The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is expected to issue on Dec. 12 a letter of intent to approve/deny permit applications for a Class 1 landfill in Pasco County on a site that would be less than a mile from the Withlacoochee River and adjacent to the Hillsborough River and the headwaters of the Green Swamp.

Please consider communicating to DEP officials your concerns about this proposed landfill.

The landfill would cover 1,069 acres and has been designed to take up to 3,000 tons of household waste per day.

The Green Swamp is the headwaters of the Withlacoochee, Hillsborough, Peace and Ocklawaha rivers and is the major recharge area for the Floridan Aquifer.

A spill, leak or accident at the proposed site would put at risk water supplies for many residents. The area where the landfill would be built has been found to be at "moderately high risk for sinkholes," according to the applicant’s geologists as well as the state’s Florida Geological Survey. Current Class 1 landfill designs are not engineered to withstand a catastrophic sinkhole collapse.

Angelo’s Aggregate Materials, the landfill applicant, has no experience operating a Class 1 landfill and has a record of infractions for operating less complex sites.

The state and the Southwest Florida Water Management District has spent more than $138 million in land acquisition to protect the hydrological health of the Green Swamp Basin. It is contradictory to permit a landfill at that site.

We are asking you to contact Secretary Sole to express your opposition to this project and contact Director Yon and Deputy Director Cantrell to ask them to DE NY their respective permits. Protectors of Florida’s Legacy in Pasco County is leading this fight. For more information, visit their website at: www.TrashToAsh.com.

View the news on the issue:

http://cnewspubs.com/realestate/modules/news/index.php?storytopic=64

http://www.trashtoash.com/learn-more/in-the-news.

Please express your concerns immediately to the following:

Michael Sole
Michael.Sole@dep.state.fl.us
Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
3900 Commonwealth Boulevard M.S. 49
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Telephone: 850-245-2011

Mary Jean Yon
Mary.Jean.Yon@dep.state.fl.us
FDEP Waste Management Director (responsible for approving Solid Waste Permit)
3900 Commonwealth Boulevard M.S. 49
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Telephone: 850-245-8705

Richard Cantrell
Richard.Cantrell@dep.state.fl.us
FDEP Water Resource Management Deputy Director (responsible for approving Environmental Resource Permit)
3900 Commonwealth Boulevard M.S. 49
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Telephone: 850-245-8474 ext. 0031

Governor Charlie Crist
charlie.crist@myflorida.com