MULBERRY, Fla. (WFLA) – A building at the Mosaic Fertilizer plant in Mulberry was evacuated on Tuesday morning after an ammonia leak.
A Mosaic spokesperson said shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Mosaic notified national and state agencies about an ammonia release at the New Wales facility.
The spokesperson said the ammonia release happened when one of the company’s fertilizer granulation plants was offline for scheduled maintenance work. Employees opened an isolated, deactivated ammonia pipeline and some residual ammonia was accidentally released.
A Florida Department of Emergency Management report said that 100 lbs. of ammonia was released.
Contractors were cleared from the immediate area and the plant’s emergency response teams responded. The ammonia release was contained to the immediate area by applying water to the ammonia vapors, according to the Mosaic spokesperson.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said that the building was evacuated and no injuries were reported. The FDEP spokesperson said that information available at this time indicates there is no impact to surface or ground water.
An FDEP inspector will assess any potential environmental impacts and any appropriate remediation.
The New Wales facility is operating as normal. The Mosaic spokesperson said that there were no threats to the neighboring community or other operating areas.
The Mosaic New Wales facility is involved in the production of phosphate fertilizer and animal feed ingredients, according to the company’s website. The plant is located at 3095 County Road 640 W. in Mulberry.
A massive sinkhole opened up on top of a gypsum stack near Mosaic’s Mulberry plant in August. The sinkhole allowed millions of gallons of contaminated water to flow into the Floridan Aquifier.
