EPA and Mosaic challenge a lawsuit against the use of phosphate in road project

The EPA approved the pilot project. Attorneys for the agency and Mosaic say the EPA had discretion to sign off on it.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Mosaic Fertilizer on Friday argued that a federal appeals court should reject a lawsuit challenging the use of phosphogypsum, a radioactive byproduct of the phosphate industry, in a Polk County road project.

Attorneys for the EPA and Mosaic, a major player in the phosphate industry, filed briefs at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pushing back against the challenge filed by the Center for Biological Diversity.