Phosphate

The plan would permanently close four gypsum stacks formerly used to store toxic wastewater from the production of fertilizer.

Defendants asked U.S. District Judge William Jung to dismiss the lawsuit, but several environmental agencies say the state and other defendants should be held liable.

He will hear arguments over whether a lawsuit should be tossed that alleges “malfeasance” after about 215 million gallons of wastewater were discharged from the site into Tampa Bay last year.

They say the leaks are producing about three gallons of water a minute, but are contained.

The go-ahead has been given to injecting polluted water from the troubled Piney Point phosphate plant in Manatee County deep under the drinking water aquifer.

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.

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.

An emergency order issued in April by Florida's Department of Environmental Protection expired this week.

Piney Point's owner is among the targets of the lawsuit, which seeks a full cleanup and closure of the former phosphate plant.

One commissioner said the well is a better option than having millions more gallons of wastewater dumped into Tampa Bay.