Florida will no longer be allowed to dump wastewater from a defunct fertilizer plant into the Gulf of Mexico after the EPA rejected its request to continue the practice.

The federal permit allowing ocean disposal of the waste expires Sunday, and the EPA rejected the state's request Tuesday for a six-month extension.

That means two ships that have been spraying the waste into the gulf over the past six months will carry their last loads this week, and instead an aquatic preserve at the mouth of Tampa Bay will again bear the brunt of the waste disposal project.

With the end of gulf dumping, the state DEP will resume discharging the treated waste into Bishop's Harbor, a 525-acre aquatic preserve near Port Manatee that has long been subjected to Piney Point's pollution. At least 2 million gallons a day will be dumped into the preserve starting Monday, DEP spokeswoman Deena Wells said.

Source: AP