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Sanctuary advisers target toxic dumping
The state should
reconsider dumping hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic waste into
Gulf currents that rake the Florida Keys, the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council urged Tuesday.
Dumping has continued
far off the Tampa coast since last month and the state Department of
Environmental Protection says it will closely monitor waste drained from
a Manatee County phosphate plant.
But the Keys advisory
council voiced outrage at the massive amount of waste that could make
its way to the islands via a loop current, and asked why the agency is
not seeking alternative disposal methods.
"[Council members] are
just not buying into the claim that dilution is the solution," said
David White, regional director of The Ocean Conservancy.
The advisory council also
wants to know what will be done with about 800 million gallons of the
industrial waste that will remain after the DEP disposal permit expires
in November, White said.
The DEP began
emergency dumping of the industrial waste off the Tampa coast this
summer after heavy rains threatened to overflow Piney Point dikes and
create a toxic spill in Tampa Bay. Heavy rains in recent weeks replaced
much of the polluted water that was siphoned off by the DEP, according
to recent reports.
In a second
resolution, the council urged the Legislature to enact criminal
penalties for company employees who falsify financial records and
pollution reports, White said.
The owner of the Piney
Point plant, Mulberry Corp., declared bankruptcy two years ago, leaving
the state and taxpayers to clean up about 1.2 billion gallons of
industrial waste.
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