9 Investigates

9 Investigates: Apopka forces controversial fertilizer plant to shut down

APOPKA, Fla. — The City of Apopka has forced a major company to shut down.

9 Investigates first reported last summer about bad wastewater making its way into the city’s reclaimed water system.

The issue stems from a Zellwood-based fertilizer plant called Anuvia.

The chemicals used to make the fertilizer are part of what's causing the Apopka wastewater treatment plant to routinely malfunction.

9 Investigates obtained a photo last week showing how the city is being forced to divert untreatable wastewater into a wooded area near the plant because it’s so overloaded.

“When we applied to get this permit, we were very clear and very upfront with what our limits are. That opportunity, at that time, before we built, would've been the time for the city to say, ‘We can't handle that,” Anuvia CEO Amy Yoder said.

Last summer, the city received a letter from its former chief wastewater operator, who raised concerns about the city’s ability to manage the wastewater coming from Anuvia.

After 10 years with the city and after he said no one would listen to his concerns, he filed a whistleblower complaint.

He was fired three months later,
days after an internal investigation was launched over allegations that he lied and made false statements.

Since then, four other employees have quit work at the plant, raising concerns about their health, one even citing "deliberate non-compliance."

Anuvia invested $100 million of its own to build the plant.

The plant has added jobs to the community and has plans to expand.

Yoder insists that the plant has operated within its permit limits, with the exception of a few missteps early on. The chemicals in the wastewater coming from Anuvia continue to deplete the dissolve oxygen, which is needed to keep the microorganisms that help clean the wastewater alive. Last week, two city commissioners questioned why the city is paying the $63,000 to clean up the mess.

“Are we asking them to help shoulder the expense?“ Commissioner Doug Bankson asked.

Assistant Public Services Director Kevin Burgess said the city will be going back to Anuvia for recourse, even as it works to negotiate the terms of a new permit. The company’s current permit expired March 6.

Yoder told investigative reporter Daralene Jones that the company has already paid over $1 million just in terms of a capital fee that's required.

The city continues to receive $11, 117. 40 a month to pay off the remaining balance of the impact fee.

The company has a little more than three years to pay off $533,635.20.

Anuvia believes that money should have been utilized to make sure the plant could manage what it agreed to accept three years ago, instead of shutting down operations.

“That could have huge impacts in terms of jobs, and it definitely has impacts in term of would we ever think about expanding here,” Yoder said.

9 Investigates has requested information from the city to show how that money has been utilized, but as of March 6, the city has not responded.

The Department of Environmental Protection cited the city in January for more than a dozen violations related to plant operations, however, the fine was waived in exchange for the city paying a $750 administrative fee and implementing a pollution control program.