Sludge Watch ==> Calif: Ventura pays $2.5 M to remove ash from Wasco sludge site

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

In the understatement department:

"The volume we had up there was much more extensive than we thought"

So what is the deal here anyway? Didn't USA Transport get paid to take all 
that ash material from British Petroleum that it left in mountains on the 
Wasco landscape?  And then who paid the $2.5M to remove it?  USA Transport?  
or did the taxpayers of Ventura pony up to clean up the mess left behind by 
USA Transport?

If I were a Ventura taxpayer I tell ya, I'd want to know.

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http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/ox/article/0,1375,VCS_238_4879810,00.html

City avoids Kern County sludge fine
By Charles Levin, clevin at VenturaCountyStar.com
July 29, 2006

The city of Oxnard has met a deadline for removing potentially hazardous 
waste from its Kern County sludge facility, spending about $2.5 million but 
avoiding a six-figure fine, officials said.

Kern County regulators cited Oxnard in February for violating public 
nuisance codes at the city's 1,280-acre farm near Wasco. The city had 
transported sludge — a wastewater byproduct also known as biosolids — to the 
farm for 10 years. It was mixed with an ash compound at the farm to reduce 
pathogens, then used as fertilizer.




The amount of ash on the site, however, exceeded Kern County limits.

After a failed city appeal in April, Kern County lawmakers fined Oxnard and 
its farm operator, USA Transport, $25,000 each. They also imposed a 90-day 
deadline to remove the ash or face $3,000-a-day fines.

By meeting the 90-day deadline, Oxnard avoided a roughly $270,000 fine, but 
it still must pay the initial $25,000.

Oxnard officials originally projected the removal costs at $1.3 million, but 
the figure rose to $2.5 million, partly because there was more ash than 
anticipated.

"The volume we had up there was much more extensive than we thought," said 
Mark Norris, Oxnard's wastewater superintendent. The pressure to meet the 
deadline and special requirements for handling hazardous materials also led 
to cost increases, he said.

Since February, Oxnard has been transporting biosolids generated here to a 
compost facility near the farm. In June, Kern County voters approved a ban 
on imported sludge, but it does not apply to compost operations.

The city can't operate the farm anyway because Kern County lawmakers revoked 
Oxnard's operating permit, said Matt Constantine, Kern's director of 
environmental health services.

Meanwhile, a dispute over whether the ash is indeed hazardous still is not 
resolved.

Last year, state regulators said the ash's pH level exceeded standards. 
Compounds with high pH levels are corrosive to skin and metals. Oxnard 
disagrees that the ash is harmful.

The city and state agreed to independently test samples from the site to 
resolve the dispute.

Oxnard's testing consultant found the ash was not hazardous, Norris said. 
The state Department of Toxic Substances Control found the opposite, said 
Jeanne Garcia, an agency spokeswoman.

The city's next step is unclear. City officials have not decided whether to 
sell the site, Norris said.