Phosphogypsum, a byproduct in the fertilizer industry, contains uranium and radium — and as the EPA notes, it also forms radon, "a cancer-causing, radioactive gas."
A new nickname for DeSantis: Radiation Ronnie.
DeSantis’s rubber stamp legislature just sent him a bill authorizing the use of radioactive waste to pave Florida roads. Perhaps they want to give Mickey Mouse radiation poisoning at Disney World.
Roads in Florida could soon include phosphogypsum — a radioactive waste material from the fertilizer industry — under a bill lawmakers have sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Conservation groups are urging DeSantis to veto the bill, saying phosphogypsum would hurt water quality and put road construction crews at a higher risk of cancer.
Why would DeSantis veto a bill from his own trained seals in the legislature? If he did, Trump might accuse him of caving to the “woke” environmentalists.
HB 1191 would compel the Florida Transportation Department to study using phosphogypsum in paving projects, calling for "demonstration projects using phosphogypsum in road construction aggregate material to determine its feasibility as a paving material."
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The bill sets a deadline of April 1, 2024, giving the transportation agency less than a year to complete its work and make a recommendation. The Republican-dominated Florida Legislature approved the measure by a wide margin.
This whole thing sounds poorly thought out and stupid. That makes it typical of Florida Republicans.
In fertilizer, phosphorus is important for plants to grow strong roots and for crops to be productive. Florida has been an important source since the 1800s; today, the EPA notes, "Florida alone accounts for approximately 80 percent of the current capacity, making it the world's largest phosphate producing area."
When phosphate rock is dissolved in sulfuric acid to make phosphoric acid for fertilizer and a few other uses, phosphogypsum is what's left over.
The commonly used production process, which dates to the 1840s, is not very efficient. For every ton of phosphoric acid produced, more than 5 tons of phosphogypsum waste is generated.
There is a problem in the state with the amount of phosphogypsum being produced. They just don’t know where to put it any more.
Florida's prominent role means the state also has massive waste sites called phosphogypsum stacks, or "gypstacks." Such stacks can be very large — spanning up to 800 acres and about 200 feet in height. They've been linked to serious problems over the years, due to sinkholes and other breaches.
So rather than rethink this whole process, Republicans want to get rid of it by paving the state with it.
"Phosphogypsum contains appreciable quantities of uranium and its decay products, such as radium-226," according to the EPA. And because the fertilizer production process concentrates waste material, "phosphogypsum is more radioactive than the original phosphate rock," the agency notes.
"The radium is of particular concern because it decays to form radon, a cancer-causing, radioactive gas," the EPA adds.
DeSantis can sign the bill, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.
DeSantis could sign the phosphogypsum road-test measure into law at any time; it he takes no action, the bill will be enacted automatically.
That last option gives him a way of claiming that he had nothing to do with the bill. But that would be disingenuous and would fool few people.
Having everybody know that Florida has radioactive roads probably wouldn’t do much for tourism.