EPA tentatively OKs plan for test road project using phosphate waste | WUSF

Federal environmental regulators have given preliminary approval to a plan to use a slightly radioactive byproduct of phosphate mining in roadway construction. But there is a lot of opposition to the plan.

The Environmental Protection Agency has indicated it will approve a plan by Mosaic to build a pilot project that uses phosphogypsum as a road bed. The mining company has said it is looking for a way to reduce the amount of the phosphate byproducts that are currently stacked in two dozen gypstacks — mostly in Polk, Hardee and Hillsborough counties.

In 2020, the EPA moved to allow the use of phosphogypsum in roads, but after backlash from environmental groups across the country, the agency rolled back its decision in 2021. Many other countries around the world use it in road beds.

The pilot project would be a small strip of road at Mosaic’s New Wales processing plant near Mulberry in Polk County that would test the material in actual conditions.

“Shame on the EPA for disregarding its own science showing the unacceptable risks to people’s health and the environment from using phosphogypsum in road construction,” said Ragan Whitlock, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“I urge the agency to reconsider this pending approval and prioritize safety over the industry’s efforts to dump some of its radioactive waste into our highways. Hurricane Milton’s impending landfall and the potential for a catastrophic failure of radioactive phosphogypsum stacks across the region should be a wakeup call that the phosphate industry needs more regulations, not another revenue stream.”

Whitlock also pointed out how major hurricanes could erode or even wash away these roadways.

"Hurricane Ian was a great wake up call to Floridians. You know, we saw the Sanibel causeway collapse into the sea. There is no guarantee that phosphogypsum placed in roads is not eventually going to enter our bays and waterways," he said.

"Radium-226, has a half life of 1,600 years. The radiological properties of this material will outlive the road that it's placed in. Unfortunately, in terrible events like these hurricanes that are increasingly frequent and increasingly more strong are going to cause problems."

A representative of Mosaic did not respond to a request for comment. The EPA is taking public comment on the plan until Nov. 8.

In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that will allow the Florida Department of Transportation to study the use of phosphogypsum in road construction, defying calls from a coalition of environmental groups urging his veto. Critics called it the “radioactive roads” bill.

The EPA regulates the use of phosphogypsum under the Clean Air Act and requires the material to be stored in massive storage areas, called gypsum stacks or gypstacks, to limit people's exposure to radon, a cancer-causing gas.

Industry advocates have said use in road beds would be one way to whittle down gypstacks, which have caused several environmental catastrophes in recent years. One, at Piney Point in Manatee County, allowed more than 200 million gallons of wastewater stored there to flow into Tampa Bay earlier this year.

Florida has 1 billion tons of radioactive phosphogypsum in two dozen stacks, including Piney Point. That nutrient-rich water has been blamed for algae blooms, and possibly exacerbating the affects of red tide.

Here's the release from the EPA:

The Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA or the Agency) seeks public comment on its pending approval of a request for a ‘‘Small-scale Road Pilot Project on Private Land in Florida’’ submitted by Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC in March 2022, and updated by the ‘‘Revised Request for Approval of Use of

Phosphogypsum in Small-scale Pilot Project’’, submitted in August 2023. The Agency’s review found that Mosaic’s request is complete per the requirements of EPA’s National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and that the potential radiological risks from conducting the pilot project meet the regulatory requirement that the project is at least as protective of public health as maintaining the phosphogypsum in a stack.

On Oct. 9, the EPA issued a pending approval of the request subject to certain conditions. The EPA is soliciting public comments on the pending approval.

DATES: Comments may be submitted on or before November 8, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2024–0446 by any of the following methods: