It could take until 2025 for Piney Point to be closed. The property, which was a troubled old fertilizer-plant property, sparked an environmental crisis in Tampa Bay last spring.
A plan that was released this week shows the difficulty of the state’s efforts to address the environmental threat. In Tampa Bay, more than 200 million gallons contaminated water were released last year by a leak in a storage tank. Scientists believe that the water was laden with nitrogen and may have fueled algae growth. It may also have contributed to a toxic Red Tide that caused fish deaths.
Piney Point crews have to still drain hundreds of millions of gallons water from reservoirs. The site is now under the daily control of a court-appointed receiver. Workers spent the last year trying not to cause another major spillage or leakage while removing nutrients from wastewater to ensure that a second discharge would be less harmful to bay.
Piney Point is still at risk from water-related problems such as tears in the plastic liners, heavy rains, or tropical cyclones. This makes it a constant danger. According to Herb Donica, the proposed plan was filed by engineers for Ardaman & Associates, Inc., which suggests that the closure should be completed by July 2025.
This fall could see a major step. When a 3,300-foot injection well is requiredDonica wrote an email that the site was being drilled in Manatee County and might be ready to start pumping wastewater underground. The amount of wastewater stored at the site will drop from then on. The well is expected start operating in October or November. According to the reportOr the end of another hurricane season.
Alexandra Kuchta, spokesperson at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection wrote in an email that the agency is currently reviewing and evaluating the plan to ensure it meets all regulations. The agency will decide if the plan is approved. Kuchta said that the Ardaman report showed that Piney Point’s main sections could be capped in December 2024.
According to a status file filed in court records, Donica, an attorney from Tampa, estimated that closing Piney Point could take between 4 and 5 years.
Near the Hillsborough-Manatee border, a plant used to break down phosphate rock for fertilizer was once located on the property. The byproduct, phosphogypsum was left behind. It was piled high in mounds known as stacks. Phosphogypsum, although not radioactive enough to make it dangerous for people, is prohibited from being used in the U.S. except for its storage in large piles.
Piney Point’s stacks surround large wastewater storage tanks. A company called HRK Holdings discovered signs of a leakage in one reservoir last March. According to the state the pond contains a mixture of contaminated water from manufacturing, seawater from Port Manatee’s dredging projects, and rainwater. It needed a plastic liner.
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Fearing that the leak would cause the whole stack to collapse, unleashing After a devastating flood of water inundating homes and businesses around Tampa Bay, Florida’s environmental regulators permitted HRK Holdings (the neighboring port) to release approximately 215 million gallons contaminated water into the bay.
According to the state, the pond where the water leaked had previously contained 262 million gallons. According to engineers’ plans, the entire system contained around 400 million gallons. According to the plan, the injection well could pump approximately 1 million gallons per day.
Already, some Piney Point water is being piped into a local reclamation facility. Another water is being sent through a system that encourages evaporation. Donica and other employees on the property are trying keep the ponds under capacity as another rainy year approaches. HRK Holdings had warned the reservoirs that they were close to their limits prior to the discharge last spring.
The latest emergency echoed previous problems at Piney Point that have been the source of numerous polluted releases in recent years. Florida lawmakers supported a budget of $100million last year to clean and close the property.
In an effort to recover costs, the Department of Environmental Protection has sued HRK Holdings. It is unclear how much closure will cost.
The state environmental agency announced Wednesday that it had received the plan and stated that it is laser-focused to close this facility so that there is no threat to the environment or the surrounding community.