Sludge Watch ==> LA v Kern - Ongoing feud over sludge returns to court

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Ongoing feud over sludge disposal returns to court
BY SARAH RUBY, Californian staff writer
e-mail: sruby at bakersfield.com | Friday, Sep 22 2006


A federal judge should throw out the city of Los Angeles' challenge to 
Kern's sludge ban, according to papers filed by county lawyers Thursday.

Judge Gary A. Feess can pick his reason -- the matter was already decided in 
state court, the suit should have been filed in Fresno and local governments 
have the right to regulate treated sewage in their own back yards, according 
to the county's written arguments.

"This is deja vu all over again," said Bernie Barmann, the county's top 
attorney.

Los Angeles has been fighting Kern's right to control sludge use for more 
than a decade. Kern has largely prevailed.

Los Angeles' city attorney's office directed media questions to the city's 
public works department, which did not return calls seeking comment 
Thursday.

The city of Los Angeles sends almost all of its treated human and industrial 
sewage to a farm southwest of Bakersfield, where it's used as fertilizer. 
The city paid some $10 million for the 4,700-acre property, and another $16 
million on equipment to meet previous sludge standards set by Kern.

Hauling sludge to farms in Kern is among the cheapest available means of 
disposal.

Southern California sanitation agencies, sludge farm operators, trucking 
companies and the California Association of Sanitation Agencies are also 
plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in August.

Kern's sludge ban is "arbitrary and irrational" and "based on vague and 
emotional speculation" about the threat sludge poses to public health and 
the environment, according to court documents filed by the plaintiffs. 
Kern's ban is an assault on free trade, they say.

Kern voters banned the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer because of the 
unknowns -- the drugs and caustic cleaning agents that might someday 
contaminate underground water supplies, the damage to Kern's agricultural 
reputation if consumers think local crops are fertilized with treated 
sewage, among others.

The lawsuit tests a county's right to regulate within its own borders, 
Barmann said. Kern has reached out to other counties for help defending this 
right, and so far San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties have responded. They 
haven't agreed to help in the case, but any help -- be it legal or financial 
-- would be appreciated, Barmann said.

Unless the judge says otherwise, Kern's sludge ban will go into effect in 
January. It will bar Southern California sewage districts from trucking some 
470,000 wet tons of sludge to Kern.

The feuding parties will meet before Judge Feess at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 16 in Los 
Angeles.

http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/74768.html