Sludge Watch ==> LA- Deep Injection of Sludge - Whats brown and 1 mile down?

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

It may be one of the most fecal phobic moves yet.  They wanna do 
whaaa....???
Yes, Los Angeles is planning to pump sewage sludge slurry about one mile 
below the surface off
the coast of LA.... 400 tons per day for years as a 'demonstration'.

The eruption of foul black sludge up through the streets of Los Angeles this 
sping has clearly
not significantly altered their notion of possible unintended side effects 
of deep well injection.
Yes, 135 people had to be evacuated from their homes this spring when the 
foul sludge bubbled up in basements and on sidewalks from well injected hot 
water.  St. James Oil is being sued by the City of LA for this mishap.

But as you will see from the emollient note below, Los Angeles and their 
contractor Terralog Technologies still want to 'take the brown and send it 
down'.

And people don't make sewage sludge. They only make poo.  It is the sewer 
that puts industries on the same sewer pipes as toilet waste that creates 
the ensuing  toxic sewage sludge mixture that is so difficult to manage.

I am very much a sceptic when it comes to putting sewage or even sewage 
effluent deep below ground.  (Can you tell?)  It does not occur in 
nature....and taking these kinds of putresible gas producing wastes down in 
ground near the coastal communities...well...I think its a momumental 
unecessary experiment with Mother Nature.   If it goes wrong there could be 
lasting consequences of inestimable proportions.  Using the ocean bed as 
your methane reactor...hard to fix if it goes wrong.

LA had an energy from sludge incinerator.  They mothballed it because it was 
cheaper to ship their sludge to unhappy Kern County.  Now this....

Talk to the EPA guy who has carriage of this file:

George Robin Engineer EPA Region (415) 972--3532  robin.george at epa.gov

Read the George Robin EPA powerpoint.  The more I read, the more it make my 
hair stand on end.

www.wef.org/NR/rdonlyres/ 
7841F444-74CD-460D-8802-D7EA7373A07D/0/Robin_Power_Point2005.pdf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 2 from the power point....

What is Bioslurry? It is actually a shorthand term:  It is actually a 
shorthand term:Refers to mixing of municipal biosolids into a into a SLURRY 
and injecting into a deep sandstone at a pressure sufficient to create 
hydraulic fractures..

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

Admin: read on... it gets better.  They think there are unusual life forms 
in these underground caverns where their virus laden sludges will go.  And 
they think that even though the sandstone vault half a mile under the 
coastal sea bed is under so much pressure it will create fissures they don't 
figure the sludge or ensuing pressurized gases will bubble up to the 
surface.

LA coastal dwellers..please have a look at this project.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


>From :  Mike Bruno <msbruno at terralog.com>
Sent :  May 30, 2006 5:09:35 PM
To :  <maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca>
CC :  "Jean Young" <jtyoung at terralog.com>
Subject :  LA City Biosolids Project



Hi Maureen,

I was passed a note in which you expressed concern about the LA Biosolids 
injection project.   Your advice for concerned citizens to find out more 
about the process from EPA and others is excellent.   In fact, I would also 
welcome any questions or discussions or comments or even debate from anyone 
interested or concerned.  Feel free to pass on my email address and 
invitation.

For those concerned about sludge management practices, this will be a 
fantastic demonstration project with incredible potential to improve 
environmental management practices worldwide.  Sanitation processing and 
management practices in large cities worldwide are crying for a better 
solution.    Simply put, you and I and all of us generate waste by merely 
breathing and eating, and we need to manage those in the most 
environmentally responsible manner possible.

The proposed technology is so much better than current land application 
practices.  Putting digested sludge 5000 ft into the subsurface, where the 
natural heat (50C) instantly sterilizes any remaining pathogens (within 24 
hours) is 1000 times better than placing this material directly on the 
surface.  It provides much greater protection for surface and groundwater, 
fewer greeenhouse gas emmisions, and significantly reduces polution by 
eliminating long-distance truck hauling by some urban areas (particularly in 
Southern California, where cities and counties often truck biosolids more 
than 100 miles away for landspreading - and where rural communities are 
revolting against the practice).

In fact it is the environmental benefits of this project that have sustained 
my efforts and motivation for more than 7 years of very hard work.   
Terralog USA, a subsidiary of a small high technology company based in 
Canada, has poured our heart and soul into developing this technology for 
many years.  And until this month, we have done so without a penny of 
compensation from any municipality or private company.    Most others would 
have given up long ago.  But I always felt this idea was too important for 
the environment to have been put on the shelf as simply an academic study.   
That is why we have spent many years refining this project and discussing it 
with the scientific community, and with community members (it was ultimately 
voted on by 7 neighborhood councils who all supported it overwhelmingly), 
and with environmental organizations (including the NRDC, Sierra Club, Heal 
the Bay (a local environmental group in SoCal), and others).

You mentioned a recent spill due to produced water injection in Los Angeles. 
   The contrasts could not be more profound.  That was an "under the radar" 
operation with little scrutiny and oversight.   This will be the most 
heavily monitored injection project in the world, with intense scientific 
scrutiny and oversight.   That was an operation with little public 
involvement.  This one has been presented to the public and to the 
scientific community repeatedly for more than 6 years, in several open 
workshops and forums, in neighborhood council meetings, through technical 
forums, through peer reviewed publications, and to independent technical and 
scientific review committees (i.e. groups completely not affiliated with any 
municipalities or private interests such Lawrence Berkeley).   The biosolids 
management problem in LA and this project in particular has been presented 
and discussed prominantly in the Los Angeles Times and other local papers on 
several occasions over the last 5 years.

I can honestly say that every single person to whom I have personally spoken 
and described this project, its advantages and disadvantages, in a frank and 
open give and take discussion, has come away a supporter of the project.   I 
would welcome any and all discussion with you and others concerned about 
sound environmental stewardship and responsible biosolids management.   
Hopefully, this will prove to be a technical and economic success for Los 
Angeles over the next few years, at which point I would love to earn your 
support for a similar effort in Ontario !

I realize that at first exposure this may sound like a crazy idea.   They 
want to do what ?!   There are alot of scientific and technical details 
about this process.  But over seven years of discussion with scientists, 
activists, and the public, almost every question one could possibly raise 
has been discussed and resolved to most people's satisfaction.   If you have 
any questions or concerns or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Very Best Regards,

Mike Bruno
President
Terralog Technolgies USA, Inc.
msbruno at terralog.com