More waste to be disposed of underground in Manatee County because of Piney Point

PALMETTO — More waste created in the effort to clean up the former Piney Point fertilizer plant will be disposed of underground in Manatee County.

The county has applied for a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to inject brine created during the production of chlorine underground through the Buffalo Creek municipal well. 

Manatee County officials said it's a typical permit modification, but environmental advocates are concerned that waste injected underground could ultimately harm local drinking water aquifers.

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"There is no such thing as a typical permit modification for a deep well injection permit," ManaSota-88 Chairman Glenn Compton said.

"The only reason this is being proposed is because the brine is too polluted to discharge to surface waters, thus the worst wastes end up in these wells," he said. "If a failure occurs, very little can be done to correct it. If an aquifer is contaminated, it's too late."

The county is already drilling a new injection well across the street from the Piney Point facility that was breached last year, but the polluted wastewater that remains on the site must first go through a pre-treatment process before it is injected underground. The well is expected to begin operation by August 2023.

The brine that will be disposed of at the Buffalo Creek well — located in the northeast outskirts of Palmetto — is a byproduct of chlorine production by Allied Universal Industries. The local manufacturer has ramped up production because chlorine is an integral part of the pre-treatment for Piney Point's wastewater.

Related:Florida signs off on controversial Piney Point project in Manatee County

The company needs a place to dispose of the brine that is created through the process of making chlorine, and the Buffalo Creek well is designed to inject brine from a planned reverse osmosis plant that will not go into design until 2027, according to the county. 

Manatee's application asks the DEP that waste be disposed of at the Buffalo Creek municipal well, County Administrator Scott Hopes said in a news release.

“This is a typical permit modification,” Hopes said. “Allied has increased their chlorine production — at a plant that was built with Manatee County economic incentives — and we are fortunate that they are nearby Piney Point to help with the pre-treatment of that process water.” 

The permit change would reduce the financial burden placed on Allied for waste disposal, which would otherwise need to be discarded at facilities in other Florida counties.

Although the well is designed to Class I standards, in his criticism of the application Compton said there is always a concern of injection well failure.

"There are many problems associated with deep well injection," Compton said. "All wells are subject to failure and there are too many unknowns to safely inject treated or partially treated effluent. The operation of a deep well relies very heavily on predictions and good faith."