DeSantis signs bill to use radioactive waste in road construction | Washington Examiner
By: Eden Villalovas
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a bill Thursday that could allow phosphogypsum, a radioactive material, to be used in road construction.
The legislation adds the radioactive waste to a list of "recyclable materials" that can be tested for construction suitability. House Bill 1191 rules the Florida Department of Transportation can "conduct a study to evaluate the suitability of using phosphogypsum as a construction aggregate material."
The material can join pavement aggregates such as stone, gravel, and sand, adding to other industrial byproducts and reclaimed materials used in construction, as listed by the Federal Highway Administration. Rubber from car tires, waste glass, and reclaimed concrete material and asphalt pavement are all examples of materials used in construction under guidelines from the agency.
The Environmental Protection Agency has regulated the waste product since 1989, and it notes that phosphogypsum contains the radioactive elements uranium, thorium, and radium. "All uses of phosphogypsum waste have been banned unless the waste has very little radioactivity," according to the EPA.
Over 20 conservation organizations urged DeSantis to veto the bill in May, citing environmental risks and threats to road construction workers and public health. A statement from The Center for Biological Diversity highlights an "unreasonably short completion" deadline for the Florida Department of Transportation to conduct feasibility tests.
The organization argued allowing radioactive phosphogypsum in construction "would let the fertilizer industry off the hook for safely disposing of the millions of tons of dangerous waste" while "generating another cash stream for industry giants."
The act will take effect on July 1, and the department has until April 1, 2024, to determine the suitability of the material, as outlined in the bill.
DeSantis was yet to make a public statement as of Thursday evening on the passage of the bill, and the Washington Examiner reached out to his team for comment.
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I don't think I will go to Florida anymore...
Lol. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe their roads can glow in the dark...
Godzilla to the rescue!
I feel so much better...Not.
OK, but my dental x-rays take a fraction of a second. I'm on the road for hours.
Easy fix, don't go to Florida. But this is just the start, what other states may look into this also. Turns out phosphogypsum has a good use as a base.
The way I read that, it's added to the base and under the asphalt rather than mixed with the asphalt.
Also better not plan on traveling overseas as it's used in other countries already.
Florida is the home of phosphate mining mostly in central Florida.
There are currently about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked in 24 stacks in Florida and about 30 million new tons are generated each year.
This is what happened in Florida in 2021 with a stack of phosphogypsum went into Tampa Bay.
Phosphote mining is done, then creates a enviroments disaster and they declare bankrupcty and the tax payer foots the bill for clean up for decades.
Sounds like a gift to the fertilizer industry.
Just thought, asphalt just breaks up doesn't it? Rocks and pieces chip off constantly. Then all that will just be being strewn all across the environment.
No, the bill only authorizes a study, and nothing else.
They have to make a decision by next year. I wonder which way they will go...
Since Mosiac is a very large mining company in Florida and has given huge ''donations'' to DeSantis you can guess what the decision will be.
So the Biden administration approves using this and it's De Santis fault? Desperate times require desperate measures i guess.
Actually, no. Just pointing out the pitfalls/political maneuvering, and how the mining companies have screwed the citizens of the state of Florida. And what DeSantis is likely to do and why.
Other than that as a resident of Florida I certainly am against the decision by the EPA.