The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a pilot project that will allow companies to build small roads made from radioactive fertilizer byproducts, angering environmentalists.
Biden administration's approval Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC was permitted to construct a phosphogypsum road on its property in New Wales, Florida.
Phosphorgypsum contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Both are radioactive and can cause cancer. According to the agency.
The agency has previously raised concerns about the material being used in road construction. Said this in 1992 The use of phosphogypsum in road construction posed risks both to construction workers as well as to those who later built homes where phosphogypsum roads once stood.
The agency says the public is not currently expected to come into contact with the road.
However, road builder Mosaic describes the effort as part of a pilot project “demonstrating the scope of road construction design”. It is not clear whether additional road construction will take place after that, but further approvals may be required to do so.
Ragan Whitlock, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement that the EPA's decision was “mind-boggling.”
“This dramatically increases the potential for negative impacts to road crews and water quality,” Whitlock said. “EPA bowed to political pressure from the phosphate industry and cleared the way for this hazardous waste to be used on roadways across the country.”
In 2020, under the Trump administration, the EPA approved the use of phosphogypsum in government road construction.
That authorization was rescinded under the Biden administration, which described it as a broad and general request. It is unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will seek to reinstate the system.
Typically, phosphogypsum is stored in “piles” as part of an attempt to limit public exposure, but this approach It also spurred environmental problems. — especially in storm-prone states like Florida.
In approving the road plan, the EPA said it was “as protective of human health as putting it in a chimney.”
