Judge fines HRK Holdings over 2021 Piney Point incident

A federal judge ruled against HRK Holdings in 2021 in connection with the emergency discharge of 215 million gallons of wastewater from the former Piney Point fertilizer processing plant into Tampa Bay.

HRK Holdings filed for bankruptcy after the spill and its attorney withdrew from the case. With the company unrepresented, U.S. District Judge William Jung entered a default judgment finding that the company had violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into Tampa Bay without a lawful permit.

HRK Holdings was ordered to pay $846,900 in a lawsuit filed by a group of five environmental organizations following the Piney Point data theft in 2021.

In July, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection also agreed to fund independent monitoring of environmental impacts on Tampa Bay and to make improvements to the Clean Water Act permit issued for the Piney Point facility, which was completed earlier this month.

Catch up:Three years after the Piney Point data leak: Closure gains momentum, legal proceedings pending

Previously:Piney Point: Environmental groups and Florida agree to federal lawsuit over sewage leak

“In my opinion, the most important result of this case is that the court found that the discharge of phosphogypsum and process wastewater was not permissible,” said Reagan Whitlock, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of five plaintiffs in the case.

“The DEP allowed HRK Holdings to operate for more than 20 years without a lawfully issued Clean Water Act permit because the previous permit expired on March 25, 2001. The Department did not issue a new permit for this site until September 5, 2024, years after the pollution event and the start of this litigation. I am not shocked that a polluting company has polluted the environment. I am shocked that our state regulators have allowed this to happen.”

Piney Point cost taxpayers over a hundred million, HRK Holdings was fined hundreds of thousands

Whitlock believes that the fine imposed on HRK is not enough to cover the costs associated with the incident and its impact on the local environment.

The fine is based on the number of days (15) of the unauthorized violations and the maximum civil penalty of $56,460 per day under federal law. Piney Point authorities have estimated that the plant could cost the state more than $150 million by the time work is completed.

“It pales in comparison to the burden Piney Point has placed on Florida taxpayers,” Whitlock said.

Archive:Massive red tide bloom in Sarasota County could be ‘just as bad as 2018’

The wastewater released nearly 200 tons of nitrogen into Tampa Bay. Once released, the nutrients contributed to a deadly red tide in Tampa Bay that killed more than 600 tons of marine life in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. This red tide spread along much of the Gulf Coast and also had severe impacts in Manatee and Sarasota counties. “The communities that rely on these coastal waters are left behind and must deal with the permanent damage caused by HRK's negligence. Suncoast Waterkeeper and our partners have worked to enforce the laws the state should have upheld all along,” said Abbey Tyrna, director of Suncoast Waterkeeper.

Judge fines HRK Holdings over 2021 Piney Point incident

You may also like...

Recent Posts

Judge fines HRK Holdings over 2021 Piney Point incident

You may also like...

Lukaku returns to Cagliari with impressive record after racism incident

Upstate New York man loses leg in demo derby incident at County Fair

Why was Beyoncé's “Cowboy Carter” overlooked at the Country Music Awards? Experts speak out

Recent Posts