Piney Point

The spill essentially "fed" red tide by dumping nitrogen into the waters, fueling algae blooms and killing millions of fish and marine life.

Manatee County officials are looking forward to the next chapter in the saga.

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

He said the state court system “already has a running start on the closure of Piney Point” and pointed to $100 million that the Legislature approved last year to help clean up the site.

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.

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.