Environmental groups are suing for a leak in a sewage reservoir in Tampa Bay

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Thursday saying efforts to clean up a reservoir that drains tens of millions of gallons of potentially hazardous sewage in Tampa Bay must be overseen by a federal judge to prevent continued mismanagement, reports AP.

The big picture: More than 215 million gallons of sewage entered Tampa Bay that year, which some scientists say contributed to algal bloom and worsened an outbreak of the fish-killing toxic red tide along the Gulf Coast.

The news is driving: The lawsuit, which cites Governor Ron DeSantis and the Department of Environmental Protection, among others, alleges that the state has allowed dredging material to be stored in the reservoir.

• Plaintiffs also say the leak and those before it violated federal laws, including the Clean Water Act.
• State officials have declined to comment on the lawsuit, according to the AP.

What you say: “State and local regulators have failed the public for decades and continue to mishandle the waste generated by the phosphate industry,” said Annie Beaman, associate director of Our Children’s Earth Foundation.

• “We resort to federal oversight when decisions by the political segments of government endanger the public,” Beaman said.

Our thought bubble on Axios’ Ben Montgomery: As Craig Pittman has repeatedly reported for the Tampa Bay Times, instead of intervening when it could, the state has broken state laws and bent the rules by not closing the plaster stacks and not responding to warnings who the owner of Piney Point was in financial trouble.

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