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Hurricane Ian might cause destructive chemical leaks

Large amount of phosphate fertilizer is in Florida. Officials claim it might be at risk due to the dangerous hurricane. Hurricane Ian has already caused much destruction in Florida and is not stopping any time soon. With floods and continuous storms, people are extremely terrified and have been living without electricity for a couple of days now.

But environmentalists are worried for one more reason as well. Florida is the home to millions of phosphate chemical found in pools and stacks’ fertilizer. With constant storms, this could affect the fertilizers and the chemical could end up being mixed in the flood water and the bay area, ultimately reaching the city area, into peoples’ homes.

This fertilizer based out of phosphoric acid is produced in huge quality and is stored in big heaps, which are hundreds of thousands of yards tall and wide. The byproduct of this phosphate fertilizer is called phosphogypsum. The midlife of phosphogypsum is nearly 1600 years. That means if this chemical gets mixed up with the water in Florida, it would remain there for generations. It would become merely impossible to remove or destroy it.

A similar case happened in 2021. The phosphate fertilizer pile of the Piney Point plant was mixed up with the water body due to excessive rain in the area and killed nearly 1800 marine organisms and sea life. Environmentalists are worried that if such incident happens, it would cause mass destruction in Florida.

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