Buchanan: EPA must oversee toxic wastewater cleanup at shuttered plant in Florida

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce federal rules governing the storage and cleanup of toxic wastewater at the former Piney Point phosphate processing plant in Manatee County, Fla.

“My congressional district faces a potential environmental nightmare that requires immediate federal attention,” Buchanan wrote in a recent letter sent to EPA Regional Administrator Kathy Walker. “Contaminated water from a long-abandoned phosphate processing plant is threatening to leak into our region’s water supply. Federal oversight is urgently needed to ensure the safe management and disposal of the contaminated water and prevent an environmental disaster.”

Various stakeholders of the former Piney Point fertilizer plant, which opened in 1966 and was abandoned in 2001, have failed to find a solution to safely drain the property’s toxic stacks of phosphogypsum, a radioactive waste byproduct of the fertilizer manufacturing process that is stored in stacks covered in water. The material must be treated before being introduced to the water supply, according to Rep. Buchanan’s letter.

“Meanwhile, millions of gallons of contaminated water have spilled from the site into Bishop Harbor and Tampa Bay,” wrote the congressman. “More recently, officials warned that holding ponds of contaminated water are quickly running out of capacity, further threatening the region.” 

Rep. Buchanan noted that clean water and environmental protections are critical to maintain the quality of life in southwest Florida. “I urge the EPA to step in and help protect public health and the environment by providing technical and scientific support to safely manage and drain the phosphogypsum stacks,” he wrote.