Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times reports on yet another incident involving a Mosaic phosphogypsum stack. The "seepage" at the Bartow facility was non reported to the pubic for 3 weeks by either Mosaic or the FDEP. Mosaic says it didn't have to permit the public know. Read the article – you be the judge.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2019/11/19/polluted-water-is-seeping-at-mosaic-site/

News article in the Winter Haven Sun regarding the problems Mosaic has with its phosphogypsum stacks. Click on link to view this article.

https://www.yoursun.com/haven/mosaic-submits-critical-condition-report-to-fdep-epa/article_269fe996-08ac-11ea-b627-f377bb2148f3.html

This article by Craig Pittman appeared in the October 1, 2015 Tampa Bay Times. Information technology's worth a few minutes to read it once again. We're certain Mosaic would like everyone to forget nigh information technology.

Link to the Mosaic letter to the FDEP re a Variance Renewal Request for the Fort Light-green Mining site restoration timing for an additional 10 years.

The Mosaic Corporation is denying their responsibleness of continuing to tests wells for the areas surrounding the New Wales Institute where 215 meg gallons of radioactive toxic water entered the Floridan aquifer in a sinkhole disaster in August 2016. The FDEP should require the continued testing of whatsoever Floridian resident wells who call up their well water might be compromised past this enormous "accident". In that location are 25 gypstacks in Florida and each one of them has the potential to contaminate our water supply.

Published: December two, 2016, POLK Canton, Fla. (WFLA)

Read Full Commodity here: https://www.wfla.com/eight-on-your-side/investigations/mosaic-scales-back-well-testing-for-sinkhole-neighbors/995214069

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After making a public records request to the State of Florida for documents about the Polk County sinkhole, and experiencing weeks of delay in receiving a response, Congresswoman Gwen Graham today said that the records which were released raise serious questions virtually the response of the governor'south office and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to a potential crunch.

"Unless there are records that were not produced as required past law, the disclosures prove an alarming lack of advice amidst state regulators virtually a threat to the health and prophylactic of Florida families and our environment," said Graham. "I am very concerned that we had a watchdog agency comatose at the cycle."

Co-ordinate to the records, earlier the sinkhole was exposed by the media, nearly all of the electronic communications regarding the incident were email exchanges betwixt the DEP and Mosaic employees. Records from the governor's office and DEP contained very few internal communications between state employees apropos the sinkhole earlier it became public. And while at that place were several emails from the governor's function about Graham's questions, there were none demonstrating concern over the sinkhole and DEP's response or examining potential solutions to the problem.

Equally concerning was the state'due south communications with its ain scientists, much of which appears to exist instructions on how to handle questions from constituents and the press. At to the lowest degree one geologist, who has spent more 20 years working for the country, raised concerns over the lack of information: "I'1000 working on that facility with EPA merely no 1 told me about it [the sinkhole]. So much for communication."

"These public records responses indicate advice has broken down within Governor Scott's land agencies," Graham said. "With this kind of threat to Florida families and the environment, the governor'south office and DEP should have been ringing alarm bells and taking swift activity. Naught in these records indicates they were operating with any sense of urgency. Either nosotros are nonetheless missing documents, or the land didn't particularly care. Neither situation is acceptable."

The records from the governor's office can be institute, here. Emails from DEP can exist found, here. Video footage of the sinkhole found in the emails can also exist viewed, here.

POLK Canton, Fla. (WFLA) – Some residents who live near the massive sinkhole at Mosaic's New Wales Constitute are worried almost their well water.

Recent exam results prove they should be concerned because of loftier levels of radioactive material. What is not clear is whether the Mosaic sinkhole, which dropped 215 one thousand thousand gallons of radioactive h2o into the Florida aquifer, has anything to exercise with information technology.

Mosaic – and some experts – say it's possible the radioactivity was already present in some of these wells. They said information technology could have been acquired by by "natural geologic processes." Testing so far, according to the Florida Section of Environmental Protection, show the contaminated h2o has been captured exactly the way it should be.

A DEP spokeswoman sent 8 On Your Side an electronic mail that said test results do not testify that contaminants from the New Wales plant are showing up in the well water. At that place are certain characteristics from the New Wales water that are not showing up in the well h2o, leading the state to conclude the harmful materials in the water are unrelated to the sinkhole. The state official wrote:

"The ongoing monitoring onsite at the New Wales facility continues to show no motion of process water away from the sinkhole location. Process water is only existence detected in the recovery well samples to engagement, which indicates that the recovery well is working as expected and capturing process water. In this geographic region of Florida, levels of gross alpha that are higher up the drinking water standard are oftentimes associated with natural geologic processes. In other cases, they may be related to the construction of the water well itself. "

But resident Jennifer Psait isn't sure she'south buying that. She points to a delay in Mosaic notifying residents about the problems.

One of two wells on Bob Coat'south property has then much radium in the brown h2o that he close it off – out of fear. Psait is Coat'south side by side-door tenant. She shares his two wells. Psait is worried virtually her three children who, until recently, drank and bathed in the h2o

"I'm not a chemist, or a chemistry student," she said. "I think that's pretty bad."

H2o tests prove radium levels of 52.01 picocuries per liter – that'south more than than v times the acceptable standard. Psait is concerned about the lack of information from Mosaic officials. And she's leery of what they do tell her, since the visitor wasn't forthcoming, at first, when the sinkhole opened in tardily Baronial.

"The thing I really don't respect nearly them is that they knew that had happened, even when they had coordinated with the legislature and they didn't report information technology to the public. They but reported it when it started getting leaked," Psait said.

The Mosaic sinkhole dropped more than 215 million gallons of radioactive h2o into the Florida aquifer. The company has tested 763 nearby wells and say ten show water that's not safe to drink. But the company takes no responsibility for this, proverb the radioactive materials are only a coincidence.

DEP officials say they are trying to contact all of the residents with wells that showed contaminated water and volition assist those residents in determining how to fix their water issues. In the concurrently, Mosaic continues to deliver drinking water to residents who request it.

Testing shows radioactive material in wells; state says material is unrelated to Mosaic sinkhole

Water Coalition places 'slime' billboards along I-75
By Virginia Chamlee | 12.07.11 | 12:48 pm

Slime Billboard
One of the Florida H2o Coalition billboards (Pic by Florida Water Coalition)
The Florida H2o Coalition, a grouping that recently filed a petition against the land's recently drafted water rules, has put up two billboards in an effort to "educate Floridians and visitors about the state's widespread algae pollution trouble and to urge citizens to let their government representatives know that they don't want more than delays – they want clear limits on the amount of sewage, manure and fertilizer pollution in our public waters."
Both billboards incorporate a photograph of a large-scale algal bloom in Fanning Springs, an area that was once clear all the way to its sandy bottom. According to the Coalition, "development and large-calibration agricultural operations in the spring'southward watershed accept spewed pollution underground into the aquifer, and information technology bubbles up in the leap, altering the water chemical science and triggering nauseating toxic algae outbreaks."
1 billboard is loicated on Interstate 75 between Gainesville and Ocala, the other is as well on I-75, merely south of Lake Metropolis.
The Florida Water Coalition — which is comprised of the Florida Wildlife Federation, Earthjustice, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and the St. Johns Riverkeeper — recently filed a petition against the state's "numeric food criteria," a set of standards they argue aren't potent enough to ward off food pollution in waterways.
The coalition has argued that the standards are then poor, in fact, that they "would really be less protective than no numeric nutrient standards." Many environmentalists have argued that the regime dragged its feet in producing the standards, and is at present favoring the polluters over the public.
"The toxic algae that comes from sewage, manure and fertilizer runoff is a public health threat. It is poisoning our drinking water and making people sick," said Monica Reimer, an chaser with Earthjustice, in a press release. "Among other things, information technology causes respiratory bug, stomach problems, and rashes."
Another problem, says Reimer, is that the pollution is harming businesses across the state.
"We depend on tourists to run our economy," Reimer said. "Look at the reality on our billboards. This is obviously not good for Florida tourism. This affects jobs."
According to a press release, the funding for the billboards came from grassroots activists. Though in that location are currently only ii billboards erected, the Coalition has hopes information technology can spread its message across the country equally the campaign expands.

EPA, GOP In 'Caput-To-Head' Fight Over Residential Radiations Standard
Posted: July 8, 2011
A grouping of Republican congressmen from Florida are battling EPA over whether the agency should survey parts of the land where it fears tens of thousands of people living on former phosphate mines may be exposed to dangerous levels of radiations, with the lawmakers challenging EPA's long-held cleanup standard for radioactive contagion in residential areas.
According to i congressional staffer, the Republican congressmen and EPA's administrator are in a "head to head" fight over the surveys, fifty-fifty as EPA is considering using them more widely.
At issue are approximately 10 square miles of former phosphate mining lands near Lakeland, FL, where EPA has taken no cleanup action despite having had concerns since the late 1970s that the indoor air of homes built on the lands is contaminated with cancer-causing levels of radiation. EPA's concerns, fabricated public by an accolade-winning series of Within EPA manufactures in 2010, take prompted a negative reaction from the Republican congressmen, who believe the bureau'southward fears are overblown.
In February the lawmakers, who include Reps. Dennis Ross, Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Richard Nugent and Thomas Rooney, sent a alphabetic character to EPA Ambassador Lisa Jackson in which they take consequence with EPA having recently conducted a preliminary aerial survey nearly the area in question, according to the letter of the alphabet, which Inside EPA recently obtained through a Freedom of Data Act (FOIA) asking. The survey is considered to be a key early step in a possible cleanup process (Superfund Report, Feb. vii).
In the letter, the lawmakers telephone call EPA's long-held standard for cleaning upwardly radioactive contagion in residential areas "capricious" and claim that past studies past the Florida Department of Health constitute no health risks in the area. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com. (Doc ID: 2369534)
In a May response letter to the congressmen, EPA waste principal Mathy Stanislaus does not directly accost the lawmakers' challenge to the agency's cleanup standard. Merely he defends EPA's utilize of aerial surveys and does not offer to halt such surveys or notify the lawmakers prior to conducting them in the future, every bit the lawmakers demand in their letter.
Stanislaus offers to encounter with the congressmen, but according to an EPA spokeswoman, no such meeting has been scheduled.
According to a spokesman for Ross, the congressmen are "still in a head-to-head fight with [EPA Administrator] Lisa Jackson about getting notification on flyovers, let alone having them brought to a halt." Spokesmen for the other lawmakers could not exist reached for comment.
Stanislaus says that the express survey EPA conducted earlier this year "contributed valuable information to the agencies as plans for a larger-calibration survey were considered . . . Based on this information, EPA is considering a larger-scale aerial survey to collect data related to phosphate mining sites and background areas."
He adds that it "is important to annotation that conducting an aeriform survey is not necessarily an indicator of a concern or a need for remedial action. Surveys are too useful tools for confirming areas that are non considered to pose potential health or ecological risks."
According to the EPA spokeswoman, EPA has non yet fabricated a last decision on how to proceed with such surveys.
The EPA standard, which the agency has used as the basis for radiological cleanups near residential areas throughout the country, has long been a source of contention between EPA, Florida and phosphate mining industry officials. The disagreement is one of the main reasons why the agency has withal to act on its concerns near human exposure in the expanse (Superfund Report, Jan. 25, 2010).
The standard, which comes from EPA'south regulations under the Uranium Manufacturing plant Tailings Radiation Command Human action (UMTRCA), dictates that radium-226 concentrations in soil — which are often elevated on land that has been mined for phosphate — should not exceed 5 picocuries per gram (pCi/g) above what naturally occurs in the expanse. EPA has long relied on the standard equally an applicative or relevant and appropriate requirement (ARAR) under Superfund law for radioactive cleanups most residential areas around the country.
But Florida officials have argued that no cleanup is necessary unless people are being exposed to more than 500 millirem (mrem) of radiation per yr, a proposition that some environmentalists fearfulness could set up a unsafe precedent given that EPA has historically considered exposures in a higher place xv mrem to be unsafe.
In their February letter, the congressmen merits that the federal Bureau for Toxic Substances and Illness Registry (ATSDR) "in reviewing the [EPA] standard, stated [it] could exist ready two orders of magnitude higher and still be protective of homo wellness."
Merely while ATSDR in documents previously obtained past Inside EPA suggests that it would be satisfied with a 100 mrem standard, the agency in the documents says it does not object to EPA relying on its traditional ARAR, to which the congressmen and state officials are opposed.
In add-on, ATSDR says in the documents that it agrees with EPA that aerial surveys of the area are necessary.
Just in their letter of the alphabet, the Republican congressmen call such surveys "an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars. Furthermore, the arbitrary standard advocated by the EPA creates a meaning risk of placing an unjustified and permanent stigma over thousands of acres of country in [our] district[southward].
"Florida's real estate market is already under meaning duress as a result of the economical downturn in our own land," the lawmakers add. "These potential actions by the EPA stand up to impede Florida's recovery without any basis in man wellness risks."
Co-ordinate to documents Inside EPA previously obtained under FOIA, many of the areas EPA is concerned with are occupied past wealthy, up-scale residential developments and resorts. Merely according to more contempo documents, EPA is besides concerned that some of the potentially afflicted areas could be low-income or minority communities, creating ecology justice concerns. — Douglas P. Guarino
© 2000-2011. Within Washington Publishers
—
Douglas P. Guarino
Acquaintance Editor
Inside Washington Publishers
(Inside EPA'southward Superfund Report)
1919 South Eads Street, Suite 201
Arlington, VA 22202
703-416-8518
fax:703-416-8543
mailto:dguarino@iwpnews.com

Originally posted on the Bradenton Times: www.thebradentontimes.com.

Environmental Party Alleges Major Conflict of Interest with Army Corps of Engineers' Phosphate Mining EIS Contractor

The Bradenton Times
Published Saturday, April 30, 2011 ii:00 am
by Ecology Party of Florida

JACKSONVILLE – The Ecology Party of Florida has discovered a directly conflict of interest with CH2M Loma, the engineering business firm awarded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) contract for preparing the Areawide Environmental Affect Statement (AEIS) of phosphate mining. The AEIS is supposed to determine all of the direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of phosphate mining in Florida, including groundwater pirated from the Everglades watershed by the phosphate mining companies.

One of the adverse impacts of phosphate mining is that a chancy grade of fluoride is produced as one of the mining past-products. Instead of properly disposing of this hazardous waste material, phosphate mining companies such equally Mosaic, one of the companies with mines being evaluated under the AEIS, "dispose" of the chancy fluoride by selling it to exist dumped into municipal h2o systems throughout the U.s.a. every bit fluoridation of our tap water.

"While preparing comments for the Regular army Corps' initial public comment menstruation regarding issues to be addressed in the AEIS we discovered that the Regular army privatized its water and wastewater systems at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 2007 in a 50-yr deal with CH2M Hill. In that deal CH2M Colina produces fluoridated water for the Ground forces's 101st Airborne Division and any other armed forces personnel at Fort Campbell," says Cara Campbell, Chair of the Ecology Party of Florida.

"That arrangement means CH2M Hill is using the Army as a lucrative market for the hazardous fluoride produced by the mining companies that the Army Corps hired CH2M Hill to evaluate in the AEIS," Campbell explained. "If that sounds convoluted, that'due south considering it is, and in our opinion, that disharmonize of interest makes it impossible for CH2M Hill to produce an unbiased AEIS. Therefore, nosotros have requested that the Army Corps select another contractor to administer the AEIS," says Campbell.

Ecology Party Treasurer Gary Hecker adds, "In add-on to that conflict of interest, CH2M Hill too is the contractor for water utilities in Florida, like the City of Cocoa, that fluoridate municipal water, then dispose of that fluoridated water into our streams, lakes and coastal waters or inject it into our aquifer. CH2M Hill, for instance, was contracted by Miami-Dade to inject fluoridated sewage effluent into the aquifer. The corporation also has been awarded contracts for designing, modeling, constructing and/or monitoring engineered approaches marketed as "alternative" h2o supplies such as "aquifer storage and recovery" (ASR) and excavated pits known as "reservoirs" in areas of Florida where natural water resource take been depleted or contaminated by mining, such as the Tampa Bay expanse "reservoir" which is located in the phosphate mining area. Clearly these boosted conflicts farther underscore the impossibility of having such a visitor evaluate mining impacts in an unbiased way."

Data regarding the AEIS for phosphate mining is posted at: www.PhospateAEIS.org