Plan to inject Piney Point waste underground to become reality in 2023

The amount of waste to be injected deep underground in Manatee County as a result of the environmental disaster at the former Piney Point fertilizer plant continues to grow as cleanup efforts are set to ramp up next year.

Authorities are preparing to inject hundreds of millions of gallons of waste at the former Piney Point fertilizer processing plant deep underground once construction of a new injection well is completed in 2023, a major step in the ongoing effort to clean up the troubled facility.

The cleanup also requires millions of gallons of bleach to treat polluted Piney Point waste water before it is injected underground just across the street from the site. Late last month, county commissioners also agreed to allow the company that produces that bleach in Palmetto, Allied New Technologies 2 Inc., to dispose of its waste in Manatee County.