Boise-The J.R. Simplot Co. on May 5 applied with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for a permit to construct and operate a 10-acre decant pond at its Don phosphate fertilizer plant west of Pocatello as part of a larger project of lining the entire receiving surface of its existing phosphogypsum stack. The 320-acre gypsum stack’s lining project is crucial in order for Simplot to comply with an April 2008 voluntary consent order/compliance agreement with IDEQ to reduce phosphorus discharges into the nearby Portneuf River by 50 percent in 2013, 75 percent in 2015, and 94 percent in 2021. It could cost Simplot an estimated $50 million in cleanup costs to comply. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also recently proposed to amend a Record of Decision (ROD) to add phosphorus as a major contaminant of concern and require additional pollution source controls. EPA previously identified arsenic, boron, chromium, mercury, nickel, radium, vanadium, and zinc as contaminants of concern emanating from the plant. The Simplot plant is part of the 2,475-acre Eastern Michaud Flats Superfund site, where FMC Corp. also operated an elemental phosphorus plant until it was shut down in December 2001.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain