Will Piney Point deep well aid site closure? Residents learn more about the process
Concerned citizens peppered state scientists Wednesday evening with questions about how an underground injection control well would protect their water and lead to Piney Point’s closure.
Specifically, will storing Piney Point’s hazardous water in the Floridian aquifer be safe?
Staff with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Manatee County explained how the technology would pump contaminated water from the former phosphate processing plant 2,000 feet underground in order to prevent another spill.
Wednesday’s open house hearing was a mandatory part of the county’s permit application to build a well. More than 75 residents attended the meeting, giving them an opportunity to learn more about the technology that has been heralded as the “safest option” to close the site.
“It’s a safe process, but it’s not without risks,” said Herbert Donica, the court-appointed receiver who is now in charge of Piney Point’s day-to-day operations. “This is a scientific problem. You have to weigh the risk. We are all on the same side of the issue, but doing nothing is a nonstarter.”
According to an FDEP spokesperson, the agency will review the public comments that were submitted and ensure that Manatee County’s permit application meets Florida law. A permit could be issued within a few weeks. County officials say their goal is to have an operation well by next summer.
The planned well is capable of injecting up to 1 million gallons of treated wastewater a day. Emptying the ponds on the property is expected to take 2 or 3 years, according to County Administrator Scott Hopes.
“It’s an ambitious schedule, but we’re ready to go,” said Hopes.
What happened at Piney Point?
Piney Point is an industrial site on U.S. 41 near Manatee’s northern border with Hillsborough County. In March, site operators found a leak in a large pond that held 800 million gallons of contaminated water, threatening a flood in the surrounding areas.
In order to avoid that flood scenario, state officials authorized the emergency release of 215 million gallons of water into Tampa Bay, which some scientists say may have led to a red tide event due to the increased nutrient load.
For several decades, the former phosphate processing plant accepted phosphate rock and ran it through heavy machinery in order to extract phosphorus, a key ingredient in fertilizer. In 2001, the former owners went bankrupt and left the entire operation behind, along with all the hazardous waste that the plant created.
Gypsum is a byproduct of phosphorus extraction. Because gypsum is slightly radioactive, the material cannot be used for any other purpose. At Piney Point, and more than 20 other facilities in Florida, the gypsum is piled into huge mounds called gypsum stacks.
Those stacks are covered with a heavy-duty plastic liner to prevent the gypsum from contaminating surrounding properties. On top of that liner are huge ponds of process water that the plant used to operate the machinery. Because process water is rich in nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, it must be treated before it can be released into local waterways.
A tear in the liner allowed process water to leak on the Piney Point property. Engineers said the leak could have destabilized the system, forcing them to ease pressure on the gypsum stack by releasing water into Tampa Bay.
Well is key part of Piney Point closure
The situation earlier this year spurred lawmakers into funding a plan to close the site, which had been a thorn in their side for more than 20 years. The Florida Legislature set aside $100 million toward site cleanup, while the Manatee Board of County Commissioners voted to move forward with the $10 million well in order to dispose of the water.
By pumping the wastewater 2,000 feet underground into the Lower Floridian Aquifer, the water will undergo a natural treatment process, scientists say. Over the next several thousand years, the water will migrate underground, removing the contaminants. Hydrogeologists predict the water will appear completely free of any contamination in the Gulf of Mexico 100,000 years from now.
The county already owns and operates other underground injection wells, also known as deep wells. Those wells are also used to dispose of wastewater.
Speaking with the Bradenton Herald at Wednesday’s hearing, several residents said their biggest concern with the proposal to build a well was the risk of failure at a later date. Critics also pointed to what they called soft regulations that left taxpayers paying the bill for a problem caused by a private business.
“This is a problem that shouldn’t exist. Why should we be the ones to cover the cost? There should be a tax on this industry and a separate fund to pay for things like this when they go wrong,” said Ruth Waller, a Bradenton resident and member of the Manatee County Democratic Party’s Environmental Caucus.
“I’m not a scientist, I’m just looking for common sense,” she added.
Tom Morton, a resident of East Bradenton, also criticized a system that protects polluters from paying to resolve the issues they create.
“My main concern is that this happened in the first place,” Morton said, referring to this year’s environmental disaster. “It was not some unknown situation before the spill. No one ever did anything about it and now the taxpayers are picking up the bill.”
Groups push for well alternatives
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a frequent critic of how the state handled Piney Point over the years, announced Wednesday that she submitted her own public comment on the well permit. She wrote that “it defies all logic” for FDEP to consider the well instead of other water treatment options.
“I ask that you not only deny this deep well injection permit, but also prohibit any expansions or new phosphogypsum stacks until our state can find a way to safely store phosphogypsum without risking the health and safety of Floridians, our environment, and our economy,” said Fried, who is also one of the Democrats running against Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.
County commissioners considered a well in 2013 before backing away from the proposal after residents voiced concerns about how a well might affect drinking water or local agriculture. According to FDEP leaders, there are strict regulations in place, such as a secondary monitoring well, that will make sure that the contaminated water never mixes with the county’s drinking water.
The requested permit to build a well has also been met with legal pushback. Last week, several environmental groups sent Manatee a joint complaint detailing their concerns with the well. Specifically, the coalition said they believed the water that goes into the well should be treated to a higher standard in order to remove harmful contaminants, such as aluminum and arsenic.
“We should be sparing no expense to ensure that Tampa Bay and surrounding areas aren’t harmed,” said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity said.
Lindsay Cross, the government relations director for the Florida Conservation Voters organization, attended Wednesday’s hearing and had similar worries about the plan to inject the water without a stronger treatment method.
“We don’t have adequate pre-treatment, and until that’s done, we can’t talk about using one of these wells for long-term storage,” Cross said. “There’s already been so much damage from this environmental disaster. We can’t start skipping steps.”
The water will undergo a pre-treatment process, but that system is only meant to remove solid particles and certain elements that could clog the well. FDEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton told lawmakers the same thing in a Tallahassee hearing last month.
“Since we’re going into a zone of the aquifer that’s unused, there are no water quality targets that you have to achieve,” Hamilton told state lawmakers on Sept. 22. “There’s a pre-treatment that has to happen before the water is injected — the purpose of that pre-treatment is to protect and maintain the integrity of the well.”
Despite the mixed opinions on the option, Donica, the court-appointed receiver, said the science points to an underground injection well as the best option for the community. As hurricane season comes to an end, there’s still an uneasiness on the Piney Point property, where officials hope to build the well before the ponds fill back up again with rainfall.
“The worst-case scenario is a sidewall failure before we can get the well built. If we have a hurricane, we have a problem that’s not solvable,” Donica said, pointing out that the deep well plan still has them racing against the clock. “It’s not a great plan, but it’s the one we’re cornered into. Frankly, it’s the safest option.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 10:42 AM.
