The emergency injunction was requested by attorneys for residents and former employees who believe pollution from Coronet has damaged their health and property values. The lawyers claimed the company has been excavating soil and discharging wastewater through pipes off the plant property.

A two-year investigation by state and federal regulators has found various contaminants in air, soil and some private wells near the plant. But it did not establish a link between Coronet and widespread complaints of illness among residents in the area.

Attorneys for those who are suing Coronet want their own experts to run tests at the plant site, which ceased operations in March.

``We haven't been able to get in there, despite our efforts to test over the past three months,'' said lead attorney Jim Ross, of the Texas law firm McCurdy & McCurdy LLP.

``Our feeling is they're trying to get rid of the nasty stuff as much as possible before the plaintiffs have an opportunity to test the soil.''

Coronet denies any wrongdoing and says it discharged only treated wastewater, as allowed by government officials.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week released the results of tests it conducted at the facility in November 2003. The EPA report details more than a dozen violations of state and federal law in Coronet's handling of hazardous waste.

It describes toxic wastewater flowing into unlined ditches and ponds, as well as mounds of contaminated material piled on the ground at the 950-acre facility.

The report comes more than a year after state and federal regulators conducted a surprise inspection to determine the nature and extent of pollution at the site.

Among the violations:

* Failure to test waste to determine whether it was hazardous.

* Improper disposal of liquid and solid waste.

* Failure to clean up hydrofluoric acid that seeped into groundwater more than four years ago.

The report, illustrated with photographs, describes a vast river of waste, called the ``Throwaway Ditch,'' flowing through a network of lagoons that cover about one-third of the Coronet site.

It details gaps in information, discrepancies in regulatory paperwork and sloppy handling of contaminated materials.

The state and federal inspectors, who arrived with a search warrant, were hampered by a dearth of information, the report says.

Coronet's attorney, who accompanied the government team, ``indicated that Mr. John Broughton, the environmental technician with intimate knowledge of the wastewater system, was not going to be made available because he was a union employee,'' according to the report.

One area of concern highlighted by EPA inspectors was the liberal use of shotguns to break up molten material that stuck to the sides of the kilns that heated the processed phosphate to 2,500 degrees.

``The shot pellets will melt and then vaporize in the kiln, possibly adding to the lead, arsenic and antimony emissions from the facility,'' the report says.

``According to Coronet's reps, thousands of shotgun shells were used for this purpose during a year.''

Plant inventory records showed that Coronet employees fired 38,500 shells in 2002 and more than 14,500 in 2003.

This addition of heavy metals to the plant's waste stream was not taken into account when determining what pollution controls Coronet might need.

Another source of concern was the apparent legacy of a hydrofluoric acid spill in April 1999.

EPA collected a groundwater sample from a monitoring well in the acid spill area during the November 2003 inspection and found high levels of cancer-causing cadmium.

``The cadmium level in the groundwater shows that Coronet has failed to clean up the spill,'' the EPA report says.

Coronet spokesman Tom Stewart said the company ``respectfully disagrees with the EPA's characterization of the site and many of the findings in these reports.''

``Our commitment is to do the right thing for our neighbors and the state of Florida. We've met that commitment so far, and we will continue to do so as we move forward.''

As for the emergency injunction signed Thursday by Circuit Judge Vivian Maye, Stewart said the company hasn't discharged wastewater from the plant site since Jan. 14 and has not removed any soil. Only treated wastewater was discharged, he said.

In a Jan. 4 letter to Coronet chief executive David Denner, EPA's regional enforcement chief, Arthur Collins, acknowledges the company has ceased operations and ``addressed several of the concerns stated in the reports.''

Collins and other knowledgeable EPA officials were not available Monday to answer questions about the report or possible enforcement actions.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the Coronet case will hold a public meeting at 7 tonight in The Lakeland Center, where they will present the findings of their own investigation.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich-Ellis, an investigator for Masry & Vititoe, another law firm involved in the case, also will present Coronet documents she has assembled.

Reporter Dave Nicholson contributed to this story. Reporter Jan Hollingsworth can be reached at (813) 754-3765.