Piney Point Update

BRADENTON – At Tuesday's Manatee County Commission meeting, board members and the public were given an update on the crisis at Piney Point, the worst of which, they were told, had likely come to pass. By afternoon, US 41 had been reopened and the evacuation order had been lifted.

Acting county administrator Scott Hopes, who'd been sworn in on the morning the leak in the liner of one of the former phosphate processing facility's ponds was reported, briefed commissioners on the current status.

Hopes said that while the leak in the pond's containment wall continues to discharge nutrient-rich water at around 23,500 gallons per minute, seepage rates have been stabilized and reports of a second breach were in error and owed to the misinterpretation of thermal imaging from FDEP drones.

"You may recall there was some concern," Hopes said, "Saturday night, I think it was, at around two or three in the morning, where there was a significant differentiation of the temperature and they thought it may have been a leak, but it was dark. What is astounding is when teams were able to get out there and take a look during daylight, it actually was a particular type of vegetation that was changing the thermal imagery and so, fortunately, it was a plant, not a leak, but that is how sensitive that equipment was in helping us to monitor it overnight."

Hopes also said that while none of what was happening was good and that the water being discharged was more nutrient-rich than the bay at large, the upshot was that the water being released was from the site's least problematic pond and that even the process of directing that water was being undertaken in a way that aimed to minimize the impact to bay waters. Hopes said that water from closer to the bottom of the pond where more solids are likely to exist is being redirected to another lined pond on the site, while water closer to the surface is being discharged to the bay.

"Everything that is coming out of the bottom is staying on-site," Hopes told commissioners. "That is not going into the bay. What is going into the bay is principally the saltwater and the brackish water that was removed from the bay (during dredging for the port's berth 12) and is being stored."

Hopes said that the county and state are working with numerous companies with technologies that could assist with the operation, including collapsable tankers that could hold water on-site until it is treated for either release to the bay or internment to a deep-well through an injection process.

As of yesterday morning, more than 165 million gallons had been discharged with approximately 300 million gallons remaining in the affected stack's pond.

Affected areas of U.S. 41 were reopened yesterday and, by late afternoon, the evacuation order for the surrounding area had been lifted.

"This is a response that spans across all levels of government. We are committed to ensuring this is the last chapter of the Piney Point story and holding HRK accountable," said DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein. "Thanks to the dedicated work of statewide responders, today's announcement to lift evacuation orders in the surrounding area is a benchmark of the progress being made around the clock."

FDEP has set up a page here where all updates regarding Piney Point will be posted.