Phosphate mining

Plans to rezone thousands of acres in Central Florida for a new phosphate mine have been put off for at least two years.

In 2016, one of the deepest sinkholes ever recorded in Florida opened beneath Mosaic's New Wales site.

The plan calls for the former phosphate plant to be permanently shut down by December 2024.

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.

Charlotte County has voted to ban phosphate mining or any activities related to mining. This comes after plans were unveiled to dig a new mine in a neighboring county.

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.

The spill from the former phosphate plant in Manatee County earlier this year was a cautionary event. But the country's largest producer of phosphate currently has plans for a new mine in southern Florida.

The spill from the former phosphate plant in Manatee County earlier this year was a cautionary event. But the country's largest producer of phosphate currently has plans for a new mine in southern Florida.

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.

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.