What simply occurred? The Environmental Safety Company (EPA) has granted preliminary approval for a pilot mission permitting Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC to assemble a highway utilizing phosphogypsum – a radioactive byproduct of fertilizer manufacturing – on its property in New Wales, Florida. This choice has sparked concern amongst environmentalists and raised questions on potential well being and environmental hazards.
Phosphogypsum comprises radium, which decays into radon gasoline. Each are radioactive and identified carcinogens, in keeping with the EPA. Traditionally, the company has opposed utilizing phosphogypsum in highway building because of the dangers it poses to building staff and future residents dwelling close to such roads.
However the EPA claims that public publicity to the highway might be restricted. Nevertheless, Mosaic has described this effort as a part of a broader initiative to “display the vary of … highway building designs,” suggesting that this may very well be a stepping stone in the direction of extra widespread use of phosphogypsum in highway building.
As billions of tons of phosphogypsum accumulate, significantly in states like Florida, the seek for options stays contentious. Whereas some see potential in repurposing the fabric, opponents argue it poses vital public well being dangers.
The pilot mission entails developing 4 take a look at highway sections, every 500 ft lengthy and 24 ft large, utilizing phosphogypsum from the New Wales South stack. These sections will include as much as 50% phosphogypsum by weight in a single 10-inch highway base layer. For comparability, 4 management sections with out phosphogypsum will even be constructed.
Environmental teams strongly oppose the EPA’s choice. Ragan Whitlock, an lawyer with the Middle for Organic Variety, referred to as the approval “mind-boggling,” citing issues about dangers to highway crews and water high quality. Whitlock accused the EPA of caving to strain from the phosphate business, probably opening the door to widespread use of hazardous waste in roads nationwide.
EPA’s timing has additionally raised eyebrows. A request for public touch upon the mission was issued on October 9, simply hours earlier than Hurricane Milton was anticipated to make landfall within the Tampa Bay space as a Class 5 storm. This timing was significantly regarding given the historical past of environmental points related to phosphogypsum stacks throughout extreme climate occasions.
The truth is, days after Hurricane Milton struck as a Class 3 storm, Mosaic reported that contaminated water had been discharged from its Riverview web site into Tampa Bay as a result of extreme rainfall. This incident underscores the continuing environmental challenges related to phosphogypsum storage.
The EPA’s choice marks a departure from its 1992 stance, which deemed phosphogypsum use in highway building an unacceptable public well being danger. Since then, laws have required phosphogypsum to be saved in stacks on non-public land as a result of its most cancers dangers and different well being hazards from radon emissions.
Though the EPA insists the danger from this particular mission is “extraordinarily low,” critics argue it units a harmful precedent for future use of phosphogypsum in public infrastructure.
