Water Bottling "Pipe Dream" on the Santa Fe River
WUP00-0040M3, Santa Fe Springs, LLC (Sawdust
Springs)
Hello Everyone,
First, allow me apologize for any delay in sending this out. We
just received the update last week even though it was submitted to the SRWMD at
the beginning of August.
Here is yet another water bottling permit (WUP) on our Santa Fe River that
we have been watching for years and now it has surfaced again.
Here is a brief story of how this one came to be...
Langston Holland requested and received a water
bottling permit for 150,000 gallons daily withdraw from the Suwannee River Water
Management District in 2000. He planned to pump from a well in the ground
near the Santa Fe River at Sawdust Springs (directly across from Ginnie
Springs tube exit) in Columbia County. In 2000 the original plan was to
bulk transfer.
Holland sold his WUP in a land transaction to
Stephen Cheeseman in 2005. Cheeseman and Holland were lawyers in
Tampa. Cheeseman also owns apartment buildings in Lake City
(Columbia County). And he owns a ranch/vacation home on the
Santa Fe River off CR 138 in Ft. White.
Cheeseman also bought 7 other parcels of land
to connect the Santa Fe River to CR 138. He changed the name of the
spring, kind of, by calling his business Santa Fe Springs, LLC in the hopes of
getting the unappetizing name of Sawdust left in the dust. He planned
to bulk transfer his spring water to a building in Ft. White to process and
bottle his loot. Trucks coming and going past his home and through the
town out to the interstate. He wanted to purchase water from the town of
Ft. White to make up for any difference in his water needs (the town of Ft.
White has been combating known carcinogens in it's water for years).
The District tried to revoke his permit a few
years ago because of lack of use and asked Cheeseman to provide certain
conditions to keep his permit active. One thing he needed was to
show a letter of intent to build a facility. He contracted with Kent
Harriss Construction, Inc. Fine Custom Homes, Lake City, to build a 10,000
square foot facility on SR 27 in the town of Ft. White city
limits. And the letter was filed August 2007. He had 2
years to commence construction or file yet another letter of intent.
AND...now, August 2009, he filed more
paperwork with the SRWMD claiming that he will connect the Santa Fe River
to a future facility on SR 27 via
a pipeline on Fry Road and in a Progress Energy
right of way (under powerlines) .
I have talked with Columbia County officials
and they tell me with confidence that they have not had any conversations
recently with Mr. Cheeseman about building a pump station on the Santa Fe River
or a pipeline to SR 27. I have talked to Progress Energy and they do not
know about any of these plans. I have not talked to the town of Ft. White
because the pipeline and the pump station are permits that Columbia
County must grant. OSFR knows that Cheeseman has not appeared in any
Ft. White town hall meetings to ask for a build permit for a 10,000 square
foot facility.
I talked to the District and they are legally
bound, at the moment, to grant the modifications to his permit, except for one
minor exception...extend the permit from 4 years requested to 2 years, keeping
it active. PLEASE READ THE ATTACHMENT TO UNDERSTAND. The District
says they cannot get involved with any of the politics of how land is
used. They are only involved with water use and if Cheeseman gets a building permit he
must apply for an Environmental Regulation Permit (ERP) from
SRWMD.
I realize this one is a bit more complicated
because he purchased an existing WUP. The science was officially
completed by Karst Environmental back in 2000. I have not seen any
current science.
What a pipe dream! Geesh! A pipeline in north Florida is just
inviting more pipelines. 2003 in Cross City a thousand people turned out
to stop a pipeline to south Florida. Last year OSFR encouraged hundreds of
people to stop a water bottling plant on the other side of the Santa Fe River in
Gilchrist County.
The neighborhoods surrounding the Santa Fe River do NOT want more
water bottling plants coming into our area.
Cheeseman claims 15 to 50 jobs in Ft. White and he also says he will help
for disaster relief. Under current depletions in the Floridan
Aquifer and diminished flows from the springs, the loose promise of jobs and
disaster relief are certainly not a terrific trade for our water.
You may ask want to ask Linda Welch, staff at SRWMD, to be
on the e-mail list for interested and/or affected party regarding
WUP00-0040M3.
AND... there is this meeting:
September 8, 3 pm
SRWMD Governing Board Meeting
at Headquarters in Live Oak
Jon Dinges, Water Resource Director, plans on bring this to the
attention of the SRWMD Board as an information item (# 23 on the agenda)
see agenda below:
If any of you have time to make this meeting...you may have an opportunity
to speak out against it. I'm not sure it will do too much to change their
minds as far as issuing the modifications. BUT, I will definitely be
there. If you go...Please take the time to know the situation by reading
the modification request in this attachment. Maybe there is something
in here that you can see with fresh eyes that we have overlooked. I would
like to entertain a way to put an end to this WUP that could effectively
continue to be modified indefinitely. Got any ideas?
By the way....Nestle, Madison Blue Springs, is on the Agenda
too.
And to change the subject:
please see this terrific opportunity in Ft. White this coming week:
look at their website for more info.
| Ichetucknee Partnership Meeting/Open
House |
| City |
Fort White |
| Place |
Fort White Community Center |
| Address |
SR 47 South |
| Details |
Educational displays, presentations and a book signing by Fort
White students will be part of this outreach to Columbia County citizens
interested in learning more about local efforts to protect the Ichetucknee
and how they can become involved. |
| Start Date |
Thursday, September 10, 2009 |
| Start Time |
6:30 PM |
| End Time |
8:30 PM |
| Additional Information |
Cindy Johnson, Ichetucknee Partnership coordinator |
| Phone |
800.226.1066 |
| Email |
clj@srwmd.org |
| Web Address |
http://www.ichetucknee4ever.org |
Onward,
Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson
president, Our Santa Fe River, Inc.
