Polk County objects to DEP, BS Ranch's deal to operate despite odors - The Ledger

Polk County objects to DEP, BS Ranch's deal to operate despite odors

Polk County objects to state deal allowing BS Ranch & Farm to continue operations
Sara-Megan Walsh

LAKELAND ― Polk County officials are objecting to a state agreement that will allow B.S. Ranch & Farm Inc. in East Lakeland to continue its operations for nearly another four years.

Polk County filed a petition for a formal administrative hearing Monday asking that a consent order from Florida Department of Environmental Protection allowing the organic waste recycling facility to stay open should be reversed or modified. The order provides the facility with timelines for site and procedural improvements that would bring it into compliance with state regulations.

"In the 10+ years the facility has been in operation, there has never been a single period of time in which the Facility was compliant with FDEP rules," reads the county's petition.

The state agency has 15 days to decide whether to grant or deny the county's request.

Patrice Boyes, legal representative for B.S. Ranch said the county's characterizations were "a lawyer's hyperbole." Boyes said the requirements and action deadlines outlined in the agreement will no longer take effect immediately now that the county has challenged it.

"Ironically, Polk County’s litigation is working to its citizens’ detriment by delaying major changes in the operation that the Consent Order requires, such as closure of several open-air treatment lagoons, receipt of septage inside an enclosed building, and transition to and construction of windrow composting," she wrote in an statement.

A permit to operate?

In March 2022, FDEP refused to renew B.S. Ranch's permits, saying it "did not provide reasonable assurances" it could operate in compliance with state laws. FDEP had concerns about of odors and potential groundwater contamination — nuisances Lakeland residents and area businesses have complained about for years.

B.S. Ranch filed an appeal of the state's decision in April 2022. The issue of whether it would be allowed to continue operations has been in legal limbo for over a year.

State officials met with B.S. Ranch's owners and attorneys in June with hopes of reaching an agreement to avoid court proceedings. A consent order outlining the two parties' agreements was signed July 25.

"During discussions, BS Ranch agreed to operate in accordance with all of Florida’s environmental rules and laws governing Class AA biosolids facilities and to sign a Consent Order," FDEP spokesperson Brian Miller wrote in email to The Ledger.

Some of the requirements B.S. Ranch agreed to in the latest agreement:

- It must stop accepting any delivery of biosolids into its facility.
- It's prohibited from accepting septage until it can make detailed facility changes so all deliveries are inside a closed building with filtration systems to nullify objectionable odors.
- It must implement an odor-control plan and measures to prevent off-site odors.
- Conduct on-site field monitoring at least twice a day between the hours of 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.
- Conduct mandatory groundwater contamination monitoring with results reported to the state agency.
- Investigate any odor complaints within an hour of receipt, or by 9 a.m. the next business day if received after hours. A log of complaints would be submitted to FDEP quarterly.
- Demonstrate biosolids and septage currently on site meet the requirements to be distributed as organic fertilizer, or dispose of the materials at an authorized off-site facility.

Boyes said the facility stopped accepting biosolids in the spring, so that requirement will have no impact on the business. She would not provide a timeframe to when the other changes may be implemented.

Polk's skeptical of BS Ranch's commitment

Polk County commissioners made their first legal attempt to stop operations at BS Ranch & Farm in March 2017, citing citizen and business complaints about an odor emanating from the area. Since then, the county has been in a prolonged legal battle with the facility over numerous code enforcement issues.

"BS Ranch has proven incapable of controlling off-site offensive odors from the Facility for nearly a decade," the county's petition reads. "The Odor Control Plan referenced in the Consent Order is just another of a long line of promised fixes and like its predecessors does not provide reasonable assurances that objectionable odors will not continue to plague the county."

The FDEP has made B.S. Ranch promise to enact some kind of odor-control plan numerous times before, starting in March 2017. It asked for an update in July 2017, ordered enclosures in January 2018, then stipulated an off-site Gas Corrective Action Plan must be implemented in December 2019.

Despite multiple legal agreements, East Lakeland residents and businesses have continued to file complaints about odors emanating from the facility, according to FDEP's own records.

"The facility has never managed to operate without causing illegal, noxious off-site odors adversely impacting thousands of nearby residents and businesses," the county's petition says.

Polk owns several pieces of property in the area surrounding B.S. Ranch, located at 2314 Longhorn Ave. The county's petition argues it aims to protect its property and the health of employees who work on the sites, including the North Central Landfill, the Polk County Sheriff's Office Processing Center and the Animal Shelter. It also owns the adjacent Circle B Bar Reserve about one mile south of the facility, which is a designated nature preserve open to the public.

"The maintenance and potential distribution of improperly treated biosolids poses a potential threat to the environment and public health and safety. The county is obligated to protect public health andsafety as a local government," the county says in its petition.

Polk granted B.S. Ranch approval for a special land use classification of "soil manufacturing" in 2016, which means the various waste brought into the facility is used to create a soil product that is sold and removed. The county said the consent order approved last month would allow B.S. Ranch to store some of the biosolids it currently has on site in perpetuity, allowing it to become a solid waste landfill.

If B.S. Ranch is allowed to function as landfill, the county argued that it will pose a threat of environmental impact to adjacent properties, such as Circle B Bar Reserve.

The county said hundreds of tons of biosolid and septic waste that has accumulated on the site should have to be properly processed or moved off-site for disposal before the facility's allowed to take in any more.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.