Sludge Watch ==> Virginia - residents ask Supervisors to pass Biosolids Ordinance

[Maureen Reilly]

Citizens ask for biosolids ordinance

By John Barnhart
Thursday, January 11, 2007 8:52 AM EST



According to a group of county residents, the Bedford County Board of 
Supervisors can do something about biosolids.

Monday night, Moira Bell, a member of an organization fighting the use of 
biosolids as fertilizer, spoke before the supervisors during their first 
regular meeting of the new year. She presented them with draft copies of a 
proposed ordinance based on an ordinance that, she said, has worked in 
Pennsylvania. According to Bell, Pennsylvania is also a Dillon's Rule state.

Along with the draft ordinance, Bell also brought a large number of 
supporters. They filled the seats, lined the walls of the supervisors' 
meeting chamber and spilled into the hallway.

"We do not want sewage sludge stored or spread in Bedford County," she told 
them.

Biosolids is another name for stabilized sewage sludge and Bell said that it 
was applied to 11,000 acres in Bedford County last year. She also said that 
a biosolids storage site on Otterville Road was issued variances from 
Virginia Department of Health (VDH) rules after complaints about violations 
were made. Bell told the supervisors that VDH is more interested in keeping 
a corporation happy than it is in safeguarding the health of Bedford County 
residents.


Bell said that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned 
ocean dumping of sewage sludge after what she termed "a dead zone the size 
of Connecticut" developed, resulting in dead fish littering the beaches in 
the northeast.

"The EPA decided to rename sludge 'biosolids' and dispose of it on land," 
she said.

According to Bell a study by the University of Georgia has linked the use of 
biosolids as fertilizer with an increased risk of disease. She also said 
that a University of Iowa study reported that prescription drugs from sludge 
invades groundwater.

Bell said that some county residents have suffered health problems after 
sludge was applied to fields near their homes. She gave five examples, 
although she did not give the people's names.

According to Bell, an entire family living on Snowberry Hill across Va. 122 
from a field that had been repeatedly treated with biosolids became 
asthmatic and two people living near the Otterville Road storage site 
developed unusual illnesses. Bell said that a woman living on Otterville 
Road, the route that trucks take to the temporary storage site, developed an 
E. coli infection in her lungs. Another person who lives next door to the 
farm that hosts the site had surgery to remove a fungus growing in his 
lungs, Bell said.



In presenting the draft ordinance to the supervisors, Bell urged them to 
adopt it because she is sure that General Assembly action won't be effective 
because of lobbying efforts by companies that spread biosolids.

"Sludge companies are free to invest millions advancing their rights to 
sludge us," she said.

Bell said that a similar ordinance has worked in Pennsylvania and has not 
been challenged in court. She said that the draft ordinance she gave the 
supervisors is an exact copy of the Pennsylvania ordinance, with language 
added to cover storage sites. She also told the supervisors that the 
attorney who drafted it is willing to help the county defend it in court, 
should it be challenged.

"I don't hate my neighbors enough to use it if it were offered to me for 
free," commented District 1 Supervisor Dale Wheeler, who said that biosolids 
don't pass "the sniff test."

"I have been offered sludge free and I turned it down," added District 6 
Supervisor Bobby Pollard. "I will not have it on my property."

District 2 Supervisor Chuck Neudorfer, who had been elected chairman at the 
beginning of the meeting, said that the draft ordinance will be forwarded to 
the Planning Commission. He also promised a public hearing on the ordinance.



http://www.bedfordbulletin.com/articles/2007/01/11/news/news09.txt