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Landfill Scheme Dumped In Pasco

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2009

With all the region's drinking water problems, it's a relief environmental regulators finally denied an absurd plan to develop a large garbage landfill on the edge of the Green Swamp in east Pasco County.

The state Department of Environmental Protection Thursday ruled Angelo's Aggregate Materials failed to prove the project site was geologically stable and that its design would prevent leaks that could contaminate drinking water supplies.

The site near Dade City contains inactive sinkholes, according to reports. The state was rightly concerned about future sinkhole activity because the area is at-risk for sinkholes. The threat to critical hydrological resources was simply too great.

The Green Swamp contains the headwaters of the Hillsborough and three other major rivers and is the source of potable water for much of Central Florida, including Tampa. The swamp also is the highest point in the underground Floridan Aquifer. The pressure it maintains in the aquifer allows springs and wells to flow and blocks saltwater intrusion.

The finding, which should have been obvious, took over two years. And a little more than a month ago DEP appeared ready to give its blessing, which would have been an outrage.

But thanks to continued community opposition, formal objections by local governments in Pasco and Hillsborough and effective lobbying by some landowners, the state officials wised up.

The project, alas, may not be dead. Angelo's can file an administrative appeal. But the chief permitting agency's denial, strong evidence of the risk and the community's intense opposition should put landfill opponents on solid ground - unlike the developer behind this environmental threat.

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