The Environmental Protection Agency is visiting the Mosaic sinkhole site in Mulberry for the first time. 

Representatives from the EPA visited the site Friday. Activites at the site included observing the stack where the sinkhole occurred; observing the sampling occurring from production well four; and discussing the location of the additional four monitoring wells Mosaic will install shortly.

Mosaic, the world's largest supplier of phosphate, said a sinkhole opened up beneath a gypsum stack, which is a pile of waste material.

The 215-million gallon storage pond sat atop the waste mineral pile. The company said the sinkhole, which was discovered by a worker on Aug. 27, is about 45 feet in diameter.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit, filed Thursday by the Florida law firm of Morgan and Morgan and by Weitz & Luxenberg of New York, said the phosphate company's "conscious actions and omissions disregarded foreseeable risks to human health and safety and to the environment."

The plaintiffs are asking for damages that run in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 

"They want permanent monitoring of groundwater that they draw their water from," said Attorney John Yanchunis. "They want medical monitoring to ensure the extent that they drink that water that they don’t suffer any harmful effects as well as the loss of value to their property."

The plaintiffs in the suit, Natasha McCormick, Eric Beckman and Nicholas Bohn all live in Lithia. The plaintiffs live west of the plant and use well water at their homes. 

Mosaic says it is reviewing the lawsuit and will respond through the judicial process.