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Tampa Unhappy With Proposed Pasco Landfill

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: December 18, 2008

TAMPA - Concerned about the city's water supply, city council members are scheduled to vote today on whether to oppose a Pasco County landfill planned near the Hillsborough River, Tampa's main source of drinking water.

The vote is largely symbolic, though, especially amid signs state regulators are likely to approve the 90-acre landfill outside Dade City.

The state Department of Environmental Protection recently drafted a letter of intent, the first step toward issuing a permit for the landfill Largo-based Angelo's Aggregate Materials wants to build on more than 1,000 acres just west of the Green Swamp, the source of both the Hillsborough and Withlacoochee rivers.

DEP officials say Angelo's construction plans meet or exceed the agency's requirements for such a facility. Those plans call for several layers of manmade liners, a network of pipes to collect contaminated rainwater and monitoring wells around the landfill.

That's not enough to assuage opponents' fears the landfill could pollute nearby water supplies.

"The Hillsborough River is our drinking source," Tampa Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena said Wednesday. "Putting a waste site next to it isn't well thought-through."

Last year, Mayor Pam Iorio wrote to the DEP, asking state regulators not to approve the landfill unless the developers could prove it would not threaten the city's drinking water supply. The mayor noted the area proposed for the landfill is prone to sinkholes, raising the possibility the landfill's lining could rupture.

Assuming the landfill wins DEP approval, the project must still get a conditional-use permit from Pasco County. That could take months and will involve at least two public hearings.

Reporter Christian M. Wade contributed to this report. Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201.

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