Feds reach almost $2B legal settlement with fertilizer maker

Fertilizer manufacturer Mosaic Co. has met an agreement well worth a little over usd800 mil with anderson rogers officials over its throw away regulation processes at vegetation in Florida and Louisiana.

One of the world’s largest fertilizer makers is settling a massive hazardous waste lawsuit for almost $2 billion to help clean up pollution and upgrade leaky facilities in Florida and Louisiana, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The deal still needs to be finalized by the court, Mosaic said.

The Environmental Protection Agency first raised complaints against Mosaic’s handling of hazardous by-products of fertilizer production in 2005 and was joined by state agencies.

Since the 1960s, toxic waste from fertilizer production in Florida and Louisiana has been growing in 500-foot-high piles that span more than 600 acres. “The piles can also contain several billion gallons of highly acidic wastewater, which can threaten human health and cause severe environmental damage if it reaches groundwater or local waterways”.

Of the $8 million penalties, Mosaic will pay $5 million to the federal government, $1.55 million to the state of Louisiana and $1.45 million to the state of Florida.

Phosphogypsum, which is a solid waste, is hard to reuse under current EPA rules due to its radioactivity and can present a risk to ground and surface water if the material is not properly contained.

The funds will also be used for the treatment of hazardous wastewater at the plants and two other plants already undergoing closure, the department said.

“This settlement represents our most significant enforcement action in the mining and mineral processing arena, and will have a significant impact on bringing all Mosaic facilities into compliance with the law”, said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Joc O’Rourke, Mosaic’s president and chief executive officer, said his company is happy to see the issue come to a close.

Under the terms of the settlement, Mosaic will create a $630 million trust fund that will be invested until it grows to $1.8 billion, with the money to be used to cover the future closure of Mosaic’s Uncle Sam plant in Louisiana and its Bartow, New Wales and Riverview plants in Florida.

“Mosaic is committed to meaningful environmental stewardship at all of our facilities, and we take our responsibility to be good corporate citizens – now and for the decades ahead – very seriously, ” O’Rourke said in a prepared statement “The commitments we are making through these settlements further those stewardship efforts”.

“This sets the standard for our continuing enforcement…in the entire phosphoric acid industry”. “And, it reflects our emphasis on working jointly with impacted states”.