The roads in the popular Florida vacation spot could soon be built with radioactive material.Image: imago/PhotoAlto / Jérôme Gorin
USA
The US state of Florida is making the headlines more and more often. Whether anti-LGBTQ laws, serious abortion bans or the public exchange of blows between the Disney Group and Governor Ron DeSantis – experts are worried about the Sunshine State.
Florida attracts millions of tourists every year. Pure sun, fantastic beaches and soon radioactive streets? According to the local TV station “WFTV” Florida legislators want to allow radioactive material for road construction. They have already passed a bill for this.
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The bill would allow the use of radioactive fertilizer waste in road construction throughout the state. What could possibly go wrong? Many environmentalists are probably asking themselves this and are now sounding the alarm.
Florida: Environmentalists warn of serious consequences
“WFTV” reports that conservation groups from across the US Southeast are calling on Governor DeSantis to veto the move. After all, this would allow the installation of toxic phosphorus gypsum in Florida’s streets.
Ron DeSantis could stop the project with a veto.Image: AP / Alex Brandon
According to WFTV, critics emphasize that this would open the doors for the phosphate industry to “dumped” its waste in road construction nationwide. The phosphate waste poses a risk to road workers, public health and the environment.
Under palm trees and on streets with poisonous phosphorus gypsum in Florida – that could soon become reality.Bild: IMAGO/Panthermedia / xmarina
According to the draft law, the Florida Department of Transportation should “try out” the whole project for now. In other words, carry out a study as to whether and how the use of phosphogypsum is suitable as a material for road construction. And until April 1, 2024.
Lawyers give wake-up call to Ron DeSantis
Center for Biological Diversity attorney Ragan Whitlock told WFTV:
“The only way Governor DeSantis can reassure Floridians that he is serious about protecting against this radioactive waste is to veto this reckless law.”
Whitlock goes on to say that this “dangerous plan” to pave Florida’s streets with toxic phosphate waste is an “enormous gift” to an industry which has a long history of damaging the environment and endangering public health.
“No self-respecting environmentally conscious or ‘green’ governor would ever sign legislation authorizing the construction of roads with radioactive materials,” Rachael Curran, an attorney for People for Protecting Peace River, told WFTV. .
In 2020 – during the Trump era – the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of phosphogypsum in road construction, the report says. However, the opposition from nature conservation, health and trade union groups was so great that the authority withdrew the permit a year later.
The objection at the time was that dumping radioactive phosphogypsum in roads would relieve the fertilizer industry of the obligation to safely dispose of the millions of tons of hazardous waste it generates each year.
Now Florida apparently still wants to build the roads with the toxic waste product and push the project through with a law.
