Image by Floyd Rice

By Jack Merriam, FLVCS Environmental Working Group

Climate change has long been a threat to national security and Florida’s economy and environment. Now we need to add phosphate mining and processing as an additional threat to Florida’s economy and environment.

Piney Point highlights the dangers and real costs to the public of continuing to mine and produce chemical fertilizer, which leaves a toxic (radioactive) waste product that has no disposal solution. Mining companies continue to pile waste up into toxic “mountains” until an “unforeseen” event causes an environmental/economic disaster and flushes toxic waste into the nearest waterbody, or it disappears into our drinking water aquifer. And Piney Point is hardly a unique occurrence in Florida. USF’s Ocean Circulation Lab has simulated the latest spillage into Tampa Bay. It graphically shows how the toxic plume spread into the bay. 

Review of phosphogypsum stack safety

Let’s do a quick review of some of the safety record of phosphogypsum stacks in Florida. (Much of this comes from an article by Craig Pittman entitled: “The Clock is Ticking on Florida’s Mountains of Hazardous Phosphate Waste,” published in the May 2017 issue of Sarasota Magazine.)

In 1994, a sinkhole opened up beneath a phosphogypsum stack in Mulberry, Florida, resulting in draining the toxic, acidic water into the aquifer. This spill was followed in 1997 by heavy rains, which caused a failure of the dike on a phosphogypsum stack at the Mulberry phosphate plant on FL SR-60. It dumped 56 million gallons of acidic water into the Alafia River, killing all aquatic wildlife for 42 miles downriver.

The Piney Point disaster began in 2003 with a leak from the phosphogypsum stack. The liability caused the owners to file for bankruptcy, and they walked away. That left the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (and Florida taxpayers) responsible for cleanup and closing of the site.

The next year, in 2004, Hurricane Frances hit Florida and set up waves atop a phosphogypsum stack in Riverview, Florida, which caused a breach in the dike at the top that spilled 65 million gallons of toxic and acidic water into Archie Creek.

A little over a decade later, a 2016 sinkhole swallowed a Mulberry phosphogypsum stack and leaked 215 million gallons of toxic water into our drinking water aquifer.

The “worst case scenario” just occurred!

And now the latest “unforeseen” event at Piney Point. According to a review of court documents in a pending lawsuit, Dennis Maley of the Bradenton Times found that the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) recommended against putting dredge spoil from Port Manatee into the ponds at Piney Point. This recommendation was in spite of pressure to change their position. The USACOE stated concerns included:

• The phosphogypsum stack itself is not an engineered structure.
• The stack itself contains hazardous and toxic material.
• There is documentation of past slope stability and piping issues at the site.
• The worst case scenario for Piney Point being used as a dredged material disposal facility would be a breach in the liner. Such a breach would allow water to saturate and cause a failure to the phosphogypsum stack, enabling the mixing of large volumes of dredged material with large volumes of phosphogypsum.

In spite of opposition from the USACOE, placing dredge spoil in the pond at Piney Point was approved. The “worst case scenario” is precisely what happened. Is anyone surprised by this latest environmental and economic disaster? Does anyone still believe that phosphogypsum stacks are an acceptable way of “disposing” of toxic phosphate processing waste?

Can Florida really afford the Phosphate mining risks?

The USACOE’s assessment of the environmental risks at Piney Point was spot on! Isn’t it time that Florida state and local governments begin paying attention to the environmental and economic risks associated with phosphate mining and processing? The history of the safety of phosphogypsum stacks demonstrates that heavy rains, hurricanes and sinkholes all pose grave dangers to phosphogypsum stacks, and therefore to our economy and environment. Further, we’re seeing that climate change is increasing the probability of all these hazards.

Florida is experiencing heavier rainfall over shorter timeframes and increasing intensity of hurricanes, and it may well experience severe droughts as is currently happening in the western United States. Droughts may lead to lower groundwater levels, which would increase the risk of sinkholes.

In Florida, it is well known that much of the soil is already high in phosphorus and does not require the additional phosphorus. That is the reason fertilizer in Florida is often sold without phosphorus in it. The phosphorous being mined is not for Florida’s benefit.

It’s time to change the regulation of phosphate mining and processing. Florida needs to make the phosphate industry spend their money to neutralize their toxic waste, rather than the citizens’ tax money to help clean up disasters after the “unforeseen” act of God. These disasters will only become more common with climate change impacting the roughly two dozen phosphogypsum stacks that currently exist in Florida!

What about Red Tide impacts?

Piney Point pumping just added a lot of nitrogen fertilizer to our local waters. A 2014 article published in Harmful Algae journal and authored by 16 experts (including many Florida scientists) in the research on Red Tide, recommended: “Efforts should be made to reduce nutrient inputs as much as possible because all nutrient inputs eventually are incorporated into the bioavailable pool due to recycling processes.” The west coast of Florida is already seeing the red tide organism in its waters. The Piney Point leakage will be a confounding factor in assessing the impact of any bad Red Tide year and holding responsible parties accountable. 

What can be done? Everyone can help.

FLVCS’s report, Urgency and Action, details how everyone can help reverse climate change. One of those ways is so-called “regenerative agriculture and landscaping.” Regenerative techniques use natural methods, such as compost, cover crops, managed grazing where animals help provide soil fertility, and silvopasture (growing trees in pastures). FLVCS and its associated charity are spearheading the planting of microforests to sequester rather than emit greenhouse gases.

Tell Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature that you are tired of picking up the bill for phosphate mining and processing disasters. With climate change, we can no longer take the risks to our economy and our environment.

Learn more about Phosphate mining 

• Watch Jack’s talk on the Piney Point environmental disaster at the FLVCS May 2021 meeting.  
• Piney Point Threatens Tampa Bay, but other FL Estuaries are in Trouble, too by Craig Pittman

Jack Merriam:

Former staff director for Committee on Natural Resources for the Florida House of Representatives

Previously worked in Phosphate Mine Reclamation for Florida Bureau of Geology

Ringling College Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, instructing classes on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

Return to the FLVCS Energy and the Environment page.