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State Senate may add funds to pay for Piney Point cleanup (Source: Commissioner Misty Servia) By ABC7 Staff | April 5, 2021 at 7:33 PM EDT - Updated April 5 at 8:30 PM
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Florida legislators will consider a budget amendment that would include funds to pay for the complete cleanup and closure of the Piney Point phosphogypsum stacks, it was announced Monday.
State Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, and Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, will sponsor an amendment that would use funds from the federal American Rescue Plan “to ensure full cleanup and restoration,” of the site, which could cost up to $200 million, Boyd said in a news release.
Some of them are beyond rust. (Florida state prisons)
A plan to shutter up to four state prisons is alarming officials in Florida’s rural regions where correctional institutions have played an outsized role in providing jobs and supporting businesses for decades.
Senate President Wilton Simpson’s proposal to consolidate prisons and demolish four facilities drew bipartisan pushback when it was released recently as lawmakers began to piece together next year’s state budget.
Simpson, R-Trilby, has defended consolidation and closures, saying the plan is designed to resuscitate a prison system in crisis. The Department of Corrections for years has grappled with decaying infrastructure, an exceedingly high worker turnover rate and staffing vacancies so dire they now pose security threats to employees and inmates.
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The budget amendment is sponsored by Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), who had previously sought funding from the state to close Piney Point. The amendment will add Boyd’s Local Funding Initiative #1155 to SB 2500, allowing the Legislature to consider the funding when it finalizes the FY 2021-22 budget later this month.
“I have committed to Senator Boyd that the Senate will advocate for utilizing federal funding to ensure a full and complete cleanup and restoration,” Simpson said in a press release. “This is exactly the kind of longstanding infrastructure issue we need to address with the nonrecurring federal funds our state will receive from the American Rescue Plan.”