BYCURT ANDERSON AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 28, 2022 at 6:25 AM EDT
https://fortune.com/2022/09/28/hurricane-ian-florida-radioactive-waste-phosphate-mining
A reservoir near the old Piney Point phosphate mine in Bradenton, Fla.
TIFFANY TOMPKINS/THE BRADENTON HERALD VIA AP, FILE
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons in “stacks” that resemble enormous ponds, are at risk for leaks or other contamination when Hurricane Ian comes ashore in the state, environmental groups say.
Florida has 24 such phosphogypsum stacks, most of them concentrated in mining areas in the central part of the state. About 30 million tons of this slightly radioactive waste is generated every year, according to the Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute.
“A major storm event like the one we are bracing for can inundate the facilities with more water than the open-air ponds can handle,” Ragan Whitlock, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group, said in an email Tuesday.
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