Phosphate mining companies are aware of their bad public image because the extraction and processing of their product is so destructive.
Knowing this, they write disingenuous propaganda on their websites as well as outright lies. Their efforts to get phosphogypsum in our roadbeds continue to suffer defeat after defeat.
We know what goes in and on our roadbeds are not forever stable, and if phosphogypsum is put in the road, continued friction from tires will cause this radioactive material to slowly leach into our road ditches. And from there into our aquifer.
The legislators sponsoring this bill must be aware of the toxic history of this failed idea, but are trying hard to do the work of the phosphate industry. This industry has operated for over one hundred years in Florida and it continues to leave a mess behind, sometimes at the taxpayers’ expense.
In those one hundred years they have not solved the problem of disposing of gypstacks in any useful or safe manner. Trumbull and McClure (see below) are aware of this but disregard environmental and human health risks. Their rewards from the phosphate industry must be greater than the risks to Florida’s citizens and the environment.
Money talks.
And, thanks to our dysfunctional Supreme Court, bribery is legal.
Time is short because the next committee appearance will be Monday the 27th at 11:30 am. If you cannot attend to oppose, please do the calls outlined below.
Thanks to OSFR board member Joanne Tremblay for the following article regarding this bad bill. Please help us by telling the legislators on this committee how bad this bill is.
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
Florida is under a flurry of bad environmental legislation including the Phosphogypsum ‘PG’ Bill’ SB1258 and and House Bill 1191. The clear beneficiary of this legislation would be the phosphate industry whose radioactive stacks are untenable and stand to profit from spreading their radioactive waste on our roads.
Phosphogypsum (PG) is the radioactive waste from processing phosphate into phosphoric acid for fertilizer. PG releases radioactive radon at very high levels of gross alpha and beta radiation (10 to 100 pCi/g) relative to levels in typical soils (approximately 1 pCi/g). PG also contains other toxic, heavy metals which are also carcinogens. PG is so toxic that the EPA requires that it be stored in piles called “gypstacks.” Currently more than 1 billion tons are stored in 25 stacks in Florida. The industry is under pressure since these growing stacks are untenable.
Selling PG as road material is not a new phenomenon.
Florida used PG In 1989 as an experiment run by the University of Miami and the Florida Department of Transportation. A two mile stretch of experimental road is in Columbia County known as the White Springs Road, located south of SR 136 between I-75 and U.S. 41. Monitoring was conducted by University of Miami of air, water and construction crew health. In 1992, shortly after this ‘experiment,’ the EPA “determined that using phosphogypsum in roads presents an unacceptable risk to public health and prohibited it.
More recently, in 2020 the Trump administration’s EPA reversed their policy. In 2021 the EPA withdrew its approval of the use of phosphogypsum in roads following a lawsuit and petition by a workers’ union, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other conservation and public health groups. In 2022 the fertilizer industry attempted to override EPA and the bill failed.
Here we are again in 2023 with Florida legislators Sen. Jay Trumbull (R-Panama City) and Rep. Lawrence McClure (R-Dover) reintroducing bills that would allow PG to be used in roads.
Currently the bill is in the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Here is a list of the members, their phone numbers and emails. Please let them know what you think of this dangerous bill.
Chair:Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez (850) 487-5040 Email: rodriguez.anamaria.web@flsenate.gov.
Vice Chair:Senator Gayle Harrell ® ( 850) 487-5031 Email harrell.gayle.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Ben Albritton ® (850) 487-5027 Email: albritton.ben.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Jonathan Martin ® (850) 487-5033 Email: martin.jonathan.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Debbie Mayfield ® (850) 487-5033 Email: mayfield.debbie.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Tina Scott Polsky (D) (850) 487-5019 Email: polsky.tina.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Bobby Powell (D) (850) 487-5024 Email: powell.bobby.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Linda Stewart (D) ( 850) 487-5017 Email: stewart.linda.web@flsenate.gov
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Senator Tom A. Wright ® (850) 487-5008 Email: wright.tom.web@flsenate.gov
