Dump smelly landfill plan

Editorial

Gov. Rick Scott showed earlier this month that he can set aside rigid ideology and listen to the public when he rejected plans to turn part of Honeymoon Island State Park into an RV campground.

"These natural treasures belong to all the tax-paying citizens of this state, and it would be unfair to proceed with a plan that so many Floridians are so adamantly opposed to," Scott said in announcing his decision to protect the scenic and immensely popular park off the Pinellas coast.

The governor, whose previous policy decisions had shown little concern for Florida's fragile environment, including water resources, should remember his words as he and his administrators decide whether to permit a private garbage landfill east of Dade City.

There has been strong public and private opposition to the Angelo's Aggregate Materials project — including from the city of Tampa and from east Pasco municipalities and business leaders.

The environmental ramifications could be disastrous. The landfill would be dangerously close to the Green Swamp, in an area prone to sinkholes. This poses a risk to drinking water supplies for millions of residents, including the people of Tampa.

The targeted location is about a mile from the swamp, the most environmentally significant part of the region. The swamp is the headwaters of four major rivers, including the Hillsborough, which provides most of Tampa's drinking water.

Angelo's plans for clay liners to protect groundwater are small comfort. And trucking in more than 150 loads of garbage a day — all told, between 1,800 and 3,000 tons a day — would make area residents' lives hell.

Scott and his administrators should read the state Department of Environmental Protection's file on the project, first proposed five years ago: Citing concerns about sinkholes, DEP rejected Angelo's permit application in 2009. The geology of the area has not changed. The site is still inappropriate for a garbage dump.

The governor also should know that a massive sinkhole opened at Hillsborough's Southeast County landfill in 2010 and that, according to the county, "studies showed geologic conditions in this area to be extremely stable and not prone to sinkholes." Groundwater is still being tested. This clearly shows the danger of permitting the Angelo's landfill.

But even with the strong evidence and opposition against it, Angelo's refuses to be a good neighbor and find a suitable use for its agricultural land.

The company is trying to have DEP's 2009 decision overturned on appeal. It has sued Pasco County officials, who wisely changed the county's land use plan to prohibit such landfills on land that is not zoned public or semipublic. And it has submitted amended plans to DEP that don't differ much from the original, except, for the most part, reducing the thickness of planned clay liners and downsizing the actual landfill from 90 acres to 30. Shrinking the landfill size is deceptive because it could be expanded, and the project site remains 1,000 acres.

This landfill proposal flat-out stinks, yet for five years it has lingered in regulatory channels. Scott and DEP Secretary Herschel Vinyard should stop this project for good. A region is waiting.