Sludge Watch ==> Kern Calif: The Issue - Measure E - voting against all sludge spreading

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/55207.html

The Issue: Measure E

The Bakersfield Californian | Saturday, Jun 3 2006 11:44 PM

Last Updated: Saturday, Jun 3 2006 11:44 PM

The drama

Even if Measure E passes overwhelmingly — as expected — Kern’s fight to keep 
imported sewage sludge off local farmland will be far from over.

A coalition of Southern California sewage districts and private-industry 
interests is waiting in the wings to take legal action after votes are 
counted.

For betting types, the real question might be: How many hours until the 
first lawsuit is filed?

The background

At its root, Kern’s battle over sludge is something of a David-and-Goliath 
struggle.

Since the mid-1990s, Southland cities and counties have been trucking their 
treated human and industrial sewage over the Grapevine. The practice started 
after federal lawmakers banned ocean dumping the previous decade.

Back in the day, uncovered sludge trucks tooled through Mojave and other 
spots in eastern Kern, spilling waste along the way, until residents’ 
complaints alerted county supervisors to the imports.

Supervisors have since tightened sludge farming practices — and been sued 
every step of the way by the sewage coalition. A years-old lawsuit against 
the county’s requirement that only the most highly treated sludge be spread 
on local farmland is still in play.

In the past year or two, Kern’s sludge controversy resurfaced after a few 
quiet years when Kern County Water Agency officials tried — unsuccessfully — 
to get application sites voluntarily moved to the west side of the county, 
away from Kern’s precious groundwater banking areas.

State Sen. Dean Florez, the Shafter Democrat, stepped in with an attempted 
legislative fix.

When that also failed, he spearheaded Measure E, which is supported by a 
bipartisan spread of area lawmakers: Kevin McCarthy, Roy Ashburn, Nicole 
Parra and others.

Your impact

A “yes” vote on Measure E is a vote to ban the spreading of sludge on 
unincorporated farmland in Kern.

Voter-approved initiatives have historically survived courtroom challenges 
better than rules drafted by county or state officials, Florez claims.

The outcome of Tuesday’s vote is being closely watched by numerous interest 
groups around the country.

Kern has become the de facto Ground Zero for similar rural-urban sludge 
struggles nationwide — simply because so much of the stuff is trucked here.