The Tampa Bay Times reported and other Florida media have followed that Mosaic is seeking approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use 337 tons of phosphogypsum for a test road construction project authorized this year by the Florida Legislature.
That sounds like a lot of material that could go toward erasing these waste mountains on Florida’s landscape until you look at the big picture.
Florida’s gypstacks as they are called contain an estimated 1 BILLION tons of this stuff and the number increases by 30 MILLION tons a year.
That means we’re talking about a project that will consume about one ten-thousandth of a percent of the annual output, which even if it were approved would be hardly noticeable.
In case you tuned in late, phosphogysum as the industry calls it so it doesn’t get confused with the material contained in drywall, is slightly radioactive and contains some toxic elements such as arsenic, mercury and chromium. It is a waste byproduct of the process of making fertilizer from phosphate rock.
Meanwhile, the public reaction has been a mixture of unease and ridicule. Commentators on a recent radio show joked about how the roads built with this stuff won’t need street lights because they will glow in the dark.
This isn’t true, of course, but this is hardly a public relations win for Mosaic.
This also demonstrates how the Florida Legislature just rubber-stamped this proposal without any serious analysis in a decision that seemed to reek of politics.
If Trump was for this and Biden is against it, what else is there to discuss?
There was actually plenty to discuss such as whether the public would accept this if were used to build roads in residential areas, whether it is really an economical alternative to limerock and whether it would really solve Mosaic’s waste problem that requires the corporation to otherwise monitor and manage these waste piles until the end of time.
Until EPA officials make a ruling, this discussion is academic but will be entertaining to watch the political reaction if the answer is no.
Stay tuned.