PALMETTO -- Governor DeSantis is announcing that he's directing the State Department of Environmental Protection to begin developing a plan to shut down the Piney Point phosphate wastewater site once and for all.
DeSantis is shifting $15 million in DEP's budget to pretreat water at the site in case more needs to ne discharged to reduce pressure. DEP will conduct a study on how to mothball the site. He says "rigorous" water monitoring will continue.
Senate President Wilton Simpson of Pasco County says the Legislature is expected to provide $100 million.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein said a team of state scientists, along with their county counterparts, groups like Tampa Bay Estuary Program and students from the University of South Florida, have been in the water daily collecting baseline samples that could help build a case against HRK.
Information from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.
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