Manatee Mine Melee BRADENTON (WUSF) - The lawsuit was filed in federal court. It challenges the Army Corps of Engineers' permit that authorizes phosphate giant Mosaic to mine two-thousand acres called the Altman Tract in northeastern Manatee.
The groups included the Sierra Club, Mana-Sota88 and the Gulf Restoration Network.

Monica Reimer is an attorney with Earthjustice, one of the groups filing the lawsuit. She says the Corps failed to properly analyze the environmental issues before it issued the permit, and failed to get comments and participation from the public.

Several environmental groups plan to attend Thursday's meeting of the Manatee County Commission, which has scheduled a hearing to allow for a rezoning of the Mosaic property. © Copyright 2009, WUSF