Abstract:
The Texasgulf Company has the right to mine phosphate, the key ingredient in fertilizer, from a 40,000-acre plot of land close to Aurora. Combined with sulphuric acid, phosphate becomes phosphoric acid, and the plant ships it product to customers who make liquid fertilizers, such as those used by the state's farmers. The company has spent six million dollars on pollution control and monitoring equipment. It has also given Smithsonian Institution paleontologists the right to search the site for prehistoric fossils, such as sharks.