Mr. HUFF. All right, sir. Senator RANDOLPH. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Senator RANDOLPH. Back on the record. You have been very helpful, Mr. Huff, in the candor with which you express your viewpoints. The committee is grateful. Mr. HUFF. Thank you, and I am very grateful that you have come to investigate this problem and give us your attention. Thank you. (Subsequently the following communications were received from Mr. Huff:) Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U.S. Senate Committee on Public Works, POLK COUNTY FARM BUREAU, Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: We, of the Polk County Farm Bureau, want to thank you, Senator Randolph, and your committee for the giving of your time and interest to our phosphate air pollution problem. Everyone was impressed with both of you as statesmen, and it was an inspiration for us to know that two such fine Senators, not from our own State, were so well versed and interested in our problems. On Friday, February 21, Senator Randolph and his aide toured both Hillsborough and Polk Counties. While on this tour, Mr. Floyd Bowen showed them the Bonnie triple super phosphate plant, which Mr. Bowen remarked, “was clean as a candy factory." The day of our inspection trip, was a bright, cool and clear day with no clouds. On the early morning of Saturday, February 22, it rained up until 9 a.m., clouds were at about 1,000 feet all day, and it was humid. The Senate committee was probably back in Washington by then, and the phosphate plants were back to full operation and operating as usual. I took my camera and secured the enclosed pictures on the afternoon of February 22, between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., just 24 hours after the committee was in and around these plants. The pictures tell the story of what normal operation looks like here.1 Please also find enclosed a report on an analysis of children's baby teeth collected by Dr. Frank E. Gore, dentist, from his patients in Mulberry, Fla. Dr. Gore collected these teeth for the State board of health department, but they refused to pick them up. Let us thank you again for coming to hear about our phosphate air pollution problems. Sincerely yours, PAUL B. HUFF, Director, Chairman, Air Pollution Committee. POLK COUNTY FARM BUREAU, Hon. EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U.S. Senator, Special Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, DEAR SENATOR MUSKIE: You have requested me to supply, for the record, the acreage purchased by the phosphate industry from people who felt compelled to sell due to the effects of air pollution. The figure that I am about to give you does not include Hillsborough County, and I am sure it is a low figure, as we don't know all of the individuals who have been compelled to sell. Here in Polk County during the past 12 years farmers, citrus growers and cattlemen have sold 5,428 acres of farms, citrus groves and pastures to the phosphate industry because they were no longer profitable to operate as agricultural enterprises due to damage from fluorine pollution from the phosphate industry. Here in Polk County there are 250,240 acres of land that are within 5 miles of a processing plant. Ten years ago 85 percent of this area was devoted to cattle grazing. All cattle in this area show symptoms of fluorosis. Another 200,000 acres of land adjacent to this area have constantly had some noticeable symptoms of fluorosis in the cattle. 1 The photographs are on file with the committee Hillsborough County, I would estimate, has 80 percent as much of a problem with fluorine air pollution damage to farm crops, citrus and cattle as does Polk County, but I have no figures on this. I hope this information will be of use to you, and please call on me again if I can be of any further assistance. Sincerely, I, Paul B. Huff, of Bartlow, Fla., submit this analysis of children's teeth collected by Dentist Dr. Frank E. Gore. These are children's teeth that Dr. Gore was holding for the State board of health to collect and analyze. Dr. Gore suspected these teeth to be high in fluorine. It is my understanding that 125 parts per million of fluorine is normal for children's baby teeth. All of these teeth but two are over this amount. Respectfully submitted. PAUL B. HUFF. [COMMITTEE NOTE.-The photos submitted were not reproducible and are in the committee files. The captions are as follows: [Photo No. 1. Picture taken about 3:15 p.m. on February 22. This is Davidson triple superphosphate plant looking from south to north. Seventy-five percent of superstructure of plant is blotted out by fumes from the plant. This plant is 3 miles west of Bartow. [Photo No. 2. This is Bonnie triple superphosphate plant 4 miles west of Bartow. Picture taken 3:05 p.m. on February 22, 24 hours after Senator Randolph visited this plant and area. Mr. Floyd Bowen of International Minerals and manager of this plant describes this plant as being “clean as a candy factory." Plant is north three-fourths of 1 mile away and completely obscured by fumes. [Photo No. 3. This is Armour & Co. plant 14 miles west of Bartow. Picture taken 3:25 p.m. and 24 hours after Senator Randolph rode on this highway (U.S. 60) by this plant. Superstructure of this plant is 50 percent obscured by its fumes.] Mr. BowEN. Don't you want to stay here and question some of my statements? Mr. HUFF. If you would like me to. Mr. BOWEN. I don't want to be left here alone. Senator RANDOLPH. Mr. Bowen, I had a chance to read your statement during the noon hour. I think that we will place it in the record in its entirety. Then you may wish to comment on portions of it. I think that we can throw more light on the subject by your comments and by questions and answers. In that way we can move on in the limited time that is available to us. (The prepared statement of Mr. Bowen is as follows:) PREPARED STATEMENT OF FLOYD BOWEN, ON BEHALF OF THE FLORIDA PHOSPHATE COUNCIL I am appearing here today on behalf of the Florida Phosphate Council, representing the nine phosphate mining and processing companies in Polk and east Hillsborough counties. First, let me assure this committee that the phosphate industry which I represent welcomes any intelligent, impartial, and unemotional survey of air pollution. However, this is a local condition since the area is 200 miles from the nearest State border. Furthermore, the situation is being handled by Florida industry and Florida agencies. I understand that one purpose of this and other hearings conducted by the committee is to arouse public interest in the subject of air pollution. We hope that my testimony will serve another important end; that is, to gain an intelligent public understanding of the situation as it has developed and as it is being solved. The quality of the air in central Florida aroused the interest of the public and the industry several years ago. As a result of that interest, action has been taken and substantial progress made. Phosphate plants in the Polk-East Hillsborough County area are now emitting less than half as much fluorine as they were in 1959. This reduction has been accomplished during the same period when production has increased by about one-fourth. Before making a detailed statement of progress, I would like to point out that a great deal of this so-called problem is not what it seems, but is the result of vigorous agitation by a highly vocal minority well skilled in ways and means of obtaining headlines. The situation is not due to lack of interest or unwillingness by the phosphate companies to spend money. Much of the agitation may well stem from the desire of a few persons to capitalize on a situation which could enable them to sell agricultural lands to the phosphate companies at prices amounting to many times their assessed valuation. The phosphate companies operating in this area have shown concern over the waste control problem for many years and, as we will explain in more detail later, have spent many millions of dollars for equipment and the continuing expense of operating such devices. This genuine concern includes cooperation in the water as well as in the air pollution field. It has been alleged that air pollution affects human health, the cattle industry, and the citrus industry. As far as this partciular area in Florida is concerned, no human health problem has ever been found to exist as a result of either fluoride or sulfur emissions. Studies have been made in recent years by the U.S. Public Health Service, the Florida State Board of Health, and the Polk County Medical Society, none of which found any indication of a human health problem arising from fluorine emissions by the phosphate plants. Phosphate companies have for several years employed a nationally known research organization which has conducted medical studies of longtime employees to determine if the health of workers is affected by contact with fluorides in and near the plants, particularly in the areas of greatest exposure. These complete and systematic examinations of several hundred longtime employees bear out the favorable findings of Federal, State, and county medical studies. At times, when mechanical equipment fails, a "nuisance" situation is created which, while unpleasant, involves no hazard whatever to health. No one can say with any degree of certainty what effect fluorine may have on citrus. As a grove operator, I am certain that the freeze of 1962 damaged groves so severely that it is difficult to tell, even now, whether anything else may be affecting them. However, many citrus growers do not seem particularly concerned over the situation because, according to Florida State Department of Agriculture figures, 54,500 acres of new orange, grapefruit and tangerine trees were planted in Polk and Hillsborough counties in the 5-year period to June 30, 1963. Much of this newly planted acreage will not produce commercial crops for several years. Since there was a lack of factual information in this area, we joined with the State of Florida and citrus growers in financing a 3-year investigation by the Florida Citrus Experiment Station at Lake Alfred on what effect, if any, fluorine in the air may have on citrus groves. The Florida Citrus Experiment Station is operated as part of the State's extension service of the University of Florida. The project is costing $75,000, with the State of Florida through the Florida Citrus Commission financing onethird, citrus growers from the Polk-Hillsborough area contributing a third and the phosphate companies providing a third. This project is now in the second year and when completed, it is hoped that further factual scientific knowledge will have been developed on the subject. Incidentally, cooperation between the industry and the State of Florida is nothing new. Nearly 20 years ago, phosphate companies provided a grant for the University of Florida which was used to study fish life in turbid waters. A few years later, the industry cooperated with the State board of health in a joint study of conditions in the Alafia River. In 1960, the industry appointed a committee which cooperated to the fullest extent with a committee named by the Governor of Florida to study the construction of dams needed to create settling areas for water conservation and waste disposal. The industry committee was commended by the Governor for the manner in which it cooperated in studying this problem and helping develop a feasible solution. The industry at the present time is cooperating with the State board of health to develop standards on emission from sulfuric acid plants. Standards pertaining to fluorides have been in effect for some time. Actually, the phosphate industry, cooperating closely with the State board of health and the Florida Air Pollution Control Commission, has made great strides in its waste control efforts. The amount of phosphate rock involved in processes which might result in dust or fume emission has increased by 24 percent during the past 4 years. And yet, despite this increase in the amount of rock processed, total emissions of fluorine have been cut in half during the same period. This has been accomplished by improved methods of control and the installation of more equipment. For the period from 1960 to the present time, phosphate companies have installed 67 devices known as "wet scrubbers," which wash pollutants out of the air stream before it is released into the atmosphere; 12 bag filters, which operate on much the same principle as the ordinary household vacuum cleaner; 1 electrostatic precipitator, and 3 sets of devices known as special type "cyclones," which also extract wastes. In addition, during this same period, the plants have made 17 major process improvements for control purposes. Indicating the interest of the industry in clean air, a survey of companies operating in the Polk-East Hillsborough County area shows that, as of January 1, 1964, a total of $16,450,000 has been spent by these companies in research, development, and installation of equipment designed to control air pollution. Operation and maintenance of these complex control systems is a continuing expense which now exceeds $1.5 million annually. |