By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer
Published January 20, 2005
TAMPA - Critics of Coronet Industries say a recent national environmental report reinforces their claims that the now-defunct phosphate plant is a source of pollution that has endangered residents' health.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report released Wednesday to opponents' attorneys was based on ongoing reviews of the company's compliance with national requirements for controlling pollution discharges.
The report said its inspectors, including those from the EPA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, inspected the plant in December 2003. But only parts of Coronet's records were made available to the inspectors, "thus hampering EPA's ability to assess Coronet's required operation and maintenance activities," the report said.
Also, the company's discharge records reflected violations that had not been addressed, the report said. The company's records did not show discharges of materials into English Creek, even though previous inspections documented such discharges occurring, the report said.
Other problems included signs of improper dredging without prior permission from the state DEP, and the exposure of "raw and/or waste materials on the ground, exposed to the nature's elements, with only a perimeter ditch to collect contaminated storm water," the report said.
Company officials could not be reached for comment.
Coronet announced last January that it would stop operations at the facility by March 2004 because it was no longer profitable. Coronet was sued in Hillsborough Circuit Court last year by Masry & Vititoe, the California firm that employs environmental celebrity Erin Brockovich. The suit accused the plant of environmental pollution and was filed on behalf of 700 people who live or lived near the aging plant, which turned phosphate into a supplement for animal feed and has a long history of environmental violations.
So far, officials have found elevated levels of arsenic, boron and other chemicals in about 40 wells near the plant, but say the levels aren't high enough to cause serious or widespread health problems.
Texas attorney Jim Ross with McCurdy & McCurdy, who is working with Masry & Vititoe and supervising the litigation, said the EPA report echoes what residents have been saying.
