The likelihood of heavy rainfall from Isaac could lead to toxic water overflowing from a reservoir at the now defunct Piney Point fertilizer plant in Manatee County.
In the event of an overflow, millions of gallons of the polluted water could flow into Tampa Bay. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has given the owner of the Piney Point site, HRK Holdings LLC permission to pipe the nutrient-laden water out of the full reservoir and into a second reservoir on the site as an emergency measure. "While the maximum water design level of this reservoir has been reached there’s still 3.2 feet to the top of the berm. So it is not over top, to reach the top of the berm yet,”said DEP spokeswoman Dee Ann Miller who’s monitoring the transfer. “So it is not over top, to reach the top of the berm yet. Due to the potential of inclement weather that could add additional water to the system the department authorized HRK to transfer water from the full reservoir to avoid an unpermitted discharge of process water as a result of emergency conditions at the site.”
Earlier this week, DEP sent a letter to HRK’s CEO Jordan Levy detailing a host of ongoing compliance issues with Piney Point. Levy refused to comment for this story, but the company has filed for bankruptcy protection. The phosphate plant has a decades’ long history of problems related to toxic water and gas emissions.
