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Plan to keep dumping waste in gulf backed

The state will have discharge more treated waste into Bishop's Harbor unless the proposal is approved.

ST. PETERSBURG - A request to continue dumping treated waste into the Gulf of Mexico after this month picked up another endorsement from a Tampa Bay group Monday as the Agency on Bay Management voted unanimously to support the move.

Since July, the state Department of Environmental Protection has been dumping millions of gallons of treated waste into the gulf from the old Piney Point fertilizer plant, just south of the Hillsborough-Manatee county line. The DEP won federal permission for the unprecedented dumping of 532-million gallons of treated waste. The state agency told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that an accidental spill of untreated waste at Piney Point could wipe out the sea life of Tampa Bay and harm human health.

But DEP has disposed of only half that amount, due to project delays. Meanwhile, heavy rains have wiped out the gains made on emptying the waste from the plant. The water level crept so high in September that the state agency resumed discharging treated waste into nearby Bishop's Harbor, an aquatic preserve at the mouth of Tampa Bay.

If the EPA does not let the state continue dumping in the gulf past the Nov. 30 cut-off, the state will have to increase the amount of treated waste being discharged into Bishop's Harbor, DEP officials said Monday.

So the steering committee of the Agency on Bay Management, an arm of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, voted unanimously to support extending the permit until the DEP finishes dumping all 532-million gallons. EPA officials in Atlanta have not indicated whether they will agree to the extension. Some environmental groups, such as the Ocean Conservancy, have suggested such an extension might be illegal.