Ask governor to veto HB 1191

By SANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION

In a session where a number of environmentally damaging bills were passed, one of the most egregious was HB 1191 Use of Phosphogypsum

The bill promotes the use of a radioactive waste by-product from phosphate mining to be used in road construction and includes a study and demonstration projects. The study in the bill focuses on the usefulness of phosphogypsum as aggregate material for road construction, and will not fully address the health risks posed by distributing cancercausing radioactive material throughout the state

The waste created by phosphate fertilizer production is called phosphogypsum and is stored in large piles, hundreds of feet high, referred to as “gyp stacks According to the Environmental Protection Agency, most of the naturally-occurring uranium, thorium and radium found in phosphate rock ends up in this waste Uranium and thorium decay to radium which, in turn, decays to the radioactive gas, radon Because the wastes are concentrated, phosphogypsum is more radioactive than the original phosphate rock

Supporters of the use of phosphogypsum in our roads claim that the radioactive elements of the aggregate would be contained

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process The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and other water quality advocates are concerned that toxic leachate may occur once the confining layer of asphalt cracks or erodes from weatherization, wear or a large storm event with the direct potential to contaminate our groundwater and nearby waterways.

Southwest Florida has already seen the devastating harm our weather can have on our infrastructure, including complete wash-outs of our roads during Hurricane Ian The impact to our bays and estuaries from radioactive phosphogypsum contained in our road beds would be catastrophic and not worth the risk

Supporters of the bill claimed during legislative committee debate that it would be up to the EPA to regulate the health and safety of the product on both the construction workers applying the material and on the long-term exposure to our environment The EPA has studied this issue and has concluded that the use of phosphogypsum in road construction remains prohibited For more information on the EPA’s findings, visit https://www federalr

phosphogypsum-in-road-construction

In addition to the immediate health risks to ourselves and to our waterways, the SCCF believes the production costs associated with t h e h i g h l y p r o f i t a b l e p h o s p h a t e i n d u s t r y should not be shifted to the citizens of Florida We have seen this occur before, most recently with the Piney Point disaster that resulted in the contamination of Tampa Bay, a devastating nutrient-fed red tide, and the taxpayers of Florida shouldering the cleanup burden of $100 million

HB 1191 does not address the existing accumulation of phosphogypsum around the state it only seeks to use the by-product of future phosphate production, increasing profits within the phosphate mining industry The r e s p o n s i b i l i t y t o a d d r e s s t h e d a n g e r o u s radioactive waste should remain with the multi-billion dollar industry that created the w a s t e , n o t b e p a s s e d o n t o t a x - p a y i n g Floridians

The SCCF and 33 other clean water advocates have sent a strong HB 1191 veto request to Gov Ron DeSantis

Please visit https://p2a co/ZGyq0Lx to urge the governor to veto HB 1191 to protect

See HB 1191, page 5