As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s west coast with strong winds and driving rain, environmentalists fear it could spread the polluted remnants of the state’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry and other hazardous waste across the peninsula and into vulnerable waterways.
More than a billion tons of mildly radioactive phosphogypsum waste is stored in “chimneys” that resemble giant ponds that can spill during severe storms. There are 25 such deposits in Florida, most centered around massive phosphate mines and fertilizer processing plants central part of the stateand environmentalists say almost all of them are on Milton’s planned path.
“Placing vulnerable sites so close to important waterways that could be damaged by storms is a recipe for disaster,” said Ragan Whitlock, an attorney for the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity. “These are ticking time bombs.”
Phosphogypsum, a solid waste product from processing phosphate ore to make chemical fertilizer, contains radium, which breaks down into radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Phosphogypsum can also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel.
This waste is all the more problematic because there is no easy way to dispose of it, so it piles up and becomes a bigger target for storms like Monster Milton, which is expected to hit central Florida late Wednesday with Category 3 sustained winds of nearly 130 mph, a possible storm surge of 8 to 12 feet (2 to 3.5 meters) and 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain.
A lesser storm, Hurricane Frances, which hit the state’s east coast as a Category 2 and swept through central Florida in 2004, washed 65 million gallons of acidic wastewater from phosphogypsum piles into nearby waterways, killing thousands of fish and other marine life.
Of particular concern in Milton is the Piney Point wastewater reservoir, located on the Tampa Bay coast, which has structural problems that have caused regular leaks over the years.
A leak in March 2021 led to the release of an estimated 215 million gallons of polluted water into the bay and caused massive fish kills. Another leak in August 2022 released another 4.5 million gallons of wastewater. To make matters worse, the site’s previous owner, HRC Holdings, has filed for bankruptcy and management is now the responsibility of a court-appointed insolvency administrator.
The country’s largest U.S. phosphate producer, The mosaic company, owns two stacks at its Riverview facility, which sits on the shores of Tampa Bay. In 2016, a sinkhole opened beneath the company’s New Wales Gypstack, spilling millions of gallons of contaminated sludge into the state’s main drinking water aquifer. The company said tests showed the incident had no off-site impact, but the site was at risk of further damage from a storm as strong as Milton.
When asked about preparations for the coming storm, Mosaik pointed to a statement on its website: “Preparations for hurricane season include reviewing lessons learned from the previous year, updating our preparedness and response plans… and conducting inspections to… “Ensure all test pumps, generators, etc. are in place.” Other equipment needed in the event of severe weather is on site and in good working order.”
Florida and North Carolina are responsible for mining 80% of the U.S. phosphorus, which is important not only for agriculture but also for munitions production.
Over and beyond In addition to the mine stacks, the Tampa Bay area is also home to old ones Toxic waste dumps which are among the worst in the country. A former pesticide manufacturing plant, the Stauffer Chemical Co., has polluted the Anclote River, groundwater and soil. Today it is an EPA Superfund site that will take years to clean up.
The EPA said on the website that it is “ensuring this site is protected from potential impacts from Hurricane Milton.”
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday it is preparing all available resources critical to the facilities it regulates, as well as securing state parks and water conservation areas to minimize the impact of storms.
“We are currently preparing for the storm locally, both professionally and personally,” said Mosaic spokeswoman Ashleigh Gallant. “If there are impacts, we will announce them publicly after the storm.”
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Biesecker reported from Washington, Dearen from Los Angeles.