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LOCAL

DEP sues BS Ranch over ongoing odor issues

John Chambliss
john.chambliss@theledger.com

BARTOW — The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has filed a lawsuit against BS Ranch & Farm, claiming the company has failed to fix persistent odors after numerous warnings.

The case is yet another attempt in the courts to fine the waste recycling facility for continuing to cause odors in neighborhoods and businesses close to its location.

The county spent more than $600,000 in lawsuits against the company, but was unsuccessful in its attempts to shut down the business. This is the first time BS Ranch has been sued by the state.

The agency is asking for up to $10,000 a day in relief for each violation committed by the company, and for the court to eliminate any economic gains BS Ranch has received from the violations.

It comes a month after the county and BS Ranch reached an agreement that allows the company to continue operations under more stringent regulations, including tighter odor control measures and wetland-related concerns.

Patrice Boyes, a lawyer for the company, said she hopes BS Ranch and the FDEP can reach a similar agreement.

Boyes said the odor complaints addressed in the lawsuit are anecdotal, based on little evidence and no meteorological data, such as the direction of the wind.

"There needs to be a higher quality of evidence to answer it," Boyes said.

Much of the 23-page complaint against the business focused on odor complaints from business owners and residents in the area that began in January 2017 and continued for the next two years.

In February 2018, the FDEP confirmed a "biosolid/septage odor" was coming from the facility. An inspector noticed a smell of flowers and cinnamon as a masking odor, according to the lawsuit.

The inspector reported he could smell the septage combined with the masking odors, according to the lawsuit.

BS Ranch President/Co-owner Brandy Stanton told the inspector she noticed the flower smell.

The lawsuit shows that inspectors investigated businesses in the area to determine whether they were responsible for the odors. In one case, a wastewater treatment facility was found to be producing a slight odor.

But most of the time BS Ranch was responsible, according to the lawsuit.

"In short, BS Ranch has been aware of ongoing odor complaints regarding its facility," the lawsuit stated. "Unfortunately, the plan and whatever other actions BS Ranch has taken to address the facility's off-site odor problem has not been effective as evidenced by the Department and neighbors' experiences noted above and hence cannot reasonably be characterized as 'corrective action' as required," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also mentions damage to wetlands.

But Boyes said the wetlands complaint will be moot once the area dries and the company is able to restore the 5 acres of wetlands.

And she said some of the odor control measures agreed to with the county could be worked out with the FDEP.

County Commissioner George Lindsey said the FDEP lawsuit validates the position the county has held since complaints from neighbors began coming in more than two years ago.

And he says the FDEP has more regulatory authority to wield against the business than the county.

"Our scope of enforcement was so limited," Lindsey said.

John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588.