Scott Hopes

Manatee County officials are pushing for approval of a plan to pump hundred of millions of gallons of polluted water from the troubled Piney Point phosphate plant into the underground aquifer.

In our ongoing series on phosphate mines, WUSF reports on the long, tangled history of Florida's phosphate mines and the environment.

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

Hopes has been serving on an interim basis since April 1.

Acting Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes says it appears workers at the site have been able to bring the situation under control.

Evacuation orders were given late Friday to homes and businesses surrounding the leaking Piney Point processing plant in Manatee County.