Tampa Bay, Fla. - The situation at Piney Point has been building over the years.
What You Need To Know
- Rep. Buchanan asked federal government to intervene at Piney Point site
- A look back at industrial sites in Tampa Bay
- Superfund sites are still mitigated in the area
- RELATED: Small Leak From Piney Point Threatens to Dump Wastewater into Tampa Bay
Residents of that community, including Congressman Vern Buchanan, have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to intervene before a major environmental disaster happens.
It's a problem all too familiar to other communities in Tampa Bay near industrial plants that have had contamination issues or have all but shut down because of it.
Phosphogypsum is the main problem of the phosphate plants' by-products which is radioactive waste.
In 2016 a sinkhole opened up at Mosaic's Mulberry plant in Polk County.
They got a lot of criticism for not notifying the public, until it hit the news.
Officials from the company and the state said no contamination came from that very visual incident.
In Pinellas County, for years residents of the Azalea, Tyrone area in St. Petersburg complained about toxic waste from the old Raytheon site.
In 1991, when the city was working on the Pinellas Trail, workers found soil and groundwater contamination.
Raytheon bought the company on that site years later and installed testing wells.
In 2005, the city said monitors found contaminated groundwater seeping outside the area.
But a 2009 Health Consultation by the Health Department determined the chemical levels are not toxic.
The Stauffer Chemical site in Tarpon Springs was closed down and put on the National Priority List or Superfund site where it's been since the 90s.
At last check, the EPA report said "site remedy is protective of human health and the environment."