Sludge Watch ==> Maryland - sludge compost cleanup drags on in court - Bay Organics

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Here is another stinky sewage sludge compost site shut down...and now 'Bay 
Organics' (remember this use of the term 'organic' is in no way connected to 
certified organic products but means organic like 'organic chemistry....has 
carbon') hasn't done the clean up on time.

Communities need to think twice before allowing this kind of 'composting' to 
go on...there can be severe environmental and health impacts.
..................................................


Judge hears Beulah arguments;
Order to close landfill not enforced right away

By Michele Kelly, Daily Banner, Maryland

CAMBRIDGE — Dorchester County is on borrowed time to satisfy conditions of 
a court order issued in 2006 to clean up and close the agricultural 
composting facility of the Beulah Landfill.

But at a hearing Friday in Circuit Court, attorney Adam D. Snyder for the 
Maryland Department of the Environment, did not convince County 
Administrative Judge Brett W. Wilson to enforce the court order immediately. 
The judge thanked the attorneys for a “thorough briefing,” but said he 
wanted to “look closer at the law and any outlying issues” in the case 
before handing down a ruling.

During the proceedings it seemed as if the judge wanted to grant Dorchester 
County’s request for an extension on the deadline until June 2008. The 
county did not meet a July deadline, which prompted the Department of 
Environment to ask the court to intervene. Friday’s hearing was the first 
on the motion.

Representing the county, attorney Jefferson L. Blomquist, of Funk & Bolton, 
Baltimore, told the court cleanup efforts at the facility are nearly 
complete. There are no longer any issues with discharging pollutants into 
nearby streams, he said, since there is no longer any stormwater collecting 
in unlined lagoons. “The environmental remediation” is complete, he 
said.

The county is requesting an extension only to store organic soil additive 
that is already processed, waiting to be bagged and moved for sale, he said. 
If allowed to continue at the site until June, sales of the product will 
generate approximately $1.4 million in gross revenue, and the county would 
end up with a net profit of $896,000, instead of an estimated $3 million 
liability incurred from the former compost facility operator.

Soil additive is made from composted agricultural waste, crab chum and other 
organic compounds, including animal manure and treated sewer sludge. From 
1995 to 2005 a company called New Earth Services operated the county-owned 
compost facility.

Complaints from the public about odors and possible water pollution of 
streams in Beulah prompted a Baltimore television news reporter in July 2005 
to begin an investigation. Following an expose of New Earth’s practices, 
which aired on television, the Maryland Department of the Environment 
stepped in and shut the facility down.

When New Earth went bankrupt, its marketing director, Lonnie Heflen, stepped 
in and created a new company called Bay Organics. Mr. Heflen is under 
contract with the county to manage the clean up process. He receives a fee, 
and the county gets the revenue from sales of the soil additive.

Mr. Snyder, of state’s attorney’s office, agreed the compost facility is 
not a public health issue. “But we want to keep nitrogen out of the bay. 
This site takes a lot of agricultural pollution, and we see [nitrogen] in 
the [water] samples,” he said.

Mr. Snyder agreed the site is cleaned up and “getting better.” But he 
did not want to grant an extension. “This is not a business,” he said.

The judge asked: “Where could they go [with the processed soil additive] 
that will make you happy?”

Mr. Snyder responded that the county should deposit it in the landfill. 
“If customers come to buy it, it can be retrieved from the landfill.” 
MDE could have required this in 2005, he noted.

“The county made a bad deal with folks we all wish they wouldn’t 
have,” said the judge.

Mr. Snyder said, “This can’t be open-ended. We’re not talking about a 
for-profit enterprise. This is a cleanup order.” MDE has worked with the 
county, “but our patience is gone,” he said. The terms of the last order 
issued on July 1, 2007, were that this would be the last extension, he said.

Mr. Blomquist countered that a schedule “wasn’t really set in the 
order.” He suggested the order could be “interpreted to adapt to the 
time schedule.”

Mr. Blomquist also pointed out that the county is “not making a profit, 
but offsetting a loss.” For Dorchester County, “this is not chump 
change,” he said. It could affect the level of services offered to 
residents.

The judge seemed to sympathize with the county’s plight during the 
proceedings, but closed noting that the court must uphold the law. “It’s 
rare to get the law and justice to coincide.”

http://www.newszap.com/articles/2007/12/01/dm/eastern_shore_of_maryland/cam01.txt