Sunday a week ago the Chemours Trail Ridge South titanium dioxide mine spilled process water, approximately 230,000 gallons.

Chemours has decades of experience with many TiO2 mines in north Florida and south Georgia. Yet they spill. Should we trust an inexperienced bunch of coal miners to strip mine for tooth whitener materials within three miles of the Okefenokee Swamp? When those same coal miners already spilled while processing tailings at two Chemours north Florida mines, causing a Florida Consent Order?

Chemours Trail Ridge South, Mine Process Water Spill, 230,000 gallons, Sunday, February 16, 2025

This is according to a report emailed the next day in the daily Pollution Notice by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). Which has more detail than what you can see in the online map of the last 30 days of reports.

For example, the emailed report has “Coordinates (in decimal degrees): Lat: 29.891, Long: -82.043”. That puts it within feet of the location reported for the September 14, 2024 Chemours process water spill.

Which is at the old Trail Ridge Mine, not at the location farther south of there given in the 2019 Bradford County Commission hearings for a permit for Trail Ridge South Mine.

I called my usual contact at Chemours, and he says the released water is little different from what would be in the creeks anyway.

I told him that would be great, but everyone would like to see some evidence, such as what Chemours promised in the incident report: “Water within the tailing cell, point of entry and downstream locations have been sampled and we will continue to monitor. The sample locations are checked every day per our water quality monitoring program.&rqquo; Plus some independent sampling downstream.

I have also sent email to the contacts for the Trail Ridge South Mine, asking for that information and a tour of the facilities. We shall see.

Meanwhile, Our Santa Fe River (OSFR) is on the case and has asked FDEP for further information. OSFR recommends:

“Please help remind our DEP to assess and inform us about the levels of radium that were discharged. You can contact the FL- DEP to request the sample results from the spillage. You may want to email the inspector Chris.Suarez@floridadep.gov or call the Mining and Mitigation office at 850-245-8336 to ask that the spill analysis be posted.”

So where did this wastewater go? According to the stated coordinates, at the top of a wetland or pond.

Map: Spill from Chemours Trail Ridge South Mine in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT)

That pond turns out to be owned by North Florida Land Trust, whose website says, “North Florida Land Trust is a non-profit organization committed to protecting and preserving our region’s irreplaceable natural beauty.” I don’t know if they know about this spill. I will inform them.

Map: North Florida Land Trust –Bradford County Property Appraiser

That pond drains into either or both of a branch of the Alligator Creek that runs through Starke, or Prevatt Creek which goes more directly into Lake Rowell. From there, it goes through a short run into Lake Sampson, then into the Sampson River, and the Santa Fe River.

Map: Chemours Trail Ridge South Process Water Spill in the WWALS map of the Suwannee River Water Trail (SRWT).

This is one of many reasons we need WWALS water quality testers for the Santa Fe River basin. If you want to get trained, please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/WfNQEnoiv7LDBAsd8

Incident Report

Here is a composite of information from the report emailed by FDEP and what FDEP has in its online map:

Trail Ridge South Process Water Release

Incident #: 20251502

Incident Name: Trail Ridge South Process Water Release

Start of Incident: 02/16/2025 06:00 PM

End of Incident: 02/16/2025 10:00 PM

Incident Report: On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at approximately 6 PM, an operator noticed process water overtopping a tailings berm going into an adjacent wetland. Operator immediately stopped the flow by constructing an earthen dam. Environmental was notified at 10:30 PM. We are estimating a volume of 230,000 gallons of water released and are continuing to finalize the volume. Water within the tailing cell, point of entry and downstream locations have been sampled and we will continue to monitor. The sample locations are checked every day per our water quality monitoring program.

Report Date/Time: 2/17/2025 12:30 PM

Facility Name: The Chemours Company FC LLC

Facility Address Line 1: 5222 Treat Rd

Facility Address Line 2:

Facility Directions: Approximately 5 miles east of Starke on SR 230, turn south on Treat Rd and continue about 5 miles south.

Facility City: Starke

Facility State: FL

Facility ZIP: 32091

Coordinates (in decimal degrees): Lat: 29.891, Long: -82.043

Click to view Incident Location

Contact Name: William McCall

Title: Environmental Specialist

Contact Email: william.mccall@chemours.com

Contact Phone #: 9046712822

Relationship: Environmental Specialist

Affected Counties: Bradford

Reported by

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

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