Sludge Watch ==> Judge Shuts Toronto Sludge out of US Landfill

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1154728213904&call_pageid=970599119419

Judge shuts sludge out of U.S.
Refused to force firm to continue delivery
Mayor insists city okay for four months
Aug. 5, 2006. 01:00 AM
JOHN SPEARS
CITY HALL BUREAU


Toronto's sewage sludge has been shut out of Michigan, after a judge 
yesterday refused the city's request that she compel the firm that handles 
of the sludge to continue shipping it across the border.

Despite the setback, Mayor David Miller insisted the city has the capacity 
to handle its sludge for the next four to six months.

"We certainly have four," Miller told reporters "Four to six months, if 
nothing else happens, is a reasonable estimate."

Instead of going to Michigan, sewage sludge that is not spread as fertilizer 
on southwestern Ontario fields will be trucked to a composting facility in 
Quebec, or a to landfill in New York.

The city is still negotiating with other firms that could handle a portion 
of the sludge, Miller added.

The city had sought an order from Madam Justice Katherine Swinton forcing 
Republic Services Inc. to take the city's sludge to its Brent Run landfill 
in Michigan.

Previously, Republic had been trucking the sludge to another Michigan 
landfill called Carleton Farms, but Michigan's department of environment 
ordered a stop.

Swinton rejected the city's plea to force Republic to continue handling the 
sludge in Michigan — and noted that comments Miller made to reporters this 
week "cast some doubt" on the city's position in court.

The city has submitted an affidavit stating if Republic refused to accept 
the city's sludge, the city could handle about half its sludge output, but 
faced a "serious problem of disposal of the rest."

However, she noted that news reports had quoted the mayor and Councillor 
Shelley Carroll, who chairs the works committee, as saying there was no 
problem in the short term.

While a news report generally isn't regarded as evidence in court, Swinton 
wrote, "it cannot be ignored. The fact that it exists has to cast some 
doubt" on the city's argument that it would suffer irreparable harm should 
Republic stop handling the waste, she wrote.

In rejecting the city's request, Swinton said her court isn't in a position 
to make sure that proper waste disposal methods are used in the Michigan 
dumpsite. Republic, she added "should not be placed in the position that 
they risk either violation of Michigan law by complying with an Ontario 
court order, or a finding of contempt if they do not follow the order."

Miller said the city will probably start an arbitration process provided for 
in its contract with Republic, but it's likely to take some time. He 
couldn't say how much the new disposal measures will cost the city beyond 
what it had expected to pay Republic.

Toronto produces 12 to 15 truckloads of sewage sludge a day and has a 
contract with Terratec Environmental Ltd. to spread it on farm fields in 
southwestern Ontario. But sometimes sludge can't be spread — especially in 
winter and during wet weather — so the city needs alternatives.

Contracts signed within the past week are enough to handle eight to 10 
truckloads of sludge a day, but the city is looking for more. Storage tanks 
can hold about five days worth of sludge.

The city is also building a plant to turn about half the sludge into dry 
pellets, which are easier to dispose of than wet sludge. It's not due to be 
ready for service until next year, but Miller said the city is negotiating a 
speed-up.

Maureen Reilly, executive director of a watchdog group called Sludge Watch, 
said Swinton's decision exposes the city's shortcomings in dealing with 
sludge. The city went to court "to pretend to the public they were not at 
fault for the failure of their biosolids management," she said in an 
interview.

The city hasn't done the studies needed to come up with a sludge solution, 
she said: "Politics, rather than science, is leading our waste management 
plan."