Attorneys for DeSantis and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection say the lawsuit is moot since the state is already working to resolve the problems at the former phosphate plant.

Environmental officials say that is the best solution to getting rid of the water as critics say they are downplaying the threat of underground contamination.

The permit will allow up to 4 million gallons a day of wastewater from the Piney Point facility to be injected nearly 2,000 feet below the surface.

J.C. Deriso says most people don't understand the full impact of Mosaic's plan. Workshops are one way of trying to get those questions answered from Mosaic engineers.

About two dozen people spoke out Tuesday against Mosaic's plan to mine phosphate in DeSoto County. No one told county commissioners they support the mine, proposed 90 minutes southeast of Tampa.

On Tuesday, the phosphate giant Mosaic will be represented at another in a series of public meetings on their plan to mine 18,000 acres in a county that has never been the site of a phosphate mine. We take a trip to DeSoto County, where a proposed mine would dwarf the county's largest town, Arcadia.

About 6 million gallons of water was released after a pipe broke at Mosaic's Four Corners phosphate mine.

Manatee County officials are pushing for approval of a plan to pump hundred of millions of gallons of polluted water from the troubled Piney Point phosphate plant into the underground aquifer.

They intend to prevent the injection of hundreds of millions of gallons of polluted wastewater from the Piney Point phosphate plant into the underground aquifer.

Phosphate, the lifeblood of Florida's fertilizer industry, is gradually being mined out in the region where Polk, Hillsborough, Manatee and Hardee counties meet. Now, phosphate miners are coveting land to the south, sparking fears in an area that is a regional source of drinking water.

Members of the public can submit written comments about the proposal and attend a public meeting on Oct. 6 in Bradenton.

Newly appointed DEP secretary Shawn Hamilton says Piney Point can only handle another 11 inches of rain. But water is being piped out now, and a plan is in place if a hurricane threatens.