Piney Point - A Timeline
Toxic lies and dead fish everywhere.
My purpose in writing this is to try to document the significant events that caused and followed the massive and intentional dumping of over 200 million gallons of toxic waste into Tampa Bay. Anyone discussing the issue will find value in taking the 10–20 minutes to read this.
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PINEY POINT - FILL IT UP AGAIN!
A brief summary and timeline of the recent disaster.
At the end of March 2021, a giant phosphate mining wastewater "stack", called Piney Point started "leaking"(looks like a small mountain similar to a landfill, but it’s a giant earthen bowl filled with toxic and radioactive mining waste). An emergency was declared, hundreds of millions of gallons of this pollution water flowed into the south east side of Tampa Bay. 3 months later, there are massive harmful algal blooms and fish kills being reported. 2 weeks into June, the emergency was declared to be over, and the "stack" is "repaired" and ready to be filled up again. 2 weeks into July there are over 1000 TONS of dead marine life that have been cleaned from the Tampa Bay area. ‘Ecocide’ is insufficient to describe this catastrophe.
Prior to this disaster, the company which owns Piney Point, HRK Holdings had a similar 'emergency' in 2011 where the stack was drained into the bay. Prior to that the stack was owned by Mulberry Corp, and they too were guilty of draining this thing into the bay.
March 9
-But a little over two weeks before disaster struck...a proposal to pump that waste into the ground was presented to Manatee County Commission. This has long been opposed by environmental interests(particularly farmers and residents in the surrounding area).
"The Florida Department of Environmental Protection ultimately would have to approve a project, which then would have to go out for a request for proposal, according to county staff."
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/environment/2021/03/09/manatee-pursues-injection-well-dispose-piney-point-wastewater/4631120001/
-Not the first time PINEY POINT "stack" has been drained into the bay:
"This is not the first time there has been a leak at Piney Point. There was a similar leak in May 2011 that led to an emergency discharge of about 169.2 million gallons of wastewater into Tampa Bay. The wastewater has also come close to overflowing on multiple occasions."
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/manatee/2021/03/30/wastewater-piney-point-manatee-county-released-into-tampa-bay/7053574002/
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March 29
-The "leak" can only be confirmed by the general public as water discharging from relief drains. To date, no evidence of saturation, undermining, seepage has been rendered to the public. Just reports from "officials" and company managers:
"The leak is currently contained within Piney Point property and is seeping to a buried drain system. However, that puts a strain on the drain system that could lead to uncontrolled failure and wastewater discharge offsite, officials said."
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/manatee/2021/03/30/wastewater-piney-point-manatee-county-released-into-tampa-bay/7053574002/
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April 3
-State of emergency is declared and area is evacuated, while the emergency "discharging" is underway. ONLY in such a crisis would such a massive dumping of pollution into any waterway be allowed, and access to the site is cut off from anyone filming, testing, asking questions, etc.
"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Saturday after a significant leak at a large pond of wastewater along Tampa Bay threatened to flood roads and burst a system that stores polluted waters."
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/disaster/2021/04/04/piney-point-wastewater-state-emergency-evacuations-tampa-bay-response-what-we-know/7084007002/
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April 5th
-It is reported that Piney Point owner HRK Holdings is connected to a lot of things that have nothing to do with managing toxic waste, and in 2011 they had filed for bankruptcy after that spill. That bankruptcy is apparently still ongoing, despite the owner reportedly having some hundred million in assets.
"The company’s authorized representative is William F. Harley, III. of Massapequa, New York. He’s a hedge fund manager who recently became CEO of a medical marijuana venture. Prior to that, records show he owned multiple Hooters franchises and served as a director and major investor Frederick’s of Hollywood, which sells lingerie and adult novelties."
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/company-that-owns-former-piney-point-phosphate-mine-filed-bankruptcy-sued-by-bank
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April 7
-Piney Point has finished draining and state of emergency is lifted, water testing begins, led by USF Marine Sciences dept. Reporting from USF Oracle excludes mention of tests for "alpha particle radiation" which is present in phosphate gypsum "stacks". This is not like nuclear radiation, where gamma and beta particles can be easily detected by Geiger counters. It is very hard to detect, it bioaccumulates up the food chain, and is very toxic and cancerous to people when ingested.
"With the materials collected, the scientists will analyze and assess the salinity, oxygen, pH, carbon, bacteria and nutrients levels of the water."
https://www.usforacle.com/2021/04/07/usf-scientists-testing-the-waters-to-study-effects-of-piney-point-reservoir-release/
***Background info on alpha particle radiation associated with phosphate waste:
https://fipr.floridapoly.edu/about-us/phosphate-primer/phosphogypsum-stacks.php
-DEP also downplays risk of radioactive contamination:
"DEP officials pushed back on media reports the water contained excessive levels of radiation, but said the pond does contain high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and has high pH levels, all of which could contribute to algal blooms in the Bay and beyond."
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/417965-charlie-crist-wants-epa-to-verify-water-quality-in-piney-point-dump/
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April 13
-Governor visits Piney Point, announces money for cleanup, and demands that the DEP plan to close the site permanently.
"Valenstein had previously committed to close off the gypsum stacks at Piney Point. In the midst of the crisis, he vowed to keep his staff at the former phosphate plant until they found a way to close them permanently."
https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article250630809.html
"The governor also said he’s directed the DEP to fully investigate what happened at Piney Point and “take any and all legal actions to ensure we hold HRK and any other actors fully accountable.” DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein said a team of attorneys in Tallahassee is currently working to put together a case."
https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/manatee-county/gov-desantis-to-give-update-on-piney-point-wastewater-leak/
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April 14-15
-Conflicting reports on water moving north towards Hillsboro desalination facility that provides ~25 million gallons per day of drinking water for the region.
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April 14
"Samples were collected on an incoming tide possibly giving an explanation as to why samples 6,7,8,9 south of Port Manatee are lower in concentration while areas slightly north 2,3,4 have higher concentration P."
https://www.stellarnet.us/piney-point-on-site-water-quality-testing-using-stellarnet-uv-vis-spectrometers/
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April 15
"Tom Ash, assistant water division director for the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission, acknowledged early concerns about the discharge flowing north toward Tampa Bay Water’s desalination plant in the Big Bend area. “We have yet to see any indication of that. We’re not terribly concerned at this point about that,”
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2021/04/15/piney-point-threat-to-tampa-bay-water-desalination-plant-diminishes/
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April 17
Reporting and documents detail how a plan to profit from Piney Point, supplanted efforts to close the site in the 2000’s
“(In 2008) Army Corps officials warned the Manatee County Port Authority, which was counting on the increase in business. They warned the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which stood to show it could transform a costly mess into an asset. And those warnings reached HRK Holdings, the private company that bought the site and planned to make millions from storing dredge material.”
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2021/04/17/failure-at-piney-point-a-disaster-foretold/
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April 21
-Solutions proposed so that this doesn't happen again include at least $100 million dollars of taxpayer money to bail out these failed business operations and their insurance companies, as well as approval of "deep well injection" so that we can pump this pollution into the ground where we get our drinking water instead of into the bay where we get our drinking water.
"(Manatee) County commissioners voted unanimously to pursue a plan to shoot it down 3,500 feet beneath the surface. They want to put it down in the brackish part of the aquifer — not the freshwater part that provides us with life-giving, thirst-quenching drinking supplies."
https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2021/04/15/hiding-piney-point-toxic-waste-underground-may-give-us-a-taste-of-super-nasty-water/
"Sen. Jim Boyd, a Manatee County Republican, said he’s confident the House will approve the $100 million appropriation. He also predicted the amount “will be more if proven necessary.”
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/422484-senate-budget-includes-100m-for-piney-point/
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May 18
-Legal notice filed to sue Government AND the Private company HRK Holdings accountable for failing to regulate Piney Point. The waiting period after notifying the government of intent to sue in the manner being pursued is 90 days.
"The plaintiffs [are] the Center for Biological Diversity, Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, Suncoast Waterkeeper, ManaSota-88 and Our Children’s Earth Foundation"
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/piney-point-lawsuit-to-be-filed-against-florida-department-of-environmental-protection-hrk-holdings-manatee-county-port-authority/ar-BB1gRWyc
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May 24
-USF declares "all clear" for Tampa Bay after Piney Point toxic flood. Although they say testing will continue.
"Findings show that concentrations of nutrients known to impact waterways, like nitrogen and phosphorus, have declined over the last six weeks and are now on par with the usual levels seen in the bay."
https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2021/05/25/usf-finds-no-widespread-effects-from-piney-point-spill-
"So far, the group is looking for any sort of trace metals that could impact marine life, but say that winds and currents have helped disperse the concentration of problematic nutrients."
https://www.mysuncoast.com/2021/05/24/scientists-usf-continue-monitor-water-testing-following-piney-point-situation/
***Important Note***
-USF Marine Sciences Department tapped Ron DeSantis' former chief science officer to be it's dean last August. The new science officer is a former faculty member from that same department.
"Florida’s chief science officer will become the dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science starting in August(2020)."
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2020/06/11/usf-taps-floridas-first-chief-science-officer-to-lead-marine-science-college/
"“I have not heard Thomas Frazer talking about energy issues or climate change,” said Susan Glickman, the Florida director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy"
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2021/03/18/florida-chief-science-officer-quietly-relinquishes-position/
"DeSantis said only that Frazer had gone to work as a professor and dean at the University of South Florida, and that the new chief science officer is Mark Rains, which also was a surprise at the news conference. Rains, too, is a professor at USF....Observers began to speculate about Frazer’s status after DeSantis announced on March 12 of this year that he appointed Frazer to a part-time, unpaid position on the board of the Florida Environmental Regulation Commission. The announcement said Frazer had “served” as CSO but did not say when he stopped doing so."
https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2021/03/30/floridas-first-ever-chief-science-officer-left-but-when-and-what-did-he-do/
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May 27
-Noah Valenstein suddenly leaves FDEP.
"Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein’s resignation is effective June 4, according to a letter he sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis. The letter was dated May 8."
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/05/27/floridas-top-environmental-official-noah-valenstein-is-resigning/
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June 4th
-New interim DEP Director takes charge.
"Shawn Hamilton, currently the state agency’s deputy secretary for land and recreation, will become Florida’s interim environmental secretary on June 4, the department confirmed on Thursday."
https://www.mysuncoast.com/2021/05/28/state-top-environmental-officer-resigns/
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June 8
-Massive and unusual toxic algal blooms including red tide, blue-green algae, and lyngbya as well as fish kills are being reported in and around the entrance to Tampa Bay, where 2 months ago, the Piney Point dumping occurred.
"While toxic red tide algae continues to strengthen in the open waters of Tampa Bay, there’s another potentially harmful algal bloom that is catching the attention of residents closer to shore. It’s called Lyngbya, and scientists say the blue-green algae is growing at an alarming rate in waters around Manatee and Sarasota counties — possibly because of polluted wastewater released earlier this spring from Piney Point."
https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article251998428.html
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June 11
-Piney Point is now back in control of it's owners, and ready to be filled again.
"The DEP also informed the company that while the risk has been minimized at this time, HRK Holdings must provide sufficient storage capacity to treat wastewater and to have a plan to safely manage water levels ahead of Florida's rainy season."
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/environment/2021-06-11/state-hands-control-of-piney-point-back-to-its-troubled-owners
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June 15th
Governor Ron DeSantis attempts to sideline cabinet in unconstitutional move to unilaterally pick a new head of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
"At a Cabinet meeting this week, DeSantis said he thinks the state constitution lets him choose a Department of Environmental Protection secretary without getting approval from the Cabinet."
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-ron-desantis-nikki-friend-dep-nomination-20210617-uk74glsnpngxnnbkn7mly6gdl4-story.html
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June 17th
-Tom Frazer continues to downplay the environmental impacts of the Piney Point draining.
"Frazer added that other sources could include runoff from area septic tanks, the region’s 18 stormwater systems and agricultural and residential fertilizer. “I don’t think that the red tide was originated as a consequence of Piney Point,” Frazer said during the discussion at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. Frazer continued. “It’s quite possible that nutrients, recycled nutrients in the system as a result of Piney Point could have contributed to that. But there are a large number of nutrient sources along the coast. And, again, we’ve tried to address a lot of those nutrient sources.”
https://www.mysuncoast.com/2021/06/17/piney-point-not-believed-be-cause-red-tide-outbreak/
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June 20
-Ron DeSantis continues to downplay toxicity and health concerns despite beach closings, fish kills, and local health alerts, publicly inviting tourists to visit.
“I think we see some localized (red tide) ... but this is a great place to be," DeSantis said Thursday. "There’s very few places in this country that are as nice as this Tampa Bay region."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2021/06/18/florida-red-tide-beaches-ron-desantis-piney-point-algae-bloom/7744727002/
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June 24
-Plaintiffs against the Piney Point spill mentioned earlier file lawsuit, and request exemption from the 90 day waiting period requirement which began on May 17th, because of "omissions" by defendants, and because the waste which was dumped into the bay has "co-mingled" with other substances to produce a new toxic/hazardous substance.
https://biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/phosphate_mining/pdfs/2021_06_24_Piney_Point_Complaint.pdf
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July 2
-Algal blooms are ongoing and fish kills being reported.
"The latest report Friday from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shows Red Tide outbreaks are coalescing around two areas: Tampa Bay itself, which has left scores of dead fish along the St. Petersburg and Tampa waterfronts, and the southwest coast of Pasco County, where several new blooms have been detected surrounding Anclote Key island."
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2021/07/02/heres-how-red-tide-could-affect-your-fourth-of-july-plans-tampa-bay/
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July 6
-Separate from Piney Point, but relevant due to the fact that there is a lot of deflecting going on.
"Reports of pileups of blue-green algae called Lyngbia have been reported as far north as Perico Island in Manatee County and as far south as the Roberts Bay islands near Venice, but they’re not yet being linked to the (sewage)spill. "The anomalies were not near where the pipe broke", Brownman said."
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/sarasota/2020/07/06/reports-of-blue-green-algae-lsquotoo-soonrsquo-to-link-to-longboat-sewage-spill/112569846/
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July 7
Water from Piney Point is being discharged into the storm drains of Manatee County.
"Hopes says Piney Point has been continually pumping the facility’s stormwater into the county’s stormwater system, in an effort to prevent another leak."
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July 11
-Aerial footage shows islands of dead fish near St. Petersburg, FL prompting further health warnings, as 9 tons of dead fish are removed from beaches and the Tampa Bay area prepares to hold a large boat parade celebrating the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup NHL championship.
https://www.fox13news.com/news/mounds-of-dead-fish-close-beaches-prompt-around-the-clock-cleanup-in-pinellas-hillsborough-counties
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July 17
Mote Marine Laboratory is studying dumping clay "slurry" into the water as a way to mitigate red tide algal blooms, and announces that they think they have a breakthrough.
https://www.fox13news.com/news/breakthrough-discovery-mote-researchers-may-have-found-method-to-kill-red-tide-with-clay
About 2 weeks ago, The EPA rescinded a Trump admin. rule change that would have allowed radioactive phospogypsum waste, which includes a large quantity of "clay"-to be mixed into road building materials.
"Florida has 1 billion tons of radioactive phosphogypsum in 25 stacks, including the Piney Point and New Wales gypstacks."
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/epa-withdraws-disastrous-trump-era-radioactive-roads-approval-2021-07-02/
Mote Marine Laboratory has financial ties to phosphate mining giant, Mosaic.
"During his lecture, Brand said that Mote sent a team to attempt to redirect his research. He also accused state agencies of manipulating statistics in an attempt to prove there was no correlation between human activity and red tide. Dr. Brand's conclusions about the cyanobacteria blooms in Florida Bay refuted those findings, and his NOAA and EPA grants were rescinded shortly thereafter."
https://thebradentontimes.com/ties-between-mote-and-mosaic-warrant-skepticism-p20736-137.htm
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July 18
It just keeps getting worse. Upper figures are at 900 tons as of today.
"At least 600 tons of marine life have been washed up on the shores [around Tampa Bay] since late June."
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/red-tide-florida-protest-fish-b1886101.html
University of South Florida president resigns. Notably and stunningly absent in the commentary and press coverage by Tampa Bay Times is any mention of Piney Point, and damaging comments made by USF Marine Sciences Department which declared “all clear" on May 24.
“October 2020: Citing declining enrollment and a budget process undermining its independence, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman complains that the city’s USF campus is being eroded. Legislators Chris Sprowls and Jeff Brandes, who worked to pass the consolidation legislation, signal similar worries.
Oct. 15, 2020: USF announces it will phase out undergraduate programs in its College of Education and restructure it as a graduate school, a surprise move intended to save money amid budget cuts.
Jan. 6, 2021: After months of criticism, USF reverses course and says it will continue to offer undergraduate programs in the College of Education.”
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July 20-21
Accusations about politicizing this crisis between Gov. Ron DeSantis and St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman are happening as over 1,300 tons of dead marine life have been cleaned up from Tampa Bay area.
“We are asking the governor, please ... we need your help,” Kriseman said. Hours later, he got a rebuke from Tallahassee.”
"They just wanted to do it for a political talking point," the governor continued. "That was made a political issue by them, not me."
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August 6
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection files a lawsuit against HRK Holdings, the owner of Piney Point. HRK Holdings has been in bankruptcy proceedings for over a decade…idk what the state hopes to accomplish.
1) If they are bankrupt, they will likely be able to avoid paying any civil judgement.
2) FDEP and HRK Holdings are BOTH being sued by environmental groups in a separate action(see May 17 and July 24).
3) About 2 months ago, FDEP handed control of Piney Point back to HRK Holdings directly contradicting their claim that the company is capable of operating the site.
4) If FDEP loses this lawsuit, or if HRK counter sues and wins, the state may be liable for legal costs, which means even more of our tax money will be getting funneled to this bankrupt company.
“HRK is incapable of operating the Facility in compliance with Florida’s environmental laws and the standards, permits, orders, agreements related to the management of the Property and Facility,” FDEP’s lawsuit says. “If HRK is allowed to continue operating the Facility and Property, irreparable harm is likely to occur.”
This is an ongoing story, I will be adding to this as it develops.
Wtf means Welcome to Florida.
☣️ ☢️
-Matt
