Environmentalists urge DeSantis to declare Red Tide emergency

Environmentalists urge DeSantis to declare Red Tide emergency

ST. PETERSBURG — More than two dozen environmental organizations joined calls for Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency for the Tampa Bay area as Red Tide continues to leave dead fish along the coast and disrupt business across the region.

An executive order would help organize and finance Red Tide clean-up efforts, said a letter signed by 29 organizations and organized by the Center for Biological Diversity. The Ocean Conservancy sent a letter saying a statewide effort, rather than local governments scrambling to deal with the disaster, would help mitigate the catastrophe.

Florida is home to the majority of phosphate-mining operations in the United States — and the United States is the world's thirdleading producer of phosphate rock. Making matters worse, Florida also has the majority of the industry’s radioactive waste, phosphogypsum — one billion tons.

More than 1 billion tons of the radioactive waste are stored in 25 stacks scattered throughout Florida, perched precariously atop the Floridan aquifer — which supplies drinking water for 10 million people. There are 70 such stacks across the nation. These stacks are prone to sinkholes, breaches, and spills, and the industry struggles with how to deal with these risky radioactive mountains and the dire problems they cause.

More than half of all domestically sourced phosphate is mined in Florida, by an industry with a record of contaminating the environment through radioactive waste leakage and water pollution that threatens Florida's groundwater resources. Now there are plans to tear up more than 50,000 additional acres of central Florida with harmful strip-mining practices — and no plan to address the radioactive phosphogypsum stacks that have already been created.

Red Tide protesters gather at St. Pete Pier

Red Tide protesters gather at St. Pete Pier

Protesters had several demands, listed by Suncoast Surf Rider chair Thomas Paterek: declare a state of emergency for Tampa Bay; create a plan for closing Piney Point’s facilities; implement policies recommended by expert groups; stop phosphate mining in Florida; fix Florida’s infrastructure; move to clean energy; and make polluting companies pay for clean up.

The state allowed the release by property owner HRK Holdings because regulators feared a large, leaking reservoir was about to collapse and send a devastating flood into surrounding neighborhoods and businesses. That wastewater was dumped into the bay at Port Manatee and carried a lot of nitrogen with it.

Protesters drew attention to the Piney Point release as they marched Saturday. Neighbors Kathleen Bohrnsen and Aldo Della Sera, both 57, came from the Coquina Key waterfront neighborhood in St. Petersburg to show their support. Bohrnsen held a sign that said “Declare a State of EMERGENCY!!” while Della Sera held a sign that read “Prioritize the Health of Tampa Bay.”