Piney Point: Back from the Brink?

Piney Point: Back from the Brink?

Bay managers hope they’re prepared for the 2002 hurricane season.
Harsh lessons lead to changes.

While other people pray for rain, Sam Zamani and Phil Coram are hoping Central Florida’s years-long drought continues, at least for a little longer.

Charged with cleaning up more than a billion gallons of highly acidic, nutrient-laden water at the abandoned Piney Point phosphate plant, they know that every drop of rain that falls on the 660-acre site makes the problem worse.

Without knowing how much rain is coming, it’s impossible to pinpoint a timeframe for closing the plant, says Zamani, DEP administrator of phosphate management, although the agency says the years-long process will begin after this summer’s rainy season. “Whatever treatment we do or how many takers we can find, everything is still dependent on the weather.”

That’s because the site acts like a giant funnel, collecting rain in a system of ponds and phosphogypsum stacks that are holding about 1.2 billion gallons of water. An inch of rain translates into 12 million gallons of new water. That adds up quickly.

For instance, if drought conditions continue this summer, the plant will get about 40 inches of rain instead of the expected 50. That 10-inch differential prevents about 120 million gallons, or 20 percent of the total pond capacity, from entering the system.

“I look at the paper every morning and scroll down to the weather in Tampa,” says Coram, the Tallahassee-based program administrator for DEP’s Bureau of Mine Reclamation. “If it looks hot and sunny, it makes me feel good.”

Weather doesn’t always cooperate

Obviously, the weather didn’t cooperate last fall when Tropical Storm Gabrielle made landfall just south of the plant, dumping 12 inches of rain in 48 hours and adding 140 million gallons of water to the system. And Gabrielle was just the highlight of a very wet month in which rainfall totaled nearly 20 inches, adding 240 million gallons to the system.

With the entire Piney Point site flooding, electrical service limited to emergency generators and the system nearing capacity, DEP Secretary David Struhs signed an emergency order authorizing the release of up to 50 million gallons of partially treated water into Bishop’s Harbor, part of the Terra Ciea Aquatic Preserve.

“We had to discharge,” Zamani said. “The dikes were in danger of collapsing and we could have lost it all.”

In the end, 10 million gallons were released, carrying 16.2 tons of nitrogen into Bishop’s Harbor, more than three times the annual nutrient budget for that bay sector. Nitrogen levels rose from 1 part per billion to 33 parts per billions, and chlorophyll levels increased from 10 to 25 parts per billion. Bay scientists say that the water in the poorly circulating harbor is murkier than ever, and fisherman report lower catches.

“We’re experiencing a major macro-algae bloom, the same type we saw in 1998-99 after emergency El Nino releases from Piney Point,” said Rob Brown, water quality administrator for the Manatee County Environmental Management Department. “Whether the discharge is causing the bloom or feeding it, I don’t know, but it’s there.”

Already the department has deployed booms off Perico Island to keep decaying algae off the beaches, Brown added.

Hoping for drought, planning for rain

Environmental managers began developing strategies to cope with this summer’s rainy season in January. An interim goal called for increasing capacity by 29 million gallons by May 1. Thanks in part to a rainfall deficit early this year, capacity had increased by 227 million gallons by then. They’re working now to achieve an additional 124 million gallons of capacity by the end of October.

There wasn’t a single answer to increasing capacity, so they took a multi-pronged approach to the challenge. Along with adding another 92 million gallons of capacity by building up the dikes on the stacks, they’re working with Manatee County, other fertilizer plants, Florida Power & Light and the Manatee Agricultural Reuse System to take water from Piney Point. The only problem is that water becomes less valuable when it’s falling from the sky – so once rainy season starts, demand dries up.

In the meantime, Manatee County is trucking about 100,000 gallons per day to its wastewater treatment plant where it is treated and then sold as reclaimed water for use on farms and lawns. The water has been double-limed and aerated, a process which removes all the phosphorus, most of the nitrogen and normalizes acidity levels.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District is looking for users to take water treated in an on-site reverse-osmosis unit – more than 600,000 gallons per day when the R/O unit is fully operational. Reject water will initially be held on-site but the high concentration of nutrients may make it more valuable to nearby phosphate plants.

Manatee County commissioners have asked U.S. Rep. Dan Miller to help get federal funding for a $50 million pipeline to connect Piney Point with FP&L’s Parrish power plant for storage that may eventually tie into the county’s agricultural water reuse system.

Cargill and CF Industries, which operate phosphate processing plants in Plant City and Riverview, also are expected to take some of the water from Piney Point. Negotiations are still underway, but plans call for about 73 million gallons to be trucked to nearby plants and reused by October.

Finally, fertilizer stored on parts of the site that aren’t directly involved in phosphate processing is being cleaned up, diverting some stormwater from the stack system.

If all goes as planned, Piney Point is coming back from the brink. As of May 27, the plant can accommodate about 20.5 inches of rain – more than the anticipated worst-case scenario in a 100-year, 24-hour storm event plus a wetter-than-average rainy season. Using short-term emergency capacity, the plant could hold an additional 300 million gallons or about 24.9 inches of rain.

Plagued from the start

Almost from the beginning, Piney Point has been plagued by problems. Reports from the 1960s are highlighted by fish kills and cattle poisonings. The ’70s and ’80s were marked by fines for air and water pollution, culminating in a 1989 sulfuric acid spill that caused hundreds of people to evacuate the area. In 1991, three workers died in separate industrial accidents.

It’s somewhat ironic that its location near one of the most pristine areas of Tampa Bay isn’t an accident. In the mid-1960s, county officials approached the phosphate industry about building the plant near Port Manatee. Even though the nearest phosphate mine was miles away, building a chemical processing plant adjacent to the port would make it easy to ship fertilizer almost anywhere in the world.

Today, that location will make it almost impossible for Piney Point to resume production. “The chances of us permitting another company to run the plant are extremely remote,” says Zamani. “We can’t let this happen again.”

It’s also extremely remote than anyone besides taxpayers will pick up the tab for closing Piney Point. Mulberry Corporation purchased the plant in 1993 for $13 million after Royster Phosphates declared bankruptcy. According to court filings, it owes creditors nearly $93 million. Costs to clean up the site, including draining the water and closing the stacks, could run anywhere from $50 to $100 million.

“This is a very unusual situation,” comments Herb Donica, the bankruptcy attorney charged with disposing of Mulberry’s assets. “Usually we gather up assets, convert them to cash and distribute that cash to creditors. In this case, the most important thing we can do is eliminate the risk of environmental contamination and promote the public interest.”

Looking back, planning ahead

In retrospect, says DEP, financial assurances for phosphate companies — and reporting standards from their auditors — should have been more stringent. The agency has hired an FSU finance professor to evaluate company financial statements and make recommendations for strengthening requirements.

Current rules allow several mechanisms for providing financial assurance for the closure of phosphogypsum stacks, including trust funds, surety bonds, letters of credit, or financial tests.

But those projections, notes DEP deputy secretary Allan Bedwell, were based on bulldozing the site after the water had been removed. Water removal “basically doubles the closure costs.”

“Mulberry met the financial test as it was mandated and our hands were tied on taking action beyond what was required in statute,” Bedwell added. “Until we actually had a company file for bankruptcy, the financial test had not been tested.”

DEP is now proposing to make the corporate financial requirements more stringent and require five-year interim stack management plans that include financial assurances for implementation in case of business failure. “Our expectation is that it will apply to all companies,” said Bedwell, not just new facilities.

But while almost everyone agrees that a key to preventing this kind of a tragedy in the future lies in financial assurances, the devil is in the details. “Bonding is definitely the best option,” says environmental activist and attorney Tom Reese. “If they try to come up with something different, it needs to be the equivalent. Just to take a letter from some CEO, who says ‘trust us, we have the assets’ isn’t acceptable.”

Exploring new treatment and disposal options

DEP is working with the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research (FIPR) to develop new ways to manage, treat, reuse and dispose of phosphate wastewater and phosphogypsum.

While water is the first concern at Piney Point, phosphogypsum is the most obvious byproduct, stored in stacks that tower hundreds of feet above Florida’s mostly flat surface. According to the DEP, there are almost a billion tons already in stacks and that number grows an estimated 30 million tons every year.

“There are a lot of things we could do with the gyp but the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) has basically prohibited its use based on its low level of radioactivity,” said Michael Lloyd, research director for the chemical processing and phosphogypsum division at FIPR.

Used as a road base, for instance, gyp could save taxpayers about $100,000 per mile of road, or up to $300,000 per mile of interstate highway. “We’re working with a contractor who is interested in using the gyp as part of ‘malfunction junction’ (the intersection of interstates 4 and 275 in downtown Tampa) rebuilding, but it’s not sure whether they’ll get the contract or get permission to use the gyp if they do get the contract,” Lloyd said.

Attorney Reese, working with ManaSota 88, was instrumental in persuading the EPA to prohibit the use of phosphogypsum. “We sued the EPA in the early 1990s for not following their regulations on hazardous air pollution from the phosphogypsum based on radon and gamma emissions,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s hazardous waste and it’s not safe to use in any application.”

Used on roads or as an agricultural product, radium may leach into groundwater along with contaminants such as fluoride, arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead, he said.

To contain potential contamination, gyp stacks are lined, or covered with plastic and topped with soil to minimize rainwater infiltration. That process should begin as soon as possible at Piney Point, Reese adds. “There’s a water mound inside the stack that acts like a water tower. Capping the stack would lower pressure on the mound, so there would be less pressure pushing contaminated water into the groundwater.”

Attracting buyers

Meanwhile, DEP reached an agreement with Cargill Fertilizer in May for Cargill to take over Piney Point’s sister facility in Mulberry, which includes facilities for processing sulfur and co-generating electricity. Under the deal, Cargill will close the gyp stacks and pipe water from the facility to its Bartow plant where it can be recycled.

According to Bedwell, there are two very viable options for Piney Point. “One is to use the site for a state-of-the-art power plant. Another viable option would be to convert the site into a stormwater catchment area for Manatee County.”

Attorney Donica is working with several potential buyers, including power companies who could close the stack and use the water for cooling. “At least one of the companies has tested the water and determined that they can use it with minimal treatment,” he said.

The fact that Gulfstream’s new gas pipeline cuts through the Piney Point property makes it particularly attractive for power companies. They could sell or lease the front part of the property to industrial users who could take advantage of Port Manatee and rail connections.

“We don’t have an offer on the table, but we have very strong indications from more than one company,” Donica said.

While Donica and DEP are working to get the property back in the hands of private enterprise, some people believe that the federal government should step back in. The Florida Wildlife Federation has requested that the EPA fund the Piney Point cleanup through the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act – also known as CERCLA or Superfund.

“We’ve haven’t ruled out that option,” Bedwell says, but getting Superfund designation would certainly limit opportunities to market and re-develop the site. Plus, he adds, Florida has far exceeded the amount the state would be required to spend if it were a Superfund site.

Still, DEP is pursuing federal funding to support the cleanup efforts. “Our ‘burn rate’ on the trust fund (contributed by phosphate companies to reclaim previously mined land) is extremely high. At this point, we will actually expend all of that money on Piney Point in the next few years unless we find another source.”

Originally published July 2002

The Story So Far
A troubled history

1966

Borden Chemical Company constructs Piney Point phosphate plant; four owners since then.

1989

23,000-gallon leak of sulfuric acid from a holding tank, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people, including Port Manatee workers.

1991

Two air releases of sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide.

1993

Mulberry Corporation purchases Piney Point facility from Royster Phosphates, Inc. after Royster declares bankruptcy.

1997

Dam failure at Polk County plant sends 54 million gallons of acid water into Alafia River, killing more than a million fish.

Dec. 28, 1999

Citing a depressed fertilizer market, Mulberry Corp. notifies Florida Department of Environmental Protection of proposed facility shutdowns, with intent to re-open in six months.

2000

DEP increases frequency of inspections and hires consulting firm to verify water storage calculations.

Jan. 30, 2001

Mulberry Corp. contacts DEP to say that financial difficulties will prevent it from assuring environmental security at its Polk County and Piney Point plants; abandons plants 48 hours later.

Feb. 7, 2001

EPA jumps in on emergency basis to run operations for two weeks.

Feb. 8, 2001

Mulberry Corporation files for bankruptcy.

Feb. 21, 2001

DEP takes over with initial $4 million in state emergency funds, most of which is needed to pay the electric bill to keep water pumps and water treatment devices working.

Nov. 2001

DEP authorizes emergency discharges into Bishop Harbor following Tropical Storm Gabrielle; 10 million gallons of partially treated wastewater released to prevent total collapse of dikes.

Jan. 2002

Agency on Bay Management forms task force to develop alternatives to discharging partially treated wastewater from site.

Spring 2002

DEP hires FSU finance professor to develop recommendations for strengthening corporate financial assurances.

May 2002

Cargill Fertilizer announces plans to take over Mulberry Corp.’s defunct Polk County plant.

Water, Water Everywhere

The most important job in the phosphate industry may be managing the water it takes to mine, separate and process raw material into finished fertilizer. While the industry recycles more than 95 percent of the water it uses, each of three steps taken to process phosphate is highly dependent upon water.

Phosphate comes out of the ground in about equal parts phosphate rock, sand and clay. Once it’s mined, it’s mixed with water to make a slurry and pumped to “beneficiation” plants where the ore is separated from rock and clay.

Phosphate beneficiation requires several steps, including washing off the larger particles and flotation procedures that use water and a series of chemical reagents to concentrate the phosphate.

Phosphate rock is then trucked to chemical processing plants like Piney Point, where more than a billion gallons of water are in constant motion when a plant is operating. Water is used in the manufacturing process, then it’s pumped to the top of stacks where phosphogypsum and other waste products are deposited. It soaks through the stacks and back into a system of ponds where excess materials settle out.

When a plant is operating, water is constantly reused. Heat generated by the manufacturing process keeps temperatures in the pond at a toasty 140 degrees, hastening evaporation and minimizing the potential for flooding, even in heavy rains. When the plant shuts down, however, the ponds cool, water no longer evaporates as quickly and rainfall becomes an issue.

Keeping the wastewater in motion is critical to ensure that it doesn’t seep into groundwater. Water is pumped into the stacks at a rate of 6,000 gallons per minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether the plant is running or not, until the stacks are closed.

Tallying The Costs

A year and a half into the takeover of the Piney Point and Polk County facilities, the state already has spent some $20 million. Florida is likely to spend at least three times that amount before the Piney Point facility is closed. So far, all monies have come from the Non-mandatory Land Reclamation Trust Fund, created to support the reclamation of phosphate lands mined prior to 1975. New legislation in 2001 authorized the use of trust fund monies for abating imminent hazards and closing abandoned phosphogypsum stacks. It also imposed a registration fee of $75,000 per stack for five years, estimated to generate another $1.5 million per year or about $7.5 million.

In May, DEP and Cargill Fertilizer, Inc. announced plans for Cargill to take over the Polk County site, a deal which will save taxpayers an additional $20 million in mitigation costs.

Piney Point, however, remains a huge financial drain. At present spending rates, DEP says the Piney Point cleanup will exhaust the trust fund in a few years unless other funding sources are identified.