FL to build roads with radioactive waste

Just when you thought Trumping the crazy couldn't happen. I considered putting this in the DeSantis thread but that one is attenuated as crazy DeSantis has gotten boring. This news is anything but boring. However if the mods prefer it to go in the DeSantis thread I won't object.

HuffPo: Ron DeSantis Signs 'Radioactive Roads' Bill Allowing Mining Waste In New Highways

Quote:

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.

He signed the bill but I'm not sure how far DeSantis' role goes. I do suspect there's a whole heaping of cronyism involved. But that cronyism might be coming from the state legislators rather than the guv.

Quote:

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.” ... 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.

It calls for an assessment to decide the viability of the idea in April 1, 2024. (On April Fool's Day no less.)

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/F5yHTtb