Environmental groups went to federal court of appeals Wednesday to combat plans to use phosphogips, a radioactive by-product of the phosphate industry, at the Florida road project.
The Center for Biodiversity has filed a petition with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a review of the Decisive Decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. About the property of the Polk County company.
Although the phosphogypsums are usually stored in huge stacks, the mosaic proposed building four sections of the test road, which contain different mixtures of phosphorus gogypsum of road-based materials, in accordance with the plan’s approval notice. The project is planned for the company’s new Welsh facility. The EPA said “Acknowledgement applies only to proposed pilot projects and is not a wider use.”
However, environmental groups have long argued that using phosphogipsum in such projects could pose a risk to people working on roads and water quality. In a news release Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity said the pilot project is part of an effort to use materials on roads across the country.
“The EPA is directly inconsistent with its own science and regulations by tripling the risk of permitted cancer in general and ignoring major radiation pathways,” says a lawyer at the Center for Biodiversity in Florida. One Ragan Whitlock said in a prepared statement.
