BlogWood: MT Archives

Huge toxic spill threatens Tampa Bay ecosystem

High nutrient content, low pH levels, heavy metals, and radioactive sludge make for a lethal Bay cocktail; discharges to continue.

Twice warned by state regulators that a thin dike wall and higher than usual water levels could lead to disaster, Cargill failed to fix problems with it’s waste reservoir in a timely manner, resulting in the discharge of 70 million gallons of radioactive sludge mixed with highly acidic water into environmentally sensitive Tampa Bay.

Then, once it became apparent that a spill was imminent, or even in progress, Cargill ignored local lines of communication which may have allowed for quick containment help and called the industry friendly state DEP instead. Local authorities found out about the spill from a DEP press conference in Talahassee - these guys failed to notify even their closest neighbors that they were in the process of spilling and killing,

Once word of the spill, er, leaked out, Cargill downplayed its significance, maintaining that this was a manageable event, that Cargill was treating the overflow to prevent damage, and that there was nothing to worry about.

Since this weekend’s spill, we’ve had rain every day, and Ivan is quite possibly coming to dump even more water in our area. Now, Cargill says that it will have to “relocate” another 90 million gallons of waste water to prevent another catastrophic spill. Cargill is in the process of drawing down the reservoir, transferring some water to another stack, and releasing ever more water into the containment berm around the faulty reservoir.

Once in the berm, it will be treated with lime to make it somewhat less toxic. Well, that’s the official spin, but this treatment will simply raise the pH level to make the discharge a little less acidic. It will do nothing to clean nasty contaminants like arsenic and mercury and radiation. Then, after “treatment”, the toxic stew in the berm will be released into Archie creek and flow directly into Tampa Bay.

As well as carcinogenic heavy metals, the mixture of water and radioactive waste and lime contains tons of phosphorus and nitrogen - the raw materials of fertilizer - which, when released into a body of water, feeds algae growth, which lowers oxygen levels, which kills fish and leads to dead zones.

The Tampa Tribune has the industry spin, including low spill totals, a quote from a loyal BlogWood reader who was at yesterday’s Cargill protest, and whacked out County Commissar Ronda Storms, famous for having claimed to have “crawled across glass on my elbows,” contorting like a local carnival freak to find a way to compliment Cargill on its environmental stewardship.

A fertilizer company pondered some distasteful options Thursday in an effort to avoid another dike failure like the one Monday that released 60 million gallons of polluted wastewater into a nearby creek.

Cargill Crop Nutrition must decide whether it should release an additional 32 million gallons of treated process water from an impoundment sitting atop a 180-foot-high mountain of phosphogypsum.

If Cargill delays the discharge, oncoming Hurricane Ivan could hit the stack with wind-driven rains just as Frances did this week, punching another hole in the dike.

Either option threatens significant environmental harm to Archie Creek and Hillsborough Bay.

Even if Cargill treats the wastewater to lower its acidity, 32 million gallons of water laden with phosphorus and nitrogen could lower oxygen in the bay to dangerous levels. The result could be fish kills and other damage.

Officials at the site north of Gibsonton are under pressure to lower the dangerously high levels of water held on the gypsum stack. The company has faced increased criticism since The Tampa Tribune revealed Wednesday that state environmental officials had wanted the company to start discharging wastewater in August.

Thursday, Cargill managers were explaining their dilemma to the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission. Ronda Storms, whose role as a county commissioner makes her a member of the EPC, said she appreciated Cargill's usual policy of not discharging treated water into public waterways.

``I want to commend Cargill for being a good corporate citizen up to that point'' on Monday, Storms said. ``It was really a big gamble, and you lost the gamble.''

At the same time, protesters outside the plant called for more state scrutiny. Several environmental groups say they will ask for a moratorium on permits for gypsum stacks.

The phosphate industry has a long history of environmental mishaps, mostly caused by similar spills of acidic water into streams and rivers.

``I think it's despicable that the government allowed Cargill to pollute the waters and not respect the environment,'' said Lori Karpay, of Tampa.

Good job, Lori. She and many others showed up for a spur of the moment protest against Cargill and the phosphate mining industry in general.

And Ronda: Cargill’s insistence on “recycling” their waste water - essentially allowing it to evaporate instead of finding a safe disposal method - saved it tons of money. Cargill was not being a good steward of the environment. It was being a good steward of its shareholders’ profits. Cargill did not need to pay for expensive permits or water treatment. Now it gets to dump the water anyway. Oops. Sorry. It might not happen again...

Reading the Tribune, one gets a picture of a bad situation that Cargill is trying its best to control. The St. Pete Times has a whole ‘nother story:

With Hurricane Ivan swirling near Florida, Cargill Crop Nutrition is scrambling to drain an industrial recycling system that includes a faulty gypsum stack holding a billion gallons of heavily polluted water above Hillsborough Bay.

A break in the stack Sunday caused by waves whipped up by Frances forced the Riverview fertilizer manufacturer to dump nearly 70-million gallons of treated but toxic water into a creek that leads to Hillsborough Bay.

The company repaired the break and plans to line the weakened area with plastic to avoid a repeat performance if Ivan hits, said Sam Elrabi, a spokesman for the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission, which monitors the water management practices at Cargill.

Now the focus has shifted to a nearby 238-acre holding pond, made of an 18-foot earthen wall, that is "full to the rim" and vulnerable to a similar break, Elrabi said.

"We need to move water out of that," he said. "We're all working around the clock to provide the best possible protection to the public and to the environment."

Nearly 90-million gallons of polluted water needs to be relocated from the pond, Elrabi said.

Plant operations stopped Thursday afternoon to hasten the water shuffling, said David Jellerson, Cargill's environmental manager.

Cargill plans to pump a third of the excess water to the top of an old gypsum pile that hasn't been used since 1990. Some also is being trucked to a facility in Polk County that has extra storage space.

Another 30-million gallons will go into a stormwater ditch that surrounds Cargill's active gypsum stack, Elrabi said. There, it will be treated with a neutralizing agent to lower its acidity and, if Ivan hits, discharged into Archie Creek, which flows into Hillsborough Bay.
......

Environmental agencies say that the wastewater already released by Cargill due to Frances may have set back their goals for restoring sea grass and reviving the bay's ecology by years. Cargill's decision to dump the water added large amounts of nitrogen to the bay, which inhibits sea grass growth. Environmental and Cargill officials discussed the spill Thursday during a meeting of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission.

Also Thursday, protesters gathered near the Riverview plant and circulated a petition asking for stricter regulation of the phosphate industry.
......

Environmental regulators have been keeping a close eye all week on the impact of the acidic water on fish. They have reported seeing dozens of dead stingrays, crabs, snook and mullet.

Also of concern is the large amount of nitrogen in the water and its negative effect on sea grass beds, an important food source and breeding ground for wildlife.

To promote sea grass growth, a group of local governments, environmental agencies and industry representatives approved a plan in 1998 to reduce nitrogen dumped into Hillsborough Bay by 6 tons a year. But the release in just two days from Cargill added 93 tons of nitrogen to the bay, said Dick Eckenrod, executive director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program.

So, there’s another pond that is about to fail. And the original spill was close to 70 million gallons, not 60 something. Another 30 million, at least, is in the pipeline, so to speak, and it’s likely that even more will have to be released when the next hurricane blows through. So we’re easily into hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic, acidic water containing radioactive and heavy metal wastes flowing into an estuary that was in the process of making a healthy comeback.

Read the rest of the Times story for some quick background on local phosphate issues.

BlogWood background here, including info on waste ponds and gypsum stacks.

(Note - “Blinky” idea blatantly ripped off from a Daily Kos comment on an earlier story about this spill.)