![]() ![]() An estimated 316 households were within the evacuation zone. Efforts to repair the leaks on April 2 and 3 were unsuccessful, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the entire county and wider evacuations were conducted on April 3. Residents in the area were ordered to evacuate on April 1. The leak was reported to authorities on March 26 and worsened over the following days. On March 25, 2021, leaks were discovered in the containment wall of a 67-acre (27 ha) holding pool located in a stack of radioactive phosphogypsum, storing nearly 400 million US gallons (1.5 × 10 ^ 6 m 3) of wastewater containing nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia, and small amounts of radium and uranium from the former operations at the plant, as well as seawater from the dredging of Berth 12 at Port Manatee. In February 2021, national and regional environmental groups petitioned the EPA, now under the Biden administration, to raise environmental protections from phosphogypsum stacks in at least 12 states under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act well-known groups included Center for Biological Diversity, Waterkeeper Alliance, and Sierra Club. In October, Florida environmental advocacy group ManaSota-88 called on the EPA to investigate the site, calling out "increased the risks of a catastrophic failure of their earthen impoundments". In September 2020, WMNF reported on increasing concerns about rising water levels at the site due to rains and the potential of reaching capacity with just one hurricane. The remaining property is leased by HRK as an industrial park under the name Eastport, with access to Port Manatee, multiple highways, and a rail yard connected directly to the CSX mainline. Portions of the property were sold to Port Manatee, Thatcher Chemical of Florida, Manatee Bulk Storage, and an affiliate of Mayo Fertilizer and Farm Supply as part of bankruptcy restructuring for HRK. HRK Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 citing expenses from the leak the previous year, when HRK had allowed the Manatee County Port Authority to store materials from the dredging of Port Manatee's Berth 12 expansion in reservoirs on the property. Bishop Harbor has stricter environmental protections given its Outstanding Florida Water designation. In 2011, another spill dumped 170 million US gallons (640 × 10 ^ 3 m 3) of contaminated water into Bishop Harbor and Tampa Bay. The site was purchased from the government by HRK Holdings, LLC in 2006 for $4.3 million with the requirement that they maintain the phosphogypsum stacks and contaminated wastewater left from the former operations of the plant. In 2004, Hurricane Frances caused a hole in a dike, releasing 70 million US gallons (260 × 10 ^ 3 m 3) of contaminated water. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) briefly stepped in to oversee the plant, with the property later passing to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) through a court-appointed receivership. In January 2001, Mulberry abandoned the property just 48 hours after notifying the government that it could no longer afford to assure environmental security, and days before declaring bankruptcy. Mulberry ceased operations at the plant in 1999 due to a lack of funds. Mulberry Corporation purchased the plant in 1993 when Royster Phosphates declared bankruptcy. Two incidents in 1991 released sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide into the air, killing three workers and creating an acid cloud that caused 30 people to become ill. In 1989, a leaking storage tank released 23,000 US gallons (87 m 3) of sulfate that prompted evacuations of the area. īy 1988, the plant had changed hands again to Royster Phosphates. AMAX sold the plant in 1986 to FCS Energy, which was absorbed into Consolidated Minerals, Inc. ![]() The plant changed hands multiple times in the 1980s, beginning with Borden transferring the property to AMAX Phosphate in 1980. By 1970, it had been discovered that the plant was dumping waste into Bishop Harbor, resulting in fish kills. A phosphogypsum stack located in nearby Fort Meade, Florida, the Piney Point stack encloses wastewaterīorden Chemical opened an industrial plant on the site in September 1966 to process phosphate, a key ingredient in fertilizer.
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