Reposted from Pinellasgreens.com – 2018 Candidates, posted

Francisco Pierre-Louis is running for Hillsborough County Soil and Water Conservation Board, District 3.

The Hillsborough Soil & Water Conservation District is intended to advance conservation needs at a local level, working in partnership with the federal government to serve producers and residents. “How you do your job every day matters!” they say. “We believe that everyone, from students to farmers, can contribute to conservation in some small way.” It serves as a liaison between local owners and state and federal agencies, and focuses on issues like floodwater control, soil erosion and natural resource management.

Running for the unpaid office is seen as a springboard into politics, and is generally not taken seriously. Francisco disagrees.

“I am running not only to encourage more people to run for office, but because we are facing a behemoth,” Francisco explains. “That behemoth is Mosaic. We shouldn’t forget that Mosaic is the same company that dumped 215 million gallons of radioactive waste down the Florida Aquifer. This is unacceptable. I am one of the few people currently running that is willing to work with local and statewide organizations to push Mosaic out of Hillsborough County because at the end of the day, water is life.”

As the Tampa Bay Times reported in September 2016, “A massive sinkhole that opened underneath a gypsum stack at a Mosaic phosphate fertilizer plant in Mulberry may have dumped at least 215 million gallons of contaminated water into the Floridan Aquifer over the past three weeks, company officials say. …

“It drained millions of gallons of acidic water laced with sulfate and sodium from a pool atop a 120-foot gypsum stack. An unknown amount of gypsum, a fertilizer byproduct with low levels of radiation, also fell into the sinkhole, which is believed be at least 300 feet deep.

“The pond is now drained, but aerial video taken Friday shows polluted water is still seeping from the gypsum stack and plunging like a waterfall into the sinkhole. More contaminated water will leak with every new rainfall until the sinkhole is filled.”

A few months ago, a Mosaic spokeswoman said it had been finally sealed and would be completely filled by the end of May.

While Mosaic, Rick Scott and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection claim everything is under control, Pierre-Louis is putting the public eye on a situation he knows will never be “under control” with corporate power running the Sunshine State.

Hillsborough County Demographics

White

Hispanic

Black 71.1%

26.6%

16.6%

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