Polk County has at least a dozen such storage sites.
Article by Gary White at The Ledger
“The breach of a reservoir in Manatee County holding wastewater from fertilizer processing offers a reminder that Polk County contains plenty of similar sites.
The leak at the Piney Point phosphogypsum stack is threatening to release millions of gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay. The potential environmental catastrophe has drawn national attention.
At least a dozen such stacks exist in Polk County, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Those include the largest storage facility in the state, the 1,147-acre New Wales Stack, about five miles southwest of Mulberry.
Environmental groups are citing Piney Point as a reason not to build or expand gypstacks and to increase state or federal oversight of the ones that exist.
Marian Ryan of Winter Haven has long led efforts by the Sierra Club to oppose phosphate mining and the fertilizer production that results in gypstacks.
“Sierra Club’s position is that they shouldn’t be producing phosphogypsum in their process,” Ryan said. “Our understanding is that there is a methodology for processing phosphate that doesn’t produce phosphogypsum, but apparently it’s not economically feasible. We’re opposed to sacrifice Florida’s environment for chemical fertilizers.”’
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