1 1 DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, STATE OF FLORIDA 2 CASE NOS. 92-3038 3 92-3039 92-3040 4 SUGAR CANE GROWERS COOPERATIVE OF ) 5 FLORIDA, et. al., ) ) 6 Petitioners, ) ) 7 vs. ) ) 8 SOUTH FLORIDA WATER MANAGEMENT ) DISTRICT, ) 9 ) Respondent. ) 10 ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et. al.,) 11 ) Intervenors. ) 12 13 14 99 Northeast 4th Street Miami, Florida 15 April 7, 1994 9:20 a.m. - 12:02 p.m. 16 12:54 p.m. - 4:38 p.m. 17 18 19 Deposition of Doctor Frank Jay Coale 20 21 Taken before Stan Seplin, Certified Shorthand 22 Reporter and Notary Public in and for the State of 23 Florida at Large, pursuant to Notice of Taking 24 Deposition filed in the above cause. 25 - - - - - - - JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 2 1 APPEARANCES: 2 3 ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONERS: 4 Earl, Blank, Kavanaugh & Stotts, P.A. 5 Two South Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 3636 Miami, Florida 33131 6 BY: Jonathan Gaines, Esq. 7 ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES: 8 United States Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources Division 9 601 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004 10 BY: Stephen M. MacFarlane, Esq. 11 12 - - - - - - - 13 I N D E X 14 WITNESS DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS Dr. F.J. Coale 3 -- 15 GOVERNMENT'S EXHIBITS 16 Coale Exhibit 1 - Page 4 17 Coale Exhibit 2 - Page 8 Coale Exhibit 3 - Page 36 18 Coale Exhibit 4 - Page 42 Coale Exhibit 5 - Page 47 19 Coale Exhibit 6 - Page 55 Coale Exhibits 7,8,9 - Page 91 20 Coale Exhibits 10 and 11 - Page 159 Coale Exhibit 12 - Page 168 21 Coale Exhibit 13 - Page 203 Coale Exhibit 14 - Page 228 22 23 24 25 JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 3 1 Thereupon: 2 Doctor Frank Jay Coale, 3 was called as a witness by the United States, and 4 after being first duly sworn, was examined and 5 testified under oath as follows: 6 DIRECT EXAMINATION 7 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 8 Q. State your name, please. 9 A. Frank Coale. 10 Q. Mr. Coale, would you give us your 11 address, please. 12 A. 14428 Bradshaw Drive, Silver Spring, 13 Maryland. 14 MR. GAINES: Incidently, it's Doctor 15 Coale. 16 MR. MACFARLANE: I'm sorry. I apologize. 17 THE WITNESS: I answer to both, and other 18 things. 19 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 20 Q. Doctor Coale, how are you employed? 21 A. I'm an associate professor at the 22 University of Maryland. 23 Q. Well, good mornng. My name is Steve 24 MacFarlane. I'm with the Department of Justice, and 25 one of the attorneys representing the federal JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 4 1 intervenors in the present SWIM Plan challenge, 2 which you were listed as a witness, and the purpose 3 of this deposition today is to learn what testimony 4 you plan to give at the final hearing, if there is 5 to be a final hearing, and let me just ask you, have 6 you ever been deposed before? 7 A. No, I haven't. 8 Q. You should tell me if I ask questions 9 that are unclear to you, and-- I'm sure your lawyer 10 will object if it's appropriate to do so. 11 Unless he instructs you not to answer, 12 you should-- if you possibly can, you should go 13 ahead and answer my question, if you understand it, 14 but please don't hesitate to ask me to rephrase or 15 make myself clear, if that's necessary. 16 A. All right. 17 Q. Also, if you need to take a break at any 18 time, please don't hesitate to give a holler, and 19 we'll do that. 20 A. I will. 21 MR. MACFARLANE: Mark this as an exhibit. 22 (The document referred to 23 was thereupon marked as 24 Coale Exhibit Number 25 One for Identification, JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 5 1 a copy of which is attached 2 hereto.) 3 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 4 Q. Doctor Coale, I'm handing you what's 5 been marked as Coale Exhibit One, and I'll represent 6 that this is a supplemental list of witnesses, dated 7 January 20, 1994. 8 Would you please turn to the second page 9 and look at number three (indicating). 10 A. (Witness complies.) 11 Q. Let me ask you, have you seen this done 12 before? 13 A. No, I don't believe I have. 14 Q. Doctor Coale, you're listed as a witness 15 for the Florida Sugar Cane League and United States 16 Sugar in this proceeding. 17 Do you anticipate giving testimony at 18 the final SWIM Plan challenge? 19 A. I'm not quite sure what all these 20 procedures are entitled, but from what I hear, 21 there's a hearing proposed to come up-- 22 MR. GAINES: Yes. For the record, it is 23 anticipated that Doctor Coale will provide testimony 24 at the final hearing, in areas listed on the witness 25 disclosure. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 6 1 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 2 Q. Let's look to the next page, then, page 3 three (indicating). 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. The subject matter of your expected 6 testimony is listed as agricultural BMPs and 7 alternatives. 8 Is that consistent with your 9 understanding, of the areas which you're-- I'm not 10 sure what alternatives means, but primarily, my area 11 is agricultural BMPs. 12 Q. The alternatives have been used in a 13 number of different systems in this litigation. 14 Do you intend to give testimony about 15 the agricultural BMPs-- let me rephrase it. The 16 on-farm BMPs that are listed in the SWIM Plan? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. Do you anticipate giving testimony about 19 other on-farm BMPs that are not in the SWIM Plan? 20 A. That's correct, yes. 21 Q. Do you anticipate giving testimony on 22 alternative treatment technologies, that is to say, 23 alternatives to storage water treatment areas, or 24 STAs? 25 A. No. I-- JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 7 1 MR. GAINES: There's no secret what his 2 testimony is about, but the word alternatives is a 3 little fuzzy, especially in this case. 4 He's not going to give testimony on 5 areas, such as direct filtration, chemical 6 treatment, so forth. 7 MR. BARTELL: That is what-- 8 MR. GAINES: How much, there are-- I 9 don't know if they follow the rubric of 10 alternatives, but however, some sedimentation 11 practices-- I don't know if they fall under that 12 label or not. It's not strictly on the on-farm BMP 13 plan, but just so it's clear-- 14 MR. MACFARLANE: Sure. I think I 15 understand. 16 Another one of your witnesses, John 17 David Stewart, distinguished between alternative 18 BMPs and alternative STAs. 19 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 20 Q. Doctor Coale, you would anticipate 21 giving testimony about on-farm practices to reduce 22 phosphorus; is that correct? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Now, I note the date of Exhibit One is 25 January 20, 1994 (indicating). JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 8 1 Doctor Coale, are you presently under 2 contract with either the Florida Sugar Cane League 3 or the law firm of Earl, Blank, Kavanaugh and 4 Stotts? 5 A. I have an agreement with Earl, Blank, 6 Kavanaugh and Stotts to serve as a consultant. 7 Q. Is that a written agreement? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. When did you enter into that agreement? 10 A. The exact date, I can't tell you. 11 It was about mid January of this year. 12 Q. Is that with the firm of Earl, Blank? 13 A. Kavanaugh and Stotts, yes. 14 Q. Doctor Coale, have you ever done 15 consulting work for the sugar cane industry in South 16 Florida before? 17 A. No. 18 Q. But you've done research down in South 19 Florida before, on sugar cane related issues; is 20 that correct? 21 A. That's correct. 22 MR. MACFARLANE: Let's mark this as two 23 (indicating). 24 (The document referred to 25 was thereupon marked as JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 9 1 Coale Exhibit Number 2 Two for Identification, 3 a copy of which is attached 4 hereto.) 5 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 6 Q. Doctor Coale, I'm showing you what's 7 been marked as Exhibit Two. 8 Do you recognize that document 9 (indicating)? 10 A. Yes, I do. It looks like my current CV. 11 Q. I note on the first page, you indicated 12 you were an associate professor of agronomy at the 13 University of Maryland (indicating). 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. You have tenure; is that correct? 16 A. That's correct. 17 Q. And how long have you been an associate 18 professor at the University of Maryland? 19 A. Since July of '93. 20 Q. I note under your work experience, the 21 second paragraph, that you have done work at the 22 Everglades Research and Education Center at Belle 23 Glade, Florida. 24 How-- are you still affiliated with 25 EREC, as it's known? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 10 1 A. No, I'm not. 2 Q. Are you still conducting research in 3 South Florida? 4 A. No, I'm not. 5 Q. When did you stop conducting research in 6 South Florida? 7 A. I resigned from my position with the 8 University of Florida in July of '93. 9 Q. Was there any particular reason you 10 resigned from your position? 11 A. To take the new position at the 12 University of Maryland. 13 Q. Do you work out at Bellsville, at the 14 agriculture extension? 15 Is that where it's-- 16 A. No, in College Park, the University of 17 Maryland campus. 18 Q. Right. Doctor Coale, I would like you 19 to turn to-- let's see. Turn to page four 20 (indicating). 21 A. Uh-hum. 22 Q. Of your resume. It's a continuation of 23 your list of your refereed publications, and the 24 third publication down from the top, lists you as 25 author, along with and F.T. Izuno and A.B. Bottcher, JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 11 1 an article, sugar cane production impact on nitrogen 2 and phosphorus in drainage water from Everglades 3 histosols. 4 Is that currently in press? 5 A. No. That is published. 6 MR. MACFARLANE: Could we have a copy of 7 that? 8 MR. GAINES: Did we not give you a copy 9 of that one? 10 I thought that was one of the three that 11 we had sent you. 12 MR. MACFARLANE: Oh, I believe it is. 13 I'm sorry. I apologize. 14 MR. GAINES: Just for the record, we sent 15 to you three of his articles, copies of them, that I 16 think were the most germane to the subject matter of 17 this case. 18 There could possibly be other articles 19 in here that, you know, have some tangential 20 relationship, but we sent you the three, I think, 21 most-- 22 MR. MACFARLANE: I would like to ask you 23 about some of the things on his resume that he 24 hasn't produced. 25 MR. GAINES: Okay. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 12 1 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 2 Q. Let me ask you about the next article 3 down, the fourth down from the top on the same page. 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Coale, F. J., D.B. Jones, reflood timing 6 for ratoon rice grown on Everglades histosols. 7 Has that been published yet? 8 A. No. That has not come out in print yet. 9 Q. Could you give me a brief idea of what 10 that article is about? 11 A. When you're growing rice on the 12 histosols in South Florida, a lot of-- you grow two 13 crops; you plant one and you let it grow, and let it 14 mature and harvest, and the stubble that remains is 15 referred to as ratoon, so you essentially get two 16 harvests off of one planting. 17 There's a very not well understood 18 effect of-- of course, you grow rice under a-- most 19 of the season, under a flooded condition, and at 20 harvest time, you take the water off and then you 21 come in with the combines and harvest the rice, and 22 if you are going to grow ratoon crops, you have to 23 to put the water back on to support the growth, and 24 that is the topic of that article, when to put the 25 water back on. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 13 1 Q. What was the conclusion of your article? 2 A. The conclusion was that there was a-- I 3 guess, an ideal time, you would say, if I recall, 4 having-- if I recall, it was approximately 25 or 30 5 days of drained time, before reflooding the ratoon 6 crop, which is the best treatment. 7 Q. Was the research that you did that's 8 reflected in that article, done while you were 9 associated with EREC? 10 A. EREC? 11 Q. Yes. 12 A. Yes, it was. 13 Q. Let me ask you, previously about the-- 14 it would be the sixth article down from the top, 15 Coale, Porter and Davis, soil amendments for 16 reducing phosphorus concentration of drainage water 17 from histosols. 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. Has that article been published? 20 A. No, not presently. Not yet. 21 Q. Could you give me an idea what that 22 article is about? 23 A. That was a laboratory study where we 24 collected some soil from the field, some histosol 25 organic soil from the field, and put it in columns, JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 14 1 cylinders, pipes, and we added different amendments 2 to the soil, and then we put on some high phosphorus 3 water on these columns and leached them with 4 distilled water, and measured what phosphorus 5 concentration came out the bottom of these columns. 6 Q. What were the amendments? 7 A. We had four amendment treatments. One 8 was a control, where there was no amendment, and 9 another one, dolominic lime, which is a natural 10 dolomoite product, and the third one was using 11 gypsum, and the fourth was using waste products from 12 a drinking water purification facility. 13 Q. What was that? 14 A. It was mainly calcium carbonate, what 15 the-- mainly calcium carbonate used for the 16 purification system, and an organic based polymer 17 they had, and I forget what that one was, and I'm 18 not sure what the total analysis was, but primarily 19 calcium carbonate. 20 Q. What did you conclude as a result of 21 this experiment? 22 A. Most of the treatments had no effect. 23 There was some evidence that the gypsum 24 amended soil tended to retain more phosphorus in the 25 soil and prevent it from leaching out than the other JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 15 1 amendment did, but we went to pretty great lengths 2 in the end, saying we are unsure about this. 3 There's some evidence, but it needed much more 4 study. 5 Q. Let me ask you to turn to page six of 6 your resume-- 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. Or your CV, and at the top, you have 9 identified a book chapter, which you are an author. 10 Is that correct? 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. Titled Sugar Cane Production in the 13 Everglades Agricultural Area, in a book, titled 14 water, agriculture and the environment in the 15 Everglades. 16 Has this book been published yet? 17 A. That's a very good question. 18 I don't know. It's been a long, long, 19 long drawn out process. 20 It's supposed to be coming out this 21 year, but I haven't seen it. 22 Q. When did you do the research for this 23 article? 24 A. It was just a review article. No 25 original research in there. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 16 1 It was done-- it was-- I'm guessing I 2 wrote that in about '85, '86-- no, excuse me. That 3 can't be right. 4 About '87 or '88. 5 Q. Was that article written in connection 6 with or work undertaken for the Institute of Food 7 and Agricultural Sciences for the University of 8 Florida? 9 A. Yes, there was. 10 There was an enlarged project at that 11 time, which the first part of the project 12 encompassed a literature review, and there were 13 several people involved with that, and it was 14 decided after the literature review was complete, 15 this would be a nice stand-alone publication for-- 16 and we proceeded for publication, with that in mind. 17 Q. Let me ask you to flip it to the next 18 page, page seven (indicating). 19 A. (Witness complies.) 20 Q. And you have listed a number of 21 publications in the Everglades Rice Newsletter. 22 A. Uh-hum. 23 Q. Could you tell me what research you're 24 doing on rice? 25 Is this research you're doing at the JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 17 1 present time, or is this research-- I know the dates 2 of these publications are from '88 to '91. 3 There are various volumes of the 4 Everglades Rice Newsletter. 5 Let me ask you first, are you currently 6 doing research on rice cultivation in South Florida? 7 A. No, I'm not. 8 Q. During what period of time-- well, have 9 you done research on rice cultivation in South 10 Florida? 11 A. Yes, I have. 12 Q. During what period of time? 13 A. During my whole tenure on the faculty of 14 the University of Florida, which was '86 through 15 '93. 16 Q. Was the research you did on rice 17 cultivation, focused on the Everglades agricultural 18 area? 19 A. Yes. All the work that I did, was on 20 production, practices on the organic soils, which 21 are predominantly in the EAA. 22 Q. Would this be cultivation of rice in 23 conjunction with sugar cane or vegetable 24 cultivation? 25 A. In conjunction-- I'm taking that-- it's JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 18 1 the same types of land, grown in rotation with each 2 other. 3 That's what you mean-- our studies were 4 independent. They were just rice-- our studies were 5 just rice studies. 6 Q. Would this be cultivating rice on lands 7 that were also used for sugar cane production, just 8 as part of the growing cycle for sugar cane? 9 A. Yes. Most of the rice that's produced 10 in the EAA, is in rotation with sugar cane, so 11 that's the way it works. 12 Q. Were you investigating rice cultivation, 13 as a best management practice for sugar cane? 14 A. No, not really. I just like rice as a 15 crop to work with. 16 It's-- I think it's a nice crop, has a 17 good place in that area, and there's a lot of 18 unknownds on how to grow it. 19 We were just looking at production 20 practices. 21 Q. Do you think that rice cultivation is a 22 viable BMP for reducing phosphorus in the EAA? 23 A. I think it can play a role. How 24 important, I'm not sure, but it can play a role. 25 Q. But you have never investigated for that JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 19 1 purpose? 2 A. No. 3 Q. Page 12-- 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. I want to direct your attention-- these 6 are a continuation of lists of non-refereed and 7 extension publications, printed fact sheets and 8 research reports, and I want to direct your 9 attention to the fourth article from the top, where 10 you are listed as a coauthor, I believe. 11 Is that correct? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. A 1989 study of manganese and phosphorus 14 studies (indicating). 15 A. Uh-hum. 16 Q. Can you tell me briefly what that paper 17 was about? 18 A. I-- 19 Q. Or that report? 20 A. Let me tell you what that report is. 21 This is a field day report, and it says 12th Annual 22 Rice Field Day. 23 That grandiose title refers to about a 24 one paragraph description that was given to farmers 25 on a tour of research plots, so there's not much to JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 20 1 it. There's not much substance. 2 It essentially describes the experiment 3 in place, what the treatments were and observations 4 were that we made to date. 5 Q. What was the treatment? 6 A. Well, this study-- this is one that-- 7 one explanation-- this is little publication, if I 8 remember correctly, again, and it's a while since I 9 have seen this-- actually was describing several 10 different experiments at one stop on a tour, if you 11 would. 12 My involvement there was I have this 13 interest in root system development of different 14 crop plants, and I was looking at the effect of 15 manganese treatments as a fertilizer treatment on 16 the root system development of rice, and that was my 17 role. 18 Some of the other cooperators, like 19 George Sniden, was looking at the phosphorus 20 fertility at rest. 21 Q. You weren't focusing on phosphorus, 22 yourself? 23 A. No. 24 If I remember correctly-- a caution, 25 that I might not remember correctly, because I JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 21 1 haven't seen this since 1989-- I was looking at the 2 manganese, the effect on rice root growth. 3 Q. Did you come to any conclusion about the 4 use of manganese as a fertilizer, or-- 5 A. Well, there are several situations where 6 it's very helpful, but there's other ways to-- when 7 you get a high PH soil, that manganese becomes 8 deficient, but an easy way to correct that is to put 9 the rice crop-- flood water on the rice crop, which 10 causes reduction of the soil and liberates the 11 manganese, so you can avoid it. 12 Q. It-- 13 A. It works, but you don't need it. 14 Q. Where was the rice actually being grown, 15 that was displayed on this-- 16 A. That was at the Everglades Research and 17 Education Center. 18 Q. Was that being grown in high PH soil? 19 A. Yes. I believe the PH was about seven. 20 Q. Let me ask you about the next article 21 down from that, Phosphorus Fertilization of Rice On 22 a Low-P Histosol. 23 Is this the similar kind of report to 24 the previous article you just discussed? 25 A. Let's see. Yes, very similar. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 22 1 That was-- a two-page-- let's see. Page 2 17 and 19-- report in a growers seminar proceeding, 3 which is a very similar type of deal of-- of 4 presentation, where we invite the rice growers in, 5 and talk to them about what we have going on, and 6 give them little proceedings, and-- 7 Q. Do you remember or do you recall what 8 the point of this particular presentation was? 9 A. No, I don't, and as the priority of 10 authorship, I'm on the tail end-- I probably had 11 very little to do with it. 12 Q. Can I assume that priorty of authorship, 13 holds through most of the publications listed here 14 (indicating)? 15 A. Yes. That's true. 16 Q. Do you have any views about the use of 17 phosphorus fertilization on rice, in low phosphorus 18 histosols? 19 A. Generally, there hasn't been very good 20 response to phosphorus fertility treatments in 21 rice. 22 It's an invariable, and inconclsive. 23 The last time I looked at the 24 recommendation a couple of years ago, we weren't 25 recommending the use of phosphorus fertilizer. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 23 1 Q. Why would that be? 2 Is that because whatever phosphorus the 3 rice needs, it can get from the soil directly? 4 A. Apparently. 5 Q. Have you done any studies on phosphorus 6 uptake in rice? 7 A. Not that I can recall. 8 Q. Have you done research on that subject? 9 A. I can't say for sure, but most probably, 10 I have. 11 Q. And that would be the basis-- would that 12 be the basis of your conclusion that phosphorus 13 fertilization of rice is not recommended? 14 A. Oh, yes. 15 There are publications that say that. 16 Q. Let's move right along here to page 16 17 (indicating). 18 A. (Witness complies.) 19 Q. Doctor Coale, the two articles at the 20 top of page 16, and this is a list of abstracts, 21 incidently-- 22 A. Uh-hum. 23 Q. Concerning sugar cane variety trials 24 (indicating). 25 A. Yes. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 24 1 Q. Have you undertaken research on sugar 2 cane varieties? 3 A. Yes. The work I have done pertained to 4 doing side by side comparison of commercially 5 available varieties, and make an assessment of their 6 production potential. 7 Q. And have you done any research on the 8 development of sugar cane varieties, that are more-- 9 I'll use the term, resistant to inundation by water? 10 A. No, I haven't done any research on that. 11 Q. Are you aware of research that's being 12 done on that subject? 13 A. I have one project that I observed. 14 I didn't have any involvement in it. It 15 was Doctor Christopher Darin, a University of 16 Florida faculty member. 17 He screened a pretty large population of 18 varieties. I'm not sure of the numbers, but I'll 19 guess somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred-- 20 to get an idea of the variation amongst this big 21 population, in tolerance, and he's a breeder, plant 22 breeder, and he's studying a heritable variation, in 23 terms of whether it was truly heritable. 24 Q. Do you recall if he came to any 25 conclusions? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 25 1 A. I believe he did. 2 Probably, at the time-- it still doesn't 3 mean a lot to me, because he had these hundred 4 varieties or so, and as I said, maybe 20 percent of 5 them produced nicely, and 80 percent of them didn't, 6 or what have you, but I think his results were that 7 it was quite a variation in productivity potential. 8 Q. Where you aware of whether this research 9 is ongoing? 10 A. I haven't spoken with him recently. I'm 11 not sure what the status is. 12 Q. Are you aware of any other research 13 that's going on regarding the development of sugar 14 cane varieties that could withstand inundation for 15 lengthier periods of time? 16 A. Other than the work that Doctor Darin 17 and-- 18 Q. Yes. 19 A. No. 20 Q. Let me direct your attention to-- let's 21 see. The fourth article from the bottom on page 16, 22 which lists you along with Doctors Izuno and 23 Bottcher on Drainage Water Quality and Phosphorus 24 and Nitrogen Utilization by Sugar Cane Grown On 25 Everglades Histosols. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 26 1 A. Yes. 2 Q. Is that article one of the produced-- on 3 one of the papers that you have produced for your 4 deposition today? 5 MR. GAINES: Which one? 6 MR. MACFARLANE: It's the fourth from the 7 bottom, John. 8 MR. GAINES: Okay. 9 THE WITNESS: That's an abstract of an 10 oral presentation. 11 Actually, it was a poster presentation 12 given at the American Society of Agronomy meeting, 13 and one paragraph type of abstract, and this is a 14 summary of-- I think the three papers that John sent 15 over to you. 16 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 17 Q. Would that be true also for the next 18 paper down, Sugar Cane, Phosphorus Water, The 19 everglades and a Pinch of Science? 20 A. Yes, same topic. 21 Q. Same topic? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Can you briefly summarize what the 24 conclusions were, if you can recall? 25 A. That it was-- there's a lot of JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 27 1 information packed in there. 2 We can spend some time going through all 3 the conclusions, if you would like. 4 What the conclusions of those 5 manuscripts, the three-- 6 Q. We'll get to those, then. 7 A. On page-- 8 Q. All right. On page 17, the fourth 9 abstract listed from the top, Affected Area of 10 Nutrient Acquisition for Sugar Cane Grown on 11 Everglades Histosols. 12 Do you recall that abstract? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. And what was the conclusion? 15 A. That was a study in which it was mainly 16 a research techniques type study, where we were 17 putting-- conducted fertility trials, or any trial 18 on these-- it sounds trivial, but how much bigger 19 the plots you need to use before you start getting 20 cross or contamination from one plot to the adjacent 21 plot, so we used in 15 labeled nitrogen, a 22 non-radioactive tracer to get a handle on how far 23 from-- how much sugar cane plants could acquire 24 nutrient. 25 We couldn't distinguish what was moving, JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 28 1 the nutrient in the soil, and how far the roots went 2 out to get them, but we just decided, if you have a 3 plot of sugar cane, you need to have a certain size 4 plot, and a certain buffer distance between plots, 5 before you start getting contamination between 6 plots. 7 Q. Do you recall offhand what the size of 8 that area was? 9 A. The buffer area, I believe, was two or 10 three rows, which would be 10 or 15 feet. 11 Q. Have you made recommendations or do you 12 know if recommendations have been made to the sugar 13 industry, based upon your findings in this study? 14 A. Well, we presented this, with this-- 15 this publication, and it's an abstract in the sugar 16 journal, which is an industrywide journal, so that's 17 available to them through that. 18 Q. Page 18-- 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Right at the top there you have two 21 papers in which you're listed as a coauthor here, 22 with others? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. First, Phosphorus Concentrations From 25 Drainage Water In Fields From the EAA, and Potential JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 29 1 BMPs. 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Is that article-- let me ask it this 4 way: Are the conclusions in that article, 5 essentially covered in the three papers that you 6 have produced for your deposition today? 7 A. I'm-- I can't recall what the 8 conclusions of that article were, or was. 9 It depends on how many there were. 10 Q. Right. 11 A. But it's all the same group of projects, 12 so it would all be encompassed. 13 Q. The next paper down, Phosphorus 14 Concentrations in Drainage Water in the Everglades 15 Agricultural Area. 16 That's an abstract? 17 A. Yes. 18 The one above it, also. 19 Q. Do you recall what you reported in that 20 abstract? 21 A. What I believe that was, was the 22 results-- I can't say for sure. It's been a long 23 time since I have seen that, but it was the same 24 group of studies. 25 We did one collection of studies, and JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 30 1 all these presentations and publications were 2 derived from that same group of studies. 3 Q. This group of studies concerned BMPs 4 that were appropriate for sugar cane cultivation? 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. Do you generally come to any conclusions 7 about which BMPs were most effective in the sugar 8 cane cultivation? 9 A. No. That really wasn't my intent in the 10 work that I did. 11 We were trying to not rank them or 12 prioritize them, the relative effectiveness of any 13 of the BMPs listed? 14 A. We were trying to compare one BMP, 15 versus a control, and trying to get some more 16 individual data on practices. 17 Q. Would it be fair to say, you were just 18 trying to find out what you worked and what you 19 didn't? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. About midway down the page, you are 22 listed as a coauthor with D. J. Pitts. 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. D.L. Myer and J.M. Grimm, Influence of 25 Depth to Water Table on Yield of Sugar Cane Grown on JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 31 1 Sandy Soil. 2 Do you recall what you were doing on 3 that abstract? 4 A. Yes. The whole project-- I was a very 5 congenial member of that team. I didn't have a great 6 deal of involved with it, and I think the outcome of 7 that project pretty much flooped. 8 Q. What do you mean flopped? 9 A. I think-- this happens with 10 environment-- the way it was designed in the field, 11 we couldn't do what he wanted to do, and as far as 12 controlling water levels, etcetera, and therefore, 13 the data was all confounded, very difficult to make 14 a conclusion. 15 Q. Was this experiment done in connection 16 with IFAS? 17 A. Yes. It was conducted at the Southwest 18 Florida Research and Education Center over in 19 Immocolee, Florida. 20 Q. And what was the point of the 21 experiment? 22 What were you trying to find out? 23 A. The people involved Doctor Pitt, Mr. 24 Grimm and Doctor Myer, were looking at-- Doctor 25 Pitts is an ag engineer who handled irrigation, JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 32 1 drainage, water table problems, so forth, didn't 2 know anything about sugar cane. 3 My role-- set up the-- my role was to do 4 some measurment of the sugar cane production and 5 essentially let him know what his manipulation of 6 water management impact was on the sugar cane 7 production, so my role was just to document what's 8 going on with the crop. 9 Q. Do you have any understanding of why the 10 experiment flopped? 11 A. From what I understand, and this is-- 12 again, this is recollection that might be a little 13 hazy-- what I understand was that the water table 14 levels that they were able to maintain, they 15 couldn't maintain. 16 In other words, you had to find 17 treatments, and you couldn't maintain the 18 treatments, so therefore the whole thing is 19 compromised. 20 Q. Was that a pumping problem? Do you 21 recall? 22 A. I don't really recall. 23 I think it was a plot design problem, a 24 pumping problem, a plumbing problem-- I think there 25 were all kinds of things that messed it up. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 33 1 MR. GAINES: Sounds like a flop to me. 2 THE WITNESS: It was a flop, but we did 3 it. 4 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 5 Q. Do you intend to testify about 6 phosphorus loads in water discharged from the EAA 7 into the Everglades protection area? 8 A. No. 9 MR. GAINES: Well, wait a minute. 10 THE WITNESS: In the Everglades 11 protection area? 12 MR. GAINES: Do you know what he is 13 referring to by that? 14 THE WITNESS: I'm assuming you mean the 15 water conservation areas. 16 MR. MACFARLANE: I'll clarify it. 17 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 18 Q. Do you intend to offer testimony about 19 phosphorus loading in water discharged from the EAA 20 into the water conservation areas? 21 MR. GAINES: I guess I'm not 22 understanding-- maybe you guys are understanding 23 this question better than I am, but the BMP 24 testimony, it's a very central testimony, in all of 25 the BMP testimony, unless there's some more JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 34 1 technical aspects about your question I'm not 2 following. 3 MR. MACFARLANE: I guess it was a lead in 4 to the papers that Doctor Coale has produced for 5 this deposition, but I-- 6 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 7 Q. Have you actually gone out and done 8 water sampling in connection with runoff from farms 9 in the EAA? 10 A. Yes. We have done some work in that 11 area. 12 Q. Will your testimony be based on that 13 research? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. Will it-- and that research has been 16 undertaken by you, as well as others? 17 A. Yes, in collaborating with others, at 18 times. 19 Q. And how long have you been carrying on 20 research or-- withdraw that. 21 How long have you been sampling, doing 22 the sampling of water quality in the EAA? 23 A. Yes. Well, there is a team of scientists 24 working for the University of Florida, that I was 25 part of that team, so there's-- multifaceted team JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 35 1 effort of taking-- it started, I believe, roughly 2 about 1988, and it was continued through the time I 3 left the University of Florida in 1993. 4 Q. Is it fair to see or would it be correct 5 for me to infer from what you've said about moving 6 from Florida up to Maryland-- 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. That you are no longer engaged in water 9 sampling activities in the EAA? 10 A. That's correct. 11 Q. And you stopped doing that in July of 12 '93? 13 A. Yes. 14 Probably in a practicle sense, some time 15 before that. 16 Q. Do you know if that water sampling-- if 17 the team of scientists is still conducting that 18 water sampling? 19 A. I believe some of the people are still 20 there, and some of the similar type of work is 21 continuing. 22 Q. Was that water sampling activity done in 23 connection with field tests of specific BMPs that 24 were being implemented in the EAA? 25 A. Parts of it were, yes. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 36 1 MR. MACFARLANE: Let me mark this as 2 Number Three (indicating). 3 (The document referred to 4 was thereupon marked as 5 Coale Exhibit Number 6 Three for Identification, 7 a copy of which is attached 8 hereto.) 9 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 10 Q. Doctor Coale, I have handed you Coale 11 Exhibit Number Three. 12 This is an article entitled Nutrient 13 Accumulation and Removal By Sugar Cane Grown On 14 everglades Histosols, and you are listed as an 15 author (indicating). 16 Is that correct? 17 A. That's correct. 18 Q. And, in fact, you were listed, as I 19 understand from the first page here, as the 20 corresponding author. 21 A. That's correct. 22 Q. What is the corresponding author? 23 A. That is the person responsible for 24 handling all the correspondence with editors and 25 management editors of the journals, and handle the JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 37 1 billing, for page charges, etcetera. 2 Q. How much of this article, if you can 3 recall-- how much of this article did you actually 4 write, yourself? 5 A. Virtually all of it. 6 Q. What was the work that Doctors Izuno and 7 Bottcher-- what was their input? 8 A. This was a resulting product of an 9 overall large project that was initiated to the-- of 10 Izuno and Bottcher, so they were team members. 11 Q. And the project concerned what? 12 A. It was looking at BMPs or on-farm-- 13 on-farm type, and it originally started out for 14 nitrogen and phosphorus reduction in the EAA. 15 Q. Doctor Coale, I would like to direct 16 your attention to the first paragraph (indicating). 17 A. Uh-hum. 18 Q. And just a little bit above half way 19 down that paragraph, there's a sentence that reads, 20 "Phosphorus has been determined to be the 21 biologically limiting nutrient in neighboring Lake 22 Okeechobee." 23 Do you see that sentence? 24 A. Yes, I do. 25 Q. Do you agree with that statement? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 38 1 A. Referenced with Federico in this 2 publication-- the date that he presented it, I 3 believe it was true. 4 Q. What is your understanding of the 5 phrase, biologically limiting nutrient? 6 A. In a general sense, it refers to the 7 growth of microorganisms and small macroorganisms, 8 like algae, etcetera, that-- their growth and 9 productivity is limited, because they essentially in 10 this case, have run out of phosphorus, there's not 11 enough there to support expansion of their 12 populations, and therefore, that's why-- that is why 13 phosphorus is a limiting nutrient, and you add more 14 into the system, then the population is going to 15 continue to be able to expand. 16 Q. Would it be an inference to be drawn 17 from that statement, that large amounts of 18 phosphorus would greatly expand the population of 19 those algae and other plant organisms that you were 20 mentioning? 21 A. Yes, until the point where something 22 else, other than that one element, becomes limiting. 23 Q. The next sentence down from that, 24 "Hence, the influx of P into Lake Okeechobee 25 through agriculture drainage has been proposed as a JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 39 1 contributing factor to the Lake's eutrophication." 2 MR. GAINES: I object to the form of the 3 question. 4 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 5 Q. Do you agree-- 6 MR. GAINES: I don't know if you are 7 asking him whether he agrees it has been proposed, 8 or he agrees with the proposal. 9 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 10 Q. Let's start with, do you agree it was 11 proposed as a contributing factor to the Lake's 12 eutrophication? 13 A. Yes, and I have a citation there, and 14 that was the source of that. 15 Q. And would you agree that the influx of 16 phosphorus into Lake Okeechobee, your understanding 17 of the research reflected in the citation there, was 18 a contributing factor to the Lake's accelerating 19 eutrophication? 20 A. I really can't say. 21 I really don't have any firsthand 22 experience of measuring eutrophication. 23 Q. Have you studied the eutrophication 24 process? 25 A. No, I haven't. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 40 1 Q. Let me go back to the previous sentence. 2 Do you believe that phosphorus is a 3 biologically limiting nutrient in the WCAs? 4 A. I have-- 5 MR. GAINES: You can answer. I object. 6 It's outside his area of designation of 7 his testimony, but if you have an opinion-- 8 THE WITNESS: I haven't done any studies, 9 and I really don't know. 10 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 11 Q. Let me ask you to turn to page 313 12 (indicating). 13 A. {Witness complies.) 14 Okay. 15 Q. And there's a-- I guess it's the 16 paragraph that begins on that page (indicating). 17 I would like you to look at the last two 18 sentences, "Crop P removal, was equivalent to 63 19 percent of total crop accumulation and 179 percent 20 of added fertilizer P. Apparently fertilizer P was a 21 minor contribution to the total soil pool of plant 22 available P," and that's-- as far as you are 23 concerned, that's a true statement? 24 A. Yes, it is. 25 Q. Could you explain very briefly, why JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 41 1 fertilizer P is a minor contribution to the total 2 soil pool of plant available P? 3 I assume you-- 4 A. Right. 5 Q. I'm assuming you are including sugar 6 cane. 7 A. Right. The first of those two sentences 8 you read, where we said that the crop accumulated-- 9 where I am now, crop accumulated certain amount of 10 phosphorus in the plant, and that accumulated 11 phosphorus, was equal, then, to 179 percent, or one 12 and three quarters times the amount of fertilizer 13 phosphorus that was put on the field to grow that 14 crop. 15 The efficiency of fertilizer phosphorus, 16 is not a hundred percent. You don't get it all back 17 in the crop that you put on. 18 Q. Why is that? 19 A. The chemical reaction of the phosphorus 20 fertilizer in the soil-- a lot of it becomes 21 chemically unavailable or physically unavailable for 22 the plant, and therefore, to have the plant 23 accumulate 179 percent of what you added, the-- 24 there are-- the derivation from that is, what you 25 added is a minor part of what the total available JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 42 1 amount to the crop was. 2 Q. So is the inference to be drawn-- well, 3 let me ask you, what inference would you draw from 4 that, as to where the phosphorus is coming from that 5 the sugar cane is taking up? 6 A. These organic soils, the histosols, have 7 a large background level of plant available 8 phosphorus that's there, whether you add fertilizer 9 or you don't. 10 It's a background level, and it's 11 apparently fairly substantial, and the sugar cane 12 crop can utilize that. 13 MR. MACFARLANE: Mark this as the next 14 exhibit, Four (indicating). 15 (The document referred to 16 was thereupon marked as 17 Coale Exhibit Number 18 Four for Identification, 19 a copy of which is attached 20 hereto.) A 21 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 22 Q. Doctor Coale, I have shown you Exhibit 23 Number Four. This is an article entitled Sugar Cane 24 Production Impact on Nitrogen and Phosphorus in 25 Drainage Water from an Everglades Histosol, and you JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 43 1 are listed as a coauthor with F.T. Izuno and A.B. 2 Bottcher; is that correct? 3 A. That's correct. 4 Q. Once again, Doctor Coale, did you do 5 most of the writing and the research that went into 6 this article? 7 A. Yes. I wrote this article (indicating). 8 Q. Where was the histosol that was the 9 subject of this research? 10 A. Let's see. This one was at the 11 Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle 12 Glade, Florida. 13 Q. Let me direct your attention to page 14 120, last page (indicating). 15 A. Yes. 16 Q. And at the top paragraph, it-- the third 17 sentence down, reads, "Much of the P loading in 18 drainage water may be attributed to these high 19 levels of soil P." 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. I assume you would regard that as 22 consistent with the finding of the article as it 23 exists in this Exhibit Three (indicating)? 24 A. Yes, that would be the same information. 25 Q. Continuing, "Biological oxidation of JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 44 1 soil organic matter which results in land 2 subsidence, has been identified as the primary 3 source of nutrients in drainage waters." 4 Do you agree with that statement, still 5 (indicating)? 6 A. That was reference statement from a 7 publication I have cited there in the text, on-- 8 I have no reason to believe that it's 9 not true. 10 Q. And it continues, "It has been estimated 11 that subsidence in the EAA, generates 24,800 12 milligrams phosphorus." 13 A. That's megagams. 14 Q. I apologize, megagrams of phosphorus per 15 year, or 87 kilograms of phosphorus per hectare per 16 year? 17 A. Right. 18 Q. Do you have any reason to disagree with 19 that statement? 20 A. No, I don't. 21 Q. Have you undertaken research on 22 subsidence in the EAA? 23 A. No, not directly. 24 Q. Do you anticipate giving any testimony 25 at the final hearing on subsidence? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 45 1 A. If asked, I have some opinions. 2 MR. GAINES: I think that general topic 3 of subsidence would be within his scope. 4 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 5 Q. While we're on the subject, can you tell 6 me what your opinions are with regard to subsidence? 7 A. Well, just based on the chemistry and 8 biochemistry that is going on in these organic 9 soils, the-- if-- maybe I should ask you to narrow 10 that down. 11 MR. KOBELINZKI: And maybe I should 12 object to the form. It's kind of a broad question. 13 THE WITNESS: It was kind of a huge 14 question. 15 MR. KOBELINZKI: If you could focus a 16 little more on what you're asking him. That would 17 help. 18 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 19 Q. Well, let me come at it this way: You 20 conclude here that phosphorus loading in drainage 21 water is treatable to high levels of soil 22 phosphorus. 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. While the contribution of fertilizer to 25 phosphorus, to total drainage water, was JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 46 1 undetectable. 2 I don't know-- 3 A. I was looking-- 4 Q. I'm sorry. I apologize. I don't think 5 that's what you said directly. 6 Would maintaining a high water table, 7 slow down the oxidation of soils of histosols in the 8 EAA? 9 A. Let me make sure we have the same 10 terminology going here, because-- water table, high, 11 inordinate-- 12 A. I consider a high water table being 13 closer to the surface. 14 Q. That's my understanding, as well. 15 A. A soil can only oxidize if it's in an 16 aerobic state, aerated, and if it's saturated with 17 water, it's primarily in an anaerobic state, and 18 oxidation would be reduced. 19 Q. Does it follow, maintaining high water 20 table and anerobic conditions in the soil, would 21 retard subsidence? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Do you have an opinion as to whether 24 subsidence will continue in the EAA on the 25 histosols? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 47 1 A. Given the way the soils are managed, 2 currently? 3 Q. Yes. 4 A. As long as these organic soils are 5 aerated, there will be some degree of subsidence. 6 Q. Do you-- would it follow from the 7 sentences we have just focused on this paragraph, 8 120, that water table management BMP, would have an 9 impact on reducing soil oxidation? 10 A. Water-- that would really depend on what 11 the water table management BMP did, what its final 12 outcome was. 13 Q. I think we'll get to that in a minute, 14 so-- 15 A. Okay. 16 (The document referred to 17 was thereupon marked as 18 Coale Exhibit Number 19 Five for Identification, 20 a copy of which is attached 21 hereto.) 22 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 23 Q. Doctor Coale, I have shown you the third 24 paper that's been produced as-- for your deposition, 25 and this is entitled, Phosphorus in Drainage Water JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 48 1 from Sugar Cane in Everglades Agriculture Areas As 2 Affected by Drainage Rate. 3 You were listed, again, as a coauthor 4 with Doctor Izuno and Bottcher; is that correct? 5 A. That's correct. 6 Q. Once again, did you write-- were you the 7 primary author of this paper? 8 A. Yes, I was. 9 Q. What-- can you just generally describe 10 for me, what it was that-- what the experiment was 11 that you were undertaking here, that's reported on 12 (indicating)? 13 A. Okay. 14 Q. These were studies involving sugar cane 15 growing on histosols. What the treatments were, with 16 simplisticly, a fast and a slow drainage rate from 17 different plots at that site, and measuring the 18 impact of these drainage rate treatments on crop 19 productivity and the water quality parameters of 20 nutrients in the water coming off those plots. 21 Q. If you can recall, and we can look at a 22 specific passage-- 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. Let me ask you generally, if you recall 25 what the conclusion of this paper was. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 49 1 A. I recall, because it was the opposite of 2 what we thought it was going to be when we started 3 out, which is enlightening sometimes. 4 I believe our general conclusion was 5 that in reference to field drainage water, as the 6 water coming comes the fields, that it was-- had 7 your least amount of-- lowest concentration, I 8 should say, of phosphorus, under the faster drainage 9 rate reatment, than under the slow. 10 Q. All right. 11 A. That was the bottom line. 12 Q. Why was that a surprise? 13 A. Well, our original hypothesis was if you 14 drained it faster, you would get more turbulent 15 flow. You would get more of an erosion type of 16 runoff drainage coming off that field, and 17 therefore, your sediment load or particulate or 18 phosphorus, would be much higher, but we didn't see 19 that. 20 Q. What was the recommendation or-- let me 21 ask you this way: Was there a recommendation that 22 came out of this paper? 23 A. Let me look, to make sure (indicating). 24 Q. The best thing to do would probably be 25 for me to point you to a particular passage JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 50 1 (indicating). 2 A. Okay. 3 Q. Let's turn to 125, at the very end 4 (indicating). 5 A. Yes. 6 Q. Almost at the very end there, there's a 7 sentence, "If, at the initiation of a drainage 8 event, main farm canal water which has relatively 9 low TP and TDP concentrations was rapidly pumped off 10 farm, a steep drainage gradient would develop 11 between the main farm canal and field water tables. 12 Further, if unobstructed field ditches that provided 13 minimal physical resistance to drainage water flow, 14 were maintained, the field drainage rate would be 15 fast. This situation would ensure field draining 16 water with relatively low TP and TDP 17 concentrations." 18 Let's stop there (indicating). 19 A. Okay. 20 Q. Is what you're recommending there, then, 21 that farmers employ a fast drain approach or fast 22 drainage approach when they pump? 23 A. I think there's a critical distinction 24 that needs to be made, and I think it's in here 25 somewhere (indicating.) JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 51 1 Yes. The same paragraph you were 2 reading, but the first couple of sentences of that 3 paragraph, I just want to make sure we are both on 4 the same page-- 5 Q. Yes. 6 A. This study is relative to field 7 drainage. Farm drainage, which is what comes out of 8 the main farm canal and into the area network 9 canals-- 10 Q. Yes. 11 A. Is a different phenomena that we need to 12 study. 13 This is referring to field drainage 14 coming out of the farm ditches, into the receiving 15 canals. 16 Under that condition, yes, we want to 17 see the water come off those fields into the main 18 farm canal as fast as possible. 19 Q. Did you make any recommendation here 20 about the duration of pumping at the fast drainage 21 rate? 22 Is that a subject-- 23 A. I don't believe we did at all. 24 Q. Let me ask you generally about the three 25 articles we just looked at briefly. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 52 1 How would you or would you use the 2 analysis in these three papers to make 3 recommendations, if you were called upon to do so, 4 for reducing phosphorus loads from the EAA into the 5 Everglades, the water conservation areas? 6 A. On these three papers, the first one we 7 looked at was a descriptive paper, was just ascribed 8 for-- when a sugar cane crop accumulated different 9 nutrients. 10 It gives you an idea what part of the 11 growth cycle and what part of the calendar year was 12 the most rapid accumulation rate of nutrients from 13 the soil water matrix the plant is grown in. 14 That gives you some idea what the plant 15 demand is when there's low plant demand and high. 16 We can use information like that if 17 you're trying to time applications of a nutrient. If 18 you make a nutrient available to the plant at the 19 point of high demand, the chances of that plant of 20 accumulating that nutrient is greater, than when 21 there's a low time, so-- which is common sense. 22 The second one, the second paper here, 23 is marked as number four-- 24 Q. Yes. 25 A. Number four is-- was essentially JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 53 1 comparing sugar cane-- growing sugar cane and fallow 2 land side by side, and looking at what the relative 3 contributions to phosphorus and nitrogen in drainage 4 water coming off those lands were, and the bottom 5 line was there was no distinguishable difference. 6 Q. Let me stop you and ask you what-- 7 A. Okay. 8 Q. Do you see an implication in that 9 conclusion, for a recommendation on agriculture BMPs 10 to reduce phosphorus? 11 A. The main-- I say it with a smile on my 12 face. The court reporter can't get that down, and 13 there's a-- 14 Q. Let the record reflect Doctor Coale is 15 smiling. 16 A. The main practical application of that 17 study was to see that if you just stop producing 18 sugar cane on these soils and let them sit idle, 19 you're going to have the same situation as far as 20 the quality of the water coming off the land, as you 21 have now with the sugar cane being grown, so if 22 they-- having vacant land is not a BMP. That was the 23 practical use of that data. 24 Q. Do you see any other conclusion as to 25 BMPs that might relate to that finding? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 54 1 I know that's awfully broad, but-- 2 A. At that time-- I-- I think that's about 3 all it says. 4 Q. What about the last one? 5 A. The third one as we just recently talked 6 about, was the drainage rate, and we can talk about 7 our conclusion, as far as-- about how you would use 8 these drainage rate differences and the data we 9 collected on the different drainage rates and how 10 that could be incorporated into farm water 11 management. 12 Q. So you say that primarily is a finding 13 that would lead to a recommendation that you or 14 someone else might make to individual farmers, as to 15 using what-- a pump BMP? 16 A. I wouldn't even call it a pump BMP, 17 because this whole study, we never used pumps. We 18 were at the whim of the commercial pump operation. 19 All it does, management of water within 20 the property. 21 It wasn't-- there were no BMPs involved 22 in it. 23 Q. Was it concerned at all with water table 24 management, or just strictly speaking, getting water 25 off the fields, let's say, during a rain event or JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 55 1 just after? 2 A. Right. The topic was strictly drainage 3 rate, getting the water off, how fast it came out. 4 Q. And was any phosphorus loss within the 5 water, strictly in relation to which the-- speed to 6 which the water was gotten off? 7 A. Right. 8 Q. I'm going to shift gears here. 9 Do you want to take a brief break? 10 MR. GAINES: Yes. Let's take two minutes. 11 (Thereupon a recess was taken 12 in the deposition, after which 13 the deposition continued as follows:) 14 MR. MACFARLANE: Back on the record. 15 Let's mark this as the next exhibit. 16 (The document referred to 17 was thereupon marked as 18 Coale Exhibit Number 19 Six for Identification, 20 a copy of which is attached 21 hereto.) 22 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 23 Q. Doctor Coale, I've just handed you a-- 24 an extract of the planning document of the 25 Everglades SWIM Plan. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 56 1 Do you recognize that (indicating)? 2 A. I have seen it. 3 Q. Have you had occasion to read the SWIM 4 Plan? 5 A. No. I have never studied it from front 6 to back. 7 I have looked at bits and pieces of it. 8 Q. Have you read the portion that I have 9 excerpted there, from-- let's see. It would be page 10 110 to 117, dealing with the regulatory-- the EAA 11 regulatory program (indicating). 12 A. Let me briefly walk through it. 13 Q. Sure. Take a look. Take your time 14 (indicating). 15 A. Part of this I recall, and other parts, 16 I don't recall having read it before. 17 Q. Let me direct your attention to page 113 18 (indicating). 19 A. (Witness complies.) 20 Q. And on page 113 is this list or 21 beginning of a list of BMPs with associated 22 phosphorus reduction ranges (indicating). 23 A. Uh-hum. 24 Q. Are you familiar with this particular 25 list of BMPs? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 57 1 A. Yes, I have seen this list. 2 Q. Let me just-- let's just go through 3 this, and let me ask you, directing your attention 4 to BMP number one, calibrated soil test 5 recommendations. 6 What is your understanding, if you have 7 one, of what that BMP is? 8 A. A calculated soil test is a tool to use 9 to give guidance to a farmer about how much 10 fertilizer is needed to be applied to a crop, to 11 achieve his maximum productivity potential. 12 Q. How does that work? 13 A. It's kind of a long, evolving process. 14 There's two phases to it, really. 15 First, the researcher must identify a 16 laboratory methodology by which they can take a 17 soil, collect it from a field, and essentially, what 18 you do in a crude nutshell, is put it in a glass and 19 shake it up with an extracting solution, and then 20 you measure the concentration of the nutrient and 21 solution that you pool off of that soil sample that 22 you are working with, and try to find, identify an 23 extracting solution that has a representative 24 extracting power from very low on soils, that 25 doesn't have a lot of nutrient that you're looking JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 58 1 to-- as opposed to extracting it from soils that 2 have a lot of nutrient in it, and so that's the 3 correlation phase, and so you have this extractant 4 that you are using with the soils, and then you 5 identify levels of extractable nutrient from a soil, 6 and you make a relationship between that soil test 7 level and crop response to the fertilizer, and from 8 that, you can say if you have a soil test, using an 9 arbitrary number, ten units, then we recommend you 10 need to put on X-number of pounds of whatever 11 nutrient you're interested in. 12 Q. Do you have an opinion as to whether 13 implementation of calibrated soil test BMP, could 14 reduce phosphorus losses from zero to 25, zero to 15 ten percent, for vegetables and sugar cane, 16 respectively? 17 A. As far as the exact ranges, I can't say. 18 They're probably in the ballpark. 19 Truly, zero is a realistic number on one 20 end, because if a grower is already doing that, it's 21 not going to do him any good to continue doing it, 22 so he has it in his base already, so it's standard 23 operating procedures, and the end number is 24 depending on how poor of a manager the farm was-- if 25 he was grossly over-applying, a soil test may give JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 59 1 him a tremendous, one, savings in fertilizer cost, 2 and two, savings in application of the nutrient, but 3 if he was a reasonable manager, maybe it wouldn't 4 help him at all. Maybe he was on target to begin 5 with. 6 Q. Have you undertaken any study of this 7 particular BMP, yourself? 8 A. I haven't done any soil test 9 calculations with sugar cane. 10 What I-- my experience is, I manage this 11 soil testing lab at the Everglades Research and 12 Education Center for a couple of years. 13 Q. So in that capacity, did you actually 14 perform soil tests? 15 A. I didn't perform them. We had 16 technicians that actually did the laboratory work, 17 but I supervised them. 18 Q. Would you-- were you called upon to 19 recommend a BMP to sugar cane growers-- would this 20 be a BMP you would recommend? 21 A. Yes. I would like to see every grower 22 use soil testing. 23 Q. Let me draw your attention to the second 24 one, "Banding fertilizer for vegetable production, 25 instead of broadcasting it could reduce P losses JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 60 1 from 10 to 40 percent, and application rates of 50 2 percent." 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. What is your understanding of this BMP? 5 A. I watched this work being done by 6 colleagues. I wasn't involved in-- and I had some 7 discussion, informal discussions with them, and I 8 heard some of the conclusions they came up with, and 9 banding fertilizer, in this case, phosphorus 10 fertilizer, looked like it was a very good 11 practice. 12 It looked like utilizing that practice, 13 you could reduce your fertilizer application rate 14 without sacrificing yield, so it looked like it was 15 a viable BMP. 16 Q. Does that conclusion you have just 17 given, or that opinion, apply to the statement-- let 18 me rephrase that. 19 Do you have an opinion whether that 20 particular BMP could reduce phosphorus losses from 21 10 to 40 percent, and application rates of 22 fertilizer in the order of 50 percent? 23 A. I'm not familiar with phosphorus loss 24 data. 25 In talking to some of the researches, JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 61 1 and some of the-- some of the people that do 2 research for some vegetable growing corporations, I 3 think that 50 percent application rate reduction is 4 realistic. It's somewhere near what they can do. 5 Q. Let's move on to the third BMP, 6 "Prevention of fertilizer spills and the direct 7 spreading of fertilizer into drainage ditches, could 8 reduce P losses by zero to 15 percent." 9 What is your understanding-- 10 A. I think it's a very good BMP that should 11 be 100 percent implemented. 12 Q. That's your opinion? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. How would you go about reducing 15 fertilizer spills, or how would a farmer go about 16 reducing fertilizer spills, if you were going to 17 recommend to him that-- 18 A. What you are primarily concerned with 19 there is the education of the labor who is involved 20 in transferring the fertilizer, either from the 21 tractor-trailer, or whatever means it's delivered to 22 the farm, into the spreader which takes it out into 23 the field. 24 An educational program aimed at those 25 individuals, telling them how important it is not to JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 62 1 spill, techniques to use not to spill-- it's very 2 simplistic, but it's just a matter of educating the 3 labor who is handling the material. 4 Q. Were you working at IFAS in connection 5 with IFAS researchers, at the time this particular 6 recommendation or recommended BMP was developed? 7 A. The answer is yes to that, but I'm not 8 sure of the exact date it was developed. 9 I was there, I think, during the 10 formulation process. 11 Q. Did you have occasion to go out to farms 12 and observe what the usual practices were on the 13 farms for handling fertilizer? 14 A. Oh, frequently. 15 Q. Would you say based upon your 16 observation, you would think this was a good BMP to 17 implement? 18 A. Very good. 19 Q. Do you have an opinion whether the 20 prevention of fertilizer spills and direct spreading 21 of fertilizer into drainage ditches, could reduce 22 those losses by zero to 15 percent? 23 A. Again, zero I think is the sound number, 24 because of some people that didn't spill any, to 25 start with, and 15 percent, I don't know what the JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 63 1 number would be. 2 Q. Number four, minimizing water table 3 fluctuations in vegetable and sugar cane fields-- 4 What is your understanding of this BMP? 5 A. My understanding is that what you're 6 trying to minimize is two things, or are two things; 7 one being the exposure to acres, again, of soil that 8 you don't necessarily have to have exposed to 9 oxygen, and therefore, have mineralization taking 10 place, and therefore having phosphorus release, and 11 you don't have to do that. You don't have to expose 12 more soil than necessary for farm management. 13 And the second thing relates back to 14 some of the drainage rate studies that we talked 15 about a little while ago, in that you want to-- 16 well, no use revisiting that, but want to get the 17 water off as fast as you can, and not-- off the 18 field, reiterate, the field-- this is field data-- 19 off the field as fast as you can, and not have the 20 zone of aeration going from the top of the soil 21 profile to the bottom of the soil profile during the 22 event. 23 Q. Is that what-- is that what is meant 24 here by fluctuations, as you understand it? 25 A. As I understand it, yes. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 64 1 Q. Do you, from your knowledge, know if 2 this particular water management BMP, I'll 3 characterize is as such-- 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. Is currently in use in the EAA? 6 A. Yes, I believe it is. 7 Q. Do you have an opinion whether it could 8 reduce phosphorus losses from zero to 50 percent? 9 A. I-- yes. I think phosphorus losses could 10 be reduced by-- by using these water management 11 BMPs, and in that range-- that's a pretty broad 12 range-- I think it would fit in there. 13 Q. Have you done research into water 14 management BMPs, yourself, as a part of the drainage 15 studies? 16 A. No. 17 MR. GAINES: I want to make sure that I 18 understand that. I think I do, but when you say has 19 he done any research, himself, you're referring to a 20 formal experimental study that he's conducted and 21 written up, rather than-- 22 MR. MACFARLANE: That's correct. 23 MR. KOBELINZKI: Rather than informal 24 research that he's looked into the-- 25 MR. MACFARLANE: That's correct. I'll JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 65 1 make that distinction. 2 THE WITNESS: That's the way I was 3 interpreting it. 4 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 5 Q. Have you reviewed other studies 6 undertaken by other people, you just following 7 along, of this water management practice? 8 A. Yes, I have. 9 Q. Can you, just off the top of your head, 10 list for me whose studies you have reviewed? 11 A. The research team at U.S. Sugar 12 Corporation has done a very extensive study in this 13 area, and they've-- I have looked at some of their 14 data, and have to admit it's quite impressive, how 15 much data they have collected. 16 Q. Can you give me approximately the time 17 frame which this data was collected? 18 A. The time frame? 19 Q. Yes, the data that you looked at. 20 A. Okay. The data that I looked at, was a 21 summary of data for the calendar year of 1993. 22 Q. Did you produce that data as part of 23 your document production? 24 Do you recall? 25 MR. GAINES: Yes, we did. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 66 1 MR. MACFARLANE: All right. 2 MR. GAINES: I hope you got it. 3 MR. MACFARLANE: I believe we did. 4 Off the record. 5 (Off the record discussion.) 6 BY MR. MACFARLANE: 7 Q. Back on the record. 8 Where has the U.S. Sugar team undertaken 9 this research, if you know? 10 A. At numerous locations throughout the 11 EAA. 12 Q. Do you know if this research was in 13 progress prior to 1993? 14 A. I don't know for sure. I don't know for 15 sure when they started it. 16 I'm trying to recall some of the data 17 sheets we looked at, what the dates were. 18 The summary sheet that I'm most familiar 19 with, was a '93 annual summary, and I don't know 20 when the whole project commenced. 21 I'm not sure about that. 22 Q. And is it your understanding that the 23 research that the U.S. Sugar team was undertaking, 24 was based upon this particular BMP, the minimizing 25 water table fluctuations? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 67 1 A. Well, I believe that was one of the 2 strong premises behind the work they were doing, 3 yes. 4 Q. And based upon that research and your-- 5 whatever other knowledge you have about that-- this 6 particular BMP, would you recommend that BMP to the 7 sugar cane industry? 8 A. Yes. It looked very good. 9 Q. Let me move to BMP number five, 10 retention of on-farm drainage (indicating). 11 What is your understanding of that BMP, 12 if you have one? 13 A. That has potential. 14 It-- the way I understand it works, is 15 that you would have the capability and the 16 infrastructure in place on the farm, to be able to 17 route water that you needed to drain off of one 18 field, because of-- because there's too much water 19 on that field, to get it to other areas on the farm, 20 or an adjacent farm, whatever, that could tolerate 21 more water at that period of time, and therefore, be 22 able to potentially move this water around your 23 system of internal drainageways on the property. 24 Q. Do you know if this BMP is currently 25 being used in the EAA? JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 68 1 A. I understand that it is. 2 Q. Do you know where? 3 A. In some of my discussions with 4 individuals at the U.S. Sugar research department, 5 they indicated on some of their property, they were 6 doing this. 7 Q. Do you have an opinion, whether the 8 implementation of on-farm retention of drainage, 9 could reduce phosphorus losses from 15 to 60 10 percent? 11 A. Again, as I said before a couple of 12 times, I'm really uncomfortable with the 13 percentages, because I don't have enough information 14 at my disposal to critique them. 15 I think it could be universal, and I 16 think it would have an impact on reducing overall 17 phosphorus drainage, but the range-- again, it's a 18 very broad range, and probably a reasonable 19 ballpark, and that's a-- 15 to 60 percent, that's 20 pretty large. 21 Q. I understand. The last item, do you 22 understand that this BMP could only be used for 23 sugar production (indicating)? 24 A. I guess I'm not clear as to what-- to 25 me, that sentence is excluding other operations. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 69 1 I'm not sure what other operations there 2 are. 3 Q. Vegetable. 4 A. Oh, vegetable-- 5 Q. Could you use this BMP-- 6 A. Vegetables, from what I understand-- I'm 7 not a horticulturist, but typically vegetables have 8 a lower tolerance for too much water, and their per 9 acre value is so much higher, etcetera, if that's 10 what is meant there, then they probably wouldn't 11 want to hold water on vegetable land. Probably ruin 12 your crop. 13 Q. Except if it was fallow? 14 A. Right. 15 Q. Let's move on to BMP number six, 16 retention of vegetable field drainage water in sugar 17 cane or fallow lands. 18 Do you have an understanding of that 19 BMP? 20 A. I believe that's very similar to the one 21 before, just a more specific case of some literature 22 which has shown that phosphorus in drainage water 23 from vegetable fields, tends to be higher than from 24 sugar cane fields, and sugar cane has some tolerance 25 to more inundation by water than vegetables do, so JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 70 1 you could perhaps support some of that water-- that 2 you wanted to take off your vegetables fields, and 3 put it on the sugar cane field, without having much 4 impact on the sugar cane. 5 Q. Do you have an opinion whether 6 implementation of this practice, could reduce 7 phosphorus losses from 20 to 90 percent from any 8 particular farm? 9 A. That's even a bigger one. 10 Yes. I would say somewhere in that 11 ballpark, yes, 20 to 90 percent. 12 Q. It would be correct, that this would be 13 a BMP you would be prepeared to recommend, if it 14 were appropriate for a particular farm? 15 A. Right. If the situation was right, and 16 they had a-- all the necessary factors in place, it 17 would be a good BMP. 18 Q. What sort of situation would one need to 19 have, in order to implement these BMPs? 20 A. Well, if your operations didn't include 21 any vegetable land, it would be a moot point. This 22 BMP wouldn't be usable. 23 Q. Are there any other factors that you 24 could think of, that-- 25 A. You have to be physically able to move JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 71 1 that water from that point where you're draining it 2 off the vegetable producing area-- physically be 3 able to move it to the area where you want to put it 4 on the sugar cane or fallow land. 5 If you don't have the right connections 6 and the ditch workings, and then you wouldn't-- if 7 you could only dump it in one direction-- if you 8 need to take it north and you can only take it 9 south, then you couldn't use it. 10 Q. Number seven, aquatic cover crop for 11 off-season vegetable production and fallow rotation 12 of sugar cane, could reduce P losses from five to 13 twenty percent. 14 What is your understanding, if you have 15 one, of that particular BMP? 16 A. The only practical cover crop I could 17 think of in that situation, would be the-- would be 18 the use of rice. 19 When you harvest a rice crop, the rice 20 crop you harvest, the rough rice, as it's called 21 when it comes off the field, there is some 22 phosphorus content in the grain which is physically 23 removed, or-- I would say the last recommendation I 24 saw for rice production, was we didn't recommend any 25 phosphorus inputs, no fertilizer on that, so it JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 72 1 makes sense that if you're growing a crop that is 2 physically removing phosphorus from a field in the 3 harvested product, the grain, which is hauled away 4 in a truck, and not adding a new source of 5 phosphorus to the field, it seems like a pretty good 6 BMP for removing phosphorus from the system. 7 Q. Would the use of an aquatic cover crop, 8 like rice, affect the phosphorus production in any 9 other way? 10 A. Well, during the period when the crop 11 was-- the aquatic parts of the year when the rice 12 crop was flooded, you would be essentially 13 eliminatng soil oxidation during that period of 14 time, and therefore, you wouldn't see the 15 mineralization of soil or phosphorus, for that 16 matter, than you normally would if it was aerated. 17 Q. Am I correct in thinking this would be a 18 BMP you would recommend, again, if it were 19 appropriate to do so for a particular farm? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. And do you have an opinion whether 22 implementation of this BMP, could reduce phosphorus 23 losses from five to twenty percent? 24 A. I haven't done the calculation about how 25 much phosphorus is removed in the grain of a rice JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 73 1 crop. 2 But to me, if you are looking at the 3 entire-- the system, which I call the water, the 4 soil, the plant, put together, that whatever is 5 removed in the grain harvest, is the net reduction 6 from the system, that has the potential to go 7 somewhere else, if you didn't take it off from the 8 grain crop. 9 Q. Assuming that you weren't fertilizing? 10 A. Right. 11 Q. Number eight, on-farm retention ponds 12 utilized to store excess rainfall for later use as 13 irrigation water. 14 Do you have an understanding of this 15 particular BMP? 16 A. I believe I understand what it means, 17 that they have retention possibility as a-- 18 physically constructed area for holding water. 19 I have not seen this in practice 20 anywhere in sugar cane production in the EAA. 21 Q. Do you have an opinion as to its 22 practicality or effectiveness as a BMP? 23 A. No, I really don't, because I haven't 24 seen it, and I haven't seen any data relating to it. 25 Q. When you say you haven't seen it, you JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 74 1 haven't seen it in action? 2 A. Right. 3 Q. So would it be correct in thinking that 4 you would not be prepared to give an opinion as to 5 whether it could reduce phosphorus losses from 10 to 6 60 percent? 7 A. That's true. 8 Q. And number nine, coordinated farm crop 9 cropping patterns. 10 Do you understand what that BMP entails, 11 as it's indicated here, BMPs four through seven? 12 A. I think it touches back on what we 13 talked before, about if a person doesn't have the 14 capacity to move his water north, and his only place 15 he could use the water or store the water, is in a 16 sugar cane field, for example, on the north side of 17 his property, not on the south, he couldn't use it. 18 If he wanted to use that BMP in the 19 future, he may need to pump in the other direction, 20 or flip-flop the cropping on these two areas, so he 21 could move from south to north, and not from north 22 to south, vice-versa, with his water movement. 23 You can use an aquatic cover crop, and 24 if you don't have the water available, you can't, so 25 those are the examples. JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 75 1 I tend to think of these as coordinating 2 cropping patterns, and you have to mesh these 3 different BMPs, like I said, to give them the 4 physical ability to work on that location. It's 5 very location specific, farm by farm specific. 6 Q. Are you aware of any attempt in the EAA 7 to change the particular pattern of crops, in order 8 to maximize the effectiveness of a certain group of 9 BMPs? 10 A. I'm hesitating, because I'm trying to 11 recall if I do. 12 Q. Take your time. 13 A. I can't recall that this has been done, 14 historically. 15 Q. Do you know whether it's being done at 16 the present time? 17 A. I can't say for sure. 18 I-- that some of the BMPs are being 19 used, for example-- I mentioned before, for example, 20 that we saw-- well, we're taking about the people at 21 U.S. Sugar, they are draining water from vegetables 22 and retaining on-farm. We mentioned that earlier, 23 so that is-- that is some of these BMPs in 24 practice. 25 Maybe I should change back what I said JACK BESONER & ASSOCIATES 150 WEST FLAGLER STEET, MIAMI, FL 33130 (305) 371-1537 76 1 earlier, but that's one case they are being used. 2 Q. Did that particular instance involve 3 actually changing the crops that were grown on 4 adjoining fields, let's say, or adjacent fields, to 5 implement a number of these BMPs? 6 A. I don't think I can say. 7 I don't know what their original plans 8 were, and if they changed them from what the 9 original-- I don't know if they have a ten year plan 10 for what they are going to do, and they changed it, 11 whether it was going to happen on