1

1 Division of Administrative Hearings

2 Department of Administration, State of Florida

3 SUGAR CANE GROWERS COOPERATIVE )

of FLORIDA; ROTH FARMS, INC.; and, )

4 WEDGEWORTH FARMS, INC., )

Petitioners, )

5 V ) DOAH

SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT ) Case 92-3038

6 DISTRICT, an agency of the State )

of Florida; et al., )

7 Respondents. )

FLORIDA SUGAR CANE LEAGUE, INC.; )

8 UNITED STATES SUGAR CORPORATION; )

and NEW HOPE SOUTH, INC., )

9 Petitioners, )

V ) DOAH

10 SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT ) Case 92-3039

DISTRICT, an agency of the State )

11 of Florida; et al., )

Respondents. )

12 FLORIDA FRUIT and VEGETABLE )

ASSOCIATION; LEWIS POPE FARMS; )

13 W.E. SCHLECHTER & SONS, INC., )

and HUNDLEY FARMS, INC., )

14 Petitioners, )

V ) DOAH

15 SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT ) Case 92-3040

DISTRICT, an agency of the State )

16 of Florida; et al., )

Respondents. )

18 Deposition of Wayne Beardsley

19 Taken before April Y. Sapp, Court Reporter

and Notary Public in and for the State of Florida at

20 large, pursuant to notice of taking deposition filed

by the Petitioners in the above cause.

Monday Wednesday July 7, 1993

22 319 Clematis Street, 5th Floor

West Palm Beach, Florida 33401

23 9:00 - 11:30 a.m.

1:15 - 1:55 p.m.

1 APPEARANCES:

On behalf of the Petitioners Florida Sugar

3 Cane League, Inc., United State Sugar Corp.,

and New South Hope, Inc.:

4 Peeples, Earl & Blank, P.A.

One Biscayne Tower, Suite 3636

5 Two South Biscayne Boulevard

Miami, Florida 33131

6 By: RICHARD RUSSELL, ESQUIRE

7 On behalf of the State of Florida

Department of Environmental Regulation:

8 Assistant General Counsel

Department of Environmental Regulation

9 2600 Blair Stone Road

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400

10 By: DONNA LaPLANT, ESQUIRE

On behalf of the Intervenor United States of America:

12 U.S. Department of Justice

Environmental and Natural Resourses Division

13 601 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.

Room 877

14 Washington, D.C. 20004

By: BRIAN FERRELL, ESQUIRE

16 - - -

1 - - -

2 I N D E X

3 - - -

5 WITNESS: DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS

6 Wayne Beardsley

BY MS. LaPLANT 4 62-76

8 BY MR. FERRELL 56 72

1 - - -

2 E X H I B I T S

3 - - -

5 NUMBER PAGE

6 EXB. NO. 1 7

7 Notice of taking deposition

8 EXB. NO. 2 10

9 Witness designation

10 EXB. NO. 3 39

11 Excerpt of 3-13-92 SWIM Plan

12 EXB. NO. 4 66

13 U.S. Sugar Corporation:

14 Implementation of a Strategy to Revitalize

15 the Everglades and Preserve Farming

16 EXB. NO. 5 78

17 List of pumping practices

18 EXB. NO. 6 90

19 Hutcheon Engineering document

20 EXB. NO. 7 94

21 Memo from Andreis to Polhill 8-4-92

22 EXB. NO. 8 95

23 Memo from Beardsley to Buker 7-7-92

24 EXB. NO. 9 97

25 Memo from Dobbs to Beardsley, Moore & Wilson

1 - - -

2 E X H I B I T S

3 - - -

4 NUMBER PAGE

5 EXB. NO. 10 99

6 U.S. Sugar BMP booklet by Andreis

7 EXB. NO. 11 110

8 Memo from Wade, Jr. re: USSC

9 Alternative Plan

10 EXB. NO. 12 111

11 Handwritten notes of Beardsley

12 EXB. NO. 13 113

13 Page from SFWMD publication

14 EXB. NO. 14 115

15 Memo from Bottcher & Izuno

16 EXB. NO. 15 120

17 U.S. Sugar publication: Update on

18 Phosphorous Activities

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 - - -

3 Thereupon,

4 Wayne Beardsley,

5 being by the undersigned Notary Public first duly

6 sworn, was examined and testified as follows:

7 THE WITNESS: I do.

8 DIRECT (Wayne Beardsley)

9 BY MS. LaPLANT:

10 Q. Good morning, Mr. Beardsley. I'm Donna

11 LaPlant from DER in Tallahassee. I'm going to be

12 questioning you regarding what's generally known as

13 the Everglades SWIM Plan litigation.

14 Are you familiar with that litigation?

15 A. Somewhat.

16 Q. Okay. Have you ever been deposed before?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. In what context?

19 A. A civil suit involving some chemical

20 liability and a suit involving the foreign labor

21 issues in the sugar industry.

22 Q. And when was that?

23 A. Year and a half ago.

24 Q. Okay. You were a fact witness for both of

25 those cases as opposed to an expert witness?

1 A. I couldn't -- I'm not sure.

2 Q. Okay. All right. I'm going to give you

3 just some general guidelines for the deposition. I

4 know that you've been through this before, but if you

5 don't hear a question, say so and I can repeat it.

6 If you don't understand a question, I'll rephrase it

7 so that you understand it and if you don't remember

8 the information necessary to answer a question, just

9 say so.

10 Do you understand the instructions?

11 A. Yes, ma'am.

12 MS. LAPLANT: Okay. I'd like to mark as

13 Exhibit 1 the notice of taking deposition of

14 Mr. Beardsley.

15 (The document was marked

16 Exb. No. 1.)

17 BY MS. LaPLANT:

18 Q. Mr. Beardsley, did you produce documents in

19 response to our request?

20 A. Yes, ma'am.

21 Q. Who asked you to produce documents? Who

22 asked you to produce the documents?

23 A. In the notice and my attorney.

24 Q. Okay. So Mr. Russell?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Okay. And so you assembled these documents

2 yourself or did you have help doing it?

3 A. I assembled them myself.

4 Q. Okay. And, just for the record, have any

5 documents not been produced?

6 A. Yes. There are some that have not been

7 produced.

8 Q. Okay.

9 MR. RUSSELL: Maybe I could interject for a

10 moment on two different matters.

11 MS. LaPLANT: Okay.

12 MR. RUSSELL: First of all, there were two

13 documents that are considered to be work

14 product.

15 MS. LaPLANT: Right.

16 MR. RUSSELL: And they were just discovered

17 late yesterday afternoon so we don't have a

18 list, but a list of the two will be forthcoming.

19 And the other matter that involved

20 documents that may be responsive that were not

21 produced regard the objections to several of the

22 requests that we discussed on the phone last

23 week. I faxed a letter to your office

24 yesterday, just confirming that we had had that

25 conversation, that there were voluminous

1 documents on several of the paragraphs,

2 specifically 6, 7 and 8 that -- and I've

3 enumerated them in the objections that I will

4 now give to you and at that time you said that

5 you weren't interested in a bunch of documents

6 that weren't relative to his testimony and the

7 issues involved so we didn't respond to those

8 for the reasons stated in there.

9 MS. LaPLANT: Well, of course, I'm not

10 interested in anything that's not relevant to

11 the request, however, Mr. Beardsley is a fact

12 witness and his testimony is rather broad in

13 scope.

14 I'll look at that later.

15 MR. RUSSELL: Okay.

16 BY MS. LaPLANT:

17 Q. Did you, Mr. Beardsley, review any

18 documents in preparing for your testimony today?

19 A. Just as -- I reviewed my files to pull out

20 those documents that we did produce. That's all.

21 Q. Okay. And what documents did you review?

22 A. I reviewed all of my files that had to do

23 with water control.

24 Q. And what was your purpose in reviewing

25 those documents?

1 A. To ascertain that they were applicable to

2 what I was asked to produce.

3 Q. About how long did you spend reviewing your

4 documents?

5 A. All total better part of one day.

6 Q. Did you discuss your deposition prep with

7 anyone?

8 A. Yes. With my attorney.

9 Q. And what did you discuss with him?

10 MR. RUSSELL: I would object to the extent

11 that it involves attorney/client communications,

12 but you can generally tell her what you did.

13 THE WITNESS: We went over the rules of the

14 deposition; tell the truth and basically that

15 was it. And to review what was meant by this

16 notice and the obtaining of those documents.

17 MS. LaPLANT: Okay. I'd like to mark as

18 Exhibit 2 Mr. Beardsley's witness designation.

19 (The document was marked

20 Exb. No. 2.)

21 BY MS. LaPLANT:

22 Q. Have you seen this before?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. Who showed it to you?

25 A. Mr. Russell.

1 Q. Are you aware that Florida Sugar Cane

2 League has identified you as a fact witness?

3 A. As a fact witness, no, I wouldn't be aware

4 of what kind of witness.

5 Q. Okay. Have you discussed this designation

6 with anyone?

7 A. Mr. Russell.

8 Q. And when was that?

9 A. Last week and again yesterday.

10 Q. Okay. If you take just a minute to read

11 what your subject matter of expected testimony is.

12 Do you generally agree with your areas of knowledge?

13 A. Yes, ma'am.

14 Q. Okay. Have you been asked to offer any

15 opinions in any of these areas?

16 A. I'm not sure what you mean by opinions. I

17 have been --

18 Q. Okay. For instance, regarding BMPs, have

19 you been asked to formulate an opinion about BMPs'

20 effects on U.S. Sugar's agricultural practices?

21 A. There's so many BMPs and --

22 Q. Uh huh.

23 A. -- I have been asked to formulate some

24 BMPs.

25 MR. RUSSELL: I don't know if Mr. Beardsley

1 understands that -- whether -- you're asking

2 him: Is he going to provide opinion testimony?

3 No. He's listed as a fact witness for facts

4 only.

5 MS. LaPLANT: Correct.

6 MR. RUSSELL: And I'm not sure. He may be

7 confused a bit about whether or not, in fact,

8 he's going to be offering a lay opinion which is

9 no. I can answer that for you, but if he's

10 confused or you want him to answer that same

11 thing, he can answer that question now now that

12 he knows, but --

13 BY MS. LaPLANT:

14 Q. Well, I'm not asking you to render an

15 expert opinion about anything. I'm just asking you

16 for your opinions about the facts of the case which

17 we'll get into later but can go on.

18 Have you prepared any summaries in

19 preparation for this deposition?

20 A. No.

21 Q. Do you anticipate doing so?

22 A. No, ma'am.

23 Q. Are you familiar with the SWIM -- the

24 Everglades SWIM Plan document?

25 A. I have seen it.

1 Q. Have you read the final document dated

2 March 13th?

3 A. No, I have not.

4 Q. Have you read any drafts of it?

5 A. I have seen some drafts. I have taken

6 notice of them, but I have not read any thoroughly.

7 Q. So have you read parts of some of them?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. Has anyone asked you to do so?

10 A. No.

11 Q. And why did you read them in the first

12 place?

13 A. Because I went to a public meeting and some

14 drafts were handed out to anybody who wanted one. I

15 scanned through it and stuck it in the file.

16 Q. Mr. Russell has stated that you don't have

17 a current resume. Is that correct?

18 A. That's correct.

19 Q. Okay. Where did you attend high school?

20 A. Clewiston High School.

21 Q. Did you attend college?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. Where was that?

24 A. University of Florida.

25 Q. What was your major?

1 A. Agricultural economics.

2 Q. Currently you're holding the position of

3 Superintendent of United States Sugar, is that

4 correct?

5 A. That was recently -- title was recently

6 changed approximately three weeks ago to General

7 Manager of the Western Division.

8 Q. Okay. What does that job entail?

9 A. The planting, land preparation,

10 cultivation, harvesting of sugar cane; the planting

11 and coordinating.

12 Q. So do you oversee other people that plant

13 sugar cane?

14 A. Yes, ma'am.

15 Q. Do you grow any vegetables?

16 A. No, I do not.

17 Q. Okay. And you've held that position for

18 only three weeks, is that what you said?

19 A. General Manager. Simply a title change.

20 Q. Okay. So previously you were

21 Superintendent. What are the differences in the two

22 jobs?

23 A. None.

24 Q. Why was your title changed?

25 A. I have no idea.

1 Q. How long have you been -- were you

2 Superintendent before you were General Manager?

3 A. Approximately nine years.

4 Q. What did you do before that?

5 A. I was the Assistant Superintendent of the

6 Western Division.

7 Q. And what did you do in that job?

8 A. I was in charge of all the field operations

9 that encompassed the jobs that I previously

10 mentioned.

11 Q. And how long were you Assistant

12 Superintendent?

13 A. Approximately three years.

14 Q. And what position did you hold before that?

15 A. Technical Assistant Western Division.

16 Q. For how long?

17 A. Approximately six or seven years.

18 Q. What did that job entail?

19 A. It entailed acting as a staff person

20 primarily dealing with agricultural chemicals, the

21 applications and various other jobs that were

22 assigned to me, projects and jobs assigned by the

23 Division Superintendent.

24 Q. And before that what did you do?

25 A. I can't -- I can't remember my title. I

1 guess it was Agricultural Chemist -- Field Chemist

2 would be the title. Field Chemist.

3 Q. And was that right after you got out of

4 college? Are we getting back that far?

5 A. Yes. Very soon.

6 Q. Did you go on to get a master's?

7 A. No, I did not.

8 Q. Have you published any papers or articles?

9 A. No.

10 Q. If you could, I'd like you to explain

11 briefly the organization of U.S. Sugar just in a very

12 general way. Like when was it founded?

13 A. I couldn't speak to exact dates of when it

14 might have been founded except to say it was in the

15 early 1930s --

16 Q. Uh huh.

17 A. -- as a successor to the old Southern Sugar

18 Corporation.

19 Q. How does it operate?

20 MR. RUSSELL: I'm going to object as

21 ambiguous.

22 If you understand what she's asking you,

23 you can answer.

24 BY MS. LaPLANT:

25 Q. How does it operate as a business? Are

1 there individual farmers or how does it work?

2 A. U.S. Sugar is a corporation, now a private

3 corporation --

4 Q. Uh huh.

5 A. -- set up along what I guess you might

6 refer to as standard corporate management lines that

7 is engaged in the growing and processing of sugar

8 cane into raw sugar and has a subsidiary involved in

9 vegetable operations, formerly engaged in cattle

10 production operations and has recently become

11 involved in citrus operations in which they have

12 their own citrus groves and are constructing a citrus

13 processing plant.

14 Q. If you know how many acres of sugar cane

15 does U.S. Sugar own presently in the EAA?

16 A. I don't mean to be facetious, but when you

17 say in the EAA, I would have to do some calculation

18 because they do own some that are outside what my

19 understanding of the EAA boundaries are.

20 MR. RUSSELL: If you know the answer then

21 answer it, if you know how many acres.

22 Would you repeat the question, please.

23 BY MS. LaPLANT:

24 Q. If you don't know how many acres there are

25 in the EAA specifically, do you know how many acres

1 U.S. Sugar owns generally?

2 A. No, I do not know how many they own.

3 Q. Are you saying own as opposed to lease?

4 A. Lease, yes, ma'am.

5 Q. Okay. Do you know how much U.S. Sugar owns

6 and leases and/or any other way they may run -- raise

7 sugar cane on that land? I'm not trying to be

8 specific as far as own versus lease.

9 MR. RUSSELL: Counsel, your question is how

10 many acres they are -- U.S. Sugar is actually

11 cultivating in sugar cane?

12 If you know that answer, answer that.

13 THE WITNESS: That answer would be

14 approximately 120,000 acres.

15 BY MS. LaPLANT:

16 Q. 125,000, is that what you said?

17 A. 120,000.

18 Q. And what about the citrus that you had

19 referred to earlier?

20 A. Approximately 19,000 acres. I would add

21 that that is in total, not necessarily within the

22 EAA.

23 Q. All right. In what locations is sugar

24 grown other than the EAA, what you consider to be the

25 EAA

1 A. By location, do you mean our farm

2 designation or farm name?

3 Q. Well, first of all, let me ask you what

4 your understanding of the EAA is. What does that

5 consist of?

6 A. My understanding of the EAA is that the

7 western boundary is what I know as L-1, L-2, L-3

8 levee system down to Water Conservation Area 3 and

9 then back to the east. I am not sure of the eastern

10 boundary since I am not involved in that, not

11 familiar with that side of the EAA. With the

12 deletion of what I know as the S-4 basin, anything

13 west of that L-1, 2 and 3 system.

14 Q. Are statistics kept on the yields per acre

15 of sugar cane?

16 A. Yes, ma'am.

17 Q. Who keeps those statistics?

18 A. Many, many people would.

19 Q. All right. Who compiles those statistics?

20 A. Our Agriculture Department.

21 Q. And about how many people are involved in

22 that process?

23 A. It involves people outside of our

24 department, computer staff and so forth. I couldn't

25 answer that question.

1 Q. Okay. I'd like to get into how -- the

2 actual process of growing sugar cane in the EAA. I'm

3 going to ask you a series of questions about that.

4 First of all, how does the field have to be

5 prepared before the cane is planted?

6 A. That can vary widely.

7 Q. Okay.

8 A. If it's continuation of sugar cane on

9 fields prior to that, had sugar cane in them also,

10 the land preparation would involve what we call

11 disking.

12 Q. What is that?

13 A. That's -- some people know that as

14 harrowing which it's pulled behind a tractor and it

15 destroys any vegetative matter that was growing there

16 so that it can be properly prepared into a clean seed

17 bed. It may also --

18 Q. Besides harrowing, does the field have to

19 be leveled?

20 A. It may or may not.

21 Q. Under what circumstances would it have to

22 be leveled?

23 A. As far as our farm manager, whether the

24 field is level enough in his opinion, whether it

25 warrants some leveling.

1 Q. How do you go about leveling?

2 A. There are land levelers, implements some

3 which are equipped with laser units so that the

4 leveling can be done to a very fine tolerance that

5 are pulled across the field that move the dirt around

6 so it becomes level.

7 Q. Is the leveling -- do you do the leveling

8 process after any given harvest to level the land?

9 Does it have to be done on a continual basis?

10 A. Not necessarily.

11 Q. What's the growing season for sugar cane?

12 A. Year round.

13 Q. So there's no specific season in which it's

14 planted or harvested?

15 A. The planting season generally begins in --

16 sometime in September or early October and may extend

17 through mid January.

18 Q. Do you allow some fields to lie fallow at

19 certain times?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. Do you do crop rotation?

22 A. Yes.

23 Q. And why would the crops be rotated?

24 A. To -- so that during the fallow period, or

25 shall we say non sugar cane period, that -- there's

1 some benefits that may be derived from flooding of

2 the land, if rice is a rotational crop, for insect

3 and weed control.

4 Q. What do you mean by benefits from flooding

5 the land?

6 A. It's a long time practice that flooding the

7 land helps to kill soil born insects, destroy some

8 weed and grass seeds, prevents wind erosion.

9 Q. Can you explain what the term, "fallow"

10 means?

11 A. Fallow means to be out of production of a

12 specific crop that one may be engaged in producing.

13 Q. Does that mean that you might grow another

14 crop on a fallow field?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. What crops might you grow on sugar cane

17 fields when they're not being used for sugar?

18 A. Rice, corn and what we might refer to

19 simply as a cover crop.

20 Q. What benefits are there to growing

21 different crops on sugar land?

22 A. For the rice crops, those which I just

23 mentioned. For corn some added economic value to

24 that land, what is known as a cash crop. For the

25 cover crops, certain cover crops are legumes which

1 help to add some nitrogen, nitrification back to the

2 soil and while that cover crop is growing, it

3 prevents other weeds and grasses from becoming

4 established in the field while it's in the fallow

5 stage.

6 Q. Now, after the field has been leveled, if

7 it needed to be leveled and furrowed, how is the

8 sugar cane planted?

9 A. The sugar cane seed pieces are actually

10 stalks of sugar cane which are dropped end to end,

11 also generally a double line end to end in the bottom

12 of the furrow, soil insecticide may or may not be

13 applied after that operation and then the furrow is

14 covered over with dirt.

15 Q. How do you determine whether or not

16 insecticide is applied?

17 A. If a field has had rice as a rotational

18 crop planted on it we do not apply insecticide.

19 Q. Would you automatically use insecticide if

20 the crop were sugar?

21 A. Current practice is yes.

22 Q. What kinds of insecticides do you use?

23 A. It's organic phosphate type of insecticides

24 that are registered by EPA for use in sugar cane for

25 that purpose.

1 Q. Does it need to be applied only at the

2 beginning of the crop growth or do you need to

3 reapply it throughout the growth of the crop?

4 A. That's a bit of a trick question between

5 designating between the need to apply and the actual

6 ability to apply. The ability to apply is only at

7 the beginning.

8 Q. Okay. How often is it actually applied?

9 A. Once. At the beginning.

10 Q. How do you go about fertilizing the sugar

11 cane? What method of fertilization do you use?

12 A. What do you mean, the application method?

13 Q. Do you use banding or broadcasting?

14 A. We use banding.

15 Q. Can you explain that process?

16 A. Fertilizer is put into a fertilizer

17 distributor or implement that is pulled through the

18 field by tractor and the implement is designed and

19 built such that it allows the fertilizer to come out

20 of the implement in a small band on each side of the

21 row of sugar cane.

22 Q. Are you familiar with broadcast

23 fertilizing?

24 A. Yes, ma'am.

25 Q. Do you use that at all?

1 A. Current practice, no.

2 Q. Does banding -- using the banding method of

3 fertilization, is that more economical than broadcast

4 fertilization?

5 A. I couldn't answer that. I don't know.

6 Q. Does it use less fertilizer, the banding

7 method, then broadcasting?

8 A. For sugar cane?

9 Q. Uh huh.

10 A. I couldn't fully answer that because I

11 don't do anything on the development of the rates of

12 fertilizer that are recommended.

13 Q. Okay. Do you have any idea of how much

14 fertilizer you might apply per acre to sugar cane?

15 A. That would vary on the soil types and the

16 need for application, but I do know that we have

17 fields that we apply no fertilizer to.

18 Q. Can you give an average amount of

19 fertilizer that you would apply?

20 A. I would have to do a lot of work to come up

21 with some kind of average.

22 Q. So you can't give any estimation at all?

23 A. No. It can vary so widely in different

24 acreages, I couldn't do that. I couldn't give you an

25 estimate.

1 Q. Okay. So you couldn't give me any high or

2 low parameters as far as how much fertilizer is used

3 on an acre of sugar cane?

4 MR. RUSSELL: He's -- asked and answered.

5 BY MS. LaPLANT:

6 Q. You can respond to the question.

7 MR. RUSSELL: Would you repeat the

8 question?

9 BY MS. LaPLANT:

10 Q. The question was: Can you give any high or

11 low parameters regarding how much fertilizer you

12 apply to an acre of sugar cane?

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. And what would those be?

15 A. From none to an upper limit within the EAA,

16 is that the question?

17 Q. Yes.

18 A. In some very limited areas within the EAA

19 there would be a minor part that might receive as

20 much as 1,300 pounds per acre.

21 Q. How long does it take sugar cane to reach

22 maturity?

23 A. That's a question I guess researchers have

24 been working on for hundreds of years. Sugar cane,

25 traditionally within Florida's conditions, we

1 consider it to be 12 months.

2 Q. Do you know what a ratoon is?

3 A. Yes, ma'am.

4 Q. Can you define that for me?

5 A. It is the regrowth of an initial planting

6 of a crop after it's been harvested.

7 Q. What's the purpose of a ratoon? What's it

8 used for? Does an additional crop come out of it?

9 A. Ratoon would by necessity then mean that

10 we're dealing with a perineal crop.

11 Q. What does that mean?

12 A. Perineal crop is a crop that its life cycle

13 is for more than one year. The ratoon is simply --

14 the purpose of it is God gave it the ability to have

15 that. I don't mean to be facetious, but we are able

16 to harvest the ratoon crop. The regrowth, we can

17 harvest that again.

18 Q. For how many years?

19 A. That varies again widely from locations,

20 climatic conditions, insect problems, water control

21 problems and so forth and so on. It can vary quite

22 widely. Generally the average in Florida is

23 considered to be three to four crops.

24 Q. How do you determine when the ratoon stalk

25 is exhausted?

1 A. From our production records from the

2 preceding harvest as well as visual observation of

3 the regrowth.

4 Q. When it's decided that the ratoon stubble

5 won't be used for an additional crop what do you do

6 with the field?

7 A. The first thing is, by the disking or

8 harrowing operation that I referred to, is to destroy

9 the remnants of the ratoon crop.

10 Q. I'd like to now get into a little bit about

11 water level. Is water level control important to

12 growing sugar cane?

13 A. Yes, ma'am.

14 Q. Why is it important?

15 A. To adequately supply sufficient water to

16 the plant for optimum growth.

17 Q. What happens if the water level is too

18 high?

19 A. The extreme would be that the crop would

20 die.

21 Q. And why would it die?

22 A. The deprivation of oxygen primarily through

23 the root system over an extended period of time would

24 cause the plant to die.

25 Q. What happens if the water level is too low?

1 A. Again, the plant could die.

2 Q. Are sugar cane's roots more tolerant of

3 flooded conditions or of a high hydroperiod than

4 vegetable roots?

5 A. There are many, many kinds of vegetables

6 and I would rather some scientist answer that. I

7 couldn't.

8 Q. In general, you don't have any thoughts on

9 that?

10 A. In general, sugar cane tends to be more

11 tolerant.

12 Q. Why is that?

13 A. The nature of the plant.

14 Q. How long would the sugar cane roots have to

15 remain in standing water for them to be irreparably

16 damaged or for the cane to die?

17 A. I can't answer that. Because --

18 Q. Is that your answer, you can't answer that?

19 Do you think excess water or high

20 hydroperiod is a problem in sugar cane production?

21 A. It can be.

22 Q. What is an adequate water table for sugar

23 measured at?

24 A. I can't answer that with a snap shot given

25 water table for cane growth.

1 Q. You can't give an average depth of water?

2 A. I have to know more in terms of the

3 question to be able to answer it. I have to know the

4 stage of the crop, other climatic conditions and so

5 forth.

6 Q. Okay. How do you measure the water table?

7 A. On our farms we actually measure the canal

8 system levels. There are some measurements done by

9 others within the company that actually determine

10 field water tables.

11 Q. Do you know what a site gauge is?

12 A. A site gauge to me is any site gauge on

13 fuel tanks, water tanks, whatever. In reference to

14 some water table readings or something, then I would

15 not know.

16 Q. Okay. How do you irrigate the sugar crop

17 if there's not enough water?

18 A. If there's not enough water within the

19 field and water is available from other sources we

20 either by pumping or by gravity control allow water

21 to come in and raise the canal water levels, which in

22 turn tends to raise the field water tables.

23 Q. If the water is pumped where is it pumped

24 from?

25 A. It may come from within a water basin such

1 as a 298 district or it may come from South Florida

2 Water Management's primary canal system.

3 Q. Now, what did you mean when you used the

4 term, "by gravity"?

5 A. In some locations -- some farm locations

6 the outside water levels are higher than the required

7 or needed at that time canal level on the interior of

8 the farm so we can simply open some gates and allow

9 water to gravity feed into that area.

10 Q. If there's too much water on the crop how

11 would that be -- how would the water be controlled or

12 drawn down?

13 A. Again, within -- an area would have to be

14 pumped unless the, again, the outside water level is

15 lower than the interior basin, farm or canal water

16 levels then we can simply gravity feed it out.

17 Q. Where would it be pumped to?

18 A. It may be pumped within the farm to other

19 areas in which there is not excess water and it may

20 be pumped off of the farm either into a 298 district

21 or again into the South Florida Water Management

22 primary canal systems.

23 Q. Prior to harvesting a sugar cane crop does

24 the water have to be drawn down to any certain level?

25 A. There is no certain level, no.

1 Q. Does the water have to be drawn down at

2 all?

3 A. Not necessarily.

4 Q. Under what conditions would it have to be

5 drawn down prior to harvesting?

6 A. Prior rainy, wet or excess water

7 conditions.

8 Q. Why are the sugar cane fields burned prior

9 to harvest?

10 A. To remove the extraneous dry matter trash

11 that hampers field harvesting operations.

12 Q. And how exactly is the field burned?

13 A. Every field burn is different due to the

14 existing climatic conditions, but all fields are

15 burned under the burning regulations of the Florida

16 Division of Forestry and their regulations that apply

17 to and permitting system that apply to sugar cane

18 field burning.

19 Q. How is the sugar cane crop harvested?

20 A. Either by hand or mechanical means.

21 Q. When the crop is actually cut is that done

22 by hand or machine?

23 A. One or the other.

24 Q. It could be either or both?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. In any given field?

2 A. Not both.

3 Q. So in a given field it's either by hand or

4 machine?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. And what about the collection process of

7 collecting all the cut sugar cane, is that by hand or

8 machine?

9 A. When harvested mechanically, the machine

10 both cuts and collects it --

11 Q. Uh huh.

12 A. -- at the same time. If harvested by hand

13 then the cane is collected by machine.

14 Q. All right. Can you describe the process of

15 harvesting sugar by hand? How is that accomplished?

16 A. Hand cutters are assigned a cut row which

17 consists of two rows -- linear rows of sugar cane.

18 Two cutters work together as partners and pile the

19 portions of the stalks that they are instructed to

20 cut for milling purposes together to make one heap

21 row, so therefore a heap row consists of four linear

22 rows of sugar cane. The immature portions of the

23 stalk, the tops, the secondary growth, etc. is piled

24 into a trash row that alternates between the heap

25 rows. Then the heap rows of sugar cane are gathered

1 mechanically by what is known as a continuous loader

2 and collected, if you will, in which the stalks are

3 cut into shorter pieces and placed into field

4 transport wagons which in turn are transported from

5 the field to some central transfer point and

6 transferred either into trucks or rail cars for

7 delivery to the sugar mill.

8 Q. What implements or tools are used in

9 harvesting the cane by hand?

10 A. Do you mean what tools does a hand worker --

11 Q. Yes.

12 A. -- use?

13 He is -- he uses a cane knife.

14 Q. Is that it? That's the only implement

15 used?

16 A. That's the only implement used for cutting

17 of the cane.

18 Q. What's -- are there any advantages to hand

19 harvesting versus machine harvesting?

20 A. Yes, ma'am.

21 Q. What are they?

22 A. The hand worker through his physical

23 actions selects those portions of the cane stalk

24 which are most desirous of -- for making sugar on an

25 individual basis. The mechanical harvester cannot do

1 that. It collects anything and everything.

2 Secondly, as I described in the hand cutting

3 operation, there are four linear rows of cane placed

4 into one heap row requiring field transports then to

5 move through the field for every fourth row, if you

6 will, and a mechanical harvester requires the field

7 transport and the mechanical harvester itself to go

8 back and forth through the field for every single

9 row.

10 Q. Okay. After the sugar cane is cut and

11 gathered together how is it transported to the mill?

12 A. As I mentioned, either by truck or by rail

13 car.

14 Q. Okay. Now, is there a time frame in which

15 you should get the sugar to the mill for the optimum

16 quality?

17 A. That again is not an absolute. It depends

18 on climatic conditions but, in general, harvesting

19 operations should be such that with all due speed

20 sugar cane is transported to the mill for processing

21 as quickly as possible.

22 Q. What happens to the raw sugar once it

23 reaches the mill?

24 A. The raw sugar is placed in a warehouse.

25 Q. Okay. How -- my question is: How is the

1 sugar processed at the mill?

2 A. I, believe it or not, haven't been inside a

3 sugar mill in 15 years. That's for the mill boys.

4 Generally, it's crushed and the juice is boiled off

5 to make a syrup and the syrup is spun through a set

6 of centrifugals to separate the molasses from the raw

7 sugar and that's a very, very simplified layman's

8 answer.

9 Q. Has sugar cane replaced growing vegetables

10 in the EAA to any extent?

11 A. I've never been involved in the vegetable

12 operations. I couldn't answer that because I've not

13 been involved in vegetable operations to say whether

14 any have been replaced or not.

15 Q. Do you know if there's more acres of sugar

16 grown in the EAA than there are of vegetables?

17 A. Yes, I would say that.

18 Q. Do you happen to know what percentage of

19 the Florida sugar industry is made up of U.S. Sugar?

20 A. Only on a sugar cane acreage basis. I

21 would say approximately one fourth.

22 Q. Do you know what soil subsidence is?

23 A. Subsidence.

24 Q. Is that how you pronounce it, subsidence?

25 A. Subsidence, yes, ma'am.

1 Q. What is that?

2 A. It's the compaction or depletion of a soil

3 over time.

4 Q. Does soil subsidence occur when one is

5 growing sugar over time?

6 A. Yes.

7 Q. Why does that occur?

8 A. I am not a soil scientist. First of all,

9 they tell us that the organic matters are not true

10 soils, that it is, as it implies, organic matter and

11 it just subsides.

12 Q. So organic matter would be more likely to

13 compact then what is typically known as soil, is that

14 what you're saying? I'm confused.

15 A. I couldn't understand it. I mean I

16 couldn't answer that. It's my understanding that

17 subsidence or depletion can occur in all soils.

18 Q. Okay. Do you have any idea how much soil

19 is lost per year on U.S. Sugar's lands in the EAA due

20 to subsidence?

21 A. No, ma'am, I could not.

22 Q. Is it important to minimize subsidence?

23 A. Naturally, yes, ma'am.

24 Q. Why?

25 A. To maintain good depth of soils so that we

1 can produce crops for as long as possible.

2 Q. What is a good depth of soil to grow sugar

3 cane in?

4 A. That's again a very difficult question to

5 answer. It would depend upon the underlying rock

6 strata, how broken that strata might be.

7 MR. RUSSELL: Excuse me. I want to take a

8 quick break.

9 (Thereupon, a recess was taken.)

10 MS. LaPLANT: Back on the record.

11 BY MS. LaPLANT:

12 Q. Can you give me an average depth of soil in

13 which you grow sugar cane?

14 A. No, ma'am, I couldn't.

15 Q. Are you aware if sugar cane -- if the level

16 of soil has become shallower over the years as

17 opposed to when you first started growing sugar cane?

18 A. Yes. I'm aware in the organic areas.

19 Q. What do you mean by that?

20 A. It has become shallower.

21 Q. What do you mean in the organic areas?

22 A. In the muck soils. We refer to them as

23 soils even though the scientists say they are not.

24 What we call the muck soils --

25 Q. Uh huh.

1 A. -- yes, they are shallower from when I

2 first began.

3 Q. By how much?

4 A. That I couldn't answer.

5 Q. Who could give me that information?

6 A. Perhaps some people with the University of

7 Florida IFAS Soils Department at Everglades -- what

8 we call the Everglades Experiment Station in Belle

9 Glade.

10 Q. But you can't name a specific person?

11 A. No, I couldn't.

12 Q. Okay.

13 MS. LaPLANT: I'm going to mark as Exhibit

14 3 an excerpt from the March 13, 1992 Everglades

15 SWIM Plan.

16 (The document was marked

17 Exb. No. 3.)

18 BY MS. LaPLANT:

19 Q. You mentioned earlier in the deposition

20 that you had possibly read parts of certain SWIM

21 plans.

22 Have you read -- if you will take a look at

23 page 110. Have you read anything about the EAA

24 Regulatory Program that's mentioned near number 4 at

25 the bottom of page 110?

1 A. No, ma'am, I have not read that.

2 Q. Okay. Are you familiar with the EAA

3 Regulatory Program?

4 A. No, ma'am.

5 Q. I'd like to draw your attention to page 113

6 and 114. There's listed there nine BMPs and I'd like

7 to know if you've ever read these pages, 113, 114.

8 A. I've seen reference to that, but never read

9 those pages or read this exactly.

10 Q. Okay. When you say reference to that, do

11 you mean the nine BMPs?

12 A. Just to BMPs.

13 Q. Okay.

14 A. I wouldn't even testify that there were

15 nine of them.

16 Q. I'd like you to take a few minutes and just

17 read these five -- these nine BMPs.

18 A. Okay.

19 Q. You've read the nine BMPs?

20 A. Uh huh.

21 Q. I'd like to start with number 1, calibrated

22 soil test recommendations.

23 Do you understand that or know how that

24 process works?

25 A. Only vaguely.

1 Q. Okay. Can you describe your vague

2 understanding of it?

3 MR. RUSSELL: Are you talking about the

4 calibrated soil tests?

5 MS. LaPLANT: Uh huh, number 1.

6 THE WITNESS: You're talking about --

7 MR. RUSSELL: Just the test itself.

8 What a calibrated test -- soil test is, is

9 that the question?

10 MS. LaPLANT: Uh huh.

11 THE WITNESS: It is a system whereby soil

12 is sampled from individual fields and analyzed.

13 BY MS. LaPLANT:

14 Q. So how would the results of those analyses

15 turn into recommendations that could reduce

16 phosphorus losses that's mentioned in number 1?

17 A. The analysis would generate a

18 recommendation that would be based on what was found

19 in the field so that only any additional phosphorus,

20 if necessary, in the fertilizer would be all that

21 would be recommended.

22 Q. Do you know if this is being implemented in

23 the EAA at all?

24 A. I couldn't answer that within the EAA.

25 Only at U.S. Sugar.

1 Q. Okay. Let me reword it then.

2 Is this being utilized by U.S. Sugar?

3 A. To my understanding, yes.

4 Q. Okay. Can you think of any adverse effects

5 that this BMP would have on sugar crops or crop

6 yields?

7 A. I couldn't speak to that. I don't know

8 whether -- that's something the soil scientists would

9 have to answer.

10 Q. Number 2 is banding fertilizer. We talked

11 about that previously. You explained how that works.

12 And you also testified that that method is being used

13 by U.S. Sugar, is that correct?

14 A. Yes, ma'am.

15 Q. Okay. Can you think of any ways in which

16 this BMP might adversely affect sugar crop yields or

17 crops?

18 A. Again, the soil scientists that -- would

19 have to answer that.

20 Q. Has it been your experience that you have

21 personally noticed that banding has affected crops or

22 crop yields in a negative way?

23 A. As I mentioned earlier, my only fertilizer

24 experience with sugar cane is banding.

25 Q. And, in your experience, have you found

1 that banding has had a negative effect on sugar cane?

2 A. Well, again, with my only experience with

3 that, I have nothing else to compare it with.

4 Q. Number 3 is preventing fertilizer spills.

5 Does U.S. Sugar use this method, this BMP?

6 A. Yes, ma'am.

7 Q. Okay. And can you explain briefly how that

8 works?

9 A. Instruction and monitoring of -- by

10 supervisory staff of field practices; let's be

11 careful and don't spill it.

12 Q. Does preventing fertilizer spills save U.S.

13 Sugar money?

14 A. Obviously, wasted fertilizer is one a

15 monetary loss.

16 Q. Number 4, minimizing water table

17 fluctuations. Can you explain that BMP?

18 A. Basically, what that says to me is not over

19 pumping or over drainage.

20 Q. So keeping the water level at a certain

21 depth, is that correct?

22 A. That would be one way to express it.

23 Q. Can you think of any negative effects that

24 this BMP might have on crops or crop yields?

25 A. Yes. That could lead to some yield and --

1 crop and yield losses would be possible.

2 Q. Can you explain that further?

3 A. There could be situations in which the

4 water table is maintained at some level at which

5 you -- so as to minimize fluctuations. You've

6 maintained it at a higher level and should you suffer

7 sudden heavy rainfall events and/or floods as can

8 happen here, you could have water in the fields, the

9 fields saturated with water or flooded for longer

10 periods of time then you might have had in the past

11 had you been able to hold the water tables at a lower

12 level.

13 Q. And in what way would that adversely affect

14 the cane or the crop yield?

15 A. Again, that would vary on field to field.

16 Q. What do you base your opinion on number 4?

17 A. Field observations.

18 Q. So personal experience?

19 A. Yes, ma'am.

20 Q. Are you aware of any studies or research

21 that supplements what you've said or agree with what

22 you've said?

23 A. I'm not aware of any.

24 Q. Number 5 is retention of on-farm drainage.

25 Can you explain that BMP?

1 A. I think I may have mentioned something

2 along those lines when you asked about what happens

3 when we have excess water and I mentioned that you

4 could pump it within the farm and that's what that

5 means, that you would put it somewhere else within

6 the farm that may not have received as much rainfall.

7 Q. So this is being implemented by U.S. Sugar

8 presently?

9 A. Yes, ma'am.

10 Q. Can you think of any adverse effects of

11 this BMP on crops or crop yields?

12 A. In and of itself there may be farms that

13 have fallow fields that we've talked about. When you

14 have the fallow fields or rice production then you

15 obviously have a place to do this. There may be some

16 farms that do not have the ability at certain times

17 to do that simply because in their management they

18 don't have fallow fields available. So if you don't

19 have to do it, then there is no loss.

20 Q. Number 6, retention of vegetables field

21 drainage water in sugar cane or fallow lands. Could

22 you explain that?

23 A. Again, this occurs where vegetable

24 production and sugar cane production are occurring

25 within the same water basin.

1 Q. Uh huh.

2 A. And it's transferring vegetable water into

3 sugar cane or fallow fields as they talked about.

4 Q. Is that being implemented by U.S. Sugar?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. And what, if any, concerns do you have

7 about this BMP and its effect on crops or crop

8 yields?

9 A. I would give the same answer as I gave

10 previously to number 5. When land is available to do

11 that, there is -- it can work. When land is not

12 available to carry out this practice, it could be

13 damaging.

14 Q. Number 7, aquatic cover crop for off-season

15 vegetable production and fallow rotation of sugar

16 cane. Could you explain that?

17 A. As they refer to aquatic cover crop such as

18 rice, if the rice fields -- production of rice

19 involves flooding and there may be times in which

20 excess water can be pumped onto rice fields rather

21 than pumped out of the basin. And in fallow

22 rotation, the same thing would apply. If the --

23 fallow means that, in this particular case, that

24 there is nothing growing on there, then those fields

25 could also be flooded.

1 Q. Would growing an aquatic cover crop have

2 any adverse effects on the soil that you know of?

3 A. I couldn't answer that one.

4 Q. Would growing an aquatic cover crop provide

5 you with an additional cash crop or as if you --

6 whereas if you left the field fallow you would not be

7 receiving any profits? Is that accurate?

8 A. All I know is rice is another controlled

9 and subsidized crop in this country and I don't think

10 there's very much money in it.

11 Q. What else besides rice might be grown as an

12 aquatic cover crop?

13 A. That's the only one I know of. I don't

14 know if there are others available.

15 Q. Number 8, on-farm retention ponds. Could

16 you explain that BMP?

17 A. Like it says, it's the setting aside of

18 some portion of the land area within a basin to

19 receive excess water before that water -- in place of

20 or before that water being pumped out of the basin,

21 meaning setting aside some acreage to accomplish

22 that.

23 Q. Is that action implemented by U.S. Sugar

24 currently?

25 A. Within the EAA?

1 Q. No. Just by U.S. Sugar in general.

2 A. We have some farms in which the conversion

3 of the land to sugar cane production has required

4 permitting or within the permitting system has

5 required that we build retention ponds.

6 Q. If you were not required to --

7 A. Excuse me. I would like to rephrase that

8 into: We've been required to build detention ponds.

9 Q. What's the difference?

10 A. Detention pond means that water is detained

11 for some period of time or some certain volume before

12 it passes through. Retention pond means that it

13 never leaves. It's retained.

14 Q. Number 9 is coordinated farm cropping

15 patterns. Can you explain that BMP?

16 A. This refers to what I mentioned in the

17 previous one. If land was available for movement of

18 water within the basin -- and this is saying that you

19 would have to change your farming patterns so that

20 land would be available either for fallow or for rice

21 fields so that you could maximize the previous BMPs

22 and you would have to change your farming pattern to

23 accomplish that.

24 Q. Is that being implemented by U.S. Sugar?

25 A. That becomes difficult to answer, because

1 we are implementing some of the others prior to that

2 that get involved in this. I would simply say that

3 we're growing more rice than we used to.

4 Q. Is U.S. Sugar currently using any BMPs that

5 are not mentioned in this list?

6 A. Yes, ma'am. Well, let me reconsider that

7 answer, please. Some of the BMPs are difficult to

8 fit within one of these nine and I would say that

9 there are -- yes, there's some BMPs that we're

10 practicing that are not listed here.

11 Q. Okay. Can you describe those one at a

12 time?

13 A. Repeat that.

14 Q. Can you describe those BMPs one at a time?

15 A. You'll find in documents provided a -- and

16 this may not include all since my part of the U.S.

17 Sugar's operation is only the Western Division. We

18 have what we call a parallel canal project and

19 sedimentation trap in a pump canal project, what is

20 called a cascade project. It's located in a

21 tributary canal. There's some BMPs being done by

22 other departments, so my list may not include them

23 all.

24 Q. Can you describe how the parallel canal

25 project works?

1 A. The object is to divert drainage water by

2 pumpage into a canal trap, if you will, pumping the

3 level in that canal to such a level as to create a

4 head differential between that trapped water and the

5 parallel drainage canal forcing the water to seep

6 from the trap through limerock back into the primary

7 pump canal before it's removed from the property.

8 Q. How is that different from the

9 sedimentation trap project that you next mentioned?

10 A. The sedimentation is that the pump canal

11 itself had been deepened and widened so the sediment

12 movement along the bottom of the canal would fall

13 into this hole and be trapped before being pumped.

14 Q. Then you mentioned the cascade project.

15 What is that?

16 A. That's an effort to pump drainage water

17 across an artificially created barrier of limerock

18 within the bottom of the canal and cascade that

19 drainage water across the limerock before it's

20 discharged out -- off the farm.

21 Q. Are these three BMPs described in the

22 documents that you've provided?

23 A. There are some design maps or just designs,

24 blueprints, if you will, of those projects in the

25 documents.

1 Q. And any other documentation besides the

2 maps?

3 A. It may be referred to as just simply the

4 projects referred to in some other memos there.

5 Q. Has U.S. Sugar submitted their own BMP

6 plan?

7 A. I don't know.

8 Q. Would you say that the BMPs that you just

9 described, the parallel canal project, the

10 sedimentation trap and the cascade project, do you

11 see those as more efficacious of moving phosphorus

12 than the nine BMPs that we talked about?

13 A. I wouldn't know.

14 Q. Are you familiar with what's called pump

15 BMPs?

16 A. Yes, ma'am.

17 Q. Can you explain those?

18 A. Pumping practice BMPs would refer to this

19 BMP listed here as number 4. It's an attempt to

20 minimize water table fluctuations.

21 Q. Okay. Are you familiar with Rule 40E-63?

22 A. Only that I have seen it in reference. I

23 have not read it.

24 Q. Now, previously you mentioned that you had

25 read, I believe, certain parts of certain SWIM plans.

1 From what you've read what's -- what do you think

2 generally of the SWIM Plan?

3 A. What I have read is very cursory. It

4 involves some period of time of drafts and so forth.

5 I don't know where the SWIM Plan is now, so I rather

6 not answer that.

7 Q. Okay. Do you think that implementation of

8 the SWIM Plan will have an adverse impact on U.S.

9 Sugar's crops or crop yields?

10 A. I honestly don't know.

11 MS. LaPLANT: Okay. I'd like to break for

12 just a minute.

13 (Thereupon, a recess was taken.)

14 MS. LaPLANT: Back on the record.

15 I have a few more questions for

16 Mr. Beardsley.

17 BY MS. LaPLANT:

18 Q. Regarding BMPs how would you define a BMP?

19 A. Well, it's a best management practice --

20 Q. Uh huh.

21 A. -- for whatever operation may be involved.

22 That -- it also is practical and economical, involved

23 in whatever operation it is that you're trying to

24 achieve this BMP in.

25 Q. Would U.S. Sugar use BMPs if they weren't

1 requested to do so?

2 A. It would depend on what the BMP was.

3 Q. In other words, are they used -- are the

4 BMPs used, as you said, in an economical sort of way

5 or in an environmental protection way?

6 A. The reference in which we're using BMPs

7 here, there are elements of both and, obviously,

8 that's the purpose of it, but at the same time, it

9 must be economical to be able to practice it at all

10 or there would be nothing.

11 Q. What do you think the purpose of the BMPs

12 are?

13 A. Reference to the ones we're talking about,

14 all of these that I have read this morning and the

15 ones that we're referring to are all involved with an

16 attempt to lessen phosphorus discharges in -- off

17 site.

18 Q. Is phosphorus an important component for

19 sugar cane growth?

20 A. Yes, ma'am.

21 Q. And why is that?

22 A. I just refer to an old soils chemistry

23 class in that the first three elements we're provided

24 by the good Lord necessary for good plant growth and,

25 the second most important of the three, phosphorus is

1 one of them.

2 Q. Is the fertilizer that U.S. Sugar uses

3 phosphorus based?

4 A. I don't understand that question.

5 Q. Is it phosphorus based? Is phosphorous a

6 major component of the fertilizer used by U.S. Sugar?

7 MR. RUSSELL: Would you explain what you

8 mean by major component there, counsel?

9 Just let her explain it.

10 BY MS. LaPLANT:

11 Q. Let me ask it this way. What -- out of

12 what organic or inorganic materials is your

13 fertilizer made up? What constitutes what your

14 fertilizer is?

15 A. We have a Research Department that

16 formulates or tells us what mixtures of fertilizer to

17 use as we discussed based on our soil sampling. The

18 ingredients are specified by them. I would say that

19 we have fields that don't get any phosphorus.

20 Q. Let me ask it this way. In the fertilizer

21 U.S. Sugar uses, there are ratios of each component,

22 phosphorus, nitrogen, is that correct? There's

23 certain ratios?

24 A. In all fertilizers --

25 Q. Right.

1 A. -- no matter who uses them.

2 Q. Right.

3 So my question --

4 A. There are.

5 Q. What -- generally, what ratio is used?

6 A. I would rather let one of them answer that

7 one.

8 Q. All right. We talked about pesticides

9 briefly earlier. What kind of insects would you be

10 trying to control with pesticide?

11 MR. RUSSELL: I'd like to make a comment.

12 There are a lot of questions that you might ask

13 about irrelevant matters and I would suggest and

14 object that the entire area of insects and

15 insect control is outside the scope of the SWIM

16 Plan and the SWIM Plan challenge and if you've

17 got some general questions, you may want to

18 proceed, but I would object that they are

19 irrelevant.

20 You can answer the question.

21 THE WITNESS: Would you repeat the question

22 again, please, ma'am.

23 BY MS. LaPLANT:

24 Q. What kind of insects are you trying to

25 control through the use of pesticides?

1 A. We don't control all insects. We don't

2 attempt to. But there are soil insects such as

3 wireworms and grubs and then there are what we might

4 refer to as the above ground insects which include

5 such things as aphids, mites, sugar cane borers.

6 Q. Do you have any idea about how many pounds

7 of fertilizer are used in U.S. Sugar's crops per

8 year?

9 A. No, ma'am.

10 Q. Same question for pesticides.

11 A. No, ma'am.

12 MS. LaPLANT: Okay. I have no further

13 questions for right now, but I believe the U.S.

14 does.

15 CROSS (Wayne Beardsley)

16 BY MR. FERRELL:

17 Q. Mr. Beardsley, I just have a few questions

18 today and, as we agreed off the record, we'll

19 probably take a break and continue tomorrow once

20 we've had an opportunity to review the documents that

21 you have produced.

22 Mr. Beardsley, if you'll take a look at

23 Exhibit Number 2. It states within Exhibit Number 2

24 the subject matter of your expected testimony is U.S.

25 Sugar agricultural practices, SWIM Plan and BMPs.

1 Other general areas of testimony may be added as

2 issues in the case develop.

3 Have you been requested to testify to

4 anything further than those three areas that are

5 listed there?

6 A. No, sir.

7 Q. Are the three areas that are listed, to

8 your knowledge, still those which you will be

9 testifying to?

10 A. To my knowledge.

11 Q. At the University of Florida when you

12 received your degree in agricultural economics, what

13 courses did you take to obtain that, in general

14 fashion, Mr. Beardsley?

15 A. That's been longer ago then I'd like to

16 think.

17 Q. We can limit that to agricultural

18 practices.

19 A. It was necessary for us to, at that time in

20 the curriculum in agriculture school, to take courses

21 in five other divisions within agriculture school and

22 I'm trying to remember those. Basically, those

23 courses were introductory in nature. I think I took

24 one in vegetable crops, citrus production, soil

25 science, animal production. May have been another

1 one. I don't remember on those, but for production

2 type practices.

3 Q. How long were you a Field Chemist prior to

4 becoming a Technical Assistant with U.S. Sugar?

5 A. I really don't remember. Let's add up the

6 years in the other jobs I gave you and subtract that

7 from 23 years and that will give us an idea.

8 Q. So approximately three years?

9 A. Something like that, yeah.

10 Q. Now, Mr. Beardsley, you stated that you are

11 the Superintendent -- I'm sorry -- the General

12 Manager for the Western Division of United States

13 Sugar Corporation. What area does that entail,

14 Mr. Beardsley?

15 A. Geographical area?

16 Q. Yes, sir.

17 A. Basically, from the -- what is known as the

18 North New River Canal or the -- which gets close to

19 Lake Okeechobee at the City of South Bay. Other than

20 one small parcel east of that North New River Canal,

21 everything of U.S. Sugar's cane production west of

22 there.

23 Q. Does that include what's commonly referred

24 to as the EAA?

25 A. Some of it is in the EAA.

1 Q. What portion is contained within the EAA?

2 A. Let's say approximately three quarters.

3 Q. I need to step back again for just a

4 moment.

5 Since attending the University of Florida

6 have you attended any other courses relating to

7 agricultural practices or attended any seminars?

8 A. Yes, sir. Over the years I've attended

9 grower seminars that have been sponsored by the IFAS

10 station there at Belle Glade.

11 Q. Approximately how many?

12 A. Probably an average of one a year for the

13 23 years I have been there, so something on that

14 order.

15 Q. Mr. Beardsley, in the 23 years you've

16 worked for U.S. Sugar has the practice of agriculture

17 changed greatly specifically as it relates to sugar

18 cane production?

19 A. You asked the practice of sugar cane

20 production. No, the basics have not changed greatly.

21 Q. And the basics are what you described

22 earlier in your testimony?

23 A. Uh huh.

24 Q. What soil conditions are necessary for the

25 growth of sugar cane?

1 A. I'm not sure what kind of conditions.

2 Climatic conditions?

3 Q. No. Just that -- I mean what kind of --

4 what kind of soil is necessary to produce the type of

5 sugar cane that you get?

6 A. It can vary widely. Sugar cane is grown

7 around the world on many, many, many types of soils.

8 Q. What climatic conditions are necessary for

9 the growth of sugar cane?

10 A. Adequate rainfall, an absence of prolonged

11 cold weather, good long daylight hours.

12 Q. In the EAA how much of the acreage that's

13 contained within the EAA is used for the growth of

14 sugar cane?

15 A. I couldn't answer that.

16 Q. You stated earlier, Mr. Beardsley, that the

17 amount of fertilizer that's used per acre can vary

18 from none to 1,300 pounds per acre. With respect to

19 the 1,300 pounds per acre, where are these acres

20 located?

21 A. As I mentioned, that's a very minor part of

22 some sandy soils that are located along the western

23 border of the EAA as I know it.

24 Q. In response to the notice of deposition

25 what documents have you provided to us, the State?

1 Can you list those for us?

2 A. I don't have a list. We'd have to sit here

3 and go through and I'd have to identify every one of

4 them. I didn't prepare a list.

5 Q. All of these documents that are before us

6 were from your water control files, correct?

7 A. That's correct. Basically. Basically.

8 Q. Those documents would contain the substance

9 of which your testimony will be at the hearing?

10 These would be the documents that you relied upon?

11 A. To my knowledge, yes.

12 Q. Mr. Beardsley, you stated earlier that if

13 rice is used as one of the rotating crops that when

14 sugar is placed thereafter that crop has been taken

15 that you -- there's no necessity for the use of

16 insecticide, is that correct?

17 A. At U.S. Sugar, that's correct.

18 Q. Why is that?

19 A. Because the flooding kills or sufficiently

20 lessens the population of the soil insects I referred

21 to to low enough levels that insecticide is not

22 required.

23 Q. You're the General Manager of the Western

24 Division of U.S. Sugar. I take it, then, there's an

25 Eastern Division.

1 A. That's correct.

2 Q. There's not a Northern or Southern

3 Division?

4 A. No, sir. Excuse me. There is reference to

5 a Southern Division that did exist at one time when

6 we were in cattle operations and part of our citrus

7 operation are still referred to as Southern Division,

8 but as far as for sugar cane production, basically

9 it's the Eastern and Western Divisions.

10 Q. And who is the General Manager for the

11 Eastern Division?

12 A. Mr. Ray Moore.

13 Q. Is a portion of the Eastern Division of

14 U.S. Sugar contained within the EAA? Is its

15 territory part of the EAA?

16 A. Yes.

17 MR. FERRELL: I have no further questions

18 until we have the opportunity to review these

19 documents at this time.

20 MR. RUSSELL: Let's go off the record for a

21 minute.

22 (Discussion held off the record.)

23 (Thereupon, a lunch recess was taken.)

1 REDIRECT (Wayne Beardsley)

2 BY MS. LaPLANT:

3 Q. I'd like to refer back to Exhibit 3. It

4 was an excerpt from the SWIM Plan, page 113, 114. I

5 know that you answered this earlier, Mr. Beardsley,

6 but can you refresh my memory as to which of the BMPs

7 out of these nine are being used now by U.S. Sugar?

8 A. I believe that I answered we were utilizing

9 number 1, number 2, number 3, number 4, number 7,

10 number 8 as required by permitting procedures with

11 South Florida Water Management, number 6 in a limited

12 way and I believe I said that number 9. That we were

13 utilizing some of the previous ones, that number 9 is

14 kind of a catch all and that we were growing more

15 rice than we used to.

16 Q. You said number 8 is being utilized as

17 required by permitting procedures by South Florida

18 Water Management District. Does that mean that you

19 had been previously utilizing these other BMPs prior

20 to being requested to utilize number 8 on your own?

21 A. I don't think that had anything to do with

22 it. As I referred to in the changing of cropping

23 patterns newly developed there is required that those

24 areas have detention ponds for growing of sugar cane

25 on them through the permitting process through South

1 Florida Water Management.

2 Q. Okay. I'm going to ask it this way. First

3 of all, when did you initially begin to utilize BMPs?

4 A. Well, if --

5 MR. RUSSELL: Counsel, the term, "BMP" has

6 been bandied about and you've even had

7 Mr. Beardsley define it, but when you say BMP,

8 would you either refer to the specific as

9 outlined in the SWIM Plan BMPs or BMPs in

10 general which just refer to ag practices,

11 actually, not necessarily as required or defined

12 by the SWIM Plan.

13 MS. LaPLANT: Right.

14 MR. RUSSELL: Thank you.

15 BY MS. LaPLANT:

16 Q. When did you first start to use BMPs in

17 general, not necessarily the ones talked about in the

18 SWIM Plan?

19 A. I can't answer that. As I mentioned in

20 earlier testimony, we've been banding fertilizer, for

21 instance, ever since I have been with U.S. Sugar.

22 Q. Why did you begin the process of banding

23 fertilizer?

24 A. I can't answer that. It was ongoing when I

25 got there.

1 Q. In determining which BMPs, which general --

2 generally which BMPs to use, how do you determine

3 which BMP to use? Are there studies that are done?

4 A. These -- some of these nine BMPs such as

5 the banding of fertilizer best management practice,

6 perhaps, have been in farming for a long, long time

7 and only recently have become the phrase of the day

8 in reference to water issues, perhaps.

9 Q. Okay.

10 A. I don't know that there's a definitive

11 choice to choosing what you do or don't do. I have

12 difficulty answering that.

13 Q. So you're saying that you have used the

14 BMPs that you've just identified prior to the SWIM

15 Plan coming out and that has been just an ordinary

16 agricultural practice that's been going on for years,

17 is that right?

18 MR. RUSSELL: You may want to clarify what

19 you mean by utilize, Mr. Beardsley --

20 THE WITNESS: For instance --

21 MR. RUSSELL: -- whether or not it's part

22 of your ongoing research or whether or not it's

23 something that's in actually widespread use at

24 this time.

25 THE WITNESS: Widespread use at this time

1 is, obviously, the banding of the fertilizer.

2 Calibrated soil test recommendations, prevention

3 of fertilizer spills, that's just good

4 housekeeping. And when you say SWIM Plan, I can

5 not, in my mind, pin down a certain date as of

6 such a date was a SWIM Plan, because there's

7 other SWIM plans, I believe. There have been a

8 few that were started, I guess, after the SWIM

9 Plan.

10 BY MS. LaPLANT:

11 Q. The SWIM Plan I'm referring to is the March

12 13, 1992 SWIM Plan.

13 A. If that's the date that you're referring

14 to, several of these were done before March 13, 1992.

15 Q. Okay. Do you feel that BMPs in general are

16 effective in reducing phosphorus?

17 A. I think I answered this morning I don't

18 know.

19 MR. RUSSELL: Want to take a break and have

20 that copied?

21 MS. LaPLANT: Doesn't need to be copied

22 right now. I will mark it as the next exhibit

23 and we'll copy it later.

24 (The document was marked

25 Exb. No. 4.)

1 MS. LaPLANT: This is being marked as

2 Exhibit 4, United States Sugar Corporation

3 Implementation of a Strategy to Revitalize the

4 Everglades and Preserve Farming.

5 BY MS. LaPLANT:

6 Q. Mr. Beardsley, have you seen this document?

7 A. Yes, ma'am.

8 Q. Did you produce this document to us?

9 A. No, I did not.

10 Q. Who produced it?

11 A. I am not sure.

12 Q. Were you involved in drafting this --

13 A. No.

14 Q. -- putting this together?

15 A. No.

16 Q. Have you looked at it?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. What basically, in general, was the

19 strategy that that document refers to?

20 A. I'd have to reread it. I have not read

21 that in some time. It was just handed to me sometime

22 ago. I put it in the file. It was a strategy to

23 reduce phosphorus discharge.

24 Q. Who gave it to you?

25 A. I can't even recall.

1 Q. Okay. Do you have any feelings one way or

2 the other about what's in this document?

3 A. In what sense?

4 Q. Do you remember enough of what's in it to

5 have an opinion on the strategy therein?

6 A. No, I don't.

7 Q. I want to get back to fertilizer for a

8 second.

9 Specifically, what types of fertilizer are

10 used to fertilize sugar cane on your farms?

11 A. What do you mean by type?

12 Q. I mean names of the fertilizers.

13 A. The names of the fertilizers are by a

14 numbered name that's a U.S. Sugar number for a

15 mixture and they are just numbered names.

16 Q. Numbered in -- what do you mean by

17 numbered?

18 A. Two digit or three digit number.

19 Q. Just arbitrarily attached to the

20 fertilizer?

21 A. I don't know how they were assigned.

22 Q. Are there different concentrations of

23 fertilizer used in different sugar fields or

24 different mixtures of fertilizers?

25 A. Yes.

1 Q. Okay. And in what way would those mixtures

2 differ from each other?

3 A. They would differ by the ingredients in the

4 mixture.

5 Q. And, specifically, what ingredients might

6 differ? What might be in one bag of fertilizer

7 that's not in another?

8 A. We don't handle bags of fertilizer. Any

9 particular ingredient may or may not be in a mixture.

10 Q. Okay. What ingredients are you talking

11 about?

12 A. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potash.

13 Q. Is that it basically? Are there other

14 ingredients?

15 A. There are other ingredients in some

16 fertilizers. I could not give you a definitive list

17 of all of them.

18 Q. Uh huh. Okay. Now, what would determine

19 which particular numbered fertilizer you would use on

20 any given cane field?

21 A. The recommendation.

22 Q. Of who?

23 A. Of our Research Department.

24 Q. Okay. Is there anyone that you can name

25 that would have that information?

1 A. Mr. Henry Andreis is the head of our

2 Research Department.

3 Q. And does he have assistants helping him or

4 is he the sole person?

5 A. There are others involved in the Soils

6 Department.

7 Q. Do you know who they are?

8 A. Yes, ma'am.

9 Q. Can you name them?

10 A. Dr. McCray and he's the head of the Soils

11 Department within the Research Department.

12 Q. Anyone else?

13 A. There's some other staff members.

14 Mr. Bruce Hutcheson and there have been some changes

15 there. And the others I don't know.

16 Q. Okay. Has the way in which you fertilize

17 sugar cane changed since you first began working for

18 U.S. Sugar as compared to presently?

19 A. Repeat that again.

20 Q. Has the way in which you apply fertilizer

21 changed over the years from when you began working at

22 U.S. Sugar to right now?

23 A. For applying fertilizer, no.

24 Q. For applying fertilizer?

25 A. No.

1 Q. What about the amounts of fertilizer

2 applied?

3 A. I couldn't speak to that.

4 Q. What about the types of fertilizer applied?

5 A. I couldn't speak to that either.

6 Q. Would the application or the amount of

7 fertilizer applied, would that change due to soil

8 subsidence?

9 A. I would have no knowledge of that. I

10 wouldn't know.

11 Q. What's the purpose of fertilizing sugar

12 cane?

13 A. To generate optimum plant growth and

14 consequent sugar production in an economical way.

15 Q. Would you say that there's any one given

16 constituent of any fertilizer mixture that is more

17 efficacious at promoting growth then another

18 constituent?

19 A. I couldn't answer that.

20 Q. Okay. Have you produced the documents

21 related to the application of fertilizer today in

22 your response to our request?

23 A. No, I have not. But that's what we had

24 discussed.

25 Q. Just for the record, what will you be

1 producing tomorrow?

2 A. The application -- fertilizer application

3 field records for the last two growing seasons.

4 Q. Last two growing seasons.

5 MR. FERRELL: Off the record for a moment.

6 (Discussion held off the record.)

7 MS. LaPLANT: I don't have any additional

8 questions unless you have some more.

9 MR. FERRELL: I just have a few.

10 RECROSS (Wayne Beardsley)

11 BY MR. FERRELL:

12 Q. Mr. Beardsley, with respect to Exhibit 4 I

13 believe you stated that it was put together for the

14 purpose of developing a strategy that would reduce

15 phosphorus within this whole EAA area and that

16 relates -- when we're talking about BMPs, we're

17 talking about BMPs relating to phosphorus reduction,

18 is that correct?

19 A. Yes, sir.

20 Q. Mr. Beardsley, within the documents that

21 you've produced for this deposition today, are there

22 documents that relate to the reduction of phosphorus

23 through best management practices?

24 A. There are documents that relate to an

25 attempt to reduce phosphorus through various best

1 management practices.

2 Q. Is one of your responsibilities as the

3 General Manager of the Western Division of U.S. Sugar

4 to oversee and develop BMPs for the reduction of

5 phosphorus?

6 A. When called upon to do so in specific -- on

7 specific issues to try to develop something or to

8 think of something, yes, that has been my assignment.

9 Q. Prior to the development of the March 12 --

10 March 13, 1992 SWIM Plan, the SWIM Plan that we've

11 been discussing a little bit today, was there a focus

12 on the reduction of phosphorus through best

13 management practices?

14 A. I have trouble with the word, "focus."

15 Q. I can restate the question if you would

16 like.

17 A. Restate it.

18 Q. Prior to 1992 was there an attempt by

19 U.S. Sugar to reduce the amount of phosphorus that

20 was pumped into the primary canal system?

21 A. Yes.

22 Q. And what specific phosphorus reducing BMPs

23 were implemented to do just that?

24 A. There was some pumping practice referred to

25 in that document as minimum water table fluctuation

1 practices attempted. As I discussed through the

2 various nine there, there was some of that that

3 was -- that we were already doing. I iterated some

4 best management practice projects earlier that have

5 been implemented. Of those three I discussed,

6 however, I do not believe those three were completed

7 prior to March of 1992. There was some others

8 perhaps that I would have no specific knowledge of.

9 Q. For purposes of discharging excess water or

10 moving excess water to you had stated that earlier in

11 the deposition that if there's an excess amount of

12 water it's either pumped into the primary canal

13 system or moved to other areas that need the water

14 table level increased. Is there -- are those the

15 only two ways that water from sugar cane fields leave

16 the fields?

17 MR. RUSSELL: I don't understand the

18 question.

19 If you understand the question, go ahead

20 and answer it.

21 BY MR. FERRELL:

22 Q. You can answer it.

23 A. Well, they have, which we have no control,

24 which would be evapotranspiration, evaporation and

25 seepage.

1 Q. Seepage meaning?

2 A. Seepage off the perimeters of our property

3 into adjacent -- for instance, should the water table

4 in the adjacent area be lower than our water table,

5 it will seep away from us. The reverse -- if the

6 reverse is true, it will seep onto us, underground

7 seepage.

8 Q. The three additional BMPs that you had

9 discussed earlier, the parallel canal project, the

10 sedimentation trap project, the cascade project, do

11 those BMPs simply relate to the reduction of

12 phosphorus or are they just best management practices

13 in general?

14 A. We don't know enough about them for me to

15 answer that question yet.

16 Q. I just have one more question for today. I

17 had asked earlier what was the ideal composition of

18 soil for sugar cane. I don't believe I received an

19 answer. We got off on the climatic answer to that.

20 But as far as -- what makes the EAA such a good place

21 to grow sugar cane?

22 A. Well, I answered I think by saying there

23 were soils all over the world on which sugar cane is

24 grown and I would hazard a guess that none of them

25 are ideal. However, the Everglades, what makes it

1 unique for sugar cane production is a highly organic

2 soil which consequently is very rich in nitrogen and

3 the South Florida area, which the Everglades is

4 obviously a part, gets adequate rainfall. It's the

5 classic farmers' problem, it just doesn't come at the

6 right time necessarily and we have adequate

7 temperatures; a minimum of cold or cold weather and

8 we have adequate daylight length here in the summer

9 to generate good plant growth, so all of those

10 factors fit together to make the Everglades a rather

11 unique place conducive for agricultural crops.

12 MR. FERRELL: Do you have anything further?

13 REDIRECT (Wayne Beardsley)

14 BY MS. LaPLANT:

15 Q. Just one question. Can you define

16 evapotranspiration?

17 A. It would be -- my layman's interpretation

18 of that is loss of water, either surface water or

19 soil born water, through the transpiration growth of

20 the plant and natural evaporation and sunlight

21 combined.

22 MS. LaPLANT: I have no further questions.

23 MR. FERRELL: We'll reconvene tomorrow at 9

24 a.m.

25 MR. RUSSELL: Is that good for you?

1 THE WITNESS: A little later perhaps.

2 MR. RUSSELL: He's traveling from

3 Clewiston.

4 THE WITNESS: I have to get back and see if

5 I can get these documents up. I may need a

6 little time in the morning before I leave. I

7 have to come some 60 miles.

8 MR. RUSSELL: What time would be good for

9 you?

10 THE WITNESS: 10 o'clock.

11 MR. RUSSELL: We'll be glad to add an hour

12 at the end of the day since our normal day is

13 over, what is it, 9:00 to 5:00?

14 MR. FERRELL: Right.

15 MS. LaPLANT: Is 10 o'clock okay with you?

16 MR. FERRELL: 10:00 is fine. We can

17 shorten the lunch time break.

18 MR. RUSSELL: Okay. That will be fine.

19 (Recess for the day.)

1 (Continuation of Beardsley deposition on

2 7-8-93 from 9:25 a.m. - 11:55 a.m.)

3 MS. LaPLANT: This would be Exhibit 5.

4 (The document was marked

5 Exb. No. 5.)

6 CONTINUED REDIRECT (Wayne Beardsley)

7 BY MS. LaPLANT:

8 Q. Mr. Beardsley, can you identify what this

9 document is?

10 A. It's a list of pumping practices by farm or

11 water control basin.

12 Q. Okay. What's the date on that?

13 A. The one I have is July the 22, 1992.

14 Q. Who would be responsible for compiling

15 something like this?

16 A. Well, I compiled it.

17 Q. What exactly is being pumped here and where

18 from and to?

19 A. We're pumping water.

20 Q. From where?

21 A. Pumping from the farm designated as the

22 discharge location but it can be pumped to any number

23 of places because we have so many farms.

24 Q. Does this illustrate where it's being

25 pumped to?

1 A. No, it does not.

2 Q. Where would discharges like this be pumped

3 to?

4 A. Like this -- you mean each one of these

5 or --

6 Q. Well, let's start with the first one,

7 Benbow -- I can't read that -- Hicpochee.

8 A. Hicpochee.

9 Q. Where would that go to?

10 A. This particular one is an internal

11 discharge within a 298 district.

12 Q. Okay. Can you define a what a 298 district

13 is?

14 A. 298 is a -- I'm not sure I can define that

15 in legal terms and that is a law that sets up taxing

16 districts for various uses so I just leave it at

17 that.

18 Q. Okay. Once this water, this discharge goes

19 into the 298 what happens to it?

20 A. That decision -- what happens with the

21 water within the 298 district is up to the managers

22 of that district -- of each district.

23 Q. Do you personally know what happens to this

24 water?

25 A. Sometimes it's retained.

1 Yes, I do.

2 Q. What happens to it?

3 A. Sometimes it's retained within that

4 district and sometimes it's discharged.

5 Q. To where?

6 MR. RUSSELL: We're still on the Benbow?

7 MS. LaPLANT: Uh huh.

8 THE WITNESS: The first listing that

9 particular discharge would be into what is known

10 locally as Lake Hicpochee.

11 BY MS. LaPLANT:

12 Q. And does it remain there?

13 A. No. That flows into the Caloosahatchee

14 River.

15 Q. And where does that go?

16 A. It goes west to the Gulf of Mexico.

17 Q. Okay. And would the second and third

18 discharge locations -- well, let's just stick with

19 the second. Would the second discharge, would that

20 have a similar route or would that be different?

21 MR. RUSSELL: You're on Section 17, Benbow

22 Section 17?

23 MS. LaPLANT: Uh huh.

24 MR. RUSSELL: Okay.

25 THE WITNESS: It could go two different

1 directions, but it ultimately ends up in the

2 same place.

3 BY MS. LaPLANT:

4 Q. Okay. Let's turn to the second page of

5 this document. The first discharge location

6 mentioned there is Townsite Lateral 8E?

7 A. Uh huh.

8 Q. Where would that discharge flow to?

9 A. Again, it flows into the 298 district known

10 as the Sugar Land Drainage District.

11 Q. What happens to it there?

12 A. Again, it can either be retained or

13 discharged by the District.

14 Q. And do you know where the District would

15 discharge it to?

16 A. Discharges it into the S-4 -- what is known

17 locally as the S-4 basin.

18 Q. And what happens to it in the S-4 basin?

19 A. I have no control over that. There's

20 several things that can happen to it and I would

21 hesitate to answer because I may not be able to

22 answer all of the possibilities.

23 Q. Okay. Generally, as we're looking through

24 this document, there's several -- many discharge

25 locations noted and can you ascertain where most of

1 these discharges are going to or do they all go to

2 different places?

3 A. I can ascertain where our discharge, where

4 it goes.

5 Q. Uh huh.

6 A. From there I cannot answer all the

7 possibilities which are not under my control.

8 Q. Right.

9 So you're saying that most of these

10 discharges flow into the 298 district and then after

11 that you would only have to speculate, is that right?

12 A. Of ones I answered they flow into 298,

13 within a 298 district.

14 Q. Okay. And the Townsite discharges as well?

15 A. The one we mentioned, yes.

16 Q. What about Townsite (1) Lateral 9E?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. And the next one, Lateral 10E?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. And Townsite Southline?

21 A. No.

22 Q. Where does that go?

23 A. It goes into a facility known as the

24 Industrial Canal.

25 Q. Where is that located?

1 A. It's located along the east side of the

2 City of Clewiston and goes south for several miles.

3 Q. And what happens to it after it's there?

4 A. Again, there's several possibilities. It

5 is not under my control.

6 Q. What are those possibilities?

7 A. It can flow into -- again, into the S-4

8 basin or it can flow into Lake Okeechobee.

9 Q. Okay. If it were to flow into Lake

10 Okeechobee would it remain there?

11 A. I would have no knowledge, no control. I

12 couldn't say.

13 Q. Um, these discharges that are listed in

14 this document, are these pumping practice BMPs?

15 A. They can be considered to be BMPs.

16 Q. Are they pump BMPs?

17 A. That's what we would know them as.

18 Q. Is this a practice that's utilized by

19 U.S. Sugar extensively?

20 A. This is a practice we're working on.

21 Q. How long have you been working on it?

22 A. Certainly since 1989 and perhaps late 1988.

23 Q. Why were these BMPs developed?

24 A. I was instructed to develop some BMPs. The

25 why would have to be answered by somebody else.

1 Q. What's the purpose of these BMPs?

2 A. Well, as it states on it, for our purposes,

3 pumping practices for phosphorus reduction.

4 Q. How would these BMPs reduce phosphorus?

5 A. That I can't answer.

6 Q. Were you the only person responsible for

7 developing these BMPs?

8 A. No, ma'am.

9 Q. Who did you work with?

10 A. Mr. Frank Polhill.

11 Q. What's his title?

12 A. He's Vice President of Agriculture

13 Department. Senior Vice President, excuse me.

14 Q. Did he approach you to develop these?

15 A. Yes, ma'am.

16 Q. And what did he say when he approached you,

17 develop a BMP?

18 A. I don't believe so.

19 Q. Do you remember how he approached you

20 regarding developing these BMPs?

21 A. Yes, ma'am.

22 Q. Ask you to elaborate.

23 A. The conversation was sometime ago. The

24 gist of it was let's see what we can do to come up

25 with some ideas to reduce pumping.

1 Q. Had you ever developed any BMPs prior to

2 this?

3 A. Again, the haziness of the line between

4 what is a BMP and just some good common sense farming

5 practices gets -- is pretty hazy. Over the years

6 I've done some things, but I didn't call them a BMP.

7 Q. All right. Let me rephrase the question.

8 Did you ever develop any pump BMPs prior to

9 this?

10 MR. RUSSELL: Are we still talking about

11 BMPs for reducing phosphorus? Or the ambiguity

12 comes in the term, "BMP."

13 MS. LaPLANT: Well, I use the term, "pump

14 BMP" which is what these are on this document.

15 I assumed we were still talking about them.

16 MR. RUSSELL: Is it for reducing phosphorus

17 or is it like he's already testified, just good

18 management?

19 MS. LaPLANT: That's why I rephrased the

20 question to be clear it was a pump BMP

21 specifically to reduce phosphorus.

22 MR. RUSSELL: Okay. To reduce phosphorus,

23 then.

24 THE WITNESS: No.

25 BY MS. LaPLANT:

1 Q. I don't remember the question. What are

2 you responding "no" to?

3 You have not developed any prior to this?

4 A. For the purposes of reducing phosphorus,

5 no.

6 Q. Okay. In what way technically? I don't

7 understand how these pumping practices reduce

8 phosphorus. Could you explain that?

9 A. I don't know that they do.

10 Q. Well, if they did, how would they? What is

11 the process involved? What's the theory behind how

12 these reduce phosphorus?

13 A. The theory was to reduce pumping.

14 Q. Reduce pumping from where?

15 A. From each of these basins.

16 Q. Reduce the pumping to where?

17 A. To whichever outside off site system that

18 received from each of these locations.

19 Q. So does that mean -- for instance, would

20 the Benbow discharge location, that you would be

21 keeping more water on that location and allowing less

22 to go off, is that correct?

23 A. At times.

24 Q. And that would increase the phosphorus on

25 the Benbow location but decrease it in other areas?

1 A. I can't answer that.

2 Q. Are these pump BMPs used more than the ones

3 we discussed yesterday, the nine BMPs enumerated in

4 the SWIM Plan?

5 A. No.

6 Q. No? Are they used about the same amount?

7 A. I don't understand that.

8 One of the BMPs listed yesterday was

9 banding fertilizer and we've been doing that a long

10 time.

11 Q. How many different farms are the pump BMPs

12 used on?

13 A. I can only answer in the Western Division.

14 All of them less three.

15 Q. Which is what number?

16 A. All of those listed in this.

17 Q. Okay. There's the Benbow Farm, Townsite

18 farm, Mott Farm, Ritta Farm, Miami Locks Farm, South

19 Shore Farm. That's six farms. You said minus which

20 ones?

21 A. There are three farms which currently, this

22 BMP -- this BMP schedule does not apply to.

23 Q. Uh huh.

24 A. Currently it would be listed as the

25 Wetherald 1 Farm, the Mott 1 Farm and the two Currin

1 Land locations and the Vaughn Farm at the two Florida

2 Lettuce locations.

3 Q. Why are the BMPs not utilized at those

4 farms?

5 A. I was instructed to not use those three

6 areas under this system.

7 Q. Do you know why?

8 A. They were to be operated as the old system

9 and the terminology expressed to me was they were to

10 be baseline areas.

11 Q. What does that mean?

12 A. That I am not -- I am not sure of.

13 Q. What is the old system?

14 A. The old pumping practices of running the

15 pumps whenever you desired for as long as you

16 desired.

17 Q. So these pumping practices only allow water

18 to be pumped or discharged from the farms at certain

19 times, is that correct?

20 A. Not certain chronological times.

21 Q. Then what type of times other than

22 chronological?

23 A. Times when these conditions have been met.

24 Q. Can you explain what you mean by when the

25 conditions have been met?

1 A. The conditions as listed in the schedules.

2 Q. Are you talking about the water levels?

3 A. Yes, ma'am.

4 Q. And can you explain -- are you saying that

5 you can only pump water when the water level is at a

6 certain stage?

7 A. That's correct.

8 Q. And then you have to stop pumping when it

9 reaches another stage?

10 A. That's correct.

11 Q. And then how do you ascertain these levels?

12 A. They are listed in the schedule.

13 Q. How are they determined? How are they

14 formulated? How do you decide that you're going to

15 pump down a foot of water and stop pumping?

16 A. I didn't decide that.

17 Q. Who did?

18 A. I don't know.

19 Q. So when you say you developed this BMP,

20 what exactly did you develop on this schedule?

21 A. Again, at Mr. Polhill's request I developed

22 the specific triggers (sic) points for each of these

23 locations.

24 Q. What's a trigger point?

25 A. The specific level at which pumping can be

1 initiated.

2 Q. How do you determine what level pumping can

3 be initiated at?

4 A. Practical experience.

5 Q. Well, what determines it? Does it have to

6 do with at what stage the sugar cane is in its

7 maturity or what factors are involved?

8 A. The initiation of pumping a level was so as

9 to prevent flooding.

10 Q. Okay. All right.

11 MS. LaPLANT: I'm going to introduce this

12 as Exhibit 6.

13 (The document was marked

14 Exb. No. 6.)

15 THE WITNESS: I guess I left some of this.

16 I thought I brought it all.

17 BY MS. LaPLANT:

18 Q. Can you identify this document?

19 A. This document was given to me by

20 representatives of Hutcheon Engineering.

21 Q. Why was it given to you?

22 A. They are under contract with our company to

23 do work for us and it they presented it to us.

24 Q. What do you mean by work?

25 A. That -- I'm not sure of what it is that

1 they are doing.

2 Q. It says -- there's some writing in the

3 upper right-hand corner of the document. Is that

4 your writing?

5 A. Yes, ma'am.

6 Q. It says, "Received April 29, 1992.

7 Presented to SAGE Committee South Florida Water

8 Management District."

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. Do you know why this was presented to the

11 SAGE Committee?

12 A. No.

13 Q. Did you attend the SAGE meeting at which

14 this was presented?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. Was this document discussed at the meeting?

17 A. It was presented.

18 Q. Was it presented by the Hutcheon

19 Engineering that you mentioned before?

20 A. As I recall.

21 Q. Why did you attend the SAGE meeting?

22 A. I gave a presentation.

23 Q. What did you do your presentation on?

24 A. The background explanation of a study of

25 our Mott 1 pump discharge, practicing a pumping

1 reduction practice versus Wetherald 1 location which

2 practice continued to pump the old way as we

3 discussed.

4 Q. Okay. And were you advocating one way over

5 the other?

6 A. No, ma'am.

7 Q. It was just a factual presentation, the

8 different pumping regimes, is that correct?

9 A. We didn't discuss pumping regimes or I

10 didn't present that.

11 Q. Okay. I'd like you to turn to the next

12 page on this document which is page 7. The first

13 sentence reads: "Beginning one week prior to

14 scheduled harvesting operations the main canal water

15 table may be lowered to the farm control elevation."

16 What is farm control elevation?

17 A. That was written by Hutcheon Engineering.

18 MR. RUSSELL: Just answer.

19 BY MS. LaPLANT:

20 Q. Do you know what farm control elevation is?

21 A. It is the lowest level under this pumping

22 practice during certain conditions to which the main

23 canal can be lowered.

24 Q. It reads here, "The main canal water

25 table." Is that what you're referring to?

1 A. Yes, ma'am.

2 Q. Okay. In the next paragraph first sentence

3 reads, "In order to control muck fires or to provide

4 freeze protection it may become necessary to

5 temporarily raise the water table to or slightly

6 above the peak irrigation level or 30 inches above

7 farm control level."

8 MR. RUSSELL: That's "elevation," counsel.

9 Last word, "farm control elevation."

10 MS. LaPLANT: Oh. What did I say?

11 MR. RUSSELL: I believe you said "level."

12 BY MS. LaPLANT:

13 Q. Okay. Elevation.

14 Is peak irrigation level 30 inches above

15 farm control level?

16 MR. RUSSELL: Answer that if you know.

17 BY MS. LaPLANT:

18 Q. Maybe it would help you if I asked you to

19 define "peak irrigation level" first. What does that

20 phrase mean?