Sludge Watch ==> L.A. seeks suspension of Kern's sludge ban

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

L.A. seeks suspension of Kern's sludge ban

BY SARAH RUBY, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sruby at bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Sep 20 2006 9:35 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Sep 20 2006 9:39 PM

The city of Los Angeles and its fellow plaintiffs have asked a federal judge 
to suspend Kern's anti-sludge law, which takes effect in January.

The request was posted on a U.S. District Court Web site Wednesday, one day 
before Kern's lawyers were due to file papers defending the sludge ban 
voters approved overwhelmingly this summer. The initiative made it illegal 
to use treated human and industrial waste as fertilizer on land in 
unincorporated Kern.

The city of Los Angeles filed suit against Kern in federal court along with 
Southern California sanitation agencies, sludge farm operators, trucking 
companies and the California Association of Sanitation Agencies.

Los Angeles has tried before and failed to suspend Kern's sludge laws in 
state court, said Bernie Barmann, the county's top attorney. Their legal 
battles over sludge have been going on for 13 years, he said.

"They're trying to find a friendly court," Barmann said.

The city of Los Angeles and its co-plaintiffs argue there's nothing wrong 
with sewage sludge, the concentrated byproduct of a process meant to make 
sewer water safe to pour in the ocean.

Barmann disagrees, pointing out that pharmaceuticals and everything else 
urban dwellers flush or pour down the drain likely ends up in sludge. But 
the issue goes beyond science, he said, to whether jurisdictions have the 
right to control materials poured on their soil and water supplies.

A spokesman for the city of Los Angeles' city attorney's office had no 
further information available Wednesday evening. Both calls and e-mails to 
the city of Los Angeles' outside attorneys were not returned.

The matter of suspending Kern's anti-sludge law will go before Judge Gary A. 
Feess at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 16 in Los Angeles.

http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/74556.html