A state administrative law judge upheld the state environmental agency’s decision to reject a bid by MW Horticulture Recycling to renew its registration to operate fire-prone organic waste processing yards in North Fort Myers and San Carlos.
The ruling entered Thursday finds that MW Horticulture “did not provide reasonable assurances” that it would comply with state Department of Environmental Protection standards to continue operations.
DEP cited unauthorized open burning of debris, failure to provide enough access to fire trucks and failure to reduce the size of debris piles on the site.
Ruling from an administrative law judge is a recommendation that is not final until approved by Secretary of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein as a final order of the agency.
The DEP has final authority to determine whether an operation such as the MW Horticultural yards can continue through registering the company, or whether it must obtain a solid waste management permit.
In refusing to label the companies as an “irresponsible applicant,” Administrative Law Judge Francine Ffolkes, said that MW Horticulture had presented “persuasive and credible evidence” that the impact of Hurricane Irma means “they could not have reasonably prevented the violations.”
The company operates as MW Horticulture Recycling Facility in San Carlos and MW Horticulture Recycling of North Fort Myers. The rulings in the case would apply to both companies.
MW Horticulture’s owners have consistently claimed that it was pressed into service by Lee County to handle agricultural waste in the wake of Hurricane Irma in September 2017.
Last year: Lee County sues company over Irma debris it had dumped in NFM
Fire chiefs in the San Carlos and Bayshore fire districts reported that by the time the administrative hearing began last March, they had responded to 43 fire calls for the company’s facility in San Carlos and 75 calls at the waste facility in North Fort Myers, which is in the Bayshore fire district.
In a separate action, the county has sued MW Horticulture over its operations. Trial is to begin in November on the county’s suit to enforce a ruling from the county hearing examiner that the site be cleaned up.
Among violations at the North Fort Myers facility cited in denial of the registration were unauthorized burning of solid waste, failure to install an access road near unprocessed piles of horticultural debris and failure to provide adequate access to fire trucks.
Violations at the San Carlos facility included not removing “all processed or unprocessed material from the Seminole Gulf Railway right of way” and failing to reduce the height of horticultural waste piles on site and to make sure all waste material was within 50 feet of access by the fire department.
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Previous coverage: Tree waste dump continues to face $200 daily fines
More: MW Horticulture gets one more month to rid site of Irma debris
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