Federal and Scientific Concerns Mount Over Proposed Rock Mine Adjacent to EAA Reservoir

July 8, 2025

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has formally raised concerns about the proposed Southland Water Resource Project — an 8,000-acre rock mine planned directly adjacent to the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) Reservoir, a centerpiece of Everglades restoration.

In a letter dated July 2, 2025, addressed to U.S. Representative Brian Mast, the Corps outlines multiple potential risks associated with the Southland project. The letter responds to an inquiry from Rep. Mast and echoes many of the same issues raised earlier by The Everglades Foundation’s Chief Science Officer, Dr. Steve Davis, in a May 15, 2025 letter to the Palm Beach County Commission.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Early Analysis, Serious Concerns

While the Corps states that its review is still in progress, it flags several major areas of concern:

• Water Management Operations: “Since the proposed project would be adjacent to the northern limits of the EAA Reservoir and STA, an analysis… is needed to determine the likelihood and magnitude of potential effects.”

  
  

• Seepage: “Given the highly permeable subsurface geologic conditions… seepage from the proposed project could affect the EAA Reservoir and STA.”

  
  

• Regional Water Availability: “A robust water availability analysis is needed… to determine whether the proposed project is compatible with the Central and Southern Florida Project and benefits anticipated from CERP projects currently under construction.”

The Everglades Foundation: Rock Mine Threatens Billions in Restoration Investments

Just weeks earlier, Chief Science Officer at The Everglades Foundation, Dr. Steve Davis, submitted a detailed scientific letter to the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners urging caution. In the letter, he questioned why a thorough technical review of the proposed project had not been completed despite its proximity — just 1,000 feet — from the EAA Reservoir, which will eventually store water 24 feet deep at the surface.

“Southland will entail intensive blasting and removal of rock… This offset in water level difference is concerning when considering the challenge of controlling seepage losses in other water storage projects.”

Davis also raised the issue of prolonged risk, pointing out that while the EAA Reservoir will be completed within the next few years, Southland’s mining activities are expected to continue through 2059 — posing decades of potential disruption to the integrity of nearby restoration efforts.

Furthermore, his letter warns of significant water quality concerns associated with mining activities:

• Elevated levels of phosphorus, sulfate, chloride, and even radium could be mobilized,

• Groundwater patterns could be altered,

• Downstream Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) could be affected.

  
  

“Additional storage beyond the EAA Reservoir without commensurate treatment is of no value to the Everglades ecosystem and possesses a significant risk to downstream water quality and ecology.”