educate residents about construction plans and provide an opportunity to interact one-on-one with company representatives. (Mazzolini, C. October 2008) Titan America has spent millions of dollars to meet and even exceed the government’s pollution permit requirement codes in the pennsuco plant using state of the art emissions detectors. I know this for a fact because I installed most of them during the building of the Pennsuco plant. I can honestly say that the Pennsuco plant is one of the cleanest, environmentally friendly plants in south Florida. I hope that I have helped you get a better understanding of the importance of rock mining in South Florida and the severe economical impact that can occur if these quarries are shut down. Limestone is the foundation to any project, whether you are building highways, buildings, schools, or homes. Eliminating this precious resource will only create bigger issues, drive costs up; eliminate jobs and slow progress for important building projects in Florida. Just take a second and look around and chances are that the road you drive on or the house that you live in more than likely has a piece of Florida’s history in it.
References

Americas Everglades. So you want to know more about...
USACE Lake Belt Permits. Retrieved December 2nd from, http://www.evergladesplan.org/facts_info/sywtkma_lakebelt.aspx

Associated press. Tampa Bay.com, (June 2006). Some say rock mining case threatens road work. Retrieved November 26th from, http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/12/State/Some_say_rock_mining_.shtml

Barbaccia, T. (May 2008) Aggregates Manager. Court lifts ban on rock mining in Florida County. Retrieved November 20th from, http://www.aggman.com/news/news.htm Cement Americas, (July 2005). Pennsuco Plant. Retrieved December 1st from, http://cementamericas.com/mag/cement_pennsuco_plant/ Manufacturing Industry, (July 1999). Safe and Sound. Retrieved December 2nd from, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3095/is_/ai_n27551518

Mazzolini, C. (October 2008) StarNewsOnline. Titan plant opponents protest at final workshop. Retrieved December 9th from, http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20081027/ARTICLES/810270261/1141/NEWS4517?Title=Titan_plant_opponents_protest_at_final_workshop

Morgan, C. (September 2007) Corkscrew Road Rural Community. Rock-Mining forces turn out to protest proposed restrictions. Retrieved November 25th from, http://www.corkscrewroad.com/miners-protest.htm NewsObserver.com, (May 2008). Titan America building new cement plant. Retrieved December 9th from, http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1075102.html

Pit and Quarry, (2002). Quarryology 101. Retrieved November 22th from, www.pitandquarry.com/pitandquarry/article/art...

South Florida Business Journal, August (2007). Titan America to lay off 95 employees. Retrieved November 23rd from, http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2007/08/20/daily14.html?ana=from_rss South Florida Business Journal, December (2007). Rock mining advocates push to overturn judge’s order. Retrieved November 25th from, http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2007/12/03/story6.html Titan America, (2005). Welcome, the Titan America family. Retrieved December 2nd from, http://www.titanamerica.com/

See below for Outline sheet

Outline Worksheet
1. What is the topic of your paper? The purpose of this research paper is to be able to give you a better idea of the reasons why the aggregates rock mining in South Florida have been seized and the impact that this will cause the building materials industry, the employees and companies that support this industry, and not to mention, on Florida’s economy.
2. What are four main points that support this topic? Main point #1: Titan America is one of the largest cement and aggregates producers in Florida.
Main point #2: Eliminating aggregates mining in South Florida will mean that many Titan employees to lose their jobs. Main point #3: Other business related companies that provide support to the industry will also suffer as well. Main point #4: Cost of materials will go up because the local product would no longer be available.
Now, outline the following points, one point per paragraph, and don’t forget your intro and conclusion. Follow this format (you may move some letters and other items around to your liking):

I. Introduction A. Allowing the mining industry to stop here in South Florida will create a he impact on Florida’s economy. A large company like Titan would not risk contaminating drinking waters knowing that they are so close to the everglades. B. The Pennsuco facility has been around for many years, located in the same area since the early 1900’s and there have never been any issues related with contamination. C. I would like to better inform you and educate you a little on the importance of rock mining in South Florida II. Body I: Point 1 A. Titan America’s mining facilities happen to be located inside of South Florida’s lake belt wellfield area. The lake belt borders Everglades National Park. B. It has been scientifically demonstrated that mining activities do not damage the quality of the water supply. Water supply to Miami-Dade is protected by the current water treatment plants Body II: Point 2 A. Equipment operators and repairmen would be out of work. There would be no need to operate dredging equipment therefore the equipment operators would be out of a job. Mechanics who would normally maintain conveyor belts, crushing machinery, and stacking equipment would no longer be needed. B. Heavy equipment, which is used to move aggregates to the processing equipment, would be stopped, and the operators would be out of work Body III: Point 3 A. Outside contractors who would normally assist in repairs throughout the company would not be needed therefore having to relocate. Equipment suppliers and vendors who provide the parts and materials needed to run the machinery would also lose business because parts would not be needed. Transportation services such as dump trucks and cement tankers would be out of work because there would be no transportation of aggregates. B. Every construction project begins with aggregates. Titan America produces and sells aggregates from two locations in Florida. Processing and conveying systems would also be shutdown, and the repairmen who service these machineries would also be out of a job.

V. Body IV: Point 4
A. Rock would then have to be imported from northern Florida or even higher to other states, therefore increasing the price of building materials. Transportation costs would go up due to the extra hauling of material and cost of fuel.

B. An increase in building products would mean higher costs to those who want to move to South Florida and purchase a home.

VIII: Conclusion A. The impact on Florida’s economy and the building materials industry will all depend on the final ruling which is said to be determined sometime this year or early next year 2009. There are many people who will lose their jobs, and many have already been affected by it. To date Titan alone has laid off as many as 95 employees. I have been a part of this industry for over 18 years, and I can say that Titan America is one of those companies that really take the environment seriously. B. Concluding thoughts
I have been a part of this industry for over 18 years, and I can say that Titan America is one of those companies that really take the environment seriously.