County of Manatee issued the following announcement on Dec. 22.
Drilling is underway at the Piney Point Deep Injection Well (DIW) site on Buckeye Road in Palmetto. The drilling commenced just before 10 am today, with Dr. Hopes at the controls, actually drilling the first few feet -- exactly eight months after the County submitted the initial application for the well’s construction on April 22, 2021.
“We are pleased to get this started so quickly,” said Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes. “The cooperation and coordination to get this important project to this point has been remarkable.”
The well is being drilled to a depth of 3,300 feet below land surface (bls). Ft. Myers-based Youngquist Brothers, Inc. is the drilling contractor working with consultants ASRus of Tampa and Manatee County Utilities staff. The drilling is expected to last through late 2022.
“We’re looking forward to working together to complete this project successfully,” said Manatee County Utilities Deputy Director Jeff Goodwin.
The Initial site prep and preliminary construction was completed as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) final approval for the project was received.
The well will be used to safely dispose of Piney Point's process water. That process water – which will be drained from the reservoirs atop nearby phosphogypsum stacks – will be pre-treated before injection.
As this is an active construction site, access has been limited. Documentary footage of the initial dig sequence(s) and on-site comments from project principals are available on the Manatee County YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/rdlpHY9_veY.
Original source can be found here.
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