Ron DeSantis Signs 'Radioactive Roads' Bill Allowing Mining Waste In New Highways
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed what critics call a “radioactive roads” bill that would allow new highway construction to use radioactive mining waste tied to cancer.
The bill, which DeSantis signed on Thursday, lists phosphogypsum among “recyclable materials” that can be used for road construction.
Phosphogypsum, a waste byproduct of phosphate fertilizer mining, “emits radon, a radioactive gas,” and contains uranium, thorium and radium, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Radon is “potentially cancer-causing,” an EPA spokesperson told CBS News.
DeSantis, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, hasn’t commented. Tampa-based fertilizer giant Mosaic, which pushed the legislation, is seeking federal approval to test phosphogypsum, which the Tampa Bay Times noted “could pave the way — literally — for phosphogypsum use in American roads.”
The new bill tasks the Florida Department of Transportation to “evaluate the suitability” of using the material for road construction by April 1, 2024.
DeSantis is “paving the way to a toxic legacy,” declared Elise Bennett, a Center for Biological Diversity leader, in a statement deploring the bill as a “reckless handout to the fertilizer industry.”
“This opens the door for dangerous radioactive waste to be dumped in roadways across the state, under the guise of a so-called feasibility study that won’t address serious health and safety concerns,” Bennett said.
