J Henry Fair: Industrial Scars

Raw phosphate rock is processed with sulphuric acid, and requires vast amounts of fresh water, and produces five parts of waste to one part of fertilizer. The “phospho-gypsum” waste is highly acidic and radioactive, as the phosphate rock is usually found with significant amounts of uranium and radium. This slurry is stored in enormous “gyp stacks,” where the toxic mixture seeps into groundwater and overflows during heavy rainfall, mixing with surface water. Another significant byproduct of the process is fluorine gas, one of the most toxic elements to humans. Due to loopholes in RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (the basis for the Clean Air and Clean Water acts)) these contaminants go unreported.

		industrial scars

		Fertilizer


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	<		Raw phosphate rock is processed with sulphuric acid, and requires vast amounts of fresh water, and produces five parts of waste to one part of fertilizer. The “phospho-gypsum” waste is highly acidic and radioactive, as the phosphate rock is usually found with significant amounts of uranium and radium. This slurry is stored in enormous “gyp stacks,” where the toxic mixture seeps into groundwater and overflows during heavy rainfall, mixing with surface water. Another significant byproduct of the process is fluorine gas, one of the most toxic elements to humans. Due to loopholes in RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (the basis for the Clean Air and Clean Water acts)) these contaminants go unreported.	>