"Fertilizer Plant Reaches $2 Billion Settlement With U.S., State"

"Mosaic Fertilizer has reached a $2 billion settlement with state and federal environmental regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice over funding for the long-term disposal of massive phosphogypsum waste piles and the treatment of 60 billion pounds of wastewater from its plants in Florida and St. James Parish, authorities and the company said Thursday.

The settlement would conclude a 10-year regulatory dispute in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claimed Mosaic violated the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and state hazardous waste laws.

Processes used to make phosphate fertilizer result in acidic wastewater and lots of phosphogypsum, an unwanted byproduct with trace radioactivity."

David Mitchell reports for the Baton Rouge Advocate October 1, 2015.