MARION COUNTY, Fla. — The Saint John's River Water Management District spent $402,525 of taxpayer money on outside consultants to study a Canadian billionaire's cattle ranch.
Frank Stronach's Sleepy Creek Ranch (formerly Adena Springs Ranch) won approval earlier this year to pump 1.46 million gallons a day from the Floridan Aquifer for a grass-fed cattle operation. The permit for the water, which is in the Silver Springs watershed, was challenged by environmental groups claiming that the pumping, coupled with the waste from the cattle would cause irreversible damage to the springs.
"I think it's outrageous" said Dr. Bob Knight of the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute. "I'm very concerned, I see the springs dying on my watch, as I do research I am watching the demise of Florida's springs."
The Saint John's River Water Management District has its own staff of experts including hydrologists that traditionally do modeling for permits, however, the district says it was necessary to hire outside help for this specific situation.
"It's not unusual for us to use consultants when we need to, when there is an issue of particular concern or an unusual project that comes in," said Michael Register, the director of the Division of Water Supply and Assessment for the St John's River Water Management District. "In this example, the application for a significant water withdrawal was right near Silver Springs, a first magnitude spring of particular importance to the district and the region."
According to documents provided to 9 Investigates by the SJRWMD, Sleepy Creek project consultants concluded that the water withdrawal would have an impact on 45 springs in addition to Silver Springs. The documents also show that the 1,242 acres could support 1,207 head of cattle producing 249 pounds of manure each day. Additional documentation shows the cattle operation is only "economically feasible" if the ranch is allowed to use 15 Upper Floridan wells for grass-fed beef. Ultimately the ranch got its wells.
"The district in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Protection has already spent $11 million to purchase almost 5,000 acres of land in the springs shed to protect that spring," says Register.
"We're already in a hole and we need to stop digging," said attorney Marcy LaHart, who sued the district to stop the permit. "It was absolutely shocking to me, I'm a former water district attorney and I was never, ever, authorized to spend money on consultants, we relied on our own staff to have the expertise to review a permit and determine whether or not the applicant had proven that the permit was not going to cause environmental harm."
The Stronach Group, which owns several other tracts of land and operations in the Marion County area, did not return emails to 9 Investigates concerning the number of cattle or its plans for water use and waste disposal.
The permit approval by the SJRWMD comes just as district staff has recommended denying a second permit by the Stronach Group for a second water withdrawal on a second tract of land; that permit is still pending.