America's oldest city hit by odor crisis

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Published: Updated:
The heat blazes relentlessly, pushing past 90 degrees on yet another sweltering summer day. And for residents in this seemingly idyllic new suburb of America's oldest, and arguably most picturesque city, it's anything but a day in paradise. The air is once again pungent with an odor variously compared to 'raw sewage, an open cesspit, a hog farm or an elephant enclosure at the zoo'. The 'acrid stink' is so overpowering in this thriving St. Augustine community in Florida that residents endure daily battles with burning throats, watery eyes, runny noses, and relentless bouts of coughing. Less than a mile west, nestling in a forested enclave, sits their 'culprit'… a facility that creates compost from biosolids. Or in simple terms, treats human poop. Certainly, when the Daily Mail visited Morgans Cove, a peaceful subdivision of some 240 homes established just three years ago, something was most certainly in the air. At first, it wasn't too noticeable. More of a faint farmyard smell with lingering notes of wood chippings.
Returning some hours later, the piquancy had developed. It was, without question, decidedly more pungent and decidedly more unpleasant. The hog farm comparison was starting to kick in. 'When it's this strong, it makes you nauseous, like you're going to vomit,' said Sonya Fry, 58. 'I walk my dogs regularly during the day and when it's really bad I just pull my shirt up over my face. 'I say to people, imagine you're in a football field and everything is fine. The next minute, you're surrounded by open septic tanks. You never know when it's going to hit.' Elementary school paraprofessional Fry is now at the forefront of a lawsuit against the facility, Indianhead Biomass, after more than 1,200 complaints were filed with the state from people within a near three-mile radius of the plant. It is claiming negligence in a bid to block any further permits for processing biosolids and mixing them with yard waste for composting, which entails giant 30ft-high mounds at the facility.
Amid all the literal and legal stink, residents we spoke with inside the three-mile radius are also desperately anxious about their long-term health, citing fears of air and water contamination. Many say they are virtual prisoners in their own homes at times because the air outside can be intolerable. Barbecues and pool parties depend on which way the wind is blowing. Some in Morgans Cove are also furiously alleging they were kept in the dark by the developer over the real reason for the then less noticeable odor they detected when they bought their homes in 2022. The 'for sale' signs are going up with at least 10 houses in the subdivision on the market. Recent sales show owners desperate to leave are taking up to $35,000 less than their asking price. Add to that mix is Indianhead, which insists it complies with all regulations as it seeks to have its wastewater permit renewed to carry on the biosolid processing it began in 2018. And then there's the population boom.
St. John's County – centered on St. Augustine, founded in 1565 – is one of Florida's fastest growing with a 43 percent population rise in the decade up to the 2020 census. It boomed nearly four percent in the past year alone. And that means an awful lot more poop to be processed… with Indianhead arguing its method is eco-friendly. All of which is cold comfort to Fry and her equally campaigning daughter, Heather Babcock. Together with Fry's other daughter, they all bought individual homes on Morgans Cove to be close to one another. Now, Babcock bitterly regrets the $358,000 purchase on the development roughly six miles from St. Augustine's historic tourist mecca. 'If you want any outdoor activity, even just to mow your lawn, it depends on the wind direction,' she said. 'Because you can go outside and it's fine, next minute you've got the human feces odor.
'Not only is it disgusting, it gives you a burning sensation in your nose. And then it causes a little bit of nasal drip. When you feel your nose burning, you get to a point where you almost want to wear a mask to simply walk around your neighborhood.' The 32-year-old graphic designer, who works from home, continued: 'There's a lot of people embarrassed to invite their family or friends over. A lot of barbecues and outside celebrations get cancelled when it gets really bad. 'In the past three years, the odor has become more frequent and stronger. I mostly end up staying indoors now as much as I can because of it. 'I wanted to build a screened-in porch when I moved in. There's no porch. What's the point when you can't use it. 'I like my home, and the community is great. But had I known how bad all this was going to be and what was actually going on, I would have never bought in here.'
To the critics who argue Babcock, her mother and all the other homeowners should have done more due diligence before buying, she responds: 'We had no idea that plant was doing biosolids. 'We noticed the odor in 2022 and asked the realtor and developer about it. We were told there was a nearby cow pasture. And then next time we were told, oh it's just the smell of the landscaping and it would go away when construction was done. 'But then it progressively got worse, and we found out it wasn't going away. That's when we learned that the nearby facility was not just yard waste as we believed, it was also biosolids.' Babcock and Fry are also behind the Stop the Stink St. Augustine website and allege Indianhead violates six compliance issues, which the company denies.
Across the street, former US Marine Brad Reese, 42, struggles to talk after a bout of laryngitis he suspects may have been caused by the atmosphere. 'Some days you can't even go outside, the odor is so bad. Especially when it's hot. You know, it's Florida, it's hot and muggy. The odor is rancid,' he said. 'I've had laryngitis, and the other day my throat shut to the point where I almost couldn't breathe. Super hard to breathe or swallow anything, and I needed medical attention. This is the best I've been in days. 'I'd never had anything like this before. Also, my kids have poor respiratory issues. They have become more susceptible to bronchitis. I accept kids get sniffles and the like, but for the last month they have had bad coughs. 'I cannot say for sure that the plant is responsible. But it's what I suspect. Come on, they're mixing human waste with wood to make fertilizer and I believe it's when they stir it up that the smell comes in.' The roofing boss and his wife, Amanda, 38, paid $427,000 for their four-bedroom home two years ago and moved in with their three young children.
'We got settled and I remember asking the sales rep with the developer LGI, hey what's that smell? And what they told us originally it was because of digging for the landscaping. And they told multiple people this. 'Once we found out differently, I called LGI and said you guys lied to us. You told us that it was from landscaping, and it was actually that plant over there. 'I asked one lady, did you guys know that there was a plant up there? And she's, oh, yeah, we did know. Like, why wouldn't they tell us about that? 'This is a great neighborhood. That's the terrible part of this situation. We've thought about selling up and moving on. But there've been folk trying to sell without success, so why put yourself in that mix? It's a terrible situation.' LGI has been asked for a comment but has not responded.
Angry residents got their chance to confront Indianhead Biomass at a consultation meeting in a local school on Thursday, hosted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection over the facility's draft wastewater permit renewal. One was 41-year-old Morgans Cove homeowner Rachelle Lankhorst, who told us: 'Six months ago they had a fire on the property and the fire marshal found that the biosolid piles were more than double the maximum height allowed. They were more than 70ft high. Like the size of a six-story building. 'I've read that at a facility in New York that piles just six feet high are causing extreme chemical problems in the soil. So what is a 60ft or 70ft pile doing?' She continued: 'Some days it's so strong, like a fecal smell, like a hot day at the zoo, like you're right near the elephant enclosure. 'We can't keep our windows open because the smell is that strong. Having family and friends over, they'll say what's that smell? And then question why we bought a home worth nearly half a million dollars if we're assaulted with it every time we go outside.
'But nobody told us when we moved in three years ago that they were taking in biosolids. For a good year, the developer just kept telling us that it was the smells of the new lawns that they were putting in.' Joanne McLellan, 71, who has kept animals on her two-acre home two miles east of Indianhead since 1979, also wanted answers. 'If you had an open septic tank and you stood over it, that's what the smell is like. It's a raw, raw sewage smell…weekly, sometimes daily, sometimes days in a row,' she told us. 'It depends on the weather and what they're doing. When the wind blows from the west to the east, we get it; when it blows from the east to the west, Morgans Cove gets it. 'When we first noticed it about three years ago, we thought someone nearby had started a hog farm.'
She has become particularly concerned with possible water contamination. 'I've got a deep irrigation system with a well. The well water was crystal clear, you could drink it no problem, no smell, no nothing,' she said. 'Now, you pour it into a bucket and it looks okay. But come back two minutes later, there's a film over it and it looks like urine. We're absolutely fearful of our health. 'I want Indianhead to control the odor and I want them to prove to us that they are not contaminating our groundwater or the soil… because they cannot prove to us that they aren't putting forever chemicals into the ground and into our water system.' Debra Hackett, 72, who lives in the Deerwood Acres section, believes her recent hospital visit could be linked to Indianhead. 'Three weeks ago, I ended up in the hospital and was told I had pneumonia with bacteria,' she said while waiting to speak with an FDEP representative. 'My primary doctor says this was caused by droplets in the air. I suspect it is from the facility, but I don't know how to prove it.' Over at Indianhead Biomass, the viewpoint is radically different.
It's scientist Zach Villaverde, a 25-year-old MIT bio-engineering graduate, led us on a tour and explained the plant handles 200 'dry tons' of biosolids each day or 'eight to ten truckloads'. It takes the waste from as far south as Daytona Beach and as far west as Gainesville. 'The material has already been secondarily treated by wastewater treatment plants. So we don't accept anything that hasn't already gone through treatment,' he said, while driving us between cliff-like piles of already processed material. 'It comes to us for what regulation agencies refer to as tertiary treatment. So we are further it's in composting the process, which to further reduce pathogens which are micro-organism that cause disease. 'We use our process to kill any other pathogenic bugs that made it out of the primary and secondary treatment processes of the wastewater treatment plants.' Mixing with the biosolids is yard waste collected from the ever-growing number of homes in St. Augustine.
'There are two parts to composting. There's the cooking, which is where we reduce the pathogens,' said Villaverde. 'It's in accordance with the EPA and our permit, which states a 15-day minimum. 'We usually go to 30 days at a minimum of 131ft. That's approved by the EPA to get rid of pathogens to a point where they are undetectable. 'After that, we move it into these curing piles, which are allowed to be taller because they've already cooked off the pathogens. 'These piles allow oxygen to flow in, and that oxygen allows for additional degradation and the sort of transformation into a final product that looks a lot more like an earthy topsoil.' Indianhead spokesperson Heather Lane refuted accusations that the facility is flouting regulations. 'We are in compliance and our documents are readily available through the DEP and the EPA, and you can find those online for the Florida DEP,' she told the Daily Mail.
'There are also findings from various studies by the DEP as well as third parties that show that we're within compliance, as well as that the air is safe. Our odor management plan and storage plan are also available. 'Does that mean we're not looking at ways to always be improving our project site? Absolutely not. We're in business. We're always trying to be more efficient.' Lane hit back at some of the 'tactics' she said were being used by some locals campaigning against them. 'This non-compliance rhetoric that's happening has really turned vitriolic towards the business and quite honestly, dangerous and personal…several times with threats and near car crashes and property rights violations,' she said.
'They video and come to the property and sit in the driveway. We're an agricultural operation as well as the biosolids operation and we have big trucks trying to come in and out. 'This idea has really gotten out of control, which is unfortunate because this project is important. This whole story should be about what we're going to do with this material.' On the subject of the fire at the plant, she said it was caused by a lithium battery in the contained recycle transfer area. 'There were pile heights above 30ft,' she agreed. 'This was documented, including our response to this. It was not 60ft or 70ft. We were above 30ft, and that was addressed within seven days and has been measured by third-party surveyors and inspected every other week since April.
Our current land use does allow for 51ft.' Technicalities aside, what does she think the processing smells like? 'I accept that bio solids have a very specific scent,' said Lane. 'When it's composting for the first 60 days, it has a sweet, earthy smell. 'Then the finished compost smells like healthy dirt. Like if you were to dig down in your yard two feet and get the actual dirt, the actual earth.' Morgans Cove resident Mark Lambert, 57, would disagree. He stood in front of Lane at the consultation meeting and told her: 'I paid half a million dollars for my house and I can't go outside.' And he told us: 'We were going to put in a pool. We had a contract, but in the end we cancelled because the area just stinks so bad we wouldn't be able to go outside and enjoy it. 'I don't want to put them out of business. I just want them to stop the smell. That's all they've got to do.'