State, local authorities, and politicians are vowing to hold HRK Holdings accountable for the near 30-year debacle known as Piney Point.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes have vowed to hold HRK accountable and FDEP lawyers are searching for ways to legally hold HRK accountable.
On April 5, The Free Press published a press release, issued by HRK, as a first effort to tell their side of the story. On April 8, TFP reported how concerns of numerous problems and warning of a potential breach, expressed in a letter to the FDEP from an environmental engineer hired by HRK, were summarily dismissed.
Now, in a second released statement obtained by TFP, HRK Holdings is standing up and pushing back.
The statement in its entirety:
Since HRK Holdings, LLC (HRK) acquired the Piney Point site in 2006, all environmental regulatory actions have been undertaken under a series of agreements, amendments, orders, permits, and other authorizations among HRK, Bankruptcy Court officials, FDEP, and other State and local government partners.
At the time HRK purchased the site, FDEP was conducting a phased closure construction of the entire Phosphogypsum Stack System as required under applicable Florida law and FDEP rules, using the services of its contractors, CDM Constructors, Inc. and Ardaman & Associates. HRK had no role in the development of the design, drawings, specifications, or the phased closure construction by FDEP and its contractors,” said the statement.
It was, and is presently, responsible for long-term care of the site following completion of closure. Unbeknownst to HRK, the synthetic liner system installed under the authority of the State to retain past process water in compartments located on top of the Stack System was substantially flawed, leading to a serious breach in that liner system in 2011.
HRK was led to believe that the liner and stack system could safely receive dredge spoils from Port Manatee, notwithstanding the strong objections and concerns over such a project expressed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in a 72-page report. In fact, in a July 2009 risk assessment report prepared for the express purpose of convincing the USACE that Piney Point was suitable for dredge material disposal, Ardaman wrote that “the probability of an existing liner leak is deemed to be essentially zero” and the probability of a liner tear due to concentrated in service stresses is deemed to be extremely small.
Since that time, HRK’s expert consultant has documented the extent of those liner system deficiencies as part of ongoing private litigation with Ardaman & Associates. HRK routinely inspects, notifies FDEP, and corrects synthetic liner flaws identified above the waterline of the water storage compartments. This is well-documented by the regular reports HRK files with FDEP detailing the status of the liner systems and the requisition requests that are submitted by HRK to FDEP to authorize funding for the repair of the multitude of tears that have been discovered and reported over the years. In addition, HRK has worked closely with FDEP, with regular conversations, site visits, and reports between HRK and FDEP.
Early last year, HRK’s third-party engineer reported to FDEP on the severity of the liner condition. In addition, HRK has presented to the authorities many times over the years, including at a formal Manatee County Commission hearing last year, the precarious nature of the situation.
HRK has proposed numerous solutions to FDEP over the years, including a number of solutions in just the last year. However, once again, another significant submerged liner system failure has now been identified as part of the current investigation underway at the site.
To insinuate that HRK has done anything other than what was required of and allowed by the State of Florida under the authority of the numerous agreements and projects undertaken by the company is preposterous.
Rather, since the 2011 liner system breach and the costly repairs and site remediation caused by that event, HRK has proposed numerous solutions to dispose of historically retained process water at the site, properly repair the faulty synthetic liner system, and adequately complete the site closure being conducted by FDEP at the time HRK purchased the site.
To be clear, it has been HRK, through its site manager’s actions and management of site operations, who has continuously and diligently relayed concern to all who would listen of the impending problems and risks during annual tropical storm seasons and as is currently being experienced at Piney Point.
Unfortunately, while continuing to delay the approval, funding, and implementation of any meaningful resolution to address these ongoing risks and problems, the authorities chose to turn away from all requests for help.