Releasing 4.5M gallons of rainwater from Piney Point into Tampa Bay concerns environmentalists

As construction to close the first of four Piney Point phosphogypsum stacks is set to begin next month, officials must first remove 4.5 million gallons of rainwater accumulated on the work site during the year’s rainy season and dispose of it directly in Tampa Bay.

The release has raised the concern of environmental advocates who have called for full closure of the site for years, only to see those fears realized in two major disasters in the last decade. Once in 2011 and again last year.

They are concerned the state is not being entirely transparent with the contents of the water, and they worry about the effect the water could have on Tampa Bay — which saw significant strain from the breach at the former fertilizer plant last year and was ravaged by red tide months later.

In case you missed it: Florida Department of Environmental Protection accepts plans for Piney Point closure

Previously: More waste to be disposed of underground in Manatee County because of Piney Point

And: Piney Point closure could take until at least 2024. Manatee County progresses on injection well

Officials said in this instance the unease is misplaced.

"I understand why people are getting jumpy about this," Tampa-based Attorney Herb Donica said. "Everything we do has a concern of some type attached to it."

He said the stormwater is not contaminated, and the release is simply the next step in the arduous process of permanently shuttering the former Piney Point fertilizer plant.

Full closure of Piney Point set to begin

The former Piney Point fertilizer plant has not operated since 2001, but a complicated set of bankruptcies, purchases, and business transactions have delayed the full closure of the site despite significant progress by the state to close the facility in the early 2000s.

Two catastrophic failures at one of the gypstacks at Piney Point, specifically known as New Gypsum Stack South, have since tarnished the quality of tarnished abundant Tampa Bay waters and put north Manatee County homeowners who live nearby at risk.

Last year, a breach at the NGS-South gypstack forced officials to release about 215 million gallons into Tampa Bay through Port Manatee. In 2011, it was 170 million gallons of wastewater released into Bishop Harbor, which has been given Outstanding Florida Water designation by the DEP.

The 4.5 million gallons of stormwater have specifically accumulated elsewhere, at the Old Gypsum Stack South pond that was dry up until this year's rainy season, which starts in mid-May.

The north Manatee County site has received 24 inches of rain this year, with 8.72 inches of rain in June alone, and 5.48 inches of rain through July 15, according to recent updates from the Florida DEP.

That gypstack is the first in line for full closure, and officials have to remove rainwater that has accumulated to allow Forgen LLC to move forward with construction as early as mid-August.

“To be clear, it is not process water nor does it come into contact with the ponded process water contained in other separate lined compartments atop the gypstacks,” Florida Department of Environmental Protection Press Secretary Alexandra Kuchta said.

“While rainfall events do impact water levels in the storage ponds, to be very clear, emergency discharges of this water is not part of response to routine rainfall events,” she said. “It is not currently happening, nor is it needed to safely manage pond levels.”

Donica said the pond is already lined, but Forgen will install an additional liner and cover it with two feet of soil and grass so that the pond no longer collects rainwater and it instead drains into Piney Point's stormwater management system.

He said the stormwater could be released as early as next week to make way for the company to begin construction work at the site.

“The (OGS-South) pond was dry, and we’re under contract with Forgen LLC to remediate that gypstack,” Donica said. “Due to the recent rains, it’s not as dry as it used to be. We have to make it suitable for construction activity. So we have to get the water out to get them in.”

Environmental advocates raise concerns

News that stormwater would be released into Tampa Bay has raised concern among environmental advocates. Tampa Bay Waterkeeper Director Justin Tramble issued a statement on Wednesday questioning officials about the quality of the water.

“We believe that there is plenty to be concerned with,” Tramble said. “Discharging polluted water that is merely less contaminated than previously discharged water is not only something to worry about, but it is just the beginning of a long list of problems we identify in Piney Point’s inadequate closure plan. We’ve got to do better.”

Tramble raised concern about a tear in the OGS-South liner and said there are hazardous levels of arsenic reported in the sediment at the gypstack.

“The gypsum stack that they are set to drain has at least one tear in the pond liner, which is supposed to prevent the leaking of hazardous waste,” he said. “The hazardous levels of arsenic reported in the Bay sediments that the soon-to-be discharged water sits on top of are also concerning. The lack of details on their required water quality monitoring methods and the absence of public reporting are also troubling.”

When asked about the claims, Donica explained that the torn liner was repaired earlier this year and that the sediment in question was taken directly from Port Manatee's Berth 12 dredging project in 2011.

Similar: Environmentalists concerned about proposed phosphate mine in DeSoto County

The stormwater will be released through Port Manatee so he said it has only come into contact with sediment that was taken from the very same place and not cross-contaminated with polluted wastewater stored at Piney Point.

"It's the same stuff going back to where it came from," Donica said.

After earlier breaches at Piney Point, residents worry about trusting what officials say

With two major breaches in recent memory and many other incidents at the facility since its construction in the mid-1960s, Sarasota Bay Estuary Program Director Dave Tomasko said it is no wonder why advocates and residents are apprehensive to take the word of public officials over the troubled site.

The issue with the stormwater is not high nitrogen content, like the wastewater from the breach last year, Tomasko said. Nitrogen helps feed algae blooms in the bay, and at least some experts blame that incident for the voracity of red tide months later.

“It is not liquid fertilizer," he said. "But the issue is that it has a salinity that is about a third to a half of what the Gulf of Mexico has. So you can’t discharge it into a creek or a wastewater treatment plant.”

He said he was not surprised about the public concern, but agreed that the stormwater is likely within the parameters of Piney Point's permits — although he has not reviewed lab results himself.

“I think because of what happened previously, there is a predisposition to not trust folks,” Tomasko said. “From the earliest stages last year we were telling people how bad it was going to be, we were saying this is probably the worst thing to happen to Tampa Bay in 50 years."

"So when people are saying ‘we don’t think its a problem,’ it’s not because we think it's all part of some coverup," he said. "It's because this doesn't seem like it's anywhere close to what we saw last year.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Stormwater release from Piney Point into Tampa Bay concerns advocates