Sludge Watch ==> Kern votes 83% against sludge - LA looks at other options - and litigation

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludge ban spurs look at options

BY SARAH RUBY, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sruby at bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Jun 7 2006 10:05 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jun 7 2006 10:09 PM

Southern California sanitation districts and local sludge farmers are both 
weighing litigation and looking for places other than Kern to dump a 
continuous stream of human and industrial waste.

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Want more election news? Check out our full coverage.
On Tuesday, Kern voters overwhelmingly approved a ban on the use of sewage 
sludge as fertilizer on land in unincorporated areas of the county. The 
initiative, known as Measure E, won with 82.7 percent of the vote, according 
to unofficial election results.

Last year, Southern California sanitation agencies sent more than 470,000 
wet tons of sludge to farms in Kern.

Sanitation districts are now looking into other options. On Tuesday, the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked for public input on a proposal to 
inject sludge into deep wells beneath the city of Los Angeles' treatment 
plant in San Pedro.

It's a five-year pilot program that involves sucking down 400 tons of sewage 
sludge each day and exploring the possibility of harvesting methane gas from 
the wells. The city of Los Angeles now trucks some 500 tons of sewage sludge 
to Kern each day, according to the EPA.

Orange County Sanitation District, which sends about a third of its sewage 
sludge to Kern, is working on a project to convert 200 tons of sludge to 
energy daily, according to an announcement Friday.

"I am encouraged" by these projects, said Paul Giboney, a soil scientist 
with grape-grower M. Caratan Inc. in Delano, and an outspoken critic of 
sludge spreading on fields.

They know they have a problem that needs to be dealt with, he said, and 
"it's time they get serious about it rather than continuing to be a lousy 
neighbor."

The city of Los Angeles is the acknowledged leader of a possible legal 
challenge to Measure E, which would require it and one other sludge farm to 
shut down in the next six months.

The city is "evaluating available options" in light of the election results, 
according to a statement released by the Department of Public Works 
Wednesday.

Shaen Magan, who operates a sludge farm in northwest Kern, said he had "no 
idea" what his response will be to Measure E. He's "sure everyone 
understands what's going to happen," he said, and in the past he's suggested 
there will be a legal fight.

On Wednesday Dave Price, director of Kern's Resource Management Agency, sent 
brief letters to Magan and Responsible Biosolids Management, the 
Lompoc-based company that operates the city of Los Angeles' sludge farm. The 
initiative is effective immediately, he wrote, and the farms have six months 
to stop spreading sludge.

Neither Price nor Bernard Barmann, the county's top lawyer, had gotten word 
Wednesday of any immediate challenge to Measure E.

If sludge handlers file, they might do it once the election has been 
certified several weeks from now, Price said, or they could wait until the 
six-month deadline approaches.

If the sludge industry succeeds in blocking the ordinance, even temporarily, 
it could take years before a judge decides whether or not to reinstate it, 
Price said.

http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/55953.html



...................................................................................................
LA Not Happy About Measure E Success

POSTED: 10:10 am PDT June 8, 2006
UPDATED: 10:31 am PDT June 8, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- A measure passed overwhelmingly on Tuesday by Kern County 
voters is now causing concern in Los Angeles.

Officials with the L.A. Department of Public Works said on Wednesday that 
they are disappointed with the passage of the anti-sludge measure.

In a news release, city officials said their biosolids help to fertilize 
Kern's crops. They also said they're evaluating available options in light 
of the measure's passage.

Los Angeles County, as well as all other California counties, now have six 
months to get their sludge out of Kern.

Measure E -- largely organized by Shafter Sen. Dean Florez -- received 83 
percent voter approval on Tuesday.

http://www.turnto23.com/news/9341828/detail.html

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