Betty... I heard about the same as to the proposed strip mining having been prevented. More "sensitive" is being/or was swapped for less "sensitive" land. That's better than the alternative... but I don't think all of the problem went away... just the worst parts of it; and besides a whole bunch of land is still going to be liquidized, run through a strainer, and poured back like jello into a mold. The natural consitency is lost, all of the things that geologically had settled out of the ocean and/or wherever in layers over the course of millenias of time are blended into a homogenous mass that takes centuries just to dry out fully, absorbtion of ground water into the aquifers is disrupted... even with the cosmetic plantings of things that will grow in that mess, etc. the "restored" land is not real land anymore and it does not function as real land would function... in some ways for months, in other ways for centuries, and in still other ways possibly "forever". Critters can be "saved" and moved, but some critters cannot live in the "restored" land... perhaps for a long, long, long time. I seriously doubt that anybody knows exactly what the really long term results will be on plants, animals, or humans (as if we aren't animals too). Nobody who could actually say "no" and make it stick ever seems to worry about things like that when doing so might stand between them and a paycheck. (Nothing personal is intended by saying that, Betty.) My admittedly somewhat jaundiced and exaggerated analogy would be to take a person, grind and Osterize their body into a liquid, extract a few key chemicals, minerals, whatever... and when done pour the result into a human shaped jello mold and sew its own old skin back over it... then paint a smile on its face, stick some new clothes on it and loudly proclaim "what a good boy am I" over the "restored" blob of jelly. That thing that was once a living human ain't ever gonna play the violin or become a rocket scientist. It's just sludge and muck reshaped to resemble what it used to be. Restoration is better than non-restoration but it really is cosmetic, superficial, and I believe... ineffectual. It just hides the problem. The land is dead and useless except as a kind of a sad pretense performed by growing plants and animals that are adaptable enough to stand it, on the sludge. A lot of what is being done... Hell, almost all of what is being done through restoration was forced on the mining corporations in Florida by passage of laws They would be happy as pigs in poop if they could still just be pigs in poop. Now all that said and done, I'm sorry I brought the subject up. I think that it initially had marginal relevance to the purpose of this list. I guess that there is such a "history" of strip mining already in Florida that would be a legitimate subject of discussion. But we are getting further and further afield all the time. We are arguing environmental issues, not factually documenting history. Or maybe it has really been me that has driven this discussion over there. So far as I know, there is nobody minding the store on this list... or at least I haven't seen any overt signs of it. Somebody somewhere "owns" the list and would no doubt show up and knock heads big time if he or she found out that someone had started uploading copyrighted computer programs to it for free download or setting up a pornographic solicitation service through it, because of their exposure to legal liability for allowing such activities. If that is true, it means that we have to keep some kind of rein on ourselves. I haven't seen any complaints yet, but they will probably come... very soon: "I'm getting too many messages and they are not what the list is about. I hate you all. Get me off of this list right now. How do I get away from this list, it is not what it is supposed to be, etc." So I'm going to try real hard to put a cork in it and go sit on my hands in the corner for awhile on the subject of the evils of strip mining. The subject has probably gained a life of its own by now and will keep generating new messages for a few days, but hopefully that will soon go away and the gentle hum of people researching Florida history and genealogy will resume. I'm sorry folks. I've just been a blabbermouth and got way "off task". I'll try really hard to "be good and not do it again." RW BettyMaeS@aol.com wrote: > > I don't think the permits went thru for the mining of the Okeefenokee ...I > believe I read about a land swap and the Okeefenokee was saved. > > I work for an open pit mining company and we move all animals, yes all that we > can find before mining. Gophers and all. We are now building a special lake > for a bald eagle. Land is reclaimed and a lot of wet lands are built. IF you > have never seen reclaimed land in Polk Co FL you should take a drive and see > what has been done. Our company usually has the land reclaimed in two years > or less. > > Betty