Despite once ruling that a substance called phosphogypsum was unsafe for use in road construction projects, the Environmental Protection Agency is now allowing this radioactive material to be used on a Florida roadway.
What's happening?
The EPA gave preliminary approval for the use of phosphogypsum, which contains radioactive radium, in a Florida road construction project, The Hill reported. The request came from Mosaic Fertilizer LLC for a project that will integrate the material into several parts of the road that runs through the company's property.
Why is this decision important?
The EPA describes phosphogypsum as a solid waste byproduct that results from fertilizer production. The substance contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Exposure to this pollutant can lead to lung cancer, according to the agency. Currently, Mosaic keeps phosphogypsum in stacks on its property to limit public exposure, The Hill reports.
In 1992, the EPA deemed the use of phosphogypsum in road construction was always unsafe. However, an EPA spokesperson said the material posed less radiation risk to people compared to storing it in stacks, per The Hill.
"Members of the public are not expected to come into contact with the phosphogypsum in the test road," the agency stated on its website.
Still, environmental activists are not happy about the preliminary decision.
"Shame on the EPA for disregarding its own science showing the unacceptable risks to people's health and the environment from using phosphogypsum in road construction," Ragan Whitlock, a Florida-based attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote in a statement, per The Hill.
According to the non-profit, a consultant working for the EPA identified numerous scenarios in which the use of phosphogypsum in road construction projects would expose the public — particularly road-construction workers — to cancer risk. It adds the substance may leak toxins into nearby surface and groundwater resources.
Meanwhile, roadway projects aren't the only concern with phosphogypsum. For instance, environmentalists recently expressed concern over phosphogypsum stacks at facilities like Mosaic, as wind, flooding, and rain from Hurricane Milton threatened to scatter this waste across the peninsula and vulnerable waterways, Manufacturing.net reported. Plus, the production and use of synthetic nitrogen-based fertilizers contributes to the warming of our planet.
What's being done about phosphogypsum?
In February 2024, a handful of groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, notified the EPA of their intent to sue the agency for failing to respond to a rulemaking petition that requested stronger regulations on phosphogypsum.
Plus, scientists are coming up with some innovative solutions to help us reduce our dependence on synthetic fertilizers in the first place. For instance, one company is developing bacterial and fungal microbial biofertilizers that can capture nitrogen from the air and keep it in the dirt for the crops to suck up. Plus, one advocacy group is promoting an out-of-the-box alternative to synthetic fertilizers: human urine, which it says contains the same nutrients necessary for plant growth without the negative effects.
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