Florida takes legal action in Manatee court against Piney Point owner, alleging negligence
Florida’s environmental agency on Thursday filed a legal action against the owner of the troubled Piney Point, alleging negligence and seeking reimbursement and a new manager to oversee the shutdown of the former industrial site.
Meanwhile, Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes walked back comments he made earlier this week about the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s role in the Piney Point cleanup process.
Speaking with a group of representatives from each of the county’s municipalities on Tuesday, Hopes stated that the state environmental agency was “backing off a little bit” from the management of the site. On Thursday, he emphasized the state’s oversight of the property, calling his previous description “a misrepresentation.”
“DEP, the state of Florida, the governor and emergency management — no one has backed away from it,” Hopes told the Board of County Commissioners during a public meeting. “They are putting pressure on HRK throughout the bankruptcy proceedings. They are required to have a plan while they are owners.”
HRK Holdings, LLC owns the site of the former phosphate processing plant.
“They’re not backing off,” Commissioner Vanessa Baugh added. “They’re very much involved.”
The Bradenton Herald reported on the comments Hopes gave earlier this week while he provided a Piney Point update at the Council of Government. His statement was recorded in a video live stream of the public meeting.
“The important point about what’s going on is that FDEP is backing off a little bit. They’ve sort of given control back to HRK,” Hopes said at the time. “They’re turning the screws to HRK to give them a plan on how to manage this. They’re still monitoring it. We are still monitoring it, but they are basically ratcheting down on HRK to deliver to them a plan on how they’re managing this.”
Shortly after the Herald published an article detailing Hopes’ update, FDEP released its first update on the cleanup operations at Piney Point in nearly a month. Before that, the most recent “daily update” came on July 7.
“DEP continues its oversight of HRK’s onsite water management activities to safely control water levels, respond to rainfall events and support water treatment,” a spokesman said Wednesday evening. “DEP will continue to monitor current and future weather conditions and ensure HRK adjusts water management strategies as needed.”
On Thursday afternoon, an FDEP spokesman did not immediately provide answers to detailed questions about the agency’s current role in the closure process. Reached for comment, Hopes said he has a scheduled call with Shawn Hamilton, the agency’s interim secretary, to discuss the latest updates at Piney Point.
“HRK is back in the front seat of managing their own property,” Hopes explained. “DEP is very engaged in the procedures they go through to put Piney Point in the posture of the closure process.”
Representatives of HRK did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Lawsuit against owner
By Thursday evening, FDEP took a “pivotal step” in Piney Point’s closure, announcing that the agency filed a legal complaint in Manatee County Circuit Court that alleges HRK’s negligence in managing the site. The agency is seeking cost recovery and a court-appointed third party to oversee the closure and management of the site.
“This action enforces compliance with the state’s environmental laws and all of HRK’s existing authorizations, orders and agreements with the department,” Hamilton said in a statement. “The department is seeking the maximum allowable penalties and recovery of costs and damages under existing laws and regulations.”
The state agency has maintained oversight at the former phosphate processing plant for decades. HRK Holdings, LLC, first purchased the site from FDEP in 2006, offering to manage the contaminated water on the 667-acre property while leasing the rest of the industrial site to warehouse users in order to turn a profit.
“I hope County Administrator Hopes can work with the state to develop some measurable actions and a timeline so that there’s a clear expectation for what’s going to happen, what they’re going to do, and now that HRK is involved and they are in bankruptcy — it’s a volatile situation. We want to make sure we don’t slide backward and keep moving forward,” County Commissioner Misty Servia said.
Public records show that HRK’s engineers have begun submitting updated maintenance plans to FDEP following the environmental disaster earlier this year. In March, site operators detected a leak in the bottom of a 77-acre pond holding contaminated water.
That leak led state officials to authorize the emergency release of 215 million gallons of contaminated water directly into Tampa Bay. Since then, the leak has been sealed and only stormwater runoff has been discharged from the site, according to an FDEP spokesman.
In documents published Wednesday, Ardaman & Associates, HRK’s third-party engineering consultant, suggested several recommendations to safely manage Piney Point’s closure. The most important goal is to limit the amount of water stored in the pond that began leaking in March.
“Any storage of water at levels higher than recommended above can result in increased risk of damage and failure of the liner breach repair mechanism, or opening of a new breach in the liner at a different location, resulting in an uncontrolled release of wastewater,” HRK’s hired engineers wrote.”
Ardaman & Associates recommended keeping the water levels at least 10 feet lower than what they were when the pond sprang a leak due to a torn liner. The consultant also suggested routine liner inspections and restricting access to the area near the torn liner to “trained personnel.”
In a slideshow presentation prepared for senior FDEP officials, Ardaman & Associates also detailed explored several scenarios for the future of the site. The analysis is based on different choices HRK can take as the site operators work toward treating and releasing the contaminated water on the site.
Speaking with commissioners on Thursday, Hopes also hinted at an upcoming proposal that may move Piney Point’s closure further along.
“I think you’ll be pleased with where the state and the county are in terms of progress,” Hopes said.
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 3:45 PM.
