Piney Point is a threat to Tampa Bay. Buchanan says it’s time to get help from the EPA
Growing pools of contaminated wastewater are threatening Tampa Bay, and U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is urging the federal government to get involved.
In a Tuesday letter to Mary Walker, a regional administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, Buchanan called Piney Point “a potential environmental nightmare that requires immediate federal attention.”
A former phosphate plant, Piney Point was abandoned in 2001 and has since been taken over by HRK Holdings, LLC, with environmental oversight coming from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
But it’s been nearly 20 years since the plant closed and the environmental hazard has not been resolved. In a recent update to the Manatee Board of County Commissioners, Jeff Barath, HRK’s Piney Point site manager, said the three ponds of contaminated water are filling up quickly and in danger of a spill.
“We are quickly running out of process water capacity inside of the Piney Point facility,” Barath said during a Sept. 22 meeting. “I appreciate everyone coming together and understanding the importance of this so that we can hopefully, collectively come up with an environmentally responsible and economically viable solution.”
Phosphogypsum mining produces process water as a chemical byproduct, but that water has to be treated before it can be released into local waters. HRK Holdings is using a spray evaporation technique to clear out the ponds, but it’s a slow process that is virtually canceled out by rain and other environmental factors.
Piney Point’s process water has spilled before. About 70 million gallons were spilled due to a 2004 hurricane and another spill in 2011 sent 170 million gallons of process water into Bishop Harbor and Tampa Bay.
Now, Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, is seeking federal assistance.
“Clean water and protecting our environment are critical to our quality of life in Southwest Florida,” Buchanan wrote. “Federal oversight is needed to ensure the safe management and disposal of the contaminated water and prevent an environmental disaster.”
Buchanan, a seven-term representative, is also up for re-election in November, and his opponent’s campaign called the letter an opportunistic attempt to win over voters right before Election Day.
“Buchanan’s sudden interest in cleaning up Piney Point two weeks out from an election rings hollow given his record of voting to gut the EPA by giving chemical industry insiders control over its operations and to make it more difficult for the EPA to issue new rules to protect the environment,” Alex Koren, state Rep. Margaret Good’s campaign manager, said in a prepared statement Wednesday, after an earlier version of this story was published.
“And as politicians in Washinton and Tallahassee rolled back clean water protections, Buchanan was right there with them — voting repeatedly to weaken the Clean Water Act,” Koren continued. “It’s no wonder that Buchanan has only ever received failing grades from Clean Water Action.”
Good, D-Sarasota, and Buchanan are set to participate in their first and only debate Friday afternoon.
A 2019 study found that Piney Point could reach capacity within two years. County commissioners are also eager to resolve the issue, and are considering a plan that would allow HRK to send 50,000 gallons of process water a day via one of Manatee’s wastewater treatment plants. That plan could buy Piney Point four more years of capacity.
“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,” Buchanan concluded.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 12:59 PM.
