March 31, 2021
Good Morning, welcome to Radioactivity. I’m Rob Lorei.
The news that a holding pond at the former Piney Point phosphate plant in Northern Manatee County may be on the brink of collapse is raising new questions about the phosphate industry and the way it stores mining waste.
The holding pond contains at least 400 million gallons of wastewater left over from the phosphate extraction process. The water levels have been rising and the earthen structure holding the water is reportedly near collapse.
Our guest is Glenn Compton, the chair of the environmental group Manasota 88. His group has long been a watchdog over the environmental problems resulting from the mining of phosphate.
