Highway to Disaster: DeSantis Greenlights Building Radioactive Roads

Photo byGage Skidmore

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that will permit the construction of new highways using cancer-causing "radioactive" mining waste in the state.

HB 1191 includes phosphogypsum on the list of "recyclable materials" used to build roads. The list covers recycled mixed plastic, ash residue from coal combustion byproducts, ground rubber from automobile tires, glass, and construction steel.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims phosphogypsum, a waste product from manufacturing fertilizer, produces a radioactive gas called radon. Additionally, the substance contains radioactive substances like radium, uranium, and thorium.

The second most common cause of lung cancer after smoking is radon. According to the EPA, the gas is responsible for 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States annually.

The FDA has already acknowledged that the mining waste, residual phosphate rock particles, may be carcinogenic. The material is kept in gypstack systems to block it from coming in contact with humans and the environment.

By April 1st, 2024, the department's study must be finished.

The state has struggled with phosphate mining for many years. A breach at Piney Point, a former phosphate mining operation in Manatee County, occurred in 2021. For a period of 10 days, 215 million gallons of water with dangerous fertilizers entered the Tampa Bay area.

Elise Bennett, director and attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in Florida and the Caribbean, stated that the law is a "reckless handout to the fertilizer industry."

"Gov. DeSantis is paving the way to a toxic legacy generations of Floridians will have to grapple with," Bennett said.

Some may need a warning or a disclaimer before they decide to use any of the reads built from cancer-causing waste.

What do you think about the plan to build potentially hazardous roads in Florida?

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