Posted on April 22, 2021
Manatee County commissioners approved a $9.35 million contract Tuesday for construction of a deep injection well to dispose of wastewater from the closed Piney Point fertilizer plant.
The commission selected Youngquist Brothers LLC to construct the Class 1 injection well on county-owned land near the Piney Point property. The contract specifies a 330-day completion time for the well, which has been criticized by those who worry it could contaminate underground water supplies.
The decision came shortly after commissioners also voted to extend the local state of emergency declaration first made on April 1 in response to a leak in the wastewater containment pond at the Piney Point facility.
The commission voted 6-1 for the contract, with commissioner Reggie Bellamy dissenting.
The county previously had evaluated an injection well to dispose of Piney Point wastewater and voted to make the effort its preferred choice on March 9.
“I have never been in favor of a deep water injection well. I’m still not. But I think it is fair to say at this point that we don’t have a choice. We have got to get Piney Point closed down as quickly as possible,” said Commission Chair Vanessa Baugh.
Underground injection well
The injection well will be managed by Manatee County. Although commissioners do not intend to use the well for disposing anything other than Piney Point wastewater, there are concerns that a future commission could change that position.
Commissioner George Kruse asked County Attorney Will Clague to research ways to cement the current board’s position in perpetuity. Clague suggested the potential for entering into an agreement with a third party.
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“Somewhere down the road there may be a sketchier, less professional board than we already have,” Kruse said.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore said that the county manages three deep wells, that the city of Bradenton has one, and that Tropicana manages one as well.
However, the Piney Point deep well would be the first injection site in Florida for disposing of process water from a phosphate mining operation.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the lone statewide elected Democrat, criticized the plan for disposing of Piney Point water through a deep injection well after touring the site recently.
“I don’t think that is a solution at all and that there’s got to be a better way to clean this water – to either dredge it out, clean it and then, if they have to put it someplace else, at least the water is clean,” Fried said. “But dredging it and putting it in deep wells I don’t think is a solution.”
According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are more than 180 active Class 1 injection wells in the state. The majority of these facilities are used to dispose of nonhazardous, secondary-treated effluent from domestic wastewater treatment plants.
The state prohibits injection of “hazardous” wastewater at Class 1 injection well sites; thus, wastewater from Piney Point must be treated before it is injected into the Lower Floridan Aquifer.
Commissioners also approved a motion asking Acting County Administrator Scott Hopes to expedite coordination of private water well testing in the Piney Point area, as necessary.
At the request of Commissioner James Satcher, commissioners voted to have staff research and present information on the possible extension of county water infrastructure to areas near Piney Point, where a significant amount of residents currently use private wells.
“The point that I am making is that we are now voting for a deep well injection (site) at Piney Point. We have also had a breach at Piney Point. We also still have millions of gallons of water at Piney Point. So the homes and even businesses that are near Piney Point are in a different situation than normal rural area might be in,” Satcher said. “If it can’t be done, I understand that, but I think it’s worth looking into.”
Impact from fertilizer industry
A handful of residents raised concerns during Tuesday’s meeting about the Piney Point facility, the deep injection well and the overarching issues related to phosphate mining.
“To keep separating this from our continuing mining is very shortsighted, and I think shortsightedness is what brought us to this point,” Myakka resident Carol Felts said.
Similarly, local resident Ruth Lawler called for stricter oversight of phosphate mining across the state. There are 27 phosphate mines in Florida, covering more than 450,000 acres, according to DEP. Nine of those mines currently are active.
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“This spending of public dollars shines a light on our corrupted systems and not holding private industry responsible for the environmental damage they create that harms the public,” Lawler said. “It is time to hold the phosphate industry responsible. It is a multibillion dollar industry that causes great harm to our environment.”
Although county regulations have prohibited creation of new phosphogypsum stacks or fertilizer processing facilities similar to Piney Point plant since 2004, Manatee County does allow phosphate mining.
There currently are more than 17,000 acres approved for mining by Mosaic Fertilizer LLC in areas in northeast Manatee County near Duette, according to the county.
Since there is no active fertilizer processing plant in Manatee County, Mosaic processes its fertilizer at plants in Central Florida. Mosaic currently operates processing facilities and active phosphogypsum stack systems in Riverview in Hillsborough County, and in Mulberry and Bartow in Polk County. Byproducts from Mosaic’s operations throughout the state are stored in active phosphogypsum stacks at those locations.
Tracy Pratt, chair of the Manatee County Democratic Party, presented a position paper by the Manatee Democratic Environmental Caucus to the commission. The paper, as Pratt summarized during her presentation, includes positions on a number of current issues faced by the commission, including the disposal of hazardous material at Piney Point and questions about the broader impact of phosphate mining.
“We urge the FDEP to require the phosphate industry to begin treatment of stack fluids immediately,” Pratt said. “FDEP must stop letting the phosphate industry dilute its waste stream, and it should test the effluent to ensure compliance with standards on the books.”
Satcher directly addressed the issue of phosphate mining, saying he plans to vote against any permits for mining or fertilizer processing operations in the county.
“We do need to be forward looking, and there needs to be some serious changes as to how things are handled in our county where we have authority, and I believe even in our state,” Satcher said. “We are going to have to put our foot down. For me, I don’t plan on voting for any more permits. Anything. Any way I can oppose this ever happening again, I will do. That is something that we need to look at seriously.”
“I understand people need to eat, and people need fertilizer, but not at the cost of our citizens, not at the cost of our bays, not at the cost of our beaches,” Satcher said. “I want to see some serious changes if this ever comes back before this board, anything along these lines regarding phosphate mining.”
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DEP requires companies that mine phosphate to maintain enough capital to close facilities that are in use, but Kruse said there still should be some local scrutiny.
“We are clearly seeing that one false move, however unlikely it may be, is a massive expense and a massive risk to this entire county, and it just needs to be looked into,” Kruse said. “I don’t believe Mosaic is going to go out of business, they have a lot of money, but in the unlikely event. I am sure when Mulberry was here people said the same thing about them.”
“Any company that has to set aside billions of dollars just to pay fines is always something that needs to be looked at closely,” he added.
