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HRK warned of disaster at Piney Point for months and asked for help, now DEP says they’re on the hook
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HRK holdings spent months warning Manatee commissioners and state officials of impending disaster at Piney Point. Despite the pleas for help, Florida officials said HRK will be on the hook for a narrowly avoided catastrophe at the shuddered phosphate plant that it owns.
Florida DEP head Noah Valenstein said a legal team in Tallahassee is working just as hard as crews on the ground at Piney Point cleaning the spill.
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“We also have a team of attorneys back at Tallahassee that are making sure they take advantage of all the information we’re collecting,” he said. “To then put together a case to hold HRK fully accountable.”
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Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that the state will come up with a plan to close the former phosphate plant for good after another leak late last month.
On this week’s Florida Matters, we’ll learn about the history of former Piney Point phosphate plant, what’s being done to fix its issues, and if there are similar sites in the region with the same problems.
In late March, a retention pond at the plant sprung a leak. More than 200 million gallons of wastewater spilled into Tampa Bay, which could create environmental problems in the long run.
Since then, the leak has been temporarily fixed. And on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state will come up with a plan to close the site for good.
The state expects to put more than $115 million toward closing the site of a former phosphate plant where a reservoir leak set off a wastewater crisis in Manatee County.
Capitol Watch: April 13, 2021 mysuncoast.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mysuncoast.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.