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Piney Point deep well injection permit on fast track

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Environment, Featured, Outdoors.

PALMETTO – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) intends to approve a permit for Manatee County’s plan to inject industrial wastewater from Piney Point into an underground well, according to a Nov. 24 notice.

The county applied for the permit in April to build and test a deep injection well system at 3105 Buckeye Road. The project consists of a 3,300-foot-deep well to hold wastewater from the former phosphate fertilizer plant and a test well of up to 950 feet deep to monitor drinking water. The permit request states that drinking water in the Floridan aquifer at the site is located at about 900 feet.

FDEP issued a draft permit on Sept. 1 for Manatee County to build and test the system. On Nov. 24, the state agency announced it had reviewed more than 7,356 public comments and determined the county’s application for the well meets “all applicable regulations for protection of groundwater resources and the environment.”

In a release, FDEP said: “This project is one potential element of the necessary water removal that will enable the ultimate closure of the Piney Point facility once and for all, eliminating the threat from this site to the environment and the community. DEP continues to support the court-appointed receiver on his next steps to manage and treat water at the facility, and to ultimately complete a final closure of the site in a safe manner as quickly as possible.”

The FDEP notice states that the agency plans to issue the permit unless a petition for an administrative hearing is filed within 14 days of publication of the notice, Dec. 8.

Five environmental organizations notified the county on Sept. 30 that they intend to sue the county over the plan. The Center for Biological Diversity, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, ManaSota-88 and our Children’s Earth Foundation previously sued Piney Point owner HRK Holdings LLC, Gov. Ron DeSantis, FDEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton and the Manatee County Port Authority in June over the dumping of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay in March and April from a storage pond on a compromised phosphogypsum stack at the closed plant. FDEP approved the discharge to avoid the stack’s collapse and potential for flooding area homes and businesses.

The contaminated water spread throughout Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay, transporting nitrogen and phosphorus that spurred a red tide bloom in April causing fish kills and respiratory irritation, according to the plaintiffs. The red tide lasted until November.

FDEP sued HRK in August, asking the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Manatee County for injunctive relief to prevent any more discharges of wastewater from Piney Point, claiming that HRK failed to safely operate the gyp stacks to protect surface and groundwater. The company has defaulted in the case by failing to respond, according to Manatee County Clerk of Court documents. HRK has been in receivership since August; it also is in bankruptcy and is the subject of a repossession.

Environmental groups sue over deep well injection plan

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Environment, Featured, Outdoors, Red tide.

PALMETTO – Five environmental organizations notified Manatee County on Sept. 30 that they intend to sue the county over its plan to inject contaminated water from Piney Point into an underground well.

The groups previously sued Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Secretary Shawn Hamilton, Piney Point owner HRK Holdings LLC and the Manatee County Port Authority in June over the dumping of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay in March and April from a storage pond on a compromised phosphogypsum stack at the closed fertilizer plant. FDEP approved the discharge to avoid the stack’s collapse and potential for flooding area homes and businesses.

The contaminated water spread throughout Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay, transporting nitrogen and phosphorus that spurred a red tide bloom in April that caused fish kills and respiratory irritation, according to the plaintiffs. Red tide remains in medium concentrations in Manatee County waters, as well as Sarasota County to the south and Pinellas County to the north, according to the latest Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report.

FDEP sued HRK on Aug. 5 asking the 12th Judicial Circuit Court for injunctive relief to prevent any more discharges of wastewater from Piney Point, claiming that HRK failed to safely operate the gyp stacks and protect surface and groundwater.

The state agency then issued a draft permit on Sept. 1 for Manatee County to build and test an underground injection well and a monitor well at 3105 Buckeye Road up to 3,300 feet deep to hold the wastewater. The monitor well to test drinking water would be up to 950 feet deep; the permit states that drinking water in the Floridan aquifer at the site is located at about 900 feet.

Injection well concerns

In its forthcoming case, plaintiffs say they oppose the county’s plan to inject the 271 million gallons of wastewater remaining in the gypsum stack pond into a deep well, claiming that “Piney Point’s radioactive waste would be injected underground into the fragile, porous karst geology that holds the groundwater supplies millions of Floridians depend on for drinking water.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, ManaSota-88 and our Children’s Earth Foundation explained the reasons for their lawsuit in a press release.

“This risky, shortsighted plan would be a dangerous experiment and set a troubling precedent for how we handle failing phosphogypsum stacks,” said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“The phosphate industry and FDEP continue to fail to ensure safe disposal of the industry’s polluted waste,” said Justin Bloom, Suncoast Waterkeeper founder and board member.

“There are many problems associated with deep well injection; wells are subject to failure and there are too many unknown hazards with injecting phosphogypsum wastewater,” said Glenn Compton, chairman of ManaSota-88.

“Florida’s officials are gambling with our water quality and our children’s futures,” said Annie Beaman, co-executive director of the Our Children’s Earth Foundation.

“There are too many unknowns for this to be our way forward,” said Megan Eakins, board chair of Tampa Bay Waterkeeper. “We need more clarity about injection well risks, the composition of the waste stream, and alternatives to be sure that this is the best way to protect our vulnerable environment and communities from this toxic, radioactive waste.”

“It is both unlawful and unwise for Manatee County to inject Piney Point’s hazardous waste into the ground simply for the sake of expediency,” said Daniel Snyder, an attorney with the Law Offices of Charles M. Tebbutt, P.C., who is representing the groups. “For too long, Florida regulators have stood by while the situation at Piney Point deteriorated. Now, instead of directly cleaning up this environmental disaster and abating the endangerment it poses, regulators decide to sweep the problem under the geologic rug, putting Florida’s groundwater at risk of significant contamination.”

Public comments sought

A public meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 6 from 4-7 p.m. at the Manatee County Central Library Auditorium, 1301 Barcarrota Blvd., Bradenton, to allow an opportunity for citizens to provide input on the draft permit for the well and ask questions and obtain information about the draft permit and permitting process.

Anyone unable to attend the meeting in person who wishes to provide public comments in writing can mail them to: Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Aquifer Protection Program, 2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 3530, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400.

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Piney Point ‘closure’ not the last word

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Environment, Outdoors.

PALMETTO – When the former Piney Point phosphate plant is finally closed, the site will require monitoring – permanently – the Florida House of Representatives’ Agriculture and Flooding Subcommittee learned last week.

Closure of the environmentally-compromised site “… does mean that we’ll be doing monitoring of the site perpetually now until you and I are long gone from this planet,” subcommittee member Rep. Tobin “Toby” Overdorf (R- Port St. Lucie) said to Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Secretary Shawn Hamilton on Sept. 22 during Hamilton’s update on Piney Point.

“Yes, sir. Long-term monitoring will be required. That is a fact and is expected,” said Hamilton, calling the closure process of the site at 13300 U.S. Hwy. 41 N. a “multi-year event.”

A meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 6 from 4–7 p.m. at the Manatee County Central Library Auditorium, 1301 Barcarrota Blvd., Bradenton for public comment on the FDEP’s draft permit to allow Manatee County to build a deep injection well for Piney Point’s wastewater.

A leak was detected at the site in a gypsum stack that holds a retention pond on March 25, and FDEP approved the discharge of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay to avoid an even larger spill that could have flooded area homes and businesses. The damaged area was patched.

The contaminated water contains phosphogypsum process water, seawater, rain, dredge material from Port Manatee and nitrogen and phosphorus, which act as fertilizer for red tide. The toxic algae has caused fish kills and respiratory irritation in and around Tampa Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and connected waterways – including around Anna Maria Island – since mid-April. Medium levels of the toxic algae were detected in water samples last week off AMI.

“Nutrients cause red tide. There’s no debate about that,” Hamilton said.

Shawn Hamilton, Secretary, Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Since the discharge, the contaminated water is being treated to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in the “unfortunate event” that another discharge becomes necessary, he said.

Each time it rains into the open pond, stormwater comes in contact with the contaminated water, increasing its volume, which was 273 million gallons as of Saturday, Sept. 25. Hamilton said the goal is to prevent stormwater from contacting the contaminated water, “…so you’re talking about getting to a point where the only thing coming off of that site to a large degree is clean stormwater.”

More than 2.2 million gallons of treated water have been transported to Manatee County’s North Regional Water Reclamation Facility to keep the pond from overflowing, with stormwater being discharged separately. As of last weekend, the pond had the capacity to store another 9.4 inches of rainfall.

“Dewatering” the plant is the first priority for the new receiver, Herbert Donica, a business lawyer and partner of the Tampa-based Donica Law Firm, appointed in August to manage the 466-acre site owned by HRK Holdings LLC. The company is in bankruptcy and is the subject of a repossession, as well as the defendant in two other lawsuits, one brought by FDEP and one by a group of environmental organizations.

To that end, FDEP issued a draft permit earlier this month for Manatee County to build a deep injection well to contain the contaminated water, which local environmental organizations oppose.

Asked about the safety of the well system, Hamilton called it “a proven technology,” adding, “We would not be supportive of anything that directly put our drinking water at risk.”

A public meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, Oct. 6 from 4–7 p.m. at the Manatee County Central Library Auditorium, 1301 Barcarrota Blvd., Bradenton, to allow an opportunity for citizens to provide input on the draft permit as well ask questions and obtain information about the draft permit and permitting process.

Anyone unable to attend the meeting in person who wishes to provide public comments in writing can mail them to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Aquifer Protection Program, 2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 3530, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400.

Related coverage

No to deep well injection at Piney Point

 

Piney Point deep water injection well draft permit issued

 

Piney Point under new management

 

Rainfall could prompt second discharge at Piney Point

 

Florida DEP sues Piney Point owner

 

Conservation groups sue over Piney Point discharge

 

Piney Point-algae link explored

 

Piney Point spill leads to lawsuit

 

Piney Point pollution spreading, affecting dolphins

 

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No to deep well injection at Piney Point

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Letter to the Editor, Opinion.

Dear Commissioners:

ManaSota-88 respectfully requests the Manatee Board of County Commission withdraw the application for an Underground Injection Control Well at Piney Point and place this item on the agenda for the next Manatee County Board of County Commission meeting.

ManaSota-88 continues to oppose construction of any deep injection well in the vicinity of the former Piney Point Phosphate Plant.

Groundwater pollution detection is an inexact science, it is easy to miss a toxic plume. Our knowledge of the health risks of long-term exposure of toxic and radioactive substances in phosphate wastewater is very limited.

There are many problems associated with deep well injection. All wells are subject to failure and there are too many unknowns to safely inject treated or partially treated effluent. The operation of a deep well relies very heavily on predictions and good faith.

Deep well injection is done because liquid wastes that cannot be discharged into surface waters are injected into deep wells. Thus, the worst wastes end up in these wells. If a failure occurs, very little can be done to correct it. If an aquifer is contaminated, it’s too late.

Confining layers don’t confine and effluents will ultimately migrate beyond the point of injection.

Monitoring programs are highly ineffective. Little is known of the chemistry and the biology of phosphate related well-injected wastes, excepting that those wastes move underground.
While the models upon which decisions to inject wastes are based look good on paper, changing conditions in the aquifers can allow wastewater to seep into the groundwater supply, and it would be too late then to correct the problem.

Groundwater is one of our most precious natural resources. Contaminated groundwater is extremely difficult, expensive and time-consuming to clean up. It is impossible to pump and treat all the contaminated groundwater in a plume and some of the contaminants will cling to soil particles and remain untreated in any event.

There are no easy answers to getting rid of the radioactive and toxic wastewater at the former Piney Point Phosphate Plant, however, deep well injection is not a solution that should be considered.

Sincerely,

Glenn Compton – Chairman
ManaSota-88, Inc.
P.O. Box 1728
Nokomis, Florida 34274
(941) 966-6256