Burning pipes at Riverview fire may have polluted air, Mosaic tells Florida regulators
A report from Hillsborough County Fire Rescue said the blaze started when maintenance equipment caught fire. Mosaic, a Tampa-based Fortune 500 mining company, has warned Florida environmental regulators that a fire at its Riverview phosphate plant may have released a harmful pollutant as plastic piping burned. The fire, which ignited polyethylene piping, released an "indeterminate quantity" of a chemical compound called 1,3 Pentadiene into the air, according to a pollution notice filed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The compound, which can cause eye and respiratory irritation, is considered a hazardous substance under federal regulations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists 100 pounds as the reportable quantity. Despite the fire being controlled, it jumped a containment line and burned an acre of land a day later. The plant continues to operate as employees make repairs and clean up the site.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Max Chesnes in Environment
A Tampa-based Fortune 500 mining company warned Florida environment regulators that a fire at its Riverview phosphate plant last week may have released a harmful pollutant as plastic piping burned, according to a pollution notice.
Mosaic said the fire on its property off U.S. Highway 41 ignited polyethylene piping, which released “an indeterminate quantity” of a chemical compound called 1,3 Pentadiene into the air, according to a notice the company filed to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on Friday.
The compound is a flammable health hazard that can cause eye and respiratory irritation, according to a classification document from the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization. Its vapor is heavier than air and it can move along the ground.
It’s not clear just how much of the compound was released, but Mosaic told Florida’s environmental agency that it may have been above the “reportable quantity,” or the threshold that a private company has to report to regulators. The 1,3 Pentadiene compound is considered a hazardous substance under federal regulations, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists 100 pounds as the reportable quantity.
Jackie Barron, a Mosaic spokesperson, cited Hillsborough County Fire Rescue’s responses from last week when asked if there was a public health threat as pipes burned. The department “addressed concerns regarding the smoke noting strong sustained winds were pushing the smoke offshore and away from the neighboring community,” she wrote in a statement.
“Those winds continued through the night and into the next day. As far as I am aware, (fire rescue) has repeatedly stated there was no risk to public health,” Barron wrote.
While the company said it continues to investigate the cause of the fire, an incident report from Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, said maintenance equipment caught fire, which spread to nearby grass and to multiple large polyethylene pipes.
When firefighters first responded, they had trouble containing the blaze due to high westerly winds and “water supply issues” because there were no fire hydrants, the report shows.
A day after the blaze was controlled, the fire jumped a containment line made by firefighters and burned about an acre of land, a second incident report states. A responding fire crew was sent to another location to the east of that blaze because fire “was threatening some pipes that were important to the operation of the plant.”
One firefighter was hospitalized in stable condition on the second day of the incident. He was released later that day, according to fire rescue spokesperson Rob Herrin.
In an update to investors last week, Mosaic said production at the Riverview plant may be affected for 4 to 6 weeks, and that the plant “sustained limited damage to ancillary operations.” At the time of the fire, the plant was producing phosphate products to be exported to Brazil, the company said in its update. The plant continues to run as employees work normal hours making repairs and cleaning up the site, Barron said.
In a statement last week, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said the burned pipelines had been deactivated by Mosaic before the fire reached the lines. It’s unclear what was carried in the pipes, but based on the state’s inspection last week, there was no indication that process water — used in the phosphate manufacturing process — or gypsum byproduct was released from the site.
The fire-affected area is concentrated on roughly 31 acres on the plant’s southeast corner of the closed western gypsum stack, according to state regulators.