Mosaic to pay $1.8 billion to dispose of hazardous waste

In a settlement the federal government is calling the “most significant enforcement action in the mining and mineral processing arena,” Mosaic Fertilizer has agreed to establish a $1.8 billion trust fund to properly treat, store and dispose of an estimated 60 billion pounds of hazardous waste at three central Florida and one Louisiana phosphate manufacturing facilities.

 

The settlement resolves a series of alleged violations by Mosaic, the world’s leading producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash. The allegations stem from storage and disposal of waste from the production of phosphoric and sulfuric acids at Mosaic facilities in Bartow, Mulberry and Riverview in Florida and Uncle Sam, Louisiana.

 

The Environmental Protection Agency said Mosaic was mixing certain types of highly-corrosive substances from its fertilizer operations, which qualify as hazardous waste, with phosphogypsum and wastewater from mineral processing, which is a violation of federal and state hazardous waste laws.

 

Two dozen “stacks” of gypsum loom over central Florida, some reaching 500 feet high. They can cover more than 600 acres, making them some of the largest man-made waste piles in the United States.

 

Spills from massive holding ponds atop the flat piles have occurred.

 

In 1997, 50 million gallons of contaminated water poured from a retention pond into the Alafia River. In 2004, hurricane-whipped winds churned waves of water over a gypsum stack in Riverview, spilling 65 million gallons of acidic wastewater into Tampa Bay.

 

The settlement calls for Mosaic to establish a $630 million trust fund, which will be invested until it reaches full funding of $1.8 billion. The funds cover the future closure and treatment of the Bartow, Mulberry and Riverview plants in Florida and the Uncle Sam plant in Louisiana, as well as their long-term care, along with facilities that are already undergoing closure. Those include Mosaic’s Green Bay and South Pierce operations.

 

The lives of phosphate concentrate facilities, where fertilizer is manufactured, are measured in decades. No manufacturing sites or mines are being shut down as a result of the settlement.

 

Mosaic will also spend $170 million on projects to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing and waste management programs at its facilities and $2.2 million on two local environmental projects. One is in Louisiana; the other will be a $1.2 million project to mitigate and prevent potential environmental impacts associated with an abandoned industrial property in Mulberry.

 

The company will pay a $5 million civil penalty to the United States, $1.55 million to the state of Louisiana, and $1.45 million to Florida.

 

The deal resolves a decade-long dispute. A consent decree formalizing the statement was filed in U.S. district Court in Tampa and Louisiana; it is subject to a 30-day public comment period in Florida and approval by the federal court.

 

“We are pleased to be bringing this matter to a close,” said Joc O’Rourke, president and chief executive at Mosaic Co. “Mosaic is committed to meaningful environmental stewardship at all of our facilities, and we take our responsibility to be good corporate citizens, now and for the decades ahead, very seriously. The commitments we are making through these settlements further those stewardship efforts.”

 

The company said it does not expect the settlements or resulting operational changes to impact production rates or volumes. Mosaic has disclosed the potential of fines and capital investment in regulatory filings.

 

“The settlement represents our most significant enforcement action in the mining and mineral processing arena, and will have a significant impact on bringing all Mosaic facilities into compliance with the law,” said Assistant Attorney General John Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources division. “Moreover, through this settlement, we establish critical financial assurance to cover the enormous closure and care costs at all these facilities. This sets the standard for our continuing enforcement of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in the entire phosphoric acid industry.”

 

EPA assistant administrator Cynthia Giles called the case “a major victory for clean water, public health and communities across Florida and Louisiana.”

 

Phosphate pebbles were discovered in the Peace River near Fort Meade more than 100 years ago. The element phosphorus is vital to agriculture, and Florida phosphate became a critical component of fertilizers shipped around the world.

 

Although Mosaic’s television ads feature environmentalists planting trees, recycling water and protecting the environment, strip mining for phosphate can be an ugly and environmentally damaging process.

 

Giant drag lines, or cranes with buckets the size of a garage and a wheelhouse that can be 5 stories in the air, tear into the earth. High-pressure water guns pulverize loads from the “pit,” sending a slurry through pipelines to a separation plant miles away.

 

Companies weren’t required to reclaim the moonscapes left by widespread strip mining until 1975.

 

The byproduct of fertilizer manufacturing -- the soil left slightly radioactive by the process -- is piled into mountains known as gypsum stacks that now dot central Florida.

 

The EPA said the 60 billion pounds of hazardous waste addressed in the case is the largest amount ever covered by a federal or state settlement “and will ensure that wastewater at Mosaic’s facilities is properly managed and does not pose a threat to groundwater resources.”

 

As part of a national enforcement initiative for mining and mineral processing, the agency has required phosphate fertilizer production facilities to reduce the storage volumes of hazardous wastewaters, ensure that waste piles and ponds have environmentally protective barriers installed, and verify the structural stability of waste piles and ponds.

 

A representative of ManaSota-88, an environmental group that has been dogging the fertilizer industry for decades, said more regulations and restrictions on the industry are needed.

 

“The phosphate industry is one of the most polluting industries we have in the state of Florida. It’s a cradle-to-grave operation of pollution, and phosphogypsum is the grave,” said Glenn Compton, the group’s chairman. The $1.8 billion settlement “is a small drop in the bucket of what the industry is doing to the state of Florida.”

 

Fifteen years ago, eight major companies made up Florida’s phosphate industry, centered on where Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee and Hardee counties meet. Through acquisitions, spinoffs and mine shutdowns, only Mosaic remains.

 

The company employs 9,000 worldwide, with about 4,000 in central Florida.