A class action lawsuit has been filed against property owner HRK Holdings LLC over the leak from the Piney Point phosphogypsum stack that occurred in late March and early April (GM April 16, p. 1).
The case was filed on Aug. 6 in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit of Florida in Manatee County Circuit Court on behalf of client Leigh Iannone, owner of Gulfside Dive Services, “who has already suffered harm and is at imminent risk of suffering additional damage arising from defendant’s improper maintenance of millions of pounds of pollutants near her home.”
According to an April 2, 2021 tweet, Manatee Director of Public Safety Jacob Saur issued an emergency evacuation notice to all individuals within a half-mile radius of Piney Point, including residents and a local prison, warning of the “imminent uncontrolled release of wastewater.”
Those qualifying for the class include homeowners who were subject to the evacuation orders and deprived of the use of their homes and suffered losses and damages in the form of economic or noneconomic damages.
While the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) did allow some 215 million gallons of contaminated wastewater to be released into Port Manatee harbor, there was ultimately no phosphosgypsum stack collapse. The discharges were stopped on April 9, and FDEP reported on April 10 that the leak in the gypstack had been sealed with a steel plate.
In the meantime, the state of Florida plans to budget as much as $115 million to treat contaminated water and take steps to permanently close the site.