The US Environmental Protection Agency faces a legal challenge after approving a controversial plan to include radioactive waste in a road project late last year.
He presented the Center for Biological Diversity challenge On February 19 at the Court of Appeal at the eleventh American district under the Conscious Air Law. The Dawa Group says that the Federal Agency has banned the use of phosphorouss, which are radioactive waste, cancer and toxic, generated by the fertilizer, in building roads since 1992, noting “an unacceptable level of risks to public health.”
The legal challenge is concentrated in the proposed road project at the new Wales facility for the Mosaic Fertilizer, a company affiliated to the Mosaic Company, about 40 miles east of Tamba. The Environmental Protection Agency agreed to the project in December 2024, noting that the mandate applies only to the individual project and the guaranteed conditions allocated to ensure the project remains within the scope of the application. But Rajan Whitig, the lawyer for Florida employees at the Biodiversity Center, was afraid that the project would lead to more methods that were built with toxic waste.
“Part of this process is very worrying, it is not just a one -time scientific experience,” he said. “It is described as the intermediate step between laboratory tests and the comprehensive implementation of the idea. So our interest is that any methodology used for this project will be used for national approval on the road.”
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Phosphogobsum contains radium, which decomposes radon gas. Both radium and radon are radiant and can cause cancer. Usually, phosphgensum is eliminated in geometric piles called chimneys to reduce general exposure to radon emissions. Chimneys can be expanded when they reach the capacity or closed, which involve draining and expanding. More than a billion tons of waste is stored in chimneys in Florida, where the fertilizer industry adds about 40 million tons every year, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
Mosaic aims to create a test near Florida in four sections, each of which is made of varying mixtures of phosphogoms. Waste will be used at the road base, which will be paved with asphalt. The University of Florida researchers will participate in the study.
Most of the comments received by the Environmental Protection Agency were opposed in response to the proposal to use phosphogoms in building roads in general and criticized the current methods of waste management, but the Federal Agency said that these comments were out of their review. The agency refused to comment on the suspended litigation.
“The review found that the evaluation of the mosaic risk technically acceptable, and that the potential radioactive risks of the proposed project meet the regulatory requirements,” the Environmental Protection Agency responded in the Federal Registry on December 23, 2024.
The mosaic faced the audit in the past after Baraka leaked at the Piney Point site and threatened to collapse in 2021, forcing the launch of 215 million gallons of contaminated water in Tamba Bay. Mosaic did not respond to the request to comment on the new litigation.