Thread by @DrEricDing

“ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER” of phosphate factory 🏭 polluted water—32 million gallons per day are leaking out of a 800-million-gallon holding pool at industrial site near Tampa Bay prompted evacuation of residents within about a mile of the plant—worsening.🧵
axios.com/tampa-bay-mana…

2) Florida Department of Environmental Protection said draining (the wastewater pools) was the only way to prevent "a containment failure and catastrophic release."

3) The wastewater pools at the now abandoned Piney Point fertilizer factory is long considered one of the “one of the biggest environmental threats in Florida history.”

floridaphoenix.com/2020/10/01/pho…

4) “Site manager Jeff Barath's voice shook and he appeared to fight back tears as he spoke to the county commissioners about the situation. "There will likely be impacts in Tampa Bay," he told the commission.

5) USF geoscience professor Matthew Pasek warned we’re now looking at irreversible damage. “Algae blooms followed by fish kills are most likely. It’s going to impact the food chain. It’s unlikely to cause human damage, but there’s going to be a pretty stinky bay for a while."

6) DEP said in a statement that it's "dedicated to full enforcement of any damages to our state's resources and holding [property owner HRK Holdings] accountable for this event."

7) because of heavy rainfall, everyone feared the rising amount of wastewater would break through its containing wall and pour down into the bay, killing millions of fish.

8) “The state Department of Environmental Protection came up with a desperate plan: Treat the waste, load it on a barge and spray it into the Gulf of Mexico, counting on dilution to be the solution to the pollution.
It worked. Everyone thought that was that. Everyone was wrong.”

9) “Piney Point was back in the news last week, giving me a serious case of déjà vu. “Contaminated water at the former Piney Point phosphate plant is nearing the site’s capacity, putting all of Tampa Bay at risk for an environmental crisis,” radio station WMNF-FM reported.

10) “How did Piney Point get to be a threat all over again? Because it was handled the same way we always handle environmental problems in Florida — by putting off dealing with difficult situations until they escalate to the point that we can no longer ignore them.”

11) BREAKING update— the Piney Point waster water pools “collapse is imminent”.

bradenton.com/news/local/art…