WUSF 89.7 News
(2001-06-21)
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PALMETTO, FL
(WUSF) -
Florida taxpayers are paying millions of dollars to keep two bankrupt phosphate plants operating. The state now wants to close one of them.
Bankrupt Phosphate Plant Called Disaster In Waiting
Only months after it took over its operations to prevent a possible environmental catastrophe, the state now wants to shut down the Piney Point phosphate processing plant.
State environmental officials say they want to prevent any spills of highly acidic water into nearby Tampa Bay. Piney Point is located just south of the Hillsborough-Manatee county line, near Palmetto.
Such a spill happened at another processing plant owned by Mulberry Phosphates. More than a million fish in the Alafia River were estimated to have been killed when a retaining wall of an acidic holding pond there gave way in 1997. State regulators have since taken over that plant in Mulberry.
Officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have petitioned a judge in Manatee County to allow them to shut down Piney Point. A decision may come as early as July.
The state has contracted to keep a skeleton crew at the two plants for the past several months. Their main mission is to keep ponds filled with acidic process water from overflowing into nearby waterways during the summer rainy season.
Joe Bakker, chief of the state's Bureau of Mine Reclamation, says by the time it's all over, Florida taxpayers could be out millions. He says there's little chance the state will ever see any money if the plant's assets are sold. That's because one French bank claims it is owed $36 million dollars.
BAKKER: From what I've been hearing, there's not even enough for all of the banks. So the state is in a second position. There may not be residual amounts for the state to be reimbursed.
Calls to an attorney representing Mulberry Phosphates in bankruptcy court were not returned.
A local environmental watchdog group is praising the state's efforts. Glenn Compton is head of Manasota-88.
COMPTON: Piney Point is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. Not only does it have the potential to cause significant harm to Tampa Bay, but it also has enough phosphogypsum there where it really has become a health hazard to the area, to the residents that are surrounding it.
Mr. Compton says the only way to prevent future acid spills is to close Piney Point for good.
COMPTON: It's unfortunate that we've gotten to the point where the plant has gotten so deteriorated that the taxpayers are now paying the electric bills for the pumps that prevent liquid seepage from the piles of gypsum rock from tainting Tampa Bay, Terra Ceia Bay and Bishop's Harbor, which is an outstanding Florida water.
In order to close a plant like this, the highly acidic process water must first be disposed of. At the Mulberry plant, an agreement was reached last month to siphon 300 million gallons to two nearby phosphate plants. But there are no such plants near Piney Point.
One suggestion has been to neutralize the half-billion gallons of acidic water and pump it into Tampa Bay. Regulators aren't so sure about that option, Mr. Bakker says.
BAKKER: We've got to find some means of getting rid of the process water off of the site.
Then, they have to level off the top of the massive stacks of phosphogypsum, the slightly radioactive byproduct of fertilizer production. The stacks would have to be lined with sheets of plastic, then covered with topsoil. Grass would then have to be planted to prevent erosion.
That would cost millions of dollars, Mr. Bakker says. There is an alternative - but Mr. Bakker says it is a long shot because the phosphate industry has been in recession for years.
BAKKER: If there is a buyer who has the financial wherewithal to purchase the site and operate the site effectively, in an environmentally sound manner, I'm quite sure that the state would be interested in that.
We shouldn't count on that option anytime soon, he says. So, in the meantime, state taxpayers will continue getting stuck with the bill. © Copyright 2012, WUSF
