In Jefferson County, Florida — a rural community of roughly 14,000 people east of Tallahassee — a story is playing out that could happen anywhere in America. It's a story about what happens when a large industrial operation moves into a small community, promises to be a good neighbor, and then the neighbors start asking hard questions.
The operation is Trulieve Cannabis Corp., the largest medical marijuana company in Florida and one of the biggest in the country, with more than 230 retail locations nationwide. Their Jefferson County facility, located near the town of Monticello at 1948 Capps Highway, is the company's "crown jewel" — an 80-acre cultivation campus with 11 buildings spanning roughly one million square feet of indoor growing space and its own electrical substation. With more than 270 employees, Trulieve is the county's single largest employer.
The Concerns
Beginning in early April 2026, residents near the facility started raising alarms. The complaints fell into three categories: water quality, odor, and noise.
Residents reported a decline in local water quality and shared video of green-colored water flowing from the facility onto neighboring private property. Some described a persistent "skunk-like odor" permeating the area for miles. Others compared the constant mechanical hum to "living on a jetway." Multiple residents reported that property values had declined since the facility opened.
Louise Jones, who lives a mile and a half from the site, attended a packed Jefferson County Commission special meeting on April 28 where more than a dozen residents testified for nearly two hours. Her question was specific: What are the nitrate levels in the holding pond? She said nobody answered.
"I'm not saying that they are purposely out there just not caring," Jones told the Tallahassee Democrat after the meeting, "but they are not caring enough to notice it and repair it."
The Regulatory Response
Two state agencies moved in quick succession.
On April 17, the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) issued a notice of non-compliance, citing "apparent violations" of Trulieve's Environmental Resource Permit. Inspectors found standing water in the stormwater pond, erosion from prolonged water discharge, unpermitted impervious surfaces, and "excessive pollutants" in water quality samples. The district gave Trulieve until April 24 to submit a corrective maintenance plan.
Three days later, on April 20, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) issued its own warning after an industrial wastewater inspection on April 15 found "possible violations" — specifically, the operation of a wastewater facility discharging into waters without a valid permit. FDEP warned of potential civil penalties up to $15,000 per day per violation and gave the company 15 days to respond.
Trulieve's Position
To their credit, Trulieve has not gone silent. The company has responded to regulatory inquiries and participated in public meetings, though their core position has remained consistent: they believe they are in compliance.
In an April 24 response letter, Eric Powers, Trulieve's chief legal officer, wrote: "Trulieve does not believe that non-compliance with the Environmental Resource Permit or with SRWMD rules and regulations has occurred."
An internal memorandum from Powers and Chief Production Officer Kyle Landrum to company founder, chairman, and CEO Kim Rivers stated that residents' concerns "are not supported by environmental testing data or the facility's permitting record," adding that "the facility is in compliance, its permits are current, and its water supply is clean."
At the April 28 commission meeting, Christine Hersey, Trulieve's chief corporate affairs and strategy officer, said the company would "absolutely commit" to exploring additional approaches toward addressing concerns — including odor mitigation and noise control technologies — while stopping short of specific commitments.
Trulieve also pointed to an FDEP report that they say shows no contaminants were found in water pumped from the facility. And a day after the commission meeting, State Representative Allison Tant reported that Department of Health testing of six or seven private wells within a half-mile radius of the facility all came back "within normal levels."
What's Being Tested — And What Isn't
This is where it gets complicated.
The well tests coming back normal is genuinely reassuring for the immediate drinking water supply of nearby residents. But "within normal levels" and "no harmful contaminants" can mean different things depending on what you test for and what thresholds you apply.
Florida's regulatory framework for medical marijuana treatment centers is, by design, relatively narrow. The Florida Department of Health regulates MMTCs under Florida Statutes §381.986, but DOH lacks environmental enforcement authority. That creates a jurisdictional gap — the agency that regulates cannabis facilities can't enforce environmental rules, and the agencies that can (FDEP, SRWMD) don't specifically regulate cannabis operations.
Florida law also preempts local zoning authority over MMTCs under §381.986(8)(e), meaning Jefferson County itself has limited tools to impose conditions beyond what the state requires. Commissioner Austin Hosford, the only official to directly challenge Trulieve at the April 28 meeting, put it plainly: "These are not minor inconveniences. These are direct impacts on these people's homes, these people's lives, their day-to-day lives, their health."
Residents have noted that the testing to date has been limited in scope. They want comprehensive testing — not just for standard well water parameters, but for the full spectrum of potential contaminants from a large-scale agricultural-industrial operation: nitrates, phosphorous, dioxins, PFAS, semi-volatile organic compounds, and pesticides.
As one frustrated resident wrote in a letter to the Governor: "Regardless of whether the discharge is ultimately classified as stormwater, wastewater, or some combination of both, no Floridian should be forced to accept unknown industrial discharge crossing onto their land without clear answers, accountability, and immediate corrective action."
Independent Eyes
Enter the Blue Shirt Justice League.
Scott Smith, the organization's founder, is an independent environmental testing expert who has been involved in more than 70 environmental contamination disasters since 2006. He's perhaps best known for his work in East Palestine, Ohio, after the Norfolk Southern train derailment, and was named the 2024 International Whistleblower of the Year by Blueprint for Free Speech. FOIA documents later revealed that the EPA had engaged in what the Government Accountability Project described as surveillance and efforts to discredit him.
Smith traveled to the Trulieve discharge site in Jefferson County in June 2026, responding to requests from local residents. Standing at the stream where water leaves the Trulieve property and flows onto neighboring land, he announced plans to conduct comprehensive testing of both the water and surrounding soil for the full spectrum of potential contaminants — nitrates, phosphorous, dioxins, PFAS, semi-volatile organic compounds, and pesticides.
His results are expected in four to six weeks.
"You can't find what you don't look for," Smith said on the scene — a line that cuts to the heart of the matter. The question isn't necessarily whether Trulieve is doing something wrong. The question is whether anyone has looked thoroughly enough to know.
The Bigger Picture
Jefferson County's situation is not unique. Across the country, communities are grappling with the same fundamental tension: the economic benefits of large-scale operations versus the environmental and quality-of-life impacts on the people who live nearby.
Trulieve employs 270 people in a county of 14,000. That matters enormously. Those are real jobs, real paychecks, real families depending on that income. Not every resident shares the concerns — Kayla Pete, a local, told WTXL that the smell doesn't bother her and questioned whether the complaints are overblown. "You know how small towns are," she said.
But the economic contribution of a facility doesn't exempt it from environmental accountability. And the residents who have organized — forming the Concerned Residents of Jefferson County, testifying at public meetings, writing to the Governor — aren't anti-business crusaders. They're homeowners who were told Trulieve would be a good neighbor and are now asking the company to keep that promise.
A Trulieve shareholder has separately written to FDEP requesting a complete record of the facility's proceedings, asking a pointed question: "The issue is not whether Trulieve Jefferson is agricultural in a general sense. The issue is where the facility's irrigation reject/return-flow water ultimately goes, what is in that water, what treatment and testing occur before disposition, and whether any ultimate discharge, onsite dissipation, infiltration, or offsite trucking requires separate FDEP review."
When your own shareholders are asking the regulator to investigate you, it's worth paying attention.
What Happens Next
The SRWMD's June 13 deadline for additional water complaints has passed. The district says it's working with Trulieve on the noncompliance case. Independent test results from the Blue Shirt Justice League are pending. The Concerned Residents of Jefferson County are waiting for a response from the Governor's office.
If the independent testing comes back clean across the board, that would be welcome news for everyone — residents and Trulieve alike. It would validate the company's position and give the community genuine peace of mind, not just assurances from the party being investigated.
If the testing reveals contaminants, the conversation changes entirely.
Either way, the residents of Jefferson County deserve to know. And the principle is simple: when an industrial operation discharges onto private property, the public has a right to comprehensive, independent testing — not just the testing the operator chooses to conduct, and not just the testing that under-resourced regulators manage to perform.
You can't find what you don't look for. But someone is looking now.
The EPR Foundation tracks environmental compliance, regulatory gaps, and community impact across the waste and chemical sectors. Follow our work at eprfoundation.org.