Piney Point exemplifies the never-ending flow of bad news and damage to our environment. So, too, does it expose the true character of our DEP which, contrary to its name, is to protect industry at all costs no matter what egregious damage occurs to the Earth and its waters.
Even as this is written a DEP permitted drill is opening a passage to put contaminated process water deep into the earth; a procedure not well understood by geologists and which may eventually contaminate our aquifer.
The whole mess goes back to the phosphate industry, which should be shut down until which time they can extract and process phosphate ore with no environmental damage.
Read the complete article here at The Anna Maria Islander.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection reported Jan. 6 the discovery of three “low-volume seepage areas” at the Piney Point phosphate site.
The DEP said less than 3 gallons per minute of “seepage” was observed upslope of a stormwater drainage ditch along the south wall of a containment compartment at the site.
The state’s day-to-day reporting from Piney Point began last spring, after leaks in containment systems resulted in the state authorized discharge of 250 million gallons of nutrient-rich wastewater from Piney Point into the Tampa Bay estuary system.
“Currently, there is no indication of any concern with the integrity or stability of the stack system and there will be no offsite discharges at this time,” the DEP said in its Jan. 6 report. “Seepage volume remains low and is completely contained within the on-site lined stormwater management system….”
Meanwhile, work continued to drill a deep injection well to take Piney Point’s polluted water so that the site could be closed.
— Lisa Neff
