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Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried on Tuesday asked tough questions of the man who runs the State Department of Environmental Protection.

She wanted to know why decisions were made a decade ago not to close the former phosphate mine that leaked more than a quarter million gallons of nutrient rich contaminated water into Tampa Bay.

“Piney Point has been a ticking time bomb. And we know that there were letters and communications sent to DEP with the gravity of the upcoming situation. We are not going to allow Noah or this administration to push it under the rug and say everything is going to be okay. We’re throwing hundreds of millions of dollars, taxpayers dollars, to an environmental disaster with no, hey what happened? How did we get here?” said Fried.

Fried also asked what the state is doing to protect 27 other phosphate stacks located throughout the state.

She was offered a private briefing on the matter, but did not get a public response.