State officials agree to send a barge out 120 miles before dumping wastewater from Piney Point phosphate plant.
By CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published July 18, 2003
State environmental officials agreed Thursday to dump millions of gallons of wastewater more than 70 miles farther out in the Gulf of Mexico than originally planned.
After weeks of controversy, the state Department of Environmental Protection bowed to demands from scientists, the fishing industry and local politicians to change the disposal plan for wastewater from the defunct Piney Point phosphate plant in Manatee County.
"To provide the extra assurances to the fishing community DEP has decided to move the dispersal area out (beginning) at 120 miles" from shore, DEP spokeswoman Deena Wells said Thursday night.
The change will also sharply reduce the disposal area to 2,784 square miles. That's about a seventh of the size of the area in the original plan. In the new plan, dumping will take place at depths greater than 200 meters, or about 656 feet.
The decision comes nearly a week after state Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, discussed the state's disposal plan with Gov. Jeb Bush.
The governor agreed to ask DEP officials to consider the change closely before the disposal barge departs for the gulf this weekend, Bilirakis said.
"I'm thrilled, because I think we took care of the problem, and DEP listened to the fishermen's concerns," he said. "I talked to the governor. He seemed sympathetic to our concerns, so we have to thank him for that."
Southern Offshore Fishing Association executive director Bob Spaeth commended state and federal regulators for working toward a compromise.
"It looks great, but it's not perfect," he said. "I think we've worked hard to try to get this to happen. But we still want to pursue every other avenue not to take as much of it into the Gulf of Mexico."
The wastewater is being stored in an unstable earthen mound at Port Manatee. State officials worry that untreated water could spill from the mound, which is nearly full, and pollute Tampa Bay.
Scientists and fisherman worry that nutrients in the wastewater could breed Red Tide and harm marine life in the gulf. Many became especially concerned because under the state's previous plan, the disposal area initially included protected fishery habitats in Steamboat Lumps, Madison/Swanson and Twin Ridges.
But in a letter to U.S. Rep. Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, DEP Deputy Secretary Allan Bedwell assured the congressman that extending the disposal farther west in the gulf would create "a significant buffer" for the sensitive marine reserves.
That bit of news is especially pleasing to Mitch Roffer, the independent scientist selected by fishermen to review the state's disposal and monitoring plan. Roffer originally asked DEP to move the disposal area as far as 140 miles from shore but said he thinks the move is a big step in the right direction.
"I'm glad they made a decision to go that far," he said. "This gives a margin of error to avoid Red Tides moving onto the beach and other areas. We still have to keep up our efforts to monitor the effects." After several days of delay, cleaning and inspection of the New York, the barge slated to dispose of roughly 250-million gallons of the wastewater, was completed Wednesday at the Port of Tampa.
The barge has been moved to Port Manatee and will be loaded with treated wastewater within 72 hours.
The first 7.5-million-gallon load is expected to be shipped out to the gulf this weekend, Wells said. The operation is scheduled to last through November.
