Oppose Mosaic-Uncle Sam Gypsum Pile Expansion
Mosaic Fertilizer-Uncle Sam Plant is submitting a permit application to LDEQ to EXPAND its 175 tall Gypsum Stack. Environmentalists OPPOSE this application for the following reasons:
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The stack consists of acidic Phosphate waste, collected for years. In addition to being acidic, it has radioactive compounds and heavy metals. It ALREADY poses an extreme hazard, and yet the company is proposing to expand it. Any leakage or breaking of the walls is potentially catastrophic.
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The stack has already shifted in 2019-2020. A local farmer, NOT the company, discovered the shift. Mosaic's research has shown that the shift was due to the 'clay lens' compressing at 80-90 feet deep. So why will Mosaic put more weight of the additional stack in that area? The entire structure could shift further.
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Potential dangers include: Leakage of radioactive, acidic, heavy-metal-containing liquid into the Mississippi River (the company footprint extends to the river levee), earthquakes (due to increased drilling for carbon capture), additional compaction of underlying clay, damage to levee from clay compaction, seepage of liquid under levee from clay compaction, weather hazards--either dust from dryness, spreading from rainfall, large-scale spreading from hurricanes and storms.
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Environmental justice: communities of descendants of formerly enslaved persons are within a quarter mile of the stack. In addition, there may be historic burial sites in the proposed area. There is a Houma Indian Mound just downriver of Mosaic's property along LA 3125. Will the expansion impact that or other Houma Indian sites?
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The following analyses are lacking and must be completed before any permits are issued: Environmental Justice, Levee Integrity, archival and contemporary satellite data showing whether there has been additional pile shifting, searches for human remains (burial sites), impacts to local downriver community water systems, alternative siting location studies, geologic studies of Nita Crevasse.
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Submit public verbal comments: Public hearing on Mosaic's expansion 6 p.m. March 7 at the St. James Parish Courthouse in Convent. Council Chambers 5800 Louisiana Highway 44
Convent, LA 70723. -
Submit written comments by 4/08/2024. Reference AI number 2532 Activity PER20210017. Permit Number P-0103-R1-M12. Send comments to deq.publicnotices@la.gov
OTHER INFORMATION:
RISE ST. JAMES' COMMENTS: https://risestjames.org/comment
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has an electronic database of all documents related to each facility. The key information you need to search the database in the AI# 2532
https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/edmsv2/quick-search?aspxerrorpath=%2Fapp%2Fdoc%2Fquerydef.aspx
Here are some of the relevant documents:
Public notice: https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=14171343
Maps of site: https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=14184962
On-going reports on the 2019-2020 wall shift.
https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=14162910
Technical information in permits Vol. 1 & Vol. 2:
Vol. 1 https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=14082975
Vol. 2 https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=14082578
Additional info on the permit
https://edms.deq.louisiana.gov/app/doc/view?doc=14082786
Background history on this site: