Sludge Watch ==> Will localities get a voice in sludge wars?

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Even the pro-sludge touts  say that the sludge
regulations in the Federal 503s were supposed to be made more stringent (and
enforcable) by bringing in stricter state and local sludge requirements.
For instance, the requirement that farmers respect the harvest waiting
periods on sludged crops has no clear enforcement mechanism in the federal 
regulation
and is generally made enforceable through stipulations of state or local 
requirements.

Cities need to find better solutions to managing sewage wastes. They need to 
stop
spreading this pestilent industrial contamination on farms and forests
...where they are destroying the quality of life for residents and wildlife
and putting water resources and the food chain at risk.

We see the same problem over and over all across North America - rural 
communities
up against the might and money of urban wastemeisters...and their rulemakers 
and lawyers.

Big City: "Vee haf vays off mekking you tek the sludge (evil laugh)"

.................................................................................


Will localities get a voice in sludge wars?


Lynchburg News & Advance
December 2, 2006


'There's nothing we can do as a board to prevent them from spreading."
    That solitary complaint from Campbell County Supervisor J.D. Puckett
sums up the county's inability to prevent biosolids' haulers from spreading
sludge on county farmland.
As the sludge haulers seek more and more land for the mountains of solid
waste generated by out-of-state (and in-state) municipal sewage treatment
plants, it's a complaint that will grow louder across Virginia.
It's a complaint that must grow loud enough eventually to attract the
attention of the General Assembly.
The state's lawmakers could amend the law to give localities a say in
whether they want their farmlands covered with treated sewage. The
nutrient-rich sludge is made available free to the farmers who ask for it,
eliminating the need in most cases of having to pay for fertilizer on their
fields.
Puckett made his comment the other day as the supervisors learned that
Nutri-Blend, a biosolids company in Virginia, has targeted more than 3,100
acres in the county for the treated sludge.
As Blair Goldstein of The News & Advance has reported, only one 130-acre
tract in the county has a permit for biosolids.
The new request encompasses 36 tracts owned by 12 property owners.
But none of them need a new permit.
The new sludge sites are considered mere modifications to the initial permit
granted by the state Department of Health in 2004. That permit was granted
after two public information meetings attended by a number of folks opposed
to spreading the sludge.
The current request only requires a 30-day public comment period - a period
that actually began on Nov. 15 before few in the county were aware of it.
Supervisors' Chairman Eddie Gunter said the county will likely request an
extension of the comment period, as well as ask the state to host a new
public information meeting.
It appears that Nutri-Blend was quietly trying to reduce the public comment
period by as much as two weeks.
The shift from one parcel of 130 acres to 36 parcels consisting of 3,100
acres follows a pattern that Nutri-Blend and the other sludge haulers have
followed in Virginia, according to Campbell County Administrator David
Laurrell. The haulers "come in with a small parcel to just get the
conversation going and then they come back," he said.
It amounts to a foot-in-the-door approach by the sludge haulers that shuts
out the people and local government.
And it's wrong.
The county has asked state lawmakers to pass legislation giving it and other
localities with farmland the authority to make the final decision on whether
the sludge could be spread. That decision would be based on a number of
factors, including how close the fields are to subdivisions, schools and
churches..
Gunter has said he wants the county to ensure that none of those elements
are near the proposed sites. He also wants to make certain that no
individuals with serious health problems live near any of the proposed
sites.
Odor, while temporary, is an almost universal complaint from those who live
near where the sewage sludge is spread.
But it's not the only complaint. Potentially more serious problems for the
surrounding environment could be caused by some contents of the sludge,
including heavy metals from industrial waste that flows into the treatment
plants. Runoff of the nutrient-rich sludge into creeks and streams that flow
eventually into the Chesapeake Bay present a problem for those trying to
clean up the bay.
Even though time is growing short on the public comment period, biosolids
activists in the county are working to make people aware of the proposal,
along with some of the problems that could be associated with their spread.
One resident, who lives north of Gladys downstream from a cluster of three
tracts consisting of 817 acres that are part of the proposal, said, "People
are feeling like they are getting walked all over." Chris Snyder added, 
"It's
getting worse and it's coming and it's coming fast. If folks don't speak up
loudly and strongly enough, nobody in authority is going to hear it."
J.D. Puckett and other Campbell supervisors are hearing - and listening to -
those opposed to the spread of sewage sludge in the county.
The larger question is this: Is anyone in the General Assembly willing to
listen to those in local government who would like to have the final say on
whether sludge can be spread in their counties

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