MANATEE COUNTY – A week has passed since reports of a leak coming from the abandoned piney point facility first surfaced, which set off a chain reaction across the greater Tampa Bay Area.
However, this wouldn’t be the first environmental crisis that’s put the spotlight on the Piney Point facility.
“This is not a new concern this has been going on for a very long time,” said Rusty Chinnis with Suncoast Waterkeepers.
For many of us new to the Suncoast the Piney Point phosphogypsum stack leak is an unheard-of incident. But if you ask around, to many that have called Manatee County home for more than two decades this isn’t uncharted territory.
“There’s been a series of mistakes that have been made at Piney Point.” said Director of ManaSota88 Glenn Compton. “The first mistake was locating it where its at, and that was done back in the 1960s.”
A look back at the abandoned phosphate plant sheds light on how we got to where we are today. Built in 1966, Piney Point produced fertilizer for decades until it was officially abandoned by Mulberry Corporation in 2001.
It was around that time records show the state began discharging 10 million gallons of lime-treated water into ditches flowing into Bishop’s Harbor. Caused by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Gabrielle that threatened to overflow the ponds and cause a catastrophic release of wastewater.
“This was a problem that was probably destined to happened at one time or another,” Compton said.
Then following in 2003, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection received permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to dump partially treated wastewater 100 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. After a storm dumped 16.5 inches of rain on Piney Point, once again threatening to overflow the ponds.
“This happened to me 20 years ago,” said fisherman Cpt. Scott Moore. “They dumped in Bishop’s Harbor in that area, and just absolutely that beautiful pristine bay.”
And not to long ago in 2011, a liner on one of the gypsum stacks was punctured, causing water to leak through the stack. Resulting in 170 million gallons of contaminated water to be dumped into Bishop’s Harbor.
After the latest incident many on the Suncoast are hoping state leaders will put an end to what seems to be a never ending saga over at the abandoned facility.
County officials say their next step will be to bring in a submersible vehicle that can inspect and possibly repair the lining of the pond; as well as work with the state to provide a long-term solution.