BY CAROL MOSLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE – The June 6 meeting of the Bradford Soil and Water Conservation District began with old business, but the new business garnered the most interaction when it addressed an incident at Chemours with Board Supervisor Paul Still.
Bradford Soil and Water Conservation District’s mission is to provide the administration of programs to conserve soil and improve water quality and quantity on private lands in Bradford County. The board consists of five elected supervisors, all unpaid, representing the five districts.
The first order of old business was a report on the status of Chemours’ Trail Ridge Industrial Wastewater renewal permit application and the reclamation along C.R. 225 south of Lawtey. Still showed slides of the site in 2013 and what it looks like now. He commented on the importance of getting the iron “humate” out of the system and had high praise for how the reclamation is going. He also noted that the FDEP appears to be doing a good job of overseeing the project.
Still said he stumbled on a report that Chemours submitted to FDEP indicating detection of nearly twice the allowable amount of radioactive radium 126/128 during a recent release from the Trail Ridge South mine. Chemours’ report said barium is being used to neutralize the radium.
Still said occasionally they hit a pocket of radium or other element of concern and may not hit another pocket for some time. He said since Chemours has not discharged since the discovery, the radium and barium remain in the system and could be discharged later if a rain event occurs. He said barium is troubling and perhaps another substance, such as zeolite, could achieve the same results yet pose less concern than barium.
The Chemours letter from Environmental Manager Connie Henderson dated May 23 to the FDEP, states that, “A discharge was initiated on April 12 through 28, 2023. The monthly radium sample was taken on April 19. Results of the radium sample became available on May 16, 2023. No discharge has occurred since April 28, 2023.” It further notes that, “Two internal RA-228 samples were taken prior to the discharge to estimate the Ra 226/228 values and did not contain elevated levels.”
Chemours says it will also conduct a “root cause analysis” on the occurrence. The soil and water board said they will be looking forward to finding the results from that analysis.
Still said local environmental groups Sierra Club and Our Santa Fe River are hoping to tour the area of Chemours mining. Still would take the group along the culverts and roadways and not enter any private property, especially considering his recent incident while taking water samples. The groups should contact Chemours directly for access to an onsite tour.
Final discussion was the complaint and incident report filed against Still during a turbidity and iron content water sampling expedition. He and his wife, Kathy, parked at the North Florida Land Trust gate and he walked inside to get his water samples. According to Still, he noticed a Chemours employee parked across the street in a white truck, so he returned to his car, placing his water samples inside.
Sheriff Gordon Smith showed up and told the Stills to wait at their car because a deputy would come to take their statement. The deputy arrived and took Still’s license and then went to speak with the Chemours employee. After about 45 minutes of delay, the deputy returned to the car, gave Still his license, then turned to leave. Still asked the deputy if he was going to take his statement. The deputy replied, “No, I have everything I need.”
Sheriff Smith said an incident report would be given to the State Attorney’s office and they would decide whether to press charges or not. Still said he believes he was on land owned by North Florida Land Trust and that he has a long-standing agreement with them to take water samples and look for invasive species of plants.
Rianna Elliot of NFLT said she was notified by the hunt club, who has the lease, of a trespass on the property. She was unable to locate any “formal agreement” between the two agencies nor between the Land Trust and Still. Still has emails originating from 2016 granting him permission and had a recent conversation with another NFLT representative who was aware of Still’s ongoing sampling on behalf of soil and water board. Elliott said that person was not authorized to grant permissions.
Still said that ownership and delineation of the Chemours property is unclear and that he only took the route of the tracks due to water in the ditches. He said he does not believe he was trespassing, though Elliott said she was given photos showing him on Chemours and CSX property, not NFLT land. It is not clear to Still who sent her the photos, and Still said he had not seen them. He said the area is not posted or fenced and is a noted ATV route.
The board said they want to respect property rights while assuring they are still able to conduct their work. A more formal agreement than email conversations will be drawn up and submitted to NFLT legal department for approval or revisions. It was suggested that future sampling on potentially private lands should have clear permission and possibly even be accompanied by an owner’s representative. Still agreed that some specific agreement and protocol would be a benefit to avoid future problems.
Still met with the State Attorney to offer his statement that had not been taken by the deputy. He produced the email chain that he believes granted him access for board purposes over the years.
