en.Wedoany.com Reported - A joint report by two watchdog organizations, "The Revolving Door Project" and "Public Citizen," reveals that among the sponsors of the "Freedom 250" organization (aimed at planning the U.S. 250th anniversary celebration), founded by U.S. President Donald Trump, is a Florida mining company—The Mosaic Co.—that is awaiting a ruling from the Trump administration on its regulatory issues.

Mosaic, which mines phosphate and potash for agricultural fertilizer production, is headquartered in Tampa and operates across North and South America. The report indicates that the company is seeking a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand a waste pile at its facility in Florida, a project that has raised environmental concerns due to the state's vulnerability to hurricanes. Alan Zibel, a researcher at Public Citizen and co-author of the report, stated that the company is awaiting a major regulatory decision that could impact its operations, giving it an incentive to show proximity to Trump. He noted that while campaign finance disclosures can reveal some corporate attempts to influence the government, opaque tools like "Freedom 250" make it difficult for outsiders to understand who is trying to exert influence.

The report states that the Trump administration has awarded approximately $103 million in contracts and grants to a network of politicized entities controlled by Trump administration officials and political allies for planning the 250th anniversary celebration. Private funds have also permeated the planning process, often coming from companies with pending regulatory issues before the Trump administration, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and Mosaic. These companies have contributed undisclosed amounts without oversight. Trump created "Freedom 250" shortly after taking office, and the organization has become a rival to the bipartisan "America250," which has been planning the anniversary for a decade. Mosaic and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mosaic is seeking a permit under the Clean Water Act from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a $260 million expansion at its manufacturing site in Riverview, outside Tampa. The site consists of a manufacturing plant and two waste piles known as "stacks"; one stack is closed, and Mosaic says the remaining storage capacity of the other stack is sufficient for approximately six more years of operation. These stacks contain phosphogypsum, a radioactive, carcinogenic, and toxic waste produced during fertilizer manufacturing.

The company wants to expand this open stack to continue production at the site until the plant shuts down, though the exact shutdown timeline is unclear. Construction is set to begin in January 2028 and will take approximately two and a half years to complete. The project area is less than a mile east of Hillsborough Bay, and Mosaic says these plans are designed to minimize environmental impact. Ragan Whitlock, a staff attorney at the advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity, stated that the facility is also near a historically Black community known as "Progress Village." He noted that this is a clear example of the facility causing significant problems for the community and Florida's environment, and Mosaic is trying to reduce costs for protecting waste from leaks through every avenue rather than acknowledging the harm.

The project has been expedited through the federal permitting process in response to Trump's executive order to streamline permits for infrastructure and energy projects to enhance national security and economic prosperity. Phosphogypsum is typically stored in such stacks to limit public exposure, but these stacks have experienced issues. In 2021, a pond at Piney Point, Florida (not owned by Mosaic) leaked and threatened to collapse, forcing the discharge of 215 million gallons of wastewater into Tampa Bay. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, Florida's stacks store over 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum waste, with the fertilizer industry adding approximately 40 million tons annually. Conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, have filed lawsuits to force the Trump administration to classify phosphogypsum as hazardous waste. Another lawsuit challenges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a controversial Mosaic plan to use phosphogypsum in a road project at the company's nearby New Wales facility.

Zibel said some companies align with Trump not because they are particularly interested in politics, but because they have significant economic interests. It is both a matter of getting what they want from the government and avoiding punishment, as this administration actively penalizes those who do not pay tribute or speak favorably.