Sludge Watch ==> Biosolids Remains Hot Topic in Virginia - Let the Revolution Roll On

[Maureen Reilly]

Biosolids remains hot topic


Sarah Watson
swatson at newsadvance.com
December 31, 2006


The message to Campbell County residents opposed to spreading biosolids was 
loud and clear Friday night: Stand up and return the power of the people 
back to the people.

Organizers with Citizens Against Toxic Sludge, a local grassroots group, met 
with more than 200 county residents in Rustburg, where they were told about 
some of the concerns that come with permitting biosolids to be used as 
fertilizer. Residents also were told about a plan to fight back, not with 
lawsuits, but with creative legislation.

Jennifer England, the group’s organizer and a mother of five who moved to 
Gladys from New Jersey three years ago, said the issue of spreading 
biosolids, which is treated sewer sludge, in the county isn’t just an 
environmental fight, but also a battle between corporations and citizens.

“It isn’t just about the sludge. It’s about who gets to decide” what belongs 
in our community, she said. “This is a root issue of democracy. We the 
32,000 voters in Campbell County should have the right to say.”

England, along with several county residents, formed the group shortly after 
learning that 12 landowners in Campbell County were applying for permission 
to spread sewer sludge fertilizer on 36 tracts of land.

Currently, 132 acres in Campbell County can be treated with biosolids, but 
the company on the permit, Nutri-Blend, has yet to spread them.

In November, Campbell County officials learned Nutri-Blend applied for a 
permit modification with the Virginia Department of Health, the state agency 
that oversees biosolids regulations, to expand permitted land to more than 
3,100 acres.

“The fact of the matter is that regulations mean it’s still here. If you 
regulate it, it’s coming,” England said. “You don’t actually stop it. We 
have a chance to stop it before it ever gets down on the ground” in Campbell 
County.

England and the organization have a plan to do just that. Tuesday, England 
will present a draft ordinance to the Campbell Board of Supervisors that she 
hopes will “stop the sludge.”

The group, while under the guidance of Pennsylvania lawyer Tom Linzey, has 
drafted the ordinance using a creative legal method that targets corporate 
rights rather than landowners or existing regulations.

“Because (the ordinance is) corporate and not regulatory or land use, (it’s) 
not protected by the state laws,” Linzey said.

The ordinance “is legal because it doesn’t ban sludge,” England said. “It 
bans corporations from the land application of sludge.”

County residents at Friday’s meeting - two-thirds of whom were attending 
their first Citizens Against Toxic Sludge meeting - asked what they could do 
to stop biosolids from being spread in the county. England told them to show 
up and be counted at Tuesday’s meeting. She expects a large turnout.

“The only thing we’ve heard is we can’t do anything (about the sludge),” 
said Tracy Meisenbach, a Brookneal resident and Town Council member who has 
been working with England.

Shireen Parson, a Christiansburg-based activist who works with Linzey, said 
there is collusion between state and corporate interests and right now; 
corporations hold more influence than the people. “You are not alone,” she 
told those at the meeting. “This is pervasive throughout the country.”

By taking a stand and finding a legal way to block corporations from 
spreading sludge, county residents are shifting the power back to the 
citizens, Parsons said. “They can’t take that away from you unless you give 
it back.”

“If (the supervisors) say no, then you have to be prepared to make a 
statement with your bodies,” Parsons told the quiet, standing-room only 
crowd. “Get up and walk out of there.”

“Show up and present a united front that you want this stopped.” Parsons 
said. “Let the revolution roll on.”

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