The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has faced legal challenges after end of last year approved a controversial plan to include radioactive waste in road projects.
Submitted by the Center for Biodiversity Challenge February 19th, the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals under the Clean Air Act. Advocacy groups say federal agencies have banned the use of phosphorus gogypsum, a radioactive, carcinogenic and toxic waste produced by the fertilizer industry in road construction since 1992.
Legal challenges are concentrated on proposed road projects at Mosaic Fertilizer’s new Welsh facility, a subsidiary of Mosaic Company, about 40 miles east of Tampa. The EPA approved the project in December 2024. We note that this applies only to a single project and includes conditions to ensure that the project remains within the scope of the application. However, Ragan Whitlock, a Florida staff lawyer at the Center for Biodiversity, feared that the project could lead to building more roads along with toxic waste.
“Part of what makes this process so amazing is that it’s not just one-off science experiments,” he said. “It is being billed as an intermediate step between laboratory testing and full-scale implementation of ideas. Therefore, our concern is that the methodology used for this project is used for future national recognition.”
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Phosphogypsums contain radium, which, when declined, forms radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Typically, phosphogipsums are discarded in designed piles called stacks to limit public exposure to radon emissions. The stack can be expanded when it reaches capacity or closes. This includes drainage and capping. More than 1 billion tonnes of waste are stored in stacks in Florida, with the fertilizer industry adding around 40 million tonnes each year, according to the Center for Biodiversity.
The Mosaic is intended to build a test road with four sections near the Florida stack, each made from a variety of mixtures of Lin gogypsum. Waste is used at road bases paved with asphalt. Researchers at the University of Florida will be involved in this study.
While most of the comments received by the EPA in response to the proposals generally opposed the use of phosphogips in road construction and criticised current methods of managing waste, the federal agency said these comments were outside the scope of the review. The agency declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
“The review shows that Mosaic’s risk assessment is technically acceptable and that potential radiation risks from the proposed project meet regulatory requirements,” the EPA stated in its Federal Register dated December 23, 2024.
The mosaic has faced scrutiny in the past after ponds at the Piney Point site leaked and threatened to collapse in 2021, forcing Tampa Bay to release 215 million gallons of contaminated water. The Mosaic did not respond to requests for comment regarding the new lawsuit.
