Sludge Watch ==> Kern County Calif: Kern County's future depends on winning sludge battle

[Maureen Reilly]

Bakersfield Californian

August 22, 2006

Kern's future depends on winning sludge battle
Batch Data Processor | Tuesday, Aug 15 2006 5:50 PM 
Last Updated: Tuesday, Aug 15 2006 5:54 PM

Kern County voters are looking at the business end of Southern California's big gun.

The City of Los Angeles has joined with other Southern California counties and agencies to file a federal lawsuit to block the ban voters approved in June on hauling sludge to Kern County, where it is smeared on farm land.

They have brought in the fire power of national law firms that have represented sludge applicators and disposal companies in legal battles over similar bans in other states.

They have declared war, bringing an army to fight what they hope will be a lone, underfunded rural county.

The stakes are extremely high for those of us who depend on clean air to breathe, unpolluted water to drink and untainted crops to eat.

Kern County must be joined in this battle by interests that have much to lose if this putrid waste continues to flow north. These include:

* The water agencies that contend applying Southern California sludge to the land will pollute our drinking and irrigation water. 

* Growers and food processing companies that fear crops grown on sludge-laced fields will harm those who eat them.

* Other industries that watch the air quality be degraded by the dust and fumes emitted by Southern California's waste, restricting Kern's ability to expand and attract new industries.

Southern California believes it's better to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight Kern County's ban in court than improve treatment of its industrial and human waste, or find alternative disposal methods.

Why? 

Because its cheaper to haul it to Kern County just toss it over the Tehachapi Mountains. Out of sight, out of mind. It's someone else's problem.

Sludge is what's scraped from the bottom of sewer plants. It is human and chemical waste. Land owners and disposal companies pawn off this toxic stew as "fertilizer" that will enhance the land.

What a joke! Vegetable growers and water officials aren't laughing. They know better.

Southern California used to pipe its sludge into the ocean. Again out of sight. But this waste was declared a threat to the fish and other ocean creatures. Los Angeles and coastal communities were ordered to stop.

Accidental spills, illegal dumping and runoffs from the land continue to flow into the ocean, endangering California's coastline. Last month, The Los Angeles Times published an extensive series of stories spelling out the dangers.

Odd. The stuff that is bad for the fish and bad for the surfers is oh, so yummy good for the country bumpkins in Kern County who are supposed to sit back quietly and take it.

If it's so harmless and so helpful, Los Angeles and other Southern California communities should apply it to the land in the areas that are generating the waste.

That's just it. Those who are creating this goo would pitch a fit if it was spread near them. 

They would pitch an even bigger fit if their sewer rates went up to better treat the waste.

Waste-to-energy technology is being developed. Methods to convert sludge to less harmful materials exist.

But those disposal strategies cost money. Why bother when you can bully Kern County into swallowing the crap you dole out?

The lawsuit filed Tuesday was not unexpected. It's just disappointing.

The quality of our life and the future of our community depend on Kern County winning the war Southern California has declared.

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