As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida’s west coast with powerful winds and flooding rain, environmentalists are worried it could scatter the polluted leftovers of the state’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry and other hazardous waste across the peninsula and into vulnerable waterways.
A lesser storm, Hurricane Frances, which hit the state’s eastern coast as a Category 2 and churned across central Florida in 2004, sent 65 million gallons of acidic wastewater from phosphogypsum stacks into nearby waterways, killing thousands of fish and other marine life. Florida and North Carolina are responsible for mining 80% of the U.S. supply of phosphorous, which is important not only to agriculture but to munitions production.that are considered among the worst in the nation. A former pesticide production site, the Stauffer Chemical Co., has polluted the Anclote River, groundwater and soil. Today it is an EPA Superfund site undergoing years of cleanup.
“At this time, we are preparing locally for the storm both professionally and personally,” Mosaic spokeswoman Ashleigh Gallant said. “If there are impacts, we will release those publicly after the storm.”Scottie Barnes to return to Raptors lineup on Friday in pre-season game in WashingtonThe S&P 500 hit a high, with cybersecurity and cruise stocks big winners. The CPI inflation report and the Tesla robotaxi event loom.