UNEP: Phosphorus and Plastic Pollute World’s Oceans
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2011/2011-02-17-02.html
NAIROBI, Kenya, February 17, 2011 (ENS) – Enormous amounts of the fertilizer phosphorus are discharged into oceans due to inefficiencies in farming and a failure to recycle wastewater, the United Nations Environment Programme warns in its 2011 Year Book released today.
An emerging concern over plastics pollution of the oceans is identified in the Year Book as “persistent, bio-accumulating and toxic substances” associated with plastic marine waste.
Research indicates that tiny pieces of plastic are adsorbing and concentrating from the seawater and sediments chemicals from polychlorinated biphenols, PCBs, to the pesticide DDT.
“Many of these pollutants, including PCBs, cause chronic effects such as endocrine disruption, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity,” states the 2011 Year Book.
UNEP released the Year Book 2011 ahead of the annual gathering of the world’s environment ministers that opens on Monday in Nairobi.
Experts cited in the book say that both phosphorus discharge and new concerns over plastics underline the need for better management of the world’s wastes and improved patterns of consumption and production.
“The phosphorus and marine plastics stories bring into sharp focus the urgent need to bridge scientific gaps but also to catalyze a global transition to a resource-efficient Green Economy in order to realize sustainable development and address poverty,” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
“Whether it is phosphorus, plastics or any one of the myriad of challenges facing the modern world, there are clearly inordinate opportunities to generate new kinds of employment and new kinds of more efficient industries,” Steiner said.
Demand for phosphorus has soared during the 20th century, and the Year Book 2011 highlighted the nutrient in part because of the heated debate over whether or not finite reserves of phosphate rock will soon run out.
An estimated 35 countries produce phosphate rock. The top 10 countries with the highest reserves are: Algeria, China, Israel, Jordan, Russia, South Africa, Syria and the United States.
New phosphate mines have been commissioned in countries such as Australia, Peru and Saudi Arabia and countries and companies are looking further afield, even to the seabed off the coast of Namibia.
The Year Book recommends a global phosphorus assessment to more precisely map phosphorus flows in the environment and predict levels of economically viable reserves.
“While there are commercially exploitable amounts of phosphate rock in several countries, those with no domestic reserves could be particularly vulnerable in the case of global shortfalls,” the Year Book notes.
There is an enormous opportunity to recover phosphorus by recyling wastewater, the Year Book advises. Up to 70 percent of this water is laden with nutrients and fertilizers such as phosphorus, which currently is discharged untreated into rivers and coastal areas.
Heavy doses of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen increase the risk of harmful algal blooms, which can prompt the closure of fisheries and swimming areas.
Other measures to reduce discharges include cutting erosion and the loss of topsoil where large quantities of phosphorus are associated with soil particles and excess fertilizers are stored after application.
The Year Book advises that further research is needed on the way phosphorus travels through the environment to maximize its use in agriculture and livestock production and cut waste, while reducing environmental impacts on rivers and oceans.
Category: Uncategorized
EPA Conference – Phosphate Mining and the Environment
State of the Science on Phosphate Mining and the Environment:
March 28-29, 2011
State of the Science on Phosphate Mining and the Environment
Sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Charlotte County Event & Conference Center
75 Taylor St, Punta Gorda, FL
Monday-Tuesday, March 28-29, 2011 This State of the Science Conference aims to present current and detailed scientific information about the environmental effects and reclamation of phosphate mining in Florida, with an emphasis on revealing data gaps, information needs, and conclusions from existing studies or research. Presentations will focus on scientific, economic, and technical issues.
Manasota-88 files concerns to FDEP on local phosphate mine
Manasota-88 files concerns to FDEP on local phosphate mine
By GRACE GAGLIANO – [email protected]
MANATEE — A local environmental protection organization has filed a six-page letter to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection outlining its concerns with Mosaic’s Wingate mine.
The letter filed by Manasota-88 to the FDEP is in response to Mosaic’s request to obtain extended mining rights at the Manatee County mine that is currently in operation.
Among the concerns of Manasota-88 listed in the letter include how extend mining will affect area surface waters, crops and air quality.
Last week, Mosaic filed a permit application with the FDEP to add 765 acres to the Wingate Mine in Duette. Mosaic plans to start mining 597 acres of that 765-acre parcel in several years as company officials project the 3,028-acre mining tract will be mined out in a few years.
Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/02/07/2936771/manasota-88-files-concerns-to.html#ixzz1DJte0ghI
EPA Sets Stage For Massive Cleanup Of Homes On Radioactive Mine Sites
Superfund Report – 02/07/2011
EPA Sets Stage For Massive Cleanup Of Homes On Radioactive Mine Sites
http://insideepa.com/201102072353575/EPA-Daily-News/Daily-News/epa-sets-stage-for-massive-residential-cleanup-on-radioactive-mine-sites/menu-id-95.html
Posted: February 4, 2011
EPA has begun aerial surveys of former phosphate mines in central Florida where it fears tens of thousands people may be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation – a key step that could put the agency on the path toward conducting a potentially precedent-setting cleanup of the area.
The surveys – which have been on hold for years as EPA disputed cleanup standards with state and industry officials – could also lay the groundwork for citizen lawsuits that could potentially force mining companies to clean up the area if the agency does not act on its own, a lawyer following the issue says.
At issue are approximately 10 square miles of former phosphate mining lands near Lakeland, FL, where EPA has taken no cleanup action despite having concerns since the late 1970s that the indoor air of homes built on the lands is contaminated with cancer-causing levels of radiation. A fight between EPA, state and industry officials over the appropriate cleanup standard for the sites, along with the potentially overwhelming cost of conducting such a massive cleanup – as much as $11 billion by some estimates – have been among the reasons for the delay (Superfund Report, Sept. 3).
EPA has long considered aerial surveys to be the next step to addressing its concerns about residential exposure because they would enable the agency to better characterize how much of the land in question is contaminated and to what extent. State and federal officials drafted documents in preparation for such surveys in 2006, but the work was delayed as a result of the dispute over cleanup standards, a former EPA official previously told Inside EPA.
According to documents Inside EPA recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), planning to conduct an aerial survey of a limited number of sites was again underway in 2008, but the plans were never executed. But a January 2010 Inside EPA article that for the first time made EPA’s concerns about the area public “prompted renewed interest in the sites,” according to a February 2010 request from EPA Region IV staff to have a meeting about the issue with then-Acting Regional Administrator Stan Meiburg. Among the interest the article generated were requests from officials at EPA headquarters and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) – then chairman of the House Environment Subcommittee – for briefings on the issue from the Region IV staff.
Following these requests, internal discussions regarding aerial surveys resumed, the FOIA documents show, and according to a source with direct knowledge of the surveys, federal contractors completed some survey work on behalf of EPA in January 2011. The source declined to discuss the survey results, however, and it is unclear exactly what EPA’s next steps will be.
EPA officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Surveying the area, however, is an important step that could provide EPA with key information that the agency would need in order to conduct a cleanup of the site, the lawyer following the issue says. Without comprehensive survey data, EPA has been unable to determine exactly how bad the problem is, how widespread it is, and exactly how many homes might have to be cleaned up, the lawyer notes.
If EPA does not initiate a cleanup, the data it collects in such surveys could be be used by residents to launch lawsuits against the companies that mined the area, the lawyer says. If successful, such suits could force the companies to conduct cleanup work on their own or to pay damages to the affected residents, the lawyer adds.
One case in which two central Florida residents sought to hold phosphate mining companies liable for radioactive contamination on their property recently settled for an undisclosed amount, although the case dealt primarily with drinking water contamination rather than indoor air contamination.
In the suit, which had been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Charlie and Kimberly Gates alleged the Mosaic Company, W.R. Grace & Co., Seminole Fertilizer Corporation and Cargill Fertilizer Inc. were responsible for polluting their private drinking water well at their former home in Bartow, FL, and ultimately causing Charlie Gates to contract leukemia. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com.
If EPA does pursue cleanup of the area, the cleanup standards it chooses could set a precedent for future phosphate mine cleanups in Florida and other states, and for sites contaminated with radioactive materials generally. The traditional EPA cleanup standard under Superfund dictates that concentrations of radium-226 – the radioactive substance left behind on former phosphate mine lands – should not exceed 5 picocuries per gram (pCi/g) of soil. But state and industry officials consider the 5 pCi/g standard “overly conservative” and argue no cleanup is necessary unless people are receiving a dose of more than 500 millirems of radiation per year (mrem/year).
If EPA were to accept 500 mrem as a protective standard for the Florida sites, it would set a negative and far-reaching precedent for future radioactive cleanups around the country, environmentalists have said. “EPA has for years said 100 millirem is way outside the [Superfund] risk range,” one activist said previously. “This would be EPA living in a different universe.”
Industry has in the past expressed its contrary view in statements to Inside EPA and closed-door meetings with EPA officials, and according to the recent FOIA documents, such meetings resumed during the past year. One such meeting took place on April 15, 2010, the documents show. According to a letter Mosaic officials sent to EPA in advance of the meeting, the company hoped “to gain an understanding of EPA’s current viewpoint on the issue of radiation on mined lands and whether [the agency’s] focus is on public health or something else.”
Mosaic also sought “to engage in a discussion of what EPA believes is the likely path to set standards, gather data, manage risks, and communicate regarding the radiation issue,” the letter says. “Mosaic, as the largest phosphate mining company in Florida, is interested in what actions the industry can take to engage proactively with EPA, other state and federal agencies, and the residents of Florida toward appropriate next steps.”
The FOIA documents also show that some Region IV officials had concerns about Mosaic’s plans to build a resort on some former phosphate mines near Fort Meade, FL, and suggested to their colleagues that the area be checked out before construction begins.
A spokesman for Mosaic says the April meeting featured “the same topic of discussion” as prior meetings on the issue and that there has “been very little conversation beyond the discussion of an appropriate standard.” – Douglas P. Guarino
© 2000-2011. Inside Washington Publishers
Legislature to Consider Neutering Counties’ Fertilizer Rules
Sarasota Herald Tribune
ERIC ERNST: Bill would take teeth from local fertilizing rules
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110206/COLUMNIST/102061041/2055/NEWS?p=all&tc=pgall
By Eric Ernst
Published: Sunday, February 6, 2011 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 9:19 p.m.
Contrary to popular belief, or perhaps wishful thinking, a legislative bill in Tallahassee would negate the most important parts of fertilizer rules in Sarasota and Charlotte counties.
Interpretations may vary, but that’s the view of Cris Costello, regional representative of the Sierra Club in Sarasota. She should know. The Sierra Club spearheaded efforts to pass the local laws several years ago to curb the flow of phosphorous and other nutrients into bays and the Gulf of Mexico.
The bill sponsored by two Panhandle representatives would prohibit counties and cities from enacting their own rules. Instead, they would have to adhere to what’s being called “model” statewide legislation, which of course would be weaker and in no meaningful way interfere with business as usual.
The local ordinances prohibit applications during the summer when fertilizer-laden stormwater runoff is most likely to trigger algal blooms such as red tide. They also regulate fertilizer content, setting mandatory levels of slow-release chemicals that are more likely to be absorbed by plants rather than wash into the water.
It makes sense to approach the problem of red tide this way, although if reputable scientific research uncovers flaws in the logic, local jurisdictions can certainly respond with adjustments.
The bill, probably to placate opposition, purports to exempt jurisdictions such as Sarasota and Charlotte that have new rules in place. That assurance is little more than a sham, Costello says.
“The grandfather date applies only to standards not relating to fertilizer content, application timing, application placement and sale,” she wrote in an e-mail.
That means the only parts left of the Sarasota, Charlotte and Lee ordinances would be the standards relating to the management of grass clippings and vegetative material.
“All of the protective standards — rainy season application bans, fertilizer-free buffers, required 50 percent slow release nitrogen — would be eliminated.”
Apparently, having standards that fit the area in which the fertilizer is actually being used is inconvenient to manufacturers and retailers.
They want a one-size-fits-all approach to something that’s not a one-size problem. One of the most compelling reasons to tailor the rules locally is that the drainage patterns and water flows, not to mention the climate, differ from one part of the state to another.
If some businesses can’t adjust to that, too bad for them.
Plenty of smaller, more nimble ventures are ready to take up the slack, as some already have in Sarasota County.
If people want to buy fertilizer, no matter what the formula, companies will respond to produce it and sell it.
And if people use a little less, that’s OK, too, for environmental reasons.
Trying to legislate from Tallahassee, and putting oversight in the hands of the state Department of Agriculture, usurps local control, undermines protection of natural resources and just makes it a lot easier to subvert the process.
It’s probably pure coincidence, but the Lakeland Ledger published an interesting story on Jan 25. Mosaic Co., the phosphate/fertilizer giant, just paid $10,000 for a chocolate hazelnut cake entered by Abigail Putnam in the Polk County Youth Fair Auction. The amount was 10 times larger than any ever received for a cake.
Abigail is the 9-year-old daughter of Adam Putnam, Florida agriculture commissioner.
Eric Ernst’s column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at [email protected] or (941) 486-3073.
Mosaic pays $10,000 for Youth Fair Chocolate Cake (Adam Putnam’s Daughter Baked It)
$10,000 at auction
Mosaic Pays Big for Young Putnam’s Cake
http://www.theledger.com/article/20110125/NEWS/101255031?p=all&tc=pgall
By Jeremy Maready
THE LEDGER
Published: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 10:38 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 10:38 p.m.
LAKELAND | The 9-year-old daughter of Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam bakes one delicious chocolate hazelnut cake.
The Mosaic Co., a fertilizer company and one of the county’s largest employers, paid a record $10,000 for Abigail Putnam’s cake at the Polk County Youth Fair Auction on Tuesday.
It was the most ever paid for a cake at the annual fair, said Youth Fair Coordinator Janice Jackson. The second-highest bid was $600. She said a cake sold for $1,000 at a past auction, although $200 to $500 is typical.
Mosaic officials said Tuesday they are examining the decision to pay such a high price, and Adam Putnam described the situation as “awkward,” particularly for his daughter.
Mosaic, a large contributor to the annual agriculture fair, typically buys many things from the students who sell livestock and baked goods at the fair.
“They are a huge supporter of the kids and the fair,” said Nicole Walker, Polk County Extension director and 4-H agent.
But Tuesday’s purchase was unprecedented.
“Ten thousand dollars is way out of the normal ballpark,” Walker said.
Shortly after the auction, Abigail Putnam went to Jackson’s office and donated $9,000 of her winnings to the Youth Fair.
“Even my 9-year-old knows a cake isn’t worth $10,000,” Adam Putnam said Tuesday. “I am proud of my daughter and proud of her cake. She feels good about her decision and is excited about it. It’s going to help a lot of kids.”
A Mosaic spokesman, Russell Schweiss, said, “The $10,000 is definitely outside of the normal range.”
“We are investigating the issue and considering what actions are appropriate,” Schweiss said.
Schweiss said an employee whom he didn’t name was given a lump sum to bid on items at the auction. On Tuesday, the company spent $17,000 on pigs. The meat from the pigs, and other livestock the company purchases, will be given to charity.
Putnam said he tasted one of his daughter’s practice cakes and “it was good.”
She is active in 4-H, “just like I was,” Putnam said. “It teaches (the students) a lot of lessons.”
And for this instance, it taught his daughter a lesson in giving back.
But it was an awkward situation to be put in, Adam Putnam said. “The one that it’s most awkward for is Abbie.”
[ Jeremy Maready can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7592.
Cargill Sheds Mosaic Stocks
January 18, 2011, 4:08 pm I.P.O./Offerings
Cargill to Split Off Mosaic Unit in Complex Deal
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/cargill-to-spin-off-its-mosaic-unit-in-complex-deal/?hpw
By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
8:39 p.m. | Updated
Cargill said on Tuesday that it planned to spin off its 64 percent stake in the Mosaic Company, a big producer of important ingredients in fertilizer, leaving Mosaic open for a possible sale at a time when mining and agriculture giants are on the prowl for acquisitions.
The complicated tax-free transaction — worth more than $24 billion — will also help keep Cargill, one of the biggest American companies, private. Cargill will distribute its 286 million Mosaic shares to its own shareholders and debtholders.
Begun in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill with a single grain elevator in Iowa, Cargill has since become a colossus of the global agricultural business. It reported $2.6 billion in earnings on top of $107.9 billion in revenue for its fiscal year that ended May 31.
The corporate parent’s sale of its 64 percent stake in Mosaic comes as big mining companies have been seeking to expand in fertilizer. That interest was amply illustrated by the Australian mining company BHP Billiton’s $38.6 billion unsolicited takeover offer for Potash of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest producer of the fertilizer component.
BHP ended its pursuit in November after Canadian regulators objected to a possible deal. As standards of living improve in countries like China and India, global demand for food is rising and companies that produce fertilizer are being seen as attractive takeover targets.
“The world is not getting less hungry,” James T. Prokopanko, Mosaic’s chief executive, said on Tuesday afternoon during a conference call with analysts.
Mosaic was formed in 2004 from the merger of Cargill’s crop nutrition unit with IMC Global, creating a giant in fertilizer production and leaving Cargill with a 64 percent stake. It is the world’s second-largest potash producer, behind Potash, and owns more than a third of Canpotex, the Canadian entity that controls that country’s exports of the material.
A major component of Cargill’s earnings, Mosaic reported about $8.5 billion in revenue and $1.9 billion in profit for the 12 months that ended Nov. 30. Based in Plymouth, Minn., it has 7,500 employees.
As of Tuesday’s closing price of $85.04, Mosaic had a market value of $37.9 billion.
Years in the making, the spinoff is meant to help both Cargill and Mosaic. It will bolster the liquidity of Mosaic’s stock, as well as give the business greater financial freedom.
Mr. Prokopanko said the spinoff would put more than 50 percent of Mosaic’s shares in public investors’ hands, making the company eligible for listing in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.
It will also help Cargill focus on core operations like grain purchasing and distribution and the making of food ingredients like dressings and sauces, as well as improve its credit rating by paying down debt.
“We’re thrilled about it,” Mr. Prokopanko said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “I can’t stress strongly enough how this will free us to grow the business.”
But the deal is also aimed at helping diversify the holdings of various charitable trusts and foundations that make up a large portion of Cargill’s investor base, according to people briefed on the matter. Under the terms of a will set up for Margaret A. Cargill, a descendant of Cargill’s founder who died in 2006, the various trusts set up to hold company shares must diversify their portfolios over time.
Under the terms of the transaction, Cargill’s existing shareholders will be given the chance to exchange their holdings for up to 179 million of Cargill’s shares in Mosaic. Cargill will also offer its existing debtholders the chance to swap their holdings for up to 107 million Mosaic shares.
Within 15 months of the closing of the spinoff, Mosaic will hold sales for about 157 million of those spun-off shares. The first such sale would be held immediately after the closing of the deal, which is expected in the second quarter this year.
Any of the 129 million shares not sold during those offerings are subject to a lockup of two and a half years after the spinoff closes. Mosaic expects to fully sell off the newly distributed shares within four and a half years, Lawrence W. Stranghoener, Mosaic’s chief financial officer, said in a telephone interview.
Cargill stressed that a crucial component to the complicated spinoff is an expected sign-off by the Internal Revenue Service regarding the tax-free nature of the deal. But Mosaic and Cargill would entertain a takeover offer for the business if it were high enough to compensate for the loss of any tax benefits incurred in that transaction, the people briefed on the matter said.
The deal was approved by a special committee of the Mosaic board, but must still be voted on by a majority of its non-Cargill shareholders.
Cargill was advised by Credit Suisse and the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, while the company’s special board committee was advised by JPMorgan Chase and the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
The Cargill charitable trusts were advised by UBS and the law firm Loeb & Loeb.
Abandoned Gyp-Stack Reclaimed for Industrial Site at Port Manatee
Manatee’s environmental scourge recast as asset
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20110106/ARTICLE/101061069/2416/NEWS?Title=Manatee-s-environmental-scourge-recast-as-asset
Sarasota Herald Tribune
STAFF PHOTO / TOM BENDER
Buy photo
Eastport Terminal manager Jeff Barath says, “the remediation and redevelopment of the former Piney Point Phosphates facility has taken great vision and resolve by HRK. Purchasing the site in 2006 as a dilapidated chemical plant we had to spend the next three years just addressing environmental clean up and demolition before we could begin any new development.”
By Kate Spinner
Published: Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 9:00 p.m.
PALMETTO – Across U.S. 41 from the Port of Manatee, a large grassy hill looms unnaturally over the flat landscape, overshadowing a cluster of new industrial silos.
Click to enlarge
A view of the lined reservoirs up top on the old gypsum stacks. The reservoirs will be used to store dredge waste from the Port Manatee expansion and will eventually be capped.
Click to enlarge
A view of the new geodesic dome structures housing fertilizer used in today’s agriculture industry.
No trace remains of the fertilizer plant that operated here for 40 years, or of the company that drove it into bankruptcy and left behind a $144 million environmental disaster for taxpayers to shoulder.
But even as new owners try to recast this property as Eastport Terminal, the road here still bears the infamous name Piney Point.
And the grassy hill? A slightly radioactive phosphogypsum stack that once held 1.2 billion gallons of toxic water behind crumbling walls, it stands as testament to Piney Point’s history.
The name conjures memories of a litany of environmental problems, culminating in an unprecedented emergency in 2003, in which the state dumped millions of gallons of the fertilizer processing wastewater into the Gulf of Mexico to keep it from cascading onto nearby land and into Tampa Bay.
Before that, there were industrial accidents leading to employee deaths, toxic spills that forced area evacuations and a sulfuric gas leak that caused illness in the community.
Today the land is transforming into a potential economic asset, a pioneering model, state officials hope, for two dozen similar sites statewide that are contaminated with the toxic byproducts of phosphate fertilizer production.
The new silos are partially filled with 30,000 tons of imported fertilizer. A nearby warehouse holds tons of salt, the kind used in swimming pools. Hundreds of acres in the shadow of the gypsum stack are available for more bulk storage or light manufacturing.
After a decade of work, the state considers the site safe for new industry and has handed responsibility for cleaning up the small amount of remaining contamination to the new owner, HRK Holdings, LLC.
“It’s a success story at this point, in terms of having the work created there and having the site fully transition to the new owner,” said John Coates, deputy director of the Department of Environmental Protection’s water resource management division.
But for environmental groups, the story is less about success than it is about coping with the state’s bitter, ongoing legacy of phosphate mining and fertilizer production on thousands of acres of land in Southwest and Central Florida.
In 2001, Piney Point looked like it might become the state’s biggest environmental disaster. Mulberry Corporation had abandoned the property with highly acidic water stored precariously behind berms of radioactive phosphogypsum — the two by-products of turning phosphate rock into phosphoric acid for fertilizer.
Making matters worse, a tropical storm that year dumped 19 inches of rain over the property. The berms holding the acid water began to pit and erode. Three more inches of rain, and the toxic water would have breached the berm and spilled into nearby Bishop Harbor, a shallow estuary of Tampa Bay.
In emergency mode, the state made some tough, costly and controversial decisions to prevent a cataclysmic disaster.
Among the most controversial, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency permitted the state to dump 500 million gallons of fertilizer process water into the Gulf after treatment and and neutralization. About 248 million gallons were dumped 100 miles offshore in the summer and fall of 2003. The water was considered too high in nutrients — these enhance algal blooms — to release into Bishop Harbor.
Later, the state treated the remaining waste water for direct disposal into the harbor, using portable reverse-osmosis filters.
The new owners are optimistic about the future of Piney Point as Eastport Terminal, a distribution center that will feed off the expansion of the Port of Manatee this year, said manager Jeff Barath.
Barath first stepped on the property in 2003 as an environmental compliance consultant working for DEP. His first reaction was “what a mess.” Now he sees opportunity in the revived landscape, a rare break in the norm where tarnished land is simply covered and left to sit unused.
Piney Point still contains mountains of phosphogypsum that must remain untouched and covered in grass. The gypsum is acidic and too radioactive to be used for other purposes, such as roadfill or wallboard.
But not all of Piney Point is marred. It also has undeveloped acreage ideal for industry. Its location across from the port and close to two major interstates makes it ideal for distributing international goods, Barath said.
HRK bought the 680-acre property for $4.3 million in 2006. While the state took responsibility for most of the cleanup, HRK contributed $3.8 million. The company also must maintain the phosphogypsum stacks indefinitely, at an estimated cost of $250,000 annually, as about 100 million gallons of acidic wastewater evaporates or is treated and drained.
The DEP lined the reservoirs that once held toxic water with rugged plastic to keep contaminants out of the groundwater. The lined reservoirs will be used to store dredge waste from the port expansion and will eventually be capped.
HRK cleared the site of decaying infrastruction, recycling the metal to pay for cleaning up the old factory.
The property also came with industrial infrastructure — plumbing to electric — and industrial use allowances, including permits for 390 truck trips on site per day.
Art Roth, in the fertilizer marketing business for 61 years, was the catalyst behind the sale. When Manatee said it was not interested in buying the property, Roth notified investors he knew who specialized in turning around troubled property.
Three investors formed HRK and Roth was appointed the company’s local representative. “It’s not pretty, but it’s industry,” Barath said. “It’s a perfectly engineered industrial facility.”
A large portion of the $144 million the state paid for cleaning up the site came from taxes paid into a trust fund by the phosphate industry. But those funds were intended for restoring land that was mined before 1975, when environmental laws requiring restoration went into effect. Piney Point diverted about $50 million of the funds, setting back progress on other projects. Also, the state Legislature spent money from the general fund.
The trust fund now holds about $47 million and mine reclamation is back on track with about $23 million in projects ongoing.
The Piney Point fiasco prompted legislative change in 2005. To shield taxpayers from being saddled with another Piney Point, phosphate companies must report their finances quarterly to the DEP and keep enough in savings to cover the cost of closure.
But some still worry that laws aren’t strict enough, and that the savings required aren’t enough to avoid the same type of disaster.
“It’s a wait-and-see and keep your fingers crossed that the next company doesn’t go belly-up and walk away,” said Glenn Compton, president of the local environmental group Manasota-88.
Scott names development exec. as top Fla. planner
Scott names development exec. as top Fla. planner
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/05/2002403/scott-names-development-exec-as.html
By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Rick Scott named a development company executive as Florida’s next planning chief Wednesday and brought Kurt Browning out of retirement to again serve as secretary of state.
Scott also announced that Michelle Rhee, known for firing teachers who got poor appraisals when she headed Washington, D.C.’s school system, will continue as his informal education adviser.
A day after taking office, the new Republican governor appointed Billy Buzzett as secretary of the Department of Community Affairs. He comes from The St. Joe Company, one of Florida’s largest private landowners, where he was vice president of strategic planning.
Buzzett’s appointment predictably won applause from the business sector, but it also drew praise from an environmental leader.
“That’s actually a good thing,” said Audubon of Florida executive director Eric Draper. “I’ve walked the woods with him. I know he has a personal feeling for the specialness of Florida’s environment.”
Buzzett’s marching orders include advising Scott on how to align the planning agency’s functions with those of other state agencies. Scott noted in a news release that Buzzett served on a transition team that recommended merging Community Affairs with the departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.
It’s an idea environmentalists oppose because they fear it would dilute protection of Florida’s natural resources, but Draper predicted it would be a nonstarter in the Legislature.
During his campaign, Scott accused Community Affairs, which is responsible for enforcing Florida’s growth management laws, of inhibiting development and being a job-killer.
“Billy is focused on helping me make government smaller, less intrusive and consistent with efforts to increase investments in Florida and spur job creation,” Scott said in a news release.
Buzzett will replace Tom Pelham, who fired a parting shot at Scott and other critics Monday by saying it’ll take decades to use up development capacity the department has approved over the last four years under ex-Gov. Charlie Crist.
Pelham’s final report shows the department has approved planning amendments that will permit more than a million new housing units and 2.7 billion square feet of nonresidential construction. Pelham said some local plans were revised because they failed to provide for roads, utilities and other infrastructure or allowed construction in inappropriate places.
Florida Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Mark Wilson said Buzzett’s appointment is “fantastic news for us.” He said it’ll encourage major developers who shunned Florida because of the department’s policies to take another look at the state.
Wilson said he anticipates a reversal of the focus on funneling growth into urban areas and open rural areas to development needed to accommodate a predicted growth in Florida’s population by two million people over the next decade.
“That’s where smart growth can happen and needs to happen,” Wilson said. “We don’t have room for them in the cities.”
Scott has spoken often of seeking outsiders like himself, but Buzzett is a familiar face in Tallahassee. The attorney worked for the Legislature, was Gov. Bob Martinez’s general counsel and served as an administrative law judge and executive director of the 1998 Constitution Revision Commission before going to work for St. Joe.
Browning retired last May, as required by the Deferred Retirement Option Program, which lets top employees draw retirement benefits as well as a full salary. He can be reappointed, though, after sitting out at least six months.
Rhee, who advised Scott during his transition, said in a statement that she was proud to work with leaders who support holding schools and teachers accountable for student achievement.
“Florida is leading the country in areas such as information about school performance, and we look forward to helping Gov. Scott push the envelope in promoting innovative policies,” Rhee sai
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/05/2002403/scott-names-development-exec-as.html#ixzz1AISlm0Bi
DEP Appointment Sends Pro-Industry Message
Scott’s Appointment for DEP Chief Sends Pro-Industry Message
The Bradenton Times
http://www.thebradentontimes.com/news/2011/01/05/state_government/scott_s_appointment_for_dep_chief_sends_pro_industry_message/
Published Wednesday, January 5, 2011 3:00 am
by Dennis Maley
BRADENTON – When Rick Scott named shipbuilding executive Herschel Vinyard to be the new secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection this week, deregulation proponents cheered. An attorney and part-time lobbyist, the BAE Systems executive used to represent clients accused of pollution violations. In other words, he’s made a good living arguing against the sort of regulations that the agency he will now head is charged with enforcing.
If this sounds shocking, it shouldn’t be. Scott ran on a platform of less government interference in the market place and as little industry oversight as possible. From allowing the Department of Community Affairs to sunshine, to talk of combining the DEP with the DCA and Department of Transportation, and even combining juvenile justice with children and families, Scott has revealed a desire to whittle government down to the smallest size possible — and a willingness to go to any lengths to do so. In fact, what might separate Scott from other governors most is his complete lack of political experience and the absence of a “well, you can’t actually do that” philosophy to such drastic changes.
However, his approach in selecting a DEP head is far from revolutionary. Hiring lobbyists and attorneys from the regulated industries to head a department’s oversight has been a popular tactic in recent years. President Bush regularly tapped such candidates to head agencies like Interior, Agriculture and the FDA. President Obama has relied almost exclusively on Wall Street vets and Federal Reserve Bank executives to monitor nearly every aspect of the banking crisis, TARP and even so-called reform. The argument used is that such professionals understand the practical implications of regulations best, but the end result is nearly always a quick and efficient gutting of any measures opposed by the industry, followed by a profitable return to the private sector they’ve just made so happy.
Predictably, Scott’s appointment, which still has to be confirmed by the Senate, was applauded by industry while being scoffed at by environmentalists. Neil Armingeon of the environmental group St. Johns Riverkeeper told the Miami Herald, “I’m almost at the point now where I’m not sure it matters who runs the agency, since the Scott administration plans to deregulate everything in Florida.” Whether Scott’s argument that such deregulation will yield massive investment and job creation or just turn the state into a giant landfill for a small handful’s profit remains to be seen