Commissioner Nikki Fried Offers Formal Comment on New Wales Phosphogypsum Stack Expansion

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Aug 25, 2021

Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services provided formal public comment at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s hearing on Mosaic’s request to expand the New Wales phosphogypsum stack in Polk County.

In March, Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC applied for a permit to expand the New Wales site by 230 acres. In 2016, the New Wales gypstack suffered a massive sinkhole that released over 200 million gallons of radioactive, toxic wastewater into the Floridan aquifer. Today’s FDEP hearing follows the catastrophic breach of the Piney Point gypstack that spilled 250 million gallons of toxic wastewater into Tampa Bay, fueling the ongoing red tide harmful algal bloom. Following that breach, Commissioner Fried called on the previous FDEP Secretary to address safety issues at all phosphogypsum stacks across the state, given the dozens of warnings about structural issues at Piney Point.

Commissioner Fried’s formal public comment reads as follows:

Florida’s waters are the lifeblood of our state. They are a natural treasure on which our ecology and our economy relies, they must be protected, and must not be taken for granted. Yet our waters remain under threat from the continued presence of more than two dozen phosphogypsum stacks across our state, including the New Wales Concentrates Plant being discussed today.

It defies both logic and common sense that this agency would even consider Mosaic’s request to expand a gypstack given the dangerous environmental failures these sites have wrought upon Florida’s waters. As you know, this very gypstack suffered a catastrophic sinkhole in 2016 that released over 200 million gallons of contaminated wastewater into one of our key aquifers, which was kept from the public for weeks. This follows decades of other structural issues that, combined with the likelihood for sinkholes in this region, and combined with recovery wells and remediation efforts that were ineffective in 2016, make it absolutely irresponsible to further expand the New Wales site.

Immediately following the latest phosphogypsum stack disaster at Piney Point that spilled a quarter billion gallons of toxic wastewater into Tampa Bay, I questioned the previous DEP Secretary at a Cabinet meeting on the state’s plans to remediate the dangers of these stacks around our state. There was then, and remains now, no plan. With no way to ensure to long-term integrity and safety of these sites that contain, uranium and radium that remain radioactive for potentially thousands of years, the conversation cannot be about expanding sites like New Wales, but an exit strategy from producing and storing these toxic byproducts.

At some point, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has to join us in putting the environment first. You can begin to do so first by rejecting Mosaic’s reckless expansion permit application, and second by heeding my call to address Florida’s other phosphogypsum stacks that remain ticking time bombs upon our environment for generations to come.

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